Latin camp journal and other exciting things

Since I’ve been back for almost two weeks now, perhaps I shall actually post my journal from Latin Camp. Tl;dr – It was awesome, I’ll go next year if I have the money.

Day 1 – Monday 26th July, 16:48

I’m hot. I’m hot and tired and terrified of the sheer number of people. Already met one… seems a nice chap, unfortunately we don’t have much in common since he’s a Catholic, a tory and a monarchist (yes, I establish such things as early in a relationship as possible). My room-mate, Nat, seems an amiable chap. Our room is in Haversham House, henceforth (because I’m fantasy-prone) referred to as Slytherin. I’m supposed to be locating the common room, but I find myself afflicted with a terminal case of the Not Bothered. Missing Amy already.

19:53

Just off to the welcome party. First piece of homework waiting for me, so I probably won’t dawdle. Sixteen lines of Horace, shouldn’t be too daunting.

2040

That’s about as much socialising as I care to endure. Homework time.

Day 2 – Tuesday 27th July, 07:13

Awake and dressed. Two interesting facts about room six: the door does not lock, which as you can imagine pleased me immensely (when I said pleased immensely, the ‘pleased’ was in massive sarcasm quotes); and there’s a loft hatch above my desk. I smell shenanigans! Of course, the house itself is locked, nut only with a code pad, and too many people for my taste know the code…

Finished my homework in fairly good time last night. I hadn’t realised how rusty I was. Rusty and ignorant, in my defence; I have never studied future passive indicative. Well, I have now.

Time to get my shit together and wander around until breakfast. Looks like the only internet access is via wireless, so I will probably not be able to post this until I return home.

THIRSTY. Must fine kitchen… Slytherin is built like a maze. I imagine the same trans-dimensional principles were employed in its design as in the Mall in Norwich.

16:16

The workload is quite heavy, made to seem more so by the fact that Nat apparently has time to have an afternoon nap… Did I mention that the room has no electrical sockets? Well, it has no electrical sockets. Hence my standing in the hallway, where there are several, charging my phone and writing this ridiculous journal. I hate writing by hand.

I still haven’t found time to go wandering around Wells, but there are a couple of grammar lectures I don’t need to attend. Time is at a premium here!

Day 3 – Wednesday 28th July, 08:45

I might have the coveted Free Time today. The optional grammar class is on indirect statements, and it is said that I know how to do those (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?!). That means I have about four hours between lunch and our final session of the day. With any luck I shall be able to potter around Wells with my little disposable camera.

18:43

Food’s too good, I’ll be obese beyond recognition by the end of Latin camp.

Work was a bit harder today, but soon we’ll be moving from verse (hate hate – imagine Carol Ann Duffy, but she’s moving the words in every sentence into the most ridiculous word order. Actually not her, she’s shite, imagine someone difficult but good)) to prose; a nice bit of Tacitus apparently (as if that’s any better). Apparently we’ll be moving on to an entire book soon, which is… daunting.

To be perfectly honest, I’m not too keen on the idea of not learning anything substantial. We’re getting more translation done than I care to relate, but not much in the way of learning grammar (which most people in my group seriously need, especially noun accidence). We were given an activity concerning noun endings today, and it was pretty clear that some in my group do not know them. I suppose that the groups are organised according to experience translating rather than knowledge of grammar. I don’t know how to feel about that.

Time to go to tonight’s guest lecture. Last night’s, ‘The Sounds of Latin’, was awesome. Hearing Latin as it was very probably spoken in the time of Caesar (I was surprised by the volume of evidence supporting the pronunciation) has gone a long way towards renewing my determination to master this language.

I took the time to potter around Wells today. There’s not much to it, but there is has its charms. Needless to say, the cathedral was awesome, but I’m saving my camera for Wales and Bath.

Day 4 – Thursday 29th July, 11:34

PROSE!!! That is all.

Our teacher is aiming her spiel at GCSE students, which continues to irritate me. GCSE students are, byt and large, not enthusiastic and need to be goaded. More importantly, they only have to pass an exam rather than learn a language. Therefore far more laziness is tolerated when they’re translating than I find comfortable (fecit is fucking PERFECT, not present, COME ON). I’m also pretty sure our teacher made something up earlier. Not impressed.

Day 5, Friday 30th July, 14:36

We’ve moved on to a nice bit of comedic prose, woop. I am very tired.

I underestimated how much recreational reading I’d want/be able to do; I’m over halfway through Small Gods since Wednesday. I should have brought Lords and Ladies with me. Nunc laborabo ut quiescam.

