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'Larry the Bird' the Twitter Logo

You dedicated readers may have noticed a new addition to my blog page: my Twitter feed. That's right, I have officially broken into the Twitosphere and I love it. In fact, I more than love it. I have become completely and utterly obsessed. I find myself desperately checking my twitter feed in the few remaining seconds before class begins. I've wasted entire afternoons simply perusing through followers and various pages, in the hopes of coming across someone new and exciting to follow. Twitter has become my new Facebook.

As a breakdown for those technophobes Twitter, launched in 2006, allows the user to 'micro-blog' statuses of up to 140 characters or less. People, or Tweeps, follow you and your 'tweets' will appear in their twitter feed. When you follow other people their tweets will appear in your feed. It's a great way of sharing and spreading information at a scarily rapid rate.

When I broke the news to my mother, who uses twitter as part of the marketing for her business, she didn't understand why I'm finding it so brilliant. She uses it for business, not personal use. But that is part of the beauty of it. Where Facebook is used primarily as a social networking site for keeping in touch with friends and acquaintances, Twitter unites complete strangers and organisations from all over the world who share common interests whether it be reading, or photography or music. I'm doing an English degree, therefore the large majority of the people I'm following are something to do with publishing or the literary world. I've discovered new publishers and magazines, and read some fascinating articles. I've even come across a website searching for people to review books for them and so swiftly sent off an application.

In  fact in the week or so that I've been active I've stumbled across a number of opportunities and internships that I'm really interested in. I no longer feel quite so lost when searching the web for possible careers in the scary post-uni abyss as one of the things I was so scared of was my lack of knowledge of the jobs that are out there. That is all changing. The possibilities are endless. I'm following so many brilliant and fascinating people and I'm learning so much. My favourite of course being the QI elves, delivering me nuggets of facts everyday. And the Oxford English Dictionary  which provides me with a brilliant new 'word of the day'; I'm going to be a beast at scrabble!

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A Sober Spring Weekend

UConn has its own police department which teamed up
with the State police
police.uconn.edu

This weekend is an interesting one in the UConn calendar, Spring Weekend. For years past it has been celebrated with lots of alcohol, lots of partying and... well you know the deal! Emerging in the 60s, people flocked to campus from all over for the renowned party scene. That was until two years ago: in 2010 the weekend saw 84 student arrests and the tragic death of a UConn student.  As a result, the university and UConn Police are desperately trying to shut down Spring Weekend. So, this year there have been a number of new rules put in place. There are strict guest policies restricting people from moving amongst the other residence halls after 10pm. The police are blocking all entrances to the campus and checking everybody's UConn ids to ensure that only students are entering the campus and nearly everything has shut. The library is only opened for restricted hours, the gym is closed, even the Student Union is closing early. Campus is dead.

My UConn id; without one of these
you can't go anywhere over Spring Weekend!

After going out for a lovely supper on Friday night, on returning to McMahon (our residence hall) Emily and I had to prove that we live here before we could enter. While I sat up reading last night, my room was spinning with the flickering blue lights from the numerous police cars below. While I can completely understand the desire to control what had become, by the sounds of it, a dangerous level of disorderly behaviour I think UConn are doing themselves more harm than good. Surely by limiting students from doing anything at all, even going to the gym or the library (1 week before Finals I might add!) they leave no choice but for students to go out and party! And while I understand the need to restrict non-students coming on to campus (the ones who had caused all the trouble) this shouldn't stop actual UConn students from enjoying what had become a yearly tradition.

The weekend has passed seemingly uneventfully. In fact the Police have praised themselves for what they called "an uncharacteristically quiet Spring Weekend"1 with there apparently being only 6 arrests (apparently that's the average!). I, on the other hand, spent my Saturday night gorging myself on Wings, chips (/fries) and popcorn, and watching The Social Network. It was great.


1 http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/The-Spring-Weekend-That-Wasnt-148434375.html

The Etymologicon

One of the many books that I've read this year was a surprise gift from my lovely Aunt. I tore away the packaging, wondering what the mystery parcel could be, and was welcomed with a beautiful, red, hardback book with gold lettering entitled, "The Etymologican, A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language". I flipped open the first page and was immediately gripped. It is without a doubt one of the funniest, most engaging and interesting books that I have ever read. You all need to go and pick up a copy now!

amazon.com

As the title suggests, the book, broken up into numerous little segments, explains the meaning behind words, phrases, names and so on. For example did you know that the American national anthem is based on an old English drinking song? Or why Starbucks is called Starbucks? Well you can find it all in Mark Forsyth's fantabulous book. Or... you could just read it in his fabulous blog The Inky Fool... but the book is so pretty!

Stephen Fry
goodreads.com

I've been wanting to blog about this book for a while, not only because it's so brilliant but because it leads into something which fascinates me: Language. Please don't leave me yet I'll try and make it interesting, promise! Being a bit of an English geek/literary nerd I have a real love of language (and yes, even grammar). I studied Latin at school and even though I hated it at the time, it's the subject I look back most on. Last weekend, as you may know from a previous blog, I spent a great deal of time sitting on buses and so to pass the time I downloaded some of Stephen Fry's podcasts - what a God! One that I listened to happened to be about language. In it he launched into a massive diatribe against those "sorry bunch of semi-educated losers" who pedantically correct every grammatical or spelling error or incorrect usage (they'd probably have a field day with that sentence!). His greatest example of course being the "five items or less" aisles that adorn nearly every supermarket*. Now if you know me, and I know Nick will be up in arms at this blog, I correct people a lot. I get satisfaction out of distinguishing your from you're and their from there, but that's different. That's not altering the meaning of a word but simply getting it confused with another word. I mean of course who's to say that in five, ten, maybe fifty years time, there won't be a distinction between it's and its and we'll all be left guessing.

