Kristin in Oxford

"Sole" Searching: My Adventures in Britain

2009-03-19T21:32:00.000-07:00

When I first received my acceptance letter to the CSU in Oxford Visiting Student Program, I was ecstatic. The program allows CSU students to study abroad at Regent’s Park College of the University of Oxford while living in the beautiful Spencer House (generously donated to CSU by J. Kyle Spencer) – all for the same cost as attending Columbus State. The opportunity to study at one of the world’s most prestigious universities while immersing myself in the culture of Britain was an opportunity too wonderful to pass up. So I began preparing myself for the hop across the pond, reading books about the English culture and the periods of literature I would be studying once I arrived and talking with friends who had taken part in the program at Oxford in prior years.

On September 25th, 2008, with my passport in hand, I boarded Delta flight number fifty-eight and made my nine-hour trek across the Atlantic. Brandon Harris (the other CSU student in the program), Dr. Dan Ross (a CSU professor of English literature who acted as site administrator for the Fall semester), and I arrived at the London-Gatwick airport feeling very jetlagged. But even after our two-hour coach ride to the Spencer House, Dr. Ross would allow no sleeping lest it be even harder for us to adjust to the time difference. Instead, Dr. Ross took us on a tour of the city of Oxford. Although I had visited Oxford once before during a ten-day tour of the British Isles and recognized several of the sights we saw, it was a very different feeling to realize that the town in which I was walking would be my home for the next semester. As we looked at the Bridge of Sighs (an exact replica of the one in Venice), the world-famous Bodleian Library, and the Oxford University Press, I was both in awe and beginning to feel a sense of intimidation. When I called my mom later that night, I told her, “I don’t know why I feel intimidated. I guess because it’s Oxford. There are just such big shoes to fill.” I will never forget my mom’s response. “Well, just remember that you have big feet,” she said.

What was so memorable about her response was its appropriateness. Being an English Literature major, I had to overanalyze the statement, interpret it both on its literal and metaphorical levels. On the literal level, she was right; I do have – or at least I have always believed myself to have – big feet. Her remark was just comic enough that every time I began to feel the trepidation rising yet again, I would hear her voice in my head once more, and I would find myself so amused that my worrying would temporarily subside. On the metaphorical level, she was also right, but that took me a few more weeks to learn. It wasn’t until I began to meet my tutors, attend my first tutorials, and receive high marks on my first essays that my apprehension truly began to wane. I realized that I did belong there, that I could fill the large Oxonian shoes. After that point, I did all I could to live my Oxford experience to the fullest.

During my semester at Oxford, I took a tutorial in Medieval literature with Dr. Victoria Condie and in Modern literature with Dr. Julian Thompson. I enjoyed the reading for my tutorials, which included several texts from the Chaucerian canon and writings of the Gawain-poet, as well as works by W. B. Yeats, Katherine Mansfield, Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Rudyard Kipling, Philip Larkin, George Bernard Shaw, David Jones, and D. H. Lawrence. Alongside working diligently to prepare for my tutorials (writing three essays a fortnight!), I was sure to enjoy the cultural experience of living in England. I made several trips to London. The first time, Dr. Ross, Brandon, and I went to the Tate Museum of Modern Art and the Imperial War Museum, while also taking the time to see the London Eye, Big Ben and the Parliament buildings, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and to ride in the Tube. I retuned to London twice after that – once to see Vanessa Redgrave’s final performance in Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking and to peruse the famous London markets and again to see an adaptation of Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author. I also walked to a nearby town called Iffley, where I was able to see a twelfth-century church, and later visited Salisbury Cathedral and saw Stonehenge. In Oxford, I had the opportunity to hear Evensong at Christ Church, and I even became involved with choral activities myself by joining the Advent Choir at Regent’s Park. Plus, I made many new friends, even throwing my own British tea party (a delicious tribute to Yorkshire black tea, scones, and clotted cream) for some of them before I returned to the States. In fact, it still amazes me when I remember that I arrived in Oxford only knowing Brandon and Dr. Ross, but I left knowing more people than I could count, many with whom I still keep in touch. As I enjoyed my life as an Oxford student, experienced the British culture, and made new friends, I watched myself grow both academically and personally. I began to realize that the proverbial shoes of Oxford actually fit very nicely.

