Friends From Afar!

Not too long after I arrived in St. Andrews, two of my best friends from high school, William and Colby, came to visit.  Having only been in St. Andrews for a couple of weeks and thus still learning the town, it was great to have some old mates to go out with.

Colby, being a golfer, was adamant about playing the old course, which is of course the home of golf (Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews).  As a reservation to play on the course has a waiting list of up to a year, Colby had a letter from his home golf pro vouching for his handicap and woke up at 4:30am to see if he would be able to play.  Luckily for him, he was able to join a group of three gentlemen for an 11:00am tee time.  He got lucky too, as the weather was perfect for golf.  We were not as fortunate the other days.

Lord Voldemort?

We went to Edinburgh for the weekend.  Even though the weather was miserable (i.e. cold and wet), we still managed to have a good time.  We went to some centuries-old pubs to get out of the elements.  BUT, it was while looking for a pub that we discovered something amazing. . . . . . . a free Harry Potter walking tour!!!! We were pretty excited.  Basically, this guy in wizard garb took us on a walking tour of all the famous Harry Potter sites in Edinburgh, such as the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote most of the first book, the inspirations for Diagon Alley and Hogwarts, as well as a graveyard which aided her in creating names (such as McGonagall and Tom Riddle).  Everyone on the tour was near our age and thus had grown up with Harry Potter.  This resulted in many nerdy Harry Potter jokes and spells being cast (as we had our own wands for the tour!). 

The next day we toured Edinburgh Castle.  It is a huge fortress on top of a huge hill (cliff?).  I can't imagine how anyone could overtake it prior to modern weaponry.  We were also able to see the crown jewels used in Scottish coronation ceremonies.  However, the most memorable story of the day came in the castle's whiskey shop.  Somehow a bird had gotten into the shop and while we were looking at a £3,000 bottle of Scottish whiskey, it decided to relieve itself on William's face. Hahaha pretty hilarious, but William wasn't too happy.  But what a great story! Who can say they got pooped on by a bird in Edinburgh Castle's whiskey shop?!

Inside the Castle walls.

Alas, our wet weekend came to an end.  I had to head back to St. Andrews, and William and Colby set off for adventures in Belgium and France.

Loch Ness & the Scottish Highlands

Recently, I traveled to Loch Ness, of monster fame, with my roommates Laure and Corentin and our other friend Romain.  "Loch" is the Scottish Gaelic word for "lake." It's the longest lake in Scotland, spanning a great length of the country (kingdom?).  We set off at what felt like dawn on Saturday morning to meet our tour guide, Paul, who drove us around all day.

While we were crossing the bridge over to Dundee, Paul pointed out the railway bridge constructed in the late 19th century.  Apparently, the bridge collapsed a year after it was made, leading to a large inquiry.  He claims it holds the origins of the phrase "botched job," as the architect of the bridge was Sir Thomas Bouch.  Not sure if I buy it, but a good story nonetheless.

Our first main stop was at the Hermitage in Dunkeld, a beautiful wood with a splendid waterfall.  We had a nice hike enjoying the greenery.  All the trees and rocks were covered in moss.  As for the trees, there were the tallest Douglas Firs in Scotland.  Douglas Firs are of course native to North America, but  these trees were planted by David Douglas himself, the Scottish botanist from which the trees take their name.

We finally reached Loch Ness in the afternoon.  It was really pretty!  It was at the site of a castle, so we had plenty of ruins to meander through.  However, it started to rain, so it was a wet visit.  Unfortunately, there were no sightings of Nessy, the Loch Ness monster.

On our drive home, we went through Glencoe, which had the most beautiful scenery!  I really want to go back and hike there.  I could only think of Bilbo Baggins, trekking through the hills (can't wait for that movie to come out!).  It was also the location where the famous bridge scene of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" was filmed.

Hogwarts Express!

And lastly, one of the biggest highlights of the day was seeing the bridge filmed in Harry Potter where the Hogwarts Express crosses when Harry and Ron fly by in the Ford Angela!! And then, we actually saw the train used in the movie as the Hogwarts Express!! It's an old steam engine! It was a really nerdy, exciting moment!

