I'm just going to meander

Updates and whatnot

It’s been a while, but I’m back on the blog wagon…whatever that means. I think I’m more than midway through my second term at Oxford, which is kind of unbelievable. Oxford feels very normal to me by now, which is to be expected, I suppose. The weird thing about being abroad is that life is utterly different, but you still have to deal with similar things on your day-to-day. (Being a student helps with these types of consistencies, naturally.)

But what’s new? Where’s the excitement? Well, rounding off the end of a decidedly unvalentines day, I’m up too late (but with nothing to do in the early morning, so I’ll get my sleep.) We celebrated the unvalentines day with (nondescript) velvet cupcakes. These cupcakes were delicious, not red, and most cutely (but not cutesy) decorated with elephant and “hundreds and thousands” sprinkles. We made the cupcakes on Sunday and, having a large surplus of both buttermilk and cream cheese, decided that the only solution was to use those ingredients to create the ultimate unromantic meal: Breakfast at Dinner. We made slightly lumpy, though delicious, buttermilk pancakes. We had bagels (or bah-gels, as some like to call them) with cream cheese and lox. We had eggs…though a few of them were overly salted, no matter. And ice cream, for some reason. 

I had to cut unvalentines day a little short because I played in a friendly match with the water polo team against Oxford City. It was at this posh school called Radley College. We got lost, of course, and had to ask a boy in uniform where the pool was. When we got there, City was down a few players, so I ended up playing the first half on their side. That was actually good for me, because there was a good chance I wouldn’t have gotten to play much because since I’m not in the Varsity team (which is for the Oxford-Cambridge match), it doesn’t make sense for me to take playing time. Varsity is on Saturday. I’m going to go, as a supporter (and to celebrate—fingers crossed!). Should be fun. My team (my real team) won the game. I was playing most of the first quarter and the entire second quarter (in which no goal were scored, so there was no break at all) for City. Then I played a little bit in the second half for “Uni”, as they call us. 

It’s weird to think that I’ve only really got a month left in Oxford. It’s definitely the type of place I’ll miss. But then again, Paris awaits!

I suppose there’s lots more, sort of, but maybe that will motivate me to update this more. I guess.

So Much to Say

Today is Friday 12 November (as they say in the UK). Right now I’m sitting in the Lower Radcliffe Camera of the Bodleian Library. It’s an amazing room, and if I had taken the architecture course that a lot of my friends are in, I would say something about it’s arched ceilings or huge windows, but I’m not so I’ll leave it at that.

It’s nine in the morning and I’m gearing up for a full day of studying, which naturally means that I’m checking facebook and updating this blog before I dive into my essay (no one says “paper” here). The main reason I’m at the Bod is that one of the books I’m writing about is only available here unless I want to wait weeks for it to ship to me. It’s not at Magdalen library, which would be nice because I would be able to check it out. Books at the Bodleian are not available to borrow, rather, you have to read them in the library, during the relatively limited open hours. This is nice because the books are always at the Bod, you never have to really worry about having access to a book or calling one in, the way you might not find a book in a borrowing library, but it means that writing a paper on a Bod book must be done at the library or with the limited amount of photocopy/scanning that is permitted. So I’m here, about to start writing.

I usually write in the study lounge of Stanford House. But I came to the Bod the other day and realized that it’s kind of more conducive to study. I guess if the library has been around for, oh, 700+ years, they might have gotten a handle on what works for concentration and focus.

The best thing about Oxford—to jump to another topic—is how comfortable I feel here. Some things are really working out here. It’s not like I can pinpoint exactly what is making me feel this way, but I have the sense that something is clicking. I think that it has to do with the fact that I grew up with a lot of British and European sensibilities. What I mean by that is that having grown up with a British mother, and having gone to a French-American school for nine years, I have always felt that I wasn’t simply American. Granted, I really am not only American, I have British citizenship, but I mean that in a cultural way as well.

It’s a little challenging to claim a dual nationality when it comes to America/Britain. (By the way, people here rarely call America “America”, it’s always “the States” or “the US”. I kinda miss people saying “Amurrica”, but that’s less PC, I suppose.) I think that comes because of the lack of a language barrier. Say you’re part Mexican or part French in the US. In those cases you get your culture and your heritage through your language or whatever. So when you go over to Mexico or France, you can speak and though you may not blend in completely, people probably understand your connection to that place. For me, I do identify with my British nationality (and in a broader sense, European citizenship) but I have this American accent that covers that for me. That is not to say that I’m not used to aspects of my superficial identity masking my “true” self, but it’s kind of annoying to feel like I’ve come to this place that honestly feels like “my” country, and that everyone sort of thinks I’m a real foreigner. Not that I’m discounting the truth that I grew up in California, or that I don’t have pride in my American identity, because I do and it’s been great to come here to realize how American I really am as well. Still, sometimes I feel like this American voice of mine isn’t really what I sound like. I’m not sure if that makes sense, but it’s what I’m thinking about.

