Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
OXFORD - DAY 18
It has rained for A WEEK STRAIGHT! Weather forecast for tomorrow: no rain. Thank god! On my way to the library today my umbrella did one of those inside-out numbers. Soooo awkward.
We had to elect a house rep today of the 3 people I live with. We've been putting it off for a little while, but now one of the showers is a little messed up and we need someone to make Deepak aware of the situation. No one really wanted to be house rep of the 3 of us- so I just volunteered. I'm the oldest, after all. I've always been used to being the youngest- out of us 6 girls last year I was the only one not graduating. It's weird being the old one. Not just in the OPUS programme either- in England undergraduates study for 3 years. So really, most of the people I talk to are at least a year younger than me.
Not that I'm an old fart or anything (even though I kind of am-) but I think because of this I act a little bit more like a grad student. I get up a few hours earlier than everyone, which I swear has never been the case before! With the tutorial system, everyone manages their own time, and has so much of it. A lot of the exchange students sleep in till 12 at least, then study in the afternoon, and party at night. I wake up early to study, do stuff during the day (explore/rowing/meetings and other randoms...) and then study and hang out for a bit then write and go to bed around midnight, which is early to everyone else.
I'm in this weird in between where I'm not "an adult" but not really a typical college student either. Whatever. I like getting up early and I like studying things I find interesting. That's what I did all day and I enjoyed it, so who cares? Plus, Zach Braff (Garden State, Scrubs) is coming to Oxford and speaking at a Union Society meeting tomorrow, so I have to get as much done as possible so I can go tomorrow night! If I have to miss that I'm gonna be so disappointed!
Saturday, April 28, 2012
OXFORD - DAY 17
Guess what? I PASSED MY SWIM TEST!
I guess that makes me an official member of the Hertford College Boat Club. Exciting!
Of course, I took the test in typical Laura fashion. I showed up a half hour late because I got lost. Luckily, when I was wandering around the Magdalen meadows, I asked a cute Magdalen Man doing post-grad work in bio-chem where the pool was and he happened to be going the same way. He was super nice even though I looked like an idiot wearing shorts and a pea coat in 45 degree weather. (ran out of sweatpants, gotta do laundry.) I met all kinds of nice people at the swim test too. I can't get over how easy it is to make casual, interesting conversation with everybody around here. The girl I stood next to in line was half Egyptian, half Czech, but she was born in New York, and now she's studying English here. These people are from all over the place!
I'm so glad to be able to continue rowing, but I'm getting really sick of rowing in the rain. On the plus side though, I'm getting a lot of muscle definition. I haven't felt so strong since I was on the tennis team. I forgot how good this felt. Too bad I'll have to quit rowing when I go home. I'll have to find something to do instead.
-If I go home after this. Which I probably well. But who knows? I want to go home for a bunch of reasons and I want to stay here for a bunch of reasons.
I'll probably go home though. I like it here a lot. =(
I guess that makes me an official member of the Hertford College Boat Club. Exciting!
Of course, I took the test in typical Laura fashion. I showed up a half hour late because I got lost. Luckily, when I was wandering around the Magdalen meadows, I asked a cute Magdalen Man doing post-grad work in bio-chem where the pool was and he happened to be going the same way. He was super nice even though I looked like an idiot wearing shorts and a pea coat in 45 degree weather. (ran out of sweatpants, gotta do laundry.) I met all kinds of nice people at the swim test too. I can't get over how easy it is to make casual, interesting conversation with everybody around here. The girl I stood next to in line was half Egyptian, half Czech, but she was born in New York, and now she's studying English here. These people are from all over the place!
I'm so glad to be able to continue rowing, but I'm getting really sick of rowing in the rain. On the plus side though, I'm getting a lot of muscle definition. I haven't felt so strong since I was on the tennis team. I forgot how good this felt. Too bad I'll have to quit rowing when I go home. I'll have to find something to do instead.
-If I go home after this. Which I probably well. But who knows? I want to go home for a bunch of reasons and I want to stay here for a bunch of reasons.
I'll probably go home though. I like it here a lot. =(
Friday, April 27, 2012
OXFORD - DAY 16 Pt. 2
I am so happy right now.
I worked my butt off today. I mean really, really worked hard. Some parts of the day were pretty awful (riding a broken bike in the rain across town...) but other parts (eating dinner with the captain of the rowing team) more than made up for the bad. Plus, when I came home my flatmates were planning a trip to France. The flight is 11 pounds!! ($16.50) I had no intention of going to France, as badly as I want to go, because I knew going there without a solid command of the language would be difficult. Lucky for me though, Brittany is fluent. Problem solved =)
I just feel really good right now. I'm working hard, pushing myself, and learning a lot. I love the atmosphere here. There are so many interesting people who are into a lot of the same stuff as me, it's so nice to bounce ideas around and push each other.
I have to go to bed. Rowing practice and swimming test tomorrow, hopefully I pass!
I worked my butt off today. I mean really, really worked hard. Some parts of the day were pretty awful (riding a broken bike in the rain across town...) but other parts (eating dinner with the captain of the rowing team) more than made up for the bad. Plus, when I came home my flatmates were planning a trip to France. The flight is 11 pounds!! ($16.50) I had no intention of going to France, as badly as I want to go, because I knew going there without a solid command of the language would be difficult. Lucky for me though, Brittany is fluent. Problem solved =)
I just feel really good right now. I'm working hard, pushing myself, and learning a lot. I love the atmosphere here. There are so many interesting people who are into a lot of the same stuff as me, it's so nice to bounce ideas around and push each other.
I have to go to bed. Rowing practice and swimming test tomorrow, hopefully I pass!
OXFORD - DAY 16
The difference between Oxford students and OPUS students (international students) is that they are quite simply brilliant, and we're not.
It's so easy to forget that. I've been studying, rowing, and eating with them for about a week now, and I pretty much had to remember that today. I just had an international student orientation with some other students enrolled at Hertford college. The two native Oxfordians leading the orientation were so nice and helpful. We had tea and talked about different stuff Oxford has to offer- it was really nice. Eventually both of them had to leave for get this, croquet- and so us Americans were left to our own devices. It was quite funny actually, how our attitudes changed as soon as they left. First thing we did was pig out on the remaining cookies. I'm not kidding, we all just went into crazy cookie monster mode simultaneously and finished the lot. So what Americans are gluttons? At least we know to do it privately.
Anyway, one of the things the Oxford girls said during orientation was what a bit of slackers everybody is here and how we should really focus on the social side because we won't regret it. This is both true and false. I'm sure there are some Oxford students who do slack off, but they don't do it because they don't care, they do it because they're smart enough to get away with it. I learned a long time ago I'm not smart enough to get away with not working hard. The only reason I'm smart is BECAUSE I work hard. If you know me you know- I'm not that smart really.
The girls did open my eyes to a lot of fun stuff I'd like to do however. This whole past week I've been on the verge of losing it because I've been striving to get used to everything around here, and there's a lot to get used to. I feel like I have so little time here, I want to get used to it all so I can relax and enjoy it. The good thing is I'm finally starting to settle into a bit of a routine, I'm getting the hang of it. I'm going to try not to stress so much.
Ethan, and Camille (Americans who were here last term) were talking about how the English at Oxford aren't just typical "reserved English" but they are really a bit snooty- they go to Oxford after all, they kind of are an extreme kind of nerd. They both had a hard time making English friends last term. I'm going to try and make some good English friends anyway. I may be a dumb American, but at least I'm smart enough to have recognized the opportunity to come here. That's got to get me points with somebody.
*Back to Studying...
It's so easy to forget that. I've been studying, rowing, and eating with them for about a week now, and I pretty much had to remember that today. I just had an international student orientation with some other students enrolled at Hertford college. The two native Oxfordians leading the orientation were so nice and helpful. We had tea and talked about different stuff Oxford has to offer- it was really nice. Eventually both of them had to leave for get this, croquet- and so us Americans were left to our own devices. It was quite funny actually, how our attitudes changed as soon as they left. First thing we did was pig out on the remaining cookies. I'm not kidding, we all just went into crazy cookie monster mode simultaneously and finished the lot. So what Americans are gluttons? At least we know to do it privately.
Anyway, one of the things the Oxford girls said during orientation was what a bit of slackers everybody is here and how we should really focus on the social side because we won't regret it. This is both true and false. I'm sure there are some Oxford students who do slack off, but they don't do it because they don't care, they do it because they're smart enough to get away with it. I learned a long time ago I'm not smart enough to get away with not working hard. The only reason I'm smart is BECAUSE I work hard. If you know me you know- I'm not that smart really.
