I'm currently recovering from the havoc wrecked by my midterm essays, so this is going to be a short post. First things first, let's talk about what's happened in each of my classes since my last update.
Gender Identities in Medieval Literature: We talked about marriage, the church, and certain medieval expectations regarding procreation. I'm going to leave it at that. Also, this is a friendly reminder that if you somehow get transported back to the middle ages, don't make the church angry. Just don't.
Fantasies of Youth: For this course, my peers and I split into groups to present on critical essays about the three books we've read so far: The Secret Garden, Peter Pan, and The Hobbit. My partner and I focused on an article by William Green about femininity in The Hobbit. Long story short, even though The Hobbit doesn't have any female characters, it has some very feminine ones. However, no matter what Green argues, the story's settings do not represent parts of a female body. They don't. I refuse.
Writing for Children: This class featured a workshopping session followed by free time to work on our midterm portfolios. For my portfolio, I decided to expand Everett Royale and the Moonstruck Circle, a middle grade fantasy story that I started for the class. I'm rather fond of how it's coming along. (Side Note: If anybody would like to read it, or any of my other pieces for this class, let me know in the comments and I'll post some excerpts!).
Advanced Creative Writing Tutorial: Honestly, bless my creative writing tutor. She is absolutely amazing, and I can't describe how great it feels to have a professor so invested in helping me improve as a writer. During our last session, she examined an excerpt from my novel and gave me critical but helpful writing advice. She also showed me just how useful Pinterest can be. I now have Pinterest mood boards for all of my characters and settings, and they have helped me immeasurably with envisioning my novel's world.
Now for the fun stuff. First of all, I have joined yet another reenactment group! Counting the ones I'm in back in the States, I think this makes me a member of four? In any case, I'm now a part of the Bath Spa University Reenactment Society, which focuses on portraying the English Civil War. On Tuesday, I went to their taster event at Bath Exit Escape Rooms and had an amazing time. My team escaped the Secret Garden room in 55 minutes through excellent displays of teamwork and puzzle-solving (and quite a bit of shouting at inanimate objects).
Afterwards, we all went to the pub The Bell, where I was strong-armed into attending the society's next event. Well, I say "strong-armed," but "gently persuaded" is probably more accurate. They basically sat me down and told me that their events involve pikes, muskets, armed cavalry, and two days of camping. They then informed me that if I wanted to join them in battle, they would loan me all the gear I would need. How could I possibly say no to that? Long story short, I couldn't. So with any luck, I'll be charging into battle with my newfound friends on October 26th and 27th. Wish me luck!
As you can probably tell, my Tuesday was an epic adventure. My Wednesday was also an adventure, but it was more frightening than exciting. I don't really want to share the details. Let's just say I learned that if you're going to use public transportation, always double-check where your bus is going and when it will get there before you get on. But ultimately, I made it to and from Bath Spa University safely and got some really neat pictures, so all's well that ends well.
Thankfully, my week picked up on Thursday. To celebrate the end of our classes for the week, my friends in the ASE program and I went and rented a karaoke pod. We danced, laughed, and sang for three hours straight, then wandered over to McDonalds at around 11pm. I went to bed that night with a sore throat and a huge smile on my face. Moral of the story: karaoke pods are amazing and I will never in good conscience let somebody skip Eye of the Tiger in a karaoke line-up.
Now for the fun stuff. First of all, I have joined yet another reenactment group! Counting the ones I'm in back in the States, I think this makes me a member of four? In any case, I'm now a part of the Bath Spa University Reenactment Society, which focuses on portraying the English Civil War. On Tuesday, I went to their taster event at Bath Exit Escape Rooms and had an amazing time. My team escaped the Secret Garden room in 55 minutes through excellent displays of teamwork and puzzle-solving (and quite a bit of shouting at inanimate objects).
Afterwards, we all went to the pub The Bell, where I was strong-armed into attending the society's next event. Well, I say "strong-armed," but "gently persuaded" is probably more accurate. They basically sat me down and told me that their events involve pikes, muskets, armed cavalry, and two days of camping. They then informed me that if I wanted to join them in battle, they would loan me all the gear I would need. How could I possibly say no to that? Long story short, I couldn't. So with any luck, I'll be charging into battle with my newfound friends on October 26th and 27th. Wish me luck!
As you can probably tell, my Tuesday was an epic adventure. My Wednesday was also an adventure, but it was more frightening than exciting. I don't really want to share the details. Let's just say I learned that if you're going to use public transportation, always double-check where your bus is going and when it will get there before you get on. But ultimately, I made it to and from Bath Spa University safely and got some really neat pictures, so all's well that ends well.
Bath Spa University has a castle. American colleges need to step up their game.
Thankfully, my week picked up on Thursday. To celebrate the end of our classes for the week, my friends in the ASE program and I went and rented a karaoke pod. We danced, laughed, and sang for three hours straight, then wandered over to McDonalds at around 11pm. I went to bed that night with a sore throat and a huge smile on my face. Moral of the story: karaoke pods are amazing and I will never in good conscience let somebody skip Eye of the Tiger in a karaoke line-up.
Singing and chilling with some of the coolest people I know.
I rounded out my week with a trip to Frances Hardinge's event at the Bath Children's Literature Festival. Hardinge's books aren't terribly popular in the United States, which I think is a real shame. Her settings and characters are incredible, and when I read her book The Lie Tree, I threw it across my bed because the plot twists were so good. Hardinge herself was just as cool as her writing. At the event, she talked about how her latest book was inspired by her scuba diving experiences and joked about the literary trope of getting rid of children's parents. I really enjoyed getting to meet her, and I highly recommend her books for any fans of young adult literature.
Signed Books are the Best
So yeah, that was my week. Nothing terribly exciting happened, but it was still a lot of fun. Stay tuned for more pictures, anecdotes, and general shenanigans. Oh, and if you'd like to read some of my pieces from my Writing for Children course, don't forget to comment below!
Thanks for reading!
Abby
Artsy Picture of the Day: Lake at Bath Spa University
So glad you're having a fun time in England! If you can, I'd love to read some excerpts from your Writing for Children course (you can email them to me if you want). <3 Em
ReplyDeletePlease share your writing excerpts!
ReplyDeleteI love love love reading your blog!!! Please do share some of your writing excerpts. From your OldMop Oma.
ReplyDelete