End of Blog

Hi my readers,

Clearly I have not been maintaining this blog and I apologize! Please know that I'm safely out of quarantine and am currently busying myself with two podcasts, and now a blogcast! As such, I won't be continuing this blog, partly because I'm no longer in Kensington anymore.

Please check out my current work at my new blog: "From the Biblio-Files," where I interview science writers about their books. Link is here: https://fromthebiblio-files.blogspot.com/


It's been a fun a long journey and I thank you all for sticking with me on it.

May you all be safe and well.

Day 3 of quarantine

If you can't tell by now, I'm actually really bad at keeping up with all this. I said I would do a blog every day of my quarantine, and missed the entirety of yesterday. To be fair, describing my actions would be rather boring, as I mainly read, played video games, and rested. Today has been a bit more exciting, as I've been trying to do a lot of job applications. Our economy is slowly sinking, but I'm hoping to try to find something online, maybe a tutoring position or a virtual assistant? If anyone knows about anything let me know in the comments section.

Besides job hunting, I've been spending a lot of time with my pets. They're the only ones I can touch during my quarantine, and even then I'm trying to be careful and wash my hands and stuff to make sure they don't give anything to my family. Cooper, our kitten, is such a character. We're pretty sure he's part dog, because even when he goes outside, he just stays in the backyard, and doesn't wander everywhere. He's also a huge lap kitty and snuggler. He purrs quite loudly and always is looking for attention. I find him constantly reaching out to me, paws outstretched, trying to grasp my hair, or jeans, or anything to get my attention. He also loves exploring, and according to my parents, he now knows how to open cabinets...so....who knows where he'll end up.

Emmie, who I've mentioned before on this blog, is doing quite well, but she gets quite jealous of all the attention Cooper gets. they wrestle and play all the time, it's quite cute and good to know that they entertain each other.
Besides spending time with the pets, I'm continuing to do research for my dissertation. Though all classes have gone online, it's just better to get ahead on things, plus it makes me feel good knowing I've done productive things. My research, which is on cold cases, is mostly archival so quite easy to do online, which is helpful as well.
For those of you wondering, I'll still be doing the podcast, Human Angle just may be slightly delayed due to remote recording and delay in research. But it'll get there! I promise, now is as good a time as any for a podcast.

For those needing book recommendations, I'm currently reading In Search of the Trojan War, which is all about the archaeological digs that helped to discover the ruins of the Trojan War. I picked it up at the British Museum when they had their Troy exhibit on, and before they closed. It's quite a good read so far, and I'm a sucker for good nonfiction stories. It's odd but I'm pretty sure I read more of those than actual fiction these days. I can't complain it's just the scientist within me.

That's about it for now, everyone in my family is doing well and keeping safe which is good. I'll write soon about my next few days. Hopefully, things will be more exciting then.

Cheers, and stay safe!
Kenna

Home sweet home

Hi, my lovelies! Sorry, it's been ages since I've written. To be honest, I kept telling myself I would write and then the weeks went by, and nothing had been written. Clearly, that method didn't work. As I am now back in Colorado due to the COVID-19 virus, and in self-quarantine for 14 days, it makes sense to write, and I really have few other options. So I thought I would sum up my last couple weeks in London and then talk about moving forward.

My birthday was a couple weeks ago, and I was supposed to go to Scotland, but Flybe collapsed due to the virus and lack of government funding, so I didn't actually end up going anywhere! Well, that's not true, I decided to go to Kew Gardens the morning of my birthday, and honestly, I've very glad I did as Kew Gardens is now closed. It was a grey and very cold day, but thankfully no rain.

