Back and ready for action

I learned today that it can be tricky to mail letters! Only just arrived yesterday I hurried into city centre to pick up a few things I was going to mail home directly. When I had the things intended for the mail ready I entered the Post Office as one does when they want to send a letter. I made my way over to the envelopes but before I even got half way across the floor I was stopped by this rather determined woman. I swear she must have worked at airport security at some point in time, she was that direct. Basically asked me what I was doing in here, I was rather flabbergasted over such a welcome. Naturally I replied that I wanted to purchase an envelope. 'To be mailed today?' she asked in the same direct no-nonsense kind of voice. I nodded and she then started to direct me through the process. 'Pick up your envelope and pay for it ...(like I had any other intention)... then bring the letter back here once you have done that and I will tell you what to do next!' Sheesh, the only thing I felt at this point was the enormous pressure of picking the right envelope and paying for it right away. I swear she was likely to pull up a gun if I didn't behave accordingly. Once I had picked up what I hoped was a large enough envelop I paid for it and proceeded to preparing the wee package for delivery. So naturally not wanting to face the mad woman at gunpoint I dutifully turned back to her to find out 'where I should go next'! Thankfully the woman had disappeared probably being carted away to a loony bin when I had finished with the package but this rather nice fellow directed my to the newest gizmo in the store.
I finally started to understand why there was a crossing-guard stationed in the middle of the floor of the Post Office. They wanted to show off their new gadget. Like so many other businesses in Britain they are taking away consumer choice, customer - service provider interaction, and jobs!!! Now everything is done by kiosks. When you purchase cinema tickets, pay for your groceries, checking into flights and now when you post an item you are faced with talking to a computer. Because this was a new gadget they had a person there situated to help with working this wonderful machine. I must say I am not sold on this idea. Even before the age of know-it-all computers people were struggling with putting enough postage on the package or even basic information, like an address, on what they were posting. People vs people interaction often caught those mistakes before they came to a dead end. Having been at all the turns and ends a letter can go through in the receiving, sending and delivery service this is not winning any prizes in my book. That they have to have a person to assist in the workings of this gadget prooves that they will never get rid of the human element of customer service, so why bother with expensive machiner as well as personal, when the human can to the work of both. It also prooves that obviouslay a machine can never be so idiot-proof that you won't need more detailed instructions than the ones that 'pop-up' on the screen!
In the end I managed to maile my package but it took much longer than if I had been allowed to talk to a human Post Office person instead of a kiosk, luckily it wasn't that expensive that I had to pay with a card .... then it would have gotten complicated, because you can't yet!!!

Seminars

I don't know why but seeing my professors falling asleep during a seminar is oddly comforting. Of course some of them do it more than others and sometimes I do it more than often, hehehe. I managed to stay awake for this seminar, and I have been pretty good at staying awake, except at Alex Wolf's seminar. That's when I was completely out of it, although I was still pretty ill so that does count towards something. The lectures that have been presented this year, have mostly been 'internal' as in those presenting them have come from Glasgow Uni, although there have been a few 'outsiders'. Although, even though Alex Wolf is technically an outsider, it's not possible to define him as such, seeing the close ties between him the the Celict medievalists gang at Glasgow Uni.
I am actually starting to look forward giving another lecture, I don't know what is wrong with me. Although I hope it proofs right that 'practice makes perfect'. Hopefully as year two approaches I will actually have a chapter in the making that will make for a good seminar paper. I think I might really be getting into all this academic stuff, although it might just be exhaustion and halusinations of grandeur getting in way of logical thinking. Yes I am such a Vulcan of all things!!! Halusinations are my forte rather than logic and rational thinking, god forbid I get boring!
Well I am off to bed soon, am watching Taken with Liam Neeson right now, it's been a while that I have seen a film where so many people get dead in so few seconds, it's like 24 on speed!

