Party Party!

Orphans Christmas was great. I cooked almost all day. I made everyone my mom's specially sticky buns for breakfast, although I did put my own twist on her recipe. For dinner I made French onion soup (vegan and regular), stuffed mushrooms with almonds, steak pie and Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for dessert. I also made each orphan (there were 7 of us total) stockings and filled them with the traditional Clementine and candy, along with some other gifts for them. Overall the day was fabulous. after we were done with our food and stockings I went back to my flat and got to talk to my mom, dad, sister and brother in law! It was almost like being home, except not as great as actually getting to be there with them.

Today is my birthday and I took myself out to breakfast and then bought myself a Starbucks. Then I went out to the after Christmas / Boxing Day sales with my friend Karen. Now we are getting ready to go out and celebrate with some of our other friends. We might go to the movies or we might go mini golfing its really all up in the air. I will try to post again tomorrow but if I miss it then I will tell you all about my Norway New Year when I get back on the 5th of January.

You want me to get up how early??

I wanted to make sure that I was up to date on postings before I left for Norway on Tuesday. So here we go. Last week I went to Stonehenge and watched a "traditional" Druid ceremony to celebrate the Suns ability to raise again after the longest night of the year. (It also marks the days getting longer again and the ceremony has a lot to do with the Druid Sun god, shocking!! =0)

Five of my friends and I took the train to Salisbury and then the bus to Amesbury, where we had booked to hotel rooms. Our hotel was just a five minute tax ride from Stonehenge. When we arrived in Amesbury we had a 15 minute walk to the industrial section of Amesbury where our hotel set. Once we had all settled in we found a pub right next door and when in for some dinner. We finished dinner and decided to take a hike back into Amesbury center and find a pub. The problem with this, you see, is that Amesbury is a very, very tiny town and really only has three pubs. We finally found one that looked like it would suit 6 archaeologists and went in had some drinks and then headed back home early (in archaeologist terms) since we knew that we were going to have to get up in the morning.

Sunrise was at 7:40 AM and they were letting people into the henge by 7:30AM. So we got there at 7Am to make sure that we were able to have a primo view of the event. It was absolutely freezing and by the end of it I couldn't feel my toes, other than that I knew it hurt to walk on them. It had snowed all day the previous day and so we were basically standing in about an inch of snow for an hour. I had heavy waterproof hiking boots on but all the same. Not to complain but just to relate how very chili we all were. Well maybe not Josh since is from Maine and kept saying that we were all wimps. =0)

Over all the experience was great. There was lots of drum beating and flute playing. One guy who recited some terrible poetry and others said some prayers for the next year to be fruitful and peaceful throughout the world. It wasn't what I expected but that doesn't mean that it wasn't fun. It was definitely a once in a life time experience, going to Stonehenge and being there on the morning that it was built to celebrate.

Check out the pictures Below from the event.

Josh Dunn

"Big C"

(Not all of these pictures where taken by me.)

Thanks Santa!

It SNOWED!!!!! Check out my cool pictures from last night and this morning after the snow!

snow ball fight!

Winter Wonderland!

Forecast Fabio Capello

So, I have a cold. Boo! but that is not what I want to talk about. Really what I want to talk about is the weather. Terribly exciting, I know but "Baby, it's cold outside." No joke, today the weather forecast said high of 5 (41 degrees F) low of 0 (32 F) but then if you factor in the wind chill, (7mph winds) I am pretty sure that makes the high around 2 (35 F) which means that I don't really wanna know what the low is ;0). On top of that we are suppose to get sleet starting at about 9PM and then on Friday.... (drum roll please...) .... SNOW!!!!! Can you tell that I am excited??? (keep up with the weather in Bristol click here)

I have never lived anywhere where I could watch it snow from my own window! Needless to say I am really looking forward to it and hoping that it will actually snow. They are not always the most reliable source, meteorologists though. For example, they did forecast it to be Fabio Capello all day Sunday a week ago. So with that in mind it might not actually snow in the end, but it would be nice if it did.

I don't mind the cold so much if I have something pretty to look at. Mind you this does sort of put a huge block on my plan to go to Glastonbury on Friday. Oh well, I get snow instead, or perhaps we'll have another day of Fabio Capello, who knows. Plus I can always go to Glastonbury next week, or perhaps before Friday, since most people are going home or abroad tomorrow, that means I need to find things to do with my time. I am also thinking of going to see a Christmas concern of Bach music tomorrow night, hopefully the tickets are not all sold out. If they are then I will simply miss Bach and go watch the Nutcracker instead. Tough life hu? And for those of you who are wondering who I am going with to do all of these wonderful thing, the answer is me, myself, and I. But it should still be really good.

