8 Feb

Yesterday night was so windy that I lost some cheese I had sitting on my window sill/fridge. The wind was howling through the night and sprinkled a little rain on us for extra effect. I wasn’t too amused, and neither was my cheese (it’s a two storey drop, after all). I did find it later in the day, but didn’t trust the grass to preserve it well so regretfully I had to toss it.

Early start this morning to a slightly more exciting 1^st WW Lit class than normal because we had a guest lecturer. He informed us that our normal professor, Max Saunders, is considered one of the world’s leading experts on Ford Madox Ford, an author we will be reading shortly. Pretty impressive, I just wish he was more of an engaging lecturer (like Armitage) and could really impart his obvious enthusiasm for the material onto his students.

Linguistics followed shortly after and was incredibly amusing. At one point Matt, the other JYA and only other American in the class, and I were called upon to say “cot” and “caught” again to the class. We were discussing how regional pronunciations can merge or divide due to social factors such as stigmatization and mobility. She then put up a transparency of the US with colored lines dividing the country into zones which distinguish between the pronunciation and those that do not. North Carolina and most of the east does, while I do not, and Texas is about split and in fact going through a “transition.” When I explained that I grew up in Texas but live in North Carolina, she said that she’ll put me in Texas because it fits better with our observation. I found this quite funny because it sounded so arbitrary although in fact it is the appropriate action since I believe I speak more like someone from central Texas than from Piedmont North Carolina. I know, I find the strangest things funny. I’m such a dork, I’ll admit it. J

I went to the library again after class in search of useful books but came up empty. Instead I covertly ate my lunch at one of the desks (I’m pretty sure they don’t allow food near the books) while reading Old Arcadia by Philip Sidney. Poetically = complex and interesting; subject-wise = just another set of love songs (like Astrophil and Stella). From there I caught (cot?) a bus home and got to the dorm around 3.

I read more in OA and messed around on the computer a bit before dinner. After dinner, I joined Liane and Gregg in Gregg’s room for a glass of wine and some random conversation. I’ slowly getting used to the taste of it, but I still can’t stomach more than a glass at a time (while they can easily polish off most of a bottle). Besides, I feel bad about drinking other people’s alcohol and not being able to treat them immediately back. Though the conversation was interesting, I really had to pull away to finish my reading and prepare for class the next day. It’s my favorite one so I had better be on top of things. I literally read OA for the rest of the night before updating my blog after midnight and then finally going to bed. Cheers!