A night at the opera

I went to the opera last night with Catriona. We went to see La Traviata by Verdi. It was amzing, so beautiful and fun and tragic! Two hankies worth!!! I cried in the middle and at the end. I also laughed but that was because of the impromptu ballet performance of the night! As anyone who knows me will realise that I can not by any means watch a ballet with a straight face, and this performance took the cake in badness. Because the backdrop of La Traviata is the sort of a night-club scene we are used to today, they went a bit far with the bawdiness and lewdness in some cases and especially the ballet. A man dressed as a matador twirling around the stage and then strangely enough way to often gripped in weird spasms and grinding of the hips in the most obscene and suggestive movements was ridiculous and hugely funny. Catriona was surprise by the restraint I showed of not howling with laughter, but that was because I nearly rammed my fist into my mouth to prevent any sounds escaping. I hardly noticed the guy dressed as 'the bull', yes of course, the matador had to have his fight with a bull, but it just turned out to be this strange on-and-off gayness of a dance, when they were embracing on the stage in between the matador peaking under the skirts of the ladies. The bull was mostly preoccupied with writhing on the floor more like a fish on dry land than a macho beef on two legs. It was hilarious, I wish they allowed camera, although you wouldn't have seen anything because I was laughing too much to have been able to hold it steady.
But the opera itself was quite nice and very emotive, the soprano was fabulous and very talented. The lead tenor was a cultured voice, reminded me of Domingo with his technicality and Careras with his voice. Not a bad combination but it also lacked the force the presence these two tenors exude.
I don't know if it was because we were sitting near the rafters and were looking down on the scene very literally but the ladies of the performance all seemed to be extremely well endowed and the low bodices of the gowns, revealed to us the answer to why there were so many men present in the audience ...seemingly willingly and often without a female partner.
Yes, the audience was just as much fun as the opera itself. Beside us sat two ladies, who shortly before opening act brandished out a pair of fans!!! Suddenly I felt like an extra in Gone with the Wind! It became apparent that they had some sort of 'heating' problems because they used these fans regularly as well as some cooling sticks but this was still hilarious. After the first act I switched places with Catriona and in the second interval I asked her how it was there in the hurrican section, she replied quite modestly 'its a north easterly direction'.
A fabulous night in all! I hope I will not have to wait another twenty years to go to the opera again.

Tuseday busy, Wednesday not so much

I was at uni just after nine o'clock in the morning. Going to meet Catriona before heading off to Old Irish class. We managed the impossible today and actually finished translating Compert Con Cúlainn and are next going to tack Esnada Tige Buchet, which I am actually looking forward to, Greens glossary is so much better than Van Hamels, his is crap. After class, Catriona ran home to take care of puppy, but she was going to come back just before one o'clock. We had reading group today! I, on the other hand went over to the Post-grad club where I had my usual (I am having a fave right now), a baked potatoe with chili. So when Catriona came we headed over to 10 Uni gardens up to the third floor were we were meeting the reading group. We are still a bit unsure about this venture of ours. The people are all from the medieval history department, but usually European side of things and much later than either Catriona or certainly me. Andrew, is the only one from the Scottish side so he is sort of a link between these two worlds. But it is obvious that us Celtisists have little to do there just yet. These people only like to talk about Eleanor of Aquitane and her ilk. Catriona and I are thinking of making up our own Celtic reading group next year, just to counter balance this, also because Celtisists are a much nicer bunch of people, all very happy and confused, not so imbued with german efficiency and criticism. I hope we get some of our old peeps back, I miss our little gang.
Well after the reading group, Catriona and I had a workshop to attend to, at the Libary. We were actually looking forward to this one, unlike all the others we need to this was voluntary. It was a manuscript workshop and the person hosting it had asked us to e-mail her our areas of interest so that she could have some maunscripts relevant to our studies at hand for us to look at. I wrote to her and got a very nicely worded reply that they would probably not be able to have manuscripts for me to look at, because they didn't have anything that old in their storage. Yeah, most of the good ones I would like to see are in Oxford or Cambridge or Tritinty College Dublin. We had already gone to a mss workshop last year, that was fabulous and we were really exciting of what was in store for us today. Oh, boy, we nearly fell asleep. She made us watch videos!!!! MADE IN THE 1980'S!!!!
- 'How to operate a book!' You flip the cover and pages are revealed!!!
- NO, shocking, I never knew that. About time I learned, I will turn 30 this year!!!
Bwahahaha or buhuuuu, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. The only interesting thing was when she actually did show us some mss, but she didn't reveal anything we didn't already know. The only interesting part was getting my hands on a charter from 1642 written on vellum skin!!! When there was about half an hour left we left, before coma set in, and we skedaddled down to 9 Uni gardens for the seminar in the Scottish Medieval History section, this time it was '15th century Scotland: a view from Burgundy', it was really interesting but I still wish there hadn't been such a lengthy question and answer session after because Catriona and I were totally exhausted after the entire day and having to sit for so long. We really just wanted to run out, also she needed to get home to take care of Jassy. But all in all a very nice day.
Wednesday was a much calmer day. I woke up at nine, did some work, then went into Uni to meet Catriona for lunch. She had a meeting with Thomas at 1 and needed some moral support. Thankfully her meeting was fine and after we had sat and talked a bit at the QM we headed home to do some more studying. Which I did, I just had to take frequent breaks because my leg has been bothering me awfully much since Monday, well, my leg, my hips and my back have all been bugging me. Catriona summed it up perfectly, I am falling apart!

completely 'done in'

