Issy's Archaeological Adventures

Finishing university for me was a steady series of finals. Finally submitting my dissertation. Attending the final lecture and seminar for each of my modules. A final (slightly sleep-deprived) deadline cluster. Slowly saying goodbye to staff and friends over a number of weeks as events in which we would see each other trickled away. Gradually going into the department less and less as fewer of my friends were working there, or I had fewer books to return to the library. It was lovely to have the time to explore Manchester in a way I had not been able to before, but there was a sense of melancholy in many of these experiences as I was unsure when I would next be back in this city or seeing these people.  I had a wonderful time at home enjoying the sun of late June whilst waiting for my final degree marks. Once these came in I was also (finally) able to set into the motion of starting to York as the submission of my transcript changed my offer from conditional to that magical status ...

  My final Easter break as an undergrad! With several assignments and a dissertation due within a month, it was certainly going to be a busy one. But we had officially entered spring and I had a variety of playlists and types of tea to keep me focused. (And a cat sleeping on your lap certainly makes you sit at your laptop for a while!) My Easter break started off wonderfully with a lovely family get-together for the weekend outside of Llangollen. We walked lots, and ate even more! I then popped back up to Manchester for a couple of days for some trips that were part of my heritage module.  The first of these trips was to the amazing Jodrell Bank, radiotelescope and UNESCO World Heritage Site owned by the University of Manchester. Here we got to debate the concept of universal heritage, look at some of the 'behind-the-scenes' areas of the site, and tour around their new First Light Pavillion. This had some really interesting (and interactive displays), such as using some of the...

 If blackberries picked wild from the hedgerows are the taste of autumn, for me then the smell of autumn is definitely that of elderberries cooking on the hob. My mum has made a medicinal drink packed full of vitamin C and antioxidants for years and years. This 'magic medicine' as it is called in my family is great for boosting your immune system and fighting off colds in the dark and damp of winter. I have helped make this every autumn for as long as I can remember, and for the last two years, I have taken a bottle with me to university. This year I am continuing this most favoured autumnal tradition of mine and bottling some more up. Making this is a sure sign that the seasons are turning and I will soon be back in an educational setting. The fact that this year is my final year as an undergraduate is genuinely mind-blowing! It has definitely been an interesting journey, and I cannot wait to dive back in. This year I have some fascinating modules looking at everything from Ne...

 Searching for stones is definitely a good way to describe my summer. I have been incredibly lucky this year to have had the opportunity to go to the west coast of Scotland three times over my summer. The first was a lovely family holiday, which included getting lost in a bog looking for the remains of an old clachan (pre-clearance township), and just making it to Iona to see the famous abbey before the ferry was stopped for the only day we were on Mull! Later in the summer, I had the privilege of attending a 'String Ceilidh' on Skye, which was an amazing way to meet the local community that exists beyond the tourist sites and shops. This evening of insights into people's deep lived experience and connection to the and they called home as well as talks by prominent textile archaeologists is one I will not soon forget! Whilst on Skye I also had the chance to visit the Museum of Island Life, which gave a fascinating window into the life of island crofters over the last couple...

Hello! I am writing this entry up in the strange hazy space that sits at the end of every academic year. Suddenly, all the pressure of deadline season has fallen away and your days are without as regimented a timetable. This is usually when I ask myself, what now? How do I fill this expanse of time? How do I spend it meaningful? The usual response is to take a nap and read a book and focus on the rest another day. Today was ever so slightly different. Once the summer is over I will be entering the final year of my undergraduate degree in archaeology. And so, with my final coursework due in at 12pm, I also had a workshop on preparation for my dissertation at 12pm. Out with the old and in with the new, I guess. This has given me a major focus for my summer as I am hoping to get a large chunk of reading done. I am also very excited about going on fieldwork again this year- this time I am going up to the remote west coast of Scotland and I cannot wait to be back in one of my favourite regi...

