Full Circle

"Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing while in pursuit of another."--Lawrence Block

Here are some pics of me during my first 2 weeks in Leicester:

I have less that 3 weeks left in my stay in the UK. It's been a year and one month since I took the plunge and decided to leave everyone and everything that I have ever known and been comfortable with to start a new chapter in my life and stand on my own feet in a foreign country. I've finished my Master's degree in Bioarchaeology, which was absolutely the hardest thing my brain has ever had to deal with. I've traveled to so many different cities and more countries than I have ever before. I've met some of the most amazing people. I've experienced a different culture and completely fallen in love with the place I can now call home, Leicester. Yet I'm leaving.

I left not really knowing myself and not having experienced a multitude of cultures. I'm leaving with a better understanding of myself. I've also become friends with people from more countries and cultures than I can count and I have loved every single second of it. When I left Dulles airport I had no idea what to expect and I was absolutely terrified, but excited. It's weird saying this, but I am a completely different person now. I love who I've become and who this country has shaped me to be. It's amazing how much one person can change in just a year.

I've taken advantage of every opportunity and taken more chances than I ever have before and I'm proud of that. Gone is the person who was too scared to go after what I wanted. I realize some people who read this blog might think that I'm taking my time for granted since I've visited so many places while I've been here. I visited these places to get an idea of what this country really is like and tried to meet new people everywhere I've gone and do things like the locals. I came here to learn not just about my degree, but about things I never knew existed. You just can't replace these experiences. I am unbelievably grateful for this chance. I wish everyone could do the things I've done. Yes I always seem to want to go do more, but I do these things for the right reasons. I want to help people, I want these places to change my life and they have. Seeing the world makes me feel whole as cheesy as that is. There's just something about going to a completely foreign place and seeing where you end up and who you end up with.

I still don't have my life figured out, but I'm more okay with that. I'm on my way to where I want to be and that's what matters. It's such a bittersweet feeling knowing that I'll be leaving Leicester/UK soon. I've started a life here, made friends, settled in and now I am uprooting myself again to go back home. Don't get me wrong, I am beyond excited to see the people I've known forever and love dearly. I just don't want to get stuck in one place. I want to be able to achieve my goals and I know my family and friends will help me in whatever way they can. It's just an odd feeling being on your own to be plunked right back into the life you left behind over a year ago. I'm not sure how to cope with that yet, but I guess I will figure it out once I get there.

All I can say now is that I will be enjoying my last few weeks in Leicester, traveling to the places I've always wanted to see in England, going to my favorite haunts, and seeing the people I am going to miss so extremely much.

Now here are pictures of me taken in the past 2 weeks. If you didn't know me before and can't see my character change you can definitely see the physical change.

One of my favorite quotes is "to travel is to take a journey into yourself" by Danny Kaye. I don't think I ever understood it completely until I came over here and restarted my life from scratch. Now that it's happening all over again I see it in a whole new light. Right now my life is coming full circle from a year ago to now, but I'm a completely different person with a new outlook on life and new ambitions. Let's see where this takes me.

"One of the great things about travel is that you find out how many good, kind people there are."--Edith Wharton

I've Been Pooped On By Too Many Species

"When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the other passengers in his car."--Will Rogers


This may seem like a very odd post compared to the ones I've posted in the past month about my travels. However due to recent events with certain species I felt it necessary to comment.

I have a weird relationship with nature and sometimes it literally poops on me. I am a very outdoorsy person as long as I don't come into contact with a spider.... then awkward panicked flail action that we all know so well comes into play and I am filled with horror while every onlooker thinks I'm insane. Mais c'est la vie.

Here's a recap of my weird animal shenanigans as I like to call them.

Cows

When I was around 7 years old my parents and I were visiting the UK. We happened to be in a field near cows. I can't remember why so please recover quickly if the suspense was killing you. I was cold so I was wearing my dad's fleece jacket that he loves so much. I've never met a man more dedicated to fleece in my life. But that's another story. I survived a 10 minute lecture on why I should not get to close to the cows and to above all not let it lick his jacket. What happened next? I gigantic cow came up to me and licked my literally from my knees up to my face. My Dad watched in absolute horror and disbelief and I think his eyes nearly bulged out of his head as my natural instincts took over and I went to wipe the disgusting cow spit off of my face with his precious fleece. Oops. I've never borrowed his jacket again... The point of this story is that I knew how to react to that. Total disgust. Like this:

Here's a picture of me right before it slobbered all over me to my Dad's horror. 

