So as predicted this post will have a bit of bitching and whining about my essay that I mentioned last post.
The essay I am writing is about the evolution of case studies in anthropology. In short, as anthropology was being developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s, scholars were primarily concerned with the study of taxonomy, the classification of organisms within a structure. Originally, race was seen as a subdivision of the human species and, as such, required its own taxonomic classification. Eventually, with the rise of the Nazis and WWII these ideas came under fire. The idea of race as a subcategory of the human species was virtually abandoned with the civil rights movement. By the 1980s, the concept of race was more or less removed from anthropological discourse. However, one branch seemed to keep it alive, Forensic Anthropology. So that's what my paper is about. I hate it and cannot seem to get involved in the paper at all which makes writing it so much harder.
In other news, I have been hanging out with my flatmate from Spain and his friends a lot. We are all getting along really well. It is funny when I take a step back and look at my time here in Ireland. I am living in Ireland, working on a mummy from Egypt, and most of my friends are Spanish. Would never have guessed that would have been the case. But I am enjoying myself.
As for the mummy research, that is at a stand still. I am waiting for note back from my advisor about my official research proposal. Once I have the notes, I will adjust my proposal and then we will submit it to the college curator. In the mean time, I am doing a lot of reading on the religious and mortuary practices of ancient Egypt. I am also trying, and somewhat failing, at teaching myself to read hieroglyphics. I am getting the basics down, but I need a lot more practice before I can hope to start transcribing and translating the texts written on the coffin. Hopefully I will have an update for you all next week. I also have something in the works, and if it comes through will be really cool. But it is way too early on to even begin discussing that possibility.
Well, I think that is it for me for this post. I wanted to let you all know that this blog has passed the 800 views mark. Thank you all for reading. I think I am going to start posting more meaningful post to supplement the weekly narrative of my life. If you have questions or things you want to hear about in respects to Irish culture, history, etc. please let me know via a comment or an email.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
16 down
Well, first week back in class. It is nice to return to some sort of daily routine. There was no easing back in to school though. On Thursday, I had my first major examination in Anatomy. I felt like I prepared well for the exam, but I really didn't know what to expect. The exam was 50 True or False questions. Sounds easy, but it really wasn't. The questions were worded oddly and it made me second guess some of my answers. To complicate thing, the Anatomy Department practices negative marking, so wrong answers count against you. This is meant to discourage against random guessing, but in my opinion it only hinders the person taking the test. You can be 90% sure about an answer, but instead of going with it, you skip it so you don't risk losing points. So who knows how I did. Results will be available in a few weeks.
In my other classes, I finished both the Biocultural and Mortuary Theory courses last year. This term, I continue with the osteology and statistics course and add a Paleopathology course. Paleopathology is a fun course and I look forward to it. I am not too worried about the course as I have taken it while at UCLA and was also a Teaching Assistant for it. I am most interested to see what approach is undertaken on this side of the Atlantic. Also interested in learning more about some of the old world diseases that are as prevalent in the Americas.
I am currently working on an essay for the Biocultural course. I am having a hard time writing the paper because I just cannot bring myself to care about the topic. Trying to force the writing just isn't working either. I am commonly taking very long breaks (a day or more) just to try and get the creative writing juices flowing again. But nothing is seeming to help. I have until the 16th of January to finish it, so I still have plenty of time to get it done.
Well I guess that about wraps this week up. I am sure the next few post will be me continuing to whine about this essay. So, I apologize ahead of time.
In my other classes, I finished both the Biocultural and Mortuary Theory courses last year. This term, I continue with the osteology and statistics course and add a Paleopathology course. Paleopathology is a fun course and I look forward to it. I am not too worried about the course as I have taken it while at UCLA and was also a Teaching Assistant for it. I am most interested to see what approach is undertaken on this side of the Atlantic. Also interested in learning more about some of the old world diseases that are as prevalent in the Americas.
I am currently working on an essay for the Biocultural course. I am having a hard time writing the paper because I just cannot bring myself to care about the topic. Trying to force the writing just isn't working either. I am commonly taking very long breaks (a day or more) just to try and get the creative writing juices flowing again. But nothing is seeming to help. I have until the 16th of January to finish it, so I still have plenty of time to get it done.
Well I guess that about wraps this week up. I am sure the next few post will be me continuing to whine about this essay. So, I apologize ahead of time.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Happy New Year
Happy New Year!
