Some Words Between Chaucering

I know it has been a few days since I have written, but the work load is really starting to hit. On Thursday I met my Modernism tutor, Dr. Julian Thompson, for the first time. He seems really nice, and I think the tutorial with him will be a great learning experience. He let me have a say in what I'll be reading in the tutorial, and in my efforts to prepare for the GRE and grad school, I've selected a reading list that will give me exposure to a wide range of authors. For my first assignment, I'm reading several poems by W. B. Yeats, and Dr. Thompson has given me a list of questions that I can choose from as the topic for my first essay, which is due on the Tuesday of second week.

On Friday Brandon and I went to buy our subfusc, which, in short, is the academic regalia that students and professors wear here. The official Oxford students have to wear their subfusc for matriculation, when they take exams, and for formal dinners. Since Brandon and I, who are visiting students, won't be matriculating or taking exams, we'll just need the subfusc for the formal dinners and any other social events when wearing subfusc is required. Dr. Robson, in her efforts to make the visiting students feel welcome, has arranged for us to come have our photo taken with the regular Oxford students on their matriculation day. So while we're not all too happy to have been forced to spend 35 pounds on jester-like, Harry Potter-esque attire, it will be a nice souvenir to have a picture in our subfusc with all the incoming Freshers from this year. And we'll also have a photo with just the visiting students in our subfusc.

Friday I also met my Medieval tutor, Dr. Victoria Condie, for the first time. She seems really nice, but she has already assigned me so much reading. I have to have Troilus and Criseyde and Fragment I of The Canterbury Tales read by Monday. And she wants me to read it in the Middle English, which wouldn't be so bad if I had prior exposure to Middle English, but I don't. So it's pretty slow going. To make my reading more efficient, I've been reading each tale in translation first and then going back and reading it in the Middle English. That way I have an idea of the tale in my mind first, so I know what I should be gettting out of the Middle English version. Plus, it's also helping me become more efficient with the Middle English text because I'm finding that I don't have to refer to the translatory footnotes as frequently. My first tutorial with her is on Monday, and I don't have a paper due then; I just have to be prepared to chat about a discussion question she assigned. My first paper for her will be due Friday of second week. I'm not really sure what texts I'll be reading after Chaucer, but I guess I'll just find out about that on Monday.

Today I woke up around 9:00 a.m., and minus a few breaks here and there (such as my taking the time to write this blog), I've been doing nothing except Chaucering. (Yes, this reading is so extensive that it requires its own verb.) Tonight Brandon and I are going to the school because we have dinner with our "college parents," who are second- or third-year students whom the college assigns to us to serve as guides or mentors of sorts during our year here. I met my "college father" very briefly yesterday, and he seems very nice, so tonight should be fun -- and a much needed break from all this Chaucering.