Switzereen
Nov. 5th, 2003 01:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzfishSpeaking of losers, in which the estimable John Scalzi rips Confederate heritage a well-deserved new one. (From the first of these screeds: "You are Southern by the grace of God, but being a dumbass bigot is something you do all on your own.")
So, what, nearly two weeks without a post? My excuse is the combination of little down time at home and a story (set in Earthsea) due for the Le Guin class burning out my writing muscles.
Of course, only two really important things happened during those two weeks. . .
A week ago Friday I walked into my theatre advisor's office [David Johnson, for the possibly two of you that might know him] to figure out things for my schedule in spring. The last time I walked into an office in the theatre department I got talked into becoming a theatre major. This time I've been talked into going to Switzerland.
Well, maybe.
The facts: it's a Study Abroad program in the southeast of Switzerland (Riva San Vitale is I believe the name of the town), for four months in Spring '05. Fifteen credits, of which three are an Italian course, six are English, and six are PoliSci (the two profs going are English and PoliSci). Classes M-Th, leaving open three-day weekends for travel, plus spring break and two scheduled trips (one north, one south). I ran the idea by my parents when they came to visit a couple weekends ago and they seemed pretty supportive of the idea.
The good: the English prof is Ed Falco, who taught my fiction class over the summer (and will be teaching my advanced fiction class this spring) and who's a great guy. It's a trip out of the country, which I've been sort of wanting to do for ages and ages. (At least ten years I've been kicking this around in the back of my mind.) My father'll probably be in Geneva at least some of the time, so I'll get to meet up with him in a less-stressful-than-home situation. And, you know, Europe. Foreign countries within spitting distance. History within spitting distance. Immense coolness.
The bad: three things, really. The obvious one is the application process: they only accept thirty or so students, and my grade-point ain't what it should be. David thinks this won't be much of a problem if I explain the situation (much like I did for FinAid). The next obvious one is money. It's ten grand for the four months, which is a not insignificant chunk of change. Pulling it in will take a great deal of effort.
The third problem is Design Lab. The way I've got my schedule set up, there were three classes I'd planned on taking in Spring '05: second semester HoDaT (History of Drama and Theatre, pron. "Hoe-datt"), the second half of playwriting, and second semester Design Lab. HoDaT and Design Lab are required for a theatre degree. Ed Falco also teaches playwriting, and since he won't be around it's a pretty safe bet that the second semester won't be offered. David fortunately teaches HoDaT, and said there'd be no problem taking it out of order, so I'll be taking second semester HoDaT this spring, followed by first semester in the fall.
Design Lab is where it gets tricky. I talked to Randy Ward, the Design Lab prof, and he's of the opinion that it's a really bad idea to take Design Lab out of sequence: you're lost during the second half, and then bored during the first half, and don't learn what you need to. So my choices are: 1) ditch Switzerland altogether [yuck]; 2) keep pestering Randy until he relents and lets me take Design Lab in the spring [bad idea]; 3) see if I can substitute in something else for second semester Design Lab [possible, and what I'm currently working on]; 4) drop the theatre major [blech]; 5) delay graduation until Spring '06 when I can take Design Lab [extremely unlikely, as that would SUCK]. We shall see.
Oh, and they'll make me wear shoes pretty much all the time; the housing is in a hundred-year-old building, and the oils from bare feet would really mess up the flagstones. That's a negative. But one I imagine I can live with. After all, Europe.
I realised how much I want to do this sitting and reading Calvino at work last night, and thinking "You know, he writes in Italian. When I go to Switzerland I can probably pick up some of his stuff in the original, and maybe even read it. . ."
Friday night was the Spiel Halloween party, held over here. After some frantic running about I got my costume done, and received a few compliments, which was pleasant. [More for concept than for execution, but that's okay, the execution wasn't anything spectacular.] Played a few games, talked to people, generally had a good time. K made an excellent Death. E looked even better as Arwen than Liv Tyler did. Et cetera.
