I flew back to Oxford on January 11th (overnight) and arrived midday on the 12th. I got detained in heathrow (again) and they warned me I probably will be every time I fly in and out because there seems to be a problem linking my electronic fingerprints to my visa. Still, it wasn't too long this time around and in no time I was through customs, had my bag, had gotten to the bus station at the airport and was on a 2 hour bus ride back to Oxford.
Upon getting in, I unpacked and then headed to Turl St. Kitchen for tea with Andreas and Lizzie. After that, I had dinner with my roommate, Ali, before crashing from jetlag. Monday I don't recall doing much other than working on my paper. Tuesday I did more work and then met Andreas for a glass of wine at the Rose and Crown, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite pubs in Oxford. They have this really beautiful indoor/outdoor covered space with trees and plants everywhere and big overhead heaters for the winter. After a drink with Andreas, I changed locations and met up with Louis to discuss our elective essays (we took the same elective, international environmental law) and catch up about our breaks.
Wednesday and Thursday were more frantic working. Louis and I met up again Thursday to proofread each other's papers and it took forever and I think made us realize how much work we both still had to do. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night since after Louis left, it was trying to fix all the rough spots he had pointed out, finish the references, etc etc. Friday I spent all day frantically editing and then Louis and I met up to print essays and go hand them in. Handing in a paper sounds like no big deal, but at Oxford they make it as intimidating as possible. You print 2 copies of the paper and a cover sheet that you fill out promising you did not plagiarize anything. Your name cannot appear anywhere on the paper... instead you use your candidate number, which is so that the people marking the paper don't know whose they are marking. Then you put it all in an envelope and walk it to the exam school (not to the department or to your professor's office). You fill out labels and put them on a manilla envelope, everything goes in the envelope and you get in line to hand it in. When you get to the front, you get a receipt showing the exact time you submitted. You then email a copy to the program coordinator in your department.
It felt good to turn the paper in, but I'll admit that I am very intimidated by the grading system here (anything above a 50 is passing and anything above a 70 is exceptional (a distinction, they call it here).... which means getting a 70 is rare. I may or may not had had 2 nightmares since handing it in that I failed. While I think this is unrealistic, I also didn't feel great about my argument and it's a pretty intimidating thing.
I did all the handing in shortly before 5. I hadn't eaten all day, so I grabbed a sandwich before frantically rushing back to my apartment to throw on nice clothes and get back to the bus station to get into London. When I got back to my apartment it was already 5 and I needed to be on a bus by 5:30, so I called for a cab, threw on black pants/heels, and rushed to the bus station. I was exhausted, and really wanted to sleep, but the bus was packed and I unfortunately ended up next to a group of girls heading in to the city to go clubbing... they were loud and finished off a fifth of vodka on the ride into the city.
When we got into London I met up with Greg and we headed to Royal Albert Hall to see Quidam, by Cirque du Soleil. Despite not being together, I think it was a good opportunity to see each other in a low pressure setting and catch up. The show was phenomenal, but much darker than either of us expected, with lots of influences from Salvador Dali and lots of surrealist references. The music was done live which was a nice touch, and there were some really incredible acts. When the show was over we headed to a pub for a drink where we caught up a bit, and then Greg made sure I got back on the bus to Oxford safely.
Saturday I met up with Lisa to proofread her essay (the essays were technically due Monday, I just wanted to turn mine in before the weekend so that I could get my other ducks in a row before classes started). After some proofreading and catching up, Lisa and I headed to a vintage fair that was happening inside town hall. It was really cool and Lisa scored a great purse and I got a summer skirt. That night I met up with Cato, Andreas, Louis, Lisa at the Rose and Crown for dinner and a drink and then we headed to a house party that was being hosted by Cato's boyfriend's teammate. It was low key and we met a few nice people before heading to meet up with Louis' friends/housemates at Freuds until they closed.
Sunday was then spent reading for class on Monday and trying to catch up on sleep... something I was not very successful at (seems to be the story of my life here at Oxford.)
Monday kicked off Hilary Term! My schedule is really wacky and changes week to week, but I'll give the closest approximation that I can.
Monday:
11:00-13:00 Corporate Environmental Management
14:00-16:00 Research Methods
16:00-17:00 Class meeting and dissertation discussion time
Tuesday:
11:00-13:00 Science and Politics
Wednesday:
11:00-13:00 Economy and Development
15:00-16:00 Reading group for Corporate Environmental Management
Thursday:
9:00-11:00 Global Environmental Change and Food Security
14:00-15:00 Reading group for Research Methods
So far my impressions of the classes are that Corporate Environmental Management (CEM) is going to be amazing. The professor, Gordon Clark, has a dry sense of humor but is absolutely engaging and the course involves legal cases every week that demonstrate how environmental regulation has unfolded, which is right up my alley. He also is the director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment (a pretty big deal around here), and writes on some things that I might have found boring a few years ago, but now find engaging, like saving for retirement, pension security, and the geography of global finance. Plus, he looks a lot like Tim Gunn which is just a fun fact and it makes me smile to imagine him being at all that flamboyant since he's so dry (I mean this nicely, thus far, he's my favorite professor this term). At the end of this course we'll be presenting to one of the guys who helped do risk management for BP before the oil spill.... intimidating, but such an exciting and applicable challenge.
