Three Weekends, Four Cities, Zero Time

Over the past three weekends I have done a lot of traveling and sightseeing. I went to Bath, my parents visited me here in Oxford and we toured the city together, and this past weekend, for my 21^st birthday, I went to Switzerland! These few weekends have been a great time, but since I’ve been doing as much sightseeing as possible on the weekends, during the week I have been working like mad, which means less time for blogging, unfortunately! But I have decided that this has gone on long enough and must change…therefore I am not doing my reading right now so I can write to all my faithful readers! (P.S. Don’t tell my tutors!)

Bath was a lovely city. I was very concerned it was going to rain the whole day, but for this day at least I lucked out and it was a beautiful day! We spent a full day exploring the quaint and pretty town, but our major stops were the Roman Baths, the Pump Room, and the Jane Austen Center. I loved going to the Roman Baths. I studied Latin in high school, so it was great to see what I studied. Plus, I have seen so many pictures that I always wanted to get there and see what it was actually like, and it’s even prettier than I thought it would be! Here are a couple pictures from the Roman Baths:

I explored Bath with other American friends: Prianca, Rebecca, and Margaret, who is a fellow Stonehiller. They all go to different colleges at Oxford.

Right next to the baths is the Pump Room, which is now a restaurant, but was also mentioned in a few of Jane Austen’s novels. It was kind of a social watering hole during the Regency period. The most famous part of the Pump Room, however, is the fountain from which you can still drink the water from the spring! I drank the water…it was warm! So strange! Here I am drinking the water:

Finally, we went to the Jane Austen Center. Austen lived in Bath for five years, and also set two of her novels in Bath. The center was a bit disappointing because it focused mostly on her time in Bath, a city which Austen did not like very much, and on clothing used in film productions. But I was very excited to be in a city that was home to the author I am studying this term.

The next weekend my parents came to visit! I was so excited to see them, and while I made them do some things on their own so I could do some reading, I got to see them each day at least for dinner (which means it was an inexpensive weekend for me!), and got to see more of the city that I hadn’t yet. I showed them around, took them down to see the Isis where I row, went on a bus tour of the city, ate fish and chips, visited the Oxford Castle (which used to be a fort and then a prison until 1996!), and had afternoon tea. I was very excited to show my parents around my most recent home. One of the places we visited on our walking tour of Oxford was Christ Church College, famous because scenes from the Harry Potter films were shot there. And I get in anytime I want since I am a student there!

Above is the Quad at beautiful Christ Church, and below is the hall at Christ Church, the Harry Potter Great Hall!

Finally, this past weekend may have been the most exciting yet! It was the first time I took a trip out of England, and it was the perfect way to make my 21^st birthday memorable! I traveled with my friend, Christine, who is from Stonehill and studying at St. Catz in Oxford, to Geneva. Our trains to the airport were delayed and I got stuck in security (the security guy decided to choose me to pat down and to search my backpack by literally unpacking my backpack), so by the time we made it through the separate shoe check in security, we saw that our gate was closing, and literally ran through the entire airport, without our shoes on, to our gate, which I swear was the furthest one away! We made it just in time! It was stressful at the time, but now we have looked back on it and laughed.

We made it to Geneva to stay with our Stonehill friend Ben, who is doing an internship at the UN. It was so nice to just relax, go to dinner, and walk around Old Town in Geneva with friends from home. The next day we toured Geneva, but it was raining! So we saw as much as we could, but our main stop was a tour of the UN. Here's a picture of the member flags outside the Palace of Nations and one of the front of the building:

That afternoon we traveled by train (a three hour ride!) to Interlaken, the capital of extreme sports. Our reason for going to Interlaken was to go skydiving, but it SNOWED! Because of the weather, we weren’t able to go skydiving. L It was disappointing, because we have been planning this since last spring, and for me, it was exciting that I would be skydiving for my birthday. But it just wasn’t in the cards for us, and it must have been for some reason that we couldn’t go. I think we may have been even too close to making our flight home if we had gone! So despite the disappointment, Interlaken was beautiful! We also met our friends Brooke and Angela from Stonehill, and I was just so happy to be with all these friends to celebrate my birthday! Even though it was different than it would have probably been at home, since the drinking age is 18 here, it was nonetheless a very memorable one! Here are some pictures of the picturesque Swiss Alps and countryside:

This is the view from our hostel balcony when we woke up on Saturday morning. Can you see the mountain? I swear it's there! (Clearly not the best weather for jumping out of a plane!)

