Week 5: See-Saw Work and Valentine's Day

I was told earlier in the year that the work load for Drama first years would see-saw: first it would be a shock with seemingly lots, then there would be a dip, then there would be a few essays so the work load would increase and so on. I'm experiencing a dip at the moment. Not that there isn't any work to do. Oh no, definitely not. It's reading week (which is a week off time table in the middle of a semester) right now and I actually don't have a deadline really close. Last reading week, I had two essays to write. I have an essay plan to write but that's due in week 9 so I have plenty of time. It's very odd. I feel like I should be reading extensively... but I'm not because I have no reason to. I may actually have to... relax.

On the flip side, it was Valentine's Day yesterday so my boyfriend treated me with a trip to Stratford Upon Avon. As it was a play we were going to visit out of necessity anyway, it was lovely to mark the day with a sense of occasion. For the purpose of this blog, I'm going to give the lowdown on what to do on a day out there - minus the mushy stuff. First of all, it takes just over an hour to get there from University station. The journey starts at University station and goes to New Street then it's a five minute walk to over to Moor Street and, if you're lucky, a forty five minute journey to Stratford. Our journey included a mix up of a cancelled train to we had to change in Hatton and wait twenty minutes for the final part of the journey but we still arrived there only fifteen minutes after we were meant to.

The main attraction of Stratford is that it is the birthplace of William Shakespeare, the playwright. The house he lived in is open to the public (and always very busy so I gave it a miss) but this week's fact is that the house they use it not actually Shakespeare's. It was figured out yeeears ago then a re-evaluation found that the actual house was three or so doors down. The real house is also still preserved but to 'keep American tourists happy' they didn't change to open house. I learnt that on QI. If Stephen Fry said it, it must be true.

The secondary attraction of Stratford, perhaps, is the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) theatre. I ate lunch in the 'official' RSC after-show pub which is decorated beautifully, over its traditional beams and such, with posters of past shows, all signed by their ridiculously talented and rather famous casts. Anthony Sher has even signed the wall itself, alongside a picture he drew. Judi Dench's signature sat behind my head as I tucked into a good, traditional pub lunch. For international students unaccustomed to English tradition, a pub lunch should definitely be on the list of 'to do'. Preferably on a Sunday. Preferably a roast.

Shakespeare's grave is also marked out inside the Holy Trinity church and a small donation is requested for viewing: 50p for students, £1 for adults.

We even found a museum of Witchcraft. They had, disappointingly, hopped on the Rowling train and adopted a few iconic things from the Harry Potter series. I don't suppose Rowling would be too happy seeing them in there. There was the sorting hat, which looked only slightly like it. There was the sign for Platform 9 3/4 which did excite me but wasn't placed right. The wands didn't quite look right. It was meant to, I was led to believe, be a museum for the 'proper' magic of the age of the witch so adopting the world of Potter was, in my opinion, a bad move. To add insult to injury, the place was a complete steal of the famous pub in Hogsmeade, 'The Creaky Cauldron'. No no, Stratford, no no.

Aside from the dodgy museum of magic, Stratford Upon Avon proved to be a lovely place to visit for a day trip. It reminded me of a wider spread York. York is also a must-see for those who haven't yet.


Birthplace of William Shakespeare plaque.
Birthplace of Shakespeare... not really.

Week 6: Reading Week

Reading week is the equivalent of 'half term' but not in every sense. You are off timetable for the whole week, unless a lecturer rearranges a class or lecture which is likely but not common, and are expected to take the name of the week very seriously. In sixth form and college, half terms are a bit of a break to catch up on small pieces of work or do one or two hours of work that was given. Mainly, I used half terms as sleeping time and as a break. My first reading week at Birmingham was very different. I'd love to say I haven't stopped working but I did give myself, stupidly, a day or three off. I've still got most of my to-do list not crossed off. To be fair, I did have a few PC issues that distracted my attention away from the role of the chorus and audience in Greek Theatre and suchlike.

Following on from last week about my essay preparation, Monday wasn't necessarily a huge success with library findings. I did find similar books but not the ones I was after. That wasn't an issue, though, because as I mentioned the library has over 2 million volumes so even though I didn't find the exact titles I did find several useful books that I did use in my essay. That said, it was my first visit to the library (I do advise going to the library tutorials in Welcome Week or whenever your subject timetables them - I didn't because I was ill so I had to teach myself how to use the library... it's not difficult at all and you can teach yourself fairly easily but I can't help wondering if I might be able to find things less intimidating having gone to the tutorials) so I didn't expect to be an expert.

Having done an epic day of research, eventually finishing all my highlighting and note taking at 11.30pm, I was well prepared for Tuesday's essay writing day. Casually but carefully writing the essay, with perhaps one stop for a meal, 1500 words took me about four hours to type which isn't bad going. Nathan, a flatmate who just so happens to be awesome at proof-reading, had gone home for reading week so he agreed to proof-read from home through email. While I was waiting for him to get to that, I read through it myself (a printed copy, not on screen) and noted each mistake and phrase I needed to re-write. In my opinion, the tell of a good proof-reader is if they notice the same things as yourself if not more. I wouldn't advise getting a friend on the same course to proof-read unless they're in a different year because they'll have a set view in their head having done the same or similar essay. As the saying goes, the spectator sees more of the sport.

Perhaps something that may be of importance to people living away from home is computer trouble. A PC or laptop is an essential piece of equipment for university unless you want to rely on the library. When yours decides to die, it isn't a pleasant feeling. At least, it wasn't for me. Having bought all the parts for my PC (its a desktop) myself and let my PC genius brother build it for me, I have a bond with my tower that rivals the bond between me and my boyfriend. On Wednesday, when I came back from my first costume call, Mr Tower decided not to turn on. If I hadn't already done my essay, I may have panicked a little more than I did. I did (and still do), however, have an essay due for Tuesday 17th so a dead PC was not ideal at all. I'd been having issues with Mr Tower since Monday evening but it'd been nice to me so I spent about an hour leaving and returning to it to see if it would continue niceties. Apparently not. I didn't know who to contact about this because I hadn't paid the £60 for PC support, started this year by a company located in the refurbished area of the Guild, so I phoned the Vale reception (4040, free from your room phone) to ask if they knew who to contact. They told me to phone the main library and ask about their laptop surgery to see if they extended to desktop computers. I did that and the epically cool guy on the end of the phone said that the laptop surgery was, in fact, a trial thing that didn't quite work out so they weren't doing that any more. He did, however, shift me in the right direction to finding a company nearby who would help me out. I won't say the name of the company because though they got my tower to work again, they did manage to break something else then break the whole thing when trying to fix that, then when my boyfriend had a look he fixed it in under 20 minutes. In between trips to the shop and Oli being a legend, I did visit the Dell website and order a laptop. It's okay, though, because I got awarded a scholarship from University for getting AAB and when that money comes through in January I can replace it in my bank account. I was planning on buying a laptop, anyway, because it's far more convenient for library work and lecture (though being a Drama single honours student I only have one sit down lecture per week, not counting the lecture for my MOMD). So when my laptop comes through I'll have a desktop for work to be done in the flat as well as for procrastination with music and Facebook - and various other websites I'm addicted to like lolcats, Blogger, Youtube, Twitter, and the list goes on - and I'll have a laptop for work to be done at home and away from the flat in general. It also means I can test out the free Wifi in the library and various other hotspots on campus. And on trains. I've always wanted to do that.

Well I'd love to stay but I have reading group at 6pm at the Guild so I have reading to do!

Main Library