Wednesday is noteworthy because I have back-to-back seminars in the afternoon. Theoretically five-and-a-half hours of history goodness. Got up early to finish up a reading response for one of the seminars. Need to learn how to schedule myself better.

The first seminar, dealt with different approaches to constructing early Islamic history. I guess the idea that philology explains history is definitely out of vogue right now. One fellow we read was a wonderful philologist (studier of words), but wrote a pretty worthless history. Inevitably ‘Orientalism’ took over the discussion. The main problem seems to be people using the term who haven’t bothered to define it properly. As our professor pointed out, were it not for Orientalists, many of the compilations and translations that American, European and Middle Eastern scholars depend upon would not exist. So just using an undefined label as a slur is not a very effective attitude.

The second seminar seemed a lot lighter. This was in large part due to the fact that two of the articles we had to read were utter garbage. I’m sure Bernard Lewis and Samuel Huntington have made legitimately intelligent statements before, but “What Went Wrong” and “The Clash of Civilizations” are about as valuable, informationally, as the official pronouncements of the North Korean press corps.

What’s depressing is that people actual do take some of this tripe seriously.

After the discussion (which was actually about pseudo-cultural explanations, not about bashing Lewis and Huntington, fun as that might be), it was back to the apartment for me. Wanting to have something novel for dinner (ie not rice), I gave spaghetti a try. Wow. My first time cooking spaghetti, ever. Seems to have turned out okay. The hardest part is getting all the spaghetti into the pot, since it’s not really big enough. The best part: I have at least 3 more meals waiting in the same pot. Simplifies cooking a bit.

Main event of the day was my first real seminar (last week’s ones were all preliminary). Unfortunately, we were stuck in a lecture class, which altered the dynamics considerably. The day’s question: how and why did the Ottoman Empire come into existence. It’s a question that becomes a lot more complicated when we realize that the empire doesn’t really keep any records until the 15th century.

One attempt to answer, which we read for today’s discussion, dealt mostly with literary sources, poems, legends and the like, that purport to give the origins of the Ottomans. It’s fascinating because the historical analysis itself gains a somewhat literary quality. And the fact of the matter is that we really don’t know. It could all be true, or almost none of it true. But either way, we’re left with the issue of explaining why a small Anatolian principality became one of the most powerful and long-lived states in the world in a few short centuries.

The rest of the day was preparation for tomorrow’s classes.

Not sleeping enough didn’t help me in class this morning. New York City is definitely weighing on me. Darn it, I want to find a place where I can be alone, even if just for a bit.

Instead, I get to read two books and an article. Didn’t exactly finish. Which means I’ll have to get up early tomorrow to do so. Thus repeating the cycle. Great.

Also, I’ve had to listen to 9/11-related garbage all day. Yes, I realize it’s the 5th anniversary. But if I hear one more smug self-serving politican trying to make hay out the event, I’ll lose any remaining sympathy I have for the sorry imbeciles that live in this country. They elected these morons.

And yes, I do miss California.

Today was to have been a major study day. But my cousin turned up, and as he’s starting NYU a good week late, I figured I’d help him orientate. He came down from a relative’s place around noon, and we had a quick lunch together, before pointing out the major campus buildings. There’s really not much of a campus per se, but of course, it’s good to know what is where. He even managed to get in to the library without an official ID card, as the security folks apparently issue temporary ones.

On the other hand, we had a devil of a time setting up wireless internet access on his machine once inside. Yes Windows does stink. Thanks for the timely reminder. With all that done, I did manage a bit of reading, before we both left around 8PM. The library really does fill up on Sunday afternoons.

The apartment definitely felt a little lonely. The roommate’s there of course, but conversations with him don’t quite fill the void.

Had a fair number little things to do, and somehow they took the whole day with it. First, looks like everybody made it back home, although with some major delays. I guess flying Southwest, while cheap, isn’t always ideal (2 connections makes for a somewhat tenuous flight plan, particularly when bad weather hits along the way).

We’ve finished assembling all of the Ikea furniture, and have more or less arranged the room and the kitchen. Still have a number of missing odds and ends, but having the dining table, the two small chairs, and the lamps really helps. In particular, the apartment is pretty dark without extra lights.

In terms of grocery stores, we’re actually luck enough to have 2 within a one-block radius of the apartment. Convenience does come at a cost, though. I’m still shocked at the cost of regular Tropicana orange juice. Hopefully cheaper alternatives are not too much farther.

There’s also a wholesale liquidator and a Best Buy near here, so I managed to pick up some miscellaneous stationary for a good chunk less than the campus bookstore was asking, and to peek at the latest computer offerings. I’m sorry, but PCs just aren’t as much fun… Although I should knock on wood, since the Compaq laptop has behaved itself decently so far.

