Day 121, 7 May: Study: The Penultimate Day

My Book, Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 121. Study: The Penultimate Day

Most of the day consisted of me reading and finishing Henry James’s The Portrait of A Lady. I ran at 6pm and that ensued a late dinner. I did get in a good two hours playing guitar at some point.

Day 120, 6 May: To Skypeland--Be Back Soon

My Computer, Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 120. To Skypeland—Be Back Soon

It may seem both an anti-social and a social thing at once—being at a computer all day yet talking to my girlfriend and a high school friend all day. I did go for a run, but I was quite happy just being at my computer otherwise. I went through different stages: the oh-I-better-blog stage, taking a few hours to cover the weekend, then came the my-parents-are-leaving-for-Europe-today-I-need-to-email mode, next the yay-it’s-time-to-see-Katya, the Greg-it’s-been-forever-good-to-see-you, and then the yes-I’m-still-on-skype-let’s-talk-more-with-a-better-internet-connection-Katya. The internet connection was terrible today.  At one point, between Greg and Katya part II, I went off to the kitchen and ate French Brie cheese (Yes! ‘A pound!’ to quote yesterday) with Italian breadsticks. I shared it with Vinnie and Dan, and Wilson/Gum Gum was in the kitchen too. It was nice that the internet finally worked again and I got to hear Katya’s voice once more. I really miss her.

Day 119, 5 May: Wroxham and the Camera of 7 Wonders

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 119. Wroxham and the Camera of 7 Wonders

Queen of the Broads

 Rebecca asked me via facebook last night if I wanted to take a daytrip with a group of seven to Wroxham. I said why not. This morning we all met at the main bus stop on campus and headed off to a place a 30-minute bus ride and 15-minute train ride away (the bus was just to the rail station in Norwich—and the two-way ticket cost more than the two-way train ticket, talk about irony).

Rebecca and Winnie In Sepia

Me, Marika, Anna, Emily, Morgana, Rebecca, Winnie, Sierra

      It was nice to see more of the Norfolk region, since I am studying abroad in this area, and our group was great: Marika, Sierra, Emily (there was also another Emily on the bus with us, but she was stopping in the city centre to study today; she’s good friends with many of them too), Winnie, Rebecca, Morgana, Anna, and me.

      Our first stop was eating at Wherrymans Restaurant, a nice wooden structure alongside the Norfolk Broads, which is a network of lakes and rivers in Norfolk and Suffolk counties. I hadn’t thought about it, but it could easily be said to be the Venice of England, to a certain degree and less glamorous than the truly incomparable majesty of Venice. For lunch, Marika and I had the Wherrymans burger (6 ounces of glorious beef) while others had pizza or an interesting ham salad with a slab of ham covering more than half the plate (Sierra’s dish).

      Next stop was the 2-hour boat excursion on the majestically named boat ‘Queen of the Broads’. A huge group of girls in their mid-twenties were also aboard, all wearing sailor hats and blue and white striped T-shirts. It turns out it was a bachelorette party and it was their day together. They took up much of the downstairs section of the boat, but we managed to find a good table to sit at. It was about half our group downstairs, mainly Marika, Anna, Winnie, Rebecca, and I, which reminds me, the day was ridiculously cold and windy. The others stayed upstairs and toughed it out, while getting quite likely better views of the broads.

In Toy Camera Effect

In Super Vivid

      But downstairs, the girls were impressed with my camera—I began showing them the effects like sepia and black-and-white and even a setting called ‘fish-eye effect’. Winnie inspected the camera and discovered that fish-eye wasn’t the only effect on that setting (and by setting I mean the ones marked on top of the camera in a dial, with the picture of a face for ‘Portrait’ setting, ‘AUTO’ for automatic setting, etc.). She explored the other wonders of my camera, finding monochrome (gray lighting), super vivid, and the group’s favourite ‘Toy Camera Effect’. I went on to discover the miniature effect (blurring the top and bottom of a picture) and the poster effect (really interesting colour contrast), which rounded off the seven wonders of my camera (Sepia, Fish-Eye Effect, Monochrome, Super Vivid, Toy Camera Effect, Poster Effect, and Miniature Effect). I had fun making that facebook album later that day.

Nap time...in Miniature Effect

In Monochrome

      The Broads themselves were beautiful—a lot of birds and nature surrounding us, as well as many privately owned boats passing us with their passengers smiling and waving at us. Our boat held at least fifty but more like eighty, I’d say. Unfortunately, I rarely ever heard the announcer commenting on the scenes we were seeing—I grew tired forty minutes in and took two naps—and a third one later. Apparently Winnie took photos of me sleeping with Marika and Rebecca hovering in the background. It was funny. Oh, I do remember one fact: there is a boat tax for being on the broads and for the Queen of the Broads, as a commercial vehicle, it has to be pay something in the hundreds. I was astounded by that. Then, since for some reason I remember the money trivia, there were houses on the broad that went for half a million pounds. The tour guide pointed them out on our left and I could see why they fetched that price.

