All I Want For Christmas (For Finals to be Done)

The weeks since my trip to London have been significantly less adventurous and significantly more laborious than before. That's not to say it's been all work and no play - but with summative assessments due in less than a month, most of my time is dedicated to assignments. To break down the workload, we have four portfolios due in the next three weeks:

1. For mentoring, a 1,600 word learning journal in which we have to analyze how mentoring has worked for us, what new methods we’ve tried, what’s worked and what hasn’t and why, and how we can continue to use mentoring to our maximum benefit next trimester.

2. For First Person Narrative, a 3,000 word short story with a 1,000 word critical self-reflection. The short story I’m working on is a series of diary entries made by an eleven-year-old girl on a family road trip. Her older brother, a rebellious and angsty teenager, disappears halfway through. He may or may not have been kidnapped by Bigfoot (I’ll leave that up to the reader to decide) but the more important point is that you should never keep secrets from park rangers who are trying to find your brother, who may have been eaten by a Yeti. The critical self-reflection will be my analysis of the techniques I used, what worked and what didn’t, and where I drew inspiration from.

3. For Writer’s Toolkit, the focus is on the story ideas that may eventually become our major projects. The portfolio includes a 100 word statement of purpose for the project (why am I writing this? What do I want the reader to take away from it?), a 400 word analysis of the thematic network (what themes am I including and how do they activate my purpose?), a 2,500 word plot synopsis, and a 1,000 word contextualizing essay (what works have I drawn from for this project? What did they contribute? What principles did I learn in class and how are they helpful?).

4. For Innovation & Authorship, I need to outline a group project we’ve been working on all trimester, write a wrap-around reflection, and include two creative works which draw on what we learned in class.

In between writing and starting blankly at computer screens, my friends and I have found some fun things to do. A few weeks ago we attended a spoken word show at the Museum of Childhood called "Spark!" about burning witches and becoming yourself. It was funny, heartbreaking, relatable, and inspiring!

We also went to two events for a book one of our lecturers contributed to called Scotland in Space. The book is a project put together by a group of scientists and artists who wrote short stories, articles, essays, and poems about Scotland and space. It was cool to listen to them talk about the process of working together and finding inspiration. I've never thought about projects like that, but I think it would be neat to be a part of something like that. The first event was on Guy Fawkes night, but we didn't find we'd missed anything big. It turns out people are no longer permitted to set off their own fireworks, so if you want to watch fireworks put on by the city, you have to pay to get a good spot. The second Scotland in Space event was at the Frankenstein Pub, which is a great location. It focused specifically on Mars, and included a virtual presentation on how a rocket would actually get from Earth to Mars. Also, I taught the bartender how to make Moscow mules because I love Moscow mules.

The most exciting thing of all is the Christmas Market! With no Thanksgiving, there is nothing after Halloween to hold Christmas back. The market opens about halfway through November in the East Princes Street Gardens. My Bible Study went together on Monday night, starting with the food stalls - sausages, churros, loaded chips, waffles, mulled wine, hot chocolate and more. We looked at stalls with antique maps, knitted hats, handmade ornaments, jewelry, candles, etc. And then there were the rides: a Ferris wheel, spinning swings, carousels, and a beautifully lit up maze. The market seemed to go on and on forever. I ate a delicious Nutella crepe, and I will definitely go back for more! I already have plans to go two more times, at least.

Currently, my objective is to get my portfolios done early because my friend Karen is coming to visit from the US one week from tomorrow! I am so excited to see her - I have a great group of wonderful friends here, but seeing friends from home is so, so good.

Some other things of note:

- Now that we're in winter months, it gets light around 7:30am and dark around 4:30pm. Yes, that is much too early. I have started using a sun lamp to try to get my sleeping schedule on track.

- Temperatures hover around freezing, and shouldn't get too much colder than this. This is a welcome change from Pittsburgh winters.

- It hasn't snowed yet, and I wish it would.

- Because my potential major project is in the crime genre, I'm trying to read more crime novels. Recommendations appreciated.

- I used to think rewriting was the worst, and clung to my original drafts of stories. Now I love rewriting and watching my stories get better and more interesting draft by draft.

- Heinz ketchup is the only ketchup worth having.

Book Recommendation: Airman by Eoin Colfer (you may recognize Colfer as the author of the Artemis Fowl book series). This book is set in the 19th century and focuses on a character who was born in a hot air balloon - it's been on my mind this week because I bought an antique drawing of some hot air balloons at the Christmas market. Airman is an adventurous story and one you're sure to enjoy!