Music Matters

Some local band and some club in Manchester.
Live music is everywhere.

The main inspiration for this post is Manchester’s well-deserved reputation as having the best music scene in the whole of the UK.  Many famous musicians have come from Manchester, including The Smiths (rock band from the 80s), Oasis (alternative band from the 90s), and The Ting Tings* (a recent pop duo).  Oh, and David Gray is from a town just outside Manchester.  Just to throw out a few names.  Manchester clearly has some awesome talent, and it has even more to offer, such as this band called Secret Pilot.  I think they should be famous -- watch this video to hear them and see why.

Manchester Academy

Mancs (short for Mancunians, meaning people from Manchester) love their music, so it follows that Manchester has not only mounds of talent but also numerous music venues.  Clubs all over the city have live music on a nightly basis, and for bigger shows, there is a sports arena (think of The Palace, Michiganders), a smaller venue called the Apollo, and most importantly, the Academy.  It has three stages, named Academy 1, 2, and 3, and it’s located in the University of Manchester’s Students’ Union.  This is the cheapest venue, but it’s where all the cool, lesser-known or up-and-coming artists perform.  Also, it’s totally awesome.

Patrick Wolf is crazy talented. 

Manchester Academy is where I spent my Saturday night, enjoying the best concert I have ever been to.  Patrick Wolf, if you haven’t heard of him, does an absolutely fantastic show.  His performance is spot on, he can play just about any instrument, and he seems like a cool guy in general.  My last post included a link to his latest hit, ‘The City’, and if you want to hear more of him, listen to ‘The Magic Position’.  This was the encore at the show on Saturday.  The coolest thing about Manchester Academy is that it's not just major artists.  Sometimes it's just  someone you know doing a gig with their band, like the show I’m going to this Sunday.  It's nearly impossible to get bored in this city because someone is always on stage somewhere.

Yeah, he plays the harp.  While singing.

On top of all the exciting live music I’ve been enjoying, I’ve learned a lot about new artists and music websites from my friends.  For all you music gurus, check out these recent discoveries at your leisure:

Stereomood:  Playlists created to match your mood.  Genius!  http://www.stereomood.com/

8tracks: People create playlists that anyone can listen to.  For when you want a playlist for a really specific feeling. http://8tracks.com/

Mogwai: A Scottish post-rock band that’s not really my thing.  Typically doing lengthy, instrumental guitar pieces, they make surprisingly good chill music.

Grizzly Bear: It’s folk rock.  Why wouldn’t I like it?

Home: It’s just such a sweet, happy song that totally fits my mood.  Enjoy.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fca5JMyVrfA

Many people have mentioned that all I talk about is food.  First, I love food, so I have not nearly finished my discussions of food.  Second, I am experiencing other parts of culture, and this post is proof.  Music is culture -- and this is just one way I show my appreciation.

*The Ting Tings first began performing at a venue about five minutes’ walk from Salford Uni, actually.

Homesickness

Today, I have eaten chocolate chip cookies, two big cheese and pickle sandwiches, and a bowl of chocolate ice cream.  I have listened to my playlist of all my favorite songs from the past two years on repeat.  And I have pointlessly perused old photo albums on facebook for far too long.  Translation:  I’m homesick.

It’s hard to describe the feeling, but I think most everyone has felt it at some point in their life anyway.  Sometimes it aches, and it feels like your body is actually sore from the pressure of it, and sometimes it just itches, like you can’t get comfortable because nothing feels quite right.  And fighting the disease is even harder than describing it.  Everyone has to come up with their own methods, and I am no exception.  I’m still trying to figure out the best ways to bust the longing for home, but here are a few I’ve worked out so far:

1. Comfort food. Naturally I would go to this first.  I love food.  And it really does make a difference.  Food = love.  Home = love.  Therefore, food = home.  Simple maths.
2. Hanging out with friends.  A cynic would say that this just provides a distraction from the longing, and I’m not going to pretend that it doesn’t take my mind off the longing.  But that’s not all.  The more time I spend bonding with people here, the more I’m making this place home, and so the less I need things from Michigan to feel relaxed and like I belong and every other comfortable feeling that comes from being home.  I can get those feelings here, too. 
3. Reading.  Or watching a movie.  Getting lost in a story is a way to get into a different skin, a place where the definition of home doesn’t have to be an issue. 
4. Music.  It just takes you to a familiar place.  That’s what it’s supposed to do.  And the point is to get away from the feeling of being homesick, to just feel different.

Me pretending to be sad.  I didn't have any pictures of
me being genuinely sad, so this is the best I could do.

Me with my housemates being genuinely happy.

Up until now, it mostly just itched.  Intermittently at first, then alternating with an aching feeling, and now it mostly just aches.  Today the aching was really strong, hence all the cookies and ice cream.  Keep in mind that everything I’ve said still applies right now -- I’m still having an amazing time, and life here is still so much fun.  I really mean that.  I’m just feeling sad on top of all the good times.  And the problem is not that I want to go home, it’s that I want to feel at home.  I’m in transition.  It's an important part of the experience, and it's a good thing -- I'm clinging to that.  It means I know tomorrow will feel different, because I will have transistioned to my life here a little more.  It means I know tomorrow will be a better day.

Here's a music video that helped lift my spirits and worked for some other people I know, too:  Watch This!

Americanisms

Happy American

I look like I could be from the UK.  Red hair, freckles, pasty white skin?  Check, check, check, I fit right in.  And while I don’t have an English accent, which is the clearest indicator of my nationality, I also don’t brandish my American patriotism in a glaringly obvious way (as many Europeans would expect from an American) because I’m hoping to assimilate into British culture at least a little bit.  There are, however, certain things that I do or say that do shout America! and remind my friends exactly where I’m from.  I call these Americanisms.