      At one point, I visited the upstairs to see Morgana, Sierra, and Emily and the view of the sailboats was stellar. We had made it out to the middle of an enormous lake, and against the backdrop of a dark cloudy day, the sight seemed to lighten up at that point.

At the dock (Photo Courtesy of Marika)

My Favorite Picture

      After the two hours, we landed back where we started and walked back to the train station and headed home. Once back in Norwich, we walked a little ways to a store called Morrison’s. And it blew me away. The prices were so nice! And so much food! All of us wound up buying weekly or bimonthly groceries—I’m particularly proud of my purchase of a bag of 22 bags of crisps…for a little over a pound. Marika and Winnie also bought them. Then I explored the store...French Brie cheese! A pound! Apples! A pound! Bananas, oranges, a drinking cup! Pound, pound, pound! As Marika mentioned, it may not have been smart to buy food on empty stomachs, but hey, most of it was cheap! Meat wasn’t as cheap as the pound purchases, but still, this store was utterly amazing. I spent 26 pounds for basically two weeks’ worth of groceries. and on the bus ride back to campus, we all ate Marika’s popcorn. It was dinnertime already.

      Back on campus, the generous Alvin let me borrow his bike to ride over to Tesco’s to fetch a few grocery items I forgot earlier (or really, didn’t have room for). I enjoyed riding a bike, as this marked the third time I have done it since leaving California (the first time in Amsterdam, the second in Rome). I miss riding. I should’ve invested in one like Vinnie early in the semester. But ah well.

            I was in a social mood upon getting back to my flat, and so I decided to participate in the nightly celebrations in the kitchen and then head off to the LCR with my flatmates. I saw many of my Europe trip friends there too and the night was a blast.

Fun In the Kitchen (Photo Courtesy of Rachael)

                                   

Day 118, 4 May: Exam #1 and Under the LCR

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 118. Exam #1 and Under the LCR

The Study Set-Up in the Morning

After spending the morning in stress-induced hype with Charlie (we had exams at the same time) and my Romanticism books for one last look, it was finally here: My first examination, the last time I was to partake in the Romanticism second-year module at UEA. The situation was dramatic: a large crowd of students stood in groups outside Congregational Hall (apt title in this case, I guess). I found familiar faces from class, though the names to those faces I could not place, and stood with them, just as much in the pre-event hype. Two of them I later learned were Joe and Jack. An announcer at the top of the staircase called out the room assignments for each module: Psychology Dissertation…Biology…Romanticism.

      We went downstairs and into a smaller room. Our seminar leader Cath Sharrock was there, in the process of leaving, and she wished us good luck. There was also a proctor in the room, making me feel like I was back in the days of SATs, ACTs, and AP tests (high school standardized exams).

      The test began. I turned the paper over and numbers two and five of the eleven prompts held topics that I had studied very specifically. I normally would type up my notes from class as my study method, but this last week I figured that studying William Blake for the significance of childhood in Romanticism and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for a discussion on the sublime were likely to be on the exam. I just studied those two in depth, along with a few critics on them, and it paid off.

       After the exam, the proctor collected all the exams and we left at 2:15. The exam had lasted two hours and we were now completely done with Romanticism. As Jack said in the hallway, it was a really good module and I agree. Cath led really good seminars and I’m really happy I learned about the Romantic poets. Before this class, I knew Wordsworth—now add William Blake, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Charlotte Smith, John Keats, Edmund Burke and the sublime, William Hazlitt, and Mary Robinson. There are more, of course, but a semester-long class can only cover so much.  

      I decided to join Jack and Joe to the Union Pub on campus and we and four others each had a celebratory pint. I ended up staying for two hours, hearing Jack talk about the ROTC-equivalent program he’s in and Joe talk about the gap year he took before uni to explore the United States (New York to the Grand Canyon by bus). Their friend Shori, also from Romanticism, joined us and talked about how she was in the same theatre youth group with Robert Pattinson (yes, the Twilight vampire) years ago and that was where he was discovered—originally for the role of Cedric Diggory in the fourth Harry Potter movie. This reminded me that Emily on Wednesday had mentioned that she had met Emma Watson once. (I was thinking, so there’s a Californian stereotype that everyone who lives there knows the Hollywood celebrities and then hop over the pond to England and people know Harry Potter stars?! ) As for myself, I talked about being in Washington, D.C. on 9/11, in 2001. Eventually we got onto topics like American vs British uni’s and next year modules at UEA (for them). This was a really good part of the day.