When I woke up this morning I looked out my window to see how the weather was and everything was WHITE. Not terribly so, just a slightly covered ground. But from my experience at graduation I was taking no chance so shortly before nine I left the house and walked to Uni. We had a very nice class in Medieval Literacy where we got to try our hand at vellum calligraphy, not on actual vellum but the idea behind it, how it would have worked and such. I think I could be a nice little scribe. After class Catriona and I went for lunch. I had a nice wee chicken salad and chocolate cake for desert. Then we had to skedaddle because Catriona has an over-excitable puppy at home she needs to take care off. So off we went and when we came outside it had started snowing again. Big flakes!!! We walked down to Byres road where our journeys split, she took the subway home while I walked. Because of the big flakes, I very soon took on the appearance of the white snow(wo)man because the snow stuck very well to my coat and hat. It was a relief to come home and get warm and ... dry again. I didn't think I would be going out there again, at least not today.
About an hour later when I had dried up well enough and was all geared up to start some serious studying I went to look for my phone. ... Nowhere to be found!!!! Panic slowly setting in. I saw that Catriona was online and asked her to phone me and see if I could hear it somewhere around me. No such luck! No in full panic mode I run out the door, and hurry back all the way to Byres road keeping my eyes glued to the ground searching on the way. Nothing. When I reach Byres road I keep on searching and when I reach the spot where I think I lost it I still can't see anything. I then go into the nearest stores in hopes that someone might have dropped it off there. Nope. So I climb Great George street to the top in record time and back into the Hub where we had lunch. Hoping fervently that someone handed it in at the shop. I first took a quick look at the spot where we had been sitting and nothing there, go into the shop and ask around. I asked the guy there whether someone handed in a phone that got lost and he was like 'yes, several. Do you mean today?' Yup, 'and was it in a foreign language?', YES!!! He went and got it and there it was. I never thought I would be so happy to see it again, but I was. Even though it is a big hulk of a thing it is my wee friend that gets me up in the morning and to the right places, so I was extatic. At this point my back and legs had seized up and I could barely walk any longer. I hadn't taken my medication yet, and having walked to and from Uni already had put a strain on me. I made it down to Byres road again, and jumped quickly into Marks and Spencer for some microwaveable food for tonight, no way I was cooking after this. I didn't find a taxi until I came to the top of Byres road but as soon as I did I jumped in and asked him to take me home the last few metres. Stumbled home and into my room and collapsed on my chair. As soon as possible I popped some pills and a short time later I started to get better. I even managed to study before my back gave out again.
I liked the microwave food though, it was stroganoff with rice. I am used to getting a few tiny pieces of meat in sauce so when I was fishing the last bit from the sauce I was expecting a wee thing. No, I caught a steak!!! It was huge, it was half of the tray, it was great and quite yummie as well. Well, I think this is my excitement of the day! I wonder what will happen tomorrow, it's still snowing.

New Years baby?

As I write this wee blogspot my sister-in-law is at the hospital possibly giving birth to my wee nephew. Expected but not. She had been scheduled for a c-section on January 2nd of the new year, but it was obvious well before Christmas that the baby would be well done by that time. My sister-in-law's bump was so huge she could not bend down to pick anything up or even some movements were very difficult for her and she very often had problem catching her breath so we were certain it wouldn't be a long wait. But Christmas came and the baby didn't show no matter how much we wanted a wee parcel kicking and screaming to be placed under the tree. But we were certain he would show up to see the fireworks especially if he is anything like my brother!!! And it looks like it's going to happen now, and hopefully we will be getting good news soon.

Good luck and best wishes to Júlíus and Svala, and looking forward to meeting you little nephew!

Happy New Year!

Subway the way of the student

Ooo it was obvious that the Subway on Byres Road is run by asians. When I entered the establishment to purchase some student substenance I was greated with blasting Bollywood music. And how lame is this, I knew the song!!! It was the title song from the film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (Something is about to happen) and of course I started humming and nodding along to the tune. And no Þurý, you don't have to worry I made a spectacle of myself, there were no shoulder movements accompanying the humming... at least I don't think so! But it was fun, and the subway sandwich was very tasty.

Before I made my way to the Subway though I went into Uni to attend a seminar lecture in the English medieval language department. Alistair McLennan who was my tutor last year was giving a lecture on the ghost of Skarphéðinn Njálsson in Njáls saga, called 'Ghoul, Interrupted: Society and the Undead in Njáls saga'. It was hilarious and fun, but also informative and interesting. For the last three years he has been working on his definitve work on ghosts and monsters in Icelandic medieval literature. Very exciting stuff I really want to read it when he finishes.
There was also a talk about verbal phrases, but that wasn't as interesting. In fact it was quite boring. It was basically about a woman who needs a life. She had spent I don't know how many hours comparing and searching through the letters B and G of verbal phrases and how three compilers of dictionaries regarded the phrases. This was confined to the later modern English period of 1750 - ?, the work she used was Samuel Johnsons first English dictionary, Websters American English dictionary and the first edition of Oxford English Dictionary (OED). And yes, this sounds as exciting as comparing three phonebooks between years and see who changed their number!!!
But I might be going to the next one, it's on the Canterbury Tales, and although I am not a fan, it's medieval and that's enough for me, depending on if I can wheedle Catriona with me.

We'll see

I went shopping yesterday, yes, big surprise there and not worth the telling of it except for this.