18:45

You know you’ve been doing too much Latin when yo find jokes about the language funny. Especially sexual references centred on the word ‘deponent’ (you have to understand certain aspects of Roman sexuality and language to get that, but it is quite funny, possibly).

Should be a good talk tonight, but the downside is that I’ll have to delay beginning my class prep until after half 8. 7am to 11pm is a long day, and I’ve had four so far. Very tiring. On the other hand, I now know how to translate participles, purpose clauses and the supremely thrilling ablative absolute. There are none of those in the Navy, so. Note that.

I’m beginning to feel as though, by the end of Latin camp, I might be able to pick up a text and work through it on my own. In spite of the aforementioned inconveniences, I have benefited from coming here, and will consider doing so next year.

Nat’s good fun, and that’s a bonus (actually it’s a bonum, but the neuter form apparently isn’t sexy enough to have made its way into English). Ben and Leo are also great chaps, or boni. Oh my, earler we translated bone as ‘old chum’ or ‘mate’, which is… just brilliant. Salve, bone!

22:10

Awesome fireworks visible from our window. Shame they couldn’t wait until I was free to enjoy them… Ah, and in the distance, the screams of children. A magical night.

Day 6, Saturday 31st July, 10:28

It’s getting easier, already. I finally feel warmed up to Latin.

I finished Small Gods, so I shall have to use this afternoon’s Precious Liberty to purchase a book from the place of books.

14:22

Shopping was successful! More graphite refills, a book, and people dressed as eyes were handing out cheap glasses cases with cloths in them. I can see once more! And not only that, but the cases had sweets in them that look like eyes. It took me two seconds, walking down the street, to get the pun, and groan accordingly.

No more sessions today, but considering I have over 30 lines to translate by Monday and will be in Wales all day tomorrow, I’m not going to be able to enjoy much rest.

By the way, get a translation of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses. It’s hilarious.

Day 10 – Wednesday 4th August, 17:44

Bath was awesome. It’s an indescribable pleasure to watch water bubbling to the surface of a pool, it having not been in contact with sunlight for about 10,000 years, to hold one’s hand out and feel its warmth… to contemplate purchasing a bottle of the filthy stuff from the gift-shot is less of a pleasure. And no, I didn’t.

Last proper session right now, then a play put on by the staff, then the costume party for which I shall not be in costume (Retronote(TM): I totally had a toga on). I’m looking forward to going back to Amy, but I’ll miss Nat, Leo, Sophie, Ben, Alice, everyone. Well, the Slytherin lot anyway.

Final day, Thursday 5th August, 14:32

I’m on the train back to Birmingham, and I can’t think of anything to do but translate. It was a bit of a downer to leave everyone. The summer school had a special atmosphere to it, derived from a common purpose and interest. Outside of this rarefied environment, certain things don’t make sense; no real privacy, the constant presence of Classical literature as a conversation piece, and the general enthusiasm for Latin. I felt something similar while in Wells to when I first joined tabletop gaming soc, the sense that I was surrounded by My People.

Norfolk tomorrow! I shall have to get my cameras developed. I filled an entire camera (and a half) in Bath alone.

Oh, yes. I still have a thesis to write, or the final chapter thereof, at least. Yujin seems to think that it’s going quite well, which is somewhat reassuring. Nonetheless I am not looking forward to my exam.

The End

Well, there you have it. There are yet more anecdotes left untold, including a particularly fascinating tale of a phantom embryo.

I had a great time with Robin and then Graeme, getting up to the usual larks with the latter. We went to see The Last Airbender and while on one level I’m glad I saw it to get it over with, I doubt I shall ever see it again. Both G and I found it generally abysmal. Not even in the same way that Star Trek was abysmal. Just… generic and bland. I liked a couple of the casting choices. The kid who played Aang was probably the best part of the film, and against all expectations I enjoyed the performance of Shaun Toub as Eeroh. Yes, the pronunciation was generally shocking. Soh-ka, Ee-roh, Ong (rhyming with British ‘farm’), and for some reason Katara couldn’t say Avatar properly. The whole thing was too short and too rushed. The combat sequences were sluggish… the bending of elements should be quick, not comprised of a ridiculous warm-up dance and finally attacks that don’t match the gestures made. I do, however, adore what they’ve done with Firebending. It makes Iroh (and presumably Azula) a little bit more special. It also makes the function of Sozin’s comet rather more obvious. I do hope they make a sequel, but I hope that they learn from this one, and try not to write it so clumsily.

Back to Thesis City now. Strange to think that in two months it’ll all be over and I might even have a Job. Cheerio ducklings.