Tonight’s The Night
By Keiti | November 10, 2008I haven’t watched TV since I got to Scotland, two months ago. There’s one downstairs in the common room, but I’m usually to busy to even think about it.
Tonight, though…tonight’s one of those nights when I wish I had a TV in my room because my brain will simply not shut off. There is so much going on; I’ve got another paper to write, yet a third waiting in the wings, classes to attend, and I’ve been thinking about things I have no business thinking about. In the states I’d just turn the TV on, turn the sound down to where I could barely hear it, and let it act as white noise to shut my brain up.
Ain’t happening tonight, that’s for sure.
Topics: Life in General | No Comments »I’m Late, I’m Late!
By Keiti | November 6, 2008When I interviewed James Salter I said I’d do a post on Galicia. I’ve been knee-deep in research and writing papers and reading that I haven’t had time to post anything. I don’t have time right now to do a full-post, but if you want to find out more on Galicia, you can do so here.
I was able to speak with (via email) Xabier Cid, a Visiting Lecturer at University of Stirling, who teaches Galician Studies and he was kind enough to answer some questions for me (albeit weeks ago). So, without further ado, here’s Xabier.
Are there any drinks specific to Galicia?
Galicia has a good, old tradition in wine. Most of the Galician wines are red, but probably the best one, and the most exported to UK and to US, is a kind of white wine called albariño. We have a national beer as well (Estrella Galicia) and for liquors probably the most classical is the “licor café”, a strong alcoholic beverage done by distillation of the grapes’ skin, aromatized with coffee grains for several months. The licor café is indispensable in every Galician popular party. Concerning the coffee/tea border, we are in the coffee side. 
Are there any national dishes?
The best thing about national dishes is finding that your neighbour country use to cook your national dish. In this case, for instance, we have some haggis as well, called chanfaina, where we change the oat for rice and the lamb mince for pork mince… Probably the most know Galician dish is the “empanada”, a kind of big onion pizza covered by dough, and filled with beef, chicken, cockles, mussels, sardines (or whatever you want, but cheese). In meat, the most famous is the “lacón con grelos”, a winter plat composed by cooked ham (actually, only the forward legs), with turnip leaves; yes, we eat the leaves and throw the turnip to feed the pigs. Another very popular food is the “polbo á feira“, an octopus Galician style. Galician people use to eat lots of fish and seafood (the highest rate in Europe), of a wide span of different fishes in many styles. And you can buy typical Galician peppers at Tesco.
What is the top tourist spot to visit?
The top tourist spot is Santiago de Compostela, a medieval city where the Saint James Way ends: people were pilgrimaging to Santiago from Poland, Germany, France, Italy or United Kingdom by thousands, since XI century until present. All this cultural transmission created a city like an architecture jewel, full of narrow streets and glorious buildings. Santiago is also an university city, and the cultural capital of Galicia, plenty of theatres, bookshops, libraries, pop gigs and other cultural events. The best month to visit Santiago is July, where the city is packed by tourists and visitors coming to pay a visit to the alleged remains of Saint James, but mainly to drink and to eat seafood, empanada and to go out by night.
If you had to pick one place to visit, where would it be?
I never went to the Cíes Islands, but The Guardian said that these islands have the best beach in the world. My friends who went there use to say the same.
What would you say is the best part about Galicia?
Galicia is not the sunny place that Scottish people await. Actually it rains more in Galicia than in Scotland, but summer months are clearly warmer than here. Then probably the best part about Galicia is the people. They are open and warming, particularly if you can speak some words in Galician.
A New Begining
By Keiti | November 5, 2008So the American people have spoken and we now have President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden to look forward to.
My vote is now irrelevant. I don’t say that because Obama won and I voted McCain. I say that because our next President is waiting in the wings and he deserves my respect until proven otherwise.
So here’s what I hope:
No gloating or hard feelings from either side; if there’s one thing the Obama camp did well it was to highlight the divisiveness that’s been going on. It has to stop, though I’m not holding my breath.
I hope that soon-to-be President Obama stays true to his word, especially about healthcare.
I hope that soon-to-be President Obama proves me and other McCain supporters wrong. I would love to be proven wrong.
And most of all, I hope that the next four years aren’t a complete disaster. And please spare me any comments about Bush and the last eight years; it’s a dead horse and I’m tired of it being beaten. The simple fact is that electing a President is always a bit of a crap-shoot regardless of who you’re rooting for.
So, congratulations to President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden; you’ve obtained what you wanted…Now what are you going to do with it?
Topics: Life in General | 10 Comments »Quick Catch-Up
By Keiti | November 2, 2008I think I may have mentioned previously that this weekend we’ve had the Gothic Film Festival here on campus.
If not, we’ve had the Gothic Film Festival here on campus.
I’ll do a more in-depth blog about it later on in the week as time permits, but I wanted to point everyone to one of the short films I wanted to see (and saw last night) called Staplefahrer Klaur - Der erste Arbeitstag aka Forklift Driver Klaus - The First Day on the Job.
Basically, it’s a parody of the Industrial Safety film from 2000, but it has a 70s feel to it. I didn’t find it overly gory, mostly because it’s done in such a way that is pure camp, but it’s not for anyone who is squeamish.
If you want to check it out, go here. It’s in German with English subtitles and it runs about 9 minutes.
P.S. I finished my paper on Friday before the film festival started. It’s still a love / hate thing, but at least it’s done.
Topics: Grad School, Movies | No Comments »The Face-Off Continues
By Keiti | October 30, 2008Hate is currently in the lead.
Topics: Grad School | No Comments »Oh, The Contradictions…
By Keiti | October 28, 2008My paper and I are currently having a love / hate relationship.
