The Promised Rant and other stories

After a few days, I have actually calmed down since my horrific Medieval Writing seminar, so perhaps this will not be as angry as promised. However, I have the same seminar again tomorrow, so there are no guarantees for how I will feel after 5pm tomorrow.

But, to recap: j

On Thursday I had my first Medieval Writing seminar, in which the 80-some people of my lecture are broken down into groups of about 15 and distrubuted to different instructors. My instructor is a young woman, probably a post-grad student, who basically addressed us as if we were all elementary school children.
We started with an incredibly basic history of the English language. The subject matter is interesting. The manner in which it is presented basically assumes that we all have no knowledge of the English language. In a class full of native speakers of English and, for the most part, native speakers of British English, this is particularly frustrating.
I have, however, learned the decorum for this type of class. Don't crack jokes. They have no sense of humor. At one point the instructor asked what type of language English is, where did it come from. Being the annoyingly enthusiastic student that I am, I of course raised my hand and quoted Prof. Moffat's brilliant explanation that "English is a great whore" because it adopts words and structures from many different surrounding languages. I made sure to cite my source for this jewel of a quote so that my fellow classmates wouldn't immediately think that I am naturally that crude. It didn't seem to matter. The instructor sort of stared at me and said, completely stone-faced, "Well, I don't think we should say it like that..."
Another memorable moment from my seminar was when the instructor was explaining the significance of Chaucer's role as the Father of English Literature..."because he was really the first major author to write in the vernacular. It means the common language of the people, as opposed to Latin. Now that's a word you should get to know, vernacular, because it will probably come up in a lot of your lectures." I'm pretty sure I learned the word "vernacular" in elementary school, and I have certainly come across it more times than I can count throughout high school and college. I was astounded that second-year university English literature students would not know the term "vernacular."
Even more frustrating was, when we were analyzing (or "analyzing" with air quotes) Chaucer's "The Complaint of Chaucer to his purse," and I said something was a hyperbole, the instructor had to explain what it was. Not the hyperbole itself. The word "hyperbole." I died a little inside.
The analysis was so surface level that I felt like I was back in 5th grade reading Romeo and Juliet for the first time and trying to get through the language without really looking at it in any sort of depth. I felt like I was back in elementary school.

I suppose I have no excuse, though. I had been warned that academics at UEA were nothing like they are at Dickinson. Oh well. I guess you can't have everything. At least Shakespeare's Moment seems to be up to par.

On to more exciting news.

Sunday: Despite the less-than-favorable reputation it might have amongst some people (*cough* Chris), I love the Circus Society. I met up with Juli on my first night, and, after waiting in the rain for security to come and open the Congregation Hall, I learned several new poi tricks, started my attempts at juggling, and showed off my color guard skills with a fire staff (unfortuately, it was not on fire). I met a few people, notably Matthieu, a French exchange student who can juggle quite well. I mentioned that I speak French, and we chatted back and forth in English and French for a while, but was really keen on practicing his English, which is actually quite good. At one point we were instructed to pair up to play a balance game. During the game I knocked him off balance and he swore under his breath "putain!" which literally means "whore," but is used more in the context of "Oh fuck!" I burst out laughing and he looked up at me, astounded, and asked, "Did you understand that?" I said that I did, and he said, "You're not supposed to know that word." It was hillarious. Trust me.

Monday: I went on the LitSoc (Literary Society) Literary-Themed Fancy Dress Pub Crawl. After fretting about who to dress as, I eventually pulled together a Dorothy outfit (the book version; I had sliver shoes!) and headed out to meet Lauren Deitz, Chad, Jen, and Leah. We went to meet the LitSoc at the UEA Blue Bar. We got there about 15 minutes before they all got on a bus downtown to The Bell Hotel Pub, and from there to Henry's. Hence, a pub crawl. Let's just say, not many people recognize Dorothy over her in England, although there were a few Alice's and I was often confused for one. There were also two Mad Hatters, a Willy Wonka, Daisy from The Great Gatsby, a Phantom (from Phantom of the Opera), and, my personal favorite, Arthur Dent from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I had a drink, took some pictures, met some new people. In the transition from The Bell Hotel to Henry's, Leah, Lauren, and Chad went home. Jen and I continued to Henry's and talked to this guy Alan, who recognized me from our Shakespeare class. The rest of the LitSoc went on to some club, but Alan, Jen, and I were tired, so he walked us to the bus stop and we went home.

Tuesday: Had Rosh Hashanna dinner at Juli's flat with Lauren, Lily from the Science program, and Dwight, who decided to tag along. Then I ran off to my second Circus meeting. They run from 7 to roughly midnight, and you're invited to show up whenever, but I really enjoy it and I wanted to get as much time in as possible. I played around on poi again, and then Matthieu decided to teach me the Diablo. It took me a few minutes, but now I can get it spinning steadily, and I can even do a simple toss. It looks fun and I want to learn more.
We stayed until the higher-ups decided to pack up, which is great for socializing, but they tend to put you to work. So Matt, this guy Alex who I had met at the previous meeting, some other Circus minions, and I hauled the equiptment over to the Hive. Along the way I met Pawel and Stephan, two Polish guys who spend most of their time in the corner with their fire staffs. We got to talking, and they invited us all down to the pub for a drink. It was really loud because it was the LCR pyjama party and many people had come to hang out. So Matt, Alex, Pawel, Stephan, and I ended up sitting on the stairs in the Square, talking about random stuff, teaching each other bits and pieces of our respective languages. Eventually it got too cold to sit any longer, so we retreated back into the pub and played Egyptian Rat Screw with a set of tiny cards I had in my purse. Around 11:15 we got kicked out of the pub, so we exchanged phone numbers, and then Matt and I walked back off toward the Village. It was a really fun night, and I can't wait until Saturday when Circus is having their first fire practice of the year.

Tonight I'm going with some Dickinson kids to meet Matthieu for the first International Student Society movie night of the year. It's L'Auberge Espangole, which I've never seen, but I've heard good things about it.

There's your update. Sorry if the rant wasn't what you expected. I'll try again tomorrow, after my seminar.