My Breaking Heart

So today I attended a lecture entitled history and sociology of atrocity crimes. While a very interesting topic to listen about, it was also very depressing. Why do we live in such a world where mass killings is so prevalent? Santayana must be spinning in his grave. We talk about how we have learned from past situations and yet such atrocities still go on. Maybe it's because there are totally new motivations for killing? But how can one justify the killing of an entire tribe or people for the sake of profit. For example, I believe the tribe is called the Akuntsu, who live in Brazil. All but a handful of women and an elderly man have been wiped out. All for the sake of logging rights. LOGGING RIGHTS!!!! We talk about progess in the world and yet all I see is theprogressive movement toward killing each other. We talk about how humanity is so diverse and yet each day we are decreasing this diversity. Sure I've made jokes about ethnic superiority, but in the end how can one ethnic group be truly superior if they are the only ones left. Eventually, we will probably find ways to divide people within one ethnicity and start killing in the name of those differences. and eventually, the human race will be nothing more than,inbred freaks, who probably won't survive much after that. Is that what we want in this world? Is that how the human race is going to end? The most popular idea from evolution is the idea of survival of the fittest. Frankly, this idea doesn't seem to apply to humans. As an evolving species we want to be able to spread our genes onto a procreating next generation. Yet, we keep finding ways to ultimately prevent such acts. Is this what humanity boils down to? Complete self-destruction? I found myself heartbroken after the lecture today, but in a way that's a good thing. It is only through brokenhearts can we see our own self-destruction. It is through this brokenheart that I realize that there is hope in this world. For surely, I'm not the only onewhose heart has been broken will continually break. It is my hope that all of humanities heart will break upon realizing their own self-destruction. Only then can we fully repair them.

First Couple weeks of Class

I kinda wish my classes were on a more regular schedule but that's what I get for going out to a school overseas (argh). So they gave us our first assignment on the 29th of September and it's due tomorrow (actually today, but I can't sleep and I wanted to start a blog).
It seems that being an anthropology major set me back quite a little bit compared to everyone else who've studied archaeology. Whatever, I have no regrets... ND gave me a better education than most people here (well-rounded-wise). Even then I feel as if I know just as much archaeology as those who only studied archaeology. But whatever.
This past week we had our first practical lab project thing - digging a clandestine grave. Oh have I mentioned that I'm studying forensic archaeology? hence the name of the blog. but yeah the lesson I got out of the exercise is that I should not bury a dead body if I kill someone - there are better ways of disposing it. My muscles are still sore - this is what I get for not digging the past summer. Gosh darn it. But yeah I think I'm going to be in for an exciting year - constantly reading, practical exercises, fun, fun, fun... Still I'm pretty lonely out here.
I miss being in a dorm, having roommates, and the American college experience... Oh well, I'm older and wiser for it :)

The First Month

So yeah I can't believe it's already been a month out here in England! And despite the fact that I love to go travelling and being exposed to new experiences, I miss the States. I would kill for a good ol' American burger right now. Now I'm getting a little off track...
OK so coming to England was a mess from the beginning. Going from Chicago, I had two layovers: one in Boston and one in Iceland. Each layover was only an hour long! So I was freaking out a little bit. Luckily one hour wasn't too bad (nobody uses icelandair apparently so getting my ticket was quick)... But get this I arrive in London (Heathrow) and my luggage doesn't arrive - they were boarded on the wrong plane to Boston! So as you can imagine, I was freaking out - with no clothes except what's on my back!
Luckily Bournemouth Uni's welcome crew were very nice and very concerned about my situation. Which reminds me, at the airport and way to Bournemouth, I met Milla - she is one of the coolest people I ever met. She's studying scriptwriting - totally awesome...
Anyhoo so yeah there was the international orientation week... kinda boring kinda informative.
So yeah I didn't get my luggage for about five days (luckily the first night I was able to go out and buy some new clothes). The nights were freakishly cold and the drafty windows and lack of blankets and sheets did not help. The Uni set me up in a pretty nice studio apartment. Unfortunately this is only making me terribly lonely :(