Hello, semester 2!

It has begun. Quite suddenly, to be honest, because I just got back to Leicester a few days ago; classes have already started while I’m still trying to acclimatize. This January I didn’t have any exams – but don’t hate me for this because I had plenty of essays to do instead. In this semester I will have a lot of assignments, too, plus two exams in May. But let’s not think about that yet…

Whilst I had 2 film modules and 1 media in the first semester, it is the opposite way from now on. Two media modules -out of which one is a practical class-  and one film module, called Researching World Cinema. Even though we were warned that it is one of the hardest modules of the film ones, I am looking forward to it a lot. That is because so far we have learnt mostly about American films and a few examples of other countries such as France, Italy etc. Now, however, we are about to devote attention to cinemas that are from places you might even want to find on the map first. For instance, we will watch films from Senegal, Cuba and Algeria just to mention a few. I really like the idea of exploring films from various cultures but indeed it is going to be challenging; to understand a film from Senegal, you definitely need to know what was going on there at the time of the production. So it’s quite complex: besides the films, we get to know a bit of history and a bit of culture, too. So far, this first week, we watched a Polish war film and it was anything but an easy entertainment. But I am a Film & Media student after all, so I’m glad I have the opportunity to encounter films that are a bit more demanding to watch and to understand, films that I have never known existed before and films that are from the other side of the world.

Furthermore, I decided to watch more films this semester on my own. It doesn’t have to be a new one all the time, it can be my all-time favourites that I have already watched a thousand times. The point is to watch as many films as possible. You can say it’s good for broadening one’s knowledge, but my actual reason is simple; it’s fun. I also want to dedicate more time to reading this semester and by that I mean reading stuff that are not (necessarily) related to my studies. I am not sure whether I can do that; I always have plenty of readings to do for my course and that is why I have stopped reading everything else in the last few months even though reading is as much a hobby for me as films. Now, I want to find the balance between doing the readings for my modules and finally starting to read other free-time books, too. There’s this Dan Brown book with me which I was given a long time ago but I could never start it during term time… Perhaps now.

The second semester went faster last year and probably it will be the same now, too. I’m not sure whether it is a good or a bad thing, but I feel quite motivated right now. It is probably a normal feeling for a university student but I still find it amazing; I’ve hardly felt it back at, say, high school… Anyway, bring it on, second semester! (The last portion before my final year. Whew.)