The Beatles and Jelly Babies, hockey, Beyoncé…UVic?

Photo credit: visionet via photopin cc.

Dear world,

This week in school, I sat in an entire class dedicated to learning about the History of the Beatles.

Just let that sink in for a second or two.

The Beatles! How epic is that!

It has been the most engaging class I have taken at UVic and one that I look forward to twice a week with more anticipation than anything else. I soak up all the information in that class like a sponge. Having your professor ask the group that is presenting on the first Beatles album, ‘Please Please Me’, to “turn up the music so we can jam to it” was the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard.

It’s going to be pretty tough to top this class.

As a massive music lover and avid guitar player, I couldn’t ask for anything more. I was even inspired to attempt to learn a riff of ‘Twenty Flight Rock’, an important song Paul McCartney played to impress John Lennon when they first met.

https://youtu.be/rydI8BTD8Gk

Fun fact: Paul McCartney played Twenty Flight Rock to impress John Lennon and join the Quarrymen. I was messing around and I thought I’d give it a go. #myfingershateme #notquitepaul

Later on in the semester, our final assignment is to perform a song with the skiffle group bands we were placed in on the first day of class in a Cavern recreation night. More to come on that!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_2f_UpTz24

To end our Monday class, our presenters gave out little bags of Sour Patch candies (substituting Jelly Babies) with a hand-written note inside that said either “Don’t give George any” or “Don’t give John any.” It went along with a funny side note on George mentioning that he enjoyed the candy Jelly Babies in an interview. Before he knew it, the band was being sent massive amounts of candy, culminating in George being struck with a piece on stage one night, leading to this running joke.

Candy+Beatles = Happy Jess

Don’t be fooled! There are more fascinating courses to take at UVic that appeal to a variety of interests. In fact, last semester I took a course entirely dedicated to the History of Canadian Sport, specifically hockey. That was pretty wicked as well. There’s even a course on Beyoncé. If that doesn’t intrigue you, I don’t know what will.

In all seriousness, I encourage you, whether you’re in first year or fifth year, to search through the course calendar and find courses that grab your attention and that you know you will enjoy. I have never had more ‘fun’ writing an essay than I have in courses that I’ve truly loved.

After all, learning is supposed to be fun – take charge of it and make the most of the experience you’ve been given!

Here’s a Buzzfeed link to some more cool courses offered at UVic to help with your course shopping.