See...I told you there was a mountain there!

The Alps basically surround the entire town of Interlaken! Above is a picture of Brooke and Ang and below are Christine and Ben.

Here is the whole Stonehill gang!

On our train ride back to Geneva, we were in awe of the scenery. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

After a trip out of the country, it was so nice to return back to the UK and Oxford. It felt like home! Especially because here they speak English and not French or German! Now I only have two weeks left at Oxford, and it’s going to be another busy two weeks! This week I am looking forward to Christ Church Regatta, Thanksgiving dinner (black tie at the Provost’s Lodgings), and the Boat Club dinner. I’ll update at the end of the week!

The Worcester Trifecta and London Excursion

Boy, have I got loads to catch you all up on!

Well, first we have got to talk about academics…hey, it’s Oxford after all, right? So in my opinion there are definitely benefits as well as difficulties with the tutorial system. I am really enjoying having only two areas at the most to focus on at one time. It is possible to go more in depth with the novels and plays that I am reading than I have been able to before. It is also really rewarding to focus so much on you topics because you get to see how everything works together. For me, I am seeing Jane Austen’s progression in her writing style and sophistication from her first novel to her last. I am also seeing why Shakespeare’s thoughts behind his plays because I can see similarities in characters, plot, and theme. The toughest part in my opinion is the quick turn around in between papers. This week I had two papers due and my two tutorials both on Tuesday! So as soon as I finished one essay, I had to try to finish the reading for my second tutorial, then I had to finish the other essay, and now that I have finished both essays I began right away on my reading for my paper for Tuesday. It’s just non-stop! I am enjoying meeting with my tutors one-on-one. I don’t often think of tutorials as work because I get to sit around with my tutors, sipping tea or coffee, and discussing literature! Yay! Sometimes though I don’t like the tutorial system, because when your tutor asks you a question and you don’t know the answer, you can’t just wait for someone else to raise their hand, because there is no one else! I have had many times when I have been confused, and gotten tongue tied, thought originally I had a good idea I was trying to communicate, and then mid-sentence I would forget what my good point was! My tutors are really nice though and they don’t get mean or anything. The tutorials are meant to be an exchange of ideas, and the tutors like you to propose thoughts and challenge them just as much as they ask you questions.

Right, so after all that work, I need to work off the stress somehow right? Well, I row! Unfortunately, I haven’t been on the river in two weeks! L We were short a cox one morning and couldn’t go, and this week the river warning has been too high because we had too much rain and the river was too high! But this week instead of rowing on the Isis, I have gotten to work on my skills on the Erg machine, which I found to be much more helpful! My coach was right there explaining to me what she wanted to me to do, rather than yelling at me from the side of the river bank when she is trying to watch all eight of us at once. I felt like I did much better after her instruction, so hopefully we can get our act together as a team, because our first race is in 10 days!

I have to admit that I think I know why I may be finding the work to be non-stop. The past two weekends I have been off campus! Two weekends ago I went on the home stay in Worcester. (Hence why I now have the “Worcester Trifecta.” I am from outside of Worcester, Massachusetts, I am at Worcester College, and now I have been to Worcestershire, England too!) It was relaxing to be able to relax in a home for the weekend. It wasn’t too much of an exciting time, but it was a nice little break. I stayed with Avril, a woman in her sixties originally from Wales who has been living in Worcester for twenty years now, with another student from another college at Oxford. Avril fed us lots of food and gave us even more hot drinks (tea, coffee, chocolate). I think she asked me at least six or seven times each day I was there if I would like a hot drink! Each night we were there we just relaxed and watched a movie, and then I slept in! That was the only time I have slept in the whole time I have been here! The one thing that the program did have planned for us was a tour of the city of Worcester. They have a few claims to fame, like Worcestershire sauce, Worcester Porcelain (it’s really expensive!), John Wesley founded the first Methodist church there, and supposedly Shakespeare had to go there to get his marriage license! I enjoyed walking around the city, and getting to see the place where the name for my hometown comes from. My favorite was the cathedral though! It was beautiful! Here are some pictures from the weekend:

