A blog post about a conference I went to in Ireland in January: open.substack.com/pub/leifhamm...
I kind of just write these to keep friends posted and to create a record for myself
Bonfire after Duke beat UNC in last night’s basketball game
A small bird grazed the side of my head last night. Think it was resting in the wreath my wife placed outside the door. It must have gotten a fright when I unlocked the door—well, in the dark, we both got a fright
Saw the Grand Canyon today
Exploring Arizona 🏜️
Had a good flight to the US. Did some editing on my iPad, and finally started reading Alice Loxton’s “Uproar! Satire, scandal and printmakers in Georgian London”
Gorgeous views while flying over Greenland
On Thursday, I had the pleasure of giving a talk to the local history society about King Christian VII (1749–1808) of Denmark-Norway, focusing on madness, enlightenment, and absolutism. It was fun!
I've changed settings many times, and yet Word continues to make life difficult. Anytime I create a new document, Word assumes I'm writing in Norwegian. Anytime I create a footnote, it assumes it's in Norwegian and automatically formats my quotation marks as guillemets… Infuriating
Off to a great start. I poured water into the electric coffee grinder instead of coffee beans…
The sun returned to the Arctic a couple of weeks ago. The sunlight makes such a difference!
Among the myriad things I'm currently working on, I'm also writing a short talk for the local history society that I'll give next week
Got an email that my article's been accepted for publication!
Lihkku beivviin! Today (6 Feb) is the Sámi National Day. I've written a short piece on Sámi history in my hometown. At the moment, only available in Norwegian, but I'll try to post an English translation on my blog
kystmuseene.no/berlevag/sam...
It looks like I'll have to send/receive four parcels to have enough points for a (let's face it, mediocre) coffee
I'm just waiting for them to roll out a tier system too. Send/receive a certain number of parcels a year to qualify for Premium Platinum Plus membership 😂
So the roastery kindly sent a replacement. Tracking said the bag of coffee would arrive last Friday, but it didn't. And since they only deliver mail every second day of the work week, my next hope was this Tuesday. Still hasn't shown. Fingers crossed it arrives on Thursday
2/2
My in laws got me a three-month coffee subscription for Christmas. The first bag arrived with no issues. It's now 4 Feb and I'm still waiting for my Jan bag… It's not an issue with the roastery, they dropped off the parcel on 12 Jan but the mail never processed the bag
1/2
Instead of, you know, improving their service, Norwegian mail Posten has launched a rewards scheme. You can now gather points for receiving/sending parcels. If I gather 290 points I get a free hot beverage at Narvesen… The key is to distract people, I guess
Spectacular colours!
For ikke å snakke om det å finne tid til forskning og fagarbeid
The Polar Night (mørketid) is gradually ending. The sun finally draws closer, and with it hope
Saw the Book of Kells and Trinity College Dublin. Always a lot of fun to see different universities as a university historian!
Had a great time visiting Marsh’s Library today in Dublin. Trinity College and the Book of Kells tomorrow!
Also a brilliant keynote by Marian Füssel. And lovely to finally meet Richard Kirwan (who organised the conference) after only having corresponded by email several years ago. And of course, many fantastic and stimulating papers! I’ve furiously scribbled notes
Attending a great conference on early modern university courts in Limerick, Ireland! Met some lovely people and happy that my paper on nocturnal activities at universities was very well received
I will absolutely get this! I’ve looked at many of the sources to king Christian VII’s “tour” in 1768–69 (which included England) as well as other Danish visitors to England (Ludvig Holberg and Frederik Sneedorff, for instance) so this is right up my alley
Big pile of snow
Writing is a messy process. I personally think that it just is. I *have* to write to find out what I want to say and how I want to say it. Attempts at rigid planning tend to dissolve into chaos during the writing process. I hate the (much-needed) clean up, but hey, it is what it is
