Oxford really has a sense of familiarity for me now. It feels great to know where everything is and to be able to pass by the same things as I walk to the library or to New College. It feels a little more like home. Its not, of course, but I feel like it could be. Although there were certainly those moments of "I don't know what I'm doing here. I want to go home", I've also had some really nice times were I can just sit back and think, "Wow, I live in Oxford and I'm really enjoying it." Sometimes I wish I could stay here for a whole academic year and really get to know the city and the people, but I know that realistically its a bit much. Experiencing life on my own and with my friends has just been so enjoyable so far- a complete blessing given the anxieties that I had right before leaving.
So there's a lot to catch you all up on, so I guess I'll list a few major bullet points to keep things clear and simple. I'll try to be more diligent with my posts in the future so this sort of generalizing doesn't have to happen :)
Tutorials
So this is what's been consuming the majority of my life here in Oxford. I spend almost every day either in the Bodleian Library, New College library, or in my flat reading books or writing essays. I've done more work in the past four weeks than I've done in the last two and a half years of my college career. So yeah, Oxford is no joke. I'm taking two tutorials, which are one on one meetings with an Oxford professor in a particular subject. There's a primary and a secondary. The primary has a total of 8 meetings and meets once a week for an hour and the secondary has 4 meetings and is every other week for an hour. For each one you have to write an essay on a particular topic given by the tutor. They're to be presented at the next week's meeting. Doesn't sound too bad right? That's what I thought. But these things are intense. They really take over the majority of your time. I've never had to crank out so many essays this fast. It's definitely a new way of doing things and it's had to take some getting used to.
My primary tutorial is in Shakespeare. Its been.. interesting. I don't mind Shakespeare and all, but I have to be honest. I don't like my tutor- at all really. She's not very nice and I don't feel very comfortable talking to her. I haven't had a great feeling about any of our meetings so far, but I'm really trying my hardest to just do my best and get through it alive. She's very critical and I don't like a lot of the things she says, but by the end of the term, I'm hoping to give her something that she'll have nothing to comment on (cause she certainly wouldn't compliment it). So yes... Shakespeare. It's a bit of a headache and I'm looking forward for it to be over, but its definitely making me think.
My secondary tutorial is a totally different experience! I absolutely LOVE my secondary tutorial! Its a shame that I only have it 4 times. It's basically combination of Romantic literature and Jane Austen which I absolutely love. Now that I think about it, I have no idea why I didn't make that my primary. My tutor is absolutely fantastic. He's really nice and enthusiastic and we actually have meaningful discussions about the things I write and the ideas in the texts I'm reading. I really feel like I'm learning something from him. It also helps that we drink tea during our meetings and he likes Bob Dylan :). It's definitely the Oxford experience that I wanted. It's nice to have those meetings to balance out the bad Shakespeare ones.
Trips
As of right now, OSAP has taken us on two organized tours as part of the program. There are still two more before the term is over. They're day trips and already included in our tuition, so we don't have to pay anything. It's also an opportunity to force yourself to take a break from studying- so they're much needed.
The first was to London at the end of January. I was so excited for that one. Honestly, we didn't actually get to do much- there's no way that you can do London in just one day, but I was impressed that we actually got to see a lot of the major things. We started with a bus and walking tour of the city so we could get pictures of most of the major stuff like the Tower Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, The Royal Albert Hall, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, etc. That was followed by a visit to the Churchill Museum and the Cabinet War Rooms. The tour guide was really nice and helpful. Alexis, Colleen and I actually ended up having lunch with him in this old church and he told us all about London, Oxford, and just the UK in general. During our free time, we just explored some of the central parts of Westminster and took pictures (most of them in the telephone booths!). We just kept saying, "Guys.. we're in London!"- it was so surreal! It was a lot of fun, but I definitely want to go back... there's just so much more to do!
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| Buckingham Palace |
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| Alexis, Colleen, and I enjoying London! |
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| Westminster Abbey |
The next trip was about a week ago and it was to Stonehenge and Bath. I was also really excited about this one. We started with an hour at Stonehenge. It was really amazing to see. There was a giant path for tourists to go walk on so you could go around the entire thing. It's actually quite large. Unfortunately, it was beyond freezing, so I didn't have the patience or body temperature to stand and contemplate or learn about the history of Stonehenge. I was, however, completely glad that I got to see it and enjoy it and get my pictures. It really is an amazing thing to see in person and I'm glad I finally got to do it. After that we went to the city of Bath. The only thing that we were scheduled to do there was see the Roman Baths and the museum they had there. That was also pretty cool, but what I really wanted to see was the Jane Austen museum. Bath is mentioned in a lot of her work and she actually lived there for some time. For my secondary tutorial, I had just finished reading Northanger Abbey, one of the novels that takes place there, so my tutor and I both agreed that visiting the Jane Austen Centre would be a good use of my time. As soon as we got some free time, I made my way there. Nobody else seemed to have too much interest, but I enjoyed it by myself. It was totally worth it!
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| the Roman Baths |
Social Life in Oxford
So this is going to be a much smaller section than the others. Because most of my days are spent in the library, my social life has been pretty limited. I've been trying, however, to get myself out there and enjoy the social world. Early in the term, I bought tickets to see Monty Python's Spamalot at a theater across the street from the OSAP office. I went with Beth, Steve, and a few of the girls living in Beth's house. It was actually a lot of fun and a much needed break from the stresses of my Shakespeare tutorial.
Other the occasional visits to Beth's house, meeting new people in the OSAP program, and the occasional family dinner with the girls in my flat, the only other major social thing I've been doing is at church. Alexis, Colleen, and I have been going to St. Aldates Church- a really nice Anglican church across the street from Christ Church college. It has a really large student community and we've been able to go to services there on Sundays as well as Student nights on Thursdays where they have dinner, praise and worship time, a speaker, and a social get together. I've only been to one student night so far, but I'm really looking forward to more and I'm hoping that I can meet a lot more British students that way.
So yes... lots to say. And there is undoubtedly lots more to come. Again, sorry for the incredibly long silence. Life is busy. I'll try to stay on top of things a little better. If you were able to get through it all, thanks for reading!
Cheers!
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