Kathryn Finds Humanity in the Form of a Creature

Sorry about the gap guys. We do still exist. So without further ado, I give you a blog entry:

One of my new favourite places in London is the National Theatre. It's right on the south bank of the Thames and is in a really cool building. It also puts on amazing productions like Frankenstein, which I am going to tell you about (WARNING there are a few minor spoilers but none, in my opinion, that would ruin it).

First off, if you are in London see it. Wake up ridiculously early, queue for three hours (like I did) and see it. You will not be disappointed. Secondly, if you are not in London, there is National Theatre Live which will broadcast in cinema's throughout the world. You can find out about it here.

The show stars Jonny Lee Miller (from the movie "Trainspotting") and Benedict Cumberbatch who, aside from having maybe the most awesome name ever, has done some amazing stuff like a movie called "Hawking" and BBC's Sherlock (which is also awesome). Both play Frankenstein and his Creature and swap roles each night. I've seen both casts, and they were both amazing but for me, Benedict Cumberbatch's creature was just so good that that's the cast I would chose if I had to. It's also directed by Danny Boyle (of Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours). The show was completely sold out even before the first performance. Thus, I had to queue very early in the morning but it was absolutely totally completely worth it.

They only open the house 15 minutes before the show because the Creature is in this circular frame womb-ish thing. While you're sitting there, watching it slowly rotate about the stage wondering "what the heck is this thing?" a bell goes off and scares the heck out of you. The chord for the bell is in the audience and people coming in either accidentally or on purpose set it off.


Then the show starts, Oh my goodness does the show start. The Creature is "born" onstage and spends the first 5-10 minutes of the show flailing about the stage as we see him learn to crawl, walk, and run. If you ever want a lesson in physical acting, here it is. There's no music, very little set and no one else on stage. It is absolutely breathtaking.

Now's also probably the time to say that he is completely naked for this whole opening bit. The day tickets (which is what I had) are in the front row from which you can literally touch the stage while still sitting in your seat. On the first night I saw it, with Benedict Cumberbatch as the creature, we made eye contact and I had no clue how to react. On the one hand, I didn't want to throw him or anything but on the other hand I was shocked amazed and pretty much any other word along those lines you can think of. Interestingly, most of the commentators say it is 20 minutes but I would question that. It certainly feels that long, but I think that it is our minds playing tricks on us.


The play is two hours straight, no intermission or anything. The poor man playing the Creature must be absolutely exhausted by the end of the show also mentally exhausted, I should think. It is a phenomenally demanding part. 

Picture by Catherine Ashmore from the BBC

It's hard to put into words exactly how much this play has influenced me, as trite as it may seem. I was having a difficult time with homesickness and motivation and what not the first time I saw it. People often use the word "emotional" to describe being sad or upset. I was "emotional" in the sense that I had almost every emotion going through me at the same time. Thrilled that I was able to see something that good, saddened by the plot of the play, energized by the amazing work of the actors, motivated to work hard to be able to create something, anything, that might be able to move people like this and at the same time depressed knowing I probably never will.


The show also really hit home with me as I am now in the process of getting acceptances and rejections (mostly rejections, but a few acceptances) to PhD programmes for next year. The play brings up a lot of questions about science and academia that I think we should take heed of. Of course, there are the questions of what it means to be human, what responsibilities you have towards a life you create, and the nature of "evil". But there was one line that stands out for me. The Creature asks Frankenstein why he created him to which Frankenstein replies "to prove that I could". There is a belief in much of the academic world especially in the liberal arts that research should exist for its own sake and that trying to aim it towards policy or what not will make it impure. I think that it is important to remember the consequences of your work and what can happen if you produce something dangerous, even if you didn't mean it to be.

I shall be guarding this with my life.

Alright. Intellectual stuff over. Cue fan girling. Last night after seeing it I went to the stage door and got my program signed by Benedict Cumberbatch. I tried, and failed pretty miserably, to tell him how much I enjoyed the play and how much it helped me when I was having a rough time. He was very kind and I was a bit star struck, which made me feel like an idiot. Ah well. I put it in a note to the cast, which hopefully said it a bit better.


So anyways, now that I've got your expectations ridiculously high, I urge you as strongly as possible to go see it live or in the cinema. I'll also try to update the blog a bit more often.

Last but not least, here's a trailer for National Theatre Live.

