Seminar Numero Uno

Okay, first day of class for real this time. Had my Reading Victorian Lit. seminar, and it was really good. The atmosphere is very friendly and there was a lot of intelligent conversation to be had. We discussed the nature of literary eras: why we insisted on defining them, how we defined them at all, and the issues that come with having to try to sort out the massive world of English literature in history. We also had a brief discussion of Modernity (which you, Dad, would have loved, given your disdain for the terms Modern and Postmodern) and what it actually means as a historical movement, as a feeling, and as a definition of time in relation to other, past times.

The fluidity of what we like to call revolutionary movements continues to surprise me--I, and I think many other scholars, love to fall into the trap of putting things neatly in boxes, and time and history are simply not that organized. I remember watching a documentary during my literature course this summer at UMass in which it was stated roughly that, "when Wordsworth died, it was the end of the Romantic poets, and the era". It sounds fairly innocuous--Wordsworth was the last Romantic poet to die, as his compatriots like Byron and Keats died so young. But really, Wordsworth wasn't even made Poet Laureate until 1843, more than a decade after many scholars mark the "beginning" of the Victorian era with the Great Reform Act of 1832. There's just so much bleed-through between so-called eras that we really have to be careful when throwing around adjectives like "Victorian" because, as my professor said today, "just because we slap a label on something doesn't mean we've defined that label". It doesn't mean that we even could define it if we tried.

Anyway, it was a good discussion, and I like the group so far, including our professor, who seems to strike a good balance between responding critically to our statements and also occasionally letting us go off on tangents. We have a nice mix of students, as well--three American, two Japanese, five or six English, and one Irish student. So, lots of perspectives floating around.

And now, I am off to some sort of international meet-and-greet with Marta and Zouina. Should be fun!

Research Methods

First day of class! It was very uneventful, as it was my only lecture course, "Research Methods". The professor was very winding and tended to repeat himself, resulting in an hour class being extended to an hour and twenty minutes, despite him really only needing to outline about three things. Ah well. The course is team taught, so I won't be seeing him all that much. Additionally, what he did manage to say sounded really great--the aim of the course is basically to facilitate the transition between undergraduate work and research. We write our annotated bibliographies for our dissertations as the final assessment, but more than that, the course even guides us through the process of applying to PhD programs and funding and other practical elements of academia. That's more support than I've ever gotten for applications or my general career, so color me thrilled.

Even better is how the priority of the course is to support my other two courses--I'm used to having to work to make connections between my classes, so it's incredibly satisfying to know that all of my courses are now aimed towards shaping my single, specific interest, and that I'm supposed to borrow knowledge and work from one course to enhance another. Obviously this is the new norm, given that the emphasis is now on specialization, but I'm still pleased about it.

I have lots of reading to do for tonight, so I'll be off. I'm reading Charlotte Bronte's The Professor right now, which is interesting for both its literary merits and not-insignificant flaws. Always worth while to read authors in their developmental stages.

Conversation win!

I finally had a proper conversation with one of my flatmates! Her name is Summer, or rather, the Chinese word for summer, though she allows everyone to just call her by the English translation. I've known her to be around for a while, but we'd only really exchanged hellos before, but today she was fantastic and outright asked me if she could practice her English on me. We had a really good chat, and I did my best to speak clearly and explain the distinction between words like "religion" and "belief" in a lucid manner. I'm finding it really fun and interesting to have these sorts of conversations since I have to think hard about semantics and why English is the way it is. I told Summer she was welcome to knock on my door any time to ask questions, and I hope she does. If I'm going to suck at being bilingual, the least I can do is help other people be better at it than me.

Academia, Trips, and Hypnotism!

First department meeting! It was fairly standard; lots of welcomes were said, I finally met the excellent Clare Lewis, who is the administrative head of the English department, and basically sold me on Leeds by being scarily efficient. The professors I've seen so far seem a very friendly bunch, and to my pleasure the atmosphere from the students was far less pretentious than it was at Vassar. This bodes well for my willingness to talk in class.

