Week 2 in Review

Week 2 was good. Week 2 was busy. Lots of things are starting to move and I’m really excited at how my semester is turning out! My classes are all still going well, though they remain fairly uneventful. I was sad to see that my Medieval Lit professor isn’t the lecturer each week, so class wasn’t as groovy this time around. I also barely clawed my way through my first real philosophy class. I don’t know how people read and digest this stuff on their own—the words were all in English, but I couldn’t discern a coherent thought out of either of the two articles. Willow, you and your brain awe me. 

In my Cultural History class we had to read the US Declaration of Independence and Constitution, as well as a few Supreme Court cases for this week. It was really strange to read up on these documents that I’ve seen and learned about my whole life, and look at them from a linguistic and cultural perspective rather than just in the frame of “US History”. I also enjoyed hearing my English professor lecture on these things: it was strange to hear him talk about the “complicated back story” to so many of these cases (i.e. how US law works, the basic organization of the court systems, the events of the Revolutionary War), and I realized that the English students probably didn’t know all of this stuff, even many of the basics. I thought about how much I knew about the English/British equivalents (very minimal…), and realized that these documents would be a lot more confusing if that was my level of knowledge of them. 

I ended up doing quite a bit of speaking in the seminar on the US documents, since I was the only American in class and was probably the only person who had studied them or knew anything about the Constitution beyond the main document (we weren’t even assigned the Amendments—also, side note, I found it really funny that the lecturer thought that the 2nd and 13th Amendments were probably the most famous. I mean, they are important, and more exciting than say, the 27th Amendment, but what about the 1st? Or the 19th? I don’t know, maybe that’s just the American lens talking…). 

Actually, if anyone from high school is reading this, you would be quite proud and surprised with me! I’ve been speaking quite a lot in almost all of my classes. I think Wellesley has really done wonders for my ability to speak in class and group settings. In high school, getting me to talk was like pulling teeth, actually it might have been harder—I never spoke, sometimes even when directly spoken too (I was quite creative with head and hand gestures if I really wanted to remain silent). Even at Wellesley I haven’t been particularly loquacious. When I’m in class at Wellesley I’m also terrifyingly intimidated by everyone around who seems exponentially smarter and much more well spoken than I think I am, yet some of my classes have pushed me to speak up anyway. Now, maybe it’s just that most of my classes are filled with Freshers and I’m feeling more confident because I have a little more experience, or maybe I’m just a little more solid on my feet when it comes to sharing my thoughts. Who knows?

Aside from classes, I’ve had some developments in the Special Collections area of my program. As some of you may know, Wellesley sent me over to Leeds as a guinea pig for a new program they’re developing in relation with the university that will be focused on Book Studies and the history of print. This program is still pretty nebulous over here, but I’ve been open to suggestions and things are starting to move! On Thursday I was able to go to a really interesting debate on the Future of the Book. This event had a panel of several book industry experts from a librarian, to a publishing house rep, to some authors, professors, and specialists on print and book studies, etc. The debate was really well handled, everyone made very succinct and intriguing points, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. On Friday I was able to attend part of a seminar on the history of printing at Leeds University and the history of small printing presses in general. This was another really nice, though much smaller, event. It was held in a beautiful room in Special Collections, and there was a sweet and delicious lunch provided. Though I didn’t know many of the figures who were discussed (there was mention of many poets and printers who originated in Leeds), I found the culture described really cool and was interested in the way it grew. Overall, they were some very lovely events and only the first of several to come. 

I also met briefly with a woman from Leeds’ Special Collections department about my potential involvement this semester! This is what I’m looking forward to most, actually! Even though I find the history of print to be fascinating, I do someday want to work in a curatorial capacity in a Special Collections library, so any work I can do is exciting for me! The woman I spoke to suggested that I work on a cataloging project of a poetry collection archive since poetry is something that’s of interest to me. She also suggested, and here’s the really fun part, that this project could potentially culminate in an online exhibit of sorts that I could curate! How exciting! I’ve done cataloging before at Wellesley, but I’ve never been able to put together any sort of exhibit! I’m really, really looking forward to this work and will keep you, my loyal readers, updated as it goes. 

Outside of the academic sphere, I went to an English sports ball game this week! “Leeds Varsity” is a massive event out here, where the varsity teams in every sport play the rival school, Leeds Beckett University. This tournament culminates in the men’s varsity rugby match. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I know nothing about sports (say that 10 times fast). I watch them sometimes, but do I ever know what’s happening? Nope. But this wasn’t so much about the rugby match, this was more of an experiential thing. I went with my Dutch flatmate who had never been to a big blowout sports match before, so it was a new experience for both of us in a way. We both got pints and watched the game trying to understand. 