The girls did open my eyes to a lot of fun stuff I'd like to do however. This whole past week I've been on the verge of losing it because I've been striving to get used to everything around here, and there's a lot to get used to. I feel like I have so little time here, I want to get used to it all so I can relax and enjoy it. The good thing is I'm finally starting to settle into a bit of a routine, I'm getting the hang of it. I'm going to try not to stress so much.
Ethan, and Camille (Americans who were here last term) were talking about how the English at Oxford aren't just typical "reserved English" but they are really a bit snooty- they go to Oxford after all, they kind of are an extreme kind of nerd. They both had a hard time making English friends last term. I'm going to try and make some good English friends anyway. I may be a dumb American, but at least I'm smart enough to have recognized the opportunity to come here. That's got to get me points with somebody.
*Back to Studying...
Thursday, April 26, 2012
OXFORD - DAY 15
It has been really easy not to blog lately. Not because I've been busy, although I have. I got used to blogging before bed, but James, Brittany and I have settled into a routine of hanging out for hours in our kitchen before bed- making fun of the British, debating philosophy, and generally making all sorts of nerdy jokes. I'm trying to blog here now with them, but it's impossible to get a train of thought going. Brittany's playing Sinatra and French music, we're all eating chocolate, and James is reading The Mockingjay. Too many great things.
Speaking of great things- I need to introduce you to the Bod.
Speaking of great things- I need to introduce you to the Bod.
The big building in the middle is The Radcliffe camera, one of the 3 main buildings in the Bodelian Library. The second, the "old library" is connected to The Radcliffe Cam, it's the wide building beneath it on the picture above. The third, the "new library" (which is currently under construction and closed) is just under the old library and just cut off in the picture above. It looks like it has a green roof.
You can also see my college, Hertford College in the picture. It's directly across from the old library, and extends off the bottom of the picture. Here's a picture of Hertford's famous archway:
I finally got to walk across that thing today during my hunt for the college bar. Each college has their own bar, by the way, which is one HUGE pro for the British college system.
Back to the library system though. Anyway, the Bodleian library (for a number of longwinded reasons) owns at least one copy of every book published in the past 400 years. This is wonderful, because virtually any book anyone could need while at Uni is totally accessible- but also because of this, you can't just walk into the library and pick it off a shelf. All these books are housed in a number of storage facilities in nearby cities, and are transported back through tunnels under the city. So to get these books, we have to order them, and they'll become available in 1-3 days. The first thing I did after my tutorial was order the reading list so I could get started the next day.
That's not even the weird part though- once the books are in one of the 3 main library buildings, they can't leave. It is a reference only library. You need a "Bod Card" in order to get in or out of any building, and your bag is checked for books on your way out. I ordered my books to be delivered to the Old Bod Library, but today my friends were in the Rad Cam Library, so I had to walk 10 min through the libraries and in a tunnel underground connecting the two in order to get myself and the books there. Before any of us could even go into the library, we had to attend a "library orientation" and listen to a 1 hr lecture. That was before we had to recite a pledge not to take books out of the library, or start a fire in the library, and sign a contract promising the same thing.
The library system here is such a pain in the ass. Once I get used to it though, I'm sure it won't be so annoying. Plus, you get these views:
Yeah, I'm gonna quit my bitching.
It's a big contrast to what I'm used to- studying alone in the library. Seriously, if I ever really wanted to be alone at Chapman, I could always count on the library as a safe haven, nobody ever went there. The library at the Bod is packed! (Because we can't take books out, plus we're all nerds.) It's nice.
Oh, and here's a weird tidbit about those Brits. NEVER ASK THEM FOR DIRECTIONS! I've been learning this the hard way for weeks (think my 4 hour walk to Highclere Castle) and I just recently heard that it's an actual "thing" James heard a British woman give somebody directions on the street and she literally said, "Well it's down that way. And then, well, it's all just kind of a mess. You kind of have to figure it out. Okay bye!"
At another point, we saw two British men were waiting to cross the street, when gave up waiting and just started walking. His friend immediately started yelling (read in a British accent) "What?! You're not going to wait for the little green man?!?" Then he hesitantly tried to cross the street after his friend.
I feel like I'm beginning to understand the frustration/amusement many people feel towards the British. On one hand, they're adorable. On the other, you sort of want to hit them on the head with their own rulebook. I'm not a fan of all the rules and protocol. Too much to remember. Plus, if you break one of their rules, they get really upset. Not just upset like mad, but like personally upset. They literally think it's the end of the world. I don't know why. They've never broken a rule and liked it? I don't understand these people...
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
LONDON - DAY 13
Lucky number 13, I should've known...
I knew today would be difficult. I knew it. First meeting with my 2nd tutorial prof in a building I'd never been to, getting library materials from a library housing over 10 million books, going to an unfamiliar city all by myself to interview for a job- I set myself up for a lot of hassle.
At the same time, I did everything I possibly could to get ready for all of this. Bought cheap bus tickets in advance, google earthed the place I'm interviewing, figured out the British "underground" system online, woke up 2 hours early and *gasp* picked out my clothes the night before (something I NEVER do).
But what can I say? It was just one of those days. I cried on the bus home for one minute already and now I'm done. I started off this day so positive I'm not going to let 'em grind me down (Thanks Mr. Baker-)
Nothing too terrible happened today, except that everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Which is a lot of little disappointments and a whole lot of stress. I've been running around like a maniac for 13 hours- smiling the whole time, I might add, but now I'm just beat.
But it's 2 hours till I'll be home so that'll be a little delayed.
The most disappointing thing today was the interview. Not that I did badly, because I didn't, it's just that I'm not sure I really want the job now. I suppose I could come up with a small list of semi-reasonable reasons as to why, but it's more a feeling. And I feel like an idiot for feeling that way because it's the chance of a lifetime! 1 year in London, 3 months of which in Italy or Germany and for sure 1 month in Switzerland. Working for a woman who organizes a charity- and who knows what sort of doors that might open? I feel like whatever the problems might be, I should ignore them, suck it up, and steal this opportunity.
The kids are sort of brats though, and I feel like the Mother doesn't know it. She is making them that way, after all. I can see this causing endless problems in the long run. How am I supposed to discipline them when she barely can? They aren't bad kids- they're just smart enough to know they can get away with a lot. And they do get away with a lot. It's a shame though, because Stephanie (the Mom) left me alone to watch her daughter at the park for about 20ish min, and the girl and I were fine alone together. Got along great actually, had a lot of fun.
I haven't even met the Dad. Which is sort of weird. He's really busy though as a banker in London.
London is a beautiful city. It has been really interesting to get driven around it on (A RED DOUBLE DECKER BUS!) all day. I missed my bus home though. Turns out the return bus doesn't leave from where we got dropped off from the arrival bus. I guess I shouldn't have assumed that. I did arrive early for the return bus, but when a guy gave me directions to where I was supposed to go, I couldn't follow his directions, and I had a really hard time finding it. Ended up showing up 10 min late, so I had to pay for a 2nd ticket and the whole thing just sucked.
Stephanie wants me to e'mail her what I think about the job. I don't know what to say. Urgh... I'm not even going to worry about it right now. I'm just going to get back to school and focus on that. It's so much more important. I think sometimes I don't know when to say when. My Dad's been telling me that since I was a kid, but I think it applies to life more generally too. I can usually handle so much, but then when it gets to be too much I ignore the fact and just let everything drive me crazy. It's like I take pride in being strong but looking like an idiot. I've got to stop that.
I knew today would be difficult. I knew it. First meeting with my 2nd tutorial prof in a building I'd never been to, getting library materials from a library housing over 10 million books, going to an unfamiliar city all by myself to interview for a job- I set myself up for a lot of hassle.
At the same time, I did everything I possibly could to get ready for all of this. Bought cheap bus tickets in advance, google earthed the place I'm interviewing, figured out the British "underground" system online, woke up 2 hours early and *gasp* picked out my clothes the night before (something I NEVER do).
But what can I say? It was just one of those days. I cried on the bus home for one minute already and now I'm done. I started off this day so positive I'm not going to let 'em grind me down (Thanks Mr. Baker-)
Nothing too terrible happened today, except that everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Which is a lot of little disappointments and a whole lot of stress. I've been running around like a maniac for 13 hours- smiling the whole time, I might add, but now I'm just beat.
But it's 2 hours till I'll be home so that'll be a little delayed.
