Weekend in England

So, this past weekend, I was in Bath, England! I was giving a paper at the Bath Spa University Irish Studies Symposium. Katie O'Driscoll, another girl from my MA, gave a paper as well. Another classmate and friend Grace Shalloo came along for moral support and to sit in the audience and ask intelligent questions. The symposium was very small and informal-- only three universities took part, only about twenty-five people attended, and only six people (two from each school) spoke. The schools involved were our hosts Bath Spa University, University of Lille (in France), and NUI Galway. Lille had the largest representation, bringing along six people who weren't speaking, and Grace, Katie, and I hung out with some of the Lille girls a bit, even going out for a drink with them on Saturday night. All in all, it was a great opportunity. I got to give my first paper, which even though it was such a small venue was still an exciting thing. I met a good number of people from other universities, making some potentially useful contacts. And, of course, I got to go to England! Southern England is beautiful, and the weather was absolutely lovely the whole time.

So here are some pictures! There are many more available here, but I'll give you some of the highlights...


Me lecturing! (And wearing my fancy new suit.)


Katie (left) and Grace (right)-- what a pair of troublemakers!


I had to take this picture for Dad.


To prove I was in England-- me in the Royal Crescent.


Our hotel.


The grounds of Bath Spa University. Fun fact: the land actually belongs to the Duke of Cornwall, otherwise known as the Prince of Wales, otherwise known as Prince Charles. The University pays him a small rent every year to use it.


A cool use for an old fountain.




The Bath Abbey, one of the famous landmarks.


The closest we got to the Roman Baths that gave the city its name. (They were closed when we went.)




The green fields of England, and its dramatically yellow fields of Rapeseed.

exciting times

I have some very exciting news: I have been offered (and accepted) a PhD fellowship!

The fellowship is with the Moore Institute Texts, Contexts & Cultures project. It is a fully-funded research position, covering tuition and a stipend of €16,000 a year for four years! The project I'll be working on, as described by the website:
"Project Five ('Globalisation, Empire and Culture'), led by Dr Lionel Pilkington, will trace some of the relations between European imperialism and media of various types, including newspapers, popular theatre and religious texts. Among its tasks will be the construction of an online archive of primary materials for further study in this area."

The fellowship also includes a teaching position and professional placement-- meaning that they will help me find a job after I get my degree. Wow!

So yes, I am very excited! I get to stay in Galway for the next four years, getting paid to go to school. This is, literally, a dream come true. (I've had dreams about getting the fellowship.)

Forthcoming: a post about my weekend in Jolly Old.

recipe!

Or, rather, "ingredients" might be a better title-- "recipe" implies some sort of measuring, and I certainly can't give you that. But I just made up a delicious soup that I wanted to share.

It started out because I'm feeling rather ill today (just a cold, don't worry) and I wanted to make something that would be good for a stuffed-up head. I originally was going to make chicken and rice soup, with some cayenne pepper thrown in. As I brought the chicken stock to boil and started peering in cabinets, the idea began evolving, with a dash of this and a pinch of that, until I had a spicy Thai-inspired soup.

(All portions are just "to taste" unless otherwise noted.)

-The base is chicken stock with a dash of soy sauce.
-garlic and cayenne pepper. A clove of fresh minced garlic would probably be great, but you'd want it to be minced (or smushed) very small, and simmered for a while. All I have is garlic powder, so that's what I used.
-lemongrass. Again, fresh and chopped would be fine, but I used dried stuff. You will probably want to strain this out before adding anything else. Lemongrass is, after all, a grass, and has a texture not unlike that of hay. Flavorful hay, certainly, and it won't do you any harm to eat it-- it's just tough. (According to the wikipedia page, it's also called "barbed wire grass." Ouch!) Simmer for, dunno, five or ten minutes? before straining it out.
-shredded greens-- I used spinach, rocket (arugula), and coriander (cilantro). When dealing with lettuces, you always want to shred them by hand rather than chop them with a knife-- chopping bruises the leaves. Throw in the shredded greens and simmer for a couple minutes... but not too long, you don't want them to wilt into nothing.
-ginger. Fresh or ground, always add ginger near the end-- heating makes it lose flavor very quickly.
-egg. Beat an egg well and pour it in the boiling mix at the end, stirring as you do. This is like egg drop soup, not avgolemano-- you want the egg to curdle! One egg is probably good for a quart of soup... I used one egg with 500ml (about 2 cups) of stock, and it's almost taken over the soup. Which isn't a bad thing, but I was envisioning something thinner and more brothy.


I am eating this right now, and man is it delicious! Just the thing for a cold.

Also, I would like to express how pleased I am that I can throw together a spicy Thai-flavored soup from the odds and ends in my kitchen.

Now, let's hope I can get this cold cleared up before the weekend. I don't want to go spreading this damn SARS all over England!

a much-belated update

I'm sorry I've been so lazy about updating this recently. I have no real excuse, other than being rather busier than usual, and rather lazier than usual when I'm not busy.

Related to this busy-ness (and business)... I am going to be presenting a paper at an academic conference! It's the Postgraduate Irish Studies Symposium at Bath Spa University in Bath, England, on 25 April. It isn't a huge important conference or anything-- just grad students. And the paper presentation can only be 20 minutes, which is hardly anything. (That's about a 7 or 8 page paper.) I'm still very excited, though. It's a great opportunity to get some exposure to the academic world and get some speaking practice in a rather informal environment. I'm going to present a short introduction to my MA thesis work... which means I have to write a short introduction to my MA thesis work. >_< This came up rather suddenly, it's true, and is kind of nerve-wracking. My English final is due 21 April, and my History final is supposed to be due 25 April... but Nessa, the program coordinator for my MA offered me an extension on the History essay. I guess they want to make sure I don't embarrass NUI Galway with a bad paper. :-P

The other fun part about the conference is that it's all-expenses paid by the university. They are paying for my flight, my hotel, and giving me a per diem for food and pocket money! Two other girls from the MA are going-- Katie is also presenting a paper, and Grace is going along just to see the conference and for moral support. One of the PhDs is going as well, with a paper, I believe. So, I basically get a free weekend in England, and I get to present a paper at an academic conference. There really is no downside-- I've never been to England!


Other exciting news...

Last weekend, my parents visited! They got here on Friday 4 April and left early on Monday 7 April, when they proceeded on to Greece and spent the week in Corfu. I am very jealous. They just got back last night from their week-long adventure-- mom called me today and filled me in on their trip. It was wonderful having them visit, even for just a few days. We explored Galway a bit, shopped in the street market, had pints and listened to trad at The Crane, went to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren, and ate a lot of seafood chowder and oysters. (Yum.)


These next two weeks are going to be very, very busy for me. I have papers to write, and a lot of research to do for them. I'm moving soon, by the first week of May most likely (to a gorgeous apartment across the street from the Cathedral.) Such is the life of a grad student!