Warm Weather

May has been the best month so far - the weather is warm, the sun is shinning! The sun does shine in England! Even though the weather here is mild compared to Ohio or New York (where we lived previously), the gray and rain can take it's toll; but, the psychological effect of the sunshine this month has been amazing. The first Monday in May is a bank holiday (i.e., national holiday), so my advisor, Diana, offered to take us out for the day. We went to a Roman site about an hour or so from Sheffield, which ended up not being all that they advertised it to be. We then we back to the quaint village of Knaresborgh (probably spelled wrong), which Rob and I had been to over the winter but I had forgot the camera. I was glad to go back and take some pictures, especially in the Spring. There are ruins of a castle there that overlooks a river and has an adorable village, too. There is even a thatched-roofed house. I've included pictures.

This last weekend we had a bbq at Diana's house with a couple of my friends from my program. James (the one with glasses in the pictures)is an American from Texas and is Diana's other first year student. Vasillos is from Greece and, even though it is his first year for the Ph.D. program, he worked on his master's here. Diana has a water pipe from Israel (many of you have seen ours in the States), which we sat around and smoked (you smoke a candy-like tobacco) and roasted these tiny English marshmallows.

This week is the last week of classes for the semester. The undergrads will have time to review and write their papers before their exams. I turn in my work to upgrade from the MPhil to Ph.D. candidate this week. I have one chapter done and I will be here this summer working on the second. This summer would be a great time for visitors, so let us know!