The most disappointing thing today was the interview. Not that I did badly, because I didn't, it's just that I'm not sure I really want the job now. I suppose I could come up with a small list of semi-reasonable reasons as to why, but it's more a feeling. And I feel like an idiot for feeling that way because it's the chance of a lifetime! 1 year in London, 3 months of which in Italy or Germany and for sure 1 month in Switzerland. Working for a woman who organizes a charity- and who knows what sort of doors that might open? I feel like whatever the problems might be, I should ignore them, suck it up, and steal this opportunity.
The kids are sort of brats though, and I feel like the Mother doesn't know it. She is making them that way, after all. I can see this causing endless problems in the long run. How am I supposed to discipline them when she barely can? They aren't bad kids- they're just smart enough to know they can get away with a lot. And they do get away with a lot. It's a shame though, because Stephanie (the Mom) left me alone to watch her daughter at the park for about 20ish min, and the girl and I were fine alone together. Got along great actually, had a lot of fun.
I haven't even met the Dad. Which is sort of weird. He's really busy though as a banker in London.
London is a beautiful city. It has been really interesting to get driven around it on (A RED DOUBLE DECKER BUS!) all day. I missed my bus home though. Turns out the return bus doesn't leave from where we got dropped off from the arrival bus. I guess I shouldn't have assumed that. I did arrive early for the return bus, but when a guy gave me directions to where I was supposed to go, I couldn't follow his directions, and I had a really hard time finding it. Ended up showing up 10 min late, so I had to pay for a 2nd ticket and the whole thing just sucked.
Stephanie wants me to e'mail her what I think about the job. I don't know what to say. Urgh... I'm not even going to worry about it right now. I'm just going to get back to school and focus on that. It's so much more important. I think sometimes I don't know when to say when. My Dad's been telling me that since I was a kid, but I think it applies to life more generally too. I can usually handle so much, but then when it gets to be too much I ignore the fact and just let everything drive me crazy. It's like I take pride in being strong but looking like an idiot. I've got to stop that.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
OXFORD - DAY 11
You know what rocks? ROWING! You know what sucks? British trivia. I was introduced to both today. And I applied for a job. What is going on?!?!
Oxford has 860 societies (clubs) to join. That's not including the sports teams for each individual college, of which Oxford has 38. I learned a long time ago that if I don't have a reason to go outside when I could be studying, I won't see the light of day. So I've been looking for a sports team to join. After asking around a bit, the one thing I keep hearing I should do is join the rowing team. This is Oxford, after all. So this morning I heard there was a rowing "taster" for Hertford at 2. I showed up, and had a blast!
I met up with 3 guys, 2 girls, and the co vice captain of the womens rowing team for Hertford. Oddly enough, one of the two girls was from Chicago, and the other was from Anaheim (5 minutes from Chapman!) How weird is that? Neither of them were too friendly though, I actually hit it off a lot better with Louise, the vice captain. She's this sweet German girl who walked us down to the boat house, which is on the Thames. As we were walking down, a bunch of guys were practicing on the river, and I was thrown back to a scene from The Social Network where "The Winklevi" lose a boat race to the French team as "In the Hall of The Mountain King" plays epically in the background. So while I'm watching these Oxford guys row, I can't help but sing the song in my head. Eventually, my film major side completely takes over and I start geeking out hardcore. I shared my enthusiasm with Louise, to which she replied "Oh yeah, people say that all the time." Yay, I'm not the only weirdo.
We learned basic rowing technique indoors before we went out on the boat. I was worried that rowing would make my arms super huge, because I have strangely big biceps already, so I was thrilled to hear that rowing mostly works your butt and thighs. YES! Honestly, I thought it'd be a lot harder than it was. I signed up for 3 days a week. There's a race on 4th week and I really hope I'll get to race!
Oxford has 860 societies (clubs) to join. That's not including the sports teams for each individual college, of which Oxford has 38. I learned a long time ago that if I don't have a reason to go outside when I could be studying, I won't see the light of day. So I've been looking for a sports team to join. After asking around a bit, the one thing I keep hearing I should do is join the rowing team. This is Oxford, after all. So this morning I heard there was a rowing "taster" for Hertford at 2. I showed up, and had a blast!
I met up with 3 guys, 2 girls, and the co vice captain of the womens rowing team for Hertford. Oddly enough, one of the two girls was from Chicago, and the other was from Anaheim (5 minutes from Chapman!) How weird is that? Neither of them were too friendly though, I actually hit it off a lot better with Louise, the vice captain. She's this sweet German girl who walked us down to the boat house, which is on the Thames. As we were walking down, a bunch of guys were practicing on the river, and I was thrown back to a scene from The Social Network where "The Winklevi" lose a boat race to the French team as "In the Hall of The Mountain King" plays epically in the background. So while I'm watching these Oxford guys row, I can't help but sing the song in my head. Eventually, my film major side completely takes over and I start geeking out hardcore. I shared my enthusiasm with Louise, to which she replied "Oh yeah, people say that all the time." Yay, I'm not the only weirdo.
We learned basic rowing technique indoors before we went out on the boat. I was worried that rowing would make my arms super huge, because I have strangely big biceps already, so I was thrilled to hear that rowing mostly works your butt and thighs. YES! Honestly, I thought it'd be a lot harder than it was. I signed up for 3 days a week. There's a race on 4th week and I really hope I'll get to race!
Afterwards, I came home and got ready for my interview. I created a profile for an Au Pair website around a month ago- thinking if I found a really nice family to work for I'd stay overseas a little longer and work for them. Anyway, I've been talking to some families here and there, but this really promising family contacted me last week. A German mother and an Italian father with 3 kids who live in London and the Mother works a somewhat philanthropic job. Their kids are adorable! We set up a skype interview for today, and I had to go to a pub to do it because we can't do video streaming at our flat, the broadband can't sustain it. Anyway, it went pretty well and I'm going to London on Tuesday to meet the family. We'll see how it goes!
After the interview, James was waiting for me at the pub and we were having some snacks when Trivia night started.
Urgh, Trivia Night. It was free, so we joined. We shouldn't have joined. All the trivia was English themed because St. George's day is tomorrow. I don't even know who St. George is- that should've been the first clue. We named our team "The Dumb Americans" as a joke.
Too true to be funny. We got 2/20 right in round 1. 0/20 in round 2. 0/20 in round 3. And when we tried to quit in round 4, they told us we could use the internet and look up the questions. We tied for last place with 6/20 in that round. It was so embarrassing.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
OXFORD - DAY 10
I spent the whole day with James and Brittany, it was a very relaxing day.
First, we went to the Ashmolean Museum. Not only is it the oldest public museum in Europe, but it was free! So we hung out there for a few hours and just kind of looked around. Then we spent the rest of the day in the city- watching street performers, exploring, doing a little shopping, talking about religion, politics, travel, philosophy... the 3 of us have so many similar interests, we could talk forever. It's fantastic.
Eventually we came across Oxford's only hat shop, known as The Hat Box, and let me just say I found trouble. I forced myself out once my side-braid was totally obliterated from fascinator headbands. The Queen's Diamond Jubilee (the 60th anniversary of her coronation) is June 5th, and I'm making it a priority. I may have been seduced into the world of comfy of yoga pants and oversized hoodies to the point where I will never look "smart" by Oxford standards, but I figure if only for one day I can go all-out British. I've always loved hats, but I never get the chance to wear them. I'm taking full advantage of this opportunity.
First, we went to the Ashmolean Museum. Not only is it the oldest public museum in Europe, but it was free! So we hung out there for a few hours and just kind of looked around. Then we spent the rest of the day in the city- watching street performers, exploring, doing a little shopping, talking about religion, politics, travel, philosophy... the 3 of us have so many similar interests, we could talk forever. It's fantastic.
OXFORD - DAY 9
Orientation Day - The day where we meet all the new OPUS (Oxford Programme for Undergraduate Studies) students, meet our academic advisors, get access to our college, find out who are tutors are, and what tutorials we are taking. It's a big day.
I'm sitting next to the stack of papers that contain every Oxford-related information I've received since the beginning of this thing. I'm going to organize it all in a binder... as soon as I'm done blogging.
DeePak Mukhi is the guy in charge of OPUS, we met with him a few hours this morning, and then he took us out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant in town. It was so yummy! DeePak (D-pack) is a really, really nice guy, but he's a bit on the unorganized side. He doesn't always communicate very well. So when I went to Hertford (pronounced Hart-ford) College with Lakshmi (pronounced Luck-shmi) to get our Bod Card, Meal Card, and key to the college, everything was all mixed up. We got passed around to about 6 different places before they finally gave up. One of the porters (old British guys who keep order of the college) asked us which programme we're with, and after hearing OPUS replied, "Oh OPUS! More like hopeless!" So true...
