Have a Jolly Ol' Birthday Gov'na.doc

Yesterday I turned 24 years old. I was born on October 9, 1984 at 7:01pm in Hamilton, Ontario. My parents stopped for something to eat on the way to the hospital, or so I remember the story to go. Last year I was lucky enough to celebrate in style with over 20 of my closest gathered together in secret for a surprise party. Definitely one of the more memorable birthdays I had ever had. I figured you'd want to hear how I spent my day so this is post two!

This year I knew the celebration would be different. I've only been in the UK for two weeks, everyone in the program is just starting to get more comfortable with one another, and we all had lecture at 9am the next morning. When I got to class yesterday, the class surprised me with a Rahl Dahl chocolate cake with my name spelled out in marshmallows and an eye for detail in the 'Canadian flag' placed directly over the 'i':



Postgraduate students are very crafty! So after the obligatory singing of Happy Birthday we shared cake throughout the lecture. After class I took the afternoon to myself and left the readings at home. I grabbed lunch on campus and took advantage of what was a pretty gorgeous day - we sat down for a tea in the afternoon in a pseudo quad area of campus. After a nap to prep for the evening events I made a quick dinner. We headed to this campus bar called 'The Varsity' (how sporty!) where on Thursdays it is 1£ pint night. Needless to say, our early arrival (7pm, early by anyone's standards) proved to be a wise move as the bar filled up quite quickly. This is the place to be on Thursdays. The other benefit of 1£ pints was that I obviously didn't have to pay for a drink. Now, this is normal birthday etiquette of course but with drinks being merely one quid I didn't feel guilty that everyone else was footing the bill. They had no excuse!

The feature of the birthday for me was that it was the first time EVERYONE in the MAIPR group had come out to socialize. That means I have the honour of saying that 11 countries were represented at the party. I couldn't picture a more interesting way to spend my birthday. The HB song was sung in Spanish by the time everyone had a few pints in them and the girls from Peru and Mexico wanted to share. We played a few 'beverage sipping related games' at the bar which were a new experience for some of the students. The night slipped into revelry and festival while thankfully avoiding a debaucherous outcome.

Now I've usually had class the morning after my birthday and this year was no exception. In fact, I remember two years ago that I had an 8:30am Canadian Theatre class with Craig the day after my birthday. That year the 295 girls threw a big jam as everyone got back from Thanksgiving. My dear friend Emily, being the social activist that she is, decided that it was an injustice that I'd be subject to such an early class the morning after my 22nd celebrations. So, taking matters in her own hands, she sat down and wrote a very professional email to our professor from the party informing him that I most likely not be in attendance. Why weren't you here to write me an email, Em??

In all honesty, this morning wouldn't have been so bad had I been able to wake up at my own pace. It just so happened to be the morning that the good old Heronbank residence staff decided to have our term fire alarm test. Now I'm all for being proactive when it comes to fighting fires (don't hate on Smokey) but a 7:30am fire alarm on a Friday morning is just plain punishment. I wasn't impressed.

Luckily the day was a productive one (class 9:00am -5:00pm) and everyone was really happy to have used my birthday as an excuse to socialize together for the first time. Thank you to everyone back home who sent emails, e-cards, fbook msgs, wall posts, and even a card in the mail from an extremely thoughtful friend. I will get back to all of you soon! Yesterday was the absolute best birthday I could have hoped for in a new land, but the absence of friends and family was a reminder of the wonderful network of people I have back home. I missed you all but took comfort in the fact that you were thinking about me sometime during your day.

Doc's Prescription for the Day: The office is closed for post-birthday recovery.

The Shakespearience.doc

Tuesday is now officially 'excursion day' during my time at Warwick. As opposed to the schedules at Queen's and UofT, where I could have counted on two days a week off or at the very least my Fridays free, Tuesday is my ONLY day of the week with no class aside from weekends. This schedule had been hard to get use to at first but I'm slowly coming around. It means that the 'academic week proper' flies by and the lectures are all crunched into five weeks of instruction.   

This past Tuesday I accompanied Bec, the Australian, and Lotte, the resident Brit, to Stratford-upon-Avon, home of one Mr. William Shakespeare.  The trip was kind of a spur of the moment type deal as we decided the night previous around 11.  The selling factor with Stratford was that we could grab a bus just after 9am from campus directly to the historic site.  Always hard to get up that early for lectures but for a travel excursion it was no problem!  Lotte, ever the optimist, had been to Stratford to see shows at the RSC but looked forward to playing travel guide to green Euro travelers. This relatively small jaunt to Stratford, it took about 40 mins, is to be the start of a host of local UK day trips to surrounding places of note (Bristol, Warwick Castle, Cardiff, Birmingham, etc.)  If I've learned one thing about traveling in the UK it's that everything is accessible and really cheap if you travel at the right time of day.