Hello! I know I have been away for a while but I am finally back and I thought I would talk about something a little different... food. Being away from home, managing both time and a budget can all make cooking seem daunting. However, there are some really easy things you can do that make it a whole lot easier (and tastier). 1. Meal Plan My first tip would be to plan out what you are going to have to eat every week. This can be a detailed plan or just a rough idea of the kinds of food you want to eat. I find it so much easier to do a food shop when I know what I want for a few days ahead. It also takes the pressure off of you in the evening when it comes to cooking dinner. I often find that if I haven't planned what I am going to eat I tend to go for quicker (and more unhealthy) options. But if I know I have something delicious planned, and I have all of the ingredients because I already went out to buy them, I am so much more excited to cook.   2. Don't Shop When Hungry While...

  Hello! The equinox has come and gone, and the leaves are finally beginning to turn. All of this means autumn has set in and summer is most definitely over. So I really should actually write up about my summer... Books A'Hay My first year of university finished back in June. The first thing I did was celebrate completing this step in becoming an archaeologist. And how did I celebrate? By buying more books on archaeology... I went to Hay-on-Wye for a weekend. While I was there I fell in love with the town. After all, what is there not to love about a cute little market town full of cafes and bookshops? The Poetry Bookshop was a joy, I was finally able to track down some copies of Emily Dickinson and Sapho that I had been looking for, for well over a year. (I have a thing about trying to find a physical copy of books I want to read rather than buying them online, but sometimes I am too impatient.) But the true gem in my trip was the Old Cinema bookshop. This is exactly what it sound...

 I am just a couple of weeks away from finishing my first year of university! Now that is a scary thought... I thought I would take some time to reflect on what this year has been like, and where archaeology now stands in this strange covid world. I am sure I was following in the footsteps of many prospective university students before me when I created a fantastical image of what university life would be like. I would get up early, take my cute flask of tea to lectures and pop between the library and department before going down to the Student Union bar in the evening. Alas, that was not to be. While I loved Manchester as a city, I did not get on well with it in the broody late autumn, especially with increasingly strict rules on what venues were allowed to open. With a looming November lockdown, I made the decision to temporarily go back home to my family (and my cat!). I had intended to return in December but was advised not to. And then the January lockdown happened and pretty ...

 Hello! So I've been at university for a couple of weeks now. There have been a few major developments that have occurred since I last wrote. My classes have continued to be completely online. So all of me lectures are pre-recorded, meaning I can watch them whenever, and my seminars are all on Zoom. There have been a few close calls where my internet has got a bit unstable but so far it hasn't dropped out on me completely! This has all led to a lot of time sitting at my desk in my room. I have got very acquainted with the changed happening to the tree outside my window.  Given the facilities on campus have been reduced and have to be booked I haven't actually made it to the library yet. However, I am hoping to book a study space at least once next week. In the meantime I'm thinking of relocating to the kitchen for a change of scenery!  As of last Friday Manchester has been under Tier 3 lockdown. This means that all pubs and bars have had to shut, and I can only meet wit...

 Hello there! So, this week has been my first week of course content. It's been a bit of a hectic week, but an interesting one. I have had to be in self-isolation, so all of my learning this week has been conducted from my room in halls... The content of my lectures and seminars this week has had me thinking about a massive range of concepts. I've gone from looking at the concept of heritage to styles of ancient Greek statues, and from perspectives on reading the British landscape to an analysis of how Romans viewed time. My university offers a series of extra-curricula seminars delivered  by different researchers that the university hosts for a couple of hours. I believe when they used to be in person, it was more of the post-grad students that attended. But now everything is conducted online (for me most things are happening on Zoom), it was much more accessible for a first year like me. I also liked this set-up because it allowed me to have my camera off and just sit there ...

 Hi, and welcome to my first post. I hope you like it! As anyone who has ever gone through the UK education system has probably heard, going to university is never easy. But I think our year definitely had a greater challenge than many other given the whole global pandemic situation. As such, Freshers has been a bit different this year. Moving Away: One of the things I struggled with the most was moving away from home. I had never spent more than a couple of weeks away from home before, and only ever a coupe of days away from my parents. So moving to university was always going to be tough. Throw in moving from a house so remote in the countryside GPS doesn't work properly to Manchester, England's 'Second City'; and the worry around having no idea when I would next be able to see my family or come home and it was a bit of a brutal transition. However, I do have some tips on how to handle some of these changes. Bring favourite things from home. I wasn't able to sneak...