I have absolutely no complaints about my academic advisor though. His name is Dr. Ben Skipp, and he can't be much older than me. He's very friendly and adorably English. It's a shame I won't spend much more time with him unless something is wrong this term. He explained my term is planned as follows:
My primary tutorial will consist of 8 weeks, while my secondary tutorial will be 4 weeks long. The tutor for my primary is Dr. Tudor Jones (appropriate name!) and I'll be studying "The History of 20th Century America through American film" with him. This topic was my first choice, and I'm so happy I got it! Whether or not I decide to continue pursuing a career in film studies, this course will set me up perfectly for graduate work in the field, not to mention the great writing samples I'll be able to send in my grad school applications after writing one essay every week!
My secondary tutorial is with Peggy Morgan, a specialist on Buddhism. Guess what I'll be studying?? We'll be meeting Wednesdays at noon every other week. I'm so excited for this one! I suppose we'll narrow down the topic on Wednesday, but I'm glad it hasn't been specified yet.
Once the craziness was all over James, Brittany, and I invited Ethan and the two other guys in 224 over for pizza. The first thing I noticed about the new guys is they're both really good looking. Like, surprisingly so. Their names are James and Brian, and they both just got back from traveling during the break between terms, they were here last term too. So we're all hanging out, just talking, and suddenly I remember something awful. You see, there's this black hair that grows out of the side of my cheek. I don't know why. But it's always in the same spot. And so I have to keep an eye on it and remember to pluck it before other people notice as soon as it sprouts. Well this morning I spotted it, but didn't have time to pluck it before orientation, so I just left it and forgot about it.
It's a terrible thing to be sitting with a group of people and suddenly remember that there's a black hair sticking out of the side of your left cheek. Especially when the two cute new guys are to your left.
When Brian asked us what we did last night, we told them about going to the pub and walking around the Magdalen grounds... blah blah blah. Then when Ethan asked them what they were doing, they said "Drinking wine, on a cliff by the ocean, in Greece..." I guess we weren't as cool as we thought we were... It's so funny though, how privileged we are to be at this incredible school and all the opportunities it offers. We're able to travel fairly easily to places like that and have those experiences.
Anyway, once we were done giving each other shit for how great each other's lives are, we walked all the way to the other side of town were the other OPUS students are staying. They invited us over for a mojito night, and it was so much fun! It was loud, slightly obnoxious, and a little sloppy- so nice to be around some Americans again!
(Oh, and for those of you who are still thinking about the hair on my cheek, I plucked the hair before we took off for Mojito night, you don't have to worry-)
I'm sitting next to the stack of papers that contain every Oxford-related information I've received since the beginning of this thing. I'm going to organize it all in a binder... as soon as I'm done blogging.
DeePak Mukhi is the guy in charge of OPUS, we met with him a few hours this morning, and then he took us out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant in town. It was so yummy! DeePak (D-pack) is a really, really nice guy, but he's a bit on the unorganized side. He doesn't always communicate very well. So when I went to Hertford (pronounced Hart-ford) College with Lakshmi (pronounced Luck-shmi) to get our Bod Card, Meal Card, and key to the college, everything was all mixed up. We got passed around to about 6 different places before they finally gave up. One of the porters (old British guys who keep order of the college) asked us which programme we're with, and after hearing OPUS replied, "Oh OPUS! More like hopeless!" So true...
I have absolutely no complaints about my academic advisor though. His name is Dr. Ben Skipp, and he can't be much older than me. He's very friendly and adorably English. It's a shame I won't spend much more time with him unless something is wrong this term. He explained my term is planned as follows:
My primary tutorial will consist of 8 weeks, while my secondary tutorial will be 4 weeks long. The tutor for my primary is Dr. Tudor Jones (appropriate name!) and I'll be studying "The History of 20th Century America through American film" with him. This topic was my first choice, and I'm so happy I got it! Whether or not I decide to continue pursuing a career in film studies, this course will set me up perfectly for graduate work in the field, not to mention the great writing samples I'll be able to send in my grad school applications after writing one essay every week!
My secondary tutorial is with Peggy Morgan, a specialist on Buddhism. Guess what I'll be studying?? We'll be meeting Wednesdays at noon every other week. I'm so excited for this one! I suppose we'll narrow down the topic on Wednesday, but I'm glad it hasn't been specified yet.
Once the craziness was all over James, Brittany, and I invited Ethan and the two other guys in 224 over for pizza. The first thing I noticed about the new guys is they're both really good looking. Like, surprisingly so. Their names are James and Brian, and they both just got back from traveling during the break between terms, they were here last term too. So we're all hanging out, just talking, and suddenly I remember something awful. You see, there's this black hair that grows out of the side of my cheek. I don't know why. But it's always in the same spot. And so I have to keep an eye on it and remember to pluck it before other people notice as soon as it sprouts. Well this morning I spotted it, but didn't have time to pluck it before orientation, so I just left it and forgot about it.
It's a terrible thing to be sitting with a group of people and suddenly remember that there's a black hair sticking out of the side of your left cheek. Especially when the two cute new guys are to your left.
When Brian asked us what we did last night, we told them about going to the pub and walking around the Magdalen grounds... blah blah blah. Then when Ethan asked them what they were doing, they said "Drinking wine, on a cliff by the ocean, in Greece..." I guess we weren't as cool as we thought we were... It's so funny though, how privileged we are to be at this incredible school and all the opportunities it offers. We're able to travel fairly easily to places like that and have those experiences.
Anyway, once we were done giving each other shit for how great each other's lives are, we walked all the way to the other side of town were the other OPUS students are staying. They invited us over for a mojito night, and it was so much fun! It was loud, slightly obnoxious, and a little sloppy- so nice to be around some Americans again!
(Oh, and for those of you who are still thinking about the hair on my cheek, I plucked the hair before we took off for Mojito night, you don't have to worry-)
Thursday, April 19, 2012
OXFORD - DAY 8
So I'm walking down High Street in Oxford, and you'll never believe what I saw-
I don't know what the 4SP is for- but I guess that's part of it. There are 8 bedrooms numbered 1A-7 because that's the way the English do things. The assistant to the director of the program, poor thing, had to wait around while I tried to choose one of the 6 still unoccupied rooms this afternoon. All of the rooms were the same more or less- single bed, desk, bedside table, armoire, and SINK! except for one room- for 45 pounds more, I could snag a room with almost double the space, 2 armoires, 2 dressers, a large desk, a fancy looking mirror, and a large bay shaped window looking out into the street.
Carol (the director's assistant) ran up and down the 3 floors behind me locking each door as I left, thinking I'd finally decide and she'd be all set to go. HA! Woman thinks I'm decisive. You'd think that after a half an hour of that she'd finally just leave me free to browse and give up trying to close shop.
I know it's just a room, and the differences were really menial, but this was gonna be my room for the next 3 months, I wanted to choose wisely. Finally, I narrowed it down to Super Amazing Dream Room #3, and #4- the plain room next to it.
I PICKED THE BEST ROOM!!!
I picked #4 because I knew if I went with #3 I'd never leave. It really came down to that. But once I started poking around my room I discovered something awesome.
In my top desk drawer were a bunch of random coins and a note reading, "Pennying: Whenever someone is holding a drink, throwing a penny into their drink means the have to chug whatever it is. (most fun with alcohol) You are now armed. Good Luck, -Wes" I've heard of Pennying before, but maybe it's more popular in the UK. Anyway, that was such a fun surprise. Too bad this Wes kid was only here last term, because he sounds fun as hell.
So yeah, I definitely picked the best room. I haven't fixed it up yet, but when I do I'll post a pic for sure.
After I finally picked my room, two of my flatmates showed up. James Bachelor is living in room #1A he's here through the Chapman exchange program too. He's 19, a film major, fabulously nerdy and really funny. He's also currently reading the Hunger Games, so yeah, we have stuff to talk about.
Brittany is living in room #2. She was here last term and so she knows her way around. She's here through an exchange program with a different school. She's studying psychology and French. She went with me to grab groceries as I was settling in. Brittany was born in Chicago, but was raised in Virginia mostly. Oh, and of course, she's engaged. Because there always has to be someone hanging around who's my age and engaged. In all seriousness though, I like her a lot.
Then I met Ethan who lives in the flat next door. It's kind of like our brother flat. Ethan is from Minneapolis, and he's "studying cities" as he puts it. He wants to design them or something. He just got back from holiday in Morocco today and hates the rain and British food. I don't know what he's doing here.