I want to avoid using the word 'quaint' as much as possible because it's a cop-out adjective that could be applied to any small English town. So, they're all quaint - we can get that out of the way.  Stratford is situated right on the water and is home to the Royal Shakespeare Company which is going through major renovations at the moment.  It was actually a bit eerie how much the original Stratford has the same feeling as Stratford, Ontario. Both towns embrace applying the Shakespeare name to their streets and shops - we saw a Shakespeare Fish and Chips as well as Shakespeare Variety Store - and the small town on the water feel is similar. Unfortunately it was a really dreary day, go figure, but the outing proved to be the perfect break from the academic intensity of the first two weeks.

Being our first time in Stratford, Bec and I wanted to make sure we visited Shakespeare's grave in the Holy Trinity Church.  As opposed to the other historic houses in the town which charged over 7 pounds entry per head, Shake's birthplace among others, the church where he is buried asks for a contribution of 1.50 for adults and 50p for students which goes towards upkeep and renovation.  We were greeted at the entry by a retiree who devotes his hours to working at the church and chatting with tourists from all over the world (those making the trek to the Thespian Mecca so to speak).  After giving us a brief introduction to the history of the church he let us wander into the main portion and encouraged us to take as many photos as we wanted.  It was really freeing to be given the chance to just wander in the church Shakespeare once attended - the experience is made a personal one. Having now played four of his characters, two young lovers and two young hotheads, it felt fitting to make this one of the first stops in the UK.

We felt like our trip to the church was the most appropriate 'Shakespearience' so instead of visiting the other 'more commercialized' sites, which were charging ridiculous entry fees, we decided instead to spend our money on eating hearty English meals.  We had a big breakfast at Anne Hathaway's Tea Shop - I'm happy to learn that breakfasts here include tomatoes (TOM-OUGHT-Os) and mushrooms as part of the plate.  We finished breakfast off with a lemon bun which we took on our walk down cobblestone streets. No visit to Stratford would be complete without a visit to the local H&M (yes....in Stratford of all places)  It made me wonder what Shakes would have looked like in a striped jumper and fall jacket.  The funny thing with a store like H&M is that once you're inside you feel like you could be anywhere - Yonge and Bloor for instance - instead of the birthplace of the "Man of the Millennium".  After a bit of window shopping we walked through a really old antique market which housed over 50 stalls of really interesting knick-knacks.  

The majority of the afternoon was spent wandering up and down streets soaking in the local culture.  A group of Stratford kids interviewed us to "get a glimpse into why tourists come to Stratford".  They were excited when I told them a) I was from Canada and b) I studied theatre. We didn't get to see much of the RSC buildings (there were no tours offered that day) but I was impressed by the calibre of actors featured on the posters and books chronicling the company's history. At the moment David Tennant and Patrick Stewart are starring in Hamlet but the run is sold out. To get one of the 10 tickets offered each day people are sleeping overnight - don't know if that's in the cards.  We are, however, returning to Stratford in just under two weeks time to see Romeo and Juliet.  R&J in Stratford in December - could it get much better than that?

We finished the afternoon off with a late lunch at a traditional English pub.  The decision to avoid spending money at tourist traps and instead indulging in great eats was the perfect choice! I had a really great chicken sandwich with cranberry mayo as well as a mound of chips (I hope I'm not patronizing here but chips = fries) Bec and I were taking photos ALL day, much to the amusement of our British companion.  Tuesday excursions will hopefully be able to continue this term.  The plan is to hit up as many UK spots as possible before jetsetting to somewhere TBD for Christmas. 

Wednesday I met my 'Personal Tutor' who is like an academic advisor while I am at Warwick. His name is Milija and he is one of the professors on the MAIPR course.  Oddly enough, he completed his PhD at the University of Toronto so we spent the first 15 minutes chatting about mutual professors we've had.  I also was introduced to my very own PIGEON HOLE in the department.  For those of you who frequent Emily's blog you will know that the pigeon hole is the Euro equivalent of a mailbox.  Like the other American girl in the course, I can't help but smile, or think of carrier pigeons delivering notes, whenever I hear the term.  I hope my pigeon 'ole gets filled with lots of important documents.