In fact, I had such a wonderful time in Oxford that I will be returning to England for five weeks this summer, only this time I will be trading in my Oxford shoes for a London pair. While I am there, I will take a course entitled “The 'Other' Britain: The Caribbeans, South Asians and the Romani in London.” I know the London program, like my experience in Oxford, will be a life-changing experience for me. What I learn will stay with me and will be helpful as I prepare to enter graduate school in the very near future – and later when I eventually become a professor of English literature. I also know from my prior study abroad experiences that any time spent immersed in another culture forever changes the sojourner for the better, so I look forward to discovering the person my time in London will make me. Needless to say, I very eagerly await my departure!

This article appeared in the Spring 2009 edition of The Chronicle, the Honors Program Newsletter.

Look, I Threw a Tea Party!

2008-12-07T18:44:00.000-08:00

Today I threw a tea party for some of the British friends I've made here as a way to say thanks for their friendship and also to say goodbye. We had a lovely time. In fact, they arrived at 4.30, and when I looked at the clock after they left, I realized that we had been chatting and drinking tea for four hours. It was great fun. And I also think the table spread was just amazing. Check out the photos:

My lovely table full of yummy food

Posing with my lovely table

Decapitating the caterpillar cake

With Becki, Rachel, and Mark

Salisbury and Stonehenge

2008-12-06T13:15:00.001-08:00

Today Dr. Ross and I ventured out early -- in the freezing cold -- and made our way to Salisbury because I have really been wanting to see the cathedral before I go home. So I got to take my first ride in a passenger train, and we arrived in Salisbury. After walking a little and getting turned around a few times (thanks to Dr. Ross's wonderful Magellan sense), we made it to the cathedral, and I was so amazed to see how beautiful it was in person. Even the photos are beautiful, but seeing the real thing was just magnificent. After taking a cathedral tour, we ate in the cathedral restaurant and then journeyed toward the bus station because we were going to ride to Old Sarum, the original site of the cathedral. But walking through the bus station, I saw that we were really close to Stonehenge, so I very quickly suggested that we buy a ticket to see the ancient ruin. When we got to Stonehenge, it was so magnificent. We couldn't have asked for a prettier day -- clear skies, beautiful green grass, sunshine, and it wasn't even that cold near the Stonehenge site. Also, as we made our way around the rocks, the sun started to set, and there was such an eerie feeling when the colorful sun beams were making their way through the rocks on one side and the moon could be seen on the other side. It was truly magnificent. And to top it all off, we stopped at a Thai restaurant once we were back in Oxford for a yummy dinner. It really was a great day.

Home in Five Days!

2008-12-04T18:45:00.000-08:00

Things are really winding down here. Michelmas term ends on Friday. I've finished with my tutorials, and I've made As in both. Meanwhile, everyone is gearing up for the holidays. The streets are filled with Christmas trees, lights and decorations and also with brass bands and carolers serenading the passersby. Regent's Park is having an advent service and dinner tomorrow evening, and I'll be singing in the choir. It will be my chance to say goodbye to my tutors and a lot of other people I have met at Regent's this term. Many of my friends here are already beginning to leave, and by Monday, they will all pretty much be gone, so I've been trying to spend as much time with them as possible -- especially seeing as how I finally don't have essays to worry about writing. Then Tuesday, I, too, will make the journey back across the pond. I still have a few more things to look forward to before then. On Saturday, Dr. Ross, Brandon and I are going to Salisbury because I really want to see the cathedral. On Sunday, I'm going to throw a tea party to say goodbye to the British friends I inherited from Sally. Then Monday I'll finish packing, take my books to the post office for shipping, clean my room, and do any other last-minute things I have to finish before leaving. Then Tuesday, I'll be on a bus at 6.30 a.m. so I can make it to the London-Gatwick airport and catch my flight home.

Spencer House Halloween

2008-10-30T18:47:00.000-07:00

Well, we had our Halloween party tonight, and it was so much fun -- a much needed break from all this studying! I decided to dress up as Sarah Palin -- with the beehive, flipped-out hair, and all. And the funny thing is, I didn't even have to tell people who I was. They just knew. And people kept telling me all night that I looked so much like her. Yeah, it was a bit unnerving, but quite hilarious.

I'm Dreaming of a White . . . October!?

