International Women's Day at the BBC

 

On International Women's Day (08.03.15) I snagged myself, and my gorgeous friend Amy, tickets for BBC Radio 3's Coffee Concert. The music was beautiful, all composed and performed by women. Female composers, I learnt, have been long been atrociously treated by the Classical Music World, largely forgotten, suppressed and underexposed. 

My personal highlight from the concert was a piece by Caroline Shaw called 'Limestone and Felt' for cello and viola. I am one thousand percent ignorant about classical music, limited to my Ludovico Einaudi spotify playlist for studying, but 'Limestone and Felt' was really very different from that. A piece inspire by contrast, as indicated by the name, it was a joy to watch the two musicians make eye contact as the piece became less conventional and increasingly intricate, strange and beautiful. 

Check out this short video that I tweeted on the day: 

Great little moment from @OdalineMartinez (founder of @LontanoEnsemble) from today's concert @BBCRadio3 #WomensDay pic.twitter.com/RbnCtng6aJ
— Fiona Nicholls (@fifinicholls) March 8, 2015

It was a lovely concert, though there was a very definite lack of coffee...

I think it's great that BBC 3 took the opportunity that International Women's Day presents to celebrate and showcase female composers, though it is sad that an event such as this is needed... it seems that every other day is dedicated to the work of male composers. I hope that the BBC Radio 3's listeners enjoyed listening to the performance and start insisting upon hearing more women composers' work. 

----

After the event, Amy and I grabbed lunch at the nearest Wagamamas, in Soho. We sat with our green tea (which is free!) for hours, reading lines for Amy's upcoming role in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, and just having a proper chinwag. As we left, we both noticed the most wonderfully lit little nook in the wall of the restaurant. Luckily I had my camera with me and I am so, so pleased to have caught this lighting on film. So lovely. 

THIRD YEAR (aka. crying in the library)

THIRD YEAR of UNIVERSITY

third YEAR of UNI versity

thir year OF uni

turd yer of universatYYY

fird yah og booniburtitty

The above is a semantic illustration of what has happened to my brain box from September 2014, to the present, March 2015. *

People keep saying I'm on the home straight. So for the moment, I'm going to pretend that all that matters is finishing this degree, whilst ignoring the inconceivable and terrifying cliff edge that I then have to face once I've done all the essays, presentations, portfolios, extended essays and exams. Cue teeth grinding and night terrors. 

Through this degree I have discovered the tactical side of my personality. Each year I've come up with some sort of document which helps my visualise an end point and what I have to do to get there.

I recently went through the notebook that I kept during first year and I came across a really funny version of one of these game plan type things. In this one apparently I was worrying about exams, and hypothesising what would happen if i were to...say....not turn up to any exams?

(I went to all my exams for the record, even earn a first in one of them!)

This year I've upped the tactical board to A3 size:

Here you can see my ambitious intentions to earn a first overall for my degree. 

If you're around my age, 23, then you'll remember the incessant attempts of teachers trying to nail you down as a 'visual learner', or an 'audio learner', or 'kinaesthetic learner' during primary and secondary school. I remember finding it very frustrating being instructed to always "make a mind map" at the beginning of every project. But here I am... making a mind map.

Sometimes I find images helpful, though I think in this case it was more the process of working everything out, and writing it down that made me feel calmer about the whole thing, rather than looking at the image after it was done.

If you are studying and get baffled about how you are doing, and what you need to do in order get an outcome that you are happy with. I recommend making a chart like this. 

The website I use is so simple, and for that reason it's perfect. You have total control over all the inputs and so can come up with lots of hypotheticals. For example I discovered the other day that even if I get a lower grade than I want for my dissertation (which I really should start soon**), I should still come out with a 2:1. 

Here's a link to the grade calculator site I use, I'm sure there are others but I have used this since day one of my degree. 

http://www.benegg.net/grade_calculator.html

Ben Eggleston, I love you and I love typing "ben egg" into my browser bar. 

Seriously, give it a go. It might make you feel less like crying and more like the empowered autonomous babe that you are. 

*It took three attempts to type 2015, rather than 2014.... further illustrating my point that I AM SO DONE

**had to take a crying break 

Oh... you're still here. That's good

This is no time to redirect my energy back into this blog. Anyway here I am. Hello.

It's my third year of university, which is hard...
I've done some interesting things lately. I didn't stop doing interesting things, I just forgot that I had a blog, I think. So, I am here, and if you are there too, you can take a look at some things that I've been up to. How does that sound eh?