Satyrday I drove to Richmond with K and two other Scadians to hit the SCA party. Pleasantly surprised to see Mandy, djinn, and Krys. Pleasantly not-surprised to still recognise Brian [Vlad], Ox, and Joe, surprised to not recognise Farid, and pleasantly surprised to pleasantly surprise Susan Holt, who still gives really good hugs[1]. Also encountered Eric who's been to Spiel meetings a few times, and Scotty whose last name always escapes me, and, uh, I think that was it for people I knew.
Due to extreme foolishness on my part I had to borrow a red tie from Ox, and then attach the apple to the hat with chewing gum. Oh well. It was a cheap hat anyway. Around a dozen people recognised my costume, which is a way better hit ratio than I'd been expecting. [While wandering around without the apple I was telling people I was an extra from The Thomas Crown Affair.]
The party was alright. Talked to some people, sat around and vegged. Went to IHOP Sunday for lunch, which with twenty-four people was quite an experience. Drove home and crashed, because, well, party, also driving.
I'm still not so big on parties as such, though. I prefer smaller gatherings. More than ten or twelve and I start losing focus, not getting to talk to everyone I'd like to. Or just forgetting people altogether, closeting myself with four or five and sitting there for most of the party. *shrug* Oh well.
[1] What makes a really good hug? Warmth. Effort. Being able to make the person you're hugging feel like they're the most important thing in the room. Really sinking into it, and not pulling back until it's done. I dunno. I've consistently gotten good hugs from maybe a half dozen people in my life, and they're all different. It's always a pleasure to rediscover someone who gives good hugs, though.
The Earthsea story was. . . eh. Could've been better, given another few days of revision. Could have been worse.
Had two tests today (Tuesday, it doesn't become the next day until you go to sleep or the sun comes up), and another tomorrow. So I guess I should get some sleep.
Repost
Grr. For some reason LJ decided it didn't want this entry to show up on my friendspage. We are NOT amused.
So, what, nearly two weeks without a post? My excuse is the combination of little down time at home and a story (set in Earthsea) due for the Le Guin class burning out my writing muscles.
Of course, only two really important things happened during those two weeks. . .
A week ago Friday I walked into my theatre advisor's office [David Johnson, for the possibly two of you that might know him] to figure out things for my schedule in spring. The last time I walked into an office in the theatre department I got talked into becoming a theatre major. This time I've been talked into going to Switzerland.
Well, maybe.
The facts: it's a Study Abroad program in the southeast of Switzerland (Riva San Vitale is I believe the name of the town), for four months in Spring '05. Fifteen credits, of which three are an Italian course, six are English, and six are PoliSci (the two profs going are English and PoliSci). Classes M-Th, leaving open three-day weekends for travel, plus spring break and two scheduled trips (one north, one south). I ran the idea by my parents when they came to visit a couple weekends ago and they seemed pretty supportive of the idea.
The good: the English prof is Ed Falco, who taught my fiction class over the summer (and will be teaching my advanced fiction class this spring) and who's a great guy. It's a trip out of the country, which I've been sort of wanting to do for ages and ages. (At least ten years I've been kicking this around in the back of my mind.) My father'll probably be in Geneva at least some of the time, so I'll get to meet up with him in a less-stressful-than-home situation. And, you know, Europe. Foreign countries within spitting distance. History within spitting distance. Immense coolness.
The bad: three things, really. The obvious one is the application process: they only accept thirty or so students, and my grade-point ain't what it should be. David thinks this won't be much of a problem if I explain the situation (much like I did for FinAid). The next obvious one is money. It's ten grand for the four months, which is a not insignificant chunk of change. Pulling it in will take a great deal of effort.
