Yesterday we went to Winchester and saw the cathedral and what was left of the castle and it was lovely. I had my first scone at high tea in a French style café with lovely berry conserve and it was just delicious! I also saw a lot of beautiful things, took a walking tour, and saw both Jane Austin’s house and gravesite. All of which has a good deal of video coverage that I won’t get to editing until the weekend at least, but it is coming so patience is requested (not that most of you seem to be in a hurry considering the silence on the last video).
Right. Busy day here again: two lectures in the morning and a small (2 hour or so) walking tour of the general area around Oxford for of historically significant or just plain ancient buildings after lunch. I did finally get some shoes, not expensive ones, but they seem all right and they were affordable and they are grey. Trainers, they call them here. I put my Dr. Scholl’s in them and my feet are a bit swollen from all of the walking so they pinch a tad just now, but once I break them in and get off my feet for a little bit I should be fine.
That’s one thing they don’t tell you about before you come here: all the walking. You walk everywhere in Oxford. I was so worried about having to figure out the bus system and all that it would cost to ride the coach here and there, but that hasn’t been at all a problem because CMRS is basically just off the center of Oxford and you can walk everywhere you are going to have an actual need to go (or, as for field trips, transportation will be provided). You can walk and you will walk. So all the future Elmhurst comers, please do take my advice and get some exceptionally comfortable footwear before you come, break them in, and you may even want to start taking long walks around our campus (read: several laps a day) to prepare yourself for the lifestyle on foot that you will experience here.
A point of interest for some: today marks the official one-week point in my time here. I feel I am doing pretty well, all things considered. I’ve whacked together a semi-decent sleep schedule, have not been late for a single class or meal (which I am eating 3 a day suddenly, a huge improvement over my eating habits in the States), and I am smoking less than I have since I started 10 years ago – down to only 3-7 a day since I’ve arrived. My room is a bit ‘untidy’ which I mean to remedy this weekend. I didn’t unpack my first day like most people did, so I am still living out of the suitcases more or less – though I was provided with hangers and drawers and such – so I have to tidy up this weekend or maybe tomorrow after lunch. Also, obviously from the previous paragraph really, my feet are killing me so I don’t want to be on them if I don’t have to be this weekend; I am starting to think that Tolkien made Hobbits have thick leathery feet because that may just be the norm here in England from all the hoofing it place to place on a daily basis (and no, it isn’t just the walking its also the standing as there are few places to sit outside the building anywhere we go – except the coaches to and from field trips, which have been really nice as they are chartered for the purpose and are exceedingly comfortable).
I also want to do a good chunk of reading this weekend because I have my first Colloquium with Dr. Crowe this coming Monday and it is tricky in a way because they do give you a reading list, but then they tell you not to read everything on it, but to read a good bit of it, but not which pieces of it so it is hard to feel prepared before you know what is going to be expected. That would be my one complaint overall about the general program: what is expected is not explicit most of the time, and while everyone is generally very forgiving (and this applies to most things from the showers to the classes and all between) it is still embarrassing to get it ‘off’ or ‘wrong’ the first try solely for the fact that you had nothing more than a vague idea to go on. I am not sure if that is just a cultural thing or maybe built into the program on purpose to push students to inquire after what they should be doing or build up some self-motivating method or what exactly.
Anyway, plenty to do so I will close up here – all my love to my friends and family and everyone reading!
Katie, I am loving this. Will you be able to print out a hard copy for Gramma? You know she is an avid reader, and she would love and cherish this. I am talking about the entire blog. Hope all is well.. all good here.
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I could probably print the text with a simple copy-paste method into Word for her when I get home if you think she would like it. I sent her a postcard - do let me know when she gets it would you? I mean to send her one every week (bought the stamps all in one go and have plenty of post cards from places here at my desk to pen as time goes by)
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