In other news, I went to my first pub quiz last night. Our team did rather well 37 out of 60, which in terms of pub quiz I am told is a decent showing, so I am happy with that. I also finished editing and directing my first short film (hopefully to be posted later). It's not the best thing in the world but it will do for now. I was also told that after it has been marked I could go back and work on the editing a bit more, so we'll see.

Currently I am making a water colour painting for my friend Pods' Birthday/Christmas present (19th is his). It is probably one of the best watercolours, thus far, that I have ever made. I am going to be a bit sad to part with it but I will take many pictures so that you all can see it. Pictures never do it justice but maybe in 50 years it will be worth something and he might sell it to a gallery or something. You never know ;0)

That's really all I have to report for now. I am getting ready for the "Orphans Christmas" party that I am putting on for all the people that are not going home for Christmas. It should be fun. Not sure there will be many pictures but I'll see what I can do. I hope that you are all well and enjoying your Christmas season and festivities. Sorry that I have been falling down on the blog, its a bit hard to find the time to write between classes but next term should be a lot less stressful with only 3 days instead of 5 of classes.

Love you all loads and miss you too! XX

Still to Come

Coming soon...Thanksgiving pictures...

Drum Roll, Please....

He's Here!!!!! Introducing to the world, my best friend Rachel's baby boy, little Tycho Thompson!

He looks a lot like Rachel already.

It is so awesome, yet so strange that my friends are starting on their own new kinds of adventures. Life is great that way, because everyone creates their own path and I love being able to watch each of my friends grow and change and create such wonderful lives for themselves. I look up to each and every one of them. They are all so very different and yet they are all so strong, intelligent, and daring in their own ways that I cherish being able to be around them and learn something from them everyday. I have the greatest friends in the world, perhaps we don't always talk to each other as much as we should or see each other as often as we would like to but I know that they will always be around when I need them the most and likewise I hope that they all know that I will be around when they need me.

Congratulations Rachel and Aaron. Your baby boy is beautiful and I am sure that he will bring nothing but joy and laughter into your lives. He is after all, pieces of you and this is what you do for others.

Preparations

Ok so here's the thing. When you live on a limited budget in any country, not to mention a foreign one, you must learn to improvise when you don't have the necessary equipment to preform certain tasks. Exhibit A: I have made a makeshift rolling pin, out of nothing less than tin foil and an empty wine bottle! Worked perfectly.

The other thing that one must learn is things don't always come in the

same sizes as we are accustom to. Exhibit B: Evaporate (not condensed milk, and yes mom they are very different things) only comes in 6oz

cans, which don't say "oz" it say 170g. I measure it just to make sure that I was using the correct amount.

Also important to note that if you cannot find what you are looking for you can usually make it out of what you have. The Internet is

wonderful and I found that if you double the amount of evaporated milk that you are going to need, use regular milk and simmer it until half of it is gone then you have just made evaporate milk! GENIUS!!

So here are some pictures of my Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie. Perhaps not the most elegant Pumpkin pie ever but I am sure that it will still taste amazing!

New Life

HURRAY!!! and congratulations!! My best friend Rachel just gave birth to her first child yesterday! It's a little boy named Tycho Thompson, after some famous Norwegian philosopher or something =p

(http://nysj.org/s/316/images/legacyCMS/ftp/E-86%20New%20Baby.jpg)

Field Trip Photos

If you would like to see any larger images of these just e-mail me and I will send them to you. There are two locations the first one is labeled the second kept messing up but its the Cardiff National Museum. It starts with a picture of Leanne and me.

Gloucestershire

Holy textbooks Batman!

