Leicester: Day 40

Today we had our English lecture on Jane Austen!! My favourite part was when the lecturer discussed what made Austen such a great novelist compared to her contemporaries. She quoted Tony Tanner, who says that during an age when Napoleon was transforming Europe, Austen composed a novel (Pride and Prejudice) 'in which the most important events are the fact that a man changes his manners, and a young lady changes her mind.' It was a neat lecture.

I spent a significant amount of time in the library today, between classes and an appointment I set up with an English professor. The appointment was not to discuss anything for my English class, but rather to discuss my research project I'll be working on when I get back to Kansas. This professor specializes in Latin during the Renaissance. She read my proposal before I came and had a short bibliography prepared for me, full of books and articles that she thought would be useful to my research. It is so helpful and so nice of her. We had a wonderful conversation about Latin, and she really likes my idea for the project. Sometimes it is difficult to ask for help from professors I don't know at all, but when it works out it really works out and I'm so glad I did, it was very encouraging.

Tonight I will miss out on Zanzibar and go to bed early, I have to catch a 4:30 a.m. taxi (shared) to the airport to go to Prague! I will do my best to keep in touch, but I won't have a lap top with me.