Saturday, June 20, 2009

Friday night and being a "normal" college student

Yesterday was the end to a week that went by so quickly. It was really amazing how fast time flies here. I know we are kept busy, but it is still strange. Yesterday morning we had seminar to discuss our field trip to Old Greenfield Village, and it led to a very interesting discussion on what is a museum, what (if any) social responsibilities museums have, and how much entertainment needs to be there. It was a very productive seminar meeting. Afterwards, we watched a movie about the silver-smith in Colonial Williamsburg to preface our lecture/interaction with the silver collection. We have already had the tour of the silver vault, but not much of a detailed lecture about it. It is very cool to be able to touch something that Paul Revere actually made, as well as being around that much value. Most impressive. After a very quick lunch, we had a brainstorming session with the curators and some trustees about our final paper topic. It looks like everyone's topic will work. Okay, so I finally have something. Here it is. I am going to use the courtship correspondence of Edward Wells Colton and his first wife Susan Heard from 1859-1861. I'm going to let the letters guide my paper, so I have to read through most of them before I can actually say what I'll be writing about. I think it will be a great sketch of the everyday activies of people in the 19th century. I'm also really curious to see how many mentions of the war there are. But yeah, that's what I'm writing on. Hooray for having a topic!

The final activity of the afternoon was open hearth cooking. We got to make a meal in front of an open fire. So much fun! I will try to get pictures from a couple other people (since I didn't have my camera) and post them. It was really great, though. We cooked chicken, corn bread, biscuits, prepared salad, asparagus, and strawberries with cream. Unfortunately, the cream didn't whip since the humidity was so bad, but the meal was delicious nonetheless. It's amazing how comfortable I am doing all these things. People were constantly asking how to do this or that, and I just did it. Whatever works, I guess.

Friday night, we decided to get out of Deerfield and see a movie in Greenfield. We ended up going to The Hangover. Oh my gosh, it was SO BAD! It's just one of those movies that it's stupid humor with the intention of being offensive. It was funny, even though I know I shouldn't have laughed at some of those things, but I did anyway. Think Wedding Crashers, and there you go. It was nice to have that kind of release, though. I am having fun, but our schedule is intense, nonetheless. There's a tavern/restaurant down the street from the theatre that we went to and hung out there for a while after the movie. One of the guys, Matt, had a friend from school meet us in Greenfield, so we hung out with him, and he came back to Deerfield with us.  It was a great night of good conversation and fun company.  Hooray for being a normal college student...staying up later, hanging out, and having fun!

1 comment:

  1. That does sound like an interesting seminar discussion! What did you conclude?

    Congrats on having a research idea! It sounds both interesting and promising. I'd love to read it when you're finished. And, as always, I am willing to edit, if you'd like. (You don't have to think about that for a while, though.)

    Yeah, I think I'll pass on "The Hangover." I'm glad you had a good time and were able to relax a little, despite the poor quality of the movie, though. In terms of "normal" college student, I'm not sure there is such a thing. I mean, I guess there's a higher proportion of students who drink and party than those who don't, but still, I think it only seems like the norm, because they're the ones who are most noticeable.

    Anyway, take care, and don't work to hard!

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