It's time to meet the first Human of York of the academic year - MA student, Madeline:
“It all started a few years ago when I took a Chaucer class. I was sort of thrown into it but I very quickly realised that I absolutely loved it. There was so much about my other interests, like language, philosophy, and religion, that related to the literature I was reading.
"I realised that the Middle Ages was sort of the melting pot of so many of the things I love. I ended up receiving a research grant the summer between my second and third year in order to study gender in one of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. It was that experience that made me realize I wanted to continue doing medieval research.
“I applied for the Marshall Scholarship because I’d never been abroad, and the United Kingdom contains so much of the medieval history that I study. I wanted to come to the medieval city of York because there was so much I could learn here.
“I feel like for the Marshall Scholarship in particular I did so much research on the University and York that I felt almost familiar with it before I came.
"It was the perfect opportunity for me to study what I love in a city that I already knew I would love. So while I’m here I'm continuing my work with gender within medieval literature, and I'm trying to learn everything from the city that I can."
Madeline, MA in Medieval Literatures and Languages, Wentworth College, Humans of York, October 2021