Research Methods also seems like it will be a great class- it's a lot of preparing for our dissertations by doing a group research project and going through the same steps. I'm in a group with Sophie, Cato, and Daniel, and I think we have a great topic. Plus, Kersty is teaching the course and she's the overall director of NSEP who we've all gotten to know pretty well. I enjoyed her teaching last term so this one should be good as well.
I was less impressed with Science and Politics. The class has potential, but to quote Andreas, "This lecture is like the Qatari version of The Wolf of Wall Street. Full of inexplicable gaps." (To explain, our friend Katherine saw the movie while in Qatar and said it made NO sense... then she realized it was because they had censored out a solid 45 minutes of the film.) Anyway, the lecture was hard for me to follow and I didn't leave feeling like I learned a lot.
Economy and Development seems interesting and the professor, Craig Jeffrey, seems fantastic and super engaging. Unfortunately, I was super sleepy during the lecture and felt like a cotton-headed ninny muggins but, that's just how it goes occasionally. Still, the lecture was great and the class seems engaging.
Other then class, I also stayed busy throughout the past week. Monday after class most of NSEP headed to the Turf Tavern for a pint to celebrate surviving the first day of the term.
Daniel and Dennis
From the Turf Tavern, I headed to the store to buy salmon and good veggies to make dinner. I've been eating terribly since being back and decided I was going to make a nice meal. The plan was cous cous with a lemon vinaigrette, baked lemon and tarragon salmon, and sauteed mushrooms and spinach. Yummy, right? Well, everything was done except the salmon had another minute or two left when I heard a "BOOM!" Followed by continuous popping. Opening the oven door resulted in glass popping towards me so I quickly slammed the door back and turned everything off. A later investigation revealed the following:
So sad... ruined dinner and terrifying glassware explosions
The salmon had glass embedded all in it and was not salvageable and I spent well over an hour on glass clean up. Afterwards, I decided to head to the Kings Arms to meet more NSEPers and continue celebrating papers being handed in and kicking off the new term. I met Lizzie, Andreas, Juliana, Ben, Louis, and then Cato, Lisa and Rob joined once I was there. A few photos below:
Andreas and Louis
Louis and Juliana
Ben and me
Me and Lizzie
Louis and me
Tuesday I was beat. I did finally get my bike though! Since I don't think I've shared yet- I have a light blue, kind of goofy bike. It has a basket and clip on lights and the rear brake is suspect, but having a bike makes navigating Oxford SO MUCH easier so it really is a necessity. Here's a picture of it:
Mine's the pretty sky blue one in the middle
Tuesday night I think I did some reading, watched some t.v. and relished in not doing much of anything. Wednesday night I went to latin dance lessons at Green Templeton College (GTC) which is just across the street. Katherine, Lisa, Andreas and Louis also joined and we learned the cha cha cha and had coronas and a good time. It was a really fun evening and I plan for that to be a regular Wednesday night thing.
Thursday after class I did a Penn Alumni interview of an applicant living here in Oxford and I really enjoy doing them. The seniors are so put together and well spoken and it's exciting to see how many incredible kids there are out there. I feel like my generation/the one below me gets called lazy and unmotivated and unrealistic and all sorts of things, but I think if the people saying those things interviewed the kids that I have for Penn, they'd have to acknowledge that there are plenty of incredible kids out there. Later that night I was exhausted. I haven't been sleeping well (not for any particular reason, but just really restless) and I had a quiet evening. I stayed in and watched a movie and just hung out. It was nice.
Friday I did laundry and then made lunch for myself and Andreas (grilled cheeses and carrot/coriander soup!) We hung out for a bit and then split up to finish some reading for next Monday. That evening, a group of us decided that we wanted to be social, but not do anything crazy or exhausting, so Brittany, Andreas and I met up and played bananagrams and Wizard and Fives (or is it Tens? Or is it Apples, bananas and pears/bears?!) at St. Cross College. Later in the evening, Sophie and Louis joined after a Burn's night event, which meant that Louis was wearing his kilt!
Louis playing some jazz in his kilt
We played more games and then called it a night, stopping on the way home at the food truck/kebab van where the guys know us way too well.
Today I slept in and then did some work for next week before heading into town to do a bit of shopping. My light brown belt bit the dust so I picked out a new one and then picked out a Christmas gift from mom and dad (new rain boots!) When I left the apartment it was 52 and sunny- really nice for a January day in England. On the way home, there was sideways, torrential rain, and huge gusts of wind that made using an umbrella impossible. I was supposed to go to a BOP with Brittany and Andreas and possibly Louis (and maybe others?) tonight, but I started feeling sick this evening and since several people I hang out with and my roommate have had a nasty stomach bug this week, I figured rest was a good idea. I napped (accidentally) from 19:00-21:00, and now it's 00:30 and I'm about to head back to bed.
On the agenda for tomorrow and next week: reading for class, a study session tomorrow evening, another penn alumni interview, more latin dancing, yoga, tea and cake with the director of the geography department, an NSEP alumni event where we can network with people who have completed the course I'm on, drinks with other young Penn alum in Oxford, buying tickets to a ball, and maybe starting on a presentation for Economy and Development on forest management in India.
I'll keep y'all posted!
