To History, With Love

I had my third and final class of the week just now- Madness and Medicine in Modern Britain- and I'm ready to write love songs about it. Perhaps one day we will find our differences, but right now, it's true love between this class and myself. It's exactly what I thought it would be; it covers the treatment of mental illnesses beginning in the 19th century (that's modern for Britain, whereas in America, "modern" is 1980 ;p) and going until the mid twentieth century and I am so excited. A lot of our studies will be done about the Victorian period which, if you know me at all, you will be aware that I have been obsessed with this era since I was about seven years old.

Not only is this class catering to my obsessions, but we also have a specific "module" (which is both a term for a class and, apparently, a specific area of study within a class. These double-meanings are killing me) focusing on female hysteria, which is the mental illness I spent pretty much all of last semester researching; in the end, I wrote two research papers that were completely focused on that and a play that touched on it. I can't wait to learn even more about it, and Victorian treatment in general.

My professor is Greek, accent and all, but it didn't take long to get used to it. I like how he teaches so far, especially since he doesn't expect us to just sit there and listen during lectures- we're allowed to take part (which I did; hooray for knowledge of the Four Humors!) My seminar (which comes after the lecture and in which I am the solitary American) was awesome. We discussed things that used to be considered mental illnesses or causes of them and I talked for too long about the perception of the dangers of female education in the Victorian era leading to hysteria. The teacher was very interested in the fact that I'd done work on this already, although I think his and my definitions of research differ a bit. After I was done speeching, he was like, "Well, don't worry, we don't do that any more; you girls will get just as much work." :p I am completely and totally in love with this class, and as soon as it was over, I handed in my registration sheet that will permanently put me in all of my classes.

Last night, for my Adaptations class' "unsupervised rehearsal," we were supposed to watch the film version of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, so we gathered in one of the rehearsal rooms. While the classmate who brought the laptop looked for a version online (there are no copies in the school library), we were chatting. At this point, it was just a few of the girls in the class- the single guy in the class couldn't make it and two of the girls were pulled from the class due to scheduling issues. There was an interesting exchange of questions- the English girls asking the other American girl and me if certain things were still big in America anad if we watched any British TV, and we asked them the same questions about England. As is turns out, these English girls have seen about ten times more American television than I have. I've never seen Jersey Shore, 90210, Saved by the Bell, and had never even heard of this new show about brides getting extreme plastic surgery every week, though another girl did express her love for Gilmore Girls. It was kind of funny, especially since the British shows I do watch (My Family, Dr. Who) got wrinkled noses from all of them.

This weekend- in about forty-five minutes, actually- I am going on homestay in Herne Bay. I'm bringing my computer, but I don't know if I'll be able to update, so I guess you have either many long entries or one mile-long entry to look forward to ;p


My review of some of the candy in yesterday's picture:

Swizzels Matlow Refreshers (strawberry flavour): Exactly like our Laffy Taffy but less sweet, and all the better for it. I like candy that doesn't make my teeth hurt once I've finished it.

Swizzels Matlow Drumstick (original raspberry and milk flavour): Again, like Laffy Taffy, but this one was too hard to chew to be very enjoyable. The taste was fine, but a little strange; I think it's the added milk.

Cadbury Roses (chocolate and peanut, chocolate caramel, and chocolate orange creme): the first two were delicious, but the chocolate/orange combo is really big here and I still don't understand it. It's not that it tastes bad, really... it's just a really weird concept, and that makes it hard to eat. But I know that this does not deter all Americans (namely, Adrienne, who seems to love this combo.)

Cabury Eclairs: another thing that was too hard to eat; I was afraid I would crack my teeth and so stopped my attempts. Plus, it's almost completely caramel, and I'm not a caramel person.

Swizzels Matlow Snap and Crackle: Pretty much as the same as the Refresher, so I'm not sure why it's called a Snap and Crackle.

Bounty: the definition of deliciousness. Chocolate and coconut!

Rocky: more like a chocolate covered cookie (er... biscuit) than anything else, but still tasty.

Cadbury Dairy Milk: it had an oddly coffee-like aftertaste that I wasn't a fan of, but otherwise, pretty good.