Meetings and Thoughts

I think one of the things I love about England is the immediacy of the past. Today I went on the BBC website and one of the first boxes that pop up on the site is how to make a 'Victorian Christmas'. Obviously I'm a sucker for anything Victorian at this point, but the fact remains that history is a part of the everyday consciousness in a way that I just don't see in the US. Anyway. Did you know that Christmas cards were invented in Victorian Britain? FYI. Fun times with the BBC is what's on the agenda for me tonight, apparently.

Had my meeting with Richard Salmon today, and he seems like a really nice and easygoing guy. From what I've heard (hilariously, through my very gossipy seminar buddies) he doesn't really care for loud people, so we both sort of murmured our way through the meeting quite comfortably. He seemed to like my topic a lot, and we briefly discussed what sort of primary sources I'd like to concentrate on, and it looks like narrowing those down will be my main task for the winter break. I've amassed a lot of secondary reading so far, so as of now, I'll be starting off by checking out Samuel Butler's utopian satire Erewhon, which I had never heard of until my Brontes professor mentioned it to me the other day, but apparently has lots to say about machinery and it's potential uncanniness. So that's a start, and it's not even Dickens! Although Hard Times might be making an appearance too. Good thing I actually read that on my own a while ago. So overall, I'm apparently not in bad shape. Win! I have a limit of six hours total meeting time with Dr. Salmon, so hopefully by the time I get back on campus, I'll be able to use that time wisely.

And now, classes are officially done! I sort of don't know what to do with myself, except that I totally do have things that need to be done. They're just schedule-less, which is rather disconcerting. But with any luck/proper work ethic, I'll be able to make dent in the next few days before break in the essays I'll be needing to finish for January. This has all gone down way too fast holy crap.