I had some brief conversations with a couple of fellow Victorian lit. students as well, and again, good vibes. I had been a bit concerned with how much knowledge I should have of the period and the literature going into the program, but it seems that I'm in the right place according to what I heard from my peers. One of them had studied Art History at Trinity, and was just now switching to English, so I'm not the only one who didn't study Victorian all through undergrad. Very comforting indeed.

I was also alerted to a number of societies open to me, one of which is an optional research seminar wherein students can present papers and ideas to a casual audience of peers every fortnight. I have little to share as yet, obviously, but it's nice to have that open, and if I have something to contribute I can email the person running the group and can come in to bounce my ideas off of everyone else. It will definitely be good practice for defending my PhD thesis, when the time comes. Which is far from now and I'm definitely not already thinking about that. Anyway.

On the non-academic side of things, Marta and I picked up some packets about group trips the Union runs out to places like Manchester and Edinburgh, which we'll be taking advantage of, hopefully. There are also little random activities too, like painting picture frames and mugs, and participating in any of the "have a go" meetings of the various clubs. They're designated for people who have no experience in the subject of the club, and just want to see if it suits them. So, since Marta is really into rifles, I said I'd join her for the Rifles Club and "have a go" at learning how to shoot. Could be fun? I may be overcome with the desire to wear tweeds, ruffle my mustache and shout "By Jove!" a lot. It will be obnoxious.

Finally, tonight Marta's flat and I went to a hypnotist's show at the Union, and it was hilarious. The guy had about ten students under his control, and beyond just the sort of "get up and dance when I say" orders, he managed to get one girl to speak in Martian, another to translate, and a guy to spontaneously understand Martian and laugh with the first girl when she told a joke. Best part, though--he willed the three most impressionable people to believe him entirely invisible, and then chased them with a "floating" handkerchief, cigarette, plastic shark, chair, and person he piggybacked around. The resulting quote from one of the hypnotized, when he asked her what happened: "Oh god. THE CHAIR."

I nearly died.

In any case, it was very impressive. I will never be trusting myself to a hypnotist, unless there is absolutely no audience.

Clubs, Language, and Holidays

Having still not started classes, because it seems a universal fact that all English Departments see fit to delay everything for as long as possible and have as little to do in the mornings as possible, today shaped up to be mainly social, which was quite pleasant. I headed over to the Union first to sign up for some clubs, and ended up on the mailing lists of FOCAM (Forum of Composers and Musicians) and the Opera Club. I was not meaning to sign up for the Opera Club, but the two tables were side by side, and somehow I ended up giving them my email address. As I understand it, I may end up in the chorus of Cosi fan tutte. I'm not averse to the idea!

Unfortunately, however, such participation still does not grant me access to the practice rooms in the department, and no one has heard of the one piano in the Union, so my last chance may be to talk my way into lessons. The instrumental instructors are hired out by the university, so I have to wait for all the majors to get placed before I can ask, and I'm crossing my fingers that there will be some extra slots. Until then, I at least have the assurance that with FOCAM, I might be able to get my own works performed, as well as collaborate with others to do theirs. It should be interesting at least.

As I was leaving the Union by elbowing my way out of some massive crowds (the rest of campus has arrived at last, accompanied by considerable chaos), I ran into Erin and her flatmate, Marta, who I had ended up hanging out with Sunday night. Marta is Polish, and curious about Erin and I employing our various English colloquialisms, and so we ended up talking a lot over lunch about how ridiculous the English language actually is. It's particularly enlightening for us to hear her questions, because so often we can't explain why we favor one phrase over another, or why, for example, we use the word "random" to describe something "weird". As Marta said, at least German has proper structure that everyone employs. With us, not so much. We're constantly making stuff up, abbreviating and recycling words in completely different capacities, infinitely variable by what company we keep, where we come from, etc. Even comparing notes between my New England turns-of-phrase and Erin's New Brunswick-isms shows the miles between our respective language styles. The sheer volume of slang employed daily by English speakers is astounding, and I find myself really feeling for and admiring the students who have learned English as their second language and are doing such a great job of communicating with us. We don't make it easy for them at all.