Doc's Prescription for the Day: A cup of Earl Grey tea. Before coming to England I thought it was a pretty boring option, but I've grown to like the distinct flavour. Maybe it's the new connection of E.G tea to brisk mornings, but it has become the tea of the month.  Tea-bomb?

Moo-ving to the Beat in Leamington Spa.doc

In contrast to the academic nature of the previous posting, today's catchup with the Doc (isn't third person narration pretentious?) is more of the social nature.  This is for two reasons:

1. As per what I expressed on Saturday, I needed to get my head out of the books and take care of final 'settling' details and generally just explore the surroundings.

2.The weekend just passed. Weekends should be social.

I sent out for Leamington Spa ('The Spa' from here on out) mid-morning on Saturday.  I had researched the bus schedule pretty intensely to ensure I was able to get there and back, but more importantly to give the impression that I knew what I was doing when exchanging pounds and navigating my way. Luckily, buses depart from campus every 15 minutes and return fare was a reasonable 2.60.  I took my place in the upper portion of the bus, is there any other way to travel, and looked forward to seeing some more of the UK.

You'd maybe think that having been here for 10 days I would have explored some of the city and gotten my bearings - not so.  In addition to the initial workload, the geography of Warwick campus has limited such exploration.  On campus, or at least within walking distance, are located two grocery stores, a top of the line arts centre, restaurants and cafes, an athletic centre, and four different banks.  The abundance of these types of services is a direct result of Warwick being essentially in the middle of nowhere.  Now, that may not be fair - the city is surrounded by Coventry, Kenilworth, The Spa, and Leicester but it takes a bus to get to each of these places.  Those who know me know I am a walker.  My industrious housemate and I didn't TTC to school once while at UofT.  This isolation has taken a bit of getting use to. One could spend a month solely on campus and not have to leave, but aside from the British charm Warwick could be placed anywhere and it would feel similar (This feeling will be the complete opposite I imagine when I am studying in the heart of Amsterdam)  It was with 10 straight days of campus living that I set off for The Spa.

What a difference a change of scenery makes.  The Spa is a really beautiful and posh old market town featuring a lot of Georgian and Victorian buildings.  You might picture a market town to be quaint, subtle, and quiet, but The Spa is anything but. 'The Parade' is The Spa's High Street which covers the length of the town and features high street shops, department stores, restaurants, and art stores. The uniformity of the buildings on this street, in creams and off white, give the impression that window shopping and weekend strolls are what this town has been designed around.  Upon first arriving I walked up and down the main strip snapping pictures and inventorying the commercial options: Topman, yet another Tesco, Woolworths, and two Marks and Spencer shops among many others.  

It's the shopping that the students all mention about The Spa so I felt it was necessary to indulge in the local culture.  I purchased a mobile, which you've heard about, with an 'Orange' sim card.  I tried my best to 'search out all options' but got tired of comparing five different companies - struggles with cell phones seems to be an international experience. However, as opposed to their Canadian counterparts, who seem to always wrestle clients into three year contracts, the European companies are happy to lock you into 'pay as you go options' which is what I got.  Fast forward two hours and I was carrying around a pair of Nikes for the gym and jogging around campus, an in-between fall jacket lined with a soft kind of fur, and a few essential kitchen items.  I'm sure there is an article out there about the temporary pleasures that come with consumerism, but I have no shame in stating that spending made me happy.  This feeling was probably related to the stabilizing features these items brought but also the opportunity to feel like I accomplished something off campus.

I collected my purchases and had time for a Starbucks before heading back on the bus.  I eagerly lugged my purchases to Heronbank, made some dinner, and blogged about the week. Now I know most of you are expecting 'The Spa' adventures to have concluded, but not so fast there assumptative reader - I think it's acceptable to make up words in a blog.  Around 9pm I headed back out to The Spa to experience some of the nightlife.  Up until then my pub experiences had been of the on-campus variety and the sight of intoxicated freshers was getting a wee bit tiring.

This is where the connections get complicated.  The only other Queen's student I know who has attended Warwick is a girl named Rebecca Legg who graduated in '06 and then did her MA in Theatre and Education here.  We have been in contact, having shared the Queens-Warwick connection, and she happened to be back in the city visiting her school friends.  She invited me out for an introduction to The Spa with her friends Rachel, Astrid, and Olli and a girl from my program named Lotte, a fellow Brit also knew the gang.  We began at the 'White Horse' which was an upscale pub. Rachel and Astrid are doing PhDs in Theatre related studies and completely like to let loose when not chained to research - they're totally in the 'know' in the department and have already invited me to future Spa events.  

