Monday the first

Well today is the first real day of term
I am reminded of the Friday before, it was the fresher’s fair a sort of event where people gather and talk about trivial things like personal fun amidst loud music and lingering smells.
On the whole I decided to give it a miss. I instead went exploring around the site looking for hidden rooms and special shortcuts, I found a fair few and further cemented my knowledge of the area. As was to be expected there were relatively few people around but I had the fortune to stumble in upon a few scenes of interest. One of interest that I will repeat here is the event or events that occurred in the design workshop; a large multiple tiered structure with a long tightly spiralling staircase down one length. From the top of the perch I learnt the structure of Monday’s ice breaker and the chains of event for that day.
So prepared I introduced myself and gave the standard back-story to those who I could count not to remember fully. Introducing clarity moments I insinuated myself into the subconscious and as a result I can rely upon support of a greater calibre than my colleagues.
But on to Monday the first
we sat in the largest theatre in the seating rig and by we I mean all three years of my colleagues all the BATP in fact. I was afforded the luxury of sitting in the front row with the largest leg room and next to me a girl who introduced herself to us on the registration day as Neliswa. She has a rare adult onset condition that causes fainting spells and as such she was afforded the same rights as myself as a similarly disabled person.
The introduction was long and tedious for me; the only practical information was that a 2nd year student going into the third year of sound was killed by London traffic. There was a shared moment of applause and then back to the monotony. We then had a session where we made rain noises with our bodies. This was the focal point of the morning for a lot of people as it was interactive in the very personal sense of the word. Each member of the audience was responsible for a part of the production not matter how small.
I will be very surprised if they don’t write about it in their PEF at the end of the unit.
After that we had a short break, I had lunch with Neliswa and due to a misunderstanding were late back to the principals address. We didn’t miss much as he was rehashing what was already told to us earlier. I will include an extract at a later point for reference.
After the principal we were spoken to by the SU or student union. It’s important to note that the head of the union graduated last year as a costume designer and is the only paid member of the union body. He has an office geographically next to the principals but in reality it is nothing like his office.
After their introduction and a token heckling by the audience they left for their lessons and then we ourselves left for a strand introduction. The introduction consisted of a meeting of the managers and a short guided tour via a buddy system of a second year and a 3rd year escort, in my case however we were short a 3rd year so myself and the other male manager teamed up and shared a 3rd year. The tour was basic and informal as a result broke down halfway through into a question and answer session.
The other male manager is called George cook. He has friends here as a result already has an in with the higher years, whether or not this is helpful remains to be seen. I myself have contacts above my year a 2nd year technical production student and a 3rd year scenic constructer.
But more on them later.

The last stop was the SM office a decently large space that had the energy of previous shows within. It also had a rather grumpy 3rd year stage manager. Instantly seeing a chance for information I lagged behind the group as they went to the SU bar for drinks. This was a simple decision as had I have gone I would have had to have divulged personal information of another’s terms; simply unacceptable.
After rebranding the grumpy man I gained much useful information about the structure of central and I sent him on his way with a smile. I went to the bar as a token of goodwill made sure I was noticed by my tutor and left without incident.