This:

Sometimes I need to stop and remember.

Working Hard...Or Hardly Working

Recently people have asked me, "What DO you actually study at Cambridge?" Good question. Sometimes I wonder that myself. Since the majority of my posts on this blog have been about my awkward moments, travel adventures, or the food I've eaten, I thought I'd take a moment to actually clarify that occasionally I DO do work at Cambridge. But only rarely.

The above photograph shows the books I recently checked out from the library. Ah, Cambridge libraries. What's it like going to a Cambridge library? Imagine you combined Labyrinth, Black Friday shopping, Harry Potter, and a particularly strict convent that has taken a vow of silence. Yup, that's it. Terrifying and glorious at the same time. These books are mostly for the two dissertations I'm doing this term. One is on Octavia Butler's beautiful time travel novel, Kindred. I'm looking at trauma theory (see the Caruth books) and tragedy. The second dissertation is on H. G. Wells (who I am finding more and more brilliant as time passes) and his writings on the human-animal "problem" (focusing, primarily on pain and vivisection). Grim work, no? Indeed. But interesting. 

The few other books which don't pertain to those topics are for the papers I'm "taking" this term: tragedy and contemporary. The tragedy paper covers everything from the Greeks and Shakespeare to the modern day (hence, Sarah Kane). Contemporary covers anything written 1996 or later, which means I get to read a lot of books that have been on my To Read list for years now: Wolf Hall, The City & The City, The Raw Shark Texts, The Gargoyle, Fragile Things, Elizabeth Costello, and The Road, to name a few. I'm unendingly pleased with myself for taking the contemporary paper because not only do I get to watch 28 Days Later for homework, but "contemporary writing" covers such a wide range of topics, it's unreal. The lectures I attended covered the following: graphic novels, Japanese pornography, theoretical physics, geometry, the apocalypse, ecology, psycho- (and psychotic-) geography, late capitalism, technology, non-place, gonzo journalism, architecture, obsessive personalities, serial killers, and hauntology. Just a course on literature? I think not!

Taking the contemporary paper really has made me realize how fluid literary "movements" are, and it becomes difficult to pin down what it means to be "contemporary" or "modern." I love studying the literature of my generation, knowing that ideas we discuss and about which we write will form the future analysis of this time period's literature. 

To keep this from getting too long, I'm going to end there. My work is quite expansive and equally eclectic, but I like it that way. I may have spent my first term here grumbling that I couldn't specialize and do an MPhil or Master's, but in the end I'm blessed that I was able to study such a wide range of literary topics under some of the brightest minds in the world. Even if my reading list IS longer than I am tall. 

The Land of Ice and Fire

No, it's not Westeros. Unfortunately. Or fortunately? Westeros is not the nicest place in the world to be honest. Do you know what IS the nicest place (or at least way nicer than Westeros)? ICELAND. Icy-icy-land. Deciding that I needed MORE stress in my life, I scheduled a weekend getaway to Iceland with two friends. (Isn't it lovely that living in England makes it so easy to take WEEKEND GETAWAYS to freakin' Iceland?! What kind of world am I living in?!) We left on a Thursday and I returned on Sunday, a nice long weekend trip. Let me give you the lowdown on my four fun-filled days.

Getting to Iceland was no party, let me tell you that. It involved rising at 3:30am, taking a cab to Heathrow, flying to Copenhagen, getting on another plane, and flying in Reykjavic (the capital), and then getting on two buses to our guesthouse. Oy vey. That was Day #1. We didn't do much. We wandered the Iceland freeways for a bit trying to find a grocery store and then had a grand time (NOT) grocery shopping. Do you know how difficult it is to buy stuff that's not only not in English but uses the outrageous Icelandic kronor (only outrageous because it has increments in the thousands which makes everything seem way overpriced)? Anyway, we crashed at home with sandwiches for dinner, experimented with some horrible green olive tea (never again!), and, since our Norther Lights Tour was cancelled (this was to be the theme of our trip), we spent the evening drinking wine and laughing until we got stomach cramps. Good way to start, I suppose.

Our first full day was much better for actual touristy activities. We booked our Blue Lagoon tour and rebooked our Nothern Lights tour before heading out into the city. Reyjkavik is adorable. Everything looks old-fashioned and quaint, but as if it had been built two years ago. Fresh-painted houses, clean streets, small shops. Adorable.

Our first stop was the Culture House where we got to see some extraordinarily old Viking manuscripts. These sags are seriously ancient. Not surprising that they kept them behind a foot of glass. We learned about bookmaking and got to pretend we went to a Viking preschool.

The upstairs of the Culture House was home to modern Icelandic art. It ranged from classical—busts and marble statues—to bizarre—a room full of piles of rubber ears. We got to see a cool old library and learn a bit about Icelandic history.

After the Culture House we went to Hallgrímskirkja, a very intimidating Luthern church. You're first greeted by a statue of Leif Eriksson gifted to Reyjkavik by America. The church is the largest in Iceland and was designed to resemble the basalt lava flows of Icelandic landscape. The inside of the church was nice, but unimpressive. What was really lovely was the view from the top. After an elevator ride and a few sets of stairs we reached the top and have a fantastic photographic vantage point.

Post-church we found Cafe Loki where Tom Hiddleston himself visited. We wandered inside for lunch and an escape from the dreary Iceland rain. There we warmed up and had a lovely view of the church. I indulged in a glorious vegetarian platter complete with famous Icelandic rye bread while another friend sample traditional Icelandic fish and their to-die-for rye bread ice cream.

The afternoon was spent shopping and wandering the streets of Reykjavik. We rushed home for dinner (pasta and beer...not quite Iceland), with our fingers crossed that we would be able to see the Northern Lights that night. No such luck. Instead we found our way to an Icelandic sports bar and sampled some more traditional Icelandic beer.

The next morning was equally dreary, but we made up for it with a trip to the Kolaportið Flea Market where I bought a (fake) Icelandic sweater (fake because I, sadly, can't wear wool). We then went on a hilarious trip to the harbor where I saw my first mountains! We took some ridiculous photos and then sought out the “Sun Voyager”, a really beautiful statue that resembles Viking longboats. After that we headed home again, ate pasta out of the pan like the classy ladies we are, and prepared ourselves for our trip to the Blue Lagoon.

The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa that's located in a lava field on the Reykjanes Penninsula. The water is rich in minerals such as sulphur (hence its interesting smell) and it said to help with skin diseases. The temperatures can get quite hot in some places, but in others it's a lovely room temp. The place is so big that despite a large number of tourists there, you often had large parts of the lagoon to yourself. They had an area where you could use the mud (infused with volcanic rock) to give yourselves facials. They even had a bar in the lagoon! Talk about a vacation. We floated around for a few hours, taking some breaks to refresh ourselves in the cold Icelandic air. Finally, exhausted, we headed back to Reykjavik.

Dinner was at Cafe Paris. We people watched and drank cold Icelandic beer and lamented not being about to see the Northern Lights once more. But the day had been fabulous regardless. A good end to the trip.

The next day was Sunday and woke up and hopped on my bus back to the airport. A long layover in Oslo, a crazy chase to catch the last train out of King's X, and I finally collapsed on my bed at almost three in the morning. A lecture at 9? Ha! Okay, so maybe I was cutting my schedule a bit close, but the trip was well worth it. What an experience! Certainly the trip of a lifetime. Who knows if I'll even get back to Iceland again. Though, I must say, I'm hoping to make a trip to Canada soon to do the few things I didn't get to do in Iceland: go dog sledding, ride Icelandic ponies, and, of course, see the Northern Lights.