MAIT-6: Revision, exams and Bath Fringe!

¡Hola de nuevo!

This time I’m going to talk about the loooooooooong REVISION period and EXAMS.

We had a really long break between the end of lessons and the beginning of our exams, which added up to pretty much a whole month. This made us all quite anxious because we didn’t want to let our skills slide (which is really easy to do) and it meant we had to be strict with ourselves. I’m not a morning person but I got into the groove of getting up around 9 and to campus by half ten, doing some interpreting practice in groups (mostly to get feedback which was one of the most important things for me), then do a couple of translation mocks and head to the gym, either after lunch or at lunch-time. This meant that by 6 I could call it a day, go home and relax. It was quite nerve-racking to try to keep up and improve my interpreting skills; there are so many different topics, many of which I’m unfamiliar with and don’t have the correct vocabulary for. I was just hoping I would get something I’d be comfortable with on the exam. I’ve learnt to bullshit my way through some speeches, but that’s not the point of interpreting.

Because days were so monotonous and not much of interest was going on, I made a point of organising stuff to do in the afternoon. I’m not going to lie, as the introvert I am, that mostly meant binge-watching Queer Eye but we also hung out as a course, did board game nights and I also managed to go for some food with Amélie, Vidushi and David, who was back in Bath from Mauritius to visit. It was cute to have part of the Brendon Gang reunited after five years!

The exams themselves were strange. Translation was alright; I didn’t really like the texts but I did what I could. We also had a heat-wave during revision time, which didn’t help with motivation and also made it a struggle to wear smart clothes to our interpreting exams… I was super nervous running up to exam week but once exams came round I’d reached that point of ‘I can’t be bothered with this anymore, I just want it over and done with’. I knew I wasn’t going to be great, but hey, English isn’t my mother tongue and I already knew French wasn’t my strongest language going into the masters, I just needed a pass. I just went into the lab, sat in front of a jury made up of 6 to 8 professional interpreters from different organisations and did my best. Once it was over it was time to finally celebrate with some drinks and a barbecue at Alan’s house. It was great to all hang out together, pretty much the whole group. Although we’d meet up throughout the week not everybody came along so it was nice to have most of the MAIT peeps together for an evening of bbq and drinkies. We made it to the end, folks.

I didn’t get exam results until the middle of July. I was happy with most of my marks, not amazing but not bad either. They averaged with my previous marks and were more or less what I expected. French interpreting was dire, but PSCI saved my overall average. And you know what, no re-sits needed! WOOHOO!

BUSMS BATH FRINGE

For the past few years, BUSMS has taken part in Bath Fringe, which generally takes place on the first week of June, right after Summerball. Rather than one, this time they decided to put on two shows: Tegan directed Ordinary Days (about the daily lives of four New Yorkers) and Angel directed [title of show], a play about writing a play.

Initially, I was only going to audition for cast. But because this was my last opportunity to be involved in a BUSMS production and because I knew it would be tough to get cast, I decided to increase my chances and try for producer. This was no mean feat, as it would mean producing both shows, not just one. One week of rehearsals. I landed the role and it was time to get going before exams.

It was pretty cool being on PT and getting to know all that goes on behind the scenes. It was sort of stressful because they were two productions to handle at the same time, there was drama with members dropping out and having to problem solve, room-changes, cross-casting and generally keeping track of everybody, what they needed, where they had to be, what they were meant to be doing. But despite the setbacks, it was a great experience and I’m amazed by how driven and hard-working BUSMS peeps are.

I loved sitting through auditions and seeing all the talent that BUSMS members have. I auditioned too, but it was fair enough they didn’t cast me as they wanted to involve as many people as possible and I was already on PT. It was also great to see the shows come together, to work with MDs and Directors to cater for the show needs and to push for sales. Rehearsal week was really intense; I had to sort out rehearsal times, room availabilities, props with no budget and changes in schedule as well as deal with the issues we faced, particularly with the [ToS] MD. But it all worked out in the end and I managed to squeeze in some dissertation translation in during the week too! Both shows sold out one performance each and cast was amazing! I can’t wait to watch the DVD!

Aftershow was in Oldfield which meant it very different from other times, but it was nice to hang out after a long week of hard work and say some last good-byes.

Alright, I have one more post coming at you soon, to finish the life updates. I can’t believe I’ve managed to do this blog thing during my whole university experience… No mean feat. Thanks for coming along!

Zoe x

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