I talked to Brad, who went on a semester abroad last semester, quite a few times about what to expect, and what to do while I was away. One of the things that I asked him, was whether he regretted only going away for one semester - whether a whole year abroad was the way to go. He said that, although it goes very quickly, the semester away was just right for him.
It's been two months, and about 12 hours since I've got here, and they've gone pretty quickly - especially the last 5 or so weeks. I guess once you settle in, you get into the rhythm, one day tends to merge with the next, one week with the next, and it just all flies by.
I've now made it through 8 of my 13-week semester, and I get kicked out of residence in two months minus one week. It's crazy to think that I'm already halfway through my semester. I often wish that I was staying here for longer, but at the same time, I think I'll leave here thinking the same as Brad - a semester is perfect for me.
It's Halloween around here (and I suppose everywhere else in the world too), but I've been surprised at how big it is. I always thought that the only people that Halloween affected were the kids (and their parents), but a lot of people around here have got costumes. There's a Halloween dance tomorrow (which sold out really quickly), and we did Pumpkin-carving tonight (well, I didn't, but I watched a few people do it). Some of them are really amazing - I'll post pics in my next post.
Since my last post... there's been a bit of work (not as much as there should've been), and I've seen a couple of shows.
The first one was put on by a professional theatre company. It was called "Condomony" .. or something similar. It wasn't as crude as it could've been, and was quite funny, and the actors were very talented. The first half of the show was a bunch of sketches. One of the highlights for me was when they chased a guy in the front row out of the theatre - they were an old couple feeding pigeons (chucking pieces of bread into the audience - also quite funny in itself), and started randomly shouting "Shoo! Get out!" at the guy. Poor dude took forever to get it, and there's only so many ways you can phrase "Shoo" until you start repeating. Eventually he got the hint, walked all the way out the back door, and the 'old couple' sat down again and said "Squirrels."
The second half of the show was also rather inspirational. They did Improv, which is the thing where they make stuff up on the spot, based on the audiences suggestions. Basically it's what "Whose line is it anyway?" does. There were a couple of highlights in this one:
Highlight Number 1)
The game where they have to collectively tell a story, but each of them in different styles. The particular styles (audience-chosen) were: Film Noir, Harry Potter, Erotica, Showtunes and Emo. Very, very cool. Film Noir, and Erotica were particularly impressive.
Film Noir because the dude had a deep voice, and phrased everything perfectly, and Erotica for a gem of a line at the end. So the story was about Harry Potter, and I think it started out with Harry, Ron and Hermione discussing something. Switch to Erotica:
"You see, Hermione had developed over the summer."
Story runs on a little while longer, and Harry ends up cutting himself in a closet, in which Dumbledore appears. Switch to Erotica:
"You see, Dumbledore had developed over the summer."
Hmmm... funnier at the time =P More appropriate now that... Dumbledore has been declared gay by JK Rowling herself. Interestingly enough, I never picked that up at all while reading the books, and I don't know of anyone who did... Maybe there's a fanfiction somewhere which had discussed it before. I dunno...
Highlight Number 2:
The finale of the night - a musical based on someone's day. Absolutely fantastic. They had a guy on the keyboard, dictating the style of that particular song. All of the general genres of music were covered, they could all sing, and it was generally done very, very well. Best piece of improv I have seen in my life.
Going on a slight tangent, the girl which they based the musical on was an RA, who, among other things, has to 'write people up' (or report them). Her answer to the strangest thing that she'd had to write someone up for? "Two bodies in the shower." =s
Anyways, the second show I went to was Improv entirely. In fact, it was UBC Improv (they have a club here). I went because one of the guys on our floor is in it, and it was also really good.
They have two teams, the Junior and Senior team. The guy on my floor was on the Junior team, which did a bunch of short ones. Some of them were unbelievable, and some of them obviously still learning, but yeah, still really good.
The Senior team were obviously a bit better, but they did "long form" which means they kinda just go on and on and on in and around the same story. Kinda weird, and I didn't enjoy it as much, but there were some fantastic moments also.
