Away with the fairies!

Ok I know I am not a regular "I will post everyday" blogger but that is mainly because I've been too busy and because my everyday life isn't THAT interesting to post about everyday! Haha. There's been ups and downs the past few days but mainly ups, which is great! The downs were mainly me being cold which resulted in me getting a cold and also being quite tired but it comes with being a commuter drama student I guess!

The great thing is that I LOVE my university and my course and my new friends! I mean the Royal Holloway Campus is GORGEOUS and everyday when I arrive on the bus to the main gates and see the Founder's building I think "wow I AM here!" and everyday I look forward to having my daily lunch meeting with my friends before actully going to lessons since I start at 2pm and 12pm except on Wednesdays.

Now on to my modules as I know a certain person I'm a guardian to is slightly curious:

Mondays is Contemporary Theatremaking which is really interesting but very wierd too. I mean anything that's got "contemporary" in it will be wierd especially in the arts! Each group is studying a different company and my group are studying a Polish company that goes around the world researching traditional dances, gestures and performing methods and use them for their pieces. It's mainly physical theatre-y which is cool cause we get to do a lot of practical stuff and our assessment is a devised performance sometime in December. We will also have a night lesson from 6 until 9pm to experience how the company works in the forest at night which I'm really excited about!

Tuesday is my favourite day which is a massive contrast from me hating Tuesdays at KCL! We have Space, Body and Design which, Maria you would LOVE. The first term is mainly the space and body part of the module we're studying warm-up methods, voice methods etc so it's a very practical lesson. The assessment for this is a group of us has to run a 2h workshop for the rest of the group at the end of term! The design bit is next term, we have to read Llorca's "Blood Wedding" and design a costume for the play and make a scaled down set of the play for one of the scene we like. I can't wait for that!

Wednesdays we have the early 9am start which has me waking up at 6:30... no comment! The subject is Writing and Performance where we're having to go see 4 plays: "Now or Later" a political american play, "In Red and Brown Water" which is meant to be surreal, "Othello", and "Oedipus" which has Ralph Fiennes in it! Wohoooo! Anyways in this we study the said plays and discuss how you put something from its written version to it's performance version as well as analysing plays etc... We also have some practical stuff but mainly script work.

Finally Thursdays we have Crtical Theories which is my pet hate at the moment because anything that's got theories is so abstract! Basically in this we study theories of theatre and make up our own and are supposedly going to learn how to be critical of a play/performance and how to argue well and just ramble on... Which is a very good thing for me but I still don't like it... AND it's a module that runs over the whole year dammit! Actually Theatremaking also runs over the whole year in a way. In the summer term because we don't have exams we have to be involved in the MA and Phd student's performances. Basically we're going to be their techies so we get a placement either backstage such as DSM, ASM etc or we do marketing and Front of House etc... and we're assessed in that.

So much for them telling us there's more theory than practice in the first year haha as far as I'm concerned there's enough practical work, though the second term subjects are more theorie based. I'm loving the fact that we get all sides of theatre from performing to crticizising to technical theatre... And this is just the first year... we'll see what the other two bring.

All in all I'm loving it but I'm looking forward to having a bit of a rest this weekend!

Sorry!

Good God! Sorry I have been so "absent" it's just that I've been ridiculously busy what with just arriving from home, a great weekend and starting university!

It's all pretty much settled down now that induction week is (finally) over! It was a great week but compared to most Royal Holloway departments our Drama one has bombarded us with inductions! From workshops led by students to ones led by staff to IT induction to College Services talks to Fresher's Fayre... you name it it was there! Which is a great way to ease you in and let you feel confident! We also had the first auditions today for our own Drama Workshop Society which is different to the RHUL Drama Society! Oh yes.... Workshop is led my drama students and drama students only! I didn't audition as such, I had an interview to be part of the technical team so I might end up as Assistant Stage Manager or Assistant something basically! On Monday there are more auditions this time I am going for a part and it's for teh Savoy Opera Society! Aaaah the bliss of an energetic and chaotic life! I might complain about it but I still love it.

I also finally got my own personal timetable and needless to say, I am VERY happy I am not in the early groups except for two days where I specifically asked to be (but more to follow on that shortly). I was either going to be in the groups that started at 10am and finished at 1pm or the groups that started at 2pm and finished at 5pm. Granted I ended up in the late finishing groups but I don't care because I won't be travelling in peak-time and I dont need to get up early, plus which I won't be in a rush to get home so who cares what train I get!

Anyways about the early groups... I asked that because I was doing a part-time Drama course last year at Goldsmith's college and loved it and it continues this year on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Well I decided to drop that now since I was mainly doing it because of the lack of drama-ness in my life. Needless to say I have plenty now! I also don't want to over-burden myself un-necessarily and I want to be able to take part in uni rehearsals and whatnot. So yup... a wise decision has been made on my part because of that and also because the £600 that was going on that is now staying in my account and going towards transport.

