Danish Girl Student

When I was living in zimbabwe and was still only in my elementary years I was always listening to a band called ‘Good Charlotte’ they were my absolute favourite band at that point in time, but as I got a bit older I stopped listening to them as much and they sort of faded out of my memory. Then during my last year in Belgium my sister had been researching upcoming concerts, and Good Charlotte was listed. I got so excited because I had never been to a concert before (appart from those at the Danish Smukkeste Festival) and immediatly I began to listen to their songs again. We asked my dad if we would be able to go to this concert, and after hours of persuasion he said yes and also that we could bring a friend each.

The drive to the concert hall was filled with excited buzz and as we pulled up outside the hall, 2 hours before the actual concert, we could see a line that extended from the door and around the corner. Apparently if we wanted a good place we would have to be there atleast 3 hours earlier. The line of people we got out and stood behind completely differed from myself,my sister, and both of our friends. All of the other people were dressed in black, with exageratted black eye make up and lipstick. I looked down at my pink top, jeans skirt, necklace, flats and frowned. When I looked up a girl infront of me who was wearing black skinny jeans, studded belt, black and red striped shirt and was wearing jewelery resembling that of brass knuckles, I could see her looking at our group and examining the colours we wore that seemed to stand out from a mile away and was giving us a dirty look. I really did not fit in with this crowd.

Finally after what seemed like ages we were allowe into the concert hall. It wasn’t actually that big, and it had balconies that lines the walls filled with croweds of people, and in the center right infront of the stage was a big open space where people could stand. As soon as we got in my sister led to a balcony directly opposite the stage, and then said “Okay, you guys are going to sit here while me and Cecilia are going to go down into the crowd.” I nearly blew up, they were my favourite band yet I wasn’t allowed near the stage. “Kay,” my sister had said sternly “You’re too small and young, soon enough there is going to be a raging moshpit and you don’t want to be in the middle of it, okay?” I slumped my shoulders and sat back in my chair waiting for the before band to finish so Good Charlotte could come on.

After half an hour the stage lights dimmed and 5 seconds later we could see people shuffling onto the stage in the darkness and screams errupted from the crowd. Suddenly the lights flashed on, and there they were, standing right infront of us. They began with an introduction and then the music began. It was amazing, you could feel the beat pumping as though inside of you, and inbetween songs the lead singer and his brother would talk to the crowd, and say things like “OKay, now were going to get a little personal. Repeate after me, ‘ Oh oh oh oh oh. Oh oh oh oh oh.” and when we did so he’s like “Okay when the song starts I’m going to sing it with you so you know when to go.”

In the middle of the concert the lead singer said to the crowd, “Who wants some sweat?” he wiped his hands on the back of his neck and extened his arms to the crowd and ran his hands over theirs. They would also throw their water bottles out onto the crowd once they had finished with them and also their towels. It was funny because at the very end of the concert you could see 15 people crowded around this one towel and were holding and yanking it for dear life.

It was a memory I will never forget.

:)

I prefer to read poetry rather than to have to compose a piece myself because I am not so strong in that area, and when I read poetry sometimes there are some hidden meanings as to what the poet is really trying to say or describe.

I think poetry shouldn’t be forced onto to students. It is supposed to be something relaxing and enjoyable, but when we are forced by teachers to read lots of poetry it takes away all the good things about it because it starts to be so school related and not fun at all. So aslong as the poetry unit is not stressed, I think it will be good.

How important is merry-making in society? This was our central unit question — now that you’ve studied a very silly play, complete with heaps of merry-making, what do you think? Is merry-making important? How? When? Why?
I think merry-making is important in society, the saying ‘ All fun and no play makes jack a dull boy.’ definiatly correlates to this. People need time to get out of their shell they stand behind when working and doing things they don’t want to. It is good to be able to confine your wild side to a limit, but its also good to make sure you have fun and let it run wild. If there was no merry-making in this world that we live in today that is being headlined with events like war, global warming, natural disasters and so much more we would spend our lives worrying about these things and not having fun and doing what we want and everyone would turn into robots. Not only this but if there was no merry making and everyone was serious we would all be the same. Think about it, being serious comes only with the constant common features that everyone shares when their serious and this is you know being stern, impatient and stressful, whereas if your merry-making you allow your personality to really show whether you’re naturaly just a serious person it can show when you merry making or if you are really wild and crazy or a half/half kind of person. That is why I think it is important. But there is also a place for work and a place for fun and sometimes they shouldn’t mix.