You might've noticed that the photos in this post have nothing to do with what I'm talking about. That's because I don't have any photos of what I'm talking about, so I've given you a few shots I've taken in the last week or so from around campus. It's actually been really nice weather the last couple of days. The rain you see in one of the photos (and the crap drainage) is apparently what it's normally like.
However, I do have a couple of photos of what I do want to talk about:
Ryan and his tv, which is quite possibly the nicest-looking tv I've seen in my life =P It's so clear, and the tv itself is pretty stylish too. I've played many games of Halo (game on the screen at the moment) and Puzzle Fighter on that thing.
And apparently they've done away with As, Bs and Cs here, and even giving up on the "Good" and "Great" thing. My homework (assignment) has been rated a "Hot!" =s I'm confused.
Anyhow, that's pretty much all I have to say. Studying all weekend for my 3 midterms next week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday). Hopefully after Wednesday I'll be able to take the rest of the week off, and have some fun, maybe go some places. Shall post later. Bye =)
5 comments:
Woo! First post!
What's with the first photo? (Other than that it's pretty cool)
I suppose you get what driest state on the driest continent means now... it rains lots everywhere else..
Umm...
I've had a great idea. I can hijack the comment space on other people's blogs and make my own ethereal delocalised blog thing. All I need is lots of friends with blogs.
I'm staying here to December 7th now. Have to finish a course on metric spaces before I go back. My supervisor seems fairly cool though, so that's a plus. I manage to miss three birthday parties by staying here an extra two and a bit weeks though.
Is anybody coming here for NTE or something? Apparently there's a big group staying at my college in early December. *looks at James*
Haven't been doing too much other than studying. Yay for exams. I'm not convinced the algebra exam is going to be particularly exciting..
hmm... I don't know what else to say. Meh.
all the fotos were random :P I'd rather see fotos of u Justin, not a bunch of trees
I fort since u're keeping track on who looks at ur blog now (Big Brother much :P) I'd make a comment to make it official.
my nose is running. stupid hayfever. wish it would rain here to wash the pollen away >.< either that or I've caught a cold sitting in front of my airconditioning lol (ironic)
smell u later (or not, cos of the BOOGER problemo)
Dammit! I'm never first!
I lost your link hahaha Just found it!
Yes, I'm in Can-bra for NTE Brendan! You should come to the conference too! And if not, I'll just come and annoy you in your room, wherever it is. Actually, I might not be in John XXIII again, now that I think about it, but that's not the point. I've done a course on metric spaces too!
Also, aren't all blogs ethereal and decentralised, per se, being on teh internets and all? To a certain extent anyway?
I'd like to point out that Dumbledore being gay seems to be to be quite un-canon, in that Dumbledore always played a father-like role, and this clearly doesn't work if he's homosexual.
On the other hand, I guess it kind of makes sense with some of his more flambouyant gestures - fits that sort of extroverted gay stereotype, if that makes any sense?
In other news, we seem to have had as much variety in the weather as you have had in the last week - rain, sun, etc. etc.
Woo! Company. And someone who knows about metric spaces too. a privilege indeed. I don't think I'll have time for conferencing. I start my metric spaces course on the 16th, and finish on the 7th of December. That's not very much time for a 6-unit course. The conference does sound fun though.
All internet sites are ethereal, but some are more ethereal than others. A blog generally has a fixed internet address and is therefore fixed in location, in a certain sense. That is, the sense in which one can ask 'where', and be given a specific (and correct) answer 'here', not a more general 'about there' (eye-rhyme is better than none at all). My perceived blog will not have a specifiable location, and hence it will be delocalised. (also, it hijacks the 'space' that is meant for someone else to talk about themselves and turns the topic to me! woo!)
I have no idea why Rowling declared Dumbledore gay. I think things should not be 'canon' unless they're evident in the books, and although I haven't read the last part of the series, nobody seems to have picked it up. (An 11 year old boy at a JK Rowling event: "Harry Potter is more exciting than a video game." - That's pretty exciting.)
*Stops googling random things and goes back to work (but first to lunch)*
Hallowe'en fun?
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