So I know that I have really fallen down on keeping up with blogging and what not, but to be fair it is nearly the end of my first term as a graduate student, which means loads more work and less time out messing about. Since I wrote you last we have our friends Josh back in classes after a months absence, having 2 surgeries on his appendix. I am almost well again lol I caught a cold last week and so have been trying to work my way through that. I received some lovely packages from home, with a new pair of Chucks in one, which I would wear but its been raining a lot and Chucks and rain don't really do well together. Customs stole my Mac 'n Cheese, because they said it was a milk and cheese product. I beg to differer. I don't believe that it has either real milk or real cheese in it, which would give it some nutritional value. I am quite sure that Mac 'n Cheese from a box cannot have anything good inside. Oh yeah and Customs also opened most of my Christmas presents, jerks, but were kind enough to leave my Birthday presents alone, "thanks guys that's really sweet of you. That way you only ruin one of my special days."

The archaeology crowd (plus about 18 others) are having a Thanksgiving celebration on Sunday, organized by me of course. We were going to have on Thursday, but my MAASM group had our film shoot that day. We were then going to have it today, Saturday, but Leanne's MAASM group had their film shoot today so that was right out as well. Thus, our Thanksgiving is four days late but at least we are having one. Something tells me though it is going to be less like Thanksgiving and more like a huge party that gets well out of hand and that I am going to have to clean up from...of course lol. Anyways, I will post pictures of that sometime next weekend. I would do it sooner but next week is ridiculous. See below

Next week, the second to last week of the term looks like this

Monday: Materialities (10-1 then 2-5)

Tuesday: Film (9 to whenever)

Wednesday: Materialities (2-4)

Thursday: Materialities Presentation (9-12), Film Editing (until we just can't stand it anymore)

Friday: Film Editing (8-1), Documentary Histories (2-4:30) Sleep

Saturday: Bath Chocolate Festival

Sunday:....... ZzZzZzZz.......

Then the following week is really not much better:

Monday: Materialites (10-1) (2-5)

Tuesday: Film Editing (until our eyes fall out)

Wednesday: Field trip to Glastonbury (ALL DAY)

Thursday: Last day of Film Editing (until I loose my mind)

Friday: Drama end of term party

Saturday: Arch end of term party (also I told Lisa that I would attend the Sociology end of term party this same night ouch!)

Sunday: Pods and Mine Early Birthday Celebration (once again ouch!)

Then rest and write three essays and package our film to turn in in Janurary. So I wont be sleeping much for then next few weeks and now you see why it might take awhile until I post anything again.

I will put up a post right after this one that has pictures of our field trips to Cardiff, Gloucestershire (pronounced GlAUster, why? I just blame it on the French. And can someone please "esplain to me" why you would pronounce (Spelled) "BERKeley" as "BARKeley." Really where did they come up with that pronunciation. It is a wonder that anyone can learn English at all.) and wherever else we have been since last I wrote to you. Hope that you all are doing wonderfully and had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Miss you lots!

Katie

(picture: http://www.whokilledbambi.co.uk/public/2008/05/bliumis.jpg)

Another crazy week. I know I have promised to update about last week but I just haven't had the time. I have had two huge presentations due this week, one on Tuesday and one today. Next week I have to have the outline for our shoot done and have a firm idea what I am doing for my Materialities presentation on Dec.3rd along with picking out paper topics for my final papers for my three courses. OY! lol but don't worry, with the Archaeology crowd it is never all work and no fun. I have been finding little corners of time to go out and have fun with the crew, and our friend Josh is back up and mobile which is really great! (He was the one that had is appendix out). Anyway, I will, one of these days, get things posted up so that you can see what I have been up to over the past few weeks, but currently I have to go do some shopping and pick a package that my mommy sent me :0)

(as an aside all definition photos, like the one above, that I put on my blog are not taken by me...I know disappointing right? This one came from [http://acopsthoughts.com/wp-content/uploads/pd_speeding_car_070629_ms.jpg])

Tired, don't be silly!

It has been and will continue to be one heck of a busy week back. I will tell about it in all its detail soon. For those of you who don't already know, I was very very sick last week and missed all but one of my classes, although I didn't have class on Monday, so I got lucky on that front. I ended up at the doctors I think a grand total of 6 times, which is more than I normally go in a 2 year period. I am much improved this week, though not quite 100%, hopefully I will be back to my regular crazy self soon. This week in a snapshot:

Monday: Mark Horton Field Trip (couldn't find my camera so no pictures and was still not feeling great, so it wasn't as exciting as all the other field trips)

Tuesday: My friend Ellie's birthday, so we took her out to a pub called 1-5-5 and they had an open mic night which was pretty good)

Wednesday: Field trip to a WWII blockade made here in the English countryside in case the Germans decided to invade. Then BAARS (went to the lecture and then went home. No jaunting to The Hawthorns (pub) or Hivery Volts (also pub) tonight)

Thursday: Guy Fawkes Day (Mark Horton invited us all to his manor house in Glouster for a party, so that aught to be "a whale of a time," as my friend Ros says)

Friday: Ellie's Birthday Party, and Lisa's friends from Norway arrive.

