Well, I managed to finish my dissertation, and seeing as it wasn't due for another few weeks I could enjoy life for a bit (before I cease being a student and must enter the harsh reality of the 'real' world!) Having spent most of the last 3 months in Washington DC itself, it was nice to manage some day trips - to the Shenandoah National Park, and to Annapolis (the state cpaital of Maryland). At the end of August I headed back to Leicester, but only stoped just long enough to wash of the dust and grime of transatlantic travelling before continuing on to Germany for a week.
July 2003
Well, the Festival finished on the 6th July. Now I have to evaluate and analyse my data. Yeah! OK, so I'm actually procrastinating more than (for example by working on this website), than analysing data. Still, there seems plenty of time left to write the blooming thing. I guess I need the adrenaline of an impending deadline to get me really going.
The highlight of July (apart from the Festival, of course), must have been visiting the 'Bonzai Museum' here in DC - whoever would have thought�?!
June 2003
Well, just for a change, another change of address. This time I was heading across the Atlantic to Washington DC (having somehow managed to store all my stuff in the Richerby's attic in Leicester). The reason being that my dissertation is to be on family visiting behaviour at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (or something like that). I had secured an internship at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (see 'Museum Mania'), which puts on the annual Festival. One of the Festival programmes was 'Scotland at the Smithsonian', the focus of my study. The Festival kicked off at the end of June, leaving me enough time to produce a visitor survey and interview some curators. It was hot and humid (apart form the two days it was pouring with rain - actually, no, those were hot and humid too. Just wet as well). But the programme was great. I even bumped into some old friends, and made new ones. Mostly, though, the Festival made me incredibly homesick for Scotland, and affirmed me in the feeling that I could NEVER live or work in London.
May 2003
OK, hang on, May meant yet another change of address. About half-way through the month my placement came to an end, and that meant moving back to Leicester, saying farewell to beautiful Cardiff. Back in Leicester, hectic times were awaiting me. I'd hardly got off the train when I was off to help with another special event at Newarke Houses. Then we had our special option week at the department. Mine was in education. The week included a field trip to the Tate Modern in London. As well as being turned upside down by the doctor and the hospital - though that had nothing to do with museum education, but more with the fact that my arm is still giving me problems since I had tendonitis. The last week in May was 'Professional Development Week', but don't ask me to explain about that in too much detail. The most important part of it was the big part we had at the end of it, to celebrate finishing the course. When I say finishing the course, I mean the taught part of the course. We still have to write a 10,000 word dissertation over the summer, when the rest of the world is taking vacations. Sigh!
April 2003
OK, this one is easy. I was living in Cardiff for all of April. Well, I did do some travelling around Wales at the weekends, but you get my drift. Work at the museum continued to be fantastic, and South Wales was having the hottest and driest Spring in decades. My friend Betty, who had been my supervisor at the Smithsonian in 2001, came over with her daughter, M.E., the week before Easter for a visit. I had a few days off, and we rented a car for a road trip round South Wales. Some of the places we took in were Aberystwyth, Cardigan, St David's, Pembroke, Tenby, Caernarfon, and the Gower Peninsula (for those of you who want to look it up on a map�yeah, right).