I am not going to talk about the amazing weekend I had because it can be read about on: http://thenightfallsinaroundme.blogspot.com/ Just look for Sunday September 21st, I am way too tired and this is getting long and probably boring for most readers!

I am off to bed to NOT have a much needed lie in because the plumber is meant to come between 9 and 9:30! I say "meant" because we all know what plumbers are like... though when he came the other day he was punctual-ish...

Anyway toodloo for now!

Rain Rain Go Away...

I haven't posted for a few days and it wasn't because I was busy because I really am not! I'm still on holiday! It has been a bit hectic as it always gets a few days before I go back to London with visits to family, today was lunch at my grandmother's with my uncle and aunt and my two cousins. I also wanted to post my aches and pains after I had the famous camera shoved down my throat so here goes... Those of a frail nature skip this bit and jump straight to the last paragraph!

I woke up on September 11th not feeling exactly nervous as I knew what awaited me but still uneasy as it's not exactly something that I do everyday or that I enjoy having done! Anyways I was STARVING by then and my mum's idea of help was to tell me to drink loads of water which I did. 1:30pm came and it was time to leave for the clinic. We arrived early and had to sit and wait for a bit while I was dreading the evil pill. I swear that pill is the most horrible thing ever invented, it has no particular taste but you have to suck it so it numbs your mouth... which is the horrible thing. After a while I couldn't feel myself swallowing which meant I almost swallowed the pill since I couldn't feel anything in my mouth. After a while I was led to a room to wait for the anaesthesiologist who asked me tons of questions so he knew how much sedation to give me. After that I finally went to the operating theatre and had a nurse poke at my arms to find a vein for the IV. That took her ages and she had to do it on my left hand which was inconvenient as I had to lie on my left side hehe. When they were all ready the sedative was finally put through the IV. Now last time I had this done in April the sedative knocked me completely out (which was great) but this time I just felt dizzy and the doctor told me to relax and close my eyes. I did NOT want to do that as I knew they'd assume I was asleep and shove the thing down my throat... which they did. It doesn't hurt but makes you gag and cough. Now before I went in I was asked if I'd eaten or drunk anything to which I said water and they were worried my stomach wouldn't be empty enough. Anyways before I fell asleep I heard it was empty which I assume was a good thing. I woke up and was told to stay lying down for the sedative to wear down. Now anyone who knows me will know I do NOT stay still for very long let alone lie down! After I was finally allowed to stand up and get dressed with nurses fussing thinking I stood up to soon we were called in the doctor's office, queue me running to the office which made the nurses laugh and say: "It's as if she hasn't had anything done!". My stomach is now fine after an eeeeevil stomach virus which is great and I was allowed to go have lunch!

So yes that was September 11th. Friday was not very interesting just went out shopping (bought a pair of trousers a blazer and a winter coat) before the skies opened and it started pouring and hasn't stopped at all. Very depressing as you can't really go out in the pouring rain! Now the madness continues with gathering all my accumulated items while I was back home. In total I've been home, or at least with my mum, for 2 months which is the longest I've been for a while so a lot of things need to be packed. I am looking forward to going back as I get to see my missed friends as well as starting at a new uni but I know I will get homesick and I am not looking foward to the airport on Wednesday.... Oh well all endings (however temporary) are usually bitter-sweet aren't they?

"With every job when it's complete, there is a sense of bitter-sweet"

Well toodloo for now peeps!

Virna.

First blog and... STARVING!

This is not a very happy blog start but just for one reason... I AM STARVING! I have been on liquid food for the last 48 and a bit hours because I am having a camera shoved down my throat and my stomach needs to be completely empty. Now no need to feel sorry for me because I will be asleep when they do it and I will (hopefully) be able to eat after all is done. This could be seen on the positive side as a detox 48 hours but everything on TV has been about food every channel you turn to there's FOOD. It is evil I tell you.

Anyway enough about that or I will literally eat my laptop. Only 6 days left and I will be back to my lovely flat in lovely London starting at a new university doing what I love. No need to say I am very excited and looking forward to getting my life back! There's nothing wrong with being with my mum in Belgrade but it does feel as if my life is put on hold for the time I'm here. I still love doing nothing and spending time with my mum though so I won't complain.

I am also looking tanned-ish after spending 10 days in Rhode, Greece. It's a lovely island with great weather. Quite warm but always windy so you don't feel you're roasting away. The only not so good thing about that holiday was the company but I will not talk about it on here it will only make this blog even more bitter sweet and we don't want that!

A great friend of mine has a blog on here and I am just following her example and starting this so mainly she can know what's up with me like I know what's up with her. We don't see each other very often but reading her blog has helped me know what she's been doing and feeling so I hope this helps her too!

Farewell for now and an inspiring or just pretty lyric/thought for this blog: "No one is alone, truly no one is alone".