Melissa Vs the Weekend (Hint: Not a Happy Ending)

I am shamefully and woefully lacking in picture taking time these days.  I do hope to make up for it this weekend with a trip to an awesome (and totally secret for no reason other than that I want you to have something to look forward to) location.  I promise to take a ridiculous number of pictures therewith.

In the meantime, I can only offer an excuse.  It will be in narrative form, however, so that is somewhat redeeming, right?


Once upon a time, there was a Weekend.  It was a very sneaky sort of weekend and crept up on me unawares. When it arrived, I was surprised, but accepting.  Weekend was very cunning and promised me hours and hours in which to accomplish all of my tasks.  I thought: "I will be super productive!  I will get all the things done!"  Weekend nodded agreeably.  Yes, of course I would!  It may possibly have patted me on the head in a condescending manner.  Looking back, I should have known better than to trust such a friendly weekend.

First, exhaustion hit and I slept far too long on Saturday morning.  I frantically attempted to make up for lost time.  Weekend cackled maliciously at me from somewhere above.

I reviewed about a million Gaelic phrases, everything from "The yellow sheep is on the table" (Tha a' chaora bhuidhe aig a' bhord in case you want to use it later.  I'll even tell you how to pronounce it: "Ha ah [hacking sound]ora vweehu ayg ah vord."  There you go.  Go and use it wisely.) to "I am eating cake" (I definitely was not eating cake).

I translated more sentences from Pwyll, this time.  It was not nearly as fun because I don't have the text, so a lot of it is guesswork.  But the results are still rather similar to what you see in the previous post.

I began annotating my bibliography because that is what one does when one wants to feel organized and on top of things before one meets with one's supervisors.  I got through about four out of two dozen sources.  Clearly, it was a good use of my time.

At that point, I had promised to actually leave my flat for dinner with friends.  I packed up a bunch of cupcakes and headed out.  Weekend waved at me from the window in a distinctly unfriendly manner, as if to remind me of all the things that were not yet accomplished.

Oh, on a side note, I have actually baked twice since I've been here.  It's quite exciting.  Both times were chocolate cupcakes, and they turned out quite splendidly.  Observe:

And people liked them and everything!

Okay, so they're smiling before they took any bites, but they seemed decently happy afterwards, so I think the cupcakes turned out decently well.

Anyway, there was food (pasta with salmon!) and cupcakes and cake and ice cream and good company and a lovely time.

And then I scurried back to do more things!!!!  Weekend was grinning malevolently as its minion Saturday slowly came to an end.  It was well after midnight before I finally crashed.

Sunday started brilliantly with a wonderful church service, a great student lunch (more real food!) and a beautiful walk through the park back to my flat.  And then there was homework again.

By this point, Weekend wasn't even pretending to be my friend anymore.  It was war.  I worked, slaved, studied, and practiced.  By the end, though, I had to concede defeat.  Weekend won this time.

Monday came around and I awoke with fear and trepidation.  Monday meant Celtic Lit, followed by Gaelic, followed by meeting with the supervisors, followed by two hours of Welsh, followed by Bibliography and Study Methods, followed by five hours of online work.  Monday is much meaner than the weekends and doesn't ever try to pretend to be nice about it.

The one bright moment in my day, though, was the supervisor meeting.  I have two supervisors: Nerys and Abigail, and they are brilliant, energetic, and wonderfully encouraging.  They refused to allow me to believe that I am epically failing in my studies and got me all sorted out for the next few weeks of study.  I now have lists and lists of things to read and a much better sense of direction, which I desperately needed.

I am quite confident that one of the chief roles of professors is to keep students like me from self-destructing.  I am just blessed to have two supervisors who are so good at it.

Week Six and I are staring each other down and it is going to be an epic battle to achieve the weekend again.  But this time, I plan to beat Week and Weekend and triumph!


If that fails... how does one bribe a weekend?  What do I have to bake?

You Will Probably Think I'm Crazy... Or You Will Be Jealous (Which Probably Means You Are Crazy Too)

Now that I have a passing knowledge of the grammar and structure of Middle Welsh, I am being tossed headlong into the translations.  Our first endeavor is to translate from the second branch of the Mabinogi, the tale of Branwen, Daughter of Llyr.  I've read it several times, which is hypothetically helpful when translating, but going word by word is still all kinds of confusing fun.  This takes me back to the days of translating Old English texts... only every so slightly more difficult, I think.