I hopped from conservatory to conservatory and then wandered the grounds, balling my fists to keep my fingers warm. I was proud of myself and only bought one item in the gift shop, a book on evil plants in literature. Seems fitting for me I suppose. Unfortunately, I couldn't bring it home as my suitcase was already 50 lbs due to me fitting my entire wardrobe inside. But at least I got to enjoy a bit of nature on my birthday.
Earlier in the week, my three closest friends and I got together at my favorite speakeasy bar for birthday drinks. None of them had ever been to a speakeasy bar before, and it was fun to introduce them to how it worked, where you had to convince a detective to let you into the bar by explaining why you were there. Only when he believed you would he open the bookcase door into the bar. The detective I talked to, Tony, was a 1920's New York cop with the accent to prove it. Don't ask, but I ended up spending more on drinks than I planned on. That's the downside with speakeasy bars, they're not cheap. But the cool thing with this one, Evans & Peel detective agency, is that each of the drinks is named after a famous gangster. Really getting into the mafia vibe, and they have 1920's music and posters on their walls. It probably has to be my favorite bar in London if I'm being honest.
Besides enjoying my birthday, I've been trying to stay in as much as possible. It has been difficult with working in retail at Harrods, but at least my flat is close enough I could walk to work and avoid public transport.

My anxiety has gone through the roof with this virus epidemic so I haven't been sleeping well. Plus not knowing whether the UK would be closed and I even would be able to get home or not was a terrifying thought. I originally was supposed to leave March 28 but moved my flight up to the 18th just in case the UK shut down sooner than that. Once I knew my classes were canceled and I didn't have to be on campus, I packed up and shipped out. After 16 hours of exhausting travel, I finally made it back home to Colorado! I do have to self-quarantine for 14 days just for safety reasons, as both my mom and sister have asthma, and the last thing I want to do is pass them anything. So I'm currently 6 feet apart minimum from everyone, except my pets. But I'm washing my hands often and am very glad to be home. It's currently snowing here, and I could not be more excited!

So I'm now going to convert this blog into a daily journal of my self-quarantine, just so people have something to read while the world self isolates.  Know that we're all in this together, and I'm happy to talk to people over skype if people want to talk.
Thanks to all my readers for staying with me! Keep safe and healthy!
Kenna

The Troy Exhibit

Hello, Lovelies!

I apologize for such a gap in time between posts. I currently am working two jobs, and two podcasts, so my life has been a bit hectic! But I'm happy to say that I've also had many wonderful adventures and cannot complain.

Currently, we're getting a lot of rain in London, partially due to Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis. I'm very grateful we don't have flooding and hope those that too will be able to recover quickly. I'm surviving the rain with fuzzy waterproof boots and lots of warm tea, but it has taken a toll on my mood. I'm recovering from Seasonal Depression, and the long stretch from winter to spring is always the worst. Thankfully, this part of the year is also one of the busiest, so I'm usually inside with my head down working on an essay or script, and that helps me not to notice the gray clouds outside. Like most people here, I'm looking forward to the warm weather, when I can read in the park again.

Speaking of reading, I just recently finished a book called The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth, by Thomas Morris. If you're into weird Medieval and Victorian Medical treatments, as well as some of the weirdest discoveries known to science, you'd enjoy this book. The main thing this book has shown me is how many different objects can be inserted into one's...nevermind. I am interviewing the author Thomas Morris, hopefully, this week, and cannot be more excited to pick his brain about this read.
This past week I visited the Troy Exhibit at the British Museum. Let me clarify, I visited the exhibit twice, once by myself and the other occasion with my boyfriend on Valentine's day.




I digress...

Helen of Troy and Cassandra

The Troy exhibit was absolutely fabulous. There were frescos from Pompeii that had survived Vesuvius. There was pottery telling some of my favorite Greek myths. I'm a bit of a myth junkie, loving all the stories from Thor, King Arthur, Mars and Venus to Athena and Indra. I studied the myths in my undergraduate degree and specifically looked at the use of plants within myths (as I'm also a plant junkie). From my research, I've become very familiar with the myths surrounding the Trojan War, and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the stories come to life in front of me. Some of the pottery I had only seen in slideshows, and never thought I would see it in real life. The cool thing about the exhibit was that some of the pottery had projections near it, so the projections could explain what was happening on the pottery and who the key figures were. Definitely very helpful. It was also amazing to see how much of a legacy the Trojan War has had on our culture, from art to movies to music. I, of course, bought a few books from the bookstore (I couldn't help it, it's a reflex? Not sure that's a good excuse).

Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife

The other major thing that happened this past week was that I recorded another episode of Human Angle. It's on Beatrix Potter, the famous author and amateur mycologist (bet you didn't know that). Unfortunately, my old cohost, Jacqui, has become too busy to help me with the podcast, so I brought in a new cohost, Matthew! I was afraid he was going to be really mic-shy, but he did fabulously. You can find our new episode on all your favorite platforms.

