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| Silent Reading Room in the castle |
It's been a very busy first week of classes, but good nonetheless! So far the classes have exceeded what I was hoping for when I came here. All of the field studies we get to do sound amazing- I am really excited! I think I won't list them here in one big post but will surprise you with photos as they happen :) (Although I'll be listing the ones coming up the soonest in the "What's Coming Up" section over on the right).
Elizabethan Shakespeare class: there are only four students! It's more like a seminar than a lecture. We'll be studying Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, and A Midsummer Night's Dream (and I'm in luck, because I've already read them all except for Henry V!).
British Studies class: it's a mix of British history, literature, geography, and popular culture. Some standout lecture topics coming up include the Royal Wedding, the London riots of August 2011, and British attitudes towards France and Germany (this lesson includes a screening of a Fawlty Towers episode!! Jaslyn, I know you'll be able to guess which one).
Art History class: we're starting off with ancient Greek sculpture, focusing quite a bit so far on the Parthenon sculptures. So I'm on somewhat familiar ground right now, which is nice! And we'll soon be moving on to things I know nothing about but am looking forward to (eg Renaissance paintings, different periods of architecture etc).
Early Modern Britain: the time period we're learning about in this class is my favourite in English history- the Tudors and the Stuarts. First lecture was about Henry VIII and his wives, so again I was on familiar territory, which was comforting (but don't worry, I'm still learning lots!). For the last 20 minutes of the lecture the prof taught us in the Elizabethan Rose Garden. It felt too stereotypical and perfect to be true: there was no one else in the garden except the six of us students and the prof, it was the nicest day yet and the sun was shining, the only sound was birds singing, and we were learning about my favourite period of history. I almost felt like laughing because it seemed like something from a movie.
Britain Since 1851: our final paper for this class is a primary source critical analysis. The prof gave us each a package containing five different original letters from WWII, and we have all term to analyze and research them and write a paper about what they reflect about the writer, British society, and life during WWII. I was and am so excited!
The tiny class sizes are very different from UBC, but I think I'm going to like that, at least as a temporary change. There's definitely also the sense that these professors are all here specifically and only to teach us, not because they have to in order to be able to do research. Everyone definitely takes academics here seriously- it's definitely not a "let's have you go to 'school' but really you can travel to Europe whenever you like and everything's an easy A" type of atmosphere, and I think almost all the professors here have their PhDs. I'm trying to start out being on top of readings while it's not as busy yet with field studies.
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view from the bench where I like to
study (not too cold outside yet!).
The library doors are the ones on the right. |
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| Back to work... |
