Memories of Freshers Week

Yay, someone's finally updated the DramaSoc website! There are pictures from our play now! That's very exciting to me, because it's the only physical record of the production I've got, seeing as the attempt to film it was a complete and utter failure. (No, I'm not bitter. Honest. In truth, I was bummed for a while, but now I'm over it. We all have our own memories of the event, and we all get together regularly now anyway, so that's good enough for me.)

Anyway, I snagged a bunch of pictures from the website, which, if you're interested, can be viewed here. Also, below are a couple of my favorites. : )

Some girls backstage on opening night. L to R: Sarah, me, Anni, Caroline, Katie, Marine and Libby.

Rehearsal: awkward flat meeting. L to R: Caroline (Lavinia), Meghan (RT Smith), Katie (Emily), Ez (Connie), Ben (Marcus), Anni (Flora), and me (Heidi).

Feedback, Finally

Halfway through week 10 and I finally got back a piece of assessed work. Today I was able to pick up my creative writing coursework, which it looks like my professor really liked! I'm pleased about that, obviously; her feedback was really positive. The grading scale is really different here, though, so the mark that I got would actually be really terrible back home. In theory they use a 100-point scale like we do, but in practice teachers rarely give above a 70%. One person explained it to me by saying that above a 70 is like post-graduate level work; undergrads basically could never write a good enough essay to merit a mark that high. So anyway, I got a 67% on my short story, which is actually the equivalent of an A-!

Here is a little UK-to-US grade conversion chart I found, for reference.

Post-Show Withdrawal

Well, the play is done, and has been for exactly a week. Needless to say, I'm very very sad it's done, and so is everyone else. BUT the plus side is that I've made all these wonderful friends! Luckily we can all reminisce and console each other as we withdraw, and now that we're not forced to hang out with each other at rehearsals for 6 hours a day I see that we really are all friends outside of drama too, which makes me indescribably happy.


DramaSoc has updated their website a little bit in the past few days, but only to put up the poster and program (which I of course promptly snagged onto my computer). I'm told the photos are on the way, though, so I'll share those as soon as I can.

Also, on Tuesday they're keeping the pub open all night so we can watch the coverage of the US election! I'm so excited! All my American friends are going, and loads of non-Americans as well. I mean who can pass up an opportunity to stay up late with friends in the pub watching political commentary on television? I'll definitely be there, despite the fact that I have a seminar at noon on Wednesday...

Days Like This

I've got to say, I love love love busy days like the last few I've had. Saturday was, of course, the trip to Cambridge, and then yesterday was the most international day I've had in a while. Well first was play rehearsal for a few hours in the afternoon, which was mostly English. Then that evening my flatmate Adam took me to his Japanese friends' flat, where we all made and then ate some delicious sushi. It was, hands down, the best meal I've had since coming here. (Granted, I haven't yet tried bangers or faggots [wow to both of those...], so the best might actually be still to come! Or not.) After that we went to a salsa lesson hosted by the International Students Society, followed by the salsa dance party, where we tried -- and mostly failed awkwardly -- to put our new salsa skillz to the test. We were far from experts, but it was fun nonetheless.

Yup, and then today I did some reading for my film class during the day. After dinner I went to a film society meeting, and one of the members agreed to film our play next week. She even wants to do a kind of behind-the-scenes story about us, which they'll broadcast on the university station! It's a win-win situation really: we get the free publicity, and she gets clips to put on her video reel (she's studying film and television). Then was rehearsal, of course (we've got it every day now until the show goes up in less than two weeks), which was really fun as usual. And finally, it's JP's (one of the assistant directors) birthday today, so we hung out at the pub for a long while after rehearsal. And now I have to read a bit more and then rest up for class tomorrow! Ohhhhh uni, how I love thee. : )

Uni Life

Mom wrote me in an email, and I quote, "I love your blog! BUT -- you need more pictures of you and less of old buildings! Pleez?" (Yes, she is a lolcat.) So these are for you, Mom.

The first night of international students' orientation, in the Union Pub. Clockwise from the guy in the tan jacket: Assaf (Israel/Switzerland), Philip (China/England), Christina (Jamaica), Alison (CA), Jaimie (NY), Yan (NY), me, Tom (CA), Surya (Mauritius), Arturo (Venezuela), Claire (Italy), Shannon (India/England), Tri (PA), Pierre (France).

On the bus back from a club in Norwich. Clockwise from left: me, Lena (Germany), Tom, Surya, Philip.

The winning International Quiz team. Clockwise from bottom left: Lena, Sonja (Finland), me, Shannon, Claire, Arturo, Ryan (US), Surya, Joanna (US), Tri, Assaf, Pierre.

Some of my flatmates learn that you can't beat English weather with one umbrella. From left: Surya, Rich, Ollie, Mark.

Aaaaand this is how you dry your clothes when the US dollar is weak.

More to come. : )

A Well Good Time

This past week has been well fun, as my flatmate Ez would say. (She would also say, "It's well sunny today," or, "This pasta I made tastes well bad." Or, if she felt like really confusing people, she might even say, "I like my steak well rare.")