Less than a year ago I took a trip to Hadrian's Wall and a few of us went on a walk at night. We literally could not see our hands in front of our faces it was so dark. We were walking past a field thinking they were empty and were just enjoying having an adventure when.... A cow decides it would be funny to moo a deep guttural horror movie like moo right as we walked by at a sound level of epic proportions. Never have I ever been so terrified of a cow... 

Sheep

Sheep and I just don't get along for some reason. Mishaps have been occurring since I was 7 and have not stopped since. They also have seemed to amplify every time I've been in the UK. Maybe I'm not around livestock in the US but oh well. At the age of 7 I visited my Aunt Kathy in Kippen, Scotland. There was a field full of sheep right next to her house and me being the weird curious child that I was decided I wanted to pet one. Bad choice. I started petting it and immediately became confused as to my my jeans were being tugged down and towards the fence. I looked down and a sheep is, I kid you not, staring me right in the eye and attempting to eat my own jeans off of me. I've never liked sheep since. But once again instinct kicked in and I knew what to do. I ran the heck out of there before I was eaten alive and probably made a face something like this:

As some of you may have read in the Archaeology of Sheep blog I had another adventure with sheep. I was on an archaeological dig in a field that was infested with sheep and lambs. At one point I looked up only to find 10 sheep about 20ft away just staring at me. Apparently they had been like that for a while. I also had a lamb follow me around for a good 2 hours for no apparent reason. 

Birds

Whether they be pigeons or sea gulls or another spiteful bird of flight everyone has been pooped on by a bird. It's just the most disgusting poop of all. I won't go into detail. However, it's worse than stepping in it because they always seem to poop on you when you're going places instead of heading home or when you feel like you look great today only to find out they pooped on your hair or clothes. Most people react in an exasperated and REALLY? WHY? Of all the places in the world that you could've pooped it had to be on me. (^%###$%&^%&) Or some version of that.

Exotic Animals

Not only have I had encounters with regular livestock you find in your fridge, but I have also had run ins with animals most people don't encounter in suburbia.. that is unless you're me. There is an exotic animal farm right down the road from where I live and a friend of mine happens to live next door. He invited me over to help him petsit 2 baby monkeys. I thought this was just going to be hours full of cute energetic monkeys climbing on me and all around fun. Guess again Emma. Guess again. I was holding this adorable diapered monkey on my chest and I was under the impression it was sleeping. Nope. It was laying in wait. For what, you may ask?  To punch me in the nose and shove its fist up my nostril. I was certainly not prepared for that....or having a monkey dangle from my nostril. I assume it looked something like this:

That same day we walked outside to see the camel... I should've known that my day was just going to get weirder. I guess it was hungry but I turned to look at the llama for one second and the next thing I know I had been bitten on the boob by the camel... All I know is that I was deeply offended with a hint of "did that really just happen?"

Alright that isn't a poop enounter, but I felt it was weird enough to include. Now we've all stepped in dog, cat, or horse poop at some point in our lives. It's like a right of passage as a human being. But I guarantee this next thing has not happened to 99.99% of you.

The weirdest thing you will ever be pooped on:

A bee. Yes you read that correctly. I was walking back to my flat the other day and a bee landed on me. After raking up a nest in the 5th grade and getting stung by 10 yellow jackets I have never been a fan... it's more like I've been terrified. I still run out of the room yelling for my dad to kill a wasp whenever I see one in my house. Sad I know, but I'm scarred for life. Back to my story. This bee landed on my hand and I inwardly panicked, but stayed calm on the outside so I wouldn't get stung. About 5 seconds later it flies off and I see the characteristic brownish pile of poo on my hand the size of a small dot. I just stood there staring at my hand. I had no previous protocol to follow if a bee decides you are the perfect toilet. Did I get angry? No I can't run after the bee and punch it in the face for being so rude. Scared? No that's just silly. Everyone poops. Confused? YES. Amused? Slightly. Bewildered? Yeah that sounds about right. Mostly I just walked back with a blank stare on my face trying to figure out if I was the only person in the world these things happen to. 

"The shinbone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room."--Unknown


UPDATE:

Literally 2 days after I posted this I visited a friend in Ipswich and we decided to go to the zoo in Colchester. We were really excited that we got the chance to feed some elephants. I went up to the gate they were standing behind and presented my small piece of lettuce. The next thing I know I have elephant spit dotted across my sunglasses and my right cheek. I guess mother nature liked this post and decided to add another weird occurrence to this list. I can now not so proudly say I have been spat on by an elephant.

