If there's going to be wine, you know i'll be there....

 9/19/12

Yesterday was rather uninteresting. I went to the free shop at 11am to get some things. Basically people from last year donate things they no longer want or need such as utensils, pans, clothing etc etc and all of us new people get to take things for free. So I got a bunch or plates, cups, a baking pan, and a few knives. It’s really great that students do things like that here because most international students come over with nothing.

After this I went to the department welcome meeting. I went to Northgate house for the first time where our program is held. It was great seeing so many people interested in archaeology. The program isn’t huge, I’d say about 50-60 masters students, but still. The meeting was just a general overview of the program, who are the faculty and then a bit about lab and chemical safety for those of us working in the lab.

Today I went to my course welcome meeting and that had just human osteology students. There are about 17 of us so nice and small like I was hoping. We got a bunch of handouts about our modules which I have yet to read.  We got a tour of the department and the comparative collection which was cool. After that Caroline(the girl I met at the visa registration and another human osteo student) and I went to the union shop to pick up a few things. I found the elusive tape I had been looking for, seriously there is no tape in all of England. 

At 5 oclock there was a social for the new archaeology master’s students at Northgate house. I still have yet to get over the fact that it is perfectly acceptable for there to be wine at university events. It was a ton of fun getting to know each other. Archaeologists are some of the coolest people to talk to because of how much traveling we do. Met a man that worked at Çatalhöyük and some other people that had actually worked in Belize! A girl from Virginia and I got into a debate with a British student on gun control in the US. Dad you would have been proud of my defense of the right to bear arms! We all headed over to the Red deer after the party for some drinks and food. A Phd student gave me a lesson on British beers and was nice enough to buy me a pint.  We were joined by Dr. Hugh Wilmont the graduate student director and we discussed upstate New York and how our wines are much better than California wines.