My first week of classes went pretty well over all. The way my schedule is set up is a bit confusing. This term I have 6 required classes, 1 required reading/discussion group, and a few all day Friday seminars scattered throughout the term. I will not directly have an exam over each of the 6 classes, but I will indirectly. The way it works is that I will have 3 exams in 4th week of Trinity Term (translate to mid-May):
- Policy and Governance
- Theory and Analysis
- Research skills
Each class I am taking now (with the exception of my elective), and each class I take Hilary term (with the exception of my one elective) falls under 1 of these headings. For each exam, I will receive a list of essay prompts and have to choose 3. I will then have 3 hours to write 3 papers... one on each prompt I choose. The prompts will be spread out to include things from each class... so even though I don't directly have an exam... I still have to be prepared to be tested over everything and refer back to readings and important authors/thinkers. My electives will be tested by essays that I will write over Christmas and Spring breaks.
The classes I am taking this term are:
- Nature and Society
- Governance, Politics and Policy
- Decision Theory
- Research Design
- Environmental Economics
- Elective (not sure what this will be yet and we had to apply and the elective classes don't start for another week... my first choice was international environmental law, so fingers crossed!)
I also have a required reading group that meets once a week, 3 Friday seminars, and 2 bibliographic sessions with the librarian. I have not spoken to any graduate student outside of our department who has more than 3 classes a week... so I think our program is just really intense, but I am happy to say that overall, I'm interested in the material and I think the program is a good fit for me, if not exactly what I expected.
Even without the elective class meeting, this past week was super busy. The professors assign "required reading" that we are expected to do and "recommended reading" which we are encouraged to use to explore ideas we are interested in, but by no means expected to read all of or read every week. Even so, I'm swamped by the required reading alone. The readings are really dense, and the ideas they contain and quite convoluted. I feel like I've followed most of the classes reasonably well with the exception of Research Design (which really, I thought how hard could that be... but it was ridiculous... thankfully the entire class felt that way which makes me feel like less of a dunce). I like most of my professors (there is 1 who seems to enjoy making things more complicated instead of more simple) and I really like the kids in my program.
After one class some of us still had questions on Bruno Latour's actor-network theory, so we all piled into the graduate student break room and had one of our classmates who understood it (and the background influence of Kant and Foucault) gave a 30 minute mini-lecture to explain it. We also are working together to find all of our readings and scan/upload them to drop box so that we don't all waste time fighting over 1-2 library copies of books and today I've organized a study group at 2 to go over some of the big ideas from the past week and really make sure we understand the broader themes. Afterwards, we'll go for a pint.
On top of class, I'm also staying really busy. I am determined to make use of all the amazing lectures and speaker events that go on here so Tuesday I went to a lecture by Dr. Charles Godfray entitled "The Challenge of Feeding 10 Billion People Sustainably and Equitably." There were parts of the lecture I really disagreed with (like that raising animals for food production completely indoors is okay practice), but it was an interesting lecture and gave me some things to think about. I also worked up the courage to ask a question at the end, which probably doesn't seem like a big deal, but I'm still a bit shy and intimidated, much like I was when I got to Penn. As much as I know I earned a place here... it's still intimidating to be here.
Wednesday I had a full day of class and then spent the afternoon/early evening MOVING. I now live in a 3 bedroom apartment with 2 guys, Adam and Ali. My room is MUCH bigger, and the kitchen is roomier and I am only sharing a bathroom with 2 people (score!) My room doesn't have a closet which isnt ideal, but I'm hoping the college is going to provide me with a wardrobe, and if not, I'll buy a cheap one off gumtree (craigslist equivalent). Other than that, the flat is great and my roommates seem nice. There isn't a common area so I really don't see that much of them but I think we're supposed to cook dinner together on Sunday night. Anyway, after moving, I went to a yoga class on Wednesday night. I was a bit nervous that it would be too intense or too much power yoga and not the stretching and flexibility work that I enjoy, but it was a perfect balance and I'm still a bit sore, so I think it did it's job.
On Wednesday I had felt like I was getting a cold, and sure enough, Thursday I woke up with a really sore throat. I downed lots of tea and made it to class and then to the meeting for the riding team at Oxford. I was encouraged to try out for the team, but to be honest, I'm just not so confident jumping unfamiliar horses (hard to admit, but true these days) so I'm going to stick to the lessons this year and see how I like the barn/trainers/girls on the team. If all goes well, I may try out next year when I'll have a more flexible schedule (I'll only have 1 class my second year here) and perhaps feel more comfortable. After the meeting I had wanted to go to "This House Has No Faith in Her Majesty's Government" which is a big debate held among government members at Oxford every year, but by this time, my cold was really setting in, and I knew the smart thing was to go get some reading done and get to bed.
Today I woke up feeling really crappy. I mustered all my energy and forced myself out and across the street to the pharmacy. Thankfully, sudafed is over the counter here so I bought that and some eucalyptus oil and I'm drinking tea and taking care of myself- I'm still under the weather, but I'm able to function now. I planned a study group for this afternoon to go over some of the more complicated ideas from this past week, so I will gather my energy and go to that. Past kids from our program are also in town tonight and we were all supposed to go get drinks with them, but I'm not sure if I'll make it to that or not. I really, really want to because I think they could have some really valuable advice, but I have a mandatory event tomorrow that will involve some time outside (cold and wet and rainy) and so I feel like maybe it's more sensible to try to get healthy. Still undecided.
Tomorrow is matriculation- which is the ceremony that officially marks our entrance to the university and is apparently seen as a big deal (if you don't officially matriculate, you also can't graduate). I have to wear sub fusc (a certain outfit with a cap and gown) and the event is held in the Sheldonian Theatre, which should be beautiful (see pictures here: https://www.google.com/search?q=sheldonian+theatre&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=eBJhUoDFAY200QXqpICgDw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=622&dpr=1 )
Anyway, I should get back to reading! I hope all is well for everyone reading this!
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