Uni worries

At the moment I'm trying frantically to work out which uni - and, indeed, which subject - I'll be applying to. Foreign uni's are out, for several reasons.

1) I speak French, but nowhere near fluently enough to live in France, let alone study in French, and no other foreign languages, which limits me to English speaking nations.
2) Travel costs: I'd love to study in New Zealand, for example, as it's such a great country, but the chances of me aquiring enough money to get there are roughly equal to those of Hell being converted into an ice rink for winged pigs.
3) Uni costs: even with the new top-up charges, it's still possible to (just) get by as a student in this country, but America, say, is completely out of my price range in this respect, especially for the better universities there.

So I'll be sticking to England's green and (sometimes) pleasant lands for now. As I've finally managed to work out which subject area - Biology and Biochemistry - I'm interested in, going via Engineering, Cybernetics, Marine Ecology, Architecture, Computer Science, Psychology, Philosophy and Robotics, amongst others, this is not too bad, I suppose.
I was daft enough to go on the Cambridge open day. I say daft, because, whilst I only have a fairly marginal chance of getting there, I've now fallen hopelessly in love with the place. I love the ethos, the social life - yes, you heard me right, I'm just wierd that way - the teaching methods, the courses, the buildings, the city... Suffice it to say that it is thus thoroughly irritating to know that I probably won't make it. But hey.
There are other good unis out there that I'm interested in - Sheffield, York and Durham, for instance.
Found out today what the official worst exams in the world are - 1st year Classics exams at Oxford. Twelve three-hour exams in six days! What's even worse is that these exams don't even contribute to the students' final degree score, as they're in the first year. The Chinese Civil Service exams were apparently even worse, but they got changed after Amnesty International lobbied them as being inhumane. Bizarre - China listening to Amnesty? They must be going soft. Or something. Anyway, remind me not to take Classics, still less so at Oxford.
Maybe I'll just take Media Studies at some poly and work in maccy d's for the rest of my life...
C.E.M.

In Lux Aeternam...

I am of the opinion that there is no better language for Classical singing than Latin. I don't want to come across middle aged and out of it, or public school and snobbish (note to Americans: we British call private school public school and vice versa, sorry) but that's how I feel. Although it may not come as much of a surprise to hear that someone who calls themselves Canis Ex Machina likes Latin.
I had to study Latin for two years at school; in fact, I was part of the last year to do so before my school dropped it in favour of Spanish. The first year was excruciating; attempting in vain to get my head around the general bizarreness of Latin grammar. The second was saved by the fact that we had a different teacher for it; he's a good bloke so I'll just use his nickname here. Wiggy - the aforesaid Latin teacher - had come up with a revolutionary new teaching system. He would allow us to set our own work, tests and homework. As you may can no doubt imagine, allowing a class of year nines to set their own work, especially in a subject like Latin, was perhaps an unwise decision. Perhaps surprisingly, a few students, who genuinely enjoyed the subject, did very well under this eccentric system. I spent most of the year discussing such noted topics as how to mod Tiberian Sun. Amazingly, Wiggy could never seem to understand why the classes taught by other teachers kept getting better results than us. Not that we cared; it is hard to care much, for most people, about a subject with almost no applications in the modern world; it may help explain the origins of the English language, but this knowledge is, I would contend, not worth the effort involved in gaining it.
That I learnt anything at all during this period is remarkable to say the least. My grammar certainly never got anywhere. Surprisingly, though, I got fairly good at translation, which was at least moderately diverting. An ability, I have to say, which I have mostly lost.
But back to the original subject; Latin, whilst completely unsuited to modern music - generally speaking - since the artists, at least, generally consider their lyrics to be worth understanding, and most people don't understand dead languages. Whilst we may, in many cases, disagree, this nevertheless stops it from being much use for the latest chart hit. But classical music is a totally different beast. For a start, a lot of classical music exists as an art form; the lyrics are, frankly, not important, whereas how the music sounds is. Alternatively, it may be intended for worship, in which case Latin is traditional. And Latin sounds much - what? - grander, maybe? More solemn? Deeper? Not to mention it allows a greater admiration of the music, unclouded by having to listen to what the words are saying. Here is the start of a traditional Credo, in Latin and English. Make your own decision.

Credo in unum deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem coeli et terra...
I believe in one god, all-powerful Father, maker of heaven and earth...

Quite apart from anything else, it is possible for a non-Christian to appreciate the piece in Latin, when in English it is so obviously religious.
Well, that's a random post...
C.E.M.