In any case, we ended up continuing our conversation all the way to Erin and Marta's flat, which is conveniently located on campus. The living situation is quite different from mine--while the setup of narrow hallway lined with doors for bedrooms and kitchen is the same, there are ten people living there altogether, and they all tend to gravitate towards socializing in the kitchen, where there's a cute sitting area for all of them. It's a far more mixed bunch too--four guys and six girls I believe, and several of them are undergrads. Those that I met seemed very friendly and fun, and one of the British undergrads shares my love of the movie "Face/Off", so there will definitely be some movie nights over there in the future. Also in the works between Erin and I is a proper Thanksgiving, which will be celebrated mid-November, as compromise between Canadian and American Thanksgivings. And finally, I've been assured that Guy Fawkes Day, or Bonfire Night, as it's referred to around here, is definitely taken seriously. So my birthday should be quite a bit more exciting than usual this year, complete with fires and effigies and fireworks. All in all, good times for everyone!

And now, I'm off. Thursday will be my first department meeting, and until then I'll be kept busy doing some preliminary reading for my Brontes seminar.

Orientation: Part Deux

Today was productive--got my ID card, making me officially registered and thus not in danger of being kicked out by customs (and I always smirk in pictures, even when I don't mean to smirk, why is that?). Then I walked into town to have a look around, and met up with Boboo and another Kate (from Philly) for lunch before going over to orientation. This time we covered culture shock and academic expectations, along with security and the student support network. I was amused to find that the way I've heard Brit comedians describe the culture have held true--apparently queuing and whinging about the weather really are the top two activities of British people, according to them. Luckily, I'm adept at both things already, though the weather hasn't been terrible so far--cloudy, but no rain, and just warm enough not to bother with a jacket, especially when climbing the hills of Leeds.

The academic expectations part of discussion was fairly straightforward, and not too intimidating. I'm going to have to accustom myself to British spelling, and there are different citation systems in place here, but there are definitely resources available to keep those straightened out. We're also all given personal tutors, whom I presume oversee our theses and keep an eye on us outside of our modules (courses). We then have the secondary support of our module tutors, followed by administrative support of the department. It's an elegant chain of command, which is very encouraging, since I often shy from asking questions when I'm not sure whether I've chosen the right person to ask. I'll be meeting all of these people on next Thursday, when we have our introductory departmental meeting.

Tomorrow will be running final errands, and then relaxing, maybe cooking with some people. I've offered my pie-making skills to the group I've fallen into, so perhaps the promise of strawberry rhubarb will draw them to my apartment. We shall see!

Orientation: Part Une

Today was the first half of orientation, which meant actual human interaction! I've so far met two other Americans, a Canadian, a German, a great many Chinese students, and one very friendly girl from Thailand named Boboo, who I ended up running errands with after the presentations were over. We managed to not get lost in the city center, picked up a bunch of random supplies for our respective rooms, and scoped out a grocery store much closer to campus, so it was an all-around successful excursion. There were two Lebanese students tagging along with us to begin with, as well as one of the Americans and the Canadian, but they finished their shopping before us, and went off on their own. Still, I managed to get some conversation in with them.

Comparing notes on driving, drinking age, and other universal details of life was fascinating. It's great to hear about the impressions America gives to the rest of the world--one of the Americans I talked to related to me that she had been asked whether all Americans drove like "The Fast and the Furious", which is both hilarious and disturbing. A second-year Indian student handing out fliers inquired of me whether we were far more "emotional" than the Brits. And Boboo had a particularly interesting impression from her excursion to Ohio--she was taken to church every Sunday by her host family, even while they assured her repeatedly that she wasn't obliged to do so. I may have ranted a bit about how divided in attitudes different parts of the States are in response. She luckily didn't seem to mind. She had notes to compare of her own, mainly about many of the South Asian countries, whose histories she's actually getting her master's in. I'm looking forward to talking to her again.