Remains to be seen which one will win.
Topics: Grad School | No Comments »Mid-Semester Break
By Keiti | October 27, 2008This week is mid-semester break, so you’d think I’d be out having a good time while I don’t have to worry about classes.
You’d think.
I’m spending this week working on a paper that’s due a week from today, so it’ll probably be fairly quiet on the post front. I’ll try to update at least a couple of times, but most of my time will be spent on writing.
And speaking of my paper, I think I’ve managed to scare both of my tutors - I emailed them separately asking for direction on where to find information that opposes feminist theory. I got back emails from both of them cautioning me about turning my paper into a diatribe against feminist theory. I had to explain to them that I was merely arguing that 18th century literature shouldn’t be viewed through the modern lens of feminist theory.
I guess it’s my own fault for making it abundantly clear that I have no use for feminist theory, though I probably should have clarified that it’s modern feminist theory I can do without.
But that’s an argument for another day.
For now, it’s back to writing my paper.
Topics: Grad School | 2 Comments »The Crazy Week…
By Keiti | October 24, 2008Sorry for the lack of posts this week - it’s been absolutely insane, really. I’ve got a paper due in just over a week, so I’ve been having to try to focus on that and I was in Edinburgh most of the day yesterday for a class which pretty much took away any free time.
Before I post a couple of pictures, I wanted to clarify the time difference since I’ve been getting so many questions about it. At the moment, I am 5 hours ahead of the east coast of the states. The rest of you can do the math. :-) Starting on Sunday, it’ll be 4 hours ahead for all of next week until the states falls back, as well. (Which, I was told on good authority is 2 November.)
Okay…so here are a few pictures from my jaunt to Edinburgh yesterday:
Not sure what this building is, but I love the rainbow
Yes, this is a Starbucks - in Edinburgh - sticks out like a sore thumb, really...
Me and C.A. with an authentically-dressed gentleman. I laugh and call him the bouncer as he's guarding the door at an establishment (which one, I don't know...was too busy drooling).
Reading, Reading, and More Reading
By Keiti | October 21, 2008In the emails I’ve received recently, everyone always asks the same question: What have you been doing?
And as much as I’d like to be able to say that I’ve been traveling ’round Scotland, it so hasn’t been the case.
What I’ve been doing (mostly) is reading. I’ve probably made a mention of this on the blog from time-to-time, so I thought it would be a good idea to let you know exactly what I’ve been reading since 17 September.
Here’s the low-down for my core module:
Horace Walpole The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story
- This is considered the very first gothic story, though it’s much different (as are most of what I’ve been reading so far) from what we now consider to be gothic (which is usually used synonymously with horror).
Ann Radcliffe The Mysteries of Udolpho
- This book took me 4 days - 4 days!! - to get through. It’s only 672 pages, which should have been a breeze. But I enjoyed it so much I’m writing my first research paper on the heroine, Emily.
- The original “joke” was that The Mysteries of Udolpho was wordier than 19th Century Literature (which I love to say I hate, but two of my favorite books are 19th Century: Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre) and it was just as wordy, but in a completely different manner. 18th Century Literature is wordy about scenery and descriptions of places. 19th Century Literature will take 5 pages to tell you that someone made a cup of coffee.
Ann Radcliffe The Italian
- Not nearly as long as The Mysteries of Udolpho (415 pages as opposed to 672) and I didn’t enjoy it as much. I think because it seems to be a rip-off of TMoU, just with different characters.
M.G. Lewis The Monk
- This raised a lot of furor when it was discovered to have been written by a member of the British Parliament. Very scandalous, indeed, because of the book’s subject matter. A change from internal torture to physical torture. Very fun, generally quick, read. If reading about torture can be fun.
Charlotte Dacre Zofloya, or The Moor
- This was like reading a copy of a Jerry Springer show - so train-wreck-like you can’t help but get caught up in the drama. Dysfunctional family - father is good, but mom is vain and selfish as are son and daughter. Mom has affair and leaves to become mistress, son runs away, dad dies of broken heart, daughter is pissed, but follows in mom’s footsteps to become a mistress, then wife. Daughter becomes own worst nightmare thanks to selfish and vain disposition. Won’t give away the ending, but I enjoyed this so much, I think I’m going to use it for my 2nd paper.
Mary Shelley Frankenstein
- Would you believe I don’t ever remember reading this? I probably read it in high school somewhere, but it never made that much of an impression on me, I guess. Am currently about halfway through and must be finished by tomorrow. Am enjoying it, but finding it hard to swallow that someone would create a living being only to leave it on its own with no direction or without destroying it and then wonder why it wreaks havoc.
For my optional module (which is technically called Monstrosity, but I just call it the Stephen King class) I’ve read:
- I love this book. There’s so much in it, despite it being relatively short. At the moment I’m contemplating on focusing on blood and fire in the book for my paper for this class.
- Like it, but didn’t love it. I’m a huge fan of the romanticized vampire because I like characters to be three-dimensional, and the vampires in this book are one-dimensional at best.
- I’ve always loved this book, but on this reading I’m trying to understand why in the world parents would give a 5-year-old boy essentially unsupervised access to a very large hotel. There is a lot of good “stuff” in this book, though, and this is vying with Carrie to be the subject of my paper
So that’s where I am, now; 9 books in less than a month. And this doesn’t include any additional reading (journal articles, and other sourcebooks) that I’ve done along the way.
Topics: Grad School, Life in General, books | No Comments »More Fun From Today
By Keiti | October 16, 2008K.W. taking a picture of me taking a picture of her.
Me with my super-cool shades.
And Mr. McGee.
