We started new lessons this week. Practical ones, yay! .. makes all the difference in the world. We are not used to such extensive theoretical lessons as we have been put through here, and it is therefore a matter for rejoicing that we are now moving on to the more practical phase of our studies. At the beginning of this week we finished the final lesson on written adaptations and analyses of the work of Anton Chekhov, and begun working practically as directors and actors. Next week puppetry will be added to the curriculum as well. Exciting times of change these are.

However, I need to discuss here a darker matter.. the matter of my own annoyance over other people´s blunders. I do not ask my readers to decide whether my annoyance is justified or not, I only mean to share it with you.. and where better to let it out than here?
I have touched this issue before, it is currently bugging me because it has risen to a greater expanse.. it has gotten worse. A couple of my classmates from London, who are here, like me, to study, have been losing sight of what I feel is the proper prioritization of things.. I have mentioned how their incessant partying on the town has affected their attendance in class for example; they have now blown off a whole week of school for drink and smoke.
After we had all come back from Hungary these particular classmates immediately planned a trip to Wien in Austria, where they were going to spend Monday night. At that point in time we were unclear as to how our schedule was going to change, but on Monday that was clarified to us, we knew that we had classes every morning for four hours during the week.
These individuals decided not to care and head off to Wien, disregarding that in our practical work we tend to work as a group and not individually, and not admitting that perhaps school ought to come first before fun times that could be postponed until the weekend.
Off they went.. and they stayed the night, and they stayed the next night; they did come back on the Wednesday, but they did not attend the initial puppetry meeting, and later went out that night and did not show up to class the next morning.
Does this sound healthy to you, respected reader?

Well, whether it does or it doesn´t, I see it is as a blunder.. I see it as an unnecessary lack of control, and an irritating carelessness that has ended up affecting the rest of us, in more ways than one. I have not even begun to talk about the annoyance that follows, for the rest of us, when they suddenly barge into our flats very late at night, or ridiculously early in the morning, after a night out. Laughing, squeaking, making a mess, turning on the lights.. and then they sleep in, naturally, lying around like filthy laundry.. making us feel obliged to keep quiet in the middle of the day and climb over them or tip-toe around them.

Does anyone recognise having an elephant in the living room? That may not be the accurate description of our situation here.. but they certainly sometimes remind me of something akin to small sleeping hippopotamuses in the living room or bedroom.
Snap out of it ladies! Get back with it and stop this inappropriate lifestyle! How can you ever expect to succeed in the way you dream of, if you can´t even keep a decent self-discipline while you are still in school?

Irritated to an extent,
..kH