Dusting off the Cobwebs

And so, as you can tell from my posting schedule, the perils of Senior year have taken their toll on my blogging life. The last month and a bit has been a fun whirlwind, full of all kinds of things, and especially old moldy books from the late nineteenth century, which brings me to my first update: my thesis.

Thesis work just sounds daunting, but in reality, it isn't so daunting as it is frustrating. At least, in my case, where tons of my books are coming from overseas and less than 100 libraries worldwide happen to have copies, it can be a bit of a pain getting a holding of them. I'm writing about the British territory of Weihaiwei in China's Shandong province. Nobody's really ever heard of it outside the Asian/Chinese history field, so I'm pretty honoured that I was introduced to it by Dr. Bickers at Bristol. Since I started requesting materials, 7 or 8 books have been canceled due to their limited availability worldwide. If only I were a PhD or post-doc fellow. Or not. I have gotten some great books that have given me great insight, but only from the British perspective. This is to be expected when most of the local Chinese were illiterate country folk and farmers. We'll see if my quest doesn't try to make me rip out my freshly buzzed hair.

I'm currently in Boston on October break, chilling with some family friends. I should be heading over in a little bit to get some Boston cream pie while making my way over to the Head of the Charles Regatta. The men didn't get a bid this year, which was disappointing since I'd have liked to have row it at least once, but I'm finally in Boston for what hopefully won't be my last time. It's a really nice little place, it kind of reminds me of London a bit, or maybe that was just yesterday with the dreary clouds and what not. It's ridiculously cold here, Thursday it started snowing in Poughkeepsie. Well, it wasn't proper snow, just chunks of ice falling from the sky. I call it Quasimodo snow. It works, right? Anyway, it was really odd since the leaves haven't even changed yet, and for October, it was bloody cold. Oh well, that's what a boy like me leaves the Bahamas for, right?

Sunday should see me up at Mt. Holyoke to chill with Yan Lin, one of my good study abroad friends. I'm pretty excited since we haven't seen each other in a while, and it should be a fun time catching up. Until then, I'm off for a hot brew, some apples and whatever else Boston has to offer. Maybe I'll even have another post ready for the end of the week to make up for the recent lack. Til next time, faithful readers! Oh, and to all my Vassar folk, have a great break!