Vonfuse(d) Me

It's been a week since my last post. In the meantime I wrote two long papers and managed to hand both in just on time, the philosophy one literally going into the box at the last second. I asked for an extension for another paper and didn't get it, so I will have to hand it in late with marks being taken off. And the first marching demonstration possibly in the history of the University, that I took part in organising, happened. I was stressed beyond comfortable, yet all the pressure came from myself. And in the end it nearly all worked out (apart from that third essay).

I don't think I have ever written much about the demonstration here. The university invests in a number of companies, many of which are what we consider to be "unethical". The main debate is probably where you draw the line, but there are some not so nice cases, like companies that have been reported by human rights commissions, companies that supported totalitarian regimes etc. We want the university to invest ethically, and have put up some demands and a timeline for that. To make the long story short, after three years of campaigning, this term was to be the one that would show the student support. A petition was signed by more than 1600 students, and those signatures were presented to the principal of the university on Friday. I joined the campaign about a month into this term, and got straight into publicity, being in charge of designing all posters, flyers etc. So it ended up with many, many meetings and a lot to organise for the actual day of the demonstration. There were some smaller things as well, such as theatre skit about a wedding where I was a bidesmaid and wore a fancy dress etc. Eventually, about 200 people showed up, walked down the main street with us (which had been closed off by the police), and joined us for speeches and the presentation of the signatures in our main university building. A huge success and much better than we had expected, but it drained all of my time last week, and most of it beforehand... Yesterday I woke up and for the first time in at least 2 weeks I knew there was nothing urgent to be done that day, no meeting, and it felt very nice, but weird ;) .

And today we are diving into the next event, Raisin Weekend. A traditional huge party here. It starts with a "tea party" with the academic mum in the afternoon on Sunday. Then in the evening you make your way to your dad's party, and eventually back home. In the morning you are dressed up in a costume by your mum, and are given a "raisin receipt" by your dad. That receipt has some latin on it, but most importantly, it is usually something huge, to see the kids suffer carrying it (broken freezers, cupboards and the like are not too uncommon). Freshly equipped, the kids make their way to the main university building, where there is a huge shaving foam fight. And after all that, kids go back to sleep and then to attend the afternoon lectures and tutorials... And lucky me, I have a tutorial in the morning (which I will have to miss) and one in the afternoon... And since they are compulsory, missing them is anything but a good idea...

Now I will have to be off to lunch and get plenty of fatty food (which shouldn't be too hard), and then it's off to my "mum" at 14.00... The weekend is much more notorious in stories than it will actually be, but I still look forward to it in an axious/excited way, not really knowing what will happen. Last year a mother had only one son and many daughters, so she dressed the son as an egg cell and the girls as sperms, and they had to chase the poor guy to the foam fight...

Current Music: Tori Amos - Silent All These Years