Experiential Blog 2

I'll start with my somewhat "unpleasant" surprise. Although I wouldn't have considered this as an unpleasant experience but more of a shock in a way (something I definitely didn't expect). But this was how Grantham is set up and how it looks. I expected it to be cleaner and more organized looking. Kind of like more structured I guess is the right way to put it. The first time I went there it wasn't very clean, the streeets were littered with trash and it didn't seem like an organized very structred city. My pleasant surprise is how friendly the locals are. They are very welcoming and are happy to help you and accomodate your needs. Something that is very different from the USA. People here actually notice you and don't act like you don't exist when walking past you.

Kafka

Kafka was a very modernized gothic writer who was very succesful in doing so. The main way in which he did this was by using metaphors to communicate traditional gothic themes. For example, in The Judgement, he uses words and things modern people can understand and relate to. Specifically the word traffic is something that people nowadays can understand but hundreds of years ago before there were cars, people might not have understood what Kafka meant when he stated the character saw a motor coach that could drown out the noise and the unending stream of traffic that followed. To us, this makes sense but it also can translate to a deeper meaning when it is brought together with the rest of the story. Also, using a modern story of a father being disappointed in his son is something people can relate to. In The Castle as well, Kafka uses very modern language that is easily relatable to people nowadays. He talks about "ringing up" the land surveyor on the telephone which, once again, is something that people hundreds of years ago would not understand, yet we do because we are surrounded by this technology. The setting of both of these stories is also a way Kafka modernizes his gothic stories. He uses a very modern setting for his stories by describing villages and bridges that look like what we have in today's world instead of the settings hundreds of years ago.

Sisi Blog

Sisi was a very gothic character in "The Lonely Empress." Perhaps the biggest indicator of this is the fact that she is surrounded by death. Death brings the feeling of sadness, depression and sometimes even hopeless confusion. This along with the feeling of being trapped and overwhelmed by the empire contributed to her poor mental health and it deprived her of her potential for being truly happy. These problems also later led to eating disorders as well. Along with her poor mental health, she was also surrounded by things that she didn't feel represented her. She never felt that she belonged in the empire and that she was always out of place in her spot as the dutchess. This sense of confusion and nostalgia towards the whole situation gives off the feelings of a gothic story/character.

"Ruins" and "Barbara" Blog

The "Ruins" and the "Barbara" were very gothic in many different ways. Some characteristics of the gothic are darkness, supernatural, seduction, evil people, being trapped by the past and resistance. Both of these stories had many of these qualities. "Ruins" had the characteristics of the supernatural, darkness, seduction, evil people and resistance. These showed up in the plot with the lady coming back as a supernatural being, Uplandtower being the evil man who seduces, the resistance of the lady to the normal expectations of women from that time and just the overall dark feeling that the situations and events provide. "Barbara" was also very gothic in a sense that it had a maiden in distress, seduction, and resistance. These showed up with Barbara being a maiden in distress stuck between two lovers, seduction by the men to try and court her and the resistance to the normal expectations of a women of that time shows up as well. All of these characteristics are what make these two stories very gothic.

Experiential Blog 1

One of my main goals while I'm here is to learn about the culture of the various places we are going and to learn about how they think and what made them this way. Being a psychology major I am very interested in people's minds and why they do things. I realize that your environment is one of the main things that influeneces that so learning about the culture and the environment itself, will really help me to understand the people's minds better. The best way for me to do this is to take every chance I can get to explore the cities and travel. Just walking around a town or visiting the local pubs can teach you alot about not only the specific place you're at but about the people that go there and the people that live in the area. Another big goal of mine is to just experience everything I've always wanted to experience. I've always dreamt of going to a real football match and experiencing the environment and the wonderful atmosphere. Doing this also teaches you about how the culture behaves during certain events and what is considered acceptable that may not be acceptable in the states. This goal along with experiencing some English pubs all ties back to the idea of me wanting to learn about the culture and how people think and act.

My understanding of the Gothic

My understanding of the Gothic is that it is more than just literature or talking about death. Goth is a movement that wanted to rebel against the classical styles of not only literature, but of architecture as well. Gothic style can be described as creepy and maybe even suspenseful. Anything that can bring out "dark" emotions and feelings or even feelings you can't really describe. Something that brings out mysterious emotions and thoughts.

Clothing/Behavior that would make us stand out

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about how we'll stand out is definitely in our clothing. I'm not entirely sure how different they dress from us but I would imagine that any kind of american brands would make us stand out. An example of this would be wearing Jordan shoes or maybe even a North Face jacket. I'm not sure how popular those brands are overseas but I know they are definitely considered an american thing in fashion. I don't think this would necessarily be a positive or negative thing but people will definitely be able to spot us out as americans based on how we dress. Some behaviors that might make us stand out would be any kind of american stereotypes. Some would include being louder than the rest, or maybe being ignorant to our surroundings. I don't think this will be a problem for our group though since we are all pretty open people looking forward to taking in and embracing other cultures but these are some things that other cultures would expect from our group since we are american. But like I said, I think our group will set a good example of who americans really are.