2008-10-28T18:48:00.000-07:00

Today has been a very busy day, the greater part of which I spent reading Chaucer in preparation to write my essay, which I plan to do tomorrow. Pretty typical scholastic preparations. And tonight I rode into town to eat dinner at the school, as I do every night. But upon leaving Regent's Park, I noticed that something was very different. It was snowing outside! The white flakes were visible as they fell from the sky. Yes, snowing! In England! In October! Oxford rarely sees snow, so the fact that it would be snowing this early in the year doesn't seem to be such a good sign for cold-natured people like me, who are already fearing the bitter cold that looms ahead. It was so beautiful though, and I have to say that the freezing weather here doesn't feel as cold as freezing weather at home. I'm not sure why that is exactly; maybe it has something to do with the humidity in Georgia (and thus, a higher level of moisture in the air). And that's not to say it's not cold here -- because it is -- it just doesn't feel as cold at this temperature here as it would at home. But I rode home on my bike with huge snowflakes pelting me in the face, smearing water and ice all over my glasses, and every minute of it was exhilirating. I just couldn't stop smiling, and I walked in the front door of the Spencer House, completely soaked, and all I could say was, "It's snowing!" And the large group of people in the dining room (Phil had a bunch of his friends over tonight for dinner) just laughed. Brandon said, "Looks like you had a nice bike ride." And it's kind of funny because a few days before I left, I got the idea to check out the Wikipedia article on Oxford, just to see what it said. And the only picture was of a collection of bike racks covered in several inches of snow. One of my friends laughed at me and told me that I was going to freeze. So later I asked Sally if that was typical Oxonian weather, and she said no, that it had never snowed the entire time she was there, and the only reason there were so many pictures of Oxonian bikes covered in snow is because it is such a rare occurrence in Oxford. Funny, then, that I would get to experience the exception to the average Oxonian October. "Typical," the British would say (according to Kate Fox at least), "How typical!"

Magical Thinking

2008-10-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

As for England, the days here are getting shorter, even more noticeably now because our clocks have turned back an hour. And it's starting to get much colder outside; it doesn't get above the forties during the day, and at night, it's below freezing. As for me, I'm reaching that point in study abroad where things start to have that feeling of everydayness. I'm settling into a routine. There are things to get done, places to go, essays to write. It takes me thirty minutes to run my errands instead of the two hours it used to take me before I knew my way around Oxford. I can pick out the tourists when they walk by. And I know to say that I want a single or return ticket instead of a one-way or round-trip and to ask "What are you reading?" instead of "What is your major?" and that I want aubergine at the grocery store instead of eggplant and that Renaissance is pronounced "Reh-nay-sense" not "Ren-nuh-sance" and that it is always a queue, never a line. In short, in many ways I'm beginning to feel like I'm a part of this place and no longer an outsider. And it's so hard to believe that, in a few days, Michelmas term will be half way over. On one hand, it feels like I've been here for such a long time, and on the other hand, it doesn't seem like so little time should be left before the term ends.

I got my "mark" on my first Modernism essay, and I got an upper 2.1. Their marking (grading) system is very different from ours. You can get a 1 (called a "first"), which according to Lynn means you're pretty much a supergenius. Then the next grade down is an upper 2.1, which is a a really strong A. Then there's a lower 2.1, which is an A/B. And so on. So I was very pleased with my first mark. Tony, one of the other residents in the Spencer House, told me that an upper 2.1 from Julian (my Modernism tutor) is excellent because he is a really tough marker. But Julian told me earlier that it would be very easy for me to improve my grade to a first because basically, to earn one on the last essay, he would have only wanted me to explore a couple more poems. So that's exciting. I had my third tutorial with Victoria (my Medieval tutor) today, and I handed her my first essay, which she said she was pleased with. I'll get my mark on that next week. In the meantime, I have two essays due next week, one for Victoria on Monday and one for Julian on Wednesday. So far so good.

I had my first experience at the Bodleian library today. Click on the link to learn more, but pretty much, the Bodleian is like England's version of our Library of Congress. They have a copy of every book that has ever been published in England plus tons more. But they don't lend out books. So you have to request them to a reading room, and then you're allowed to use the books there. But back to the point. The Bodleian, I learned today, is pretty much like a steel fortress. You have to show your student ID card at the front desk. And you have to let them look in all your bags when you enter one of the library buildlings, move from one part of the library to another, and when you leave. It was very cool, though, to feel like an Oxford student -- headed to the Bod to look at books while groups of tourists snapped their pictures of the door I was walking through. On my way to the Bod, I walked down a street that I remembered from when I was here in 2005, and it was quite surreal to see myself as one of those tourists three years ago and then to see myself as an Oxford student now.