 

I am using the same system I used with Old English, because it is the only thing that makes this possible for my poor brain.  I write out snippets of the text with two lines in between and space on the side for notes.  Underneath the text, I put the direct translation of each word.  The third line is for my final translation.  Using three colors makes it possible to actually read what I come up with and not get all mixed up.  Not that I'm not all mixed up anyway...

 

All of this took about three hours total, the first page in class and the last three classes this afternoon.  I am quite proud of what I've done so far... but then I remember that I am only eleven lines into the 22 that I have to finish by Monday.  

Honestly, I find translating a calming and enjoyable exercise.  I know that might seem odd unless perhaps you've done it yourself in some language or another.  Going through a text and uncovering its meaning, perhaps with some nice music playing in the background, is not a half bad way to spend an afternoon.  If it weren't for the fact that I have research to do and work this evening, I'd probably just go ahead and finish it. 

Oh, and in case you were wondering how I have all of my admittedly terrible handwriting uploaded on the computer, I did it all on my iPad and exported it to my computer, easy as the proverbial pie.  Doing translations on the iPad is actually really, really handy. Limitless pages in a notebook, easy switching between text colors, and instant exporting as needed!  Technology is my friend.

What Does a "Real" American Sound Like? And A Sunset.

 At church today, I was talking to a lady visiting from Glasgow.  We were discussing weather (it was a more interesting conversation than it sounds), and I happened to say, "Well, back in America-"  I was immediately cut off by the baffled woman who said, "You don't sound American!"  The lady explained that she visited America every summer for several weeks and I didn't sound at all like an American.  I was, I admit, a little surprised.  No one had ever accused me of not sounding American before.

Then, it hit me.  I asked her, "Where do you go in America when you visit?"

"Texas," she answered.

 The mystery was solved.  I imitated a passable Texan accent for her and her face lit up.  That was what Americans sound like, of course!

I went on to explain the different sorts of American accents and the fact that while Texas is all but its own country, it is not, in fact, representative of America. 

 The reason we were discussing weather was because today was another cold, but brilliantly sunny day.

And so I decided that I deserved a treat.  I spent all of Saturday (I'm not kidding, I mean from morning to night, nonstop) doing homework.  So today, I would go outside for a bit and enjoy the scenery and the sunshine.  I did bring homework with me, but I was outside while I did it! 

I went to the swan lake in Holyrood Park.  A good thirty or so swans, along with hundreds of gulls, flock to the shorelines where passersby toss bread crumbs into the water.  Watching the flocks rise and dive into the water is perhaps a little too pretty of a distraction, but I did get some homework done.

 If I was a runner, this would be a great run through the trees and past the lake.  But I'm not a runner, I'm a reader.  So I sat on a bench and read a book on early Irish literature.  It's quite fascinating.

It started getting really cold as the sun set, so I got up to leave.  I'd had my back to this...

 That's St Anthony's Chapel if you remember from an earlier post.

 I realized that I might not get another good chance to watch a relatively clear sunset from such a good vantage point, so I hiked a little ways up the Salisbury Crags for a good view and a few shots.

 It's amazing what setting tweaks on a camera can do.  The first version of this picture was a nice scene of the cityscape, but a washed out sky.  A few changes to my settings, and I got this instead.

 Nap has been feeling very left out lately, even though I explained to him how little he would want to be in a picture with a swan that would probably be trying to eat him.  But I took this one to make him feel better.

 I love the sun!!!

 The clouds started to come in and blocked out the actual setting sun, but the colors in the sky were phenomenal.  But I don't really need to say that, do I?  See for yourself.

Opposite the sunset, the sky was full of pastels.  I couldn't really get a good picture of them. 

And this is a clock telling me that I've been out for far too long and that reading a couple measly chapters in a book on Irish literature is not enough for an afternoon so I'd better get back up to my room and sit down with my Welsh pronunciation practice and learn all the things now!

Yes, that's what the clock says.

Hopefully, I can take more pictures of awesome things soon, but for now, I am swamped with books filled with knowledge that I must attain!

Obvious Fact of the Day: Scandinavians Know How to Make a Good Danish

Yet another bafflingly gorgeous day has hit Edinburgh and locals might go insane.  I am fast becoming spoiled myself.  The weather is even nicer than it was back in Virginia where humidity often made even the sunnier and warmer days feel somewhat stifling.  The fresh, chill breeze makes the sunshine feel just right.  I could deal with this longterm... but it seems to be drawing to a close if the forecast for next week is any indication. 

