Evaluation

SDP Evaluation

Looking back at this unit, it is safe to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed every part of it.

I have grown both as a person and as a practitioner in ways that I always hoped I would, but never thought I would be given the chance to. I am so much more confident in myself and being in America really made this confidence grow. I feel that this is because of how open and honest everyone seemed at Ohio University, but also how willing they were to share ideas with you, ask you questions on your work, and ask for help when they needed it. This gave me a different view on approaching others about my work and made me confident to discuss my ideas and aspirations. I have also grown in confidence when it comes to travelling and I feel like I could literally go anywhere now, no matter how many connecting flights I had to take!

One main thing that I have come out of this experience with is a passionate desire to be a scene painter. During my scene painting classes I felt that I had a really good level of skill already and I definitely developed those skills further and I almost feel confident enough to work out what techniques could be used on an entire set. Even if I’m not quite there yet, it is something that I would like to try before leaving University.

I also felt very comfortable in the props shop. I have used power tools and workshop machinery before, but at OU I was allowed to use much more equipment then at the AUCB, which will really help me if I ever have to help build a set. This leads me onto have trusted all the students at OU seemed to be compared to the AUCB. They were allowed in all the shops on their own and most senior and grad students had their own keys. I know this level of trust would probably never be given to AUCB students, but it does make me question the reason why. Are we so different to the OU students that we can’t be trusted?

Also something that impressed me was that the university was open at most weekends for if students needed to come in to work. This was incredibly helpful to me, as I did need the resources at OU during the weekends too.

I was very impressed with how the theatre department was run. Everything ran smoothly and I liked that the grad students ran the paint and scene shops, it was really nice to see students have that kind of training and responsibility.

Another aspect that I was impressed with was how they got students to help out with the building of a show. As a theatre student you have to do extra credit hours to pass the year, you will get signed in and out of sessions and earn the hours by helping paint or build the set. This is great as it not only gave the students a chance to add something to their CV, it meant that the set painters didn’t need to worry about getting help. It was surreal to have actors help out with the painting, as I don’t think that would ever happen at the AUCB.

The structure of everyone’s courses was quite hard to get my head around. It seems that everyone was technically on the same course; they just chose a ‘major’ when they finished their second year, which would then become their actual degree. This takes me back to the point I made before about getting more experience their CVs. These students could act in a show and run the wardrobe at the same time because they have the experience!

Being in America wasn’t too much of a cultural shock and I found that I fitted in with ease and quickly made some very good friends. There was the occasional thing that would shock me though, and I was mainly stunned that homophobia was still a big thing in some parts of America as it really doesn’t happen that much in England and it certainly isn’t advertised. I was stunned to see a news report on TV where people were actually giving reasons why gay couples shouldn’t get married.

Apart from the occasional little thing though, I found the culture very easy to be a part of.

I am very sad that this unit is over as I feel like I’ve been on a great journey both physically and mentally. I feel so lucky of have been part of the USA exchange pathway as it really was a once in a lifetime experience that I would recommend to anyone. I can’t wait to go back to America and I would love to live there someday and this project has really helped me on the way to that dream.