Saturday: Leanne and I work on our Exmoor project. Lisa and I are taking her friends to the Smugglers Inn for dinner then to The Old Duke for Jazz music...

Sunday: I am sleeping and working on my Exmoor project. It's due on Tuesday oy.

Mind you I have been very good this week so far (today is Wednesday) because I have copped out and gone home early every night this week to sleep.

......and I wondered how I got the flu....31hrs of class a week, homework and week nights like this, shocking that I fell sick, shocking ;0)

Mountain, Mine

The ordeal of the day being almost done

and I alone, standing as one.

From the mountain top I see you,

ground beneath your feet as you run,

holding out my hand to grab on

so that you will take me with you.

I don't want to be left behind, here

to stand by my own.

No mountain could make me stay

when you turn away. Climb the highest heights,

defy every spirit in the sky

just to make it back, for I must always be near to you,

even if I am many miles away.

(An original KLM poem)

For my Family and all the people that I love.

Sick Note

Sorry I haven't written. I have been very sick for over a week and have just not had the energy to do much of anything. With any luck I am on the mend and will have new fun adventures to tell you about soon.

Busy, me, never...;0)

Sorry that I have haven't posted anything in awhile. I had to finally give in to the harassing e-mails and facebook messages I was receiving from unnamed parties. Geesh you all are demanding lol Life here has been cr-azy! I am now sick, again, for the second time in 3 weeks woo *sigh*. Other than that I have been going to class. Got all jazzed up for a "Fancy Dress Party," here meaning costume party not pretty clothing, last weekend but it was a bust because the people we were supposed to go with, well they didn't answer their phones so we went out for our buddy Josh's 28th Birthday Bristol bash. (we all, Leanne, her roommate Katy, Lisa, Jeanne and I stayed for about 20 minutes of before everyone else ran out the door and we all went to hang out in my flat.) Later that night, or rather the early the next morning Josh had appendicitis and was not so speedily rushed to the hospital, where he got to talk to 10, yes you read that right, different doctors before going into surgery. So needless to say his birthday could have been better lol poor guy. He is doing alright now but not sure when he will be back in class.

This week has been activity filled. We had a full Monday, though I don't remember what all we did, so apparently nothing exciting. Tuesday, I used my oven for the first time. Wednesday, fun day, we were off to Avebury, really cool place plus I got this picture of Mark Horton directing traffic. In addition to a few other classic Mark photos. He is such a kick! Then it was on to the BAARS (Bristol Archaeological and Anthropological Seminar, or something like that) meeting, which meant free wine, hurray! Then to Hawthorns (pub) with the crew and professors, and finally to Hivery Volts (also, pub). It was a great day and night as Wednesday's normally are, though there were some casualties the next morning. On a side note, just to clarify, all the field trips are with all of Archaeology, not just MAASM (my group), as are all activities that follow, BAARS, etc. This includes, Maritime, Landscape, Conflict, Historical Arch, and...I feel like I am missing one, but anyway you get the idea, there are a lot of us.

Thursday was uneventful, other than us (in this case MAASM) getting our first stab at editing films, which was time consuming but not as bad as I had originally anticipated. Today was good. I finally got a winter coat and some medicine for my sickness lol (just a cough, no one get too excited). I made myself some homemade chicken soup, not the best but it was decent for a first attempt and not having all the ingredients. Not sure what is on tap for tonight yet, but I am sure if anything it will be fun. I have loads of pictures from Avebury but it takes a really long time to organize them on here so maybe when I am feeling a bit more chipper.

Love you all loads! Miss you too!

XXXX Katie

P.S. I love e-mails.......hint, hint, nudge, nudge..