On Saturday, Dr. Ross and I went to see the final showing of The Year of Magical Thinking at the National Theatre in London. And it was marvelous. For those of you who don't know about the play, here goes. The playwright, Joan Didion, wrote a memoir called The Year of Magical Thinking, which was published in -- 2005, I think. The book is Didon's account of her grieving process following her husband's (the author, John Gregory Dunne) sudden death because of a heart attack. She calls it The Year of Magical Thinking drawing upon the anthropological definiton of "magical thinking", which refers to the beliefs shared by many ancestral peoples that taking a certain action will bring about a certain supernatural effect; for example, tribes sacrifice a virgin in hopes that the rain god will supply rain. Didion, too, experiences a type of magical thinking because she spends the year following John's death thinking that if she takes certain actions she will be able to hold off his death or allow him to come back. For example, a particularly powerful image from the book (and the play) is her refusal to throw away his shoes, insisting that John will need them when he gets back. Throughout the book, she comes to terms with her grief through various means and finally accepts the reality of his death. But the book ends -- in a very Modernist way -- not with a sense of resolution, that all is will, but with the idea that death is pervasive, that the effects of grief never fully disappear -- in short, that the idea of the (re)integrated self is a fallacy. After Didion published the book, she was approached by the Broadway director, David Hare, who wanted to turn her book into a play. In rewriting the book for the stage, there were the typical issues to address about how to translate a written work into a visual work. But there was also an extral layer of complication because in the interim space between the publication of the book and being approached by Hare, Didion's thirty-nine-year-old daughter, Quintana, also died of health problems. So it was necessary for Didion to deal with Quintana's death and the grief that resulted from it in the play because, as Hare said, they didn't want audience members to know something more than the speaker of the play, i.e., that the audience would know that her daughter dies but that the speaker wouldn't. So those issues resolved, the play consists of Joan Didion, played by Vanessa Redgrave, monologuing to the audience for the play's entire 2.5 hour duration. And it is pure brilliance. In the play, you get this very powerful sense of just how grief-stricken Didion is and how "crazy" her grief is making her that you don't get in the same way from the book. In the book, you're so inside of Didion's thoughts and you empathize with her so strongly that you almost take on her grief as your own, and the irrationality of it comes to make sense -- almost like you're experiencing it with her. But with the play, it's like you're able to look at her in a more objective (but equally touching) way because there's a visual inconsitency between Redgrave's mannerisms and her words -- as she tells you that she's fine, but you know differently based on the way she presents herself. Redgrave just portrays a traumatized person so naturally -- from the way she nervously fidgits her hands, plays with her hair, moves in the chair in which she sits for most of the performance to the sudden pauses between thoughts that allow her to portray the stream-of-consciousness manner in which a grieving person moves from one idea to the other. You really get a sense of how talented an actress Redgrave is -- because she is able to act so nervous and raw and traumatized that it becomes so real. Really, it was so haunting and moving that I can't get it out of my head. Absolutely wonderful. Go read the book now if you haven't.

My New Haircut

2008-10-24T18:51:00.000-07:00

. . . or my new bangs (known to the British as a fringe, or a fringy bit, and I still managed to ask mistakenly for fringes -- because bangs are, after all, plural, so it seemed logical) and trim/shaping. I'm saying all this because the difference is not drastic, although the fringy bit is a little different from the bangs I've had in the past.

I went the other day for my first experience in a British hair salon. It was a little bit pricier than I'm used to paying at home, but I was so desperate for a haircut that I didn't care. I went to this salon called Brothers because I'd received a ten-pound off coupon (known to the British as a voucher) from them in my Fresher's pack. The salon was very nice -- as were the employees. They offered you drinks while you waited, took your coat to a coat room, and gave you a "complimentary" scalp massage prior to your shampooing and a "complimentary" hand massage while you are getting your hair cut. I know that "complimentary" really means nothing (hence the quotation marks); it just explains why my visit cost me more here than it does at home, but after all the Oxonian stress that this place puts me under, it was well worth the few extra pounds. And I'm quite happy with the results:

Playing "Catch Up" on the Blogging

2008-10-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a chance to post in a few days as I've been rather busy. To make up for lost time, first I'll talk about Saturday. Early in the morning, the Freshers had their matriculation, which I mentioned in a prior entry. And as promised, all the international students had the opportunity to dress up in our newly acquired subfusc and take pictures with the other Oxford students, even though we didn't actually get to matriculate. It was a lot of fun. I was so giddy and excited to feel like a real Oxford student as I rode down the streets with my black robe flapping in the wind. It was great! Here are some pictures:

Brandon and me outside the Spencer House

A Family Portrait:
Brandon, Phil, and me (all Spencer House inhabitants)

This completely candid shot is my favorite.
Isn't my expression great!?
Brandon was pulling me backwards by the sash of my gown,
and I thought I was going to fall over.

