We've started getting into the real swing of the academic part of term here now. I've written two 1,500 word essays thus far, and I'm working on the reading material for essays three and four, both due Friday. Since mid-April I've read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë. I'm now working on Bleak House by Dickens, The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, and "Christabel" by Coleridge, which is a poem that I've already read. There's some secondary reading to do there as well. Technically there's some to do with Bleak House as well, but since Bleak House is about 870 pages long in single-spaced size 14 Times New Roman font, I think I'll focus on the primary sources and count myself lucky to finish that.
Tutorials are going more smoothly already, though! I've met my second tutor, Jennie, from whom I'll be learning about Lesbian Literature starting this Friday, and she's very nice. I had a fantastic meeting with my Victorian Literature tutor, Helena, as well, the one that I felt a little off about on the first day. My second essay was much better (I knew it was even as I was writing it,) and she gave me some more concrete ways to make future ones even better. We had a really engaging conversation, and I felt like we both enjoyed it equally. That was very satisfying to me. It's funny, too, because we have our tutorial in this big room with a long table that could seat twelve comfortably, and it's just the two of us. We choose to sit at the small round table in the window instead, reasonably enough.
Some other visiting students and I went to a pub quiz on Thursday night. Pub quizzes are a very British thing, and are pretty much exactly what they sound like: a quiz game that takes place in a pub. The one we went to was at the Folly Bridge Pub just a little ways away from the Graduate Centre, and it had five rounds. The categories were General Knowledge, Food and Drink, Music, "Brothers," and Picture Identification. The questions are read out one by one, and you must mark your answers as a team on an answer sheet. You would think that a team of 7 students from William and Mary, Princeton and Northwestern all studying at Oxford would be able to handle a trivia game, wouldn't you?
You'd be mistaken. We came in absolutely last, partially because none of us know British culture beyond tidbits like Gordon Brown calling that woman a bigot last week and the show "Blackadder," which finished it's original run in 1989. We had a fantastic time, though, and we'll be sure to do it again, especially since the buy in is only a pound apiece. There were some gruff middle-aged men watching football when we came in who were none too pleased by the crowd of chattering Americans, but once the pub quiz began they cleared out and we felt as welcome as any British group would have.
I'm not only making American friends, but I will admit that it's easier to do so. There's a little bit of culture shock between the British and the Americans, where a lot of my conversations just end up feeling a little awkward because we're not relating to each other in the way the other is used to. The choir is providing me with several really nice acquaintances, though, and they've generally been an exception to the awkward rule. I've met others whom have been wonderful, as well. I've noticed it's also easier to make friends with the Canadians here, so it's not just that either the British or we Americans are xenophobic; there's just some weird little social cues that we don't quite share, and it's taking a little bit to overcome it. I'm optimistic, though.
Something very cool is that later today, I get to hear Philip Pullman speak. He'll be discussing his new book mostly, which I haven't read, but I really enjoyed the His Dark Materials series. Pullman is a strong atheist, and the discussion is between him and the Dean of Divinity. The book is titled, "The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ." I'm intrigued, to say the least. I'll see if maybe I can't stop by Blackwell's before the talk to pick up a copy of The Golden Compass for him to sign; there's only 40 or so people attending, (limited space,) and there's tea afterward, so I may get a chance to speak with him directly. Here's hoping!
Things I've Noticed:
- Kiwis (the fruit, not the people) are more common here. They seem to be one of the generic fruit basket staples: bananas, apples, pears, plums and kiwis.
- Girl-pants button on the wrong side (button on left, buttonhole on right). I'm always really confused for a minute when I put on my UK jeans in the morning while I'm still groggy.
- Size numbers are way higher. I'm a size 12 in UK sizes, but a 4 or 5 in US sizes.
- I'm not sure if it's the water or the shampoo or what here, but I have to wash my hair at least twice as frequently as I do at home.
- When a sign in a shop says "3 for 2," it means "3 for the price of 2," not "3 for £2." I have been sadly disappointed more than once, let me tell you.
- While most things (when taking the exchange rate into account) are more expensive, groceries are less.
3 comments:
Years ago on Friday nights I used to go to a pub in New Bedford with newspaper friends where we played pub quiz. Thanks for that memory. Also, Wayne said when he was at Oxford he could always find the Americans because they were the boisterous ones in the room. Although, on occasion they could turn out to be German.
Ooh, I would love to be able to learn about Lesbian Literature from a professional! What a great opportunity.
All female clothing buttons that way here. It's from a history of women not dressing themselves, supposedly.
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