At one of the till where I was paying for my purchase the sales woman struck up a conversation with me and asked me what I did, as in did I work or attend university. I answered that I was a student at the University of Glasgow. She then inquired what it was that I was studying and I replied that I was studying medieval scottish history. At this point this huge smile spread over her face and her eyes lit up and then this: 'So when you get married you can have a medieval theme going on!'
SPEECHLESS!!! That's what I was and could only stare at her. Yes, that's my ambition in life. But on the other hand if I ever do get married it is going to be a HISTORIC EVENT. So never say never I say. But all I could see in my head were these really strange people dressing up like the characters of Monty Python's Holy Grail. Please God, NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peep Peep at Anne's

Last Friday was the best day yet of this year and I truly hope I will be experiencing many more like this one. It began rocky enough, Catriona, Sandra and I had to give a presentation for our teachers and anyone who wanted to come. Luckily for us, it was only nice people whow showed up, Anne and Claire. Anne was also gracious enough to invite us bunch to her home for dinner. She is such a brave woman. Well, we made it through our presentations and headed over to the post grad club for lunch where we had high time laughing and talking like we hadn't seen each other for thirty years. We even managed to run into Matthew from forth year (now he's doing forth year) and kidnapped him. After lunch Matthew and Anne abandoned us but we were of course going to Anne later in the day and Matthew was going to meet us at the train station to go to her home.

That left me, Claire, Catriona and Sandra on our own so we headed over to Byres Road and to Somerfield where we stack up on sweets and all sorts of ymmie stuff and wine and headed to my place where we camped out for the next few hours where more laughter and talking followed.

We then made our way to Central station at around six and waited for Matthew and Jo to show up. When they arrived we hopped aboard a train to Muirend where we expected a warm welcome from Anne, but when we arrived there was no one there we recognised which made us doubt our sanity and ability to read instructions. But not a minute had passed when we saw Anne come running down the ramp to meet us and she then escorted us to her home.

The evening was filled with good company, good food and good wine and so much laughter I could barely follow the conversations that were surrounding me. But it was obvious that everyone was havins such good time. We took two rounds of Scottish Quest after dinner and the discussion and almost arguments some of the questions evoked only livened it up. It was amazing and exactly the kind of game for us to play.

Note: Next time we play the game do it while still sober!!!!

Ps. a more detailed blog of the evening is on the way, am just trying to see if it works uploading a video.

Classy lady

I'm back in Glasgow now. Flew back today. It's nice not having to wake up so extremely early as I used to have to when coming back to Glasgow. It was positively making me ill. As a good bye present we were going to stop at a hamburgerjoint close to the airport and sort of before you turn into Keflavík, but no luck. Something or someone had happened, so that the place was closed down and the police were there taking statements and so on. So no hamburger there for me. So mom, the extreme optimist she is, drove into Keflavík, and we tried to find a place that sold hamburgers but couldn't find any place that was open, unless there was absolutely no way of parking near it or putting your health at risk. So I was just going to compromise and have chips at the airport. When we arrived at the airport we ran into my uncle and his wife who had been seeing off their son and his family. The airport was very busy but I was cunning and went and upgraded my ticket to a Saga Buisness Class so I didn't have to wait for a very long time in a cue to check in like everyone else. So I said goodbye to mom and dad and went in search of my chips and cocktail sause. They were out, I couldn't believe me. Right now the crappiest place in Iceland is by my vote Keflavík and the Keflavík airport for not being able to have a hamburger or even chips available for travellers leaving Iceland for a period of time. Very bad indeed Keflavík! I took a peek at the Saga buisness lounge but it was sooo overcrowded that I couldn't even find a seat so I didn't spend a lot of time there. Actually because there was enough time to pass I went back to the duty free section of the terminal where I met my cousin, whose mom and dad I had just met outside. I was seeing his wife and 5 year old son for the first time. They were such a delight and very nice to talk to. They were heading back to Liberia where my cousin is in the United Nations peace-corp. We had such good time talking that I almost ended up going with them to London, but in the end we said goodbye and they went to gate 26 while I went to gate 28.
I got this terribly comfy seat in Saga Class, leather chair that's at least half a size bigger than the economy seats, with enough leg room to have a male lap dancer entertaining me, but unfortunately they were unavailable. Why do I mention a lap dancer in this report (because that is so totally out of character for me), is that in the seats two rows behind me, was none other than the infamous Geiri in Goldfinger (which is a lap dancer joint in Iceland and he is the owner). Boy, he looks like a Russian mob boss, bit on the huge side. I was not impressed, I must say. But I didn't actually know it until we landed because he came in(to the airplane) after me. When they served dinner I got to choose from a fish course or beef-fillet which I accepted. It was delicious! There was smoked salmon for appetiser, the beef-fillet with vegetables for main course, a skyr-cake for desert, and chocolate for good measure. I also had red wine with dinner and enjoyed it very much. I like flying Buisness Class, because I am clearly a classy lady.
I came home shortly before nine o'clock and among the first things I did, aside from putting my computer up was contact my friends and plan a coffee-get-together tomorrow. All of us are suffering freaky withdrawl syndrome from our coffee and cakes. I will be taking it easy for the rest of the evening but tomorrow the real horror starts where I have to start preparing for the presentations and exam. Wish me luck.

