Driving down the highway, the pavement disappears beneath me and I have the extraordinary sense of going somewhere. The street lights sparkle against the night sky, I streak past the few other cars, always going just a little bit too fast. There is a moment of silence as the song switches on my playlist. The first chords of A Whiter Shade of Pale float through the air and I smile to myself.
My head is full of imaginary scenarios. Me rolling all my clothes into small bundles and boarding a plane. The first time I set foot in Newcastle, lost, confused and slightly stressed, but so full of the future. Buying sheets for my bed, decorating a small but cute one bedroom apartment. Stepping into my first class, nervous but excited, meeting all of the other MA students. Walking along the river, watching fall turn into my first English winter and actually missing the snow. I see a favourite pub, with dim lights and Newcastle Brown on tap. I imagine my favourite cafe, with brownies for bad days and lattés for early mornings.
I picture myself on my first excavation, sweaty with the dust sticking to me, but smiling. I imagine finding that one thing that catches my attention on a random day in class - my thesis in the making. I see the Colisseum, the Parthenon, the Pantheon, the Acropolis.
I imagine what it will be like to be doing something I love everyday, for the first time in my life. What it will be like to be unemployed, to devote my time only to my studies.
And I smile.
The first tentative decision has been reached. I have decided (I think) to do my graduate degree at Newcastle University in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England. I will be getting an MA in Greek and Roman Archaeology. The program lets me do Heritage/Collections Management
along with more traditional archaeological methods courses. I’ll also be going to both Rome and Athens during the year. Newcastle-upon-Tyne (one of two English Newcastle’s, the other is Newcastle-under-Lyme) is pretty close to Hadrian’s Wall, so apparently we’ll be studying Roman archaeology there too.
Newcastle itself is a smaller city in the North East, about 2.5 hours from Edinburgh and 5 hours from London. It’s surrounded by beautiful English countryside, it’s said. It’s a shipping town, but because of the university has a student population too. Newcastle University is apparently a “Russell Group” school, which is England’s equivalent to Ivy League. Which sounds pretty awesome to me. I guess I always figured if I was doing a classic’s degree anywhere but Oxford or Cambridge I was a step down from the best anyway. Apparently not so!
I was conflicted, trying to decide between Newcastle, Edinburgh and Leicester. I wrote a pro/con list last night with the help of Kristen, Chris and Taylor. We decided the only real reason I wanted to go to the University of Edinburgh was because I loved the city, not the program. And I decided on my own that the only reason I wanted to go to Leicester was because it was so close to London. But, in the end, I think I’ll really like Newcastle. After all, I hated Dublin and adored Galway - so maybe I’m a small to medium sized town person.
But as Chris said last night- no matter where I end up it’s going to be amazing. I’m going to be in England, doing my master’s. Doing a respected master’s program in a field I actually love (as opposed to my Bachelor of Journalism which I’ve hated since day one).
This isn’t the final decision. I’m not ready to press any buttons or make it official. But I think this is it. And I’m really excited. I called Fae to tell her - she needed to be the first person I told, officially. England.. England is ours. It was our dream. And someday, maybe we’ll be there together. But this is just the beginning.
If I could wish for anything in my life I hope that it never stops being full of firsts.
archaeology, life, newcastle, school | Hezabelle May 30, 2009 | 
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