Proms Lite

I just returned from quite an interesting concert.

By way of explanation: the BBC Proms is a series of concerts given every summer, primarily in London. They are generally intended to bring classical music to a wider audience. As such the performances are more informal than your typical concert, and (as seems to be a recurring pattern in this country) a number of odd traditions are involved.

One of the Oxford student orchestras decided to hold their own smaller version of the Last Night of the Proms. This turned out to include:

• mostly British music (Elgar, Vaughan Williams, etc.)
  
• a corresponding display of patriotism, something that I really haven't seen here before; most of the musicians wore something with a Union Jack on it (including a few bowties and one cummerbund), and most people in the audience were waving flags
  
• silliness in the orchestra; the conductor took a break for tea during one rather long clarinet solo
  
• audience participation: singing along, stomping, clapping, blowing noisemakers, and the previously mentioned flag-waving

This all made for a hilariously fun evening, which only improved when we got to sing "God Save the Queen." You quite possibly know the first verse:

God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen;
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us;
God save the Queen.

However, you are less likely to have heard the second verse, which is:

O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter thine enemies,
And make them fall;
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix;
God save us all.

Weather

"I hate England. Why did you come here?"
-- Matt, my tutorial partner, as we left college last week to find it suddenly raining

The past few days have actually been summery and pleasant, which is a nice change from last week's storms. I have to mention something that happened during that spell of bad weather, though: some people I know organized a friendly football match, and plenty of people showed up to play in the rain. I think that says something about British resilience (or at least about the British love of football).

Revue du France

Note: This entry was originally written on the train to Barcelona after spending more than two weeks in France (April 28, 2007). It’s all in mangled “French”–without even the aid of a dictionary–which is a mix of incorrect French, Spanish, and English. This is an entry for me to reflect on in the future–as much for the content as for seeing how much French I knew. Feel free to just look at the pretty pictures at Flickr (not all of the photos are uploaded yet due to bandwidth limits…

J’ai arrivee en Paris immediamente apres ma exam de chemie quantum. La premerie vu du Paris est un homme que peepee por la rue. Il no tournez pas a la autre direccion. J’ai une question por encontrer mi hostel, The Peace and Love. Sur las proximes trois jours, j’ai vu la Tour Eiffel, l’Arc du Triomphe, las Champs Elysees, la Lourve, la Notre Dame, la Moulin Rouge (pas en le soir, tristemente), la Sacre Coeur, la Palais du Luxeombourg, et beaucoups beaucoups jardins. Si je va encore, je va a voir la Musee d’Orsay, la Musee Picasso, et il n’ya pas beaucoup plus. Paris est plus cool si je connaisez le francais, o si je suis avec mes amis.

Apres, j’ai alle a Montelimar en la sur de France, a la midi des Valence et Orange. Por deux semanes, j’ai vive avec la famille Cheron: Stephanie, Laurent, Chloe, Quentin, Pirouette (le chien), et Peanuts (le chat).

La premiere soir a est bizare parce que j’ai ne se pas beaucoup francais, et Stephanie se un peu de anglais. Mais demaine la autre visiteur, Erin, a arrivee, et elle est de les Etats Unids et parle francais tres fluidmente, parce que elle a faire un mission en Quebec por soi eglise por deux ans. Donk, elle a m’explique tout que j’ai ne comprends pas.

J’ai devee parle plus, mais je ne peut en francais. Nos avion avoir beaucoup montanges, chateaux, palaix, parcs, etc. J’ai aimee la nouritture francais, comme la pate, la fromage, la escargot, et les pains aux chocolats. Mais j’ai aimee la plus la famille tres genial. Chloe et Quentin j’ai reconnaise a ma sur et moi. C’a est tres interesante voir un famille differente etre comme ma famille. Et il y’a un jour que Peter et Anke an m’aidee en Marseilles. Il a fait tres bella la jour, et j’ai voir la mer mediterranean por la premiere vez.