Concious ... barely!

I can't believe that the holidays are over soon. It's never a good thing to take such a long break away from studying and this has been a long break for me. I was planning to be so diligent, studying for an exam and doing work on my presentations, but have I done a single thing. NO! I'm not very anxious about it but when you tell yourself you are going to do something it's annoying when you haven't done it. The fact is that I have not had a single opportunity of doing what I wanted, I haven't been able to see everyone I wanted, or do everything I wanted to do while here for these three brief weeks. But to be honest, right now, I can't wait to get home (to Glasgow) and start some sort of routine again with my studies. When you have your family around you are much more restricted from doing stuff that you would normally do. On days that I was banking on having piece and quite and to actually be able to do something, family members had an uncanny sense of showing up and disrupting everything I had planned for the day. So I say that although it is very nice to spend the holidays at home, family can sometimes be too much.
Still, my Christmas here at home have been incredibly nice. Christmas Eve was perfect. It was White Christmas, shortly before seven o'clock it started snowing and from then on it snowed for the next few days. While it snowed outside the presents rained inside. The presents nearly drowned the christmas tree (which is not a small tree) and as soon as we had delivered each present to its receiver the blizzard of wrapping paper hit the living room. It was amazing and so much fun watching my niece open one present after another, she enjoyed it so much. Thankfully they had arrived in a pickup truck type car so not difficult to ferry all the loot back home.
On Saturday my friends Hrabba and Gummi invited me over for dinner along with our friend Guðný Stella and her guy. It was so much fun, good food, good wine and great company. After dinner we took two rounds of Carcassonne, I can't remember who actually won the first round but I definitely remember who won the second. ME! I totally remember that because that doesn't happen too often. So me very happy bunny be. But even better, I was back at their place last night and we were trying out a new version of Carcassonne and I actually won that one too (I actually think that was pure dumb luck because Gummi wasn't trying very much) but what a way to start the year. Mwhuhahahahha!
Am tired now and want to do something else than blog, my fingers are hurting from being under used so I have to take this in strides.

The flying Icewoman

Yes, yours truly took a flight a few days too early than she wanted to, and no I am not home yet. It was more light a short few second flight in the air and then a devastating crash. Thankfully no one got mortally wounded, but it hurt like hell!
I was in Boots of all places (where I usually go to get something to make me feel better like PAINKILLERS, but ended up with a pain this time around). I was walking into one aisle of the shop and then whoooosh ... crash ..... ooooooouuuuuuuuuucccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Straight down onto my right knee. RIGHT knee, not the left one, so don't worry it could have been worse. Although I didn't feel that at the time, I was scared shitless if something might have gone wrong but thankfully I was wearing my brace so that minimised any damage that might have happened. But it wasn't fun, my left ankle hurt but probably for doing that weird dance step you tend to take just as you are falling down, but the main impact was when I landed on the floor with my right knee. I now sport a huge bump and red skin and a promise of a wonderfully colorful bruise.
But don't worry I am fine, nothing got broken and I didn't hit my head either, I almost gracefully sat down on the floor after the first impact on the floor. That's me, first it's like 'Send in the Clown' and then 'My fair lady ... on the floor'. Apparently a puddle of some sort had formed in the middle of the isle and I was just the lucky 1000 customer to find it. I didn't get a prize though, didn't really want one to be honest, I kind of just wanted to go home and cry. What a wonderful way of starting Christmas shopping for real. But of course I wasn't going to let this stop me, as soon as I found out I could walk I left after the ladies in the shop had made sure I was fine and didn't need any further assistance. So I actually despite all this managed to bag another present, maybe even two or three. I truly hope that tomorrow won't have a building come down on me or something so that I can do a bit more shopping before coming home on Sunday! Can't wait to say hello to everyone and especially my bed.

Just me

I think I am a very bizarre person. Someone who is very keen to learn and study I can sometimes put a different spin on things (or like we say in Icelandic, I certainly am good at making útúrsnúninga!). For todays terrifying lecture on excavation reports we had to log onto the Royal Comission of whatever for certain reports. Basically because we had no idea what we were doing there and no one told us how to actually use the very complicated website I gave up after a few minutes of trying to find the excavation reports. What did I do instead? I didn't want to say to the guy that I had only spent a few minutes there without finding anything out, so I started househunting instead. Yeah, I know there are not many like me in this world which is a sad thing for those that don't know me and a comfort for those that do. I found out that if you were lucky you could find images of the site and very often there were architectural plans or archaeology / architectural drawings of them as well, so if I can't actually buy it there is a chance I can have it built in Iceland in the coming future and when I have become immensely rich from my very lucrative research into Welsh and Irish medieval literature, 'ralh' (rolling about laughing hysterically).