The Undercovers in the Union Pub's Blue Bar

      Later flatmate Matt invited me to do laundry with him and Vinnie tagged along too, so the three of us all spent our Friday night in the laundry room—and the Union Pub (very close by to the Laundrette). I generally haven’t spent that much time here, the place under the LCR, but today proved a good day for hanging out there. In the evening, we ran into members of the flat on the bottom floor of B block, a neighbour block, of which I knew Emma and Vicky. Marie and her friend Rachel were also there. The main event was a show performed by a cover band cleverly titled ‘The Undercovers’—and they really killed it. They had a sound that was seemingly identical to The Killers and Red Hot Chili Peppers, which were the main bands they covered. I watched the lead guitarist and was both in awe and envy. Laundry finished around the time the band ended their show, and we headed back in the midnight air.

Day 117, 3 May: Tea and Crumpets at Booton Hall

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 117. Tea and Crumpets at Booton Hall

Booton Hall, an elegant house, was in the middle of the English countryside, large lawn out the front, pond to the side of the driveway, shrubbery right along the exterior outline of the house. Two dogs made quite a frightening welcome as one followed the taxi into the driveway and the other greeted us at the side door getting out.

       This was the home of Jill Buch, the one whose generosity has enabled me to study abroad. Along with me were the other Buch scholarship winners Sierra and two UEA British girls bound for Berkeley next semester/year, Sandie and Emily. Eleanor Crawford and Monica Popp and Matthew Daines consisted of the professionals in our party of seven. Eleanor is in the treasury at UEA, Monika is the programme officer of the UCEAP (Univ. of California Education Abroad Program) London Headquarters, and Matthew is Director of Development (Europe) involved with study abroad programs and close friend of Mrs. Buch. Standing in the doorway to greet us was the smiling and elegant Jill Buch, adorned fashionably in Cal (nickname for UC Berkeley) colours of blue and gold.

Emily, Sandie, Jill Buch, Me, Sierra

      Once inside and out of the miserable cold and rainy weather, I immediately picked up on the smell of ancient books and musky air around us. Old discoloured and antiquated photographs neatly fitted on the walls. It reminded me of my grandparents’ place up in a small town in Trinity county in California. We dropped our coats down in a small alcove beside the corridor and proceeded into a grand room with a fire pleasantly warming the scene. One of the dogs followed us inside and while we sat ourselves down on the couches and chairs, he sat at our feet and wagged his tail endlessly. He provided good entertainment whenever he rolled over onto his stomach.

       The first part of this afternoon was spent in discussion, how Jill began the scholarship within the last ten years to create a legacy for her late husband Alan Buch (a Berkeley alum). She grew up in England and they met in America. Soon the discussion shifted to how Sierra and I enjoy our time at UEA and in Norwich, and what advice we can give to Sandie and Emily as they journey off to Berkeley in the fall (which we are too). Once we are back on our home campus, Sierra and I plan to spread the word about UEA, since it definitely wasn’t publicized when we chose the uni, for our own reasons. One good reason why UEA is a really good uni to study abroad in is the location—outside of London makes the study abroad experience a lot more financially feasible and the English countryside has a certain charm that excessive tourism would spoil. It’s nice to have time to reflect and study without feeling perpetually caught up in thinking of travel…because with so many train stations and airports in and around London…I might have not been able to help myself. For the good and the bad. Oh but the second reason why UEA is legit: the newest Doctor Who, Matt Smith, is a recent graduate of the drama department at UEA.

Crumpets and Tea

      After a time, tea was served and I have to say, this was definitely an experience I will remember. This was a proper English tea party. I was excited. I had my cup and saucer in hand…and I definitely, though subtly, raised my pinky as I tilted the cup to drink. Just to do it, you know. After all the tea was served, a cover went over the tea pot and I found it quaint with its pastel-coloured design.

      Then came the crumpets. There were ones with melted cheese on top and ones plain. I tried both, of course, and now can say I’ve had tea and crumpets. Contrary to belief, British students do not normally have crumpets with their tea. But they do have a lot of tea. Next were the salmon dish, the cut-up sausage rolls, the mini cucumber sandwiches, and a double-decker plate of small desserts. I loved it.

      The adults left the room after a time to have their own discussion while the four of us (Sierra, Emily, Sandie, and I) talked. All of us but Sandie are English majors, so…it might’ve looked a little pretentious with our tea in hand and talk of the virtues of T.S. Eliot in the scheme of British modernism…but we had a lot of time, so the topics ranged from English to Cal football (Go Bears!) to the recent banning of the UEA rugby team due to havoc caused in past years and even to the closure of the music department at UEA and the notion of pursing journalism and/or writing as a career. Oh there was plenty of the ‘Is this American stereotype true?’ as well. And vice versa.