The whole trip was well worth it! It was a great day from beginning to end and gave me a wonderful overview of the Scottish Highlands and familiarity with the Scottish landscape.

An awesome bridge!

The Highlands in Glencoe! "What is your quest?!"

Adjusting to Life in Scotland!

Well, after four plane rides, a night in a hostel, a train, and a taxi, I finally made it to St. Andrews.  It was quite a journey!  That was three weeks ago!  Since then, I'm slowly becoming accustomed to life in Scotland.

The biggest difference (other than the accents!) is the weather.  Being so far north, the sun doesn't set until around 10pm.  It's actually pretty nice.  Having five hours of sunlight after getting off work makes the day seem only half done!  However, I'm already dreading the winter...

Biggest mistake thus far: bringing so many pairs of shorts and short-sleeve shirts!!! It's COLD here!!!  At least for the summer.  The normal temperature is in the 50s (I haven't quite learned Celsius yet...).  I had to buy a scarf.  However, I of course bought a wool scarf featuring the Ross clan tartan, which my family stems from when they emigrated in 1732.

So, I'm sure many of you are wondering what I'm actually doing over here.  For the months of June and July I'm a visiting scholar with the Universal Short Title Catalogue. The goal of the USTC is to catalogue all printed books printed in Europe from the invention of the printing press (mid-1400s) until the mid-seventeenth century.  The project began in 1997 and has been a great success thus far.  It is a resource to scholars to help them identify the location of specific books.  Basically, if you search for a book, it will tell you what libraries across Europe have the specific book.

I know it's hard for many to comprehend, but you must understand most books from early modern Europe only survive in one copy.  It is therefore important to identify and locate various works.  My job this summer is helping catalogue works printed in Normandy, France during the first half of the seventeenth century.  Additionally, I will be working at the Special Collections Library, handling and creating catalogue entries for rare books.  That's the fun and exciting part!  Especially since many of these books have never been catalogued before.

I find it fascinating that libraries have thousands of books, yet very often have no idea what their collections hold.  For example, within the past month, the library identified a multi-volume set of books that had been in the library for over one hundred years and had never been checked out.  The books were a gift from the King of Siam (current day Thailand).  As they were in Thai, no one in the library at that time new what they were.  It turns out they are copies of the sacred texts of a specific sect of Buddhism and are very rare.  A great find!

Anyway, I hope that briefly gives you an idea of what I'm doing this summer.  I've had plenty of adventures thus far and will for sure tell you all about them! I'll probably post a few more updates to catch up with the present, but will then plan on updating once every two weeks.

So check back!

Summer Language Program!

Greetings! So, as you can tell, I've pretty much taken a break from this blog all summer.  But I've decided it's time for an update.  May and June were wedding season.  First was Andy and Christen's wedding, followed by Katie Mac and David's.  They were both soooo much fun! It was great seeing so many old friends all in the same place again.  And Perry got to come to Andy and Christen's, so I was able to introduce her to lots of new people.

Perry left for Nicaragua on June 1st and I started the Summer Language Program at the Divinity School.  So for the past two months, I've been studying German.  Officially, it's German for Reading Knowledge, so we're not learning to speak it.  We learn to translate it with the aid of a dictionary.  So basically, we've learned German grammar all summer, which is much different than spoken language.  I have my final on Thursday.  I've been doing well all summer, so I'm pretty sure I'll do fine on it.  So no worries there.

Today I went to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.  I got in free with my Harvard ID, so that saved me from the $20 student price -- Woo!  They had a special exhibit, Chihuly Through the Looking Glass.  Dale Chihuly specializes in glass sculpting with an organic feel.  It was really cool.  And though it has nothing to do with it, I did just finish reading Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. 


Check out some images. Pretty cool.

On Saturday, I'm flying to Memphis and will be back and forth between there and St. Louis until the end of August.  Then back to the books.  Tschüss!

The Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR)

It is beautiful outside today.  I actually don't need a coat!  I finished my classes yesterday and only have two more papers to work on.  I've already written them, but need to edit them.  This might be the first time ever that I'm not completely stressed at the end of the semester! So, that's a nice feeling.