On another note, I went on a field trip on Sunday. I went to Silverburn which is a new shopping center, I mean, why would I go anywhere except where I knew I would be able to shop. It is a new shopping centre and it is actually situated in Pollock so a bit out of the way. Both cab drivers asked me what I was doing so far away from the West End. Hmmm, could it be because I don't have my own car to ferry me there so that I can skip these questions. I would take the bus if I knew where I would end up or if I didn't have to walk half a mile to be able to catch the bus. So I let the taxi drivers chaufer me around. Bright people!

Oh, and another taxi story before I continue with Silverburn story. I took the cab to Uni today and oh boy, I mean you could probably excuse it back home in Iceland but here, I didn't think this was possible. The guy like so many others asked me what it was that I was studying at Uni and I told him Medieval Scottish History. He found that impressive and recognized that a person would have to specialise in an area of history as no one could know every history in the world, very enlightened of him. Then he told me he had been driving a girl from the history department around and asked me if I knew her, she was Canandian! That was the hint I got. I was like, in Glasgow there are 660 000 inhabitants + a few turists, in Glasgow University there are 17 000 teachers, students and staff + a few guests and turists. In the History Department, there are hundreds of people, more than a hundred in first year, more than a hundred in second year, quite possibly around hundres in third and also in the fourth year. Then we have the postgraduates, doing their masters and doctorates. And I was supposed to know a Canadian girl doing history! Why do I always get these strange questions!

Anyway, back to Silverburn. It is a very new shopping centre, only opened about a month ago, and there is definitely a lot left to do. Only half of the centre is about open and the other half that has shops has only filled every other space. It's only one level, but huge and very long, almost never ending. But you also get these huge department stores like Marks & Spencer and Debenhams which are on two levels and. Then next to this or sort of annexed to it, although you have to go out to get in is Tesco (of course, where isn't a Tesco in Britain). It is really huge. I spent more than an hour in there going from lane to lane to try to figure out what was not there and what I needed for lunch and dinner. (Comparing it to Hagkaup in Smáralind back home I would have to say this store is about twice or more the size of it, so that is saying something). But it only took me about three hours to go through the shopping centre and Tesco and back home. I didn't manage to find any other Christmas presents except maybe one for myself. And since I have yet to receive it (as in at Christmas) I can't tell you anything about it.

Today we were also invited to the annual Angus Matheson Memorial Lecture in the Celtic department. Anne joined us but was sick so had to leave after it, but we still managed to have fun before the lecture. Well sort of, I nearly finished her off with my Christmas present to her. She kind of dared me to it when we were coming back on the train to Glasgow last time we saw her, so I couldn't resist. I acquired a copy of Thomas the Tank Engine book and went online and nicked some departmental staff photos and started printing and cutting and putting it all together. I ended up with Thomas Clancy the Clever little Tank Engine along with his friends. I truly hope that he never finds out but it is hilarious, she loved it. The Lecture itself was fine but we couldn't help giggling a few times. Like when one of the speakers kept mispronouncing Robert O'Maolalaigh's name and when the guy in the row behind us when to sleep and actually snored on a couple of occasions. But there were good news there as well. They are starting a new iris or a journal of Gaelic literature and culture, published with articles in English, Irish and Gaelic and I am definitely going to subscribe, there were quite a few articles in there that I would like to read so as soon as it is published I will contact the department. There articles there by Dereck Thompson, Michel Byrne, Donald Meek and Kathrine Hollo, all very good scholars in their field and so it promises to be quite the worthwhile read.

I'm happy!

I've got Simpsonitis

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photos

Just to let you know that I have just added some photos to my blog. Both from my graduation and also from the evening the girls and I went out. The links to the photos are here to the right and you don't need to sign in to view them, or at least you shouldn't have to.

Lazy is the word of the month

I always mean to be efficient at writing but then nothing happens. I think it's the heat, I can't do anything, can't even think one thought through. A lot has been happening lately. I was on TV, yes, as I wrote here before, but not only that I was on TV last night as well. And no, not the same program, now I was caught completely unawares. This is what happens when you show up early for a book signing. Norways most published author Margit Sandemo and the author of Ísfólkið came for a visit and signed books for hardcore fans. So of course I showed up, not one to let an opportunity like this slip from me and because I was there early I was caught on camera. It just isn't possible to show up for something like that and not be noticed. The nerd just got nerdier.
I went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on opening night. I think it is one of the movies I have to see again and again before I will be completely at ease with it. Obviously since I love the book so much I was disappointed with it in many ways. It was like watching a slide show at fast pace of the book. Not nice at all, some of the scenes I was particularly waiting for were hardly mentioned and some facts were distorted and the thread of the tale bent to suit the short cut through of the story. I am not saying it isn't good. It might be for those that haven't read the book cover to cover for months and it might be fine for those who haven't read the books, I just don't know how they viewed it. Many of the things that were alluded to showed obvious intent on the director and screen-writers that the audience should be aware of or know the story intimately so that they would know what was being hinted at. But all in all it was a quite short and shoddy work of an otherwise great book. In this instance the book is defenitely better than the movie.
On Friday night, I along with five other girls went out for a night. Enjoyed a lovely dinner at Hereford Steakhouse, and the company wasn't bad either. It was actually too bad that it had to end so soon, it was such fun. After we left the restaurant we made a short stop at the home of one of the girls where we continued to chat and laugh (some histerically and some more ladylike ;). I can't wait until the next time we go out. This is just too fun for words.
I am on my way to bed shortly, hopefully there will be peace and quite tonight. Obviously someone in the street has aquired an electric guitar and he has been trying it out in his garage. I mean he is somewhere in the street, and not even that close to us, but I can hear every fail note like it is screaming in my ear in this very room. Last night he was at this to almost pas mid-night, and I was not a happy bunny, and therefore a rather grouchy person when roused this morning to go to work. When I came home today, he started again and later tonight he was still at it. Right now, I don't here anything and I sincerely hope that someone has broken both his arms.
Until next time I can be bothered.

