I'm in (for real) !!

I must say, I got the most wonderful e-mail this morning:

Dear Sapana,

Thank you for your application to study at King's College London for the
Spring 2006 Semester. I am delighted to inform you that you have been
accepted as an Exchange student within the Departments of English and
War studies for the following courses:

Contemporary Security Issues
Sociolinguistics
Court Cultures on the Age of Elizabeth I
1st World War Literature

Is there any better way to start the day? 11 days of waiting and wondering have finally come to a close and I can rest easy...for maybe a day or so. Now preparations really need to kick into high gear because it's already the last day of October and I'm planning on leaving right after exams. Eek! But hey, that's what Thanksgiving break is for. If any of you have advice on traveling/living in London, I would love to hear it. Anyway, I thought I'd share the good news before heading back to more pressing business, i.e. an essay on T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" (which, although quite an interesting poem, is terribly complex and deep and confusing: characteristics which make writing intelligently about it understandably difficult. But alas, such are the toils of an English major. "And I will show you something different from either / Your shadow at morning striding behind you / Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; / I will show you fear in a handful of dust." Isn't that marvelous? There is just something so ominous and mysterious about those lines, a sort of prophetic warning touched with a sense of horror...) Yes, so back to the paper. Cheers!

It's Not Just What You Know, But Who You Know

Ok, so I'm not talking schmoozing your way up the corporate ladder or getting appointed to choice political positions based on befriending the powers that be (Miers, anyone?). First, a little background: My dad is a great guy. He worked hard at IBM/Big Blue/ Daddy-of-Computers-Before-Those-Other-Guys-Came-Along for 35 years this year (though now he's with Lenovo, but that's not very relevant here). He has helped my siblings and I through our school years with sage advice and near, though not ungentle, constant prodding to be the best we could be. My mom played an equally important role in our upbringing and education, but I'll tell her story later. During this time, it seemed as though he had few hobbies besides reading, playing bridge, watching TV, and listening to the radio. As long as I've known him, he never seriously played any sports though he often accompanied us on the tennis and occasionally on the basketball courts.
I knew he had an interest in golf, but never saw any significant manifestation of it until recently. All of a sudden (and of course while the three of us are merrily off at college and not at home to keep an eye on him), he buys over $300 worth of golf clubs, gloves, balls, shoes, and tees. We were stunned. This is a guy seldom spends more than $50 on any shopping trip and watches his finances very carefully. Here's a man who took us to a driving range a few times and never watches golf on television. In short, my dad went from Mr. No-Real-Hobby to Mr. Amateur-Golf-Enthusiast in a matter of days. It's amazing what you miss when you don't live at home anymore. I think it's a change for the better except that he bought left-handed clubs and my sister and I are right-handed; though this is no real problem for me since I don't care much for the game, but Sachi sure would've loved to swing a few with those clubs.
Anyway, we were talking about connections. Although the clubs are useless to me, one of the men my dad plays with has turned out to be a goldmine of information and help concerning my (still hopefully) upcoming trip abroad. Mr. Sunil Patel, former British solicitor (lawyer for most of you) and current hotel/motel owner lived in London for some time and has family and friends there. When he found out I might be going to study in London, he immediately offered help and advice; where to go, what places to avoid after dark. And of course, typical Indian hospitality: "I'll have someone pick you up at the airport, and you can stay at my brother's house for a night" before I fly off to meet Saket in Sweden or wherever he'll be at the time. Ah, how great is that? Mr. Patel said that there are some people my age I can meet up with, so maybe we can go traveling together (it ain't safe now, nor never really has been unfortunately, for a gal to bum around foreign countries by herself). Anyway, this man is wonderful and now makes me all the more impatient to hear back from King's ('cause now there's one more person I could disappoint by not getting in).

And now for something completely different.

I created this blog in imitation of my brother's (which you can visit at http://saketvora.blogspot.com ; yes, I even used the same server...but hey, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?) and like him, I don't want to just fill it with King's information despite the title. Everyone could use a soapbox, open microphone, blank wall, empty page, or a few free megabytes of webspace to just express themselves without reproof, restraint, or rebuttal. The art of listening is diminishing in our society as many strive to simply out-talk the other instead of really listening to what the other has to say. Some people just need to be heard. To stifle our ideas is to slowly kill them and yet we must regulate their expression in order to maintain an orderly society. One should not stand up in a movie theater and start loudly describe their life story to the audience. That's just not appropriate. Blogs, however, are a rather novel and effective way to soapbox in the 21st century. So if you came here just for King's, I'll try to make it obvious which posts are about King's and which are me just speechifying. :)
Having said that, I have nothing more to say at the moment. Well, not really; I'm hungry. So, for now...Cheers!