Paralympics 2012: Truly Inspirational Athletes

"Sport has the power to change the world, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does"--Nelson Mandela

I always look for quotes to start these things off because I feel like they set a tone for what I'm writing and can sum up what I want to convey without me pretending to be philosophical and inventing my own quotes. After attending a Paralympic event the other week this quote really spoke to me. The whole world watches the Olympics and for a brief period of time everyone is united in the fact that we are watching these athletes compete together, watching them meet people from all over the world and how they all represent their countries. Each country wants their own to win, but I always find myself rooting for everyone playing, especially if who I want to win is not competing. Sports, especially international events such as the Olympics and Paralympics, really do bring people together.

Needless to say I was extremely excited to be living in England during the games. A few friends and I made our way over to the stadium and sat in the nosebleed section, which has a surprisingly amazing view. The entire stadium was filled and a record number of attendees were there that night. It was a cool thing to be a part of. The atmosphere was incredible. Excitement was oozing from everyone. You just don't get that enough in daily life.

The Olympics are ridiculously impressive and to me are the ultimate challenge for athletes. The Paralympics, at least in my opinion, represent more than that and require more mental and physical strength to overcome their disability, to take control of their lives and adapt to what it has dealt them, and to obtain a world renowned level of athleticism. I feel like I am a decently in shape person and I love working out; I do it every day. I felt like a tub of lard sitting in the stands, the entire bag of snack food I had brought didn't help, as I watched people who were missing limbs, had mental illnesses, and lacked vision or hearing competing at such a high standard. No one has an excuse to not exercise, especially after seeing something like this.

We were lucky enough to get to see a track and field event, meaning we got to see TONS of events. When we got there javelin throwing was the main event. This quickly turned into about 4 different events going on at once and none of us knew which event to concentrate on. We just wanted to see everything.

We saw a Chinese man jump over 15m and set a new world record. He then did his second jump and broke his world record. I can barely jump 4ft much less 15m....    

The main events were the 100m heats for various different disabilities. We had no idea which heats were which as they called them things like T45 or T52. Not exactly explanatory, but we had fun nevertheless. The blade runners were by far one of my favorites. They are never the same length as the uninjured leg and they walk awkwardly. Not sure why they don't have blades that would make their legs even. Does anyone know?

Several world records were broken that night. We definitely picked a fantastic night to attend! My favorite race was the T52. Here's a picture so you know what I'm talking about.

 Toooooo cool!! We also got to see some world champions and the one and only Pistorius! He won his heat by about a mile.

The last events of the day were the blind 100m heats. There were varying degrees of sight capabilities and some could race without a guide. I can only imagine the courage it takes to run full speed at a target you can't see while being watched by thousands of people. These athletes really set the bar high for what a person can achieve.

If anyone reading this ever gets a chance to go see a Paralympic event I highly recommend it. It is just as thrilling, and much more inspirational, than a regular sporting event. As a huge sports fanatic I had high hopes, which were undoubtedly surpassed. I'm just happy that I got to experience it for myself. Go see the games and cheer on your country and all of the competitors! A chance like this doesn't come very often!

P.S. They had little remote controlled mini coopers that acted like carts to carry the javelins back to the athletes. We really got a kick out of them. It was a funny and unique way of doing things.

And yes I made odd sound effects every time I saw it move around.

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear."--Ambrose Redmoon

My Biggest English Peeve

I have grown up in the United States my entire life and I never really gave a second thought about washing my hands until I came here. Back home, we have one faucet, or for the English readers out there, the tap only has one spout that water comes from so we can regulate temperature. England hasn't quite gotten up to speed on this technology or has a sick sense of humor. I'll leave that open to interpretation.

I have had numerous conversations about this English faucet/tap phenomenon and we have all come up with a single response: WTF?  I have FINALLY found the best visual for explaining this:

 (I do not own this picture)

When I first came here I was pretty confused as to why sinks were like this... This only occurs in the bathroom where we want water temperature to be regulated the most. The only way to not get frostbite or burn your skin off is to turn both faucets on at once and quickly run your hands back and forth until you have the desired temperature. THIS IS NOT PRACTICAL OR PLEASANT. So please England, conform to the world standard on this one thing. You will be surprised how pleasant luke warm water can be when washing your hands and face.