This is an assembly hall in the Worcester Town Hall (a Georgian style building...cerca Jane Austen's time!)

A cute traditional "black and white" style house.

Inside the cathedral...so pretty!

This past weekend I was in London for the London Excursion Weekend put on by my study abroad provider (IFSA-Butler). I had a fabulous time in London! I got to do a lot more sightseeing and actually spend some time at the sights we saw. But my favorite part of the weekend was getting to see friends from Stonehill! There were eight Stonehillers in London for the weekend! Some I have seen at Oxford, but others I hadn’t seen since the end of the spring semester! Friday night I went on the London Eye with a couple of those Stonehill girls and some of their friends from St. Catz (the Oxford college they are at). Here are some pictures from the Eye:

Here are the Stonehill girls on the London Eye!

On Saturday we went to Westminster Abbey (which was my favorite! I loved seeing Poet’s Corner), the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, the Churchill Museum and the War Cabinet Rooms, and finally the Globe Theater! By the end of the day it was pouring rain! And we had to hurry back to the hotel to change into our Halloween costumes for our Halloween party boat cruise on the Thames! Then on Sunday morning we had a nice big brunch, and I zipped back up to Oxford on the train!

We had to do all the tourist-y things! So here I am at the Harry Potter tourist trap!

Who goes to London without seeing how many people they can fit in a phone booth? Us: 6!

The single Londoner we met at the changing of the guards felt bad that I was short and couldn't see...so he let me sit on this shoulders. Too bad I didn't even get his name!

Here I am with Christine, fellow Stonehill English major, in the Globe! Yay!

On the boat cruise, I got to see Kathleen and Kaitlyn, Stonehill friends studying at the University of Kent.

I also got to see my fellow witch friend (Rebecca from St. Edmund's at Oxford), Sarah Palin (Maria), an angel (Erica), and Joe the Plummer (Tiina) - all Worcesterites with me!

It has been interesting being here in England during the election, and so Maria and Tiina's costumes were quite a hit!

This Saturday I am taking a day trip with a couple friends from other Oxford colleges to Bath. Now that I have seen the Globe, I will get to see the setting for a couple of Austen’s novels! It’s really neat to be where the people I am studying were a couple hundred years ago. So much history in Oxford…and England!

Rowing on the Isis and Other Traditional Oxford Things

Wow! The time is still just flying by here, and I feel like I am filling every possible second with something! There is so much I want to do, but with the busy eight week term that Oxford has, I am quickly realizing that I will just need to start saving up money for another trip to Europe!

This week, as the second week of tutorials is proving to be my first real challenge. Earlier today I submitted my first paper (it was on Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility) for my primary tutorial to my tutor. I spent Wednesday through Saturday reading the book, and then Saturday through today writing the paper. It felt good to get the first one under my belt!

The bad news is, paper number two, which is on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, is due (technically) tomorrow night! I didn’t get a chance to start the reading for this tute until yesterday and today, as it wasn’t assigned to me until Saturday afternoon! Needless to say, I have not yet started this paper, and I am a little anxious about getting it done! Although, my tutors are both very reasonable and so my tutor understood that the assignment was late in coming and I may need the extra night!

Outside the front of the Bodleian.