On Saturday I also got to meet Sally's friends, and I had a wonderful time with them. They invited me over to their house, where they had prepared a lovely English tea for me, complete with scones with jam and clotted cream, crumpets, fruit, and these supposedly "American" doughnuts. Everything was so yummy. (I was quite happy also finally to learn what a crumpet is anyway, especially seeing as how I like to say "Oh, crumpets!" from time to time as an expression of frustration. Why? I'm not really sure why. But it's fun.) But anyway, afterward the English tea and lots of chatting, we all went to the pub to hang out for a while. I had a lovely time with Sally's friends, who are nerdy like me, so it was great to be around people that I actually felt like I could get along with. They invited me to hang out with them tonight, so I'm going to leave the house in about thirty minutes to go watch a movie with them. Yay for new Oxonian friends!

Rachel, Mikey, and Becky

Mark, Alice, and me

More photos here and here.

A Random Smattering of Events

2008-10-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

Today I went to my first lecture, which is the first of a four-week series on Classical Mythology. I figured it might behoove me to learn about all those crazy gods before I try to take the GRE. I checked a couple of secondary sources on Chaucer out of the library. I'll have to read those this weekend along with finishing up my Yeats paper. Then I went to my first formal hall, which is Friday-night dinner, when all the students and professors dress in their academic regalia. This formal hall business is all about tradition -- I mean, bowing at the table of professors if you have to excuse yourself during dinner, bowing again when you reenter the room, waiting for the Principal to strike a gavel on the table before you can begin eating, then again before you can leave. No kidding.

In other news, I managed to ride to formal hall on my bike, while wearing -- wait for it -- a dress, so I guess I am officially an Oxonian. Yay for initiation!

with several of the international students before formal hall

Some Words Between Chaucering

2008-10-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

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.

Day 2 of Naught Week

2008-10-07T14:29:00.001-07:00

Well, today I woke up feeling like I'm getting a bit of a head cold, so I'm biding my time until I can go to sleep. This morning Brandon and I, along with the other visiting students, had to register with the university nurse. Then we had an orientation meeting with Dr. Lynn Robson, the international student coordinator and also one of the tutors of English literature, in which we found out the tutorials we'll be taking and our tutors. I have a full tutorial in Medieval literature with Dr. Victoria Condie. (A full tutorial means that I meet with Dr. Condie once a week for the duration of the eight-week term, and I'll have a paper due to her at every tutorial.) I also have a half tutorial in Modern literature with Dr. Julian Thompson. (A half tutorial means that I meet with Dr. Thompson once every other week for the duration of the eight-week term, and I'll have a paper due to him at every tutorial.) That makes for a total of twelve 1,500 to 2,000-word essays by the time I go home for Christmas! I have a meeting with Dr. Thompson on Thursday, and I'm waiting to hear from Dr. Condie so I know when I'll have a meeting with her this week. Then next week, tutorials officially begin.

Evensong at Christ Church

2008-10-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening Dr. Ross, Brandon, and I went to Christ Church to hear Evensong. We were lucky enough to be there when the boys choir was singing, and it was magnificent choral music, consisting of Howells's "Collegium Regale" and Handel's "The King Shall Rejoice." I think what I found most amazing about Evensong is how that quality of chorale music -- something you have to seek out actively in places like Columbus -- is a part of the everyday culture here. Evensong made me miss singing in the Chorale so much that I can't wait to find a choir to join while I'm here. It's something I've wanted to do since I first found out I was coming to Oxford. Here are some pictures of Christ Church:

