flowers-ferns-and-feathers

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

okay, a small update;

we're really in it now-- my partners both have covid. i'm testing negative, and have moved out of our flat to try and keep myself save (which, really doesn't feel good, but also my chances of hospitalization are higher than most should i catch it)

class-wise everything is fine, i'm isolating so won't be going in this coming week (fine, honestly). i'll give a proper update when i feel less stressed about the aforementioned plague.

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

okay! just over a week in and thoughts:

romantics; i am enjoying this paper as expected. same lecturer as my gothic paper, we started with defining the romantics, and went over robert burns and charlotte smith. then moved onto william blake! he's one of my favourite poets so i was excited (started with songs of innocence today, going to cover songs of experience on thursday). overall nothing too new on that front, but we got to look at a whole load of his illustrations too, which is always great. tutorial is tomorrow, which will be interesting!

classics lecturer did immediately frustrate me; it might be my literature focus, but he, in the introductory lecture, within fifteen minutes, was like "textual evidence is useless and archaeology is the only proof we have", which. hmm. i massively disagree, but oh well. (my stance here is that archaeologic evidence is incredibly valuable, don't get me wrong, but textual evidence provides important societal context, even when it is fictional). outside of that, looking at minoan work right now. i haven't managed to find a copy of the textbook, but i am looking and it's in our library so i'm relatively okay on that front. tutorial on thursday.

i went on campus today for the first time this semester and i did immediately deal with someone being Weird about me being visibly disabled and making a whole load of assumptions. (context being i was making and using crutches.) "oh you poor thing, you must be suffering right now" and he gestured to my mask then crutches, "and this on top; what on earth happened?" and I didn't have the energy so responded, "i'm chronically ill and I am doing my best not to get sick." and he looked at me like i'd wounded him. i promptly exited the elevator. i guess this is a psa to not make assumptions and also not ask invasive questions (because yes, calling me (a grown ass adult) poor thing, and asking me what on earth happened for me to be masking and on crutches is invasive as fuck!)

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

okay, so the "might have to drop it and swap it out" has happened on the linguistics front. i've not taken another english paper, instead i chose a classical studies paper on art and architecture which looks very interesting! partner did it a few years ago and says i will enjoy it, so looking promising.

hello everyone!! i am returning after. almost a year.

updates on myself; fourth year of uni begun successfully-- had a summer paper on religion science and magic, which was fun! essay got an a-, and still waiting for exam results to be released. got wayyy better at taking notes because of this paper, which is super cool, and i felt really prepared by the end. actual learning was really interesting (learnt i have a vendetta against galileo... the bastard) and the history of (european) magic was really fascinating. i want to do some more digging on it actually. it was fun because i studied dante's inferno last year second sem, and i got to have a different angle on dante from a religious and scientific perspective rather than a literary one!

i had a medieval lit paper and a shakespeare paper at the end of last year (a+ and b respectively). loved med lit, liked shakespeare less (super disorganized lecturer really soured it for me), and i passed my first sem papers by aegrotat because i was super ill for the exam and couldn't go.

first semester has just started (as of monday), and i am taking an introductory linguists paper, and then a paper on the writers in the romantic period (lots of william blake! very exciting because i love his poetry and artwork). little worried about linguistics because there's a big group project and i'm out of the country for a wedding for our mid-sem break and the following week. so i might have to drop it and swap out for another english paper, which puts some pressure on my graduation plans.

on a more personal note, health has been super unpredictable in the last few months quite suddenly. i've been using filofax for journaling, which has helped my memory issues a lot (yay!), but brainfog has been worse.

hopefully i will. be better with this this year. need to keep myself accountable

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

deeply funny to me that i was like, yeah! linguistics! and then realised i needed to change that paper. anyway. no longer taking that class for scheduling reasons, i am now taking a classical studies paper on art and architecture!