This coming week I'm hoping to get a bit more work done at the British Library, as well as visit a few more museums. I've got a bit of a travel bug, and want to combat the poor weather by getting out of my flat and around London.

Odysseus and the sirens. This fresco is from Pompeii

Until next time!
Kenna

Returning to London and starting the new year

Hello wonderful readers!

I apologize for being late on this blog, I took off more time than I planned. It seems that always happens, doesn't it?

My Christmas was pleasant and I was happy to be home with my family. We didn't get any new snow, so I couldn't go snowshoeing, but I did spend some of the sunny days outside practicing my archery. When I wasn't spending time with my family, I was catching up with friends. It's amazing how many people want to see you after you've been living in another country for 3 months! I was so happy to see everyone and tell them all about my adventures in London. It made me miss London more, and I was ready to travel back by the end of the holiday.
During the holiday, my 15-year-old cat, Joey, passed away suddenly from a seizure. My sister and I found her body in the basement, which was a bit of a shock to both of us. It was hard to lose Joey, as she was one of my childhood friends as I grew up a shy introvert with few others to talk to. Joey would often follow me on walks down my dirt road, or climb up into the apple tree with me when I wanted to be alone from other people. We buried Joey a couple days after she passed, and I made a plaque to go over her grave. She will be missed, to say the least.

My whole family was a bit miserable after Joey passed, so we decided to try and get another kitten, at least in order to give my dog Emmie some company. We searched a whole day for a kitten, driving around Denver looking at different animal shelters. Finally, we found the perfect kitten. After debating many names for him, we settled on Cooper. He's a character! Unfortunately, I only got a few days with him before I had to leave, but the whole time he would snuggle and loudly purr, falling asleep on my lap or shoulders. He is curious about everything, and my parents often send me pictures of him playing with something he is not supposed to. My dad and I also both have a soft spot for orange tabbies. I was really sad to leave him behind, to be honest, but I know that he is having fun with my family back at home.
When I arrived back in London, I settled back into the fog, humidity, and lack of driving. School started in a couple days, so I spent the weekend relaxing and trying to get over the jetlag. I wandered around Kensington a bit and got myself a membership with the Kensington Central Library. It's not that they're a big library with a large selection (quite the opposite), but they're a quiet and nice area to go to study. Plus Imperial College's library has a very very limited selection of books, so I figure the more libraries I sign up to, the better. Maybe then I'll find the books I'm looking for as opposing to buying them. Part of me just wishes I could ship my entire 900+ book library here from Colorado. A friend of mine asked if I had Crime and Punishment that she could borrow, and it bothered me that I had to say no, because my copy was in another country, halfway across the globe.

I digress...the struggles of being a bookworm in two countries.

I began classes with a slow start. I'm only taking one class this first half of the term, and two the second half. It does sound a bit confusing, but it makes sense to us students. This half of the term I'm taking the class on museums. I thought it would be a good way to explore more of London's museums that I haven't yet seen. Each week we read some articles about a different aspect of museums, and then go visit a museum gallery to complement our reading. So far I've been to the British Museum's Enlightenment gallery (I did geek out on the books and Greek pottery thank you very much), the Science Museum's Medicine Gallery, and the War Museum's soldier exhibit. There are so many museums in London, it's amazing! I also enjoy the fact that most museums here are free. Back in Denver, all our museums are very pricey to get into, so it's difficult to justify as a student, or family for that matter, going there.

From the Enlightenment Gallery 

Besides my museum's class, I've been keeping myself busy by starting up a couple more podcasts. Human Angle is slowing down a bit, as both Jacqui and I are busier this term, so we will only be putting out episodes every two weeks. However, I'm starting a podcast with my friends Matthew and Sunita on young scientists (under 35 years) and their contributions to society. Sunita and I are also making a separate podcast discussing current popular science reads, including interviews with the authors! So stay tuned!!!
Besides podcasts and school (including my dissertation research), I'm still on a job hunt. If anyone has any openings, including some with work sponsorships, as I'd like to stay in the UK for longer than my student Visa allows, let me know!
Until next week!
Kenna

War Museum