An Update

Right. Here’s a slightly long winded version of what I’ll be up to in coming weeks, and a bit of what I’ve been up to in the past couple of months (more to come later).

The last of the exams are over, and summer is finally here! However with the good news, comes the bad. I’m now back in Coventry, and let’s face it: there’s not a lot to do in Coventry. I’m taking this as a mixed blessing though, as I have a lot of reading that I’ve never done which I feel that I should have. Top of that list is Edward Saïd’s Orientalism, which is both relevant to my degree (history) and extremely interesting, if a little biased. No matter what you think of Saïd you’ll certainly never be able to watch Indiana Jones the same way after reading Orientalism.

Speaking of foreign lands, I’ll soon be sunning myself in the Med. Whilst not as exotic as the Oriental lands Saïd writes of, I’m hoping that it’ll give me an opportunity to take some photos and indulge in a lot of food. I’m particularly looking forward to getting to Athens and having a peek around the Parthenon. I recently had a wander round the British Museum to better acquaint myself with ancient Greek culture, so I’m not completely patronised by my hyper boffin uncles. It was most interesting to read some of the explanations of why Elgin’s Marbles hadn’t been returned to Greece (continuing restoration seemed to be the main excuse). I’m not decided on whether the Marbles should be returned or not, however they certainly give the British Museum an air of magnanimity.

Like most museums it had its fair share of stereotypical Japanese tourist types, who make for entertaining viewing. Since I’m Chinese I’m not too far removed in appearance from these guys, so I have to laugh at both myself and them. But the degree which they live up to the stereotype is ridiculous!

Anyway that’s more than enough for now, I’ll add more later.