Everyone is making the most of the weather for the week, though.  I decided that if I had to do homework, that it ought to be done outside.  So, I packed my camera, Nap, and The Mabinogion and headed down to the park.  About a million other people had the same idea, but it's a big park, so there were plenty of trees to choose from for my homework spot.  Before I found a place, though, I went to a cafe wherein they sell Scandinavian baked goods, coffee, tea, and (to my joy) really, really good hot chocolate.  I splurged (it was that kind of day) and bought a raspberry vanilla danish.

 I had reservations about the danish.  It didn't look like much.  But after the first few bites, I realized that I had found a snack that would tempt me every time I passed by the cafe.  And then it hit me: Scandinavian theme... of course they would know how to make a really amazing danish.  It had  a thick vanilla cream filling with whole raspberries in the center.  Delicious!

And the hot chocolate was amazing, which is what I judge a cafe by overall.  Too many cafes focus on their coffee to the detriment of a quality cup of hot chocolate.  It is tragic.

I've read The Mabinogion before, but my translation by Sioned Davies proved to have a fascinating introduction and I was happily occupied with my reading for the next couple of hours.

I found a pretty awesome tree too.

It finally got a little too chilly to stay outside and my snack and hot chocolate were gone, so I packed up.  I am definitely going to miss days like this during the winter.

But the cafe will continue to supply me with their raspberry vanilla buns and fabulous hot chocolates on occasion, so I can't say I am completely devastated.

I Can Haz Schedule?

Today's orientation events were not, alas, in old, magnificent buildings with arches and towers.  The first was in a disgustingly modern looking thing that could have been built yesterday. Bah!  I trudged into the room with about two hundred or so other postgrad students in the school of Language and Literature.  Friends!   Naturally, none of the ones I spoke with were in the Celtic Studies program.  I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one.

It wasn't until the second orientation where we divided and went to our specific school that I discovered that I am not, in fact, the only one doing an MSc by Research in Celtic Languages and Literature.  There's one other person! Yay!  We went up to a small room in a little stone townhouse where the Celtic and Scottish Studies department has their offices and wee libraries.  Inside the room were six other people.  One was the professor and director of the programs.  The other five were in postgrads in the same department, but doing different degrees, such as PhDs or MSc's in Scottish Studies.

Yep, there is only one other person in my particular degree. No wonder I couldn't find anyone else!

But now I have a general, vague, not conclusive, but coming along sort of, kind of schedule!  Apparently, they don't really put anything together until the last minute so that they can figure out what everyone is able to do at the same time.  It sounds great and I guess it works since there's only seven of us, but it's a bit stressful.

I do like the supervisor I met today (I have one other I'll meet Monday).  She recommended that I audit a class on Celtic literature, a class on Middle Welsh (eeee!), and possibly, if I can, a class on Modern Irish.  I carefully held back the drool and happy dance.  I get to do all that and research a paper on Irish and Welsh mythology?

Needless to say, I am quite happy.  Classes start on Monday!

Oh, and also, there is a Celtic library! Yep, a little library of old texts that are exclusively for Celtic studies.  My very own library.... dreams do come true!

In celebration of schedules, libraries, and another (possibly final) day of gorgeous blue-sky weather, I went for a quick photo shoot before the sun went down. So here are just a few:

 This is the view from the courtyard when I walk out my front door.  I realized that I haven't taken any pictures of the outside of my building, but yep, there it is!


The tall block in front of me to the left is one of the other halls in Mylne's Court.  My hall is on the opposite side behind me.

When I walk from the Royal Mile through the archway into the courtyard, I face the entrance to my hall, pictured below.

 Pretty sunset!  This is down in what is probably one of my favorite spots: outside of New College behind my building.  Great view, less crowded, but still a part of the city.

 As I continue up the hill and around toward the castle side of the Royal Mile, I pass by this unassuming little gateway.  Potential Narnia portal, one is compelled to ask?  I couldn't open it to find out.  Silly locks.  Don't they trust us anymore in Narnia?

I love little nooks like this, though.  There's so much character and variety.  Few things around here are at all identical to something else.

Just a little further up is another locked gate for those "privileged" few who live across from this little garden.  I would sit in here for hours if I had access to it...

So anyway, that was the end of the day. It's dark outside now (and it's not even eight o'clock!  Aagh!) and I should probably eat food to replenish myself from all of the walking.

But today was a good day because I met the other elusive Celtic Studies postgrad student, I learned about the awesome classes I am going to take, and I have a place and people that belong to me!

And there were more pictures!

Tomorrow is a leisurely day, so I should have time for more picture taking adventures.  After this week, I will be pretty busy and the picture taking jaunts will probably be reserved for weekends and the odd afternoon.  I can't say I'm sorry, though.  I have classes again!!!