This Weekend....

WE ARE GOING TO DUBLIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right now, in an effort to get all my work done before we fly out, I have to go write a paragraph each on three "gobbets" for Shakespeare. Isn't that a funny word? They're selected texts taken from Macbeth that I have to analyze, basically.

So I'm writing a paragraph of dense analysis on three monologues from Macbeth: "Glamis thou art...", "Is this a dagger...", and "To be thus is nothing...". Here's Josh's assignment:

"You should come up with a paragraph of commentary for each. The point with these is to set the passages as concisely as possible in their dramatic and literary context. What is important about these lines? What themes and images from the rest of the work do they contribute to? Why are these moments important to our impressions of the characters? Be careful to avoid restating what goes on in the passage, but comment on its place in the work as a whole. It is a difficult exercise because it requires deciding what is MOST important to say about the gobbet and play as a whole."

But it is OKAY because FRIDAY WE'RE GOING TO DUBLIN. (That's my new mantra.) And my last tutorial with Josh was actually reeeeeally good. I even got a "This is almost exactly what I was looking for" assessment of my paper. And as I was walking to the tutorial, talking to myself (you know, pep talk), I realized that the whole reason I came here was to be challenged. And this is exactly what that looks like. My academic writing is getting so much better already.

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This week Elea Geerlings, Lara Berger, Will Lutz, and Matthew Pillsbury came to our side of the channel (they're spending the term in France) and visited us in Oxford! We gave them the tour and spent the evening chatting and getting all our gab out about Covenant because we finally could do it without feeling guilty. :) Then yesterday Hutton, Kate, and I went with them to London and spent the day hanging out and showing them the sights. And last night, we crashed at the house they're staying in and watched When Harry Met Sally (which I LOVED).

There is almost nothing better in life than meeting with old friends in a new and strange place.