Me and Judith having a pint at Varisty

I do not know how rugby works, but what I gathered was that it’s similar to American football sort of. The ball is a similar shape, and you throw the ball to each other and want to get a “touch down” in the “end zone”, but you can only throw the ball backwards. Also, there are these weird times when you can lift another player up on your shoulders, or when the whole team pushes against the other team in a big huddle. I don’t know, don’t quote me on any of these rules. The game lasted 80 minutes, and the first 70 minutes were pretty uneventful: Leeds Beckett scored a bunch of points, the players got into a minor fight, the ball got kicked into the stands a few times and hit some people in the head (it’s a very treacherous sport for spectators apparently…), and some drunk guys in ties and khakis threw their drinks onto the field and had to be escorted out, nothing crazy. The last 10 minutes, however…

I don’t want to say it was the wildest experience of my life, but it was up there. If David Letterman was making a list, this would for sure be on it. If I remember correctly it all started with the second fight between the two teams—this was swiftly broken up. Next thing you know, though, there’s some guy running across the field in street clothes. He’s waving at the crowds until he is caught by security and taken off the field. The announcers make a little PSA saying that this kid will be fined £80 on the spot, I’m sure in an attempt to prevent others from copying. This was of no avail, of course. Before you know it, there’s another kid on the field, from the other side of the stadium flipping off the crowd of the opposing team—he evades security pretty well, but is tackled by one of the rugby players. After him comes a mooner. This third kid is running down the field like the others, until he suddenly pulls his pants down and shuffles along forcing us all to watch. He was actually tackled to the ground, not just body slammed. Security tried their best, but kids kept jumping the fence onto the field. There was another kid who mooned the Beckett side of the stadium, a few kids who just flipped the crowds off, all of whom where tackled and escorted away. The best and wildest, though, was the streaker. Yes. The streaker. Some kid decided that he wanted to strip down to his birthday suit and run across the rugby field. I have no real words for this one, except that I cannot unsee it. Oddly enough, the streaker wasn't even the last kid to run on the field. All in all I believe there were 8 or 9 kids that night, and mind you all in the last 10 minutes of the game: I don’t even know how we lost because no was watching at that point. True madness. Judith and I went home scarred and confused that night. 

On a brighter note, several of my friends and I went to a lights festival last night! The light events and exhibits themselves were rather lack luster, but the street food was amazing. For the most part we just ended up wandering around the streets (which were filled with people wearing glow stick accessories). I had a burrito and reminisced about Chipotle with my friends, explaining to them what it was and why it is worthy of my nostalgic longing, and one of my flatmates willed some churros into existence. Quite impressive. It reminded me of my first year a little bit, when my friends and I had all just met, and we would get dressed up to go out and end up just wandering around Boston and Cambridge since we didn’t know anyone yet. We always ended up just getting food, which was still a pretty good night out by my standards to be honest. 

Overall it was a pretty good week. Still only the second week, with 9 more to go, but I’m excited to see what’s in store! 

The Curious Case of the Rain in the Nighttime and the Not So Silent Disco

I endured a few days of dull and repetitive meetings about rules and regulations and all sorts of other expectations. Though, these meetings weren’t quite as dull as Wellesley’s because they all had free wine—a nice touch. Meetings here seem to go a little differently than the dorm meetings back at Wellesley. For example, we had a meeting for all new students living in Devonshire the other day (so it was mostly Freshers). This, like most meetings and pamphlets I had encountered so far, outlined mostly the same things about safety, common sense, and various rules to be followed. What I found exceptionally strange, however, was the way the staff decided to demonstrate the lock your door constantly “suggestion”: at one point during the meeting full of several hundred students, the president of Devonshire displayed several items taken by sub wardens from rooms left unlocked by students. You either had to publicly claim the item or the staff got to keep it! It was sort of shocking and felt like a violation of privacy. I mean, I guess it taught those students to lock their doors, but still, that feels a little extreme. 

After a few days of meetings, however, my friends and I were able to let loose a little at a silent disco! For those of you who don’t know what a silent disco is, essentially it is like any sort of club or disco, but instead of blasting the music through speakers, everyone wheres bluetooth headphones, thus making the club “silent” allegedly. It was loads of fun, possibly even better than the roller disco! There were two DJs each playing different music, and you could switch between the two channels on your headphones. Both DJs played great music as well—everything from classic bass-heavy dance music, to 80’s ballads, to early 2K pop throw backs, to The Lion King. It was amazing. And one of the best parts was taking off your headphones, and watching everyone dancing neon lights, singing along to music that wasn’t actually playing. I took a video, dedicated to Vickey (we’ll get to 30,000 plays!), of a what it looked and sounded like when a Linkin Park song came on. You can see that, even thought the music isn’t pumping through the air, the “silent” disco is fairly noisy.

