Mulled Wine and Christmas Cheer

Today I finished my final paper of the term. Wow, what a load off my back! Unfortunately I'm not totally in the clear as I have an exam in Financial Economics and Management in the first week of next term but for now I'm taking a break. It's been a busy few weeks (hence the lack of updates) and it's nice to finally have some time to relax. Some of the stuff I've done: Hiked in the snow, received a research grant, got a surprisingly good mark on an economics essay, visited Bronte country, and made eggnog from scratch!

I was able to go on the last two hikes of the term with outdoor society the past two Sundays. The first one we went to Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales, its also the home of Wensleydale cheese, a very well known cheese in England. The hike was made instantaneously more interesting the second we entered the dales as there was a good amount of snow on the ground. Luckily the weather was fairly good meaning it wasn't raining or snowing while we were outside. There weren't many people and it was predominantly guys so we were going at a quicker pace. The first half of the walk we went in a couple circles, braved some icy winding paths and precariously walked over frozen poo, literally. Just to clear up any misconceptions, cow/sheep poo does not lose its smell when frozen and becomes very slippery. After our pub lunch it was a chore going back out into the freezing cold but somehow we did it and ended up having a fun adventure. We walked to an old viaduct and railway line that isn't technically open to the public. We realized this after having to get over a succession of gates that became increasingly difficult until we ended up in someones back yard with their sheep. We then had to hop a rock wall onto the main road to find the actual footpath. I got some good pictures (check flickr) and it was really fun looking back on it.

This Sunday we went to Haworth also known as Bronte Country. It's the town where the Bronte sisters lived, wrote their famous novels, and are buried. The town is also known for its Christmas festivity so we only walked in the morning and got to walk around for an hour in the afternoon. The walk was pretty uneventful besides a lot of fog and even more mud. It was fun walking around the town and I bought a few goodies to bring home. Unfortunately we didn't have time to go to the Bronte museum but made it into the gift shop (grandma should be proud!) and got some postcards. I would love to go back sometime in the spring or summer and hike to the Bronte waterfalls, see the museum and go on the steam railway.

Probably the most excited news of the last couple weeks is my being awarded a research grant from UC for $970. I applied a couple of months ago and finally heard the news last Wednesday. I'm going to be doing research and writing an article on the conservation movement in early 20th century Britain. I'm extremely excited as this is my first shot at being an actual historian and if I do well perhaps I may hear the bells of Oxford calling in the future...maybe. I'll be doing my research starting next term and will travel a bit during spring break to some national trust sites in the south of England.

The holiday spirit is most definitely making its way through York as I feel I'm constantly singing carols, drinking mulled wine and eating loads of sweets (tsk tsk!) Last Thursday I went to the International Student's Association Winter Ball at the Royal York Hotel with some of my french and dutch friends. Then on Saturday I had my concert for Revelation Rock Gospel Choir at Heslington Church. It went very well and we all had a blast rocking out! Finally last night our flat put together a nice little Christmas feast of party food. The most notable part about this was that I succeeded in making eggnog from scratch. And, surprisingly enough, it tastes like eggnog! Also...no salmonella! I heated it a bit (directed by good old dad) and also realized that the eggs i bought came from hens that had been vaccinated against salmonella, brilliant!

So now I'm done with academics, for now, I'm just waiting for Friday morning when Robin comes to York and then we're off to Edinburgh on Monday to meet up with the rest of the girls for our Christmas Extravaganza! Anne and I will then go down to Rome to ring in 2009 and finally I'm planning on spending some time in Florence revising for exams and taking in the culture before flying back to England. I have quite a month ahead of me and hopefully I'll be updating you the whole time! So until next time have a wonderfully Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year... I love and miss you all :)