Today has been a good day. I had another class today, Representing London: The 18th Century. It's all about London in the 18th century and how it's different and similar from how it is now, along with all of the literature that came from that time. So far we've only looked at Jonathan Swift and a lot of different kinds of maps of London, but it's pretty cool. I like how the English classes here incorporate the history aspect along with the literary part because the historical setting is a huge deal at the time something is written.
I'm learning so much more than I expected to also. In 1666 there was the Great Fire of London in which the majority of the city burned down because everything was made out of wood and thatched roofs. Basically London was being rebuilt in the 1700s and becoming modernized, which greatly influenced the writers of that time, and that's what we're learning about in my class. It's so interesting because I like history, but I'm not that huge of a fan, so it's the perfect combination of history and English.
I guess that class also helped me to figure out why the British are so obsessed with drinking beer all the time. (For example, the other day at 2pm I walked out of one of the campus convenience stores and there were 5 guys sitting at a picnic table all drinking pints of beer. That's just not normal.) We looked at two paintings in class by William Hogarth, "Gin Lane" and "Beer Street." They were both painted in 1751 and they're imaginary views of random streets in London. My interpretation of the paintings and what I got from the professor is that liquor and wine is (and was) associated with foreigners and immigrants and was thought to have a ruinous effect on the people and on the culture of London. On the contrary, beer was associated with being British, and therefore good. All of the people in "Beer Street," although drunk, looked healthy and happy and the town in the background was prosperous. In "Gin Lane," everyone was basically the opposite; the people were skinny and sickly, there were babies lying on the ground and the buildings were falling apart.
The point is, drinking beer is British and therefore a good thing. I guess it's kind of like how Primanti's is a Pittsburgh thing, cheesesteaks are a Philly thing and cook outs on fourth of July are an American thing. It's just their culture, it's what they all do. I understand it a lot better now.
After class I came back to my room and ate cereal again for lunch (I had it for breakfast) and some pears. I took a nap, watched some Gossip Girl and then booked a trip to Madrid for November 18-20! I'm so excited to go to Spain, I've always wanted to go there.
At 5 I went to a media for all of the media outlets on campus. They have a quarterly magazine called CUB, which after looking at it seems really awesome. I signed up to write for the Features section. The editor seemed to like me a lot especially since I had experience in the journalism and editing area. She liked that I'm an associate student (study abroad student) and could bring a new perspective. I also signed up for the News Section for the QMessenger, the newspaper, because I had to. I mean come on, I love News.
I had delicious tortellini and garlic bread for dinner at the Curve! It was wonderful. I also emailed the English adviser here so I can try to get into Poetry and drop British Politics. I love the English classes I've taken and I really want to improve on my poetry analyzing skills. Right now I'm waiting for my parents to get on skype.
There was a car accident at Villanova the other day and one boy is in critical condition and the other passed away. Prayers to Nova Nation <3
M
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