Now it's public knowledge too: I'm a nerd!

Yours truly was on television yesterday, in Út og Suður with Gísli Einarsson and now it is official. Everyone in Iceland know I'm a nerd. It was an interview with Oddur Helgason genealogist, and the man who I am working for this summer gathering genealogical information. I wasn't at home, when it was aired, and didn't get a chance to see it a wee bit later in the evening, but dear me, I was mortified. Actually, it wasn't too bad, because I was watching it with friends of mine, who comforted me. It was just a shock to hear myself on television. I never knew I had such a squeeky voice, it was unnerving. But they said that I didn't sound like that usually, I must have just been unusually nervous. Which I was. The interview was recorded the day after I came back home from Skotland, and my Icelandic was a bit rusty yet. It always takes me a while to get comfortable speaking Icelandic to strangers when I come back. When I came home, I heard that loads of people had phoned to tell mom and dad what a good job I had done, and that it had been nice to see all this. I heard the same when I went to work this morning as well, from people who had been watchin. It is amazing how many people actually watch that show, when I consider it a bit on the old-people-interest-show.
The biggest shock came probably when I went to the bank today, where I was getting a check made ready for me, where a woman came up to me and thanked me for a good show yesterday. She was really very kind and said that it was so nice to see how truly interested I was in genealogy and family history. But, yup, now you can almost call me famous in Iceland .... well, at least infamous. ;) Let's see where this leads to.

Graduation

There is so much to blog about I can't blog fast enough.
Well the main news is that I graduated on June 29th, Friday. It was a marvelous day, and a wonderful ceremony, very formal and festive. It was a day I never wanted to end, but that was after we got back to the hotel. Before I went up to Uni, I was so nervous I had upset stomach and nausea but after a few breathing sessions I finally calmed down and managed to finish getting ready. I met Claire up at the University where we collected our graduation wardrobe and tickets for family. Then we headed for a wee get together at the Celtic Department for drinks and to chat with some friends and teachers. At the ceremony itself, Claire and I got front row seats of the ceremony. I was in nerd heaven. My teacher of four years, Thomas Clancy and head of the Celtic department held a speech celebrating the life of gaelic poet Ruaraidh MacThómais who was receiving Honorary Doctorate from the University. Then the graduation walk began, 340 students receiving their degrees all one by one for more than an hour, wonderful. At the end of the ceremony Dr. Dauvit Broun got a reward for excellence in teaching and he so deserved it, he is such a nice man and a great teacher. He is the head of the M.Litt program I am joining next year, and he was even nice enough to enquire about me and if I would be able to study Old Norse next year. Such a sweet man. I also had a photography session after the ceremony with mom and dad as well, and then a few photos by my brother. Before we left for the hotel, we stopped by the gift shop where we bought a frame for my degree and a bottle of whiskey, that instead of saying The Famous Grouse, it says The Famous Graduate.
Then we headed for the hotel where mom served up a delicious cake before we went upstairs for a wonderful meal. We also got a glass of champagne to toast with and a bottle of fine red merlot from Chile. Five courses and I was beyond bursting. It was truly a great day.

