Finished that Dissertation!!

Yesterday was dissertation hand-in day, and though I turned it in a little early out of fear of the great Storming-of-the-Printers-in-the-Library, the true celebration began when everyone had their essays in. There seemed to be champagne around every corner. And what a relief! After weeks and weeks of tense looks, half-hearted shrugs when asked about well-being, and armloads of books, everyone is free to enjoy summer in London!

In all seriousness, though, completing this dissertation was an amazing experience, and I learned an enormous amount from the process of turn-in and revision. I could not be more impressed by my dissertation supervisor, who spent so much time and effort working with me on my paper and pushing me to improve it. That kind of investment is exactly what I would like in a PhD supervisor (which I will hopefully have one day. Here's hopin'! )

Stowe 17 celebrating right along with me

June is going to be chock full of activities, and then my mom arrives at the beginning of July. We will return home together on July 10th (a day after my birthday!) This Sunday is the much-anticipated Summer Ball, and then in one week I will be going to see HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD. I've also got a trip to the Hague planned in late July--stay tuned!

So, Robyn, What's your dissertation about?

So glad you asked!

My dissertation is about a medieval manuscript that lives in the British Library--the largest library in the world that just happens to be half an hour away from my dorm. With the oh-so-descriptive marker Stowe MS 17 (because it used to be in a house called Stowe House), the manuscript is a Book of Hours, that is, a personal book of prayers used by medieval lay people throughout the day. Stowe 17 belonged to an aristocratic woman who appears many times in the pages of her own manuscript.

 
My dissertation in about the way female viewership affected the way the manuscript was made.

 A few weeks ago, after lots of persuading, I got to go see the book in person.  It's very small, fitting snuggly in the palms of my hand just like it probably would have for its original medieval owner. What an amazing feeling, to hold a 700 year old book that I've been studying for months. It's filled with a sorts of funny marginal images to puzzle over too.

In the front are pilgrim badges, where someone sewed in proof of their journeys to holy sights--sound familiar? :) Only their imprints remain now, but originally they would've looked something like this:

So there's a little peek into my day in and day out research! The paper is due in June 9th, and here's hoping I get it done in time.

You are not the first to come this way...

      With London finally having a warm day here or there, it seemed perfectly reasonable to plunge back into winter by taking a whirlwind holiday up to Norway at the beginning of May with the one and only Kyleigh Naughton, who came all the way from Memphis to visit! We were there five full nights, with two nights in Oslo and three in Bergen, the second largest city in Norway.

Ice Bar! 

Me with Edvard Munch's Scream at the National Gallery in Oslo

Another Norwegian artist I discovered, Harold Sohlberg

A traditional Norwegian timber church (Stavekirche) at the Folk Museum

A Viking Ship c. 900 at the Viking Ship Museum! (We went to a lot of museum in our one day in Oslo)

A model from the Arctic Expedition museum (Cause Norwegians do stuff like that)

The sun finally came out in the afternoon on our Oslo day

The famous National Opera house with a roof you can walk on

We encountered all kinds of terrain: city, coast, forest, snowy fountain, and fjord! Our adventures included a wonderful combination of culture and art as well as the unparalleled natural beauty of Norway. My one regret is that I did not see a reindeer. I did, however, see viking ships, waterfalls, and a glacier. We also watched Frozen about four times in our Air BnBs (this was my first time trying staying with people in their homes, but it was highly successful. The trick is choosing people with amazing reviews.) 

 From our very icy day trekking over the frozen lake in Finse (the shooting location for the ice planet of Hoth in Star Wars)

 I got really sunburned but had an amazing time! 

 Shots from our fjord cruise on the Norway in a Nutshell tour

Our fjord cruise was truly unbelievable, and I felt like we got a really nice understanding of the country. Some funny things: Norway is incredibly expensive. Like, absurdly expensive, and I live in London. Second, Norwegians all speak English, and acted like it was a little rude to ask. They were like "obviously!" In fact, everything seemed to be obvious to the Norwegians. Maybe it was a cultural thing. Does the bathtub work? obviously! Does Tram A stop at Location B? Obviously! Can I get that on the side? Obviously! 

 Ice cream and a bird's eye view of Bergen! 

         Getting to go to Norway with a best friend was a perfect break from school and got me ready to buckle down and spend the last few weeks working on my dissertation.

Copenhagen!

       So first, I should briefly say that i'm SO SORRY it has been so long since I made a blog post. While Alex was here also happened to be the busiest term time I've yet to have in England, and in the midst of it all I dropped the ball on the blogging. Needless to say, it has already been an eventful 2016! Some highlights of the past few months have included West End shows (Phantom and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, both so great), trips to Brighton and Oxford, plus many wonderful days in London. Now, with spring approaching, we are finally getting some sunshine and some warmer weather. The trees are budding, and all the MAs have their heads down, devoting themselves to their dissertations.

 Our Good Friday in Brighton! 

 Revisiting the old stomping grounds in Oxford! 

 Easter Afternoon Tea :) 

 Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theater! 

 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! 

       During our long Easter break, however, I got the opportunity to go to Copenhagen with the two Kristins and Emily, three great friends with a like-minded love of art and adventure. Our plane tickets were cheaper than a plate of fish and chips, so we decided to hop over to Denmark for a little holiday.
       Copenhagen is an interesting place. Clean, beautiful, architecturally marvelous, it reads as a little too good to be true. The people are friendly, and they all speak English. There aren't very many of them, either--a lot of the time we were there it was as if we had the city to ourselves. I joked that it was all a big movie set with five extras we kept seeing to try and convince us it was a real place. Jokes aside though, it's easy to see why people would live in Scandinavia. The men are also really attractive. Just saying.
       At the Louisiana Art Museum and the David Collection, we had the opportunity to see some great contemporary as well as medieval Islamic art! The Op-Art exhibition and outdoor sculpture garden at the Louisiana--all against a backdrop of Ocean and, in the distance, Sweden--was particularly stunning.

        We climbed a terrifying church tower, a gilded spiral stair that ended high above the city--and by ended, I mean it just ended. There were stairs and then there weren't. No platform. Just you, suspended above Copenhagen on a step half a foot wide. Just a block down from the church is Christiana, an independent hippy commune that we took a brief stroll in before seeking lunch back in the confines of the EU.

        We went to Tivoli, a famous and very old amusement park where I rode an all wooden roller coaster that's about as old as Rhodes College. A man rode with us and manually controlled the speed!

         We walked ourselves nearly to death and had the time of our lives. I especially loved the boat tour we took, that began in Nuhavn and took us all around the city by canal. It featured a cold wind, colorful houses, sailing boats, an 18th crane, and, of course, Copenhagen's most famous daughter, Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid.

         I was a little disappointed we didn't get to go to Rosenborg Palace, but that leaves something for the next time! Look at this hot chocolate:

Why yes, that is just a cup of hot milk and a chunk of chocolate I got to stir in! I announced this to the entire cafe and got some weird looks. 

         At trip's end, Kristin and I capped it off with a traditional Denmark delicacy--hot dogs and chocolate milk! (Their airport, by the way, was friendly, effortless and so classy! Those scandanavians put us all to shame...)