Till Later,


Kathryn

What the Heck, Britain? Kathryn's List of British Peculiarities

So. As much as it is awesome here, there are a few things that I find slightly odd, I thought I would share them with you here (in no particular order):

1)  Snow
       Last week, London and the rest of the UK got one of the earliest snows it has ever had. And the country stopped. Gatwick airport closed, trains stopped running and people were forced to sleep in them, cars were abandoned on the highway, and the mail stopped being delivered. As someone who spent the last four winters in Michigan, I had very little sympathy. We figure out how to shovel and salt our own walks and the government figures out how to plow and salt the roads. Now. I know that it snows a lot less here so they are less prepared, and I know that outside London there was a lot more snow, and I know that London is really big and has a lot more roads and what not to take care of. But still. It's only snow. Also, it's snowing now and is forecast to tomorrow, when I am supposed to be flying home.Oh bother.

2) Taps
     For some strange reasons, a lot of the hand washing sinks, like those in public restrooms, have two faucets: one for hot, and one for cold. I can understand the value of these for baths or even sinks for washing dishes, but hand washing? It leaves you with two options: freezing cold or blisteringly hot.

3) Post Offices
     Oh. My. Gosh. The post office. Since I am applying for PhD programmes right now, which means many mind numbing things, like entering the exact same information thirteen times (Wainfan, Kathryn T., Undergradute: University of Michigan, etc etc), writing about how I'm awesome and smart and they should let me in and what not. But one of the most frustrating things is having to wait through the infinitely long ques at the Post Office which for some reason, has to do everything from mail letters and packages to passports to selling insurance and phone cards, to even having something resembling a bank account (called the post office card account, when I was interning in the House of Commons it was one of the things we got a ton of letters about). Since it's close to Christmas, I suppose they're busier than usual, but I still find them super annoying. Not to mention it costs way too much to mail a single piece of paper to the US with any sort of guarantee.

4) School sponsored alcohol
     Apparently, the London School of Economics gives their seminar leaders an "entertainment budget" roughly equal to one drink per student. So last week I had drinks with two of my seminar leaders, which the school paid for. Which was odd on many levels. First: it's talking to/ being with a teacher outside of class time. I realize that teachers are people too and have lives and what not but a part of me still hasn't gotten over that first grade astonishment when  you see your teacher in the shops and realize they don't live at school. Second: the school is paying for it. At Michigan, they wouldn't reimburse alcohol, even if everyone was of age.

Anywho. Angelique is supposed to arrive shortly and will spend the night with me since she's flying home tomorrow as well. I am praying to the weather gods/ imps/ spirits/ powers that be that I can get out on time so I don't miss my connection.

Till Next Time,
Kathryn

A photographic tour of Kathryn's past two months

Hello all,

It's been a while, no? Sorry about that we had papers and reading and moving and everything.
But! I have just turned in my last paper of the term and am enjoying a lovely afternoon at Noel and Nora's where Siodhbhra and I shall attempt to do something resembling a Thanksgiving dinner for them later.

There's no way I can catch you up on everything that's happened so instead I will give a photographic tour of the past month and a half:

First, a trip to Canterbury to visit Angelique, much fun was had including seeing sheep in a field next to campus (definitely not something  you would find in London), sightseeing at Canterbury cathedral, and proper tea with scones and everything.

Next, my birthday rolled around. Siodhbhra had class all day so I spent it wondering around London until we could meet up. I went to the Tate Britain museum and wondered around Westminster.

There was a modern art exhibit with a huge concave mirror. It was really disorienting if you got close because it would take up your whole field of vision.

The next weekend Angelique came up to see me and we went around London doing geeky things like going to the British museum and trekking out across London to take our picture in front of the TARDIS (ok, it wasn't the real TARDIS, but a girl can dream.)

This clock tower is not Big Ben. Big Ben is one of the bells inside the clock tower

The closest we could get to 10 Downing St., where the Prime Minister lives

Woo Hoo! Guards in funny outfits near the Royal Cavalry Museum.

The actual real Rosetta Stone.

Last but not least, the Lord Mayor's show was two weeks ago. There is a big parade through the City of London (capital C, which means the one square mile old City of London) and fireworks. Ahh British ceremony, they certainly know how to do that right.

There we are. Hope you enjoyed all of my photos and what not. I will try to be more proactive with the updating in the future.

Until next time,
Kathryn

Weather: It Sucks Here

Hello Internet,

I was walking down the street in London Town the day before yesterday when I looked up and saw what had to be the most depressingly funny billboard in the world, a British Airways advertisement that read: "Chin up, Britain. The sun is shining somewhere." Now, I have not been a Londoner for very long, but even I must admit that I have been somewhat deflated by the rather depressing weather over the course of the past.....since I have been here.

