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What happens when a pre-menopausal matron, afflicted with Anglophilia, leaves home and hearth to spend time working in her dream location, London, the same year she hits a chronological half-century? Bizarre encounters and hair-raising adventures come flying at her...that's what!
This fast-paced memoir chronicles an unusual year spent by an Indian-born professor from an American university who undertook field-research in the United Kingdom. In the process, she dodged a global fiscal crisis, was impacted by terrorist activity in her native Bombay, faced sudden homelessness, and coped with debilitating physical constraints caused by an excruciating foot ailment called plantar fasciitis.
While she scours Europe during weekends as a footloose solo backpacker accumulating hilarious experiences among a motley lot in youth hostels, stalks royalty in their favorite stomping grounds, and becomes a coconspirator in helping an American friend find Mr. Right, the author provides a page-turning narrative about resilience and tenacity in the face of unexpected odds.
List of contents
1.Acknowledgments
2.Chap 1-Blundering in Barcelona
3.Chap 2-Getting There...and Over There
4.Chap 3-Stalking Royalty in the Highlands
5.Chap 4-A Solitary September
6.Chap 5-Afflicted
7.Chap 6-An Aegean Odyssey
8.Chap 7-Acquiring Englishness
9.Chap 8-Half A Month of Mood Swings
10.Chap 9-Troubles in Northern Ireland
11.Chap 10-Transnational Christmas
12.Chap 11-Freezing in February
13.Chap 12- Homeless (Or Very Nearly)
14.Chap 13-Operation Husband Hunt
15.Chap 14-Tales of Several Cities
16.Chap 15-Eastertide Adventures in Belgium and with the Bard
17.Chap 16-Grand Reunions on Both Sides of the Channel
18.Chap 17-With Country Squires in Farringdon and Suffolk
19.Chap 18-In Oxford: It's Deja-Vu All Over Again
20.Chap 19-Last Hurrahs
21.Chap 20-Finally In France
22.Epilogue
23.About the Author
About the author
Rochelle Almeida is professor of global cultures in liberal studies at New York University.
Summary
This inspirational memoir will keep you chuckling, cheering, and biting your fingernails as you armchair-travel with a book-devouring, museum-hogging, food-savoring, fun-loving globe-trotter whose huge doses of optimism and humor helped her cope with several crises as she spent one academic year conducting field research in London.