We finally left when it became just a tad too crowded, and started to make our way back home. One of my friends, Sara, said that in just 2.5 hours, we had taken about 9,000 steps according to her step counting watch. Needless to say, we were starving. Luckily there are several late night restaurants on our way home. We ended up stopping at this place called Mahmood’s (except the o’s in the sign were silhouettes of burgers), which served a mixture of knock off McDonald’s and KFC combined. We ordered our 2 am burgers, which were beyond satisfying. As we sat there at the counter, eating in silence, I stared at the off-brand KFC they were selling in boxes plastered with a happy rooster giving you the thumbs up and a slogan stating it was “lip lickin flavour”. It was a poignant moment: 2 in the morning, silently eating warm, satisfying, yet also gross burgers, and staring at an imposter rooster on a cardboard box. 

We finished up quickly and headed towards Devonshire, but halfway back to the residence, it started to precipitate. Then it started to precipitate harder. Now, I had checked the forecast, and it was only a 20% chance of rain that night. Yet, as we were walking down the street, we found ourselves cowering under a tree, as the rain started to fall in thicker, heavier drops. Even though it’s only September, this was not a warm rain. At home, when it rains in the the summer, it’s not always unpleasant: if might be a welcome relief to the sweltering, swampy weather, a warm shower that feels like a present from Mother Nature, cleaning out the gunk from the air. The rain in England, where it is perpetually fall, is cold. It makes you and everything around you damp and chilly. 

So there we were under a tree, which was becoming increasingly insufficient coverage, facing a decision to wait or to forge ahead. The catch was that it was 2:30 am by this point, and I had a meeting at 10 am the next day, so we couldn’t really afford to wait long. Of course, we continued, and of course, about 2 minutes in the rain became even stronger. By the time we reached the residence, my clothes and hair were soaked through, and I was chilled to the bone. The rain stopped just as we reached our courtyard (what else would I expect, though), and even though I took a steamy shower, I still woke up with a sore throat. C’est la vie…

So What's a "Fresher"?

As I wrote in my previous post, all of the local “Freshers” moved in over the past few days, and last night was the official kick off to Fresher’s week. Needless to say, it’s been beyond crazy.

Here in the UK Fresher’s Week is a *Big Deal*. I’d heard it mentioned in documentaries about Will and Kate (yes, go ahead, mock) or English movies and TV shows, but I had no idea what it was really about. It’s an odd thing to experience, especially since we don’t really have anything like it in America. Back home, students can’t legally drink when they first go off to college, and even though many find ways to consume alcohol before turning 21, there aren’t any mammoth sized celebrations intended to let you blow off steam and get partying and drinking out of your system before classes start. 

I thought I’d be prepared, since I’d been to a frat party before, but I’ve never seen anything on this scale. Every single night for a week and a half there are at least 2-3 parties running until 3 am that are free to £5 for entrance, organizations and dorms are practically giving away drinks, and students run amok in sweaty, skimpy clothing for as far as the eye can see. It’s truly wild. 

Last night, in honor of the opening of Fresher’s Week, the student union threw open their doors and invited students in to all 5-6 bars (or pubs), and 3-4 nightclubs. The air was seething with dance music for miles. Crowd control was a must, every surface in the area was sticky with God only knows what. 

My friends and I, however, started the night out with a glass of wine and headed over to the roller disco at 9:30 (we wanted to get an early start, and therefore an early end, to the night). It was loads of fun! We all strapped on our roller skates Jessica Simpson style (see video), and glided around the hall to the dulcet sounds of Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi” and “I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5. 

Although I feel and crashed in to some other innocent skaters, we all had a really good time, and headed down to one of the union pubs afterwards to listen to live acoustic music. I had a soda and found out that the English put lemon slices in their Coke! What a delightful surprise! I was a little suspicious at first, but I actually really liked the lemon, you could actually taste it a little bit in the Coke. 

New Friends! Judith, Petra, and Sara

We headed home at midnight, just as everyone else seemed to be arriving and queuing up at the entrance. As I said, it was a wild, wild time, and these Freshers, new to Uni life seem to have a whole lot they need to get out of their system.