What I'm talking about are words like 'hopefully' whose meaning was begrudgingly changed this week according to the BBC magazine -

Before the change, "hopefully" could only be used to mean "in a hopeful manner". ("Is dinner ready?" she asked hopefully.) Now, it can also take the more modern meaning, "it is hoped". (Hopefully, dinner will be ready soon).

 Shakespeare and Milton made up hundreds of words that are part of our daily discourse so why can't we?! But remember...

*Grammatically speaking it should be "five items or fewer"... just saying!

A Capital Idea

Last weekend marked our final trip in the States: D.C. On Friday morning Emily, Rachel and I hurried out of class to catch the first of our buses to the capital city. It was a long day, with over 8 hours spent sitting on smelly, cramped buses. But we made it, and it was so worth it.

More tourist shots at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial

When I first moved to Virginia in 2004 my family and I stayed in Washington D.C for a few days. It was my first introduction to the country that was to be my home for the next three years. I didn't know that I would again be returning a few years later by myself.  I remember loving it then and I think it's fitting that my farewell to the US this time was also celebrated with a trip to the Capital. I still love it. It's such a gorgeous city, in fact it's probably the only city where I can maybe see myself living at some point in the future. There's none of the hustle and bustle of New York City that I quickly find claustrophobic. Instead, it is clean and spread out, with plenty of greenery and big open spaces; it's a perfect midway between the excitement of New York City and the calm and beauty of Philadelphia. We were lucky enough to be staying in the picturesque and historic district of Georgetown thanks to a lovely family friend (Thanks Ed!) and so awoke every day to walk down beautiful colonial streets flanked by stunning houses. It was perfect.

The Vietnam Memorial;
inscribed with the names of all those who fell. 

Another fabulous thing about the city is not only that there's so much to do but that it's nearly all free. Perfect for budget student travels! In addition, our trip was blessed with absolutely stunning weather and we all came away with some hilariously brilliant flipflop, bag strap, and even necklace tans. What more can a girl want.

We started our adventure by wandering around all the Monuments in the south of the city. Wow. From the grand and majestic Abraham Lincoln Memorial to the truly touching and moving Korean and Vietnam memorials the entire area is absolutely beautiful. Sadly the reflection pool was under renovation and so we had to refrain from yelling "Jenny" in thick southern drawls and imitating Forrest Gump. Also we just missed the stunning blossoming of the famous cherry blossom trees. A gift from Japan before the First World War, every year thousands of these trees explode with colour across the city  and it is marked with the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.

The stunning Cherry Blossom
that we sadly didn't get to see.

On Sunday morning we took a bus ride to the other end of the city to see the Capitol Building and the Folger Shakespeare Library. A true English geek's heaven, the library boasts the largest collection of Shakespeare manuscripts and rare Renaissance books in the world. It was just a brief tour but the building was beautiful.

While Emily and Rachel continued their cultural tour with a trip to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum I stayed outside in the glorious 30 degree heat. The weather was just too good to miss out on so I grabbed a sandwich and watched the world go by in the bustling National Mall; the main strip which extends from the Abraham Lincoln Memorial all the way to Capitol Hill and is flanked on both sides by every type of museum imaginable.

The weekend flew by so quickly that there's still so much I would love to go back and do: A walk around the tidal basin where there are even more memorials; a trip to Arlington Cemetery renowned for its haunting beauty and of course all the Smithsonian museums. We packed a lot in to our weekend break away and as we boarded the bus on Monday afternoon I was sad to leave. Until next time DC.

From One Capital To Another

The Lone Star outside the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum 

So I suddenly realised the other day that I completely failed to complete my Texan adventure. Well...

Our final destination was the great capital of the Lone Star State; Austin. We just happened to stumble on through during one of the largest musical festivals in the world, South By South West - much to the great annoyance of my boyfriend Nick, an events manager and festival know-all! While we didn't go to any concerts, we did discover the Leftover Cuties busking, who were amazing, and we also ate in the restaurant next to wear Ed Sheeran was playing! Claim. To. Fame.

One of the houses in Bremond Block;
one of the more historic districts!

The city is stunning, completely unlike any other city I've been to in America. We didn't see any of the large shops and chains that overwhelm most cities and instead the streets were lined with quirky bars, restaurants and even a pub or two. Obviously the swarms of young people who were attending the festival gave the city a very hip and happening feel, but even wandering into the quieter areas where colonial mansions overlook you the city seemed different.

One thing that the city is famous for is its collection of bats: the largest in North America. Congress Avenue Bridge, the main bridge in the south of the city, was built specifically to house bats in an attempt to raise the population for a number of reasons, one of which being to kill mosquitoes. And so at dusk, Emily and I made our way down to the banks of the river to see them all wake up. Oh my gosh what a sight. I have never seen so many bats; it was like a swarm of bees just filling the air and they just kept coming and coming. It seemed endless!

Posing outside the Capitol Building

We also got our bit of history and culture in the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum and a tour around the magnificent Capitol Building.

When Saturday afternoon arrived, Jane once again met us in her trusty truck and we made our way back to Fort Hood before the next morning's early flight. Looking back on it now I can't believe how quickly the time went. It was such a fabulous week thanks largely of course to our brilliant and gorgeous host Jane! Thank you again! Texas is unlike any state I've been to, largely because of the amazing and individual history that it has (summed up brilliantly by Emily in her blog so that I don't have to!)

But as the title suggests my latest escapade was to another Capital...