It wasn’t until the day after that everything seemed to go down hill but that wasn’t until much later in the day and we had managed to do most of the things we had intended so there was nothing else for us to worry about. But the trouble at the Glasgow airport did put a dent in our last night in Glasgow. Because there was nowhere possible to get any kind of information from our airliner or media back home of what passangers of Icelandair were supposed to do or contact in case of something like this. Nothing at all. But no matter, we decided to just take things slowly, follow the news and not do anything rash. We finished packing and went to sleep. We all woke up at seven in the morning and the airport was still closed. It wasn’t until eight in the morning that they told us that the airport was finally open, but no matter where we turned we got no news from home if our flight was on or not. We did managed finally to see that the flight from Keflavik had left and so we decided to hurry to the airport in case they would be flying out as well. When we got to the airport, caoz was everywhere and all we were told to do was get in the queue, but they didn’t tell us how long it was or what the purpose was of us queuing at all. We had to walk a kilometre before we found a gap in the queue for us to stand in. Right next to us was a wee shop where I managed to buy some coke for the group because we had no idea of how long we were going to be there. Still we tried to reach Icelandair, Leifsstöð or anyone that might have some answers to us. I managed to find a wheelchair with the help of a very helpful police officer for my mom which made the wait a bit more bearable for her but it was still very difficult for all of us. Finally, by pure chance we got a phoncall from an acquaintance of my brother who told us that the Icelandair flight was scheduled to depart very soon. So I had to try to find someone to tell us what we were to do, finally found a guy who told me that we had to get there asap! We managed at the very, very, very last moment to get to the desk to check in for our flight almost having a heart attack on the way, then we had to go almost half the way back again to get to the International flight terminal. We had to walk across an inside bridge where the windows had been covered up, but it didn’t mask the intense smell of petrol- and rubber burning. We were basically walking right by where the car had crashed into the airport, not a nice thing at all. We made it to the gate where we were placed in a bus that drove us the last few meters to the airplane. At the gate we were even reproached for being so late, I was really taken aback by that. That was some cheek of saying that after everything we went through to get there and we even got there on time, but there was no assistance, no help, no guidance from anyone were we were supposed to go. Later we even got the news that the office back in Iceland couldn’t even reach their staff at Glasgow airport and certainly the staff at the airport had no clue what was going on outside. I was furious. But we made it to the airplane and home and I have never been as glad to come home as I was on Sunday July 1st.

But it is no lie to say that this was a historic trip. The first terrorist attack in Scotland! And the funny thing was, you wouldn’t have known about it if you hadn’t turned on the television, because it just didn’t phase anyone. Everything was business as usual, no hysteria, no panic, no it’s-the-end-of-the-world speech you know by heart from the Americans. Everyone was just as cool as ever.
But the main thing was that no one died and only one person got injured (and we can argue how much or not he deserved it) but we can be grateful that nothing horribly bad happened.
This did nothing to mar the memory of my graduation either, it was a beautiful day, which will live that much longer in my memory because of the events that followed.

Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day!

Yes, I think I am in a pretty good mood today. Although I do have a mountain of work ahead of me. I am back in Glasgow after two weeks back home, and boy it has been interesting. Almost every single day I spent at home it snowed, blizzard conditions and worse sometimes. Now that I am back in Glasgow, I am roasting. The sun has been shining like crazy since I came here and the temperature has been 12°c and above. Beautiful, except that the sun pays me a rather roasting visit later in the day, which means that if I am trying to study I have to block it out with heavy curtains.
But the reason I am in this lovely mood today is the news I recieved yesterday in my inbox. I got an e-mail from the Postgraduate Service at the University where they were informing me that they have accepted my application for M.Litt in Scottish Medieval Studies for next year, which means: One more year of 'wha gie's it!, and 'hughie-ing' and 'haggis, neeps and tatties'
Anyways, I am thrilled, ecstatic, floating on air.

A few highlights from back home;
March 20th - Had a wonderful dinner at my friends, Hrafnhildur's place, where I had the chance of seeing my friend Guðný Stellu, who is the busiest freak I know. I also met Bryndísi and Þurý, the two chicks that came for a shopping trip in Glasgow, with Hrafnhildi, before Christmas and who are still paying their visa bills from then! Brilliant guys.
March 23rd - I went to the movies, even though I had to pay the exorbitant fee of 950kr (7 pounds+)for the ticket. Went to see 300 and oh, my god, I loved it. I got so caught up in it, I wasn't aware of anything around me. I want to see it again soon.
March 30th - Then last friday was the pinnacle of my stay back home, where I went with my friends, Hrafnhildi, Bryndísi and Þurý for a girls night out. We started by going to a Witch shop in the city center where we had two hour lecture on various methods of 'the craft', we had lovely chocolate cake and herbal tea, along with the 'elixir of love' brewed especially for us, Bryndís and I imbibed 2 shots of that brew, just for extra ooompf. Then we were let loose in the store, where I bought a sack of runes and instruction manual, plus a dreamsymbol. Something that is quite appropriate for me. The friends were mostly into buying the herbal tea stuff, which is not me, although I did enjoy the tea they offered us with the cake. Well, after this experience we made our way to Austur-Indía félagið (The East-India company) where we had the most scruptious dinner ever, loved it. I was near to bursting but I still refused to leave a morsel left on my plate. Oooh, it was good. Then, as if this wasn't enough we went to The Celtic Cross, appropriate isn't it, a lovely wee pub on Hverfisgata where we had one cocktail. Again, I nearly had a heart attack because of the price, I was expected to pay for a wee (although wonderful) cocktail; 1300kr (10 pounds!), yikes. I just find it amazing that anyone ever goes out in Iceland to get sloshed. It's almost cheaper to just be a tea-totaller, although that can be expensive as well. But I had a lovely time, and my friends assured me that we will try something else and something just as fun during the summer. Can't wait. Guys, thanks for a lovely time, it was wonderful.