Culture Shifts

Our MA group this year is a fascinating mixture. We are a group of 24 students: 8 from Fine Arts, 7 from Photography, 6 from Costume, and 3 animation students; ranging from straight-out-of-their-BA to "mature" students; and from all over the UK, as well as from the US, Iran, India, Serbia, Greece, Lithuania and China. We not only know who the others in our discipline are, but we're also divided into study groups made up of all four disciplines. (I'm the only costumer in mine) If I learn absolutely NOTHING about costumes in this year (which I'd have to work really, really hard at), it was worth the journey just for the cultural experience. 

Wednesday and Thursday we had to give a Presentation of Self - a 10-20 speech about who we are, what we've been doing, and what we're hoping to do. I was surprised at how nervous nearly all of the class was at the idea of getting up and talking for ten minutes - especially knowing it was just ten minutes in front of a friendly audience talking about a subject that none of us could contradict them about. In addition to talking through my resume (with a powerpoint of pictures) and my study proposal, I started off with a map of the US, and pictures of the Space Needle, Microsoft and Apple, Starbucks, Boeing, and Kurt Cobain, with the notation that I would be more than willing to point out the things Sleepless in Seattle, Grey's Anatomy, and Fraiser got / get wrong about the city. 

As a side note (though it kind of relates...), when I was getting my UK HSBC bank account up and running, the guy asked where I was from in the States. When I told him Seattle, he mentioned that he'd love to travel there and see that "museum of music - the one with the famous architect". Of all the tourist sites that this man wanted to see, the first one he brought up was the EMP. Now, it's probably just that it doesn't appeal to me (and, frankly, I've always made fun of the fact that it's a crumpled up ball of paper sprung to life), but it just rather caught me off-guard that this came up before Pike Place, the Space Needle, etc. 

Ruta (Fine Arts MA, from Lithuania) later told me that she loved listening to my presentation, because she loves "hearing me talk". I always assumed the American accent was harsh and grating sounding to the rest of the world, because, well, frankly, our vowels are very harsh and nasal, but apparently quite a few of them found my accent "cute". Hmm...

For the second day of presentations, Stephanie and Sally brought in digestives to pass around - digestives are... well... kind of cracker-y cookies, rather than really sugary cookies. Here's what wikipedia has to say. We remarked that we should do a "snack of the day" and bring in treats every time we have to come in. I mentioned that I could see if I could get American "sweets" sent over, "like Hershey's or Reeses". I was amazed to see the blank stares of confusion I got - I had to explain the concept behind a chocolate-peanut butter cup ("Like a rolo?"), and I'm not sure I fully explained it. The only people who knew any of these (Julia and I had to explain what a Kiss was!) were those who had lived abroad in the states or had travelled to them, and - while I was perfectly willing to admit that American chocolate is crap in comparison to English chocolate (and they admitted that English chocolate was far inferior to European chocolate) - I was shocked to hear that everyone thought the idea of chocolate and peanut butter was fantastically disgusting, and that Tom (who had tried Reeses) thought it tasted like vomit. :(

Having no class today, I stayed up late for a card game (Kent) tournament, after watching "Miss Potter" with Julia, and was woken up early this morning by a pounding on the door. After throwing on a sweatshirt, I opened the door to - huzzah! - James and two contractors who immediately jumped up onto my window ledge and began unscrewing the window. James had posted a notice that he would be taking a "well-deserved holiday" for the next two weeks (to which we all laughed quite heartily), so I despaired of ever getting the window fixed. That said, the squeaky, obnoxious, American wheel gets the grease, as - having put my complaint online into the system - he was eager to get it fixed before he left. I am absolutely AMAZED at how much quieter the room is, and I haven't turned any of the heaters on all day. 

I made my way back down to the post office, where I scheduled them to drop off all the boxes on Monday (when I'll be here), and trundled two home with me - the rest of my DVD's and a box of books and miscellany. Despite fearing the worst, the DVD's were all fine (actually in much better condition than the other box, with no breaks to any of the cases) - considering this box had in it Arrested Development and the West Wing, I was glad to see there were no casualties of war. Both boxes also contained some little things like magnets, my figure-drawing man, my little bocca della verita, Anne Taintor coasters, quiach, etc - the room is definitely starting to take on a more "home-y" feel. :) A bookshelf built into the wall runs all along one wall, and it just looks so terribly academic having it slowly but surely fill up with books. (Nerdy delight!)

Also in today's activities were a visit to my "local" GP (walking distance, though I'm doubting whether it's truly walking distance if you're actually sick) to get registered. Five forms, proof of identity, proof of address, blood pressure test, and urine sample later, and I hear from them in two days whether I've been accepted as a patient. Very interesting...