I've been working part-time this semester at the Center for the Study of World Religions.  I applied for the job and started working there in either late January or early February, I can't remember.  I'm really enjoying the job though.  The CSWR is affiliated with the Divinity School and provides various lectures and events relating to the study of world religions (obviously).  I staff the front desk a few afternoons a week and do lots of other office projects for the staff.  It's very similar to the office work I did when I worked at SLU's Office of Undergraduate Admission.  I also created and am the admin for the Center's Facebook page.  You should become a Fan!

The Center has a lot of artwork around it, so I've been tasked with researching every piece and creating artwork labels we can mount next to each piece.  So, that's been fun.  We also have lots of events with food and drink, so I get lots of free meals which is always a plus in any job!

The staff is a great group of people and I'm really enjoyed working here.  And it's nice not to see the bank account get perpetually lower.  I'll also be working over the summer and next year.

And as a final note, the Center's director, Frank Clooney, happens to be a Jesuit and knows Fr. JJ, my theology mentor at SLU.  Such a small world!

Spring Break & Other Adventures!

This semester has been moving entirely too fast.  The term didn't even begin until the end of January, followed by February, which is already a short month.  And now, here I am, with the semester on its descent.

Classes are going well.  I'm taking four courses and auditing another, so my schedule is a bit busy.  On Mondays I have a seminar on Martin Luther King, Jr.  It is great! I love the readings.  Having taken my Gandhi seminar the previous semester, it's great following it with MLK.  By reading all of King's writings, the Gandhian influence is blatantly apparent.  In fact, over winter break, Perry and I went to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and they even had a special section on Gandhi and his Indian campaigns because of the vast influence it had on the American Civil Rights movement.  When President Obama visited India last fall, he pointed out to the Indian Parliament that without Gandhi, he probably wouldn't be president right now, which is a pretty significant statement.

I am also taking Introductions to the New Testament by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza.  She's pretty much one of the most famous feminist theologians in the world.  It's a really good class.  I'm learning a lot about power structures, identity, and how these affect different parties in hierarchical relationships.  As it's not in my area of focus, I'm only taking it Sat/Unsat instead of for a grade.  We have small groups we meet in every week.  My group had to present in class last week on the "Queer Bible Commentary."  I have not had much experience in this area, so it was interesting to learn about it.  I really enjoyed the introduction in it.

I'm auditing Intermediate Latin this semester to get a review on some grammar, but am also taking an advanced Latin course for a grade.  It's focusing on "Writings by and about Penitent Women in Medieval and Renaissance Italy."  Perhaps the nerdiest class name ever, I know.  It's pretty good though.  It's good for my Latin and introduces me to medieval culture and practices.  A penitent woman is kind of like a nun, but a woman who never took vows or formally joined a convent.  Such examples are Catherine of Sienna or Margarita of Cortona.  Many are saints or unofficial saints in various Italian cities.  It was a cause of tension within the institutional church because these women were effectively preaching (a no no!) and were under no supervision.  So, there's a little church history lesson for you.

My last class is on Reformed Christian Thought.  As I think I want to focus on the 16th century reformations following my masters, this class was an obvious choice.  However, reformed thought does not refer specifically to the reformation, but rather the school of thought stemming from John Calvin, aka the Presbyterian Church.  It's really good.  I do get frustrated trying to get through the readings at times, but I do enjoy it.  One of our secondary source texts is "Feminist and Womanist Essays in Reformed Dogmatics."  I'm really enjoying this book, as it is applying old theologies to modern thought and attempting to break oppressing power structures, which I'm very interested in.  So, I guess you can call me a feminist.  Or a womanist, for that matter.

Enough about school.  I had President's Day off in February, which was a Monday, and since I don't have classes on Fridays, I flew to St. Louis to visit Perry.  It was great to be in town to spend time with her and to see some friends.  Also, the weekend before my spring break, Brooke and Gary came to Boston to visit me and for Gary to attend a dental conference.  And guess what? Perry surprised me!!!  I had no idea until she walked in the door as I was getting ready for bed.  So it was a great weekend with family.  We walked around Harvard, visited the Sam Adam's brewery, checked out Fenway Park, and visited lots of the historical places along the Freedom Trail.  It was a blast.

