Tra-la-la! It's summer - well technically, it being the summer term.

Although, I think the summer term is over pretty much before I regard summer as being well begun - although May is usually a sunny month. Anyhow - it was at least Spring-like for the last couple of weeks; it's gone away now of course, rained on me as I went to the library this afternoon.

I don't quite know how it can count as summer when it's only just been Easter - which was very nice by the way. I dragged myself out of bed unfeasibly early and trotted off to the 7am service at St Mary's on the Rock, which is a ruined (a couple of foot high walls) chapel on the cliffs next to the Abbey, which was gorgeous, as it looks over East Sands and we could have the morning sun. I also went to the university Chapel service - which was jam-packed, with people sitting on the altar steps and in the aisle in an attempt to fit them all. Then we had the requisite Roast Lamb (provided kindly by Swivmum) as a house, which was rather tasty. But now I have a huge bag of mint - which I got to make the sauce - so if anyone has some mint recipes I'd much appreciate them!
Going back a couple of weeks, we had the end of the Non-Easter holiday when my mother came to visit. She, Clare and I went to Mull and Iona for a couple of days - which was fantastic. (The skiing the week before was also much fun by the way - it snowed quite a bit). Actually managed to spend a week and a half doing no work, mmmmm. Then had to come back and write an essay.

Incidentally - we got the deadline for that essay shunted back till tomorrow on the grounds that Friday was a Holy Day, and Monday a Bank Holiday, and therefore we shouldn't have to hand in essays on them. Personally I think the tutor just didn't want to spend his Easter weekend marking them. I have to say though - I wish I knew what his marking system was, I have a presentation to do for him tomorrow - on British misunderstanding of Zulu tribal culture and whether it precipitated the Anglo-Zulu war - and as it's the first assessed work I've done for him I can't work out how nicely he's likely to mark it. But I watched the film, and put a pretty map on my handout - oh and did a bit of reading too. So I think I'm ready to go, except that I really hate doing presentations. I hate being in a room where everyone else knows at least as much - and usually more I'm sure - than me about a topic, and having to talk for 10 minutes about it.

For the other lovely course - I'm just settling down to begin my final essay for it. I have two essays due in at the end of Week 11 (we're at the beginning of Week 9, remember the Week thing from way back when?). I went to the library today to do some reading - and managed to wind myself into a wonderful twist about it all. I know I have plenty of time for writing two essays - I've started one, and know exactly what I'm doing for the other, shorter, one. But I was sitting there - and I've spent all weekend trying to come up with an essay title for this thing - and I couldn't think of anything sensible or essay-title-ish, and I just began to have a minor wibble about really needing to work harder. Which I don't, well I probably do - but I don't need to not go and play tennis in order to do it.

Anyway - I need to juggle this essay with reading for Friday's tutorial - which my professor just managed to make sound absurdly Sound of Music-ish in his email: 'for our gobbet, let's look at...' Yes, lets! I can hardly wait - a two hour debate as to whether the Italians did or did not want to become Roman citizens.

In the midst of all this academic (and sporting - I've been to the gym four times in a week, a record!) effort, we're knee-deep in the process of pre-advising for next year's courses. Now, Jack, Dave and I are all doing the same thing: Single Honours History, which means that we have to go round all the history departments - Modern, Medieval, Ancient, Scottish - and work out which of their courses we want to do. Then we have to fill in a Single Honours form with our course preferences - and remember that we have to do 60 credits (two courses) in each of two different periods. My year gets even more restrictive as I have to do a dissertation and a 'Special Subject' - a 60 credit, year long course.

However, being me, I had to try and do things differently. We're supposed to do the dissertation in first semester of Senior Honours, and another normal 30-credit class in second semester. Now, I want to do my dissertation in second semester - which I can do in Ancient History because they're flexible people - and a module, on the Late Roman Republic (Cicero and Caesar) in first semester. So I went to see the Honours co-ordinator, and had a little dialogue:

Me: 'So, um, I was wondering - is there any way I could do my dissertation in second semester?'

Him: 'No.'

Me: 'No chance at all?'

Him: 'No.'

Me: 'Can I ask why not?'

Him: 'It's a first semester module.'

Me: 'But the Ancient History department will let me do it in second semester.'

Him: 'Really?'

Me: 'Yes, according to their course booklet.'

Him: 'Oh. Bother.'

In the end - following me emailing him (emphasising the 'I'm going to Africa this summer and won't be able to do the preparatory reading I'd like' aspect of the whole affair), and him talking to the Ancient History adviser, I got a 'That should be OK', email back. Whereupon I bounced a little and filled in all my forms. Tomorrow is the Ancient History's 'These are the courses we offer...' fayre, which has the potential to be amusing - and then I have to hijack them with my dissertation topic. Then it is, as usual, a case of hanging around to see which classes I get into.

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