Hmmm...and now I wait

So, perhaps I celebrated (rather foolishly, it seems) a little too early. UNC has given me permission to enroll at King's. King's, however, received my application today (the 20th) and will take some time to review it. Ah well, so now I wait. Saket went through a similar experience this spring when Lund University took forever in getting back to him. In the meanwhile, I have not been idle and have done some preliminary research on housing, transportation, etc, you know, trying to be a good student and actually prepare for my (quite likely) time abroad.
I feel as though I am turning into something of an Anglophile, though I have found some occasion to dispel those notions. The whole incident with the Elgin marbles from Greece (think Parthenon friezes) and especially some of India's finest diamonds deviously stolen (Hope diamond, anyone? Not to mention the whole centuries-of-colonization thing...) would be enough to make some cast a wary eye on those island inhabitants. You can blame the want of tact of Lord Elgin for the theft of those sacred marbles and the egomaniacal/greediness of the colonizers for the subjugation of India. However, I would love for someone to give me a good reason for the following:
4 farthings = 1 penny
12 pence/pennies = 1 shilling
2 shillings = 1 florin
5 shillings = 1 crown
20 sh. = 1 pound/sovereign
21 shillings = 1 guinea
240 pence = 1 pound
halfpence/halfpenny = two farthings
twopence/tuppence = 1/6 shilling or half groat
4 pence = 1 groat = 1/3 shilling
sixpence = 1/2 shilling
26 pence = 1/2 crown
1 quid (Col.) = 1 pound
1 tanner = sixpence = 1/2 shilling
3 deniers (Fr.) = 1/2 farthing
1/2 penny = 1 sou (Fr.)
1 bob (Col.) = 1 shilling
1 noble = 8 shillings + 4 pence (8/4) = 100 pence = 5/12 pound
L/s/d = pounds/shillings/pence
Fr. = French Col. = colloquial
And the Brits often think we're crazy...To be fair, though, the British decimalized (a real word, mind you) their monetary system early in the 1970s. A pound is now equivalent to 100 pennies (new pennies, as they are called) and they've all but done away with many of the minor divisions. I should note as well that back when the British Empire was at its height (when the sun never set on it and such) the pound was worth a great deal more than it does today. Hence, the smaller divisions were equivalent to our five and ten dollar notes. For example, at one point, the British silver penny was worth what a pound sterling is worth today! And a penny was only 1/240th of a pound! British currency went through a whole flurry of devaluations due to wars and recessions (most notably the Great Depression of the early 20th century) and today the pound sterling (basically, the pound) is worth about $1.77 (www.xe.com).
As a side note, the pound gets its funny looking "L" symbol from the Latin "L" for librum which means pound. The pound got its name from the weight in silver of a particular sized coin. The "s" for shilling is not its first letter but comes from the Latin solidus which means, not surprisingly, solid. The "d" for pence comes from the Latin denarius which was a small silver coin that was the most common coin in the Roman Empire. See? Read my blog and get free history lessons!
For someone claiming to be only a lukewarm Anglophile, I seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time researching Britain's monetary system. Well, I did so more out of curiosity sake (I should learn a thing or two about the people whose country I'll hopefully be invading shortly before I do so) and so that I can better understand my Shakespeare readings. Several of his puns depend on an understanding of the monetary system (most notably on "sovereigns" and "nobles") and I want to be able to understand at least some of the puns without having to consult the footnotes. And yes, I may be the only person you know who concerns herself about such a thing. I'm an English major; it's what we do.
Anyway, I feel as though I've rambled enough for today and will call it a night. Cheers!

Huzzah!

Ah, what wonderful news I received this morning. I've been accepted into King's!! The Study Abroad office said they would begin sending out notifications today, but knowing how delays are inherent in any such venture (and with some personal experience with Saket), I did not expect to hear back from them until next week. Oh sweet joy! I did not harbor many doubts as to my acceptance (just see the title of this blog for evidence of that!), but I have learned not to take things for granted. My heart definitely started racing as my application page loaded...Now that the wait is over the real work must begin. Saket is planning a grand WWII adventure with Nader in the last weeks of the year which sounds tempting, but we need to talk more before making any definite plans. Well, I'm off to relax and celebrate because today is a great day. Cheers!

I've applied! Let the waiting begin...

So I managed to get all of my materials together and submitted the packet on September 30th. Now, all I have to do is wait until the 14th for them to decide my doom. Of course, I won't be entirely idle until that time. There is still plenty of research to do about King's: housing, food, commuting, etc., and other study abroad stuff specific to UNC. I'll have a better sense of what to expect in about a week. Right now, though, there's a paper just calling out my name that I must attend to.