We shared a few drinks there, and got to know one another better, before heading to a dance club called 'Moo'.  Anyone who happens to visit while I'm still at Warwick, which may be few as Amsterdam seems to be the attractive spot, will be taken to 'Moo'.  The combination of chill pub with hip Brit dance club made for the best night I've had in the UK thus far. Not only did the club play classic, I'm talking like classic, dance beats that everyone knows, but the atmosphere reflected the new 'modern British' image that has come to replace the tight-collar stiffness that came before. The music had a real Queen's Players kind of feel to it - completely eclectic but also the type that you know the verses to off by heart.  Sweet Home Alabama, which was a hit for the two Canadians even though it's not a song remotely connected to our nation, went largely ignored by the Brits.  I was told that it sounds too American, and thus not fun?  We closed down the bar and then Rachel and Astrid were nice enough to invite the crew back to their place where we all stayed over for the evening.

A traditional big English breakfast followed complete with pancake waffles and beans.  We watched Hollyoaks which I'm told is a popular soap opera over here.  They have this great concept where on Sundays the show runs all day and people can catch up on the events of the week (Innovative, no?  As far as soap operas can be innovative)  Observation one: while North American soap operas seem to feature middle to upper class families with sensational story lines, the British soap operas, like H.O. and Coronation Street, have more middle to lower class characters that seem much more gritty and raw.  Observation two: the whole episode was narrated in sign language by a woman in the corner of the screen.  Why don't we have this in Canada?! The narrator was equally as expressive as the characters which proved to enhance the Hollyoaks experience.  

Olli invited me to his US elections party in November.  I eagerly accepted. He reminded me that with the time difference the party would start around midnight and reach its climax around 4/5am when the ultimate decision would come.  I'm game.

Sunday was a day of reading on the Olympics as the performance of cultural identity. Fascinating.  One of the students from Singapore made a great curry dinner for some of us in the flat and then I played poker with six other guys.  I wasn't the first out by any means, but I was a bit out of my league - online poker playing on campus is popular.

A long entry but I finished four hours of class today and did two readings on Semiotics so I was energized to let you know about my weekend.

Doc's Prescription of the Day: For reading to the end of this extremely long-winded post (I feel like Joe Biden) you should reward yourself with one gold star.  Now I know this star may not give you any immediate satisfaction, but every time throughout your day you look down at this sign (the signifier being the gold star and the signified being the concept of accomplishment) it should provide you with some feeling of worth. How's that for semiotics - and whack medicine?

THIS IS A CHAPTER.doc

Oi, lads and lasses, I have a mobile phone over here:

Beginning with the international code :

 011 (44) 075 31 33 12 70

I don't know if that's how you divide it but I thought I would.

It's a cheap samsung, but it LOVES text messages and random calls (Mind the time difference, mind the long distance charges, and...mind the gap).

Doc's Prescription of the Day: Text or call me.

Academian Rhapsody.doc

Ups and downs this week, friends - ups and downs!  Luckily the downs have been fleeting and the ups have been more frequent so all in all the week has figured out on the positive side.  A lot of the melancholic moments were related to school.  This was a product of a full week of lectures, readings, two postgraduate receptions, two plays, two meetings, two orientation sessions, and to top it all off a four page assignment due yesterday.  When's a boy to socialize??

As much as a busy schedule forces you to focus on the task at hand, having not felt totally settled into campus life (no debit card, no post key, and no mobile) the busy workload left no time to get out and take care of these essential items.  I take comfort in the fact that the weekly schedule will be less jam packed and once I've gotten my bases covered I can really focus on setting up a routine.  Already the weekend has provided a nice breather from the 'go-go-go' of the last ten days.

The other moment of uncertainty was a little more confidence shaking, but all it took was a little perspective to put my fears to rest.  I'm told the more you continue in higher education the more frequently you encounter the paranoia of being an "academic fraud".  These moments can apparently creep up on anyone who spends an extended amount of time in the ivory towers. I'll try to describe the feeling: You sit in a classroom with a small amount of students and a renown professor in the field in which you are studying and suddenly the fear that you don't belong in this distinguished a group starts to creep in.  Not only do you begin to doubt your abilities and confidence as other students quote concepts from Hegel and Spivak, but at the root of this paranoia is the fear that you'll be "found out". Thus, it was this feeling of utter inadequacy that began to overtake me as I sat in my lecture on Thursday listening to the opinions of my intelligent peers.  The saving grace for me was an awareness that this condition is a feature of postgraduate education. I also had to remind  myself that I have been an extremely eager and willing participant thus far.  In the inevitably competitive nature of programs like this, I realized that humbleness goes a long way. I'm not the smartest student here by a long shot, but a confidence in what I do have to contribute is all I need to get me through.