The MH Walking Tour

Monday commenced a really long week of classes, as I have previously related and given the schedule for. Friday I woke up and felt sick but none the less went on The Mark Horton power walk through the streets and docks of Bristol. We started at the Clifton end of the Bristol suspension bridge. Up we walked to the Camera Obscura on the top of the hill, to get a really good view of the number one suicide location in Bristol, built by the second most famous Britain in History, Brunel. Mark took us to the rockslide, which has been polishing backsides for the past 300 years or so. Only three people went down. My friend Liam, Leanne, oh yeah and of course I did it too! Let the Brits have all the fun, please! Lol Then it was out to the Bristol Locks, which until yesterday were run by a hydraulic system, which they are now in the process of replacing, not because it doesn’t work, it works just fine in fact, but because they believe that an electric computer run system will be more reliable. I say if it has worked for 200 years and isn’t broken why bother replacing it? That’s just me though, I am just a kid what do I know.

Mark took us down to the hydraulic pump site then around to an area that said “no public access past this point.” From there we went into another restricted access area to meet his yacht builder. Then Mark commandeered a tour boat and conducted a river Fume tour. Mind you, there were other people on the tour boat that Mark commandeered, who had paid for this boat tour, poor people they had no idea, and Mark did actually pay for us all to go on the boat tour, just to get that straight. He just paid as we were getting off the boat, after he had taken it over lol.

Well that is where the excitement of the morning really ended. Our tour of Bristol lasted 3 hours in total (9:30 to 12:30). The MAASM’s went and got lunch and then headed out to Documentary Histories and Context, which since I was feeling absolutely horrible, was an excessively long class that I got absolutely nothing out of except that I had homework for it. I got home at 5:30PM after attempting to collect my ID card for the third time, unsuccessfully, they say it will be ready by Tuesday but I don’t really believe them. I took a nice shower and then hurriedly got dressed to meet Jeanne and Lisa to see “We Will Rock You,” musical based on some of the band Queen’s greatest hit songs. The play was alright but the music was brilliant, of course it was it’s Queen!

After the show, I skipped out on a night out with Jeanne, Lisa, and the archaeology crew, so you know that I was feeling like poop. I woke up Saturday morning and felt a thousand times better. Must have been the 24-hour flue. Anyways, that is all from my end of the pond. I will try to keep up more efficiently with my blog but having about 31 hours of class a week makes that very, very difficult. Hope that you are all well and I will talk to you later.

XXXX Me

Exmoor Finale and Bath

Day 4: We were told to be ready to go at “half eight” (8:30AM) to take a walk and see some WWII memorial paintings that were found on the inside a barn just down the way from our hostel. The area of Exford and Exmoor during WWII was the home of many American military boys, training up and moving out to the east to fight; it is no real surprise that such murals exist in this area. It was quite nice but we didn’t leave the hostel until after 9, so much for being ready early.

MAASM (MA in Archaeology for Screen Media, which is my group) (left to right Top Row: Big C, Terri, Ellie and Phil. Bottom Row: Avantika, Devika, Karen, Ros, Pods, Leanne, Me and Rubie) were with the landscape archaeologists for our last day, which meant no Mark Horton. However, we got to listen to Dr. Paula Gardiner, who is just a wonderful lecturer. She took us down to the beach, just off the moors where we got to see a submerged forest. It was low tide, which made it possible to see them but you had search for the trees, none the less they were there! (Leanne and I got cream tea at lunch! I think we found the most expensive one in all of southern England but it was worth it!)

Then it was up on to the moors for prehistoric rock circles and Bronze Age sites. The weather started to turn bad just as we were packing into the Landies and mini bus to leave. Four days of beautiful weather and no rain, amazing!

On our way home, we got lost, turned around, missed our exit(s) off the M5, made a mini bus tour of the outlying area of Bristol and finally got home an hour later than our fellow classmates.

I went home after our lovely and overly long ride home, took a shower and then went out with Jeanne and Lisa. Saturday morning I woke up late (10AM), got dressed, did some grocery shopping and then met up with Lisa and Jeanne to go into Bath.

Our day in Bath was lovely. (These two were really quite good at drumming). I got a cream tea and we walked the city enjoying the buildings and the mystic of walking the same roads as Jane Austen. I saw the place where they filmed Persuasion so I was a very happy girl, cream tea and Jane Austen, almost a perfect day. We went home and Jeanne left us. Lisa and I met up later and went out…as usual. (Turns out that Jeanne, having been sick for the better part of two weeks had the flue, possibly swine flue, at least that is what the doctor that she went to see thought and decided to put on a full biohazard suit to examine her. Lol a bit much, no?)