On Wednesday (which Adam says "WED-n'sday", with the d in it, instead of "WENZday", like I say it), I had the seminar for my history module at 10 AM. I picked Diseases and Medicine for my presentation; I'm looking forward learning about the history of medicine. I thought about Witchcraft and Witch Hunts or Natural Philosophy (i.e., early science, like Newton), but those were at the end of the list and more likely to fill up, at least the witch one. As it stands, I'm working alone and have a few weeks to prepare. I'll get to see a few presentations before I have to do mine, so that's good. I'm looking forward to what I'll learn in the class, if not the actual process of learning it.
I'm also not looking forward to the annoying feminist in the lecture. She's the sort that gives the rest of us a bad name ("us" here meaning women in general, quite frankly). She got mad at someone for saying that, based on the burial records we were examining, men were more important than women in the Early Modern period (1500s to 1700s, roughly). It was a patriarchal society, honey. She's evidently a history major, which basically means that she either wants to teach or go into a traditionally male-dominated field, so I understand her feelings (as someone planning to go into a traditionally male-dominated field, even if my Whitworth classes are kind of full of females), but honestly! Gah.
I got my slippers, which I love:
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| Supported by lots and lots of museums and companies and stuff. |
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| Impressive building. Also, the intersections here would inspire terrible things in Andrew's road map. |
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| Dr. William Clanny, who invented safety lamps for miners. I suspect that he's the namesake of Clanny House, but I could be mistaken. |
Thursday consisted entirely of Analytical Biochemistry. I inadvertently skipped two hours of lecture, thinking that the two slots on the schedule were two sections for the lecture, just like there were three lab sections. No. The lecture goes from 9-11 AM, then from 12-2 PM. Happily, my lecturer (also french. What is up with this?) was understanding of my study abroad issues, and emailed me the slides for the lecture. After the lecture, I had a short break before lab, which consisted entirely of review calculations.
I was surrounded by algebraic idiots. The lecturer wants us to put down formulas for every mathematic calculation we do (like M1V1=M2V2 for mass and volume problems, that sort of thing). While this is not my style, I'm willing to adapt in order to keep my grades up. No one could understand how to do this. Granted, I tend to put my formulas on at the end of the problem, but it's not impossible for me to use them at the beginning.
We spent ten minutes doing one problem on the board because the guy doing it couldn't figure out the formulas.
Then came the pièce de résistance. On one problem, which was admittedly complex, we finally worked it down to two unknowns and two equations (fairly ideal, for those of you without much math background). We were algebra-ing away, solving for unknowns and rewriting equations like professionals, when one kid asked where "the other A went".
Real quick: A+A is equivalent, in math terms, to 2A. It is also equivalent to A(1+1).
This kid could not understand this concept, which is one of the more basic . I don't know how he ever passed the british version of high school. I actually turned around and looked at him in disbelief at one point.
I got through class without killing anyone, so congratulate me.
Friday was much better. I don't have any classes friday, so Jessi and I went to the beach on what was probably going to be one of the last warm days of our little indian summer. Finally, I almost had to go buy summer clothes. I found some sea glass and cool shells, and we managed to avoid getting splashed until we were standing at the steps to leave the beach and a huge wave came up and splashed us. Go figure.
Josie got a goldfish, who has been enthusiastically adopted by the whole flat. She named him Bob, just Bob with no surname, but Flo decided to call him Bob Diddy. It stuck, and Bob is now Bob Diddyfish on facebook. We're all friends with him.
Saturday was to be my laundry day. I forgot about my towels, though, so Sunday will be my laundry day as well if I can get the laundry room code to work. We also had italian night, which ended up being entirely vegetarian (such nice flatmates!) and also delicious. Josie helped Jessi make cannelloni, which was good if a bit undercooked; Conor made risotto; and Adam made bruschetta. I supplied tiramisu ice cream and cleaned up before and after.
Sunday was a lazy day. I still have to do laundry, but I'm working on postcards (FYI, I haven't been to the places on them. I bought them while stuck in heathrow airport terminal 5 for half a day). It's the first properly rainy day since I've been here, and Josie's caught a cold that I blame on the weather shift from hot and a little humid to cold and rainy. It's a great day to curl up with tea and a book.
I worked out the laundry code! First, I had the wrong code. It's C2370X. Second, I was turning the knob the wrong way and not pulling on the door handle itself. Laundry room accomplished.
Oh, my plant is doing great. It has, like, four new blossoms and it takes so much water that it has to be healthy.
And while I was taking pictures, I noticed something odd about my curtains.
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| Gasp! Three colours on one curtain! I never knew that mine were black on the outside... |
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| Same for the other curtain. |
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