Oh my GOD, seriously.  The most obviously American thing I do is to drop an excited “oh my god” into conversation.  Responses range from laughs, snickers, botched imitations -- you name it, someone does it.  Saying “GOD” emphatically is really easy to do with a super American accent, so I usually give a self-mocking performance of it when someone catches a natural one in conversation.  Better to make fun of how American I am than to just take the hit.  Besides, you have to open your mouth really wide to say it, so it’s halfway to a smile, or even a laugh.  Oh my GOD, ha ha ha.  It’s a little funny.

Charlotte, Prerna, and me on a night out

Every time I utter a gonna, wanna, gotta, or hafta, it sticks out like a sore thumb.  The Midwest is notorious for blending and smushing words together (or mumbling, if you want to be frank about it) -- I can’t help it!  This is my natural dialect!  Perhaps the worst example of mumbling is when I greet people with a rhetorical “howsigone?”  that just comes out like one big slur.  Dude, it was rhetorical, doesn’t matter if you didn’t catch that last bit.  I usually just reply to their quizzical look with a loud and clear “How are you?”  Saves everyone some confusion. 

Girls Only Cream Tea - me, Manu, Charlotte, Maria, and Prerna
in the courtyard in Castle Irwell

Totally, dude.  Sounds American, right?  Well everyone over here agrees.  No one, I repeat, no one begins a sentence with “Dude, that’s what I’m saying,” and hardly anyone would count dude as a natural way to address a friend.  But I do.  And every time, it’s another tick on the mental Meredith-Is-an-American-Stereotype tally.  Totally is a word that British people frequently use to mock Americans, but I don’t think it’s really stereotypically American.  We hardly notice it.  Besides, you can just replace every American “totally” with an English “absolutely” and you’ll sound exactly like a British person.  Simple. 

The moral of the story is that I’m working at it, but assimilating into a new culture is hard.  Really hard.  And it’s always little things that get me, betray my inner stars and stripes.  Sigh.  I’m still learning.

*None of these pictures has anything to do with American phrases, but everyone likes pictures, so I put them in anyway.

School Is Pretty Cool.

I am calling this a “semester abroad”, and border control let me into the country based on my university acceptance, so it’s probably appropriate if I say a few words about school on here.

Proof that I do do some schoolwork.  Sometimes.

First off, I’m studying English Literature, Language, and Linguistics at Salford Uni.  No, this isn’t film, but the school of English at Salford is the only school that has a relationship with Wayne State, so I had to choose courses from their offerings.  I am taking a class on postmodern literature (post-WWII to the 90s), a class on English Dialects and Dialectology, and a class on teaching English as a foreign language.  It’s cool for me, because I picked them solely because they sound interesting, so it’s basically all for fun.

Next, some vocabulary:  Your class ranking (freshman, sophomore, etc) is called level 4, level 5, or level 6, depending on what year you are (a bachelor’s degree is only three years here).  Courses here are called modules.  I’m in three modules this semester.  All of my classes have an hour (or two) of lecture once a week, followed by a one hour seminar once a week.  The seminar leaders are called tutors, and tutors can be the actual lecturer or a TA.  I have one TA-led and two lecturer-led seminars.  There are generally only two assignments in a module: a diagnostic project or paper, which is something like a midterm, and a final project/paper, generally followed by a final exam during finals week.    

Clifford Whitworth Library, where I sometimes go to read
materials for class.  I like to go early in the morning before
my classes when it's actually quiet, becuase during
the day it's a bit like Club UGL.

You may be doing the math in your head right now, and yes, you are correct.  I only have seven hours of class per week.  And yes, this is considered a full time schedule.  I have so much free time, it’s incredible.  I read an article in the school paper talking about how erasmus students should be careful with their eating habits because no one has time to eat and drink robustly, work off all the calories, go to class, and do all their schoolwork.  But I do.  All the jokes about Americans being lazy and stupid can stop right now because going to uni in the US is so much harder.  This is vacation.

I got an education on the school system in the UK this week.  First, I was explained the normal course of study you take to get a bachelor’s degree.  Primary school (elementary) is ages 5-10, much like ours, and is followed by secondary (middle + high school) ages 11-16.  At this point, a student can stop going to school and start working, or they can go on to sixth form, which many people call college.  This lasts two years and involves four courses of study before the student moves on to university.

Maxwell Building, where I take class
for 2 hours a week.

The most astounding thing I learned is that going to university in the UK costs the same no matter which university you go to.  I was dumbfounded.  The SAME PRICE???  You can go ANYWHERE?  Further, college costs a lot less over here.  Seriously, so much less.  They may not have dental care in their national health insurance, but the UK government understands how to make college a reasonable expense.

My classes are going really well.  Studying English literature is so different from everything I’ve been studying, but it’s nice to reading so much and to be writing essays again.  It’s all about grand ideas; a little lofty, but fun to learn about.  Dialects and Dialectology is really interesting, though I am the center of much attention because my American accent is so radically different from all of the English accents in the room.  I get a lot of questions on different American accents, which is really hard for me to explain because most of them have only subtle differences that in general only I can hear.  My class on teaching English is not my favorite.  

I know it may not seem like it, but I really do love studying when I actually do it.  I enjoy writing essays, doing research for projects, and generally staying on top of things.  So that’s what I’m doing tonight: actually studying.  One night, just me and my assignments.  Clear focus and extreme productivity.

This blog post was just a… er… study break.