And then the next week was Spring Break! I flew to St. Louis--it was $200 cheaper than Memphis! On Saturday night Perry, some friends, and I went to Oyster Bar to see our friend's band play.  It was a great time and I wouldn't have expected less.  On Sunday, we drove to Memphis for the week.  There we just hung out and spent time with friends and family.  On St. Patrick's Day, we went down to Beale Street with my friends Katie and her fiance David.  That was fun and it was Perry's first time to Beale!

But alas, now I'm back at school and trying to get a head start on my papers so I can finish the semester strong.

Oh, and as a final thought, the Sunday I flew back to Boston from St. Louis, it was 78 degress in St. Louis.  Wonderful weather.  Don't worry, it snowed all day on Monday in Boston.  Typical.

A new year, a new semester

Sorry that it has been a while since my last post.  I pretty much disconnected from technology while I was home for winter break.  I had a little over a month off, which was a time well spent being lazy, leisure reading, and spending time with friends and family.  Not to mention that I got to spend an entire month with Perry!

Snow at HDS!

Christmas was good.  I drove up to St. Louis and did the whole Christmas Eve thing with Perry's family and then we drove back to Memphis on Christmas morning in the snow (very early!).  Basically, most of my break was Perry and I driving back and forth between Memphis and St. Louis.  However, I enjoyed it nonetheless.  A bunch of my friends from SLU met up in St. Louis for New Year's Eve, which was oh so much fun.  Also, I happened to be in STL when everyone came back to SLU, so I got to see a lot of my friends still at SLU that I rarely get to see anymore.

Alas, I had to return to Cambridge to begin a new semester of classes.  This semester I'm taking a seminar on Martin Luther King, Jr.  I loved my course on Gandhi and I thought this would be a wonderful addition to my learnings in nonviolence.  I've even seriously considered pursing further study in this field, as I find it so fascinating.  While in Memphis, Perry and I went to the National Civil Rights Museum.  I was happy to see that at the end, they had a display on Gandhi, outlining his campaigns, as well as his influences on MLK.  This semester, as I have begun reading King's works, it's like reading Gandhi all over again.  I also didn't realize King visited India to learn more about Gandhi.  My professor for the class (even though he is slightly boring...) knew Martin Luther King, so it's cool to hear his insights.

I am also taking a class on Reformed Christian Thought.  As of right now, I'm planning on matriculating (fingers crossed!) into a Ph.D. program after I finish my MTS, in which I'd focus on the history and theologies of the 16th century reformations.  So, this reformed thought class is exactly what I'm interested in.  However, reformed thought does not imply reformation thought, but rather the tradition originating in John Calvin.

Walking to class!

Another course I'm enrolled in is Introductions to the New Testament, which dives in to different methods and hermeneutics for interpreting the Christian scriptures.  It's taught by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza who is one of the most well-known theologians on feminist theology, so I'm excited to be in her class.  She's all about breaking down power structures.

Lastly, I'm in a Latin course.  Well, actually two Latin courses.  The first is intermediate Latin.  But, since I've already passed the Latin proficiency exam, I'm just auditing this class.  I want some grammar review, which this will aid in, as well as translating some early Christian texts (currently doing the Acts of Paul and Thecla, which obviously didn't make it into the Bible, as I'm sure most people have never heard of Thecla, ha).  I'm also in an advanced Latin course on the writings of Penitent women in Medieval Italy.  Penitent women were lay women who still chose to live lives of piety.  Pretty much like being a nun, but not taking vows and therefore not formally under the ecclesiastical hierarchy.  It's difficult at times, but I enjoy learning and this will certainly improve my Latin.

So as you can see, I have a full semester ahead of me!  It's like a never ending cycle of class, reading, and translating.  That's alright though.  As daunting as it seems, I just have to remember that I like it and that this is why I'm here.  But don't worry, I have my down time!  In fact, today being Thursday, is my TV night (Community, Parks & Rec., the Office, 30 Rock, and Outsourced)!