What do you know now, at the end of our unit, that you didn’t before? Perhaps you now know a couple of lines of Shakespeare. Or maybe you’ve learned how to better speak in front of an audience. Or perhaps you now know how to work better in a group. Or you know that having fun really is the most important part of creating a play. Or you’ve learned that creativity requires long periods of time in order to “get into it.” Whatever it is — please tell your readers what you’ve learned in our unit.

I learned alot of lines from shakespeare, as well as how to interpret the language used. I also learned how to work better in a group, and incorporating movement from the book into a play.

When I was living in Belgium, there was a day called ‘Bac Day’ devoted to the 12th graders, because it was their last day of school before they started studying for their Bac exams. So, as tradition the 12th graders would dress up in plastic coats and would wait ouside the exits of the buildings during the last lesson, holding flour, whipped cream, shaving cream and eggs. As the last bell rung for the day, the students of 12th grade were station at the doors as students came out. Immediatly, they would spray you with flour, or shaving cream,whipped cream and sometimes eggs. They did not care if you have binders in your hand; it was tradition. And after a while the whole middle/high school would be having flour/egg/whipped cream/shaving cream fights in the courtyard. The bus drivers and monitors were not all that happy to see the targeted students dripping on their seats, when it was all over.

• If you were commissioned to design and direct a production of Twelfth Night, where would you set it? What would your Illyria look like? What would be your take on each character? What costumes, music, and special effects would you want?

I think the production would be sitting on the fence between completely real, and completely imaginary. I think that Ilyria would be gorgeous with white sanded beaches bordering a mountainous island, that both Orsinos and Olivias castles would be on the top of, and below them on the grassy, steep mountain is the rest of the village/town. So it kind of shows a heirarchy, by which can be rated depending on where you live.

Each character would have something odd, or special about him, even if it isn’t some as major as a healdess person it would be something can suits the character but also makes you say, remember them by that trait. So for instance feste might have extrememly large feet like a clown, so when he jumps around in his playful character it really brings it out, while someone like Orsino will have a very large head, because he thinks so much of himself, and Sir Toby’s tummy would be beyond a beer belly, and Malvolio would be really tall with a massive nose in which he can look down on everyone, with and sort of snooty approach because he thinks he is above people like Mand Sir Andrew.

Their costumes wouldn’t all be colourful, but for someone like Feste,it would be so like red,yellow,orange,green,white all sorts of random colours whereas Orisno would like to keep his self respect would wear a rich,navy blue to sort of match his personality in which says “I am handsomer and richer than you all.” Maria would wear a very light shade of red because she is kind of a mellow character but she still has some things up her sleeve, and then Viola and Sebastien would both wear the same colours (though with different outfits so you can tell them appart.) and would be yellow because it is a neutral colour, and then Olivia would wear gold because of her social and economic status.

I would have music according to what is happening in the scene,  like the funny sword fight scene would have a small tune playing in the background that makes the sword fight funnier, and when maria is explaining of her plan about Malvolio it will be dark,conspicous music, which will suddenly change when mavolio comes out, to a romantic and somehow funny tune.

• How would you get each character off the stage in 5.1? Think about where they are going and how they feel. Do they stop and shake hands with other characters? Do they slink off or run off? This will be the last time the audience sees them. What impressions do you want to leave?

I think that the snooty uptight person Malvolio is he will rush off in the huff, and the rest of the cast will still be on stage, then Sir Toby claps Orsinos shoulder in a friendly way, and they are all all laughing and in the back there will be the house where you can see into the windows, and so they will all walk back all reunited and as friends into the house and will be visible through the windows, and feste will be talking to the audience as all the other characters drink and talk inside, and as he reaches his last line, they will all push open their windows and lean out as a big group, laughing and smiling, with their glasses held high, and after Feste finishes his speech he will raise his glass to the audience, and then the curtain will drop.