Skeleton Games

The archaeological adventures of an osteoarchaeology postgrad in the UK.
Edinburgh Update So I realized that I’ve been very remiss in talking about grad school since I came to Scotland, so here’s a little breakdown of what’s been going on in the last month and a half. The first week I was here was “Freshers Week”, which is something like an orientation week in the US, just with a lot more school sanctioned drinking. Seriously. There were pub crawls on the schedule and there is something like four or five different bars on campus…three of them in the student union. The main aim of Freshers Week is to get students settled in and used to the city. Events and tours were given at various attractions around Old Town for discounted rates, but space for each of the events was limited, so I was only able to go to a small number of the tours I had originally planned on doing. But I still managed to go to some of things I wanted to, and met some fantastic people along the way. So, it’s all good. Since then I’ve spent most of my time in class, which has taken some getting used to, especially since all of my courses are bone related. I don’t have a single archaeology or history lecture this semester which is just odd and I’m really starting to miss having them. I guess I’ll just have to start sitting in on undergrad lectures or something. The scheduling is quite different from what I’m used to since it varies from week to week what classes I have and when I have them. Hell, the professor for two of my classes commutes from Hungary so he’s usually only around a week or two every month, so we haven’t even started one of the courses despite it being almost halfway through the semester. But, overall it’s been good. I’m hoping to decide on a dissertation topic sometime in the next couple of weeks and then get into the 3D lab so I can start getting used to the Amira software and whatever scanners I’ll be using. The professor who runs the 3D lab has already done some amazing projects with Masters students (including one last year that involved using CT scans of the auditory ossicles as a way to identify the sex of juveniles which is just brilliant all around) so I’m really looking forward to working with her. She also apparently helps run a dig in Crete each summer, which I might try and get in on depending on where I am with my dissertation and my funding situation. (The picture is one I took of the David Hume sculpture on the High Street. Students rub the toe of the statue for good luck in exams and whatnot, which is why it looks the way it does.)

Edinburgh Update

So I realized that I’ve been very remiss in talking about grad school since I came to Scotland, so here’s a little breakdown of what’s been going on in the last month and a half.

The first week I was here was “Freshers Week”, which is something like an orientation week in the US, just with a lot more school sanctioned drinking. Seriously. There were pub crawls on the schedule and there is something like four or five different bars on campus…three of them in the student union.

The main aim of Freshers Week is to get students settled in and used to the city. Events and tours were given at various attractions around Old Town for discounted rates, but space for each of the events was limited, so I was only able to go to a small number of the tours I had originally planned on doing. But I still managed to go to some of things I wanted to, and met some fantastic people along the way. So, it’s all good.

Since then I’ve spent most of my time in class, which has taken some getting used to, especially since all of my courses are bone related. I don’t have a single archaeology or history lecture this semester which is just odd and I’m really starting to miss having them. I guess I’ll just have to start sitting in on undergrad lectures or something.

The scheduling is quite different from what I’m used to since it varies from week to week what classes I have and when I have them. Hell, the professor for two of my classes commutes from Hungary so he’s usually only around a week or two every month, so we haven’t even started one of the courses despite it being almost halfway through the semester.

But, overall it’s been good. I’m hoping to decide on a dissertation topic sometime in the next couple of weeks and then get into the 3D lab so I can start getting used to the Amira software and whatever scanners I’ll be using. The professor who runs the 3D lab has already done some amazing projects with Masters students (including one last year that involved using CT scans of the auditory ossicles as a way to identify the sex of juveniles which is just brilliant all around) so I’m really looking forward to working with her.

She also apparently helps run a dig in Crete each summer, which I might try and get in on depending on where I am with my dissertation and my funding situation.

(The picture is one I took of the David Hume sculpture on the High Street. Students rub the toe of the statue for good luck in exams and whatnot, which is why it looks the way it does.)

  1. suzythered posted this