So the four of us went to a pub next to Magdalen College (Pronounced Mahh-de-lyn) and it was strangely fun and natural. We had some good laughs. James had his first beer while we were out (not too odd for a guy from "So Cal" to have his first beer at 19...) anyway he didn't tell us it was his first beer. He just ordered a Guinness and then flipped out. "It's an assault of the senses!" He couldn't get past the head even. I almost forgot how little people from Southern California tend to drink.
Gotta go put sheets on my bed so I can sleep. Today was exhausting. Orientation tomorrow and my first meeting with an advisor for my tutorials. A little nervous about that. I'm so glad to finally be where I'll be living for the next 3ish months. It'll be nice to settle in, make the place my own. I feel like this is all really starting now.
Not really- but isn't that a great picture?!?
So today was the day my housing finally became available, and here's the scoop: I live in an flat on the southwestern side of Oxford. For those who want it, the official address is
222-224 Abingdon Road
Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 4SPI don't know what the 4SP is for- but I guess that's part of it. There are 8 bedrooms numbered 1A-7 because that's the way the English do things. The assistant to the director of the program, poor thing, had to wait around while I tried to choose one of the 6 still unoccupied rooms this afternoon. All of the rooms were the same more or less- single bed, desk, bedside table, armoire, and SINK! except for one room- for 45 pounds more, I could snag a room with almost double the space, 2 armoires, 2 dressers, a large desk, a fancy looking mirror, and a large bay shaped window looking out into the street.
Carol (the director's assistant) ran up and down the 3 floors behind me locking each door as I left, thinking I'd finally decide and she'd be all set to go. HA! Woman thinks I'm decisive. You'd think that after a half an hour of that she'd finally just leave me free to browse and give up trying to close shop.
I know it's just a room, and the differences were really menial, but this was gonna be my room for the next 3 months, I wanted to choose wisely. Finally, I narrowed it down to Super Amazing Dream Room #3, and #4- the plain room next to it.
I PICKED THE BEST ROOM!!!
I picked #4 because I knew if I went with #3 I'd never leave. It really came down to that. But once I started poking around my room I discovered something awesome.
In my top desk drawer were a bunch of random coins and a note reading, "Pennying: Whenever someone is holding a drink, throwing a penny into their drink means the have to chug whatever it is. (most fun with alcohol) You are now armed. Good Luck, -Wes" I've heard of Pennying before, but maybe it's more popular in the UK. Anyway, that was such a fun surprise. Too bad this Wes kid was only here last term, because he sounds fun as hell.
So yeah, I definitely picked the best room. I haven't fixed it up yet, but when I do I'll post a pic for sure.
After I finally picked my room, two of my flatmates showed up. James Bachelor is living in room #1A he's here through the Chapman exchange program too. He's 19, a film major, fabulously nerdy and really funny. He's also currently reading the Hunger Games, so yeah, we have stuff to talk about.
Brittany is living in room #2. She was here last term and so she knows her way around. She's here through an exchange program with a different school. She's studying psychology and French. She went with me to grab groceries as I was settling in. Brittany was born in Chicago, but was raised in Virginia mostly. Oh, and of course, she's engaged. Because there always has to be someone hanging around who's my age and engaged. In all seriousness though, I like her a lot.
Then I met Ethan who lives in the flat next door. It's kind of like our brother flat. Ethan is from Minneapolis, and he's "studying cities" as he puts it. He wants to design them or something. He just got back from holiday in Morocco today and hates the rain and British food. I don't know what he's doing here.
So the four of us went to a pub next to Magdalen College (Pronounced Mahh-de-lyn) and it was strangely fun and natural. We had some good laughs. James had his first beer while we were out (not too odd for a guy from "So Cal" to have his first beer at 19...) anyway he didn't tell us it was his first beer. He just ordered a Guinness and then flipped out. "It's an assault of the senses!" He couldn't get past the head even. I almost forgot how little people from Southern California tend to drink.
Gotta go put sheets on my bed so I can sleep. Today was exhausting. Orientation tomorrow and my first meeting with an advisor for my tutorials. A little nervous about that. I'm so glad to finally be where I'll be living for the next 3ish months. It'll be nice to settle in, make the place my own. I feel like this is all really starting now.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
COTSWOLDS - DAY 7
I left my camera on the train yesterday. I'm still trying to track it down. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Until then, I'll have to be clever and use my laptop and a mirror so you can properly read the text on my new coaster!
Even if I get it back though, today was a terrible day to not have a camera. The Cotswolds are so picturesque. Everything here is so old and impossible to recreate. With that said, I'm mad I can't show you what I saw. I got a few postcards, but the photographers who put them together suck. I'll try and post pictures that other people have taken to give you an idea- but just believe me when I say that as good as it might look in these pictures, it was way better.
Usually I blog to keep track of everything that's running through my head, or just to relax. The thing about the Cotswolds though, is it's so damn relaxing I don't feel compelled to write at all- but there's a lot to say. I could literally just sit and do nothing here. Which- coming from me, is saying something.
First off- what are the Cotswolds? I came here with the idea that it's a village of really old, rustic-looking cottages with thatched roofs. That's half-true. In reality, the Cotswolds are more of a region in southwestern England, consisting of many little towns and villages such as Stratford-upon-Avon (where Shakespeare lived with Anne Hathaway), Gloucester, Stow-on-the-Wold, and The Slaughters.
So today I gave her a ring and she picked me up. First, she showed me her house, which was absolutely gorgeous! They have wild doves on their property, and get this- not just a bird house, but a "dove house". It's much taller and larger. I'm not sure how many acres her and her husband have, but they rent out to some farmers nearby. We went to a small church down the street, I'm not sure how old it was, but it was super old. It was unlocked surprisingly, and I got a peek inside. Let me tell you, yesterday was a terrible day to have left my camera on the train.
Then we drove to Stow-on-the-Wold (locals call it "Stow") which is a quaint little town with lots of cute shops. I hear that Kate Winslet also has a house there.
Finally we went to The Slaughter, which as scary as it sounds, was my favorite place. It was raining when we drove through, so everything looked especially English.
When we got back, Ursula introduced me to her friend Penny, who lives on her parents' mill down the road. Next thing I know, I'm going over to Penny's place. She rides in horse shows doing dressage, jumping, and cross country so the first thing we did was see her 3 horses! One was due to have a foal in 2 months. They were so pretty, I really miss riding and being around horses. Then we checked out the mill- which isn't still working. They took the slats out of the wheel so it's not constantly turning, but the river is still rigged so it could dam the river it they want it to. Then she showed me inside and I met her Dad, who was adorably "English." Dad- these doors they have here, holy crap. You'd be standing in the doorway for hours. Soooo cool. The ancient front door to their house is the kind that has a latch you lift up to open.
Their fireplace is probably 5ft wide and 4 ft tall- you could floo powder a whole family out of that thing! I believe they'd call it a "hearth." These old houses are insane. It's these tiny details that blew my mind. You just don't see that stuff anywhere.
So, between Ursula and Penny I got an authentic, expedited taste of the Cotswolds. No public transit, no getting lost, plenty of explanations and surprises. It was fantastic. I got Ursula a box of rose tarts from Stow as a thank you and left Penny with my contact info in the states, telling both of them if they ever found themselves in Chicago to look me up and I'd be happy to return the favor.
Today was a bit of a hands-on course in The Cotswolds, here's what I learned:
Holy shit it's expensive here. I mean, REALLY expensive. At first glance, everything looks a bit run down, but that's only because it's all hundreds (if not thousands...) of years old! On the contrary, everything is incredibly well maintained. People take great pride in what they have here, and they have a lot.
Before I came here I was told that the Codswolds are "posh" and I suppose they are. A lot of wealthy people retire out here, and some of the rich and famous own homes here as well. However, this has been an area of wealth for some time. The rolling hills are filled with grazing sheep, and the sheep are initially what got the area going. The wool manufactured here made its residents quite wealthy hundreds of years ago.
The Cotswolds are famous for their drystone walls, which were initially built to keep the sheep in. These walls, which are built without cement, have lasted for hundreds of years and are now built just for show (like Ursula added around her garden). However, they are VERY expensive, because each stone has to fit just right in order to stay in place. It takes a lot of time and patience to build these walls which line the homes and grounds of each Cotswold town.
Hmmm, what else did I learn? I can't think of anything right now. I'm so happy to have had the first full night's sleep in almost a week. I'm starting to not look like a zombie anymore, so that's good. I skyped the parents the night before I ran off to the Cotswolds and they were laughing at how bad I looked, which is kind of embarrassing. Ursula asked me what year I was at uni (University) but before I could answer she guessed freshman. -I don't think I've found the fountain of youth while I'm here, and I'm certainly not so well rested that I'm starting to experience age defying miracles. It's time to face the facts. I look young for my age. (Which I don't like.) But for the sake of being pragmatic, if I'm gonna look like a freshman I might as well not look like a freshman zombie. So here's to health.