In the quad at Christ Church

The quad at Christ Church after Evensong

A Three-Hour Tour

2008-10-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Dr. Ross told Brandon and me about a little town near Oxford called Iffley that has a 12th-century church. He said that he and some of the other professors (Drs. Norwood and McCrillis, I think) had seen it before and really enjoyed it. He said that it was a little bit of a walk to get there but that it would be fun. So I asked if we could go today. We all agreed to leave around 10:00 a.m., but Brandon woke up with a bit of a head cold and didn't feel much like walking, so Dr. Ross and I decided to go ahead and brave it alone. We set out on a journey that we expected to take only a couple of hours and were enjoying our walk through the English countryside. After walking about half an hour (and having a too-close-for-comfort encounter with a loudly mooing cow), we came upon a little town, but Dr. Ross didn't think we had walked far enough for us to have reached Iffley, so we kept walking for about another hour, when we reached another small town and decided to stop for tea in a local pub to warm up. After taking our tea, we ventured toward Iffley again, but when we stopped one of the locals to ask for directions (because three roads diverged in a yellow wood) he told us that we needed to go back the way we had come -- that we had already passed Iffley. Well, Dr. Ross and I started walking back in the direction of Oxford. We turned off a path that we had walked past earlier and thought that we had finally found Iffley. So I asked a man sitting outside of a pub where we could find the church. He said he didn't know but that his friends inside would. Dr. Ross and I went inside with him, and they told us that we needed to keep going toward Oxford more. So we started to head out of the pub, and the men said to us that we should stay for a pint, and Dr. Ross declined and started walking out the door. So then the men looked at me and said, "Well, you should stay for a pint then." Obviously, I declined, wiping the pub scum off my skin as we exited. So getting back on the trail, I joked that I felt like Keira Knightley walking into a room full of skeezy pirates (some of those guys really did look like characters straight from the Pirates movies), and Dr. Ross joked about my new "British friends" who would be meeting us in Iffley. We kept walking until we reached the first town that we had reached (thirty minutes after leaving Oxford), only to find out that it was, indeed, the Iffley that we sought. Needless to say, I got quite a few burns in on the directionally challenged Dr. Ross and his faulty Magellan sense. I finally designated myself leader for the remainder of our time in Iffley -- an action I think that may have resulted in our making it back to Oxford today.

Once in Iffley, we stopped for lunch at a nice little restaurant and then proceeded to find the church, which turned out to be well worth the extra three hours of walking, even if we did only stay in the church for about twenty minutes. (It was so small that it didn't take much longer to see it anyway.) Inside the church, you could see how the church was built in sections, the first built in the Romanesque style and the second two sections built later in the Gothic style. It also had lovely stained-glass windows. The exterior of the church looked a bit like a fortress or a castle, which I remember learning is typical of churches of the 12th century, so it was fun to see that in person.

Inside the Church

Exterior of the Church

Well, I guess I must say that even if our slight detour (how's that for some classic British understatement?!) did become a little Gilligan's Island-esque, we made it home safely, and we had a lovely walk along the River Thames and had tea in a cozy little pub that we would not have found if we hadn't walked too far. So it all paid off in the end. Dr. Ross kept thanking me for being such a "good sport." "No problem," I kept saying. But man, I really do have about a month's supply of burns stored up now for Dr. Ross! Haha!

Rowers on the Thames

More photos here.

Day 7, or The End of Week One

2008-10-02T15:00:00.001-07:00

So today marks my seventh day here in Oxford, although it doesn't feel like I've been here for one week already. The two girls from Georgetown arrived today, and as they were asking questions about Oxford, I realized that I had gotten more acquainted to the town than I realized when I was able to answer many of their questions. When studying abroad, it's always an interesting feeling to find yourself growing acquainted to a new place -- and even more interesting when you look back in retrospect and see who you were when you arrived versus who you are later.

Overall, today was a pretty laid-back day. Brandon, Phil, and I went to Regent's Park, so Brandon and I were able to see the inside of our college for the first time. We cleaned out our "pigeon holes" (college mail boxes), visited the Junior Common Room, and we also received our official University of Oxford student ID cards, which serves as our library card in the Regent's Park library and in the Bodleian (the University's copyright library), among other things yet to be discovered or understood. We also signed up to eat lunch in the dining hall tomorrow, so hopefully we can meet some more students while we're there. After going to the college, we just walked around city centre for a while. Then we came back to the Spencer House, where I've spent a lot of time reading my Cambridge Companion to Modernism. I only have two essays left to read, and I must say that reading it has made me feel much more prepared for my tutorial.

Some photos here.

Day 6: Market

2008-10-01T13:37:00.001-07:00

Every Wednesday and Thursday, Oxford holds a city market in Gloucester Green. Today Brandon and I rode our bikes to city centre and headed to Gloucester Green to buy some of our favorite falafel and check out the market. We were surrounded by fresh fruits and vegetables, and at 1/3 the price of the local grocery stores, we've decided this is the place to stock up on produce. As I rounded the final corner of the market, a man behind one of the tables was singing to the customers walking by, telling them in song that they should buy his fruit. Tonight I felt inclined to write a poem about it:

Market

Like Oliver Twist singing
Who will buy this wonderful morning?
the Englishman pitches his sale in song,
raises his voice in entreaties that
urge me to buy his baskets of fruit.
As I hand him my silver coin,
his melody is the portal to Dickens,
to the whispers of orphaned children
singing in the cool, crisp air
Who will buy?