Je suis por la tran a Barcelona. Je va a perd la francais toutamente, mais j’ai passe jours formidables en France.

ANZAC Day

So in Australia and New Zealand, April 25 is a huge holiday commemorating the landing of Aus and NZ troops on the beaches of Gallipoli in Turkey during WWI. It's a pretty big deal because it was the first time Aus troops had seen battle (remember Aus didn't fight for independence) and supposedly they fought extremely bravely despite the fact that they were at a strategic disadvantage, etc, and it's a huge deal to the Aussies that when tested in battle, their soldiers "were not found lacking..." and its kind of seen as Aus' coming of age. So I got up before 4 and went to the dawn service where the governor of Western Aus spoke of the "ANZAC spirit, forged in the fires of Gallipoli..." (direct quote from WA's governor, I swear...but doesn't it sound Lord of the Ringsesque??) and built on the values of "courage, honour, and mateship" (those values which supposedly form the basis of the unique Australian national identity.) Seriously, MATESHIP...my "character value" education was sadly lacking without that one.... Anyways, they have a dawn service at the war memorial in King's Park, so I went to that, and later to the parade and commemorative service at Langley Park, which was interesting for several reasons. First, it included several prayers. Kind of funny, because Aus is overall more secular than the states, but they threw in all these prayers and everyone was fine with it. Then, and this just blew me away, they said a prayer for the Queen of England and sang "God Save the Queen." I just don't understand why she is still their Head of State...granted Aus' history with Britain is quite different from the US', and in their eyes, its not causing any problems, so why change it? But still...you're an independent nation and you're keeping Britain's queen as your head of state?

Japan blog

Hey guys,
I'm in Tokyo!! It's been fantastic so far and I've decided to start a blog to keep track of all my adventures/misadventures over the next four months. Here is the link: http://brettintokyo.blogspot.com/ ...Though I will share some of the more interesting stories on here from time to time. Anyways, I just spent the day admiring/laying under cherry trees...the city is gorgeous right now! Anyways, hope everyone is having a great time. Just remember- I beat all of you for earliest time zone! ;) (haha jk)

Performances

I've said before that Oxford favors specialization over well-roundedness. There's one area, however, in which the university is more open than IU, and that area is performing arts. It's much easier for students outside the theater and music departments to find groups to perform with. Most colleges have an orchestra, a drama society, or both. The university-wide orchestras have open auditions at the beginning of the year, and there are a plenty of student groups that put on their own productions.

Naturally, these groups still attract mostly theater and music majors, since they're more committed to the kind of work involved, but there's a healthy mix of humanities and science majors participating in most shows; this is not something that you find very often at IU.

"We can hear you guys miles away..."

So after noting the strong Scottish accents of a couple guys we were talking to at a bar, I asked an Aussie friend if the American accent seemed really strong to Australians. Her response: "Oh yea, we can hear you guys miles away..." Good to know. (and interesting that they use the phrase "miles away" when they work in kilometers)
A couple of notes about Australian-speak: They like words to end with an "ie" or "y" sound. My college, St. Thomas More, is Tommy More. The neighboring one is Georgie. Other examples are sunnies (sunglasses) and mossies (mosquitos), as well as the famous barbies (BBQs) I also have noticed that a lot of Australians add an "r" sound to the end of words ending in vowels. So at least to my ears it sounds more like "Australiar" (Australia), "Americer" (America), "idear" (idea), "pander" (panda), etc.
One more interesting thing-on the first day of one of my classes, one of my profs (as he was going over the course outline, etc) noted that he had taught in both Australia and the USA, (I think he's German) and he asked, "Do you know what the difference is between American and Australian students?" I was thinking "Uh-oh, something bad is coming..." but what he said actually complemented American students. He said (loosely quoted) "American students are loud and outspoken. They challenge the profesor. Australian students are quiet and passive..." (He was trying to encourage us to participate in the lectures.) An interesting generalization. I'll have to see if my classroom experiences support it.