All that said, I'm also looking forward to actually meeting British people, of whom I've encountered very few except in passing. I managed to find out so far that my one flatmate is Nigerian, and awesome from what I've seen of her, but the rest have yet to move in. I'm hoping they're Brits, so we can ask stupid cultural questions and get a slightly more local flavor in the flat as well. Maybe they'll even be more on the arts-side of things, since most of the foreign students tend towards the sciences and social sciences. I could use a few less askance looks when I tell people my concentration!

In less fortunate news, I've been informed that practice rooms in the music department are only available to music students proper, so I'm now devising plans to circumvent such restrictions. There's one practice room in the Student Union, but that will likely be crowded. I think my best bet will be joining a choir, getting lessons, or joining an ensemble who have enough clout to talk the department into giving me access. There's an activity fair next week that will include such groups, hopefully, so I'll definitely be there. I'm always surprised when this happens, but I itch to practice. Go figure.

Tomorrow means more orientation, followed by possibly some decorating so that I can actually prop my door open with pride. Hello, poster sale! And hopefully, hello more friends! I am not quite as socially awkward as I feared.

A New Englander in England

So! Beginning something like this always seems a bit awkward to me, but that may be a function of my overthinking, so I will introduce this blog as follows:

For those not already in the know, I recently graduated from Vassar College with a BA in English. Despite how an entire song has been devoted to how useless a BA in English is, I decided that instead of trying something with more potential usefulness after graduation, I loved school enough to pursue my Master's in English as well, specifically in Victorian Literature.

So, on the recommendation of a couple of my professors, I chose to go the University of Leeds, in the northern part of England. This is a totally new experience for me--I've never lived in a city, I never took a semester abroad so I've not lived in a foreign country before, and I've never placed myself in a situation this large that I've known less about. Vassar had been an easy choice for me--other people from my high school had gone there, I'd visited a couple of times and loved it, and going had felt very natural. This, not so much. I know Leeds basically from tiny snapshots and the circuitous university website. I know the southern part of England a bit, but not the north at all. This is an exercise in complete displacement, of plonking myself into a new place and out of complacency, and hopefully getting a degree in the process. Right now, I'm really hoping it works. I think it will.

Now, with that out of the way, progress so far!

I arrived in Leeds today after getting up rather early in the Dublin Travelodge and schlepping over by way of Ryan Air. My parents and I have been in Ireland for the past ten days, touring around seeing fabulous cliffs and drinking beer, which was great fun, though hard for me to concentrate on when all I could really think about was what's to come. Dublin Airport, by the way, is quite the zoo--we weren't given our gate number until after getting through security (which I managed not to fail at this time--hooray paranoia), and after that the signage was fairly abysmal. Still, we got here in one piece, and were greeted by some very nice volunteers from the uni and taken by bus with some other international students to our respective residences.

I'm living in Montague Burton, an extremely cute complex of apartments about ten minutes down the hill from campus. I've met only one of my flatmates so far, and only in passing, so I'm not sure of her name yet. I've heard some others scuttling about in the neighboring doors, but other than the kitchen, the space doesn't exactly lend itself to socializing--all of our rooms are along a narrow hall, and the doors shut automatically. Thus, I've not actually seen anyone else in the flesh yet. I'm going to need a doorstop in order to seem more accessible.

Anyway, walking around the city today was a bit daunting, but I have a week to wander about and get my bearings, so I'm not worried. The centre is not particularly large, but the streets surrounding are rather confusing, what with the tendency to have streets like Archery Road and Archery Lane close together and yet being entirely different places. Googlemaps proved fairly unhelpful in this, so my sense of direction had better man up. The campus is large, but far easier navigation-wise due to much signage.

Other things today included getting a UK phone, which is possibly the girliest thing I have owned in ten years, at least. It's pink. They had no other color. I feel compelled to cover it in stickers or something. On the flip side, it has hilarious techno ringtones, and it slides to open, which I love. Also wonderful: I only pay for calls I make, not those I take. Take that, US cell services!

Okay, I think that's more than enough for now. All other entries will hopefully be shorter. Tomorrow, I get registered, get my ID, get a bank account, and get room accoutrements! Much getting. Exciting stuff.