I'm such a nerd.

Two blog posts in one day, you can tell it's my day off. Also if you're not interested in academic blathering and geeking out, feel free to skip over this post.

A few weeks ago, I got an email from Dr. Erma Hermens, convener of my Master's program, about the program and prepping for the academics before we arrive. This included a reading list, and, like the total intellectual weirdo I am, this made my entire day. I'm not kidding.

I've only received two of my books in the mail so far, but I AM OBSESSED. And I definitely know I chose the right program after starting to read through these books. They are all from a collection of exhibition catalogues from the National Gallery of Art in London's series of Art in the Making exhibitions, which started in the 1990s. They include general essays on the period or artist under consideration, their workshop, and methods and materials commonly used, and then a collection of case studies, which are my favorite part. There are tons of images, including x-ray, radiographs, and paint-chip analysis, showing how the different pieces were created, and examining them on a whole new level. It's science and art and cultural history all combined, and considering this is what I want to do with my life, I LOVE IT VERY, VERY MUCH. Seriously, ask anyone on staff with me if I've been geeking out, because I have.

The first one is Italian Painting Before 1400, which is so cool. There are artists I've studied in depth and pieces I've seen in person from my trip to Siena and Florence in 2011. And, funnily enough, an entire subchapter about a book I bought in the Uffizi gift shop because I thought it sounded interesting,  The Craftman's Handbook, by Cennino Cennini. It's a primary source from the 15th century, pretty much a giant treatise on artistic methods and materials from the period in Florence, and it's central to the study of that period in the National Gallery catalogue. And three years ago, I was already interested in that side of the study of art history. If only I had realized it earlier, I could have saved some faffing about regarding grad program decisions :p

The second book is one on Rembrandt, which is also exciting, as I really love him and the whole 17th century Dutch artist period. (Fun fact: the sample essay I included was on de Hooch, a Dutch genre painter, and Erma Hermens specializes in Dutch genre paintings so really I think that only helped my application). I haven't had as much time looking through this one, but it's still really exciting.

The final book is on Impressionists, which are my actual most favourite, ever, but I'm still waiting on it to be delivered. I'm really thrilled about the selection of periods and artists were focusing on with these three books, however, because they're all representative of some of my favourite periods to study. In my application, I talked about how I wanted to take a more survey-based master's program because I had no idea what I wanted to specialize in because I was split several different ways between medieval manuscripts and frescos, Dutch genre paintings, and more modern art like Impressionists, which are all very different directions in the academic world. And somehow, I lucked out that we're covering all three from this perspective I'm very interested in, the materiality and methodology behind the production of the art, which I think will be very helpful in focusing my research interests for further study. But I still have lots of reading to do before I leave! And an added 8 pounds to my luggage, oh dear.

July Update: Loans, Visas, and Orientation!

Apologies for the lack of posts, I've been extremely busy and working at a summer camp doesn't leave too much time for internet activities. Working at Interlochen for the third summer in a row has been lots of fun, but, as always, full of the little challenges working with high schoolers is guaranteed to have :p

It's also been a bit of a challenge to work on preparing for moving abroad in less than a month-- I'm leaving on August 22! It's so soon. There has been lots to do- loans, visas, registering for orientation, and more.  I'm so glad I sorted out my housing in March! Doing this from a little cabin in the woods, with somewhat shoddy internet, has been another experience altogether.

I've been sorting out the financial stuff in order to get my visa, so June and early July was spent on federal loans (which can be used for international graduate programs, that's exciting) and private loans, and working with the international financial aid officer in Glasgow. After that was sorted out and I had officially accepted my offer, I was issued a CAS, or Confirmation for Acceptance of Studies. This is a document issued from your university confirming you will be a student, you've accepted an unconditional offer. It's also necessary to apply for a Tier 4 Student visa to the UK.

Next was my visa application, which took a bit more time than I expected. This was mostly because I've traveled a lot previously, and I had to record every trip to the UK in the past 10 years, every other international trip in the past 10 years, and all my prior passport information (I'm on my fourth passport, so that took a while as well). And this was all on the first page! I submitted my visa application last week, and paid the fee online (FYI, if you're planning on applying for a student visa, realize they cost several hundred dollars, so plan accordingly. And your credit card account may be locked for international transactions, so watch out for that, oops.)

The next step is a biometrics appointment at an approved office, which I'm going to tomorrow. This is pretty much the visa people taking my photo (outside of my passport and extra passport photos) and taking my fingerprints and other information. I also turn in my passport and other documents at this appointment. In Michigan, the two location options are Grand Rapids and Detroit. I'm going to Grand Rapids as it's two hours away from Traverse City as opposed to four, like Detroit. It's slightly frustrating that I have to leave camp and my job for a day, but I have to do it! The Glasgow international student support team say it should take around ten days to two weeks for turnaround, but I'm not sure I trust them. We'll see how long it takes for me to get my passport back!

Last week, I also registered for International Student Orientation! I'm pretty excited. It starts on Sept. 8 and includes several sessions that I think will be pretty helpful for adjusting to the university and the city itself. U of G has a lot of really cool activities available as well, such as tours of the city and a Scottish culture night, and three tours into other parts of Scotland during the weekend through Student Tours Scotland. I signed up for two of those trips as they're only £15 each for a day trip: one to Loch Lomond on Friday Sept. 12, and one to Callander and Killin on Saturday Sept. 13. (You can click through the links to see descriptions and photos from past day trips, Scotland is really, really beautiful).

I am also now "friends" with the International Society on facebook (it has a person profile page as opposed to a likeable organization page, something I've noticed British unis do for different things), and ISoc has been doing all kinds of amazing day trips during the summer months as well, so I'm excited to get involved with that group and see even more of Scotland! Additionally, my mother and I are flying out on the 22nd so we can do a weeklong tour of Scotland before I start to settle down. I'm quite excited and it will be nice to spend some time with my mom before university life starts in earnest.

On the whole I'm getting quite excited, but also somewhat nervous! There's not much time left for me to start getting ready, and the idea of packing for 12 months is a daunting task. But I'm sure I'll manage! I'll keep everyone updated :)