"Make something idiot proof and life will make a better idiot"

It's Beginning to look a lot like... wait... It's Christmas?

England must be confused. That's the only explanation for it. The temperatures are in the mid-40s and it's sunny outside. I happened to be watching the news and I was informed this was the hottest winter England has ever experienced on record. I guess I brought the heat with me. My reaction to this? "DAMN IT! I wanted to see some snow!"

Winter break here consists of 6 weeks. The term 'break' is misleading. A break is what undergrads get to enjoy. All around me, my friends boasted of:

1. Going to America
2. Going skiing in France
3. Going to Prague
4. Seeing family
5. Something else extremely fun and adventurous

You might be asking yourselves what did Emma do with her time?
1. Research
2. Boredom
3. Exercise
4. Boredom
5. Papers
6. Research

Not exactly the break I had been picturing. After literally every person I had come to know and love in Leicester had gone home or jet-set off to foreign lands I begrudgingly began my 5000 word papers each worth 50% of my final grade. After a week and a half of that and nearly going insane from a lack of human contact my flatmate Olivia rescued me!

Off I went to Derby! For those Americans reading this it is pronounced Darby. I tried to inform them there was an 'e' in there, but that didn't do much. Christmas is a time of giving and a time for family. I usually spend Christmas unwrapping presents with my family in our sun room, just the three of us and then go see extended family the day after. It was a very different experience indeed. I earned the nickname Kevin. Some of you might have just made a weird face wondering how in the world I managed to obtain that one. Olivia's brother decided to call me that since I was all alone here and was pretty much abandoned for Xmas aka the same story that happened to Kevin in the Xmas classic Home Alone... minus the getting robbed aspect.

 Twins right? Yeah, thought so too.

Olivia's family consisted of 18 other people and we all shared a mansion. Not exaggerating. It was the typical mansion with a cottage that I swear came straight out of the murder mystery movies like clue. I went around the house pulling on candle sticks and pushing parts of the fireplaces (which were in almost every room) just to see if I could find a hidden passageway. Sadly the house didn't reveal its secrets.

As sad as I was that I was spending Christmas away from home for the first time in my life I had an amazing time. It just felt like a week away with friends instead of Christmas. There was no snow. TONS of rain. We passed the time by playing murder mystery games, watching tv, movies, Jenga, and pool.

On our last full day there we decided to go to a moor that was nearby. It was so pretty! I was the only outdoorsy younger person there so I think I enjoyed it a lot more than everyone else. I would just like to say HOLY CRAP moors are windy. I never really knew just how ridiculous wind could be until I was literally knocked over and rolled down a hill by the wind. Yes that actually happened.

All in all it was a really fun experience. While I was there I managed to scare the life out of everyone there. My best friend of 14 years got engaged. I was in the honorable position of being the first one to hear about it. I received a text saying they were engaged. I immediately screamed and ran down 3 flights of stairs yelling the entire time, told Olivia and we proceeded to jump, scream, and rejoice together. All of the older generation thought someone had murdered someone else and that's why we were screaming, the younger generation was confused and thought we were extremely odd.

I am now back in Leicester and STILL writing papers and researching. Oh how the holidays have come full circle! Merry Christmas everyone!

Hadrian's Wall

For those of you who regularly read this... if there are any... I'm sorry I've been way too busy to update this. I will try to keep these weekly as best I can from now on.

Hadrian's Wall. Everyone has heard of it, but I'm pretty sure the majority of the world has no idea 1. how expansive it is and 2. how many more sites, forts, outposts, turrets, etc are associated with it.  On my trip (October 27-29) We visited around 7-9 different sites along the wall. We started, all 12 of us, at Arbeia. It was a fort along the wall and all that remains is the reconstructed gate and the outlines of the rooms around the area. This was no ordinary gate! Oh no. It was reconstructed and turned into a museum so you could go in it and see what it was like to be posted up there. We toured the barracks and got to see all of the different layouts that were possible, since no one really knows. How typical of archaeological sites!

We then ventured on to see a part of the wall that was built back to it's original height... upwards of 26-30 feet. If I was a Scottish barbarian I would be slightly discouraged... not to mention the archers waiting to shoot me while safely behind a stone wall and the spikes coming out of the ground that would have acted as barbed wire. Not exactly the most welcoming of sites, but today it is pretty cool!  The whole wall stretches 81 miles across England. We started at one end and made it about 40 miles inland, by car of course.  