Anyway! A fun week. My classes started on Tuesday, and I already have a lot of reading and writing to do, but most of it seems pretty fun. By next Friday I have to make up a synopsis of the screenplay or stage play I want to write for my final drama project, which is a little daunting. I'm really looking forward to that class a lot, though; it seems like it's going to be a real challenge. Plus we get to see our final projects performed in class by our classmates! So that'll be tight.

And I've been up to more fun than just going to classes, if you can believe it. Almost all of my nights here so far have involved sitting around the table drinking (mmm...cider...) and chatting and meeting really cool new people, either in the Union Pub on campus or in the kitchen with my flatmates and other friends. Last night my flat did a poker night, which was really fun. The drinking age in the UK is 18, so you'd think the university would be overrun with wasted first-years who are away from home and able to buy booze for the first time. But actually most people I've met have been pretty casual about drinking.

I'm guessing that's probably for a couple of reasons. First of all, American freshmen have to sneak around in order to drink, but that fun element of secrecy and stealth doesn't exist here in England. Also, the alcohol laws aren't really as simple as "legal at 18." You can't buy alcohol until you're 18, but you can have it in a restaurant with your parents when you're 16, and you can be served it in a private home as early as age 5. As far as I can tell this takes some of the excitement out of drinking: when you've been allowed to do it with your parents for a while, it's not such a huge deal when you can buy it on your own. Finally, the "normal" age of a first-year is 18, which is just barely legal, but in actuality a good number of first-years are a year or two older than that. Of the 8 first-years in my flat, I think only four are 18: two are 19, one is 20 and one is 21; and they're all starting as first-years for various reasons: a few took a gap year, and one changed his degree so he's starting university over. So these guys, having been able to buy booze for a while, are pretty mellow.

We've also had some really fun parties since I've been here. The best was the first International Students' Society party of the year, on Wednesday. The ISS rented out a club in Norwich for the night, and I had a lot of fun dancing and meeting loads of students, both international and domestic. (The ISS has a reputation for throwing great parties, so they attract people from abroad and home.) There's also a Quiz Night every week, and my friends and I went to the first one of the year. It was a special event for international students because we were the only ones on campus, and my team tied for first place, with 27 1/2 points. I won a killer tat of a flaming skull, so I put it on my hand and impressed people with it all week.

Anyway, tonight I'm hanging out with my friends in my flat again, and then tomorrow I'm going on a walking tour of Norwich, so I'll put up some pictures when I get back. And speaking of pictures, check out the photo slideshow on the left! Clicking on a picture will bring you to the gallery where you can see all of them. Night! : )

Welcome Freshers

All the British first-years have been arriving today, which has had all of us international/visiting students very excited. I'm pretty sure I've met all the new kids who have moved into our flat, and there are still 2 empty rooms which should be filled by this evening.

It's funny to see them all move in and think back to when we arrived at Middlebury for the first time, because the experiences are very different. In general these students are given a lot more independence, and also a lot more responsibility, both in terms of university life and academics. First of all, there's not really a scheduled orientation program apart from "Freshers' Week," a week of nightly dance parties and social events that takes place during the first few days of classes. There's also no meal plan on campus, meaning that many new students (myself included) are having to cook for themselves for the first time. Actually it wasn't really until I was buying food for myself at the Tesco (little budget grocery store) a few blocks off campus that it hit me that I'm really away from home, with no one to look after me, and that I have to figure out this whole "sustenance" thing on my own. Luckily I've got a nice kitchen and even nicer friends and flatmates, and we've talked about having big group dinners and stuff, so that should take away some stress and add some fun.

Not that cooking is even that big of a deal when compared to our academic life here. As far as I understand it, students at British universities are held more or less accountable for their own education -- much moreso than at Middlebury, where it can sometimes feel like a more rigorous version of high school, what with the long class hours and borderline excessive amounts of written homework. Classes here at UEA (at least in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities) typically meet for between two and four hours a week, for an average total of 10 hours a week. The limited time spent in class in conjunction with the minimal amount of assigned homework means that students have a lot of unscheduled time, and that what they do with that time is up to them. Ideally professors would like us to be studying independently -- doing further research, reading the optional course materials, generally just keeping up with the class.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how this independent, self-responsible model of student life plays out, both for me and my British classmates. I have a feeling that, because the British students have been preparing for a British university for most of their lives, they'll be ready to live up to the responsibility. I think I can handle it too, though, and I actually think I'll also really enjoy it. Well obviously not having as much homework will be a huge plus, but I also like the idea of getting as much out of the experience as I put in. I don't really think Middlebury's system is ineffective, but it's easy to drown in seemingly insurmountable amounts of reading and writing and lose sight of the fact that I'm at school to learn, not to scrape by in my classes by doing only as much as is required of me and then collapsing from the effort. UEA and British universities in general seem to put a lot of responsibility in the hands of the students, and they erase everything that they deem unnecessary to the student's learning (the stuff that turns into busy-work at other institutions...). Anyway, I think that being given that responsibility will be a huge inspiration to work hard and get the most out of my time here.