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

hello! my name is camellia and i'm a disabled university student. i'm an english major in my fourth year of university, and i'm here to chronicle my experiences and talk about managing study and my health. i study part time, to rest and recover.

i also occasionally work in editing and as a sensitivity reader for . i am currently working on a manuscript with a group of writers, though i am not able to say much about this project at present!

this semester i am taking two papers; art and architecture in ancient rome and greece, and the romantics.

in the past, i've studied religion, science and magic; medieval literature; gothic literature; recontexualised literature; creative writing (first and second level); shakespeare; creative writing for video games; controversial classics; introductory psychology; speaking te reo māori; and fantasy and the imagination. i'm happy to talk about any of these topics, or discuss anything that might cross your mind-- send me an ask!

course reading lists:

[unreleased]

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

hello everyone!! i am returning after. almost a year.

updates on myself; fourth year of uni begun successfully-- had a summer paper on religion science and magic, which was fun! essay got an a-, and still waiting for exam results to be released. got wayyy better at taking notes because of this paper, which is super cool, and i felt really prepared by the end. actual learning was really interesting (learnt i have a vendetta against galileo... the bastard) and the history of (european) magic was really fascinating. i want to do some more digging on it actually. it was fun because i studied dante's inferno last year second sem, and i got to have a different angle on dante from a religious and scientific perspective rather than a literary one!

i had a medieval lit paper and a shakespeare paper at the end of last year (a+ and b respectively). loved med lit, liked shakespeare less (super disorganized lecturer really soured it for me), and i passed my first sem papers by aegrotat because i was super ill for the exam and couldn't go.

first semester has just started (as of monday), and i am taking an introductory linguists paper, and then a paper on the writers in the romantic period (lots of william blake! very exciting because i love his poetry and artwork). little worried about linguistics because there's a big group project and i'm out of the country for a wedding for our mid-sem break and the following week. so i might have to drop it and swap out for another english paper, which puts some pressure on my graduation plans.

on a more personal note, health has been super unpredictable in the last few months quite suddenly. i've been using filofax for journaling, which has helped my memory issues a lot (yay!), but brainfog has been worse.

hopefully i will. be better with this this year. need to keep myself accountable

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

been some radio silence from me, i apologise! i've been pretty unwell for the last few weeks and am only really just back on my feet.

i've submitted all my assignments for this half of the semester, and i had a test yesterday which i think went okay. literature recontextualised is going well -- my professor is incredibly lovely and completely happy to work around my illness which is amazing. she's been the best with it so far of all my lecturers (to the point of making a private zoom class for me because i missed something important!).

i have a tutorial for gothic lit. tomorrow so i'm catching up today with a lecture and finishing up the book we're studying right now (justified sinner, james hogg), and i'll have a little bit of work to catch up with next week -- which i have off!! -- just to get myself ready for the second half of semester. we start up again with carmilla, though! which i'm incredibly excited for, because it's possibly my favourite novel of all time? in any case, we have a good selection, like jekyll and hyde and dracula as well, so right up my alley.

the cold has kicked in, and so i'm a lot more tired and sore already, and i've definitely slipped in my work but i'm hoping i can keep up once i'm more used to the weather.

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

botanical gardens 18.03.23

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

okay! busy time recently

so we had my partner's birthday on saturday, where we went of a picnic and it was lovely (photos to come!), and then sunday we had an event at our local museum called medieval family day.

at the medieval day, we went to a talk by my medieval studies lecturer, and then wandered around (we got to do tapestry weaving!! very fun, i might try it at home...). there was also a showing of the princess bride, which was super fun! overall a good day, tainted a little bit by some ableist stuff about me being in a wheelchair (fun fact: asking someone in a wheelchair why they're in a wheelchair is a shit thing to do, and definitely don't follow up with a 'can you walk?')

then we were due to have a flat inspection today (so everything is clean and tidy!), but unfortunately our property manager is ill, and so it's been postponed til a (as of yet unknown) future date.

i have two assignments due at the end of the week, one is finished, which is a character analysis thing for chaucer, the other i'm still procrastinating (whoops) and is a passage analysis for the castle of otranto.

unfortunately i spent sunday night and most of yesterday feeling like utter garbage (yay for doing waaay too much). i spent sunday evening curled in a ball of exhausted pain for several hours before spending the entire night feeling like i might throw up, which was great fun and we love that for me, and monday morning was slightly better (as in i could walk) but still shit.

plans for this evening are to make a plan for the passage analysis -- pick themes to focus on and make an outline ect, maybe pick quotes, and then tomorrow actually start writing, then i'll finish it up thursday.

and finally! thursday is my birthday! i'm actually not super excited, i haven't had a good birthday in a few years (since... 2019, i think?) so i'm really just. waiting. it's just another year, i guess? dunno. i'll be going to visit my parents though, which will be nice.