I did get to do some work this past week in the Bodleian, Oxford University’s library which basically has every book ever published. I had to call up a book from the stacks for reading, which means that someone went down into the tunnels full of books below the streets of Oxford to fetch the book for me! It was definitely an experience just finding my way around the Bod (short for Bodleian) and learning how the system works! It was suggested to me by a Stonehill friend to do work in the Radcliffe Camera, so I sat there to read the book I called up. It’s frustrating to get the books I want sometimes because so many other students are taking out the same books I want from my college library and the English Faculty Library, and then the Bod isn’t a lending library. Here are two pictures of the Bod, I am hoping to get a chance to take some better ones soon!

Besides doing work I obviously want to soak up everything else that Oxford has to offer! So I decided to try my hand at rowing. It’s really challenging! Last weekend we had a meeting about the basics of rowing at the Worcester Boat House and also grilled up some hamburgers. It was a beautiful day, and it was so lovely to be along the Isis (which is what the part of the Thames that runs through Oxford is called). This week we had a “tank session,” which means we went to the university gym and learned the technique while sitting in a concrete “boat” in the middle of the pool and rowing with oars with holes in them. This weekend was our first outing on the river, and it was pretty stressful! While they have been teaching us the things we need to know step by step, I didn’t yet know all the terminology that the cox called out! So I was so confused about when I was supposed to row! Then my technique in mastering the legs, body, arms, then arms, body, legs movement with each row is not very good…so I was finding it difficult to keep the rhythm with the rest of my boat. Anyway, besides the fact that I need some practice, it was really fun to row and be on the River! Here are a couple pictures from the roof of Worcester’s Boat House:

Some of the more experienced Worcester boys getting ready for an outing.

This weekend was also Matriculation, which is the ceremony that all the first year students who are here for their whole time (sadly it doesn’t include us visiting students) go through to enter into University. From what my friends were telling me, the ceremony is pretty short, they say some things in Latin, and then you are officially a student at Oxford! I didn’t get a chance to get any pictures, so I am going to steal one from some friends to show you. They all have to dress in “subfusc,” which is the black bottoms, white top, black ribbon for girls, white bow tie for boys, and their academic gowns. These gowns are what I also have to wear when I go to formal hall for dinner. There are larger and fancier gowns that you get once you become a scholar, if you do really well in your studies. So if you aren’t thinking Harry Potter yet, start thinking it! Also, they have to carry their mortar boards with them, but not wear them, because if they wear them before graduating they will be fined!

Well, that was a long study break for me, and now I should get back to reading Shakespeare!

Cheers!

OMG! I Can't Believe I'm at Oxford!

YAY! We’re finally here! After submitting my application a year ago, getting accepted 6 months ago, planning all summer, packing for the past month, spending the weekend in London, and one of the most nervous bus rides of my life, I cannot believe that I am finally here to study for a couple months! Worcester College is absolutely beautiful! As soon as pushed though through the antique, large wooden doors, dragging my two suitcases and backpack, I was stunned to walk into a stone arch entryway and overlook the luscious green grass surrounded by the prettiest old ivy-covered buildings on each side. This Main Quad is a lot smaller than the one we have at Stonehill and you aren’t allowed to walk on it, but I can see why! Throughout this blog post I’ll provide you with pictures of our campus, most of which I took on a sunny, morning stroll the other day.

On Monday, as soon as we arrived, we didn't have much time to do anything or even settle in. I met my tutor for my secondary tutorial, Dr. Elisabeth Dutton, because she is also the director of the JYA Program. The group of 16 of us Americans had lunch with Dr. Dutton before we could drop off our things in our rooms, and immediately after that we rushed along to have tea with Dr. Dutton in her office. She then gave us a quick tour of some important things around the city of Oxford, such as where to go for the best food and coffee, Blackwell’s (a popular bookstore), the Bodleian Library (the main library for all of Oxford, which has tunnels of books underneath the city!), and the ATM and grocery store. The back on campus we had just a bit of time to freshen up before drinks in the room of the JCR President, which is basically like the student body President, yes, he has three rooms that he lives in, just for the purpose of holding such social events! Next we moved along to mingling before dinner, and being served the most fancy dinner I’ve ever had! We had dinner with the Provost, Chaplain, Dean, and a couple other fellows, and the student members of the JCR (Junior Common Room), which is very different than SGA, but would be the equivalent of student government at the Hill. We had a halibut for our appetizer, duck for the main course, and a pudding for desert. They kept refilling our drinks as well, like literally would refill a splash of wine if I took a sip. After dinner, the Provost asked the JCR members to whisk us away to the college bar for some socializing with fellow British students.