As a former Southern Californian, I'll be the first to admit that I don't really know what weather is, but if I did, I would know that it sucks here. The North Atlantic is just not as nice a place as Los Angeles, where a forecast of "sunny skies and seventy degrees" can pretty much be applied to 360 days out of every year, except for that weird five-day stretch in late December when these things called "clouds" appear and Southern Californians stop in their tracks and look upward at the cold wet stuff falling out of the sky. Still don't know what that stuff is called, but it's extremely common in this country. They've even invented ingenious devices called "umbrellers" that act as portable round ceilings to protect themselves from it. Katie keeps telling me to buy one, but I keep refusing to believe I'm going to need one ever again. And again. And again. And again.

So from this perspective, the BA ad really strikes a chord, especially given how close London is to everything European. Sunny Spain, refreshing France, illuminated Italy, and gorgeous Greece are only a few hundred miles away, and I must tell you, it's damn tempting from a weather perspective alone. Moving to Britain is a little bit like being transformed into a slightly wet, chilly vampire with a funny accent. The only nice thing about this arrangement is that all of the other slightly wet, chilly vampires around you are similarly distressed, so you're never very lonely.

And with that I am off to commiserate with my fellow vampires (and my lovely roommate) at the local pub, another charming British habit. I suspect that all of the bartenders here must supplement the local ale with Vitamin D, which explains why we're all in various pubs so very often. That, and with all that cold wet stuff falling out of the sky, it's too miserable to be outside.

Cheerio for now, Internet. Stay warm.

Siodhbrrrrra

One lecture down...

Hello All,

I just finished my first lecture as a graduate student and the London School of Economics. It was interesting. It was part of my International Politics course, which is compulsory for all IR MSc students. Today we talked about what led up to the modern international system in the world today.

I am, however, a tad bit concerned about the reading. The following is the "essential reading" for week 1:


Buzan, Barry and Richard Little, Parts II and IV of International Systems in World History, Oxford, Oxford University, 2000. JX1395 B99


Jones, E.L. The European Miracle: Environment, economies and geopolitics in the history of Europea and Asia (3rd edition), Cambridge, Cambridge University, 2003. HC240 J71


Mann, Michael, Ch. 1-16, The Sources of Social Power Vol. 1: A History of Power from the Beginning to AD 1760, Cambridge, Cambridge University, 1986. HN8 M28


Diamond, Jared, Guns Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, New York, W.W. Norton, 1997. HM206 D53


Gellner, Ernest, Ch. 1-9, Plough, Book and Sword: The Structure of Human History, London, Paladin, 1988. D20 G31


McNeill, William H., Ch. 1-10, The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community, Chicago, University of Chicago, 1963. D20 M16


Tilly, Charles, Coercion, Capital and European States AD 990-1990, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1990.

Note that each one of these is a book. For one class. For one week. Oh dear. Something tells me that, unless your are a freaky genius like Siodhbhra, not all of the reading gets done.

On a separate note, I went to visit my employers on Friday. It went well; I should be starting in the next couple of weeks. While I was at the bus stop near the house, an old man (who I would learn was 92 years old) came up and said that I was "the smartest dressed young person he'd seen in a while." I explained to him that I was going to work, and he asked me about it and where I was from. He told me that during World War II, he took over one of the bases from the Americans. He also told me that a private in the British Army earned 2 shillings (around 20 pence/ 35 cents) a day. Makes me seriously less inclined to complain about my shoes giving me blisters on the way to my much better paid than that job (although they did, and it hurt).

Until Next Time (if I ever get my reading done),
Kathryn

I came, I saw, I blogged about it

Dear Internet, 

The prodigal LSE Lass has at last returned. I would have written sooner, but the Chinese government has a bone or two to pick with freedom of expression, especially websites known to inspire bloody national revolution like Blogspot. So sorry for not returning your calls. I missed you, too. 

So here I am in the midst of one of the most exciting cities in the world, about to embark on what are sure to be many a madcap adventure. The first of these involves navigating British postgraduate education, which in the humble opinion of this red-blooded American is truly baffling on a number of levels. As the Bard once said, "Let me count the ways":

1. Drinking. Appears to be mandatory. Can happen anywhere, at any time. Prepare appropriately. Professors at the LSE frequent the pub George IV; at all costs, it is to be avoided the day before an exam or a paper is due.

2. Course selection. Appears to be capped, but no one knows; appears to involve applications, but no one is really sure which ones or how to do it; appears to involve approval of the department, which is attained in an unknown fashion; and appears to be due. Soon. Panic ensues. 

