"I just arrived at lunchtime today..."

"Write a blog," they said. "That way people can find out what you're up to." Yes, well, which really translates to you're all way too lazy to email, doesn't it?? That's alright, cos I'm really way too lazy to email too, so this actually works out quite well. It's a brilliant idea. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to read through pages and pages of my ramblings, but several people did say, “Let us know what you’re up to in Canterbury!”. So I am. It’s mainly for you people, the ones who asked, that I’m doing this. Also, let’s face it, it beats having to type out the same email to a dozen different people, or mass emailing which I have never quite taken to. Don’t worry though, I won’t be writing in every single day – only when I feel I have something of note to report.

And the first thing of note, of course, is that I managed to arrive at the University of Kent at Canterbury (to be referred to henceforth as UKC) in one piece. I made good time, and from KLIA to London Victoria coach station it was smooth sailing all the way. I did, however, have the misfortune of running into an extremely surly driver on the coach ride from Victoria to Canterbury. He was obviously in a bad mood, and he kicked up a bit of a fuss over my overweight luggage – alright, alright, it was 11.1 kg over my 20 kg limit, but then most people get a 30 kg limit right, and they still overshoot that by several kilos don’t they?? Perhaps he was having a particularly bad morning, I don’t know. Our exchange was brief :-

Grumpy Coach Driver: “Now that has got to be over twenty kilos.”
Me: “Erm, yeah, actually it’s thirty.”
Grumpy Coach Driver: “Eighty???”
Me: “No, thirty.”
Grumpy Coach Driver: “That is way too much weight for a luggage handler to handle. I’m not going to do it, especially since I’ve done my back in today. So you’ll either have to get it on yourself, or wait for the next coach.”
Me: (thinking to myself) Ah yes, that wonderful British hospitality. Now what am I doing back here again??

I got the suitcase on the coach, and made it to Canterbury in record time. It was the first time I was actually glad to get out of London.

UKC

The rest of the day was a mad dash of registering and sorting out details, finances etc. Very boring, very stressful stuff. Note to future students: Do not arrive just before the weekend when your classes start on Monday!! Things will inevitably go wrong and all the offices will be closed so there’s nowt you can do except doss around and worry. But, on the bright side, UKC looks like a nice campus (all the buildings are labelled!! Praise the genius who thought that up!), and everything important is within a very short walking distance from my room at Tyler Court A. Plus from where I am you can walk out to a grassy slope with a very lovely view of Canterbury town, with the Cathedral in the distance. I don’t know how I feel yet about being a student again – it’s still very unreal to me at the moment, and almost like a joke. I feel a lot more excited about belonging to Kent than I did about York, though, for some strange reason I can’t explain.


I touched base with the Department of Anthropology today at an evening reception for students and staff. And found out I’m officially a student of DICE – the Durrell Institute for Conservation & Ecology. The Head of Department, Bill Watson, is a small, lively man who studies political Islam in Indonesia, and had to stand on a chair to address us all. My course convenor is Richard Griffiths, a very important focal point who I’m going to have to pay close attention to and maintain very good relations with for the next six months. He seems a likeable man though, so that shouldn’t be too hard to do.

In fact, everyone in the department is nice, and very interesting. All the research that they’re working on is very interesting (one American guy, who I must get to know better, studies ethnic identities in Cuban society!). And what an international mix too, so different from the all-English environment at York Archaeology. Several of the teaching staff are American, and we have a number of Japanese students, oh, oh, plus there is one Malaysian here doing Environmental Anthropology, a guy from KK called Paul. Not only that, but at least four of the teaching staff are doing research in Southeast Asia, and can speak BM – well, it’s more like Bahasa Indonesia, but it’s more than I can say for anyone at York! They also seem very friendly, and genuinely interested in getting to know you. I didn’t even mind that my head was swimming from fatigue and jetlag, and that my limbs were ready to fall off.

I have a good feeling about this Department.