my travels overseas would not be worth talking about if they didnt involve adventures in hotels really, would they? last nights adventure however, was not exactly a repeat of baltimore (i doubt i will ever top that one). it was, rather, one of those hotel dramas all jet lagged travellers can well do without. so in something that felt like it was a scene ripped from seinfeld, i arrived at the courtyard marriot (uva medical centre) charlottesville virginia (at 1040pm, after a noisy and bumpy american eagle flight in one of those little planes that still has propellor type things. yikes) only to find that the hotel was oversold and my room was no longer available. i said, doing my best impersonation of jerry, which the poor desk person didnt get, oh so you can TAKE the reservation, you just cant KEEP the reservation. it was most annoying, because i have a 4 night booking and this is the recommended conference hotel! i dont know how you can give away one night of a 4 night booking, especially when i rang them that morning from chicago to make sure a late arrival was going to be ok.

anyway, they’d booked me (and paid for) another room in a budget motel up the road, and the security guard walked me up there at midnight, and i felt like throwing a big tantrum because it wasnt a very nice room (king size bed and free wifi the only good bits) and i said to trent on chat in my best little girl pouty voice ‘i want to come home’ and he says ‘oh but the trip advisor reviews say its a good hotel’ and im like ‘HELLOOOO! im actually here and it sucks’. actually, it was just annoying. i managed to calm down and get a few hours sleep. it did have a nice view this morning, i will say that.

i had a very long very hot shower and then walked back down to the marriot

and after i’d had WORDS with the manager they gave me breakfast and quickly got me a room ready, then i got to move in here

really really nice room, upgraded to a king size bed. i was happy straight away. more befitting my station, as someone said! it felt so amazing to actually unpack stuff and hang clothes up and rearrange things, and have a bit of a lie down. then i sorted out my little care packages (i am spreading the timtam love where ever i go)

and set off for the afternoon.

this is quite an amazing campus. its actually like a whole suburb, with proper streets and things (thats the nasty hotel they put me in last night)

and a big university hospital and lots of semi-gothic red brick buildings like this one

i found the school of nursing

and then the history centre, where i met linda, who’s been so helpful on email and she took me through the archives and found me some things on the history of american psych nursing and i sat quietly and took notes for a while

then i had two meetings, and oh my god, i was ON FIRE people, on fire i tell you. it helped of course that people are being so welcoming. first i met arlene and we talked about the history centre, and how to set up one (i have aspirations for UOW), and how to work history into the curriculum and then we talked about our own research and how her work on the navajo has strong links to a project i would like to do with indigenous australians, and as i was talking to her about the way indigenous affairs in australia have been handled she kept saying ‘thats just like the navajo’ and im like ‘i know!’ and i said ‘no one in australia does comparative indigenous-native american stuff but it seems so obvious to me’ and she said ‘we have to write something together!’ and i said ‘ok!’ and so there you go. mission accomplished. i can go home now.

i did stay to meet mary, the assistant centre director, and she gave me some great tips for supporting historical research and teaching, and shared some of her own syllabus with me and im just amazed at how helpful and supportive people are being. i met some other conference people arriving as i was leaving the centre and they asked me out for dinner (i might just sleep though). its very nice to be asked. ive said it before, i really like working with nursing academics. they respect the fact that im from a different field and have something to teach them, and they tell me what i need to know about nursing without being patronising. they’re collegial and supportive and not in the least bit competitive (well not the ones ive met anyway) and they shit all over the boys club that is humanities research. i wouldnt go back there if you paid me.

so im really looking forward to the conference starting tomorrow, including my own presentation, which people so far have been really interested in. i feel like im good now, i know what im doing, this is what i came here for (mostly) and im confident and relaxed and people LOVE the accent! (they also pick that its australian. interesting). i went for a walk after the meetings and found the student book shop (yes i bought two books)

and admired the architecture

of course the medical school has the most impressive building!

i have some time on saturday afternoon to go find the rotunda and be suitably impressed by the history of this university.

i think the jetlag is passing, the tired in my bones feeling is fading, im relaxed and settled in my room, and then i got a nice surprise when i came back just now. this was on the coffee table (thats Dr Smith to you Marriot Hotels)

along with an apology note

not bad. i think i win this round.

