exams and assignment are over; meeting the fencers
Door: Sarajan Graanoogst
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Sarajan
07 Februari 2014 | Verenigd Koninkrijk, Cardiff
Looking back on the previous week I am glad that it is over. I had thought that finishing a group assignment using communication via skype and email would be easy compared to studying for exams in about three days’ time each. I had no clue just how wrong I was. But I’ll get to that. First I want to recount the first fencing training I had in Cardiff.
After the exam on Friday I was in a celebratory mood and decided to spend the evening at the local university fencing club. It was a pity that the best fencers on foil weren’t there that evening. They had a competition for which the appèl would be very early. But my first contact with the club felt a lot like the first time I went to my local fencing club, though there were a few major differences. I may have been nervous as I am always nervous (shy) when I meet new people, but I was confident in my skills. There were no foil fencers there apart from 2 beginners (Jack and Arthur) whom I dispatched without too much trouble. I spent the training fencing them, talking with them and talking a little bit with others. Jack just started with civil engineering and is from the UK (don’t ask me where as I haven’t attempted to remember everyone’s place of origin). Arthur does something with art I believe. At least he mentioned being from Belgium where he went to an English art academy. Some other people I met whose name I remembered the first night were Ciara from the USA, Rosy, Lisa, Ethan, Sam and Tom from the UK. I stayed for drinks of course (just one) and got a lift home from a dude whose name I learned later on. I feel kind of embarrassed that I could not remember the name from the dude who saved me about 20 minutes of walking, but now I know it is Zack (or Zach as you can never be too sure about the way names are written). It was a nice evening and I felt very confident that the next day would see me working 4 - 6 hours (at most) with my team members on the assignment before it would be finished.
But then came Saturday. It turned out I missed a sms and a few mails and by the time I reached the graduate center, which opened at noon, my team members were convinced of the fact that I had dissed them. They were mad as hell as I could read in the mails I missed and I was reminded of a proverb “hell hath no fury …” Maybe it doesn’t completely apply here apart from the fact that all their messages from that moment on sounded like they were written by furies, harpies or some other female monster. I was scolded, accused of not pulling my own weight and delivering work of terrible quality and I was threatened with a ban from the team. That weekend saw me working at least 20 hours trying to appease them. Looking back I am glad they could not berate me face to face as I might have snapped and made some very undignified remarks. I had to remind myself to stay calm each time they gave me destructive criticism or were scolding me and belittling my work. It would not do to lose my cool and gave some strong opinions about them. They were the group in power. They were all in accord that I was in breach of agreements made. I was abroad and could not defend myself if they decided to falsely accusing me of freeriding in the presence of the teacher. And so I swallowed everything and worked and worked and, you guessed it, worked.
But all that is behind me now. I can now look to my future here in Wales and start exploring and meeting people.
After the exam on Friday I was in a celebratory mood and decided to spend the evening at the local university fencing club. It was a pity that the best fencers on foil weren’t there that evening. They had a competition for which the appèl would be very early. But my first contact with the club felt a lot like the first time I went to my local fencing club, though there were a few major differences. I may have been nervous as I am always nervous (shy) when I meet new people, but I was confident in my skills. There were no foil fencers there apart from 2 beginners (Jack and Arthur) whom I dispatched without too much trouble. I spent the training fencing them, talking with them and talking a little bit with others. Jack just started with civil engineering and is from the UK (don’t ask me where as I haven’t attempted to remember everyone’s place of origin). Arthur does something with art I believe. At least he mentioned being from Belgium where he went to an English art academy. Some other people I met whose name I remembered the first night were Ciara from the USA, Rosy, Lisa, Ethan, Sam and Tom from the UK. I stayed for drinks of course (just one) and got a lift home from a dude whose name I learned later on. I feel kind of embarrassed that I could not remember the name from the dude who saved me about 20 minutes of walking, but now I know it is Zack (or Zach as you can never be too sure about the way names are written). It was a nice evening and I felt very confident that the next day would see me working 4 - 6 hours (at most) with my team members on the assignment before it would be finished.
But then came Saturday. It turned out I missed a sms and a few mails and by the time I reached the graduate center, which opened at noon, my team members were convinced of the fact that I had dissed them. They were mad as hell as I could read in the mails I missed and I was reminded of a proverb “hell hath no fury …” Maybe it doesn’t completely apply here apart from the fact that all their messages from that moment on sounded like they were written by furies, harpies or some other female monster. I was scolded, accused of not pulling my own weight and delivering work of terrible quality and I was threatened with a ban from the team. That weekend saw me working at least 20 hours trying to appease them. Looking back I am glad they could not berate me face to face as I might have snapped and made some very undignified remarks. I had to remind myself to stay calm each time they gave me destructive criticism or were scolding me and belittling my work. It would not do to lose my cool and gave some strong opinions about them. They were the group in power. They were all in accord that I was in breach of agreements made. I was abroad and could not defend myself if they decided to falsely accusing me of freeriding in the presence of the teacher. And so I swallowed everything and worked and worked and, you guessed it, worked.
But all that is behind me now. I can now look to my future here in Wales and start exploring and meeting people.
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
