on the cusp of a very long weekend

I am half an hour away from my last class before our "reading week". A reading week is basically a week during term when classes are cancelled so that us students have time to prepare our essays for term assessment and also put some good work into our formal dissertation proposals. I still have to meet for French and am going on a "field trip" with my non-written sources class to King's College library (we are looking at how to use an early modern library as an historical document...) Otherwise I am going to be held up in my room, drinking coffee and writing several essays on what I have learnt thus far and probing into the Lyon City archives via the internet. It will be a nice time to get ahead and not stress come the end of term (which is in 4 weeks already!)

I met with my dissertation supervisor on Tuesday, and I think we were both rather pleased with the outcome. I have done a bit of work over these past few weeks, looking into sources and refining my subject. It is not completely etched out yet, but my research will be focused on 17th century Lyon, and the influence of civic pride, the city's role as the seat of French Catholicism (and the aftermath of the Wars of Religion), and its ties with Paris and the rising absolutist monarch in relation to the construction (and re-construction) of the hôtel de ville (town hall). Should be an adventure, really! (Plus my supervisor is Lyonnais, so he is very happy to offer connections when I go to visit the city!)

One more photo.

This picture is of LC at the British Museum. I took her photo while she stood in front of an ancient armour exhibit. We laughed pretty hard at this photo. :)