k xx

so you know how im like deathly tired, ache all over and feel like bursting into tears ALL THE TIME? i think thats called JETLAG! could someone please remind me next time i nearly fall in a heap that flying 17 hours crossing numerous timezones and into a midwestern winter is going to do weird shit to your body. let alone your mind. i didnt get to sleep till midnight last night and then woke up at 430am. no no no no NO!

i guess i just forgot how it takes out of you. and i keep forgetting ive only been here two days. it will settle down, i just need to give myself time and space, remember to breath, dont get too anxious, try not to do too much. its hard when you’re in a new place for hardly any time, you want to do all the things. i tried to pace myself a bit today by just committing to one thing, the art institute of chicago. i just had no idea what sort of a huge thing it was. alison told me it was one of her favourite places in america and i can see why. i am constantly amazed by the art holdings i find here, and not where i expected them. you expect MOMA and the Met to be amazing. but the national art gallery in washington, with all those Dutch masters and the Rothko tower blew my mind. and now chicago. what a gallery.

they let you take photos now, so i’ll just whizz through. its a big building, with the original wing on michigan avenue and the modern wing behind. i started with the modern

im a bit over the old european stuff (she says in that jaded world travelling hipster voice. cezanne? so over!) seriously, i do love modern art and this place was full of the good stuff from warhol

to an amazing collection of georgia o’keefes

to my all time favourite, mark rothko.

ive said it before and i’ll say it again, i dont know how a blob of orange can overwhelm you with feeling, but overwhelm me it did (see above re: jetlag).

there was also a special exhibition on ‘picasso and chicago’ (not that picasso has ever been to chicago!)

but it was basically commemorating 100 years of the art institute and centred around this sculpture picasso did for the city of chicago.

they had these tapes playing of people talking about it when it was installed and it made me laugh, all these voices complaining they didnt know what it was meant to be, is it a dog, a womans head? they had a whole wall dedicated to the sketches he’d done of it, as well as a massive collection of some of his other work i’ve never seen before, from drawings

to etchings

to the big paintings.

all really impressive. let alone the rest of the gallery – a whole room of monets, a whole room of van goghs, a whole room of cezannes and seurats. and the good ones.  like, the really IMPORTANT ones:

there were many john singer seargants, james whistlers, and two of my other all time favourite american pieces: nighthawks

and american gothic.

ive admired that painting for so long, it was amazing to see it for real. i may have bought a print, or two.

i also discovered a very quiet little gallery called Folk Art, it was all pieces of true americana, really beautiful artifacts and woodwork and domestic pieces and strange little paintings

and this, a whirligig! very impressive.

on my way out i had an interesting conversation with a young african american ticket attendant, he recognised my accent and asked me if i was from sydney (good pick!) and turns out there’s an aussie working at the museum who laughed at his funny last name. i said what’s your last name, and he said ‘bogan’ and we both laughed. of course, if you’re aussie, you know what it means, otherwise you can google it, like he did. he said he was surprised, and i said it was certainly an incongruous name for a young fine looking american and he said his father is half irish, so i guess thats where it comes from. which explains why we use it in a derogatory way at home then!

by then i was exhausted, so i sat out in the freezing old sunshine watching the snow melt

and felt a bit better, i think the vitamin D helped. then i had to repack my bags, and i grabbed a taxi to take me back to ohare. i had another interesting conversation with another youngish african american, i guess he was in this 30s. anyway, he knew nothing about australia and wanted to talk about why we have such a strange kind of english, unlike americans, and i just laughed and laughed. and then he said ‘whats it like growing up in europe’ and i said ‘australia might be european but its actually in the south pacific’. so once we’d got the geography sorted he wanted to know about me and what i was doing and he was like ‘you have a PhD? you went to school for like, 12 years?” and the disbelief in his voice made me realise what a totally insane thing that is to do, actually, and how amazing it is that i finished, all things considered, and again how far ive come

then he wanted to know about aboriginal people, and are they black like him (at least he know who they were, as opposed to some australians), and then i explained terra nullius (as you do, on a $40 cab ride) and then when i told him about convicts he was like OHHHH! now i understand why you aussies are all so laid back cos you’re like ‘we’re criminals man, we can take you out anytime’. i think he’s on to something. anyway, when i got out of the cab he gave me a hug and said ‘thank you so much, i learnt so much from you just now’ and im like OH MY FREAKING GOD.