During the day on Tuesday, we had lots more informational, orientation type things. I was very pleased to have my first true English afternoon tea at this cute little hotel…they had a fire going and everything! It was quite delicious, and I had a lovely conversation with one of the other JYAs, who incidentally knows someone I know at Stonehill…small world, huh? Tuesday night we got to meet all the freshers (first year students) because they all moved in on Tuesday. It was strange to see them going through exactly what I did two years ago when I was a freshman at Stonehill. They're very nice for the most part, but it is difficult to carry a super long conversation on with all of them right off the bat being American and all. Sometimes I wish I didn’t have an American accent, because I think it would be easier to mingle in and make new friends. After mingling on campus, the JCR had planned an outing to a club in Oxford, so about half of the freshers and of course a lot of the JYAs don't want to miss out on anything, so some of us went along.

The next couple days were similar, as we were doing everything, like charging our meal cards, finding our pigeon-holes (mail-boxes, I swear JK Rowling stole the idea of using owls for mail from Oxford!), and topping up my mobile phone, for the first time. It has been strange at times to try to converse with British students and make new friends. There is a culture gap between us, so at times it is hard to understand what they are talking about, because of their accent and the words they use or loud music in a club, which makes conversation very difficult. But everyone has been really nice, and with time I am sure I will get even closer with some of my new British friends! It has been easier for the Americans to stick together at times, which is ok too though because I’m also making new American friends!

I am studying Women's Literature (specifically Austen and other authors of that time), and Shakespeare (specifically focusing on his comedies). This week is officially Week One of eight. So that's when my first tutorial meeting is. I was really lucky to have my tutor tell me that I do not need to write a paper for our first meeting. I just had to read a novel (Evelina by Frances Burney, which I finished this morning!) and as many secondary sources about that time and the author as I can. Then on Tuesday I will meet with my tutor and talk one on one about it all for an hour. Otherwise, for each other meeting I will be writing about a ten page essay, and that will be the focus of discussion. My tutor for Austen is a visiting lecturer from Stanford University, and although I still have not met her in person, she seems to be very nice, she even asked me to call her Emma rather than Dr. Plaskitt! On Tuesday we are meeting in a coffee shop in Blackwell’s, the bookstore, so it should be a nice relaxed environment in which to discuss the novel. As I mentioned before, one of my tutors is Dr. Dutton, and she is my tutor for Shakespeare, but as it is my secondary I won’t be meeting with her until next week. In addition to the tutorials we can attend lectures by PhDs and Professors (who are actually higher up here in Oxford), which will help us learn more and come up with topics for our papers. Full time students are required to attend these lectures, but visiting students like me can choose to go if we would like to. I actually went to my first one this morning, and it was strange because we don’t have lectures 300 people large at Stonehill! It was about Shakespearean criticism, and I feel it was a little over my head, but its good these are just extras for us!

The work load is going to get very busy very quickly, and it basically already has! But I am trying to balance work with other activities and being able to enjoy the experience of being abroad. So I am also trying rowing. This weekend we had an introduction at Worcester College’s boat house along the Isis (and got bribed with free food!), and then I also began learning how to row in “the tank,” which is an indoor pool with a concrete “boat” in the middle of it meant to learn and practice rowing techniques. I am already quite sore in my legs and abs from holding my “back stop” position! But I don’t think I would’ve had the opportunity to row anywhere else, so this is pretty cool!

Ok, I mentioned it’s going to be a lot of work here, so I really must return to my reading! I will update on my weekly endeavors!

Cheers!

P.S. The food is really yummy, and I have a really really nice room with my own bathroom and everything! Have a look: