It's Christmastime in the City

It has been a long time since my last post.  Needless to say things have started to get nice and busy here in London.  The Christmas lights and markets are out in full force.  The Southbank Christmas Market opened a couple of weeks ago, and we went down to the Thames for some mulled wine, roasted chestnuts and cashews, ostrich burgers, and christmas goodies.  It was my first time eating a roasted chestnut.  I was not impressed.  If it has nut in the name, it should taste like a nut, not like a potato.

Islington, my neighborhood, had its own 'Christmas Extravaganza' last weekend.  It was like a block party but with bigger rides, better food, incredible music, a reindeer, and gorgeous lights along the streets.  It wasn't TSO or the Nutcracker, but it had wonderful charm and tons of holiday cheer.

All of the main streets in the city have been lit up beautifully with extravagant light displays.  I'll sometimes just go for late night walks through the streets or ride the bus home just to see the lights flash by.  It's absolutely magical.

We spent a few days in Berlin last month visiting museums, galleries, private collections, and artist studios.  We were constantly moving from one incredible experience to another.  I think I'm still trying to process everything we saw.  It was such a blur.

We turned in our first major (graded) assignment a few weeks ago and received our marks yesterday.  I was very pleased to find out that I did not fail (I actually did really well)!  It was a huge relief to have some evidence that I might be on the right track with this whole Masters thing and getting a really good mark made it so much better.  At the same time, though, we have two major essays coming up for our seminar classes, and now I feel more pressured than before to do well on them.  If only Gadamer were easier to grapple with.

Because we were not able to go home to the states, a group of students from Christie's got together for a nice Thanksgiving meal on Black Friday.  No shopping sales here, but we had a nice meal with a Turkey and stuffing and everything! It was delicious and such a nice reprieve from work and homesickness.

It's absurd that we only have a week of "classes" left before the end of our first term.  It seems like we only just arrived yesterday and we've already survived a third of the program.  It has been busy and tiring and full of frustrations and delight, but I love every minute of it.  Fingers crossed for me writing this next essay.  Aesthetic philosophy is not easy.  We're just going to have to make it enjoyable! Bring it on hermeneutics!