america, you’re gonna break my heart.

now im at the airport, again, waiting to fly on a teeny little plane down to the south (if you can call virginia South)

and i will be glad to get a full nights sleep before the working starts tomorrow. at least i dont have meetings till 1 and can sleep in.

see you later chicago, its been….real.

kxx

i’m actually only here for two days, so there’s not going to be a lot i can tell you about chicago but i’ve managed to get around a bit today, despite a rather erratic nights sleep and being pretty damn tired. i woke up at 230am and took a while to calm back down, brain racing, all that crap, and then slept till 730. could have stayed in bed all day, but what would be the point of that! also, i looked out my window and there was snow on the windowsills and street below, and i LOVE the snow, so i was excited to get out in it.

i started with hotel breakfast and this stuff they call coffee, which we all know isnt really, but it got me out the door.

outside, it was cold, about 2 degrees, it hasnt gotten above that all day. the overnight snow had melted, but there were piles of frozen stuff in the park just near here

this is millenium park, complete with ice rink (hello again sissy!) and really groovy sculptures (this one’s called the jelly bean apparently)

thats me the single figure with the red hat behind the three star jump people! this is a very cool Thing. i dont know what it is really, but i liked it. there is a big lawn and ampitheatre area covered in another cool structure and then i tried to walk across the little bridge down towards lake michigan but it was closed for some construction work. it was a very pretty view back down michigan avenue anyway

i needed more caffeine so went across the road to the obligatory starbucks

(hello free wifi) and then from there i went to macys and i stumbled upon a sephora, where i didnt quite buy All The Things. time enough for that in NYC. i came back to the hotel to drop off things and stopped long enough to paint my nails. a girl cant be out and about without sparkly fingernails, after all.

then i looked on the internet for tips and headed off again for real coffee and i found out where all the chicago hipsters are: intelligentsia. i nearly choked on the fedora, checked shirt and glasses fumes. the coffee was really good though

a macchiato with a good thick crema served with a shot glass of sparkling mineral water, just like in rome. it was good and strong too and gave me energy to go walking up michigan ave and across the chicago river. its a pretty cool skyline they have here in the windy city – this is looking west up the chicago river

there were some really impressive buildings along here, the wrigley building is behind a facade but i thought of alison and took this picture for her.

by now the wind had come up and there were little flurries of snow whirling around my face,

and even though it was freezing cold i loved being out in it. for a while anyway.

then it was time to head back down wabash ave – i was going to go on the L train just for a ride but the cold was getting to me so i settled for a hot chocolate in starbucks to write some post cards.

apparently americans dont know that ‘kylie’ is not ‘carlie’. or else its my weird accent. they think im english too. bless the poor ignorant americans.

im just teasing. to be honest, i never met an american i didnt like. especially when travelling alone no seriously, they’ve been really nice here and are very friendly and helpful. i just cant find anyone who sells postcard stamps.

but anyway, i came back to the hotel again and sorted through photos, and then i got rugged up again and went on my night time adventure. i had plans to catch up with jenny, webgoddess’ cousin. i caught the red line subway up to berwyn

and then walked three blocks west past all these gorgeous houses

through the snow, yes actual snow, falling on my face and getting caught in my hair

and i then up north clark street to this kind of hipster place up in andersonville that does southern cooking. this is the best kind of american food i think – people make all sorts of judgements about american food because if you’re a tourist its hard to find the good stuff, but the good stuff is really really good. this was no exception.

we started with potato and goats cheese croquets with anchovy cream and a pickling tasting plate (and iced tea of course!)

pickle it! we followed that up with venison sausage with sauerkraut and a bourbon and huckleberry bounce (yes, a BOUNCE!) and crawfish tails in a white wine sauce, with caramelised brussel sprouts and sweet potato hash.

