The master's thesis: things are getting real.
Sunday, May 20, 2018
Friday, May 11, 2018
Photos from Iceland (in January)
Months belated, because I am both way too busy and also a really absurd perfectionist, but now finally, in May, I've finished putting together albums from my most recent time in Iceland . . . in January.
There's a:
REYKJAVÍK ALBUM (including my wondrous rapture at the sea, the snow, the stunning light; beautiful times with good friends; and did I mention the gorgeous, gorgeous light)
and an
ÍSAFJÖRÐUR ALBUM (including romps through the beautiful, snow-covered fjord; celebrating the return of the sun after the deepest part of winter, wonderful friends (and a wonderful cat), and my study of what daylight looks like in a northern fjord in January)
As always, it's the irritating Google Photos set-up that doesn't always show the captions...and the captions are much of the fun and work that goes into it! So click the little "i" symbol if you want to read my hopefully humorous thoughts about the pictures.
There's a:
REYKJAVÍK ALBUM (including my wondrous rapture at the sea, the snow, the stunning light; beautiful times with good friends; and did I mention the gorgeous, gorgeous light)
and an
ÍSAFJÖRÐUR ALBUM (including romps through the beautiful, snow-covered fjord; celebrating the return of the sun after the deepest part of winter, wonderful friends (and a wonderful cat), and my study of what daylight looks like in a northern fjord in January)
As always, it's the irritating Google Photos set-up that doesn't always show the captions...and the captions are much of the fun and work that goes into it! So click the little "i" symbol if you want to read my hopefully humorous thoughts about the pictures.
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Home again (for a given value of home)
I'm back in Aberdeen, where I arrived yesterday to bafflingly warm weather and a profusion of springtime flowers the likes of which we hadn't yet even dreamt of up north in Orkney.
It turns out my apartment building is surrounded by cherry trees! And apple trees! And daffodils! Aberdeen, usually so gray, has burst into sudden life.
Also, I made a map to show where I went during my month (plus a week) in Orkney. It's crudely drawn, but it gives as sense of it.
First, here's a zoomed out version that shows where Orkney is in relation to the rest of Scotland, and includes my trip up from Aberdeen by train and short ferry, and back down by overnight long ferry:
And here's the map zoomed in to just Orkney. I managed to get to 10 different islands (there are 70 total, 20 inhabited), which I think is not bad at all, considering I was also working full time while I was there! Here's a visual representation of my time on Mainland (lots of parts of it), Hoy, Rousay, Lamb Holm, Glims Holm, Burray, South Ronaldsay, Westray, Papa Westray (Papay) and North Ronaldsay:
It turns out my apartment building is surrounded by cherry trees! And apple trees! And daffodils! Aberdeen, usually so gray, has burst into sudden life.
Also, I made a map to show where I went during my month (plus a week) in Orkney. It's crudely drawn, but it gives as sense of it.
First, here's a zoomed out version that shows where Orkney is in relation to the rest of Scotland, and includes my trip up from Aberdeen by train and short ferry, and back down by overnight long ferry:
And here's the map zoomed in to just Orkney. I managed to get to 10 different islands (there are 70 total, 20 inhabited), which I think is not bad at all, considering I was also working full time while I was there! Here's a visual representation of my time on Mainland (lots of parts of it), Hoy, Rousay, Lamb Holm, Glims Holm, Burray, South Ronaldsay, Westray, Papa Westray (Papay) and North Ronaldsay:
Monday, May 7, 2018
Greetings from North Ron
Greetings from North Ronaldsay, the northernmost of the already quite northern Orkney islands. (Why yes, I do have a pattern.)
I finished my INDESCRIBABLY FANTASTIC fieldwork placement at Orkney Library a week ago – though they must be thoroughly sick of me by now, because I hung around in the library most of the next days, too, working working working on my coursework. (The assignment deadlines come furiously one after another both during and directly after the period where we're also required to be focusing full time on the fieldwork placement...the system is not terribly well thought out.)
I've been so grateful to be able to stay on in Orkney a little longer (I don't have hard and fast appointments back in Aberdeen until this coming week), which means I've been able to see a little more of the islands, even though most of my time I'm frantically working on assignments. Hence these couple of days on North Ronaldsay, where I've been partly exploring the beautiful coast, and partly working on assignments from a window overlooking the sea. Despite the looming deadline stress, it's a very good life.
Incidentally, the only way to get to this particular island (aside from the ferry that goes only once a week!) is by tiny 8-seater plane. It was definitely the smallest plane of my life, and it was SO COOL. Here's a view over the pilot's shoulder, coming in to land on North Ronaldsay:
Now sharing the hostel with me are an adorably enthusiastic group of bird-watchers (North Ron is a major stopover for migrating birds, and the hostel here is an offshoot of the bird observatory). I'm getting up early tomorrow to go with them to see the "mist nets," where scientists catch, tag and release birds so populations can be monitored, before I have to head back out to Kirkwall then on the overnight ferry back to Aberdeen.
Oh, and? North Ron, in addition to being beautiful (and covered in birds), is home to the famous seaweed-eating sheep. Yes, you read that right. Fences keep them out of the farmland of the island's interior and on the communal coast, where they live primarily on seaweed. They (the sheep) seem pretty chill about it:
I finished my INDESCRIBABLY FANTASTIC fieldwork placement at Orkney Library a week ago – though they must be thoroughly sick of me by now, because I hung around in the library most of the next days, too, working working working on my coursework. (The assignment deadlines come furiously one after another both during and directly after the period where we're also required to be focusing full time on the fieldwork placement...the system is not terribly well thought out.)
I've been so grateful to be able to stay on in Orkney a little longer (I don't have hard and fast appointments back in Aberdeen until this coming week), which means I've been able to see a little more of the islands, even though most of my time I'm frantically working on assignments. Hence these couple of days on North Ronaldsay, where I've been partly exploring the beautiful coast, and partly working on assignments from a window overlooking the sea. Despite the looming deadline stress, it's a very good life.
Incidentally, the only way to get to this particular island (aside from the ferry that goes only once a week!) is by tiny 8-seater plane. It was definitely the smallest plane of my life, and it was SO COOL. Here's a view over the pilot's shoulder, coming in to land on North Ronaldsay:
Now sharing the hostel with me are an adorably enthusiastic group of bird-watchers (North Ron is a major stopover for migrating birds, and the hostel here is an offshoot of the bird observatory). I'm getting up early tomorrow to go with them to see the "mist nets," where scientists catch, tag and release birds so populations can be monitored, before I have to head back out to Kirkwall then on the overnight ferry back to Aberdeen.
Oh, and? North Ron, in addition to being beautiful (and covered in birds), is home to the famous seaweed-eating sheep. Yes, you read that right. Fences keep them out of the farmland of the island's interior and on the communal coast, where they live primarily on seaweed. They (the sheep) seem pretty chill about it:
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