Speaking of health. My 90% veggie diet has switched to a 90% bread diet. I eat bread ALL THE TIME! Croissants, rustic bread, scones, dinner rolls... omg it's everywhere! And I'm lovin it. The stomach pouch is back though. Oh well, what do I care. I stopped wearing tight clothes like a year ago, right? I'd better stop it soon though or it's going to get really bad. Oh, and tea, that's another problem. I just had 5 cups while writing this blog. That probably means too much blogging AND too much tea.
Whatever, I'll return to a life of moderation after the Cotswolds. The bathroom in my hotel room has a tub with a window next to it overlooking the countryside and I'm due for at least 2 more soaks before I leave.
P.S. As I finished writing this the sun was setting and it was raining a little bit, and a huge rainbow popped up over the nearby countryside. Gorgeous. God I wish I had my camera.
Even if I get it back though, today was a terrible day to not have a camera. The Cotswolds are so picturesque. Everything here is so old and impossible to recreate. With that said, I'm mad I can't show you what I saw. I got a few postcards, but the photographers who put them together suck. I'll try and post pictures that other people have taken to give you an idea- but just believe me when I say that as good as it might look in these pictures, it was way better.
Usually I blog to keep track of everything that's running through my head, or just to relax. The thing about the Cotswolds though, is it's so damn relaxing I don't feel compelled to write at all- but there's a lot to say. I could literally just sit and do nothing here. Which- coming from me, is saying something.
First off- what are the Cotswolds? I came here with the idea that it's a village of really old, rustic-looking cottages with thatched roofs. That's half-true. In reality, the Cotswolds are more of a region in southwestern England, consisting of many little towns and villages such as Stratford-upon-Avon (where Shakespeare lived with Anne Hathaway), Gloucester, Stow-on-the-Wold, and The Slaughters.
My hotel is in Kingham, a very small village situated close to Stow-On-The-Wold and The Slaughters. It is also a 25 minute walk from Kingham train station, not 10 minutes like google maps said. So when I was pushing my weight in luggage down a 2 lane street with no sidewalk, I was thrilled when someone stopped to offer me a ride. We got to talking and when she dropped me off she also offered to pick me up again the next day and show me some nearby towns. I was a little taken aback. It was incredibly nice for her to pick me up in the first place, but to play tour guide to me the next day just to be nice? I couldn't believe my luck. I didn't want to take advantage of anyone, and I certainly don't like feeling indebted to somebody- but I couldn't pass this up. After all, I generally don't like doing touristy stuff. I'd much rather learn about what the natives find interesting.
So today I gave her a ring and she picked me up. First, she showed me her house, which was absolutely gorgeous! They have wild doves on their property, and get this- not just a bird house, but a "dove house". It's much taller and larger. I'm not sure how many acres her and her husband have, but they rent out to some farmers nearby. We went to a small church down the street, I'm not sure how old it was, but it was super old. It was unlocked surprisingly, and I got a peek inside. Let me tell you, yesterday was a terrible day to have left my camera on the train.
Then we drove to Stow-on-the-Wold (locals call it "Stow") which is a quaint little town with lots of cute shops. I hear that Kate Winslet also has a house there.
When we got back, Ursula introduced me to her friend Penny, who lives on her parents' mill down the road. Next thing I know, I'm going over to Penny's place. She rides in horse shows doing dressage, jumping, and cross country so the first thing we did was see her 3 horses! One was due to have a foal in 2 months. They were so pretty, I really miss riding and being around horses. Then we checked out the mill- which isn't still working. They took the slats out of the wheel so it's not constantly turning, but the river is still rigged so it could dam the river it they want it to. Then she showed me inside and I met her Dad, who was adorably "English." Dad- these doors they have here, holy crap. You'd be standing in the doorway for hours. Soooo cool. The ancient front door to their house is the kind that has a latch you lift up to open.
Their fireplace is probably 5ft wide and 4 ft tall- you could floo powder a whole family out of that thing! I believe they'd call it a "hearth." These old houses are insane. It's these tiny details that blew my mind. You just don't see that stuff anywhere.
Today was a bit of a hands-on course in The Cotswolds, here's what I learned:
Holy shit it's expensive here. I mean, REALLY expensive. At first glance, everything looks a bit run down, but that's only because it's all hundreds (if not thousands...) of years old! On the contrary, everything is incredibly well maintained. People take great pride in what they have here, and they have a lot.
Before I came here I was told that the Codswolds are "posh" and I suppose they are. A lot of wealthy people retire out here, and some of the rich and famous own homes here as well. However, this has been an area of wealth for some time. The rolling hills are filled with grazing sheep, and the sheep are initially what got the area going. The wool manufactured here made its residents quite wealthy hundreds of years ago.
The Cotswolds are famous for their drystone walls, which were initially built to keep the sheep in. These walls, which are built without cement, have lasted for hundreds of years and are now built just for show (like Ursula added around her garden). However, they are VERY expensive, because each stone has to fit just right in order to stay in place. It takes a lot of time and patience to build these walls which line the homes and grounds of each Cotswold town.
Hmmm, what else did I learn? I can't think of anything right now. I'm so happy to have had the first full night's sleep in almost a week. I'm starting to not look like a zombie anymore, so that's good. I skyped the parents the night before I ran off to the Cotswolds and they were laughing at how bad I looked, which is kind of embarrassing. Ursula asked me what year I was at uni (University) but before I could answer she guessed freshman. -I don't think I've found the fountain of youth while I'm here, and I'm certainly not so well rested that I'm starting to experience age defying miracles. It's time to face the facts. I look young for my age. (Which I don't like.) But for the sake of being pragmatic, if I'm gonna look like a freshman I might as well not look like a freshman zombie. So here's to health.
Speaking of health. My 90% veggie diet has switched to a 90% bread diet. I eat bread ALL THE TIME! Croissants, rustic bread, scones, dinner rolls... omg it's everywhere! And I'm lovin it. The stomach pouch is back though. Oh well, what do I care. I stopped wearing tight clothes like a year ago, right? I'd better stop it soon though or it's going to get really bad. Oh, and tea, that's another problem. I just had 5 cups while writing this blog. That probably means too much blogging AND too much tea.
Whatever, I'll return to a life of moderation after the Cotswolds. The bathroom in my hotel room has a tub with a window next to it overlooking the countryside and I'm due for at least 2 more soaks before I leave.
P.S. As I finished writing this the sun was setting and it was raining a little bit, and a huge rainbow popped up over the nearby countryside. Gorgeous. God I wish I had my camera.
Monday, April 16, 2012
OXFORD/COTSWOLDS - DAY 6
Last minute change of plans, there is no way in hell I'm staying at this hostel any longer. I'm heading for the Cotswolds!!
Why the sudden change in plans? Well, it's simple. I need a good nights sleep. I know, I know. I insisted on this "get there early spend a week at a hostel plan", and you know what? I give myself props for trying that. For literally jumping into a room with 12 other strangers and actually looking forward to it. Well done Laura, you're as naive as ever.
I haven't complained about the hostel because honestly there isn't much to complain about- except the sleeping situation. And I've been going to bed really early so I can get a decent night's sleep. Still, a semi-good sleep wedged between 2 hours of trying to fall asleep and one hour of I-don't-want-to-get-up-yet-but-that-idiot-is-so-loud, gets rough.
Tonight the room was full. 12 solid. And for the first time, it was mostly guys. Loud, clunky, rude guys that were mostly spending their first night here. Idiot #1 thought he was alone in the room... But he was not, I was in there trying to sleep. Idiot #2 wouldn't turn off his cell phone, so his foreign ringtone would go off, followed by the text message alert, "You just got a f-ing text message!" (Sweet dreams Laura) Then Idiot #3 came in with I swear, 5 laptops, which he clanked inside 5 different metal lockers, 3 of which were right next to my head. All the while different people kept coming and going, 4 people checked in after 8pm alone. At 1am I left the room to get a drink of water and take a few deep breaths, when I ran into the old man in the short shorts who likes to pee with the door half open. That was the tipping point.
Maybe I'm too much of a goodie-goodie. I don't know. All I know is when I hear someone moving around next to my bed in the dark, and all my personal belongings that I'll need desperately for the next 3 months are within arms length, I'm gonna open my eyes and see what the hell they're doing by my bed.