really, seriously, great. and not expensive. i had wanted to try the bourbon and raisin bread pudding but even i was full. so on the way to jennys car we just happened to walk past a cupcake shop,

and she bought me a moon pie (awwww)

and then she very kindly drove me back here down lake shore drive with the lake on one side and the city all lit up on the other and it really was beautiful.

such a great day, and im very proud of my adventurousness.

more tomorrow!

k xx

today i flew (in a plane, not personally flapping my wings) 14 000 kms in about 16 hours and i arrived in chicago on the same day i left sydney. its the most bizarre feeling, to actually be flying backwards into time – leaving in the morning, flying away from the sun and into the night time, so that i arrive in chicago actually only 4 hours by the clock after i left. we were delayed about an hour, because the plane was too hot to let people board. what the?

anyway, the important thing is that we did actually take off. i had no dramas getting through customs even with my deadly knitting needles (which they now let you use on planes, did you know that, because if you didnt i could start a ravelry forum about it?).

although i did get scanned for drug residue. i always get pulled over for that and im like what? still?! we were somewhere over the Pacific when i finished the stupid mitts, but even with a ‘rowan calmer’ cuff i still ran out of yarn.

im going to rip that second one and negotiate with String for a replacement ball. i have other hats/mitts etc to wear tomorrow, which is good cos the room service guy just told me its meant to be a snow storm here tomorrow. i clapped in delight.

we made good time to LA, it probably only took 12 hours instead of the scheduled 13 although it was a little rough. it was a beautiful morning in LA

but oh my god, how big is that place? i’ve only flown in once (on the way home last time) and that was at midnight, i didnt really get the full picture. it just blows my mind how many people live in this place. at 5am this morning there were two main roadways winding into LA that were just rivers of car lights. it was freaky. and when i finally did land in chicago, the traffic. oh my god. it made george st sydney look like a race track.

i did see a little bit of snow,

and a couple of sporting icons

and a very chicago streetscape,

but its pretty grey and cold and drizzling out there and i really needed a very hot bath (and shower!), and some room service

(look nardine, its those cute litte bottles! my sister developed quite a thing for these little condiment bottles when we were here in 2010. those, and the squirrels in washington DC. seriously, dont ask).

and now im watching the breakfast club on AMC and then i will have a nice long sleep in my nice big bed.

its a bit bizarre being here again so soon after last time. america is so familiar, all the brands, the way of life, im surprised to hear american accents – am i really here? im a little bit overwhelmed by the brashness of americans and the bittersweet memories, happy and sad at the same time. but im sure thats all because ive only slept about 3 hours in the last 28, so i should probably do something about that.

and then tomorrow i go in search of some georgia o’keefes and the legendary chicago hot dog. with celery salt.

k xx

there is one thing about time, it keeps moving forward whether you want it to or not. at first i thought this week would never end, and now suddenly here it is sunday and i am quietly freaking out.

my last day at work was of course a  nightmare. it was just after lunch when my boss realised i was not physically going to be near him for the next 3 weeks, so of course i needed to finish ALL THE THINGS before i left. so i had a mad afternoon of delegating, and being very grateful for having three staff who understand my rambling emails (me, rambling emails? surely not…) and can pick up what i cant manage. they saved my arse on friday. i had to run around campus picking up my laptop from IT and my poster from printery (i will show you that while im away), confirming all the reservations with hotels and baggage allowances with my travel agent, emailing students and sorting out the arrangements for my new job when i get back (just paperwork to be done now while im away).

and of course, trying to finish the grant. i got another round of feedback yesterday and the sydney uni humanities professor reading it said ‘you’re in with a chance’. i take that for whats it worth (not much). but anyway, i did manage to get everything into the system

and today i just need to polish off a couple little sections and then the uni adds its letter of support and it gets submitted while im away. i cant quite believe its nearly finished. nearly 3 months of solid, back breaking work to produce a 35 page document asking for $339 000. which i wont get. will it be worth it? who knows. we wait until november now to find out.

in between grant editing yesterday i finished the first of the cashmere mittens

only to find a 50g ball that cost $48 doesnt exactly weigh 50g.

this means i have to do the cuff of the second mitt in a different yarn which is annoying, and i will be talking to the people at string yarns about their labeling when i am back there.