3. Student Help Office. Open regularly, Monday through Thursday, 2-3pm, only in weeks immediately preceding a partial lunar eclipse or immediately following the anniversary of the ascension of the fourth Vice-chancellor of Mauritania. Barely exaggerating. 

4. Student Union. It says something about the school as a whole that one of the most prominent student grounds on campus is the Marxist Society. Words cannot express how excited I am to debate them while inebriated in a public place every time they try and give me a flyer. Margaret Thatcher will be proud. 

5. Kidnapped penguins. Apparently, it happens here. 

6. The Queen christens our buildings! How adorable!

On a slightly more serious note, it strikes me how much London is a city of immigrants, and how much this resonates with my own experience. My own mother lived here for years when she was young and still at school. My aunt and uncle came here during the Irish recession in the 1980s and never left. My great-aunt and her four daughters still call this place home decades later. Countless cousins have passed through here for every reason you can imagine: for education, finding work, finding a new place to live, visiting friends and family who have come before, and just for the sake of passing through. London attracts them all. And now here I sit, another immigrant in a line of immigrants. Who knows how long this city will be home?

Of Triangular Sandwiches and Lemonade

One of the most overused quotes when describing the Anglo-American relationship is that the US and the UK are "two countries separated by a common language". While I thought it was amusing the first time I heard it, I must say that I am now getting rather sick of it. Aside from the fact that it gets old, I think that it implies that the only thing different between our two countries is language, while that is clearly not the case.

I have lived in London before, spending two months in 2008 interning in Parliament so I had some sense of what I was getting into before I came this time. There are a lot of things that people expect when coming to the UK. Most people know, for example, that they drive on the other side of the road, chips= fries, and colour and labour are spelled with an added u. But there are still some things, smaller things, that remind me that I am, to use another oft quoted phrase, not in Kansas anymore. Here are some, in no particular order:

 Triangular sandwiches:


Pret is another one of the triangular sandwich shops



    Britain has some strange obsession with pre-packaged sandwiches that are cut diagonally and put into triangle shaped boxes. There are at least three ubiquitous chains all over London that sell these along with sandwiches on baguettes, salads, fruit and what not. My favorite of these is "Eat" simply because of the name. I can just imagine the conversation:

"Hmm darling, what do you think we should name our store"

"I don't know, dear this is the millionth time you've asked me. People don't care what you call a place, all they want to do is eat"

"That's brilliant!"  

Keyboards:

Mostly the set up is still the same but there a few things moved. The quotation marks are shift+2, where the @ symbol is and the @ symbol is where the quotation marks usually are. There also an extra key next to the enter where the # and ~ are. The £ (pound sign) is above the 3, there is a $ over the 4 and the ` and ¬ symbols are where the ~ usually is. Now, I know that this isn't all that different but, as a child of the 90s, I grew up learning to type, it is pretty much second nature to me. And it is driving me mad to try and get used to it. Especially since I am using my US keyboard on my laptop and a British one here on campus so I can't just convert completely. The number of times I typed @Eat@ instead of "Eat" earlier in this entry was quite annoying.

Lemonade:

In the US, Lemonade is a lovely summer drink made from lemons, water, and sugar. Occasionally, if people are feeling fancy it can be made of sparkling water and there might be some raspberry or strawberry flavor thrown in. Sprite, 7-UP, or Sierra Mist is a clear soda that they claim is lemon lime flavored but we all know is just Sprite (or 7-Up or Sierra Mist) flavored. Here, Lemonade is what we would call Sprite and Cloudy Lemonade is what we would call lemonade.  

The Electric Kettle:

It's kind of one of the bet inventions in the world. It'll boil water really fast without you having to use the microwave or the stove and then you can make tea. Which is also awesome. The one at Siodhbra's Aunt and Uncle's house is almost constantly in use.

On a separate note, I had a meeting about US loans today. The guy who ran it was really very nice and was availing us of all of the tales of woe regarding the law changes that the US government made and how little time they had to actually figure things out. So, again in my life, it seems that I am a beta tester. That means they still are trying to figure stuff out, like how we can apply for additional loans if we need and what not.

Also, I am officially a registered student of The London School of Economics and Political Science. With a student ID card and everything. (Cue expressions of OooOoos). Like almost everything else, the EU students get to go through a quicker line while I had to stand with all of the non special people. Note to self: figure out how to get EU citizenship without giving up my US one.

Until later,

Kathryn