As for eating, well-cooked tofu has made rice bearable, but only kind of. Dammit, I need variety. As the bread I bought on Tuesday is already getting moldly (huh?), I went out and picked up another baguette.

Interestingly enough, I couldn’t find any classes in my department offered on Fridays. Which makes today the end of the first week of school here. Interesting.

Two language classes in the morning left me feeling a little bit overdone in the general area. I try to think of some word in one language, and of course I can only remember it in the other. Weird.

In the afternoon, I tried out an anthropology course. After the usual round of names and academic areas of interest, the professor showed us a one hour clip from Spike Lee’s documentary on Hurricane Katrina, “When the Levees Broke.”

The movie certainly had its heavy moments, and its light ones (when a guy goes up to Dick Cheney and tells him, ‘Go F Yourself’, twice). But it also carried some peculiar themes as well: people asking how such a thing could happen in America, people identifying with refugees in other countries, and people questioning what their citizenship now means.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to the last class I was going to try because this one went over a bit. So back to the old apartment for some rice and veggies. Going to have to figure out a way to vary the diet a bit.

Since I don’t have classes tomorrow, I stayed up watching “Inside Man” again. Spike Lee is quite the director.

Day 2 of classes. Busy.

Morning was a little lighter than usual, only tried out one class. Lunch was toast and goat cheese. I’m still a sucker for baguettes, even if they cost more than twice what they did in Europe. I need to start eating more though, or they’ll go stale on me.

My first class in the afternoon dealt is the ‘problems and methods’ seminar. I envisioned it as a ‘literature-of-the-field’ type thing, and that’s roughly what it appears to be. For some reason, I found the professor quite a bit more encouraging today than last night. The reading list however is a lot vaster (in range, not quantity) than I was expecting. I’ve nothing against classical and medieval history, but it certainly isn’t the period that most interests me.

Oddly enough, the second class I went to seemed to have precisely the literature I was expecting (well, a lot of it anyway). The professor was also very lively and amusing, although she also seemed very busy, so I’m not sure if one will be able to see much of her outside of class. The topic of the class actually seemed a little vague (the intersection of culture with politics and history in the Middle East?), but I doubt it will actually be so.

Got back to my apartment rather tired in the evening. Lots of unaccomplished errands remaining, but for now, time to try out some of the rice that is the product of my roommate’s new rice-cooker. The rice was decent, but the vegetables we put into the cooker were definitely overcooked. Also, the cooker isn’t particularly fast.

Theoretically, my father and cousin arrive back home tonight, but given the length of the flight, and time difference, I’ll be in bed before any news gets through.

As usual, I didn’t sleep too well the night before the first day of classes. Not sure why I’m nervous, but apparently I am.

Started off with a French course at 8AM. Yup, that’s early. Seems like it could be good, though the teacher is a grad. student who doesn’t quite seem sure of herself. Maybe just first day jitters for her too.

Arabic seemed good, although finding the room was difficult. Actually, getting into the building wasn’t easy either. Long lines for elevators, backups because of student ID card checks, and finally, the room isn’t listed when you get to the correct floor (it says ‘rooms 801-810’ as if they were the only ones, never mind the fact that you need 814).

Since I hadn’t brought any food along, I popped by the nearby market for bread and cheese. It was just as slow as the night before. Goat cheese is still ridiculously expensive, but I figured starting on a high note was appropriate.

In the afternoon, there was an Ottoman history seminar, which seemed good, save for the fact that our seminar room is actual a lecture hall. Makes a round-table discussion a bit difficult. Amazingly wide level of backgrounds in the class though. A lot of PhD students too.

Next was a seminar on Saudi Arabian history. Not one I planned (or plan) on taking, but I was curious to see what it was like. According to the professor, it’s a new and emerging field. I hope his bullishness is warranted.

When my cousin and father dropped by for dinner, they brought a few things with them, namely 2 Ikea lamps and a large amount of groceries and preserved goods from Trader Joe’s. Looks like I’m well-supplied for at least the next month or so.

It was drizzling a bit, so we decided to eat close-by. By chance, we found a cozy little Italian place, which offered generous portions at unusually low prices. My cousin kept remarking about how the chef and waiters were ‘real Italians.’ True enough, I suppose. It was a nice ambiance to chat in, and say goodbyes.

I’m not a big fan of goodbyes.

The rest of the evening was spent unpacking the remainder of my stuff, and trying to find places for things. Easier said than done. Particularly annoying is that the closets are nowhere near the beds.

