A moment of sobriety
I've been at Goldsmiths, New Cross, London, England for 3 and a half weeks now. It strangely feels like both a very long and a very short period of time. What was 'a room' in 'a flat' has now become 'my home'. I noticed the transition on the tube yesterday. I am now in possession of an Oyster card, which makes me a true Londoner through and through.
So what have I been doing?
Well, the first fortnight was primarily concerned with friend-making, late nights, drinking and ascertaining that the SU is not a place for any respectable person to attend regularly - especially when sober. I've met some great people whilst also quickly realising that Goldsmiths isn't entirely filled with 'radical, liberal types'. There's definitely a conformity to the 'indie-kid' dress code here, which is hardly radical. Further, plenty of people have surprisingly right-wing leanings for 'art students'. To each their own, I suppose, although I was rather disappointed that practicing on my snare drum (with 5 thick jumpers and brushes) at twelve noon in fresher's week got me some complaints. With the music department refusing to extend itself to people outside the department, I'm not too sure how I'm going to get round this one. My hope is that my mate in London Bridge will let me practice there.
My room's nice - what it lacks in reliable internet access and non-presence of bugs in the bathroom it makes up for by always being warm (maybe too warm?) and having a decent and warm shower (which apparently is a rare occurrence in my block).
My flatmates are friendly and charming, but there's little similarity between us. They're all quite quiet and straight-edge. One girl has a persistent need to comment on how 'decadent' my vegan culinary delights are (she eats microwave smash) which is slightly grating the 22nd-millionth time. I've found my friends in flat 7 & 8 upstairs. They're much more up my street - i.e. musical and a bit eccentric. We've had some wicked nights out (and nights in!) and have managed to come fourth in the Sunday pub quiz twice in a row.
I've joined the photography society and offered to run a darkroom class for those who haven't used one. I did my practical photography induction last week and the week before, which was great. I managed to print some nice pictures and get used to the new darkroom. As a media student I get full access to the place, which I intend to exploit as much as possible.
I've also joined 'Wired' radio. I sent in a proposal for a show called 'The Great Unknown' - new, unsigned, unheard of and under-rated music. I've got a 2-hour slot for Tuesday evenings and am really looking forward to it. Just recently, I've been considering it as a possible career path. Unfortunately this causes a great clash in my interests, as there is no way to integrate photography/cinematography with radio very easily, and Goldsmiths recommend having a clear path and ending in sight as you work through the course. I've always had this music vs. film thing going on, and it looks like I might need to make a decision about which I should be serious about pretty soon!
The Jelly Royale are still going strong and had a gig on friday. The Goldsmiths lot came down (amongst others) and we performed pretty well - even doing a song we jammed out a couple of hours before as the encore. We plan to get into studio soon and lay down our album. With 15-odd songs, it looks like we'll be able to cherry-pick what we put on there - should be fun!
As for college (oh yeah, that), we've had 5 lectures and accompanying seminars thus far and two practical sessions. The Textual Analysis/Representations side is really interesting and our lecturer (Bridget) is really good. We had our first real challenge of a lecture today on myth and semiotics that I left feeling completely stuffed with new ideas. We're also doing Media History and Politics. This looked less promising, but the first lecturer made it come alive. Unfortunately the second lecture was a bit of a bore, with one of those annoying people who feel...the need...to...stop after every...few words...for...no...particular reason and an OHP that refused to co-operate with his clip-on microphone. Oh, and everyone had fresher's flu, so you couldn't hear him over the spluttering anyway. Tomorrow involves an analysis of jazz music, so that should be a better lecture :).
I'm probably picking out the negative bits more than the positive ones, but it really has been enjoyable so far. I'm getting into my studies properly this week. I've been collecting interesting media bits and bobs from 'The Independent' and other places (could come in useful!). I've also got some Levi-Strauss, Sartre, Foucault and Barthes that I got from the library as well as some of the bulkier books I got off the reading list. Our first essay is due on the 10th November, so I shall soon be researching away like a busy student bee. However, I have been told that it's 'all about the networking'*, so maybe I'll do that instead.
