Colloquium

We went to the Vancouver Island University campus today – it’s much smaller than UBC, but it’s situated on a hill and we’re told that when the weather permits it, there are some lovely views out there, which we didn’t get to see yet, because of the rain. ;) Not many sunny days out here in Nanaimo, apparently. We spent two hours walking around and then sitting in the cafeteria, composing our class schedule for next week.

Before the Colloquium.

At ten we went to the Malaspina Theatre Department, where we attended an Art and Humanities colloquium. Eliza Gardiner and Laura Cranmer delivered a presentation on “The Power of theatre in Indigenous Communities”. The talk was extremely interesting, as it strove to compare the Potlatch with Ancient Greek theatre. It was also very emotionally demanding of Laura Cranmer, who spoke of her family’s experience with the Potlatch for the very first time in public.

Laura Cranmer (left) and Eliza Gardiner (right) Preparing for the Presentation.

After the colloquium we were introduced to many members of VIU faculty, and then we had a lovely lunch with Laura Cranmer and Eliza Gardiner, during which we talked a lot about Poland and Canada’s history and experiences. In the evening we had an international family dinner and lots of Canadian, English, Polish, Columbian and Burmese anecdotes were exchanged over wine and rice pudding. :)