Day 5: A London Adventure

2008-09-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

Today Dr. Ross, Brandon, and I left the Spencer House at 8:00 a.m. to catch a coach to London. We knew, prior to leaving, that we wanted to see Parliament, especially because Brandon had never been, so after the two-hour bus ride, we hopped on the Tube and saw the Parliament buildings, Big Ben, nearby Westminster Abbey, and St. Paul's Cathedral. We had all the best intentions to go to The Globe to see Timon of Athens, but when we walked out of the Tube to see that the rainy weather of England had finally caught up with us, we elected to check out a couple museums instead. So we headed to the Tate Museum of Modern Art, where I was most intrigued by the Picasso paintings, especially this one entitled The Kiss:

I was first introduced to Picasso's works when I took Humanities in high school, and I remember being really intrigued by his works then. I remember particularly enjoying the art from his Blue Period, such as The Old Guitar Player. Then my freshman year of college, when I had the opportunity to go to Washington D.C. with the Honors American Government class, I saw some of Picasso's paintings in person for the first time in a museum there. Then when I went to Spain last summer, I had the opportunity to see more of Picasso's work -- the most famous of which was Guernica. Ever since then, Picasso has held a special place in the artistic corner of my heart. Today proved to be no exception. Dr. Ross looked at one Picasso painting with me, and we discussed it in terms of Modernism and he prompted me to begin applying what I have been reading about Modernist literature in my copy of The Cambridge Companion to Modernism to the painting. I was really starting to piece together, in a more meaningful way, how Picasso's work connects to Modernism as a whole. The particular piece we looked at dealt a lot with fragmentation of the self and how re-connecting with the true, inner-self was possible (to some Modernists, at least) through primitivism, so obviously the piece was influenced by Picasso's time in Africa. It was really exciting to see art and literature and history come together in that way.

After visiting the Tate, we headed to the Imperial War Museum. We walked through the World War I and II exhibits. The third floor had a Holocaust exhibit, which was very effectively put together but incredibly emotionally draining to go through. TVs were set up in nearly every room with recorded interviews with Holocaust victims telling their stories. Each one was so overwhelming. At the end of the exhibit, one man said that it had taken him twenty years to begin talking about the trauma he had endured, and he only began talking when his daughter finally said to him that she knew he had lived through the Holocaust and knew how hateful the Nazis were to the Jews and wanted to know what his experience was. The man said that he realized if he couldn't tell his children, then he could never pass on his story, could never inform future generations about the trauma that had been inflicted upon him and fellow Jews. He realized that failure to tell his story would result in the loss of it and the lessons to be learned from it.

After visiting the Imperial War Museum, we took the coach home to Oxford. We decided we were going to go to the pub for what would be Brandon's and my first English pub experience. Dr. Ross thought it would be fun to go to the Eagle and Child, the pub where C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien used to meet, but when we got there, no seats were available. So we went to the Dew Drop Inn, a pub in Sommertown, instead. I tried Pimm's and Lemonade, a traditional Oxonian drink that Chelsea has told me so much about, for the first time, and I'm a huge fan. Brandon and Dr. Ross partook in fish and chips, but since I'm a vegetarian, I went for a baguette with cheddar cheese and chutney along with some chips (fries) instead. It was a splendid first English pub experience for sure.

Photos from the day here.

Day 4, or Just Call Me "Lance"

2008-09-29T12:59:00.000-07:00

So I've gotten this bicycling thing down. It's undeniably better than walking and not as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be. Today Brandon and I biked to city centre, where I bought my much-anticipated hat (a purple wool beret!) for the cold weather. We also stopped by the falafel stand again and mosied through both of the Oxfam stores. Then we came back to the Spencer House and cleaned up our bikes. Brandon, who is a total fix-it man, helped me put a basket on the front of my bike, which works nicely for holding my purse. Then we biked to Sommertown, where Brandon and I did some reading at a Starbucks (and I was able to keep up my tradition of taking pictures at every international Starbucks I visit).

No, I'm not a poseur. Not at all. :) In Sommertown, we also stopped by the bike store so I could get some bike lights, and I wanted to buy a basket for the back of my bike that I could use to carry (reusable) shopping bags, but they were out and told me to come back on Wednesday. I think tomorrow we're all journeying to London to see a play at The Globe, so that should be exciting.