I want to start off by thanking everyone who puts up with my tardy posts and actually reads this silly, ranting, and narrative of my life. This blog has been viewed over 750 times since its creation back in September 2011. So thanks for that!
Now, onto the actual post. My new year celebration was not what I expected nor what I had planned. My original plans for the evening fell through, as per the usual. I was on my own for the evening. Though I was determined not to let this get me down. I decided that I would still go out to my favorite pub in the city. This pub isn't your typical pub. When you think of an Irish pub something very different comes to mind. For the most part, that image in your head is quite accurate. But this pub is different. It looks like it belongs on the Sunset Strip than it does on a small riverside street. The pub doesn't have an Irish surname as its name, nor does it look like a humble establishment from the street. The outside is painted with flames and its known as Fred Zeppelins. Inside the pub is dimly, but adequately, lit. The music over the speakers isn't the latest pop hits nor is it traditional Irish. Instead it is an assortment of classic and modern rock hits ranging from Queen to Rob Zombie. As you would expect, the average customer is not your average person. As the only alternative pub in town, everyone who is different tends to gather at Fred's. Its one of the few places where I can go and feel like I am back at home, surrounded by equally weird people. Its a place that if you go alone, you will end up making a friend pretty quickly. When ever I venture out on my own I tend to stop by Fred's at some point. So that was my plan for the evening.
I headed out to Fred and after ordering a pint of Guinness I was joined in conversation by several members of a motorcycle club. The guys were very nice and I was quite surprised to find a group of Harley riders here in Cork. After sharing a drink with them, the pub started to get a little more crowded as the midnight hour approached. I was separated from my new biker friends end ended up talking to a new group of people. They were a mixed lot, some from Ireland, some from England. They were very nice, and someone kept buying rounds of drinks for everyone, myself included! I couldn't turn down a free drink. With midnight only a few minutes away, the bar staff walked around and handed out several bottles of champagne and packets of noise makers and poppers. The bar counted down the final 10 seconds of 2011 together and on the stroke of midnight, popped the bottles of champagne. Unlike back at home where we counted down to New York's celebration, here we counted down to London's celebration. It looked like quite the party in London! Big Ben is an impressive sight to see at midnight on New Years!
The night wound down after midnight. And after another round of drinks, I headed home. It was a unique new years. I do not like spending holidays away from family and friends but I guess it has given me the opportunity to make new friends. I am back in class starting Tuesday and back to the daily grind from then until the end of the semester. I am excited to be back in class as it gives me something to do during the days.
Happy New Year Everyone!!
I want to start off by thanking everyone who puts up with my tardy posts and actually reads this silly, ranting, and narrative of my life. This blog has been viewed over 750 times since its creation back in September 2011. So thanks for that!
Now, onto the actual post. My new year celebration was not what I expected nor what I had planned. My original plans for the evening fell through, as per the usual. I was on my own for the evening. Though I was determined not to let this get me down. I decided that I would still go out to my favorite pub in the city. This pub isn't your typical pub. When you think of an Irish pub something very different comes to mind. For the most part, that image in your head is quite accurate. But this pub is different. It looks like it belongs on the Sunset Strip than it does on a small riverside street. The pub doesn't have an Irish surname as its name, nor does it look like a humble establishment from the street. The outside is painted with flames and its known as Fred Zeppelins. Inside the pub is dimly, but adequately, lit. The music over the speakers isn't the latest pop hits nor is it traditional Irish. Instead it is an assortment of classic and modern rock hits ranging from Queen to Rob Zombie. As you would expect, the average customer is not your average person. As the only alternative pub in town, everyone who is different tends to gather at Fred's. Its one of the few places where I can go and feel like I am back at home, surrounded by equally weird people. Its a place that if you go alone, you will end up making a friend pretty quickly. When ever I venture out on my own I tend to stop by Fred's at some point. So that was my plan for the evening.
