19 September 2005

btCs

"back to CARILLON school"! yes, today was our first day of school. campanology professor koen cosaert summed up the belgian way neatly: "we have everything on paper, but we don't act according to what's written." i was completely lost from the moment i showed up, because everyone's assigned schedules were turned around completely. and nobody thought to tell me that i was supposed to have lunch with the professors. instead, i tried out the only thai restaurant in town and then went lipstick shopping!

campanology was super exciting. apparently nobody has ever really done anything with the carillon museum. it's been sitting around with nobody to care for it for half a century. so if i published a catalog with photos and accompanying website for my thesis, it would be a huge contribution to the school. koen was delighted at the idea, but not half as pleased as me, i can assure you. furthermore, i'm going to incorporate visiting bell museums around europe into my thesis project, and hopefully medieval manuscript research as well. scoooore! i always seem to dig up the most random neglected things and decide they're the most interesting research topics ever. this has been an invaluable skill in academia.

cooked myself a genuine asian meal tonight of chinese broccoli with oyster sauce and vegetarian pho. i never imagined that asian food of all things would become my outlet for homesickness, especially considering how much i used to resent chinese cuisine.

it's good to have internet access from my room for the first time ever since i moved to belgium.

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