The third problem is Design Lab. The way I've got my schedule set up, there were three classes I'd planned on taking in Spring '05: second semester HoDaT (History of Drama and Theatre, pron. "Hoe-datt"), the second half of playwriting, and second semester Design Lab. HoDaT and Design Lab are required for a theatre degree. Ed Falco also teaches playwriting, and since he won't be around it's a pretty safe bet that the second semester won't be offered. David fortunately teaches HoDaT, and said there'd be no problem taking it out of order, so I'll be taking second semester HoDaT this spring, followed by first semester in the fall.
Design Lab is where it gets tricky. I talked to Randy Ward, the Design Lab prof, and he's of the opinion that it's a really bad idea to take Design Lab out of sequence: you're lost during the second half, and then bored during the first half, and don't learn what you need to. So my choices are: 1) ditch Switzerland altogether [yuck]; 2) keep pestering Randy until he relents and lets me take Design Lab in the spring [bad idea]; 3) see if I can substitute in something else for second semester Design Lab [possible, and what I'm currently working on]; 4) drop the theatre major [blech]; 5) delay graduation until Spring '06 when I can take Design Lab [extremely unlikely, as that would SUCK]. We shall see.
Oh, and they'll make me wear shoes pretty much all the time; the housing is in a hundred-year-old building, and the oils from bare feet would really mess up the flagstones. That's a negative. But one I imagine I can live with. After all, Europe.
I realised how much I want to do this sitting and reading Calvino at work last night, and thinking "You know, he writes in Italian. When I go to Switzerland I can probably pick up some of his stuff in the original, and maybe even read it. . ."
Friday night was the Spiel Halloween party, held over here. After some frantic running about I got my costume done, and received a few compliments, which was pleasant. [More for concept than for execution, but that's okay, the execution wasn't anything spectacular.] Played a few games, talked to people, generally had a good time. K made an excellent Death. E looked even better as Arwen than Liv Tyler did. Et cetera.
Satyrday I drove to Richmond with K and two other Scadians to hit the SCA party. Pleasantly surprised to see Mandy, djinn, and Krys. Pleasantly not-surprised to still recognise Brian [Vlad], Ox, and Joe, surprised to not recognise Farid, and pleasantly surprised to pleasantly surprise Susan Holt, who still gives really good hugs[1]. Also encountered Eric who's been to Spiel meetings a few times, and Scotty whose last name always escapes me, and, uh, I think that was it for people I knew.
Due to extreme foolishness on my part I had to borrow a red tie from Ox, and then attach the apple to the hat with chewing gum. Oh well. It was a cheap hat anyway. Around a dozen people recognised my costume, which is a way better hit ratio than I'd been expecting. [While wandering around without the apple I was telling people I was an extra from The Thomas Crown Affair.]
The party was alright. Talked to some people, sat around and vegged. Went to IHOP Sunday for lunch, which with twenty-four people was quite an experience. Drove home and crashed, because, well, party, also driving.
I'm still not so big on parties as such, though. I prefer smaller gatherings. More than ten or twelve and I start losing focus, not getting to talk to everyone I'd like to. Or just forgetting people altogether, closeting myself with four or five and sitting there for most of the party. *shrug* Oh well.
[1] What makes a really good hug? Warmth. Effort. Being able to make the person you're hugging feel like they're the most important thing in the room. Really sinking into it, and not pulling back until it's done. I dunno. I've consistently gotten good hugs from maybe a half dozen people in my life, and they're all different. It's always a pleasure to rediscover someone who gives good hugs, though.
The Earthsea story was. . . eh. Could've been better, given another few days of revision. Could have been worse.
Had two tests today (Tuesday, it doesn't become the next day until you go to sleep or the sun comes up), and another tomorrow. So I guess I should get some sleep.
Repost
Grr. For some reason LJ decided it didn't want this entry to show up on my friendspage. We are NOT amused.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-05 09:27 am (UTC)I'm going to Canberra for work (!), if you missed my post on it. About 4.5 months, 50+-hr work weeks, within spitting distance of, well, a lot of sand and water. ;)