Oxford!!!!!!!!

Location ~ hehe :-P

Date ~ 1 October 2002 10pm (aka 2200)

Well hello! I am currently sitting on my duvet in my little Tudor house off of St. Michael's Street, Oxford, England. Outside of my window, partly cracked open, I can here the active life of The Three Goats Heads Pub across the way, as well as the disco two doors down. The vegetarian place on the other side of me is mysteriously quiet, though . . . I think they're up to something :-) Oh, It's been a wonderful day. After a long flight over, I arrived at London Gatwick promptly at 10 am. Customs wasn't too much trouble because I actually had all my documents (passport, proof of enrollment, proof of funding, proof of housing), and I managed to find the Oxford citylink bus (aka coach) all on my own. £19 I was heading off to that place I had hardly even let myself dream about because I wanted to be there so bad. My first British buildings that I saw were, of course, a McDonalds and a Texaco, but I didn't let that deter me. On our journey I did manage to catch a glimpse of quite a few 'manor homes' and one castle, though I'm not sure which one (Dad?). Coming into Oxford didn't quite get my blood pumping as much as I thought it might, but I think I might have still been simply trying to let myself accept what was actually happening (plus I couldn't see out of the bus very well . . . Will have to take the train in next time). We unpacked and I met a girl, Lizzie, who was also with WISC (aka Washington International Studies Council, the people who got me here). She is from Colgate University and just got done with a year in Stockholm. She's wondering if her school will even remember who she is when she returns in the spring. We found the WISC office got our house keys, and I proceeded to walk ALL the way around the block to my house. I exaggerate. I have a really cool house, in a really cool section of Oxford. 10 minutes walk to anything. The grocery store, drug store, and all necessities are but a block or two away (though I haven't found a tea shop yet!). The clubs might be a little loud at times, but it isn't anything that some earplugs won't fix (some of you may recall that I have slept through a hurricane before). I guess when it really hit (for the first time, at least) was when I decided that I had a little time on my hands and would go for a walk. I wanted to see New College and whatever winding streets my heart desired. New College is the school I am affiliated with and perhaps now would be a good time to layout a little of the Oxford academic structure for those of you who may not have encountered it. Oxford is a large university, but it can also be thought of as a union of Colleges. Within Oxford are some 30 or 40 Halls and Colleges, each with around 400 students or less. Everyone who attends Oxford must be associated with a particular College or Hall. Each of these has it's own library, dining facilities, dorms, lecture halls, and faculty. The unity comes in because if you are a student at one school, you may take tutorials from any faculty member at any of the colleges, provided he or she will take you on. Now, tutorials. Oxford is a one-on-one university. All of your 'classes' are really just you and the tutor ('professor' seems to be a special designation here, not used for all faculty). There may be cases where tutorials have two or three students, but never more than that. The tutor has the option of subsidizing these tutorials with a list of lectures that the student must attend, but these lectures could be by anyone, just so long as they are relevant to the course. Anyway, I decided to go for a walk. Passing down so many cobblestone streets, the walls on either side of me five or six hundred years old; iron gates, gargoyles, British schoolboys in their suits pouring out of Magdelan School . . . I knew this was going to be a great year. Meeting the other WISC people, I was a little surprise to find them only human. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but they seemed somehow out of place in respects to the world around them. Perhaps that will change with time, but I didn't let it bother me. I still know the level of excellence I expect from myself here, and that stands regardless of what others are looking to get out of there time. That being said, I did find a good group of people during our first pub crawl. I really don't like moving around in big ostentatious groups in a place that I don't really know, and with people that I don't really know. So I managed to stay just ahead of the group and beat them to the pub (Far From the Madding Crowd was its name, oddly enough :-). It just so happened that a few others had the same idea, so the six of us grabbed a table and enjoyed the festivities as the 'Americans' came in. After working part-way through our pint (the first one was on WISC), we decided that in our jet-lagged and food-deprived state we should probably not be drinking. So we got directions to a [superb] Indian restaurant which happens to be at the end of St. Michael's Street (aka where I live). Now, I should mention this to those of you who haven't already guessed, but as usual I found myself in a group of girls. I really don't know how it works, but I had dinner with Brooke, Lizzie, Meredith, and Laura. A much better time than drinking all night, I'll tell you that much! And now I am off to sleep. In the morning I plan on taking a run to the Oxford University Boat Club house (aka the Blues team) to see if I can catch them and join in their training. Being on a blues team is a big commitment, but one I am willing to make for the incredible experience I would have were I to make it. I'll keep you posted. ~Sam