i also pulled out all my winter clothes and washed and dried stuff i thought i wanted to take

only to realise i probably dont want to take most of it. my bag is nearly packed, and a little bit full. for the first time i am taking presents to give people, and its taking up a lot of room

the presents of course are what all australians carry with them whenever they travel. as many timtams as you can carry and a jar of vegemite. im sure its a travesty to a. toast and b. put vegemite on an H&H onion bagel, but im going to do it anyway. its also kind of nice to know that i’ll be seeing people to give presents to. there’s kris’ cousin jenny in chicago, and donnalees family in philadelphia, and i have things for all the professors im meeting with in viriginia and pennsylvania.

my itinery goes like this: qantas to LA, american airlines to chicago, arriving chicago about 3 hours after i leave! in chicago im staying at the silversmith hotel and my plan is to hit michigan avenue shopping and the national institute of art. jenny is taking me out for dinner on tuesday night to this place and i cant wait, shrimp and grits, bourbon and raisin bread pudding, PICKLING PLATE!! im going to have that just so i can tweet it to kris and drive her insane. it will be nice to meet a local too and get out at night time, thats the only thing i find hard about travelling alone, the going out at night part.

thats all covered in viriginia. i get to charlottseville late wednesday night and im staying at the courtyard marriot right near campus, and theyve arranged special meetings for me on thursday. im going to meet the history centre director and talk about how to work history into nurse education, and im going to meet professor keeling and talk about a possible comparison between native american and indigenous australians. then the conference runs friday and saturday, and im meeting up with a couple of other professors ive been working with online. the conference dinner is at a country club friday night and i give my paper on saturday morning. the sunday im on the train all day to philadelphia.

in philadelphia im staying at this gorgeous Cornerstone B&B. im being officially welcomed as a visiting researcher to the Barbara Bates Centre on Monday morning, meeting with the centre director Julie and my favourite american nursing historian Patricia, and then they’re going to show me into the archives. Monday night im meeting donnalee, pk and possibly two of their girls for dinner, yay! then tuesday i’m giving a little seminar about my work, meeting the centre’s post grad students and attending a lecture by this amazing historian and ive been invited out to dinner that night with her and all the faculty of the centre. wednesday im back in the archives and then this lecture as well, and then i will probabaly collapse in a heap wednesday night, although i think there might be a small dinner planned with just me and Julie and Patricia.

do i sound a little bit overwhelmed by that? because i am. im nervous about meeting all these serious people, patricia has been lovely on email but she is the editor of the most prestigious nursing history journal that i want to get published in, and shes written so many great histories, and im like this novice who thinks she knows a little bit, but really i know nothing at all and oh my god i feel suddenly so out of my depth! so im scared and nervous but really excited too. i know it will be fine if i just be myself, and im just going to soak it all up and learn as much as i can. i have plans to work with these people again in the next few years, so my plan is to just let them see how smart and enthusiastic i am without being a know it all. i hope i can pull it off.

so by then we’re at thursday the 21st and im going to donnalees work that day i think to talk to her group and have lunch with her, then im booked on the train over to new york city arriving thursday about 4pm. despite my little disappointment, i have lots of plans for new york. the NYU library and bellvue hospital archives are on the list but i might get thwarted because some of the records were destroyed or moved by hurricane sandy and havent come back yet. i just have to play that by ear.

there is lots of shopping to do: books (mcnally jackson and the strand), yarn (purl soho, knitty city, string) 5th ave for toys and shoes and jewellery, chelsea and the east village for clothes and jewellery, the metropolitan for this AMAZING exhibition, the folk art museum mostly for these, and back to MOMA if i have time. i need to go here for coffee and here for cupcakes, and here for crackpie. and i also want to go to brooklyn to check out hipster williamsburg and get some good australian coffee!

so i dont think i will be bored, but i do intend to come home exhausted and broke. why else do you go to new york city? (dont answer that jane).

i have my shiny new laptop with me so im going to do a running travel blog as much as i can rather than wait till i get home, so check in everyday and see what i’ve been up to. i hope its as fun for you as i think it will be for me.

i get back sunday 31st, so happy easter everyone, and stay safe.

k xx