The first night there, my friends Mike and Angelo took a night walk with me. Those of you back home may not realize what dark means until you go to North Umberland. When they say dark, they MEAN dark. I had to flash my camera to actually see if I was still on the road. It was something out of a horror movie, but with a better ending in my case. However, on our way back we were vocally attacked by a cow. We were walking along minding out own business and then Voldemort was reincarnated in this cow. It... moo-ed at us... but it was the most demonic moo it could possibly have uttered. Scared the living crap out of 2 men and then me. I have a weird feeling farmers up there secretly train their cattle and sheep to haunt passerby in the middle of the night. Must get a kick out of it.

After the excitement, we decided to walk back, but we couldn't help but stop and stare at the stars. I have never seen so many in my entire life. For the first time in my life, I saw a shooting star. There's just nothing like it.   So of course being the educated MA students that we are, we decided to lay down in the middle of the road to watch them. Unfortunately, someone was driving full speed down the road and we scrambled to jump into the ditch. I really wonder what the person in the car thought was going on. He saw us run from the road and then as he passed Angelo was waving like nothing had happened, I was halfway up a tree gripping on to it for dear life, and Mike was in the ditch with his butt in the air because fell over.... I'll just leave you with that mental image.

The next day was spent exploring more forts and then we walked along the wall for 5 miles. Seems like a simple enough task. Mother nature decided the steep hills and cliffs weren't enough for us archaeologists. She added some wind, rain, and extreme cold for us as well! The view was unimaginable. I wish my pictures did it justice. I will post a few but WOW. It is definitely not a site to miss if you ever get the chance. I hope to hike the entire wall one day! Yes, all 81 miles!  The walk was so wet that my shoes dyed my feet blue and yellow.... Yep, definitely wished I had listened to my Dad and brought along my hiking boots. Oops.

To get a little deeper.... Hiking the wall in those conditions, which was typical of Northern England, really put into perspective how it used to be not just manning the posts, but also what it was like to haul that much stone which was extremely heavy, that far. The hills there are no joke. It was a tough climb, definitely rewarding, but I couldn't imagine doing it over and over carrying literally tons of rocks. It gives you a whole new appreciation of the past. They were very dedicated to this project and it gives a whole new interpretation to putting blood, sweat, and tears into an undertaking.

Being A Minority

"There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign."

I found myself losing hours of my day yet again on stumbleupon.com. Among discovering many completely useless websites and pictures, I found the quote you see above. This is such a new perspective and as an anthropologist I couldn't resist thinking about it. When most people travel, they think about what sites THEY want to see, how THEY want to spend their time, and about the stereotypes THEY have formulated over the years about the culture they will be visiting. Differences are inescapable.

(I do not own this picture)

I have found that out more than ever by living in a different country, half a world away from everything and everyone I've ever known. I've noticed a lot of similarities and differences and I found myself saying, "wow that's weird, or different, or COOL." To everyone else, it was nothing out of the ordinary. The things I grew up being accustomed to are no longer present and the habits I've formed and ways of doing things are being brought up almost everyday as a topic of conversation. I found myself thinking for the first time in my life "I am a foreigner. I am a minority in this country."

Yes, England does not seem like such a different culture and the culture is not comparable to let's say Turkey if I had decided to go to school there instead. I am still surprised at exactly how different things are here. People seem to be so fascinated that I'm American and they've "never met one before". To me, I'm normal, but here I'm something completely different, unknown and it is such an exhilarating experience. I never thought that I would be living in a country, much less an English speaking country and would be considered a minority.

Not to be too anthropological, but it just makes me think about how many people decide to leave their countries to visit, live in, escape to, or study in another country and subsequently a different culture than their own. They are all minorities, for the most part, and many people don't even realize it. It's a humbling experience to realize just how different you can be somewhere, but still manage to find a niche for yourself among people who are so different yet inherently the same.

This leaves me with the quote at the end. When you visit another culture, no matter how similar it may be to your own, there is always another way of seeing every little aspect. I feel that to gain the most perspective and the best experience from something like this, for lack of a better word, journey that I'm on you have to look at it through someone else's eyes. Life really is about seeing different perspectives and hearing different opinions about the world that you've never thought of before. To be able to do that, I feel so humbled, exhilarated, anxious and am awaiting what happens next.


“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things."