Christopher McCandless famously relinquished all material things because "stuff makes people cautious." I get that. And it's a fine goal, to be sure. But the way I see it- as a woman, people are always gonna want certain things you have. Why not at least make yourself comfortable?
So I'm writing off my hostel experience as a checked box on that life experience chart I keep somewhere. Glad I did it, but 4 nights is more than enough. I think there's a reason why people backpacking across Europe keep moving on. 1 night in 1 hostel is sufficient.
Where to now? Well, when I searched cheap hotels in the area, one popped out at me. It's called the Mill House Hotel in Kingham, right in the heart of the Cotswolds. I really want to visit there, so why not now? I can spend 2 peaceful days there and rest up before I return to Oxford and my new living arrangement... whatever that may be. I've learned from my Highclere Castle experience this weekend, and so I checked train times and bus times to Kingham, as well as how far the Kingham train station is from my hotel- which is 2 min by car or 10 min on foot. yay!
I found one of the managers of my hostel at 1am and convinced him to give me a refund for the next two nights. I wouldn't have switched otherwise, as much as I couldn't stand another night here. I hope this whole Cotswolds plan works out. I initially figured I'd make this trip with some people I'd meet during term, but what if we ran out of time or I never got the chance? I'd regret not taking this trip.
Why the sudden change in plans? Well, it's simple. I need a good nights sleep. I know, I know. I insisted on this "get there early spend a week at a hostel plan", and you know what? I give myself props for trying that. For literally jumping into a room with 12 other strangers and actually looking forward to it. Well done Laura, you're as naive as ever.
I haven't complained about the hostel because honestly there isn't much to complain about- except the sleeping situation. And I've been going to bed really early so I can get a decent night's sleep. Still, a semi-good sleep wedged between 2 hours of trying to fall asleep and one hour of I-don't-want-to-get-up-yet-but-that-idiot-is-so-loud, gets rough.
Tonight the room was full. 12 solid. And for the first time, it was mostly guys. Loud, clunky, rude guys that were mostly spending their first night here. Idiot #1 thought he was alone in the room... But he was not, I was in there trying to sleep. Idiot #2 wouldn't turn off his cell phone, so his foreign ringtone would go off, followed by the text message alert, "You just got a f-ing text message!" (Sweet dreams Laura) Then Idiot #3 came in with I swear, 5 laptops, which he clanked inside 5 different metal lockers, 3 of which were right next to my head. All the while different people kept coming and going, 4 people checked in after 8pm alone. At 1am I left the room to get a drink of water and take a few deep breaths, when I ran into the old man in the short shorts who likes to pee with the door half open. That was the tipping point.
Maybe I'm too much of a goodie-goodie. I don't know. All I know is when I hear someone moving around next to my bed in the dark, and all my personal belongings that I'll need desperately for the next 3 months are within arms length, I'm gonna open my eyes and see what the hell they're doing by my bed.
Christopher McCandless famously relinquished all material things because "stuff makes people cautious." I get that. And it's a fine goal, to be sure. But the way I see it- as a woman, people are always gonna want certain things you have. Why not at least make yourself comfortable?
So I'm writing off my hostel experience as a checked box on that life experience chart I keep somewhere. Glad I did it, but 4 nights is more than enough. I think there's a reason why people backpacking across Europe keep moving on. 1 night in 1 hostel is sufficient.
Where to now? Well, when I searched cheap hotels in the area, one popped out at me. It's called the Mill House Hotel in Kingham, right in the heart of the Cotswolds. I really want to visit there, so why not now? I can spend 2 peaceful days there and rest up before I return to Oxford and my new living arrangement... whatever that may be. I've learned from my Highclere Castle experience this weekend, and so I checked train times and bus times to Kingham, as well as how far the Kingham train station is from my hotel- which is 2 min by car or 10 min on foot. yay!
I found one of the managers of my hostel at 1am and convinced him to give me a refund for the next two nights. I wouldn't have switched otherwise, as much as I couldn't stand another night here. I hope this whole Cotswolds plan works out. I initially figured I'd make this trip with some people I'd meet during term, but what if we ran out of time or I never got the chance? I'd regret not taking this trip.
OXFORD - DAY 5
I limped around Oxford again today, but this time Robert came with me. We got totally lost. A lot of fields and dirt paths. But the before and after part were both good. I've wanted to try du pain au chocolate (chocolate croissants) for a long time, and today was the day. I bought 3 and I'm trying not to finish the 3rd until tomorrow... they're so yummy!
After that we headed to the Bodelian Library. I haven't taken the tour yet- so I don't know exactly why it's a big deal, but I walked around the thing, and the building is enough to impress me thus far. Gorgeous!
Even the gift shop was impressive. You know it's a classy joint when you see those green glass lampshades!
I finally found my way over to Magdalen college, which is one of the prettiest colleges in Oxford. There's a bridge right next to it, and you can walk down to the water and rent a boat to go punting. It's basically the English version of a gondola, except you push the boat with the stick yourself. The boats are really cool looking.
Next, I wanted to visit The Eagle and Child, which is famous for being a favorite pub of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, and many other literary giants. On the way there I ran into another pub called Angel and Greyhound with these two signs out front:
Later, we found The Eagle and Child (or as C.S. Lewis called it, "The Bird and Baby") but the whole pub was not as impressive to me as the two signs I saw at Angel and Greyhound. I'm going to have to go there again and actually go in the place.
I was going to join in a beginners game of rugby tonight, but my foot is still kind of messed up. I figured I'd stay in and catch up on Mad Men, The New Girl, Whitney, Dancing With The Stars, and The Office instead, but major bummer- HULU IS NOT AVAILABLE IN THE UK! I'm so disappointed. I was going to cancel my hulu account when I got here anyway because the last thing I want to do in a foreign country is waste time watching American television, but I honestly shouldn't be walking around any more today. And especially no rugby, which I really wanted to do. Maybe I'll limp to a free meditation class in town?
I found this sign earlier today. I hope I won't have to resort to this later, haha
Sunday, April 15, 2012
OXFORD - Day 4
I spent most of today limping around Oxford. I did something to my right foot yesterday with all that walking, so today I've got a stupid limp. I sort of ventured from pub to cafe, and back to the pubs again just exploring. Oxford is set-up as both a city and a town. You'll find the bus station next to a hundred year old college right next to a trendy cafe. It's so much fun to explore. Especially when you can take your time and really just wander.
Anyway. I spent most of the day eating. Turns out I love English grubb. It’s boring and hearty, filled with carbs- YUM! So much for my attempts at being a vegan. Turns out without my juicer there’s no way I can manage that. And the food’s way too good here for me to live off of leaves so I’ll be suspending vegan/vegetarian diets for at least the next 3 months.
(Aunt Cyndi- I hope you are loving juicing in my absence! Has Mom given you my juicer yet? Please take advantage of the yummy veggies I willed to you. The avocado, cucumber, and apples should be good still if nothing else!)
So today I’ve done nothing but wander around and sample different pubs and cafes. It’s been lovely. First I went to a pub called Three Goats Heads and got a meat and veggie filled pie topped with mashed potatoes with veggies on the side with gravy. YUM!
Then I headed off to the King’s Arms. For 350 years it was a gents only pub until 1973 when some "radical" feminists convinced them to open it up for them as well.
The place winds around inside itself revealing small side rooms with comfy couches and armchairs.
It's quite impressive. I met some friendly "chaps" there. It got pretty crowded when some fancy "football" game came on. I haven't been around here long enough to know what the big deal about that was, but then again it's football so that should be enough-
After a couple pints started to head back to the hostel but stopped at Hertford College (right next door!). I've been admitted to Hertford for term, although I'm not allowed in yet because I'm not officially a student until Thursday. Hertford is right in the middle of the city, and just a half block away from Kings Arms. Of course, when I walked past I noticed half of a front door was missing. -I couldn't help but wander in past security, putting on my best "I'm a student here" face. 
Hahaha I think I’m such a badass because I snuck into a library at a fancy college. A college I won’t have to sneak into 5 days from now because I’ll officially be a student. Wow. That’s a new level of nerd I didn’t know I’d reached yet, but whatever, it happened. It's so pretty.
Afterwards I limped back to the Hostel, expecting to just blog for the rest of the night but they were having a party! One of the lads they call "Irish" was having a birthday, so half the hostel was on the back patio drinking and having a good time. I forced myself to go out and join them. It was really fun! It's hard to tell who works at the hostel and who's just staying here, but everyone was really friendly and introduced me to everyone else. Turns out most of the people out there are people who work or have worked at the hostel, and they were all invited by Chelsea who manages the place and is absolutely wonderful. She gave me a free Australian beer, saying, "You're the first American I've ever given a free beer to!" I decided to take that as a compliment...
