Endgame

Endgame

Aside from the name of a huge text on The Nibelungenlied, the chapters of which I've read so many times that by now I've probably read the whole book twice, 'Endgame' is also the name of a Samuel Beckett play that I think is actually in French.  I don't really know anything about the play other than that there's a guy named Ham in it and one line from the play is 'un coeur, un coeur dans ma tête,' and I don't really know the significance of this quote other than that someone once compared it to Poe's 'A Telltale Heart' in some essay I once read.  But none of that is actually relevant to what I'm saying here.  I simply use endgame here to refer to the final stretch of the semestre when everything is due and we all panic.  But not me, because I've got my towel.  With that in mind, I've reached the endgame of my first semestre here in St Andrews.  I've got 3 essays and a palaeographical transcription/analysis due by the 8th and after that I'll be free!!  Well, I guess I also have another essay due 10 January, but I'm trying not to think about that one right now.

November

School

November's drawing to a close and for the most part it was a pretty relaxed month.  With only a few assignments due I was able to relax a bit and focus more on Latin and Old Norse (I'm now going to Old Norse sessions 3 times a week).  I also spent most of November reading.  I've read so much this month on all kinds of things.  I just hope some of it rubs off on my writing.  

Weather

The weather here has been much more like the weather I expected from Scotland: hovering around 10 degrees (yes, 10 above—sorry Edmonton friends), grey, and wet.  I have yet to see it actually pour here like it does when it rains in Canada, but it always seems to be raining lightly off and on.  Or else it won't really be raining at all, but there'll be a mist suspended in the air and you could step outside and feel perfectly dry, but walk for 5 minutes and somehow you're soaked.  Every week they seem to say the next week will be colder, but so far it hasn't been, and just yesterday the BBC was saying this will probably be the warmest winter on record for Great Britain.

Fun Stuff

Outside of schoolwork I haven't done too much.  The work has been manageable in November, but it was still crazy busy.  We did have 4 big band gigs this month (3 of which I managed to play in).  The most recent ones were back-to-back nights when we played at the Winter Grad Ball for Dundee University.   The 1st night was pretty average, but the 2nd night only a small number of us showed so we were playing extremely carefully because there wasn't a big band behind you to cover any mistakes.  But during the 2nd half of that gig we all kind of loosened up and just went full-throttle and most of the grads got up and started dancing (they even pushed the tables out of the way to make more dancing room).  If you ask me, we sounded amazing!  And the conductor even said that the 2nd half was one of the best set-lists he'd ever heard out of Dundee U Big Band.  Unfortunately most of the pictures below are from the 1st night and really don't capture the energy on that 2nd night.  But take my word for it, it was awesome!

Most towns/cities here have a 'Christmas Lights Switch-on' event where they turn on the city Christmas lights and have a few festive events in the streets and shopping centres for the holidays (even fireworks!).  We went to the one here in Dundee and it was pretty cool, though most of the 'fun events' were just shops staying open late with the excuse of selling Christmas-related things, so that was a little disappointing.  

Tomorrow is St Andrews Day and there are a lot of events going on in St Andrews (including a Christmas Lights Switch-on and a Ceilidh) so I may go to that with my flat mates, depending how much work I get done today (2 of my essays are due Monday and Tuesday).

Other than that, there's not much else that's new here.  I'm looking forward to my Dad coming up on the 12th and my trip back to Canada.  This'll probably be my 2nd last update before Christmas, since I imagine I'll be fairly busy once I'm back in Canada.

Pictures

Unfortunately all I really have pictures of is the Winter Grad Ball gig.

The set-up outside.  They even had a bagpiper playing to welcome people inside.

The sign inside.

From the first night.  I know what you're thinking, and unfortunately no, that is not a shower of sparks from the ceiling or any other high-budget stage effects, it's just the light reflecting off of a disco ball.  Although, the stage set-up there is really sweet because the lights, although warm, don't leave you melting, and it's even bright enough that you can almost read your music.  I know that sounds sarcastic, but seriously, that's the nicest stage I've ever played on.

More from Day 1

Sadly, I think this is the only picture from Day 2 and it's from the 1st set when there were only a few couples dancing.  Also, I'm actually in this picture!  If you squint, you can see my head on the far right behind the saxophonists.

Pictures!

In no particular order, here are some pictures:

Dudhope Park on a Fall morning (my birthday morning in fact)

Reflection of sunrise on the clouds (the same beautiful morning from my bedroom window)

My fancy window ornaments 'so the people will know we were here'

Enjoying a birthday pint

Halloween with flatmates and friends

More Halloween, trying to look scary

Guy Fawkes Day

Also known as Bonfire Night

And some photos of the Cooler by the fancy professional photographer:

Look how shiny they all are!

Conductor (far left) taking a solo with the big band president

The saxophones

The trombones

No Longer Week 2

So I've been told by some family members that it is no longer Week 2 and my blog could benefit from an update or two.  Turns out it's already Week 8 or something!  Week 6 maybe? ...I'm not sure why they count them here.

This isn't a very good update though—more of an update to let you know of an impending update.  Below is just a few highlights of things I've gotten up to since the last update.  Sadly, it is pictureless.  But before the sun sets on Sunday, there will be a better update with some pics.  That's the Winger Guarantee.

After the last update I didn't do a whole lot except readings for a couple weeks.  Then came a very busy few weeks where the deadlines across all our classes were in a 5-day span.  In that time I managed 2 essays, a palaeography transcription, and a Latin assessment.  Oh yeah, and my birthday was in there somewhere as well.  After a day of Old Norse and working on my essay, I took the evening off and went to a pub with my flatmates in Dundee and a few course-mates living in St Andrews even made the trip up to Dundee to join us.  It was quite a nice break, and I was far enough into my assignments that I felt I could afford an evening of not working.

I also got some mail!  Big thank-yous to Kim, Baba, Oma, and Erin for the post! As well as to all the kind emails.
P.s. A postcard is kinda cheating, Erin!
P.p.s. It was still appreciated though!
P.p.p.s. Back to the update.

I also put out a short paper through the University of St Andrews History Society's Historical Journal (that whole thing is its actual name!)  It is geared toward a slightly wider audience (i.e. undergrads) and most of the edits they had me make were to make the paper fit a strict essay structure.  Something the postgrad teachers seem to discourage.  If you're interested, it's about a group of rune-stones in Sweden and their (potential) historical value, and can be read HERE.

The Dundee University Big Band has had a couple more gigs as well.  We played at The Steeple Church which rents out some of its space to the local swing dance society.  The Swing Dance society was having a weekend-long swing-dancing workshop and we provided the music for their Riverside Stomp (one of their fun dances, as opposed to workshops).  It was a rad time.  Last week we also played at The Cooler.  It's the biggest gig we do in terms of audience and we do one a semester.  We played 3 sets and despite the reduced-price drinks we were all pretty beat by the end.  After clean up we all shared a last drink before parting ways for the night, and I got home around 1:30 after having spent 8 hours at the venue from door to door (Between 4 and 5 hrs of combined playing time).  This was the Wednesday of the week of Halloween and some of the band dressed accordingly (with puns too!) Pictures to follow in a day or two.

Unfortunately I'll be missing the next gig as it's on a Friday at 1:30 and I don't finish Old Norse in Crail (half hour past St Andrews) until 12:40 or so.  But the one after that is for last year's grads and should be pretty fun.  There has also been talk of following the example of the Danish orchestra in eating peppers of record-breaking hotness while playing a spicy Latin number—I have mixed thoughts on this.

The History postgrads hosted a no-teachers-allowed Halloween party in the Undercroft for Halloween with a tonne of free candies and some drinks too for only £3, which I went to as an unconvincing Rasputin.  The costume theme was villains and there were some pretty good ones.  My favourite was probably someone dressing up as George R. R. Martin.

Tomorrow is Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes Day) and at this point most Brits don't even seem to know whether they're celebrating the fact that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, or the fact that someone stood up to Parliament and the King.  And some people see it as an entirely Anglican vs Christian thing.  Happily however, most people just enjoy the sparks of bonfires and sparkling of fireworks.  I do not yet know whether masks are encouraged or frowned upon, but I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

And that's all for now.  Pictures coming soon.