So I got up this morning with a rather extensive todo list. I’ve been in New York now almost a week, and tomorrow is the first day of classes. Still plenty to finish:

1) Go to Ikea, pick up all necessary items to furnish apartment (minus bed, table, and kitchen appliances which are provided).

Doing this took a fair bit. First, the nearest Ikea is about 40 minutes away, in Paramus, New Jersey. We left around 9:30AM, but made a detour, and so took almost an hour to arrive.

Once there, the place was a zoo. Picked out a small table and chairs for dining purposes. Picked out a smallish bookcase for storage. Then picked out all manner of kitchenware, a trash bin, a lamp, and a lot of other stuff. After some mixup about the chairs, we finally made it to the check-out line. The self-service checkout system was one of the more painful bits of technology I’ve had to deal with in a long-time.

This whole thing took a bit longer than hoped for, so we didn’t arrive back until nearly 2:30PM, a solid hour late for…

2) See a vast array of relatives, friends, and neighbors. Fortunately not everybody came, or the array would have been entirely too vast. Had a pleasant time catching up. People were more or less constantly arriving and departing. It was the usual mixture of eating, chatting, listening, and whatnot.

After the final wave of arrivals (including a relative from New Jersey whom I hadn’t seen in several years), it was time for…

3) Move down to apartment. Getting everything packed and into the car, not to mention saying goodbyes delayed us until nearly 8PM. The drive down was uneventful. In less than an hour we were down unloading. The help of the roommate made things a lot quicker. My father left around 10PM, leaving me the task of unpacking, and getting to bed. Wound up getting most things put away. We don’t have in-room internet, but there are some random wireless networks we can connect on. Finally went to bed around midnight.

First class: 8AM, tomorrow. Yay. Maybe.

In the interest of getting some things done, we got up somewhat earlier than usual. Following breakfast, we drove down to the city. The idea was for me pick up the key to my apartment from the housing office, and to take a look, before heading off to a museum.

The plan was sound, except that getting the key took a bit more doing than I’d expected. First, the office in my complex was closed. So I was redirected to the undergraduate housing office (which is doing double duty this weekend, apparently). They then informed me that they didn’t have my key, because my assignment was so recent. So I was sent back to the place where I started, with a note to the effect that the RA should give me the spare key to the apartment. This too took some time, so I had a chance to get to know one of the doormen.

Finally, with my temporary key, I made a visit to my apartment for the first time.

Impressesions? Well, it’s actually pretty large, but the kitchen and the bathroom are both clearly later additions. It is a shared studio though, so there’s that. My roommate seems like a cool fellow. We have a bit of a view of the courtyard. The furniture provided is minimal: a bed, a chair and a smallish desk with drawers. Definitely going to have to get some stuff…

The museum, to which we next went, is actually a derelict aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Intrepid. Getting to the parking lot took us 3 tries, owing to wrong turns, one-way streets, and so on. By the time we had actually gotten to the character, it was nearly 2PM.

The inside of the carrier has been mostly converted into showrooms for various technologies and historical models. Some areas have been kept in near original condition though, so you can see things like the berths and the kitchens and the control center.

To me the most interesting part was actual the deck, which contained a sizable collection of aircraft from all manner of sources. These included an F14, an SR71 and even a MIG-21! I spent a good while also taking photos of the city, since we had a decent view of midtown from the deck. My cousin was on ther other hand fascinated by the control-room.

Docked nearby were a Concord and a submarine. It was my first (and likely last) walk down the aisle of a Concord. A very peculiar aircraft on the inside. Neat, but one can also see why it wasn’t so practical. The submarine featured a full tour, which showed us the living and working quarters of the vessel. Not a comfortable life-style.

We left the museum after 5PM (closing time) having decided to go to Brooklyn to take photographs of the New York skyline.

On the way back down, we stopped on Broadway around 30th St., where we improbably found a parking spot. Dinner was two slices of pizza (each) at Sbarro’s. We had a view, through a plexiglass wall, of the subway platform, but the meal itself was somewhat disappointing.

Getting to Brooklyn proved a challenge. It was now past 7PM, and the traffic going down was horrendous. Moreover, we were trying to go over the Brooklyn Bridge, the entrance to which is not so easy to find either. It was past 9PM before we made it to Brooklyn, and managed to find another parking place. My cousin had his heart set on taking his photos from the quai near the ice cream place we’d seen earlier, so we had a bit of walk too.

The view of the Manhattan skyline was indeed impressive. There were a lot of other folks admiring it from the same location. We were there for quite a while, taking time exposures and whatnot. By the time we left, I was out of battery, and it was quite late. The drive back had less traffic, and was pretty much straight, but we didn’t make it back to my grandparent’s place until almost midnight. A long day, for our ‘intrepid’ crew.