It's Not Rocket Science...It's Theatre Science.doc

As you can tell from my lack of posts, it has been a busy week. After two months of nomadic wandering and free time, the structure and routine of a normal school week has been a welcome change. From Monday to Thursday I left the house at 8:30am (to walk to my 9am classes) and didn't return until 6pm - a normal work day for most of you, but not the usual for an MA student. 

We started the week with a day long introduction and orientation to Theatrewetenschap. The degree actually translates to Theatre Science which I think is cool. The department building is located RIGHT in the centre of town; we really couldn't be in a better spot. The lone university building is surrounded by many expensive hotels. To get to class I usually pass a host of doormen and hotel attendants in really formal clothing. The orientation day was pretty standard. All of the students had met one another already so we were given an overview of the course, a tour of the theatre facilities, and a free lunch. I think the course load is fair and appropriate - it'll be a hell of a lot less intense than Warwick.

I have two credits to complete this term. One is a semester long course called Key Concepts in Performance Research. The structure reminds me of my PhD theory class at UofT but less intimidating. The other is a combination of two half credits in World Art and Japanese Theatre. If I ever end up going into academia, these unique courses are going to be really valuable. Add to the mix a placement of 150 hours and it should be a well rounded term. The placement is still in development. An intercultural theatre company in the city was impressed with my CV, but the work they wanted me to do was mission statement writing. They called it defining the "artist flavour" of the company which I think was a euphumism for grant and subsidy writing. I said thanks, but no thanks.

Yesterday, there was a special Erasmus Mundus event at the department. A high-up from the organization was meeting representations from all three sites in Amsterdam and had requested to meet some of the *ahem* "international student scholars" of the program. The organization has been granted something like 500 million from the EU to develop these MA programs over the next five year. It's mind blowing, but no one knows about it in Canada! The program coordinators, whom the students are pretty tight with now, are in Amsterdam to pick the new cohort of students. Anyways, they put out the red carpet. We wined and mingled. It was so nice to see the director Janelle again - she's something of a program Mom away from home. I have grand plans to pitch to the Erasmus Mundus committee the creation of a job in North America where I can represent the program and tour the continent to promote (speaking at unis all over). I didn't think it was the appropriate event at which to launch my project. I'll bide my time...

Luckily, there were two bottles of wine left over from the event which the professors were happy to donate to our party last night. Hetta invited us over for sushi, wine, and socializing. We had plans of heading to a bar but they never materialized. We stayed at Hetta's place all night. We had a few drinks after class on both Wednesday and Thursday (there is a great little pub close to the theatre building). Social activity is 300% more vibrant here than in Warwick - there is already another party planned for next Friday. Until then...I have volunteered to give the first seminar presentation in World Art and will continue to search for a meaningful placement. Being a theatre scientist is hard work!

Doc's Prescription of the Day: I'm giving you 50 pages of reading to do! I have 150 for classes in the upcoming week. Consider 50 a gift.