Anyway, everyone was really nice. Most people here are from somewhere else, so half the time I don't understand everything that's being said. A lot of Spanish. It's funny how much you learn about your own culture when you're in someone else's. From what I've learned, Americans are known first as friendly, and second as absolutely obnoxious. I'm trying not to be obnoxious. I really want to represent my country well while I'm here. I can't help but remember my own qualms with America while I'm here though. There's a lot of great stuff I'm noticing is here that would never be accepted back home. And that's too bad.
It's hard to meet people when you're in a completely different place and have virtually nothing in common with anybody. I stumbled upon a party tonight, and had a lot of fun. But everyone here is coming or going. They're temp friends. Actually finding things in common with people is going to be hard, especially when I'm not taking normal classes with 30+ people to hang around. I'm not the type of person to go out and TRY to make friends, but I guess there's the challenge.
Here come 2 more people into my 12 person room. yayyy. I've been wondering why I can't hear terrible club music yet- it's Sunday. Thank god. Hopefully I can get a good night's sleep.
NEWBURY - Day 3
Today I woke up wanting to have an adventure, and I got one. Here's the story:
I met a few "lads" at breakfast this morning. We were talking about visiting castles and so naturally, I brought up Highclere Castle - the one where Downton Abbey is filmed. Downton Abbey is basically a soap opera that takes place in England during WWI. It's terribly overdramatic but I love it. So naturally, along with many middle-aged British woman, I wanted to visit the castle where it's all filmed.
Surprisingly, Michael, one of the guys at the hostel was down for the adventure. Who is Michael? Some 32 year old guy from Sydney Australia who wanted to see the same castle as me. I guess that information was enough for me to commit to a day-trip with him. Did we know where the castle was? Newbury. Where is Newbury? South somewhere. How can you get there? Public transit... somehow. Where in Newbury is the castle? Close- I hope. So off we went.
We took a train to Reading (pronounced red-ing) and then again to Newbury (pronounced noo-burry). We figured that of course, once we got there we'd see plenty of signs and flyers for the castle featuring the famous and very popular British melodrama. Were there? Of course not. The British are far too classy for such things. So we started walking in the direction we thought the castle was in.
About 2 miles later, we finally saw a sign for the castle.
As you can see, the sign doesn't even really say where the castle is, except for to the right of the roundabout. What street is it on? How far to the castle? We didn't know. And the worst part was, every person we'd ask would say "Oh that's about 2 miles down that way." Sometimes they'd point in different directions, and no matter how many miles we'd walk it'd still be "about 2 miles."
So we kept walking. We walked a good mile down this road
and a mile down this road
before we finally saw another sign for Highclere castle. I couldn't get over it. It's not like this is a vegetable stand on the side of the road (which I would've wanted to visit as well) I mean, THIS IS A FREAKIN CASTLE! A castle from a popular (by British and American standards) television show! Wouldn't SOMEBODY want to post a sign???
I'm still trying to find the American equivalent to a British castle, and I can't. I mean, even if something is not impressive to us, but we can still make money off it, we'll post a freakin sign. We want to make money. But the British hate eyesores (as I learned from their plain trains) and I appreciate that- now at least. At the time, it was driving me absolutely insane. But Michael and I were persistent, we tried to find the humor in our neverending walk. And even try to smell the flowers and appreciate the English countryside on our maddening journey.
Eventually, we started to see signs for Highclere castle more and more often. Finally, after 3 1/2 hours of walking, we saw the castle.
It was absolutely beautiful.
We took a tour of the castle and grounds, we made it half an hour before the castle closed! For those of you Downton Abbey fans, I found out that the servant's quarters, as well as Lady Mary's room are not filmed on location, but on stages on set. =(
At the end of the tour we celebrated in English fashion, with tea and scones.
I can't believe I liked clotted cream. It looks like milk that's been sitting out for a month. But paired with strawberry jam and a scone it's absolutely delicious. I loved it. I've been doing tea the British way too- usually Earl Grey with cream. I'm starting to get used to it, it's not bad. I do miss my monkey picked oolong tea though.
We took a cab back to the train station, not daring to make the trek again. I have to say though, the ridiculous walk there made it that much more enjoyable. It was a really fun day. On our way out of the castle we saw the Duchess who lives there driving up the grounds. I guess she lives in a small cottage with her husband on the land. Can you imagine such a life?
OXFORD - Day 2
I'm never packing so much again. That was stupid, really stupid. Today I had to get from my hotel in London (which was awesome, by the way. A few things I learned though: If you plug something in, that doesn't mean it's getting power. You have to also flick the switch next to it. Go British for trying to save electricity. Also, the stories in a building start at 0. So yeah, I was wandering around the rooms on the "1st" floor for a while looking for reception before I figured that one out-) Anyway, so I had to try and get to Oxford today. I asked the guy at reception and he said to take such and such bus to a second bus which would take me to the train station and I could go straight to Oxford from there. Simple right?
Nope. The trains were pretty confusing. And dragging 80 lbs of luggage around on and off trains was very tiring. It was fun to get carted around various London neighborhoods though. I'm enough of a tourist for the novelty of English architecture to cancel out my frustration over being lost and confused. On one train, a woman was next to me with her two young kids. She was on the phone with who I assume is her soon to be ex-husband/ex-boyfriend. She was swearing at him and yelling at him. With her British accent it all sounded quite lovely though.
Eventually, I found my way to the train station, thank god. I was sitting there looking around and trying to figure out why everything here looks so clean- and it's because there aren't stupid advertisements everywhere! It's so refreshing! And so much brick! I love brick buildings and they're everywhere here! I can't get enough of it.
I've had 2 beers since I've been in England and they've both been served cold. So much for all the warm beer warnings. Everybody here looks a little bit like me. Pale, messy hair, dressed in solid shades of blue, pensive looks on their faces...
People are used to foreign visitors here, I haven't gotten any "oh you're American!?!" conversations yet, like I've annoyingly done to every Brit I've met in the states. But they will look at you strangely as they try to determine exactly where you're from.
I just saw my first SUV in 2 days! Yayyy low gas mileage! Seriously though, all the cars here look like they're ducking from something.
Nope. The trains were pretty confusing. And dragging 80 lbs of luggage around on and off trains was very tiring. It was fun to get carted around various London neighborhoods though. I'm enough of a tourist for the novelty of English architecture to cancel out my frustration over being lost and confused. On one train, a woman was next to me with her two young kids. She was on the phone with who I assume is her soon to be ex-husband/ex-boyfriend. She was swearing at him and yelling at him. With her British accent it all sounded quite lovely though.
Eventually, I found my way to the train station, thank god. I was sitting there looking around and trying to figure out why everything here looks so clean- and it's because there aren't stupid advertisements everywhere! It's so refreshing! And so much brick! I love brick buildings and they're everywhere here! I can't get enough of it.
Something else I've noticed that is commonly missing around here are clocks. In America we have a clock in every room. It's very common. I never know what time it is here! I've never worn a watch, always relied on my phone. So now without my phone I'm at a loss. Luckily, I haven't needed to be anywhere at any certain time. Also refreshing.
I got to my hostel today and it's pretty nice. I got a bottom bunk, thank god. It's pretty clean too. So far no complaints except that my pillow is about an inch thick. I'm shocked though, that out of the 12 people I'm sharing a room with, I'm one of the 2 people to use a locker. Everyone else leaves their stuff under their bed or on top of it and then leaves without a second thought. It would be so easy to steal something! Even if I leave the room for a second I lock up my purse and laptop or take them with me.
The hostel is two buildings down from the River Thames (still trying to figure out the correct pronunciation) so I decided to go for a walk down the river. There are all these really cool boats docked there!
I followed the river up to Jericho on a hunt for a cheap bike. No luck yet, but I found a decent people watching spot in Frevd. Get this- it's an old church turned bar! I love it already. 
I've had 2 beers since I've been in England and they've both been served cold. So much for all the warm beer warnings. Everybody here looks a little bit like me. Pale, messy hair, dressed in solid shades of blue, pensive looks on their faces...
People are used to foreign visitors here, I haven't gotten any "oh you're American!?!" conversations yet, like I've annoyingly done to every Brit I've met in the states. But they will look at you strangely as they try to determine exactly where you're from.
I just saw my first SUV in 2 days! Yayyy low gas mileage! Seriously though, all the cars here look like they're ducking from something.
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