One of the more memorable moments of the week, that went a long way in killing any doubts I may have had about my place here, was the studio work we did yesterday afternoon.  After a week and a half of sitting around lecture tables and contributing to discussion, we finally got on our feet and played some trust exercises and ran around a little. Those who have taken any theatre or drama courses know how tedious these exercises can sometimes be, but with a group as diverse as ours (for the majority of students English is their second language) moving from the mental to the physical really leveled the playing field and broke down a lot of barriers. The feature of the program that really excites me is the Friday classes which are spent in a studio for the majority of the day.  The afternoons are meant for students only where we'll teach each other performance practices from our own countries so I'll be able to have an introduction to performance from around the world.  I've already starting planning just what I'd like to introduce to the group, but I'll blog about that close to.

*BREAK* from the academic!

THINGS I'VE LEARNED THIS WEEK:

1. A costume or theme party is called a "fancy dress party". I asked first if everyone had to wear a dress (I wouldn't go!) and second I asked if it meant "fancy clothes" (that I can do!)  Themes are attached - we're going to plan one for our course soon.

2. V-plates = V-card.  For those of you "in the know" on this one (um...Bronwyn?) plates - like license plates on the back of a car - is such a fitting image don't you think?

3. I can't listen to Bob Sinclair's 'Love Generation' anymore. I miss everyone back home too much. It reminds me of Cuba, Bonnie Jovi, and 'doing the hustle'.

4. Double decker bus rides are expensive.  But, the feeling on the top floor is unmatched.  Why would anyone sit on the bottom?!

5. There was an advert for a band on campus called "Kill Mary".  You'd have to have been to a party at 295 Alfred at Queen's to know this, but I want to tell them that Mary is already dead. May she R.I.P.

Balancing out this fleeting academic questioning (I assure you I feel totally comfortable now) was a really great week socially with the friends in the program and new ones made along the way.  I've gone out and about five of the last eight nights, even if only for one or two pints, so I think that's more than par for the course (An eagle, in fact!)

To close this weekend post I'd like to include a small excerpt from the assignment I wrote this past week.  Why? Because the assignment was the reason I was unable to blog the past three days so I consider it also be a form of blogging, and also because it'll give those of you interested in theatre some idea of what I'm up to.  Please, it's not dreadfully boring. 

The Formal :

"Finally, it is the pairing of the thematic elements, introduced through induction and this week’s lectures, with the modalities of scholarship, curation, and creative practice that serve to link and transform the concepts from initial theoretical frameworks to creative and personal products (be it in the form of an essay, exhibit, or performance) created in our research studio and also our culminating theses. It is the fusion of these elements that allow for each student to consider their own country’s performance practices in regards to the thematics of the course but also alongside a diversity of other cultural traditions."

The Informal - 

"In addition to new theoretical concepts, the most important thing I’ve realized this week is quite simple. It’s that I’ve never been surrounded by such a diverse and interesting group of young people as the one I am lucky enough to be a part of for the next 16 months. Canada is touted as one of the most multicultural countries in the world, and it is, but it’s here where I’ve felt like the real dialogue is beginning to take place. The title of Silvija’s lecture this week was “Seeing Better”. I found this to be a fitting lens with which to view the initial weeks of the MAIPR program: the familiarity of lectures and discussions were ‘made strange’ as it were by telematic and blog hookups along with the presence of a diversity of students and faculty from a multitude of different countries. This unfamiliarity resulted in a way of “seeing better” the goals and concepts of the course, each other’s diverse performance practices, the preconceived notions with which I may have arrived, and ultimately an understanding of each other as people. It is the promise of seeing each other and ourselves even better as we progress, which excites me the most."

Doc's Prescription of the Day: If you happen to find yourself in Toronto or Paris (ahem, Emily and Viktor) check out the innovative pieces sure to be featured in 'Nuit Blanche'. Unfortunately, none of the surrounding English towns have their own NB, so I am bussing out of the city tonight and checking out the nightlife of 'Leamington Spa' with some friends.  Top of the double decker, fo sho.