* why is it that going to university results in everyone feeling the need to give you worldly advice?
So what have I been doing?
Well, the first fortnight was primarily concerned with friend-making, late nights, drinking and ascertaining that the SU is not a place for any respectable person to attend regularly - especially when sober. I've met some great people whilst also quickly realising that Goldsmiths isn't entirely filled with 'radical, liberal types'. There's definitely a conformity to the 'indie-kid' dress code here, which is hardly radical. Further, plenty of people have surprisingly right-wing leanings for 'art students'. To each their own, I suppose, although I was rather disappointed that practicing on my snare drum (with 5 thick jumpers and brushes) at twelve noon in fresher's week got me some complaints. With the music department refusing to extend itself to people outside the department, I'm not too sure how I'm going to get round this one. My hope is that my mate in London Bridge will let me practice there.
My room's nice - what it lacks in reliable internet access and non-presence of bugs in the bathroom it makes up for by always being warm (maybe too warm?) and having a decent and warm shower (which apparently is a rare occurrence in my block).
My flatmates are friendly and charming, but there's little similarity between us. They're all quite quiet and straight-edge. One girl has a persistent need to comment on how 'decadent' my vegan culinary delights are (she eats microwave smash) which is slightly grating the 22nd-millionth time. I've found my friends in flat 7 & 8 upstairs. They're much more up my street - i.e. musical and a bit eccentric. We've had some wicked nights out (and nights in!) and have managed to come fourth in the Sunday pub quiz twice in a row.
I've joined the photography society and offered to run a darkroom class for those who haven't used one. I did my practical photography induction last week and the week before, which was great. I managed to print some nice pictures and get used to the new darkroom. As a media student I get full access to the place, which I intend to exploit as much as possible.
I've also joined 'Wired' radio. I sent in a proposal for a show called 'The Great Unknown' - new, unsigned, unheard of and under-rated music. I've got a 2-hour slot for Tuesday evenings and am really looking forward to it. Just recently, I've been considering it as a possible career path. Unfortunately this causes a great clash in my interests, as there is no way to integrate photography/cinematography with radio very easily, and Goldsmiths recommend having a clear path and ending in sight as you work through the course. I've always had this music vs. film thing going on, and it looks like I might need to make a decision about which I should be serious about pretty soon!
The Jelly Royale are still going strong and had a gig on friday. The Goldsmiths lot came down (amongst others) and we performed pretty well - even doing a song we jammed out a couple of hours before as the encore. We plan to get into studio soon and lay down our album. With 15-odd songs, it looks like we'll be able to cherry-pick what we put on there - should be fun!
As for college (oh yeah, that), we've had 5 lectures and accompanying seminars thus far and two practical sessions. The Textual Analysis/Representations side is really interesting and our lecturer (Bridget) is really good. We had our first real challenge of a lecture today on myth and semiotics that I left feeling completely stuffed with new ideas. We're also doing Media History and Politics. This looked less promising, but the first lecturer made it come alive. Unfortunately the second lecture was a bit of a bore, with one of those annoying people who feel...the need...to...stop after every...few words...for...no...particular reason and an OHP that refused to co-operate with his clip-on microphone. Oh, and everyone had fresher's flu, so you couldn't hear him over the spluttering anyway. Tomorrow involves an analysis of jazz music, so that should be a better lecture :).
I'm probably picking out the negative bits more than the positive ones, but it really has been enjoyable so far. I'm getting into my studies properly this week. I've been collecting interesting media bits and bobs from 'The Independent' and other places (could come in useful!). I've also got some Levi-Strauss, Sartre, Foucault and Barthes that I got from the library as well as some of the bulkier books I got off the reading list. Our first essay is due on the 10th November, so I shall soon be researching away like a busy student bee. However, I have been told that it's 'all about the networking'*, so maybe I'll do that instead.
* why is it that going to university results in everyone feeling the need to give you worldly advice?