Day 3

2008-09-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

Today Brandon and I decided to go around town some on our own. I got to stop by several of the stores in city centre (downtown), like Primark (where I bought some much-needed gloves) and Top Shop and the European GAP. Then Brandon and I came home and fixed up the two bikes that were left here by the previous students. (See the photos here for the funny bicycle chronicle.) We rode them around the block to Sommertown, a very nearby little town with some shops (and LB's, the supposedly amazing Lebanese restaurant I haven't gotten to eat at yet) because I haven't decided if I'm actually going to bike places or not. The bicycle lanes are often shared with buses here, afterall. Tomorrow we're going to ride to Regent's Park so I can get a better idea of what the trek to school would be like.

Phil arrived tonight, and he seems very nice. He's working on a graduate degree at Oxford in preparation for going into the Baptist ministry. (Regent's Park is a Baptist college.) I am ready for the two girls that are coming to arrive, though. I feel way outnumbered by boys.

Well, orientation week ("naught week") doesn't even begin until October 5th, so that gives me a week until classes begin. I plan to do a lot of reading in the books I bought yesterday because I think feeling prepared for my tutorials will be half the battle in making me feel like I'm doing well. I feel like I'm adjusting well to being here though. I remember not feeling as comfortable during my first few days in Spain as I have felt here. I don't know if that speaks to the experience I gained from having travelled before or to my growth as a person in the last year. Most likely, I suppose, it's a combination of both.

Well, I'm off to read or find a snack or something.

Day 2

2008-09-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'll get more creative with these blog titles as time goes on because this whole numbering-the-days thing could get pretty old by the time I reach day 75. But in the meantime, day two was a really good day. Dr. Ross showed us around the city some more. We got to see Regent's Park (our college) for the first time. Here Brandon and I are in front of the entrance:

We also saw the Oxford University press, home of the works of so many scholarly crushes. Then we stopped for some amazing falafel that only cost 2.5 pounds! After enjoying our falafel, we went to a mall so Brandon and I could buy mobile phones. And I am happy to say that I do have a mobile here now. Then we went to Blackwell's, a really awesome bookstore that I remember coming to when I was here in 2005. To help me prepare for my tutorials, I bought The Cambridge Companion to Modernism and three of the Oxford Very Short Introduction books: Nineteenth-Century Britain, Medieval Britain, and The Renaissance. After the visit to the bookstore, we headed toward the Spencer house, but along the way we stopped in a little store, where I was happy to discover that England has Magnum ice cream bars -- these amazing little things that I discovered in Spain and have missed since I left. Back at the Spencer House, we all talked a little about Modernist literature and what our tutorial might be like. Then we began our one-hour walk toward The Trout Inn, a quaint little restaurant that sits on the River Thames. Dr. Ross treated us to dinner there, and we all had a great time. (Follow the day in photos here.)

Tomorrow, Brandon and I are going to see about making the two bicycles that are here ridable. Then we're going to hit up Oxfam, where I'll be in search of a good second-hand coat, and I think he'll be in search of some khaki pants. I also intend to visit the European GAP because I want some gloves and a hat. It's already really cool here in the evenings, and on the way home from The Trout tonight, I thought I might freeze. I don't know what I'm going to do once winter really hits.

Also, one of the British students who will be living in the Spencer House is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Brandon and I are hoping (especially as program assistants) that all the other students are really nice and easy to get along with. I'll let you know how the new student, Phil, is tomorrow.

Day 1 in The Ox

2008-09-26T12:45:00.000-07:00

So I've arrived safely in Oxford after a very long, sleepless flight. Brandon, Dr. Ross, and I got here around 8:00 this morning, and Dr. Ross only gave us an hour to shower and change clothes before he led us on his tour of Oxford, refusing to let us rest any lest we exacerbate our jet lag. So I got to see a lot of the city today, and I recognized a couple of the awesome bookstores I visited when I was here back in 2005, which was cool. Walking around the city made me start feeling a little nervous -- especially about my tutorials. All these crazy Oxonian kids are already running around in their academic robes, and I'm content with my giraffe t-shirt and jeans, thanks. I'm still waiting on it all to sink in. I feel a strange blend of excitement and intimidation, but all is well.

The Spencer house is really nice, and my room is awesome. I really did get the best room, I think. It's so much bigger than my room at home. I like it a lot. Here's a few photos:

More photos here.

Okay, it's off to bed for me. This jet lag is killer.