I headed out to Fred and after ordering a pint of Guinness I was joined in conversation by several members of a motorcycle club. The guys were very nice and I was quite surprised to find a group of Harley riders here in Cork. After sharing a drink with them, the pub started to get a little more crowded as the midnight hour approached. I was separated from my new biker friends end ended up talking to a new group of people. They were a mixed lot, some from Ireland, some from England. They were very nice, and someone kept buying rounds of drinks for everyone, myself included! I couldn't turn down a free drink. With midnight only a few minutes away, the bar staff walked around and handed out several bottles of champagne and packets of noise makers and poppers. The bar counted down the final 10 seconds of 2011 together and on the stroke of midnight, popped the bottles of champagne. Unlike back at home where we counted down to New York's celebration, here we counted down to London's celebration. It looked like quite the party in London! Big Ben is an impressive sight to see at midnight on New Years!
The night wound down after midnight. And after another round of drinks, I headed home. It was a unique new years. I do not like spending holidays away from family and friends but I guess it has given me the opportunity to make new friends. I am back in class starting Tuesday and back to the daily grind from then until the end of the semester. I am excited to be back in class as it gives me something to do during the days.
Happy New Year Everyone!!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
12, 13, 14, and 15 Down
Sorry about falling off the blogging grid for the last several weeks. Below you will find a post that will fill you all in on the last few weeks of 2011.
Week 12
It was the final week in the fall semester so there was a lot of wrapping up going on. Nothing too crazy in the form of exams or anything, just the ending of courses. I finished the Bioculteral and Mortuary Theory courses. I will now have to write an essay for each of those classes. They aren't due until mid/late January. I am going to be continuing to take the anatomy, osteology, and statistics courses in the next semester. I will also be adding a course in paleopathology and eventually a course in archaeogenetics. Week 12 ended with a little lunch party for the Osteo class. This included a few of the PhD students and our professor. It was mostly finger food and alcohol, mostly alcohol. Nice little party, was good to be able to talk to everyone (professor and PhDs) in a relaxed social environment. The party ended around 5:00pm and everyone had a bit of a buzz. As it was too early to head out on a Friday night, we decided to all go to one of my classmate's house, and continue drinking there. Our plan of going out never formed and we just continued to drink at the house. By midnight, everyone was calling it quits and heading home. 12 hours of drinking takes a lot out of you. Fitting close to the first semester.
Week 13
This was my first official week off. However, it did not start out as such. I had an assignment that I still needed to finish that was due on Tuesday. It wasn't anything exciting and, in fact, I had been putting it off for at least a week already. For this project I had to measure the lengths and thickness of the upper limbs from about 3 dozen skeletons as well as record the presence of musculoskeletal stress markers. It was a lot of boring data collection. But, it was a graded assignment and I will need the data again in the course so there was no more putting it off. I was happy to see that all my other classmates were in the lab as well and in a similar situation as myself. After I finished that assignment, I was officially done with classes until the next term in the new year.
On Wednesday evening, the Archaeology Department held its Christmas Party. They rented out a medium sized room above one of the pubs in town for the small private party. Most of the faculty and staff was in attendance as well as a lot of PhD students and pot-docs that I had never seen before. Our Master's group tends to stick together so we had our own mini little party. After that party came to an end, most of the students decided to carry the party to another pub. The night was fun and it was the last time I would see most of my classmates as they would all be returning home to their families.
The week ended with both of my house mates returning home and leaving me entirely alone in the apartment. It has been a long time since I truly lived on my own. It was nice to be able to blast my music and not have to worry about being considerate of others in the house.
Week 14
Nothing much to report for this week. Spending my time reading about ancient Egyptian magic and religion. Trying to complete as much background research as I can to prepare myself for the onslaught of research I am going to have to conduct in the new year. I am also trying to begin writing my essays that will be due in January. I have decided upon the topics I will be discussing in my papers; now it is just a matter of translating the ideas in my head onto paper. So far, this has not been an easy task. Hopefully I will be able to get some work done over the next few weeks.
Week 15
Well, Christmas was Sunday. First time I have not been with family for the holiday. It was an odd feeling. It was much like all my previous days here on this break. Spent most of the day reading, playing computer games, and watching TV. Later in the afternoon, I was able to Skype with everyone back home. Got to talk to Grandma and Grandpa, Ashleigh and Mom. Also had a very brief conversation with my dad, but internet connection problems prevented us from having a conversation longer then 30 seconds. Later in the evening, a friend came over and we watched a movie together. She was alone for Christmas as well, so we decided that we should at lease see each other so we weren't totally alone for the holiday.