      By five o’clock it was time to leave. The afternoon tea had lasted from 2 to 5, so it was a pleasant and relaxing way to spend the middle of the day before my first exam. I had spent my morning in a flurry of excitement over getting back coursework/essay marks for my two English literature modules and I pulled off grades for both with which I’m satisfied. By night, I got back to studying-guitar-playing mode. I ended the night nervous for the first exam I’ve had to take since December.

Our Whole Group (with Monika, Eleanor, and Matthew)

Day 116, 2 May: Simple Subject-Verbs

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 116. Simple Subject-Verbs

      I ran. It felt good to run.

      I talked. Nice to hang out with the flat intermittently, visit Charlie and Dan’s rooms, steal Marie’s chair, see Vinnie writing an essay, chat online with old friends, etc.

      I studied. Frankenstein and the sublime. Sometimes with English literature…it’s all interesting.

      I played. I had a nice flow back and forth between playing guitar and studying today, nice ‘fun’ and ‘study’ modes playing off each other.

      I’m done.

Day 115, 1 May: Into Study-Panic-Fun Mode

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 115. Into Study-Panic-Fun Mode

As if it was planned, Stephen King came over to my family’s house (not actually our house but my family lived there, might’ve been partially my first house) and spent the evening with us. I remember him sitting at the baby grand piano, on the far left of the bench and I told him it’s better to sit in the middle. He asked me how my stories were coming along and I answered ‘all right’, slightly timidly. He even went with us to the movie theatres (all my family and Stephen King). But I also remember many more people coming along: Jen, Dan, Charlie, Alvin, Gemma, etc. (I remember Jen waiting for me when I had ticket troubles) and then I had high school friends Will, Elsie, Chris, Greg, Joe, etc. (Will and Katya also waited with me.) and then college friends too Katya, Dylan, Memo, etc. I never actually got in to see the movie because the upstairs shifted into a house and I saw Stef wandering around the living room. But at some point I was driving back from the cinema and got to park my car in the backyards driveway of my first house (way back, in Curtis Park). Stephen King at this hour left but I didn’t see him leave—I felt the weight of regret in that I had never gotten a photo with him, but I somehow had the feeling that he’d be back to visit, whenever he was in California again (he lives in Maine).   

      That was my dream.

      

In the ARTS building with Collins.

In the ARTS building with Stef.

The day was fun. I walked to the library to see Stef and James Collins, my study group for Romanticism, when I saw Stef and a group of her friends walking to Blend. Just before that moment, I was feeling like I hadn’t eaten with people outside my flat kitchen in awhile, so it was perfect timing. I ate lunch with Stef, Dave (her flatmate), and Sophie and Sarah. Sophie asked me up front, ‘Is it true that if I say an interesting word, I will get mentioned on your blog?’ I laughed, and said sure. Unfortunately, I don’t find the word interesting enough to ment—kidding, the word was scone, but the correct pronunciation is apparently more posh than I previously  believed. It’s not SCOwwn, but SCOnn. Sarah argued on this with her, but apparently the Queen says it the second way. So it must be correct. Meanwhile, Dave sat at his corner of the table texting away, eventually being teased for his reticence.

      I went off to study with Stef and Collins, who had just come from the barber’s (he missed lunch...), and we studied in the ARTS building since the library is still an exorbitant sponge too fat to have enough space for trickles of afternoon entries (as in, finding a seat past noon is like finding the tip of a needle in a haystack—and then sitting on it before someone else does). The coaches in ARTS are slightly disorienting—trying to promote students to sit there when the dark red couch sits beside the maroon couch and the lime green one…too much skittles-taste-the-rainbow for me.

FIRST LENTIL SOUP I'VE EVER MADE! YES!!!!!

      I studied on and off, made a trip to the library for a few books, and panicked a little when I read Stef’s and Collins’ papers from earlier in the semester (since they wrote on Blake and childhood for the paper, I can write on it for the exam but they can’t; and vice versa with me and Shelley). Their formatting and the modes of analytical writing were a lot different from mine—they focused a lot on the secondary sources when I barely used them past introductory usage. I did close read more, but I don’t know what the professors and tutors are looking for. This is the scary part of studying in another country.

      The Sunday skype with Katya was moved to today, and it was a nice two hours. Another positive thing was my triumph in making lentil soup from scratch! I called up Jen and Charlie for advice and help, got some from Matt in the kitchen, and in general it ended up being mostly an improvised process. But a success all the same!

      I let Vinnie borrow my black waistcoat for the LCR tonight, in which he adorned himself as Aladdin. He looked pretty good, I must say, and I think the picture of him flying on a magic towel above the desk does him justice. I had fun chatting in the flat, oh and this was a great dialogue exchange:

Charlie: OOH, it’s getting too hot in here?

Alvin: [dramatic pause] Should I leave?

[And he nailed it, folks! Hook, line, sinker and the crowd goes wild, ba dum tiss.] 

And here's Aladdin before taking off to the LCR
(yes, he did fly over on this magic towel, of course).