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

campus 13.03.23

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

okay so plan stay at museum all day went... okay. i made it to my classes but i was so bored the whole time. museum itself was good! my partners met up with me and we wandered a little. i stayed on for an extra hour because the others had class, and i found a cool new exhibit about our local art school. there was a gorgeous stop motion animation there

i'm very very tired today -- went to bed super early last night, and i woke up after ten still exhausted. i'm about a five on the pain scale, which isn't super high for me, but varying around seven on exhaustion which. fun. so i don't know how sustainable staying on campus will be.

admittedly my sunday was also super busy, because we had dnd in person (normally play online) and i was stressed about it. so maybe making sure i have a calm day beforehand? dunno, need to experiment further.

who knows

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

my marks for my summer paper have been released! i was so set that i'd end up with a 'c', maybe a 'b' at best, but no! i got an 'a+'!! i'm so happy about it!

it was waaay to intense a workload for me to maintain long term (two two hour lectures and two tutorials a week, on top of additional study. basically a 12 week course in 6 weeks) but!! i did super well! i was worried about language papers being too much for me point blank because the workload is very different from the type of analysis i typically do, but no! i did it! and te reo māori is so beautiful, i'm really glad i took the time to make sure i studied it at least a little.

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

okay! three lectures down for english lit recontextualised! still on chaucer -- though shakespeare's sonnets are next -- it's all been really easy, so i'm hoping that the tutorial is more interesting? really we've just been going through the text, and i get that it's helpful for people who haven't done middle english before, but also, i'm bored and i want more information. going to ask for extended readings, i think, because i want more!! it's good though, i studied sir orfeo last year and so i'm familiar with middle english as a start.

going to a museum after my tutorial too! catching up with my sister and my grandmother, and going to wander around for a bit! will try to take some photos (might bring a sketchbook and try to draw too?)

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

i have officially completed my reread of carmilla for class! it's one of my favourite novels (look, i'm a sapphic goth, what else should i be reading but the lesbian vampire novel?) and i read it aloud to my partner which was cute.

next to finish is the castle of otranto, which i'm now about 85% there and plan to read over the weekend. then it's finishing up the assigned chaucer passages, the monk and northanger abbey (the latter with my partner again)! we're making progress!

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

oooookay! two lectures down for week one!

literature recontextualised was more admin than work, though we got to start with chaucer and had a recap/introduction to middle english, as the paper has a mixture of people from first to third years and some haven't dealt with middle english before. i know all the lecturers, and i'm looking forward to the content though i need to kick my ass into gear and get further through the reading list. less notes were taken here than i'd like but most of the lecture was stuff i solidly know and will remember so i'm not too upset.

gothic literature was great!! i was pretty much vibrating in my seat for the entire lecture because it's one of my special interests and autism go brr. we were specifically talking about the context for the gothic and it's content and history. a wider list of texts were brought up and i've read most of them already. almost the only ones i haven't are ones we're studying, which was fun. there's actually an extended reading list in my course outline specifically focusing on academic texts which is awesome and i'm going to comb through our library and see if i can find them. i took pretty solid notes too which i'm happy about!

i didn't go to today's lecture in person, nor will i go to tomorrow's (i'm very tired and i'm in a fair amount of pain, so i think having some days off will be good). i took good notes for both, and i feel good and prepared for the semester.

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

had shakespeare in the park today!! three very good performances -- eclectic scenes from the tempest, macbeth, and the merry wives of windsor. macbeth was amazingly done; we saw the opening scenes and the witches! phenomenal and they had such good projection for an incredibly windy day. the tempest managed to start summoning the storm as the winds picked up for the first time and they had live drummers alongside it, and it felt magical.

[flowers-ferns-and-feathers]

photos from today's sunny weather. did a lot of tidying today and am now taking a break to read. making soup tonight and tomorrow there are performances of shakespeare in my local park, so i'll be heading there to watch!