Cork was an interesting place over the Christmas weekend. It was virtually a ghost town. All the shops, stores, and pubs we closed down. The streets were empty except for the rare family out for a stroll. The weather was fairly warm, in the upper 40s. This is quite a departure from last year where the temperature was about 15 degrees. Only have had one 5 minute episode of snow, if you can call it that.
The rest of the week was filled with rain and crappy weather. Spent most of my time doing my normal routine of reading, trying to write, failing at writing, watching TV, and playing computer games.
Well that's it for my end of the year summary. I will post some picture from around the city after this post and should be back on tract and up to date with my post in the coming days. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Week 12
It was the final week in the fall semester so there was a lot of wrapping up going on. Nothing too crazy in the form of exams or anything, just the ending of courses. I finished the Bioculteral and Mortuary Theory courses. I will now have to write an essay for each of those classes. They aren't due until mid/late January. I am going to be continuing to take the anatomy, osteology, and statistics courses in the next semester. I will also be adding a course in paleopathology and eventually a course in archaeogenetics. Week 12 ended with a little lunch party for the Osteo class. This included a few of the PhD students and our professor. It was mostly finger food and alcohol, mostly alcohol. Nice little party, was good to be able to talk to everyone (professor and PhDs) in a relaxed social environment. The party ended around 5:00pm and everyone had a bit of a buzz. As it was too early to head out on a Friday night, we decided to all go to one of my classmate's house, and continue drinking there. Our plan of going out never formed and we just continued to drink at the house. By midnight, everyone was calling it quits and heading home. 12 hours of drinking takes a lot out of you. Fitting close to the first semester.
Week 13
This was my first official week off. However, it did not start out as such. I had an assignment that I still needed to finish that was due on Tuesday. It wasn't anything exciting and, in fact, I had been putting it off for at least a week already. For this project I had to measure the lengths and thickness of the upper limbs from about 3 dozen skeletons as well as record the presence of musculoskeletal stress markers. It was a lot of boring data collection. But, it was a graded assignment and I will need the data again in the course so there was no more putting it off. I was happy to see that all my other classmates were in the lab as well and in a similar situation as myself. After I finished that assignment, I was officially done with classes until the next term in the new year.
On Wednesday evening, the Archaeology Department held its Christmas Party. They rented out a medium sized room above one of the pubs in town for the small private party. Most of the faculty and staff was in attendance as well as a lot of PhD students and pot-docs that I had never seen before. Our Master's group tends to stick together so we had our own mini little party. After that party came to an end, most of the students decided to carry the party to another pub. The night was fun and it was the last time I would see most of my classmates as they would all be returning home to their families.
The week ended with both of my house mates returning home and leaving me entirely alone in the apartment. It has been a long time since I truly lived on my own. It was nice to be able to blast my music and not have to worry about being considerate of others in the house.
Week 14
Nothing much to report for this week. Spending my time reading about ancient Egyptian magic and religion. Trying to complete as much background research as I can to prepare myself for the onslaught of research I am going to have to conduct in the new year. I am also trying to begin writing my essays that will be due in January. I have decided upon the topics I will be discussing in my papers; now it is just a matter of translating the ideas in my head onto paper. So far, this has not been an easy task. Hopefully I will be able to get some work done over the next few weeks.
Week 15
Well, Christmas was Sunday. First time I have not been with family for the holiday. It was an odd feeling. It was much like all my previous days here on this break. Spent most of the day reading, playing computer games, and watching TV. Later in the afternoon, I was able to Skype with everyone back home. Got to talk to Grandma and Grandpa, Ashleigh and Mom. Also had a very brief conversation with my dad, but internet connection problems prevented us from having a conversation longer then 30 seconds. Later in the evening, a friend came over and we watched a movie together. She was alone for Christmas as well, so we decided that we should at lease see each other so we weren't totally alone for the holiday.
Cork was an interesting place over the Christmas weekend. It was virtually a ghost town. All the shops, stores, and pubs we closed down. The streets were empty except for the rare family out for a stroll. The weather was fairly warm, in the upper 40s. This is quite a departure from last year where the temperature was about 15 degrees. Only have had one 5 minute episode of snow, if you can call it that.
The rest of the week was filled with rain and crappy weather. Spent most of my time doing my normal routine of reading, trying to write, failing at writing, watching TV, and playing computer games.
Well that's it for my end of the year summary. I will post some picture from around the city after this post and should be back on tract and up to date with my post in the coming days. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)