I’m looking forward to going to France, where I’ll have a standard accent. It should be interesting, because maybe I’ll be treated like I’m French (Maybe?), even though I’m British/American. I wonder if I’ll feel less foreign in France. 

I went to see this amazing discussion yesterday at Lady Margaret Hall. The main person was this playwright called Athol Fugard, who is South African and a really prolific writer. He’s a visiting professor here, for this new project they are doing called Humanitas. He wrote the novel that was turned into the movie Tsosi, though most of his works are plays. The most recent one is called The Train Driver and it’s up in London right now. I hope that I can go see it, because hearing about Fugard’s work has been really inspiring. He talked about the playwriting process, along with two other artists, Jez Butterworth and Rebecca Lenkiewicz, both of whom have written much-acclaimed plays. I heard them talk about their writing process and about the reasons they write plays, and I related to a lot of what they expressed. It’s really powerful to see people who are successful and hardworking in the field of playwriting, not to mention that they are making a great impact with the messages they seem to be sending with their plays. I hope I can read some of their work, or even see their plays on stage! I’m also happy because I got to ask a question in the Q&A.

I saw Lykke Li in concert last week, she’s amazing:

But now I should really attend to this paper!

One Month and Counting…

I arrived in England on Sunday 26 September. Today is Tuesday 26 October. One month, to the day. 

In some ways that day in September feels like a whole lifetime away. In a way, it is. I have a new and completely different life here in Oxford. I go to a different school (sort of), I live in a different kind of place, I do different things. In other ways, it feels like an instant has passed. “I just got here!” I want to exclaim. But the newness is wearing off, I’m getting into a rhythm, a routine. I know my way around. (I have a mental map of the areas I go to a lot and I can definitely tell which way is North here, which is important for my peace of mind for some reason.)

Honestly, I love it here. It’s going really well. I like living at Stanford House a lot. Despite me only really having known two or three people when I arrived, I feel like I’ve made friends. They’re friends who I feel that I trust already. I guess if you’re living and working and hanging out with people for a month basically non-stop, that can happen. I feel lucky that all the Stanford people I know here are legit and awesome. I also feel lucky to have even met them because I have a feeling that if I hadn’t come here I wouldn’t have crossed paths with many of them. Being here made me realize that my social life at Stanford is sort of limited to people within certain groups. What I mean is that I know a certain number of people and it’s with those the people that I spend most of my time socializing. I have a comfort zone as I think most Stanford students do. Of course, I love my friends and my social life at Stanford but it’s a bit of a shock to realize that there are so many other amazing individuals there who I’d never even met. It strikes me as genuinely lucky that I got a chance to move out of it for a while here. In addition to meeting all the Stanford people I’ve met, I have the amazing opportunity to get to know Oxford students within their university setting. 
I realized the other day, when my friend and I were having lunch with our college “parents” (like Stanford sibs, but way more serious), that I was going to have two potential networks of people to tap into from my undergrad years. I’ll know a lot of people by the end of this! Also, there are very few people in the world who have the chance to study at two elite universities as an undergrad. I don’t think I really realized how extraordinary this opportunity is until I got here and started going to Oxford events, talking to Oxford students, taking courses here. It’s really ridiculously awesome and I feel very fortunate.

On another note, one of the things I love about living at Stanford House is that we have access to kitchens. I lived in dorms for two years, plus two summers, and I can safely say that I will never opt in to eating dining hall food if I can avoid it. I’ve made some good meals here. I made sloppy joes  that were delicious. I made pancakes and shared them with friends over the weekend. I surprised myself by making an excellent dish of garlic chicken and vegetables (spinach, mushrooms, “courgettes” a.k.a. zucchini) without a recipe (!). When I do need a recipe, I swear by Martha Stewart and my American-European measurement conversion chart that I downloaded. The muffin loaf I made from a Martha recipie was a huge hit in the house. And then it’s great to be able to whip up something quick when I want to. I don’t think I would appreciate this as much if I hadn’t lived in a dorm for so long. The great thing is that we have dining hall access, so if I don’t want to cook, I can still run across the street to Magdalen and grab a bite.

Another thing I’m really really really happy about is the water polo team here. I’m practicing with them and I really haven’t practiced or played properly since Fall of 2007, when I was a senior in high school. I missed the sport a lot. Just little things, like passing and shooting, are the best because I haven’t had the chance to do them in a long time. On Sunday evening, we played a friendly match against Oxford City. I started out on the Oxford City side and then switched back at half-time. (It ended up being after three quarters because we played a six quarter game!) Water polo is one of my favorite things right now. I feel like I’ve gotten something back that I had lost. It’s great. Also, the team is so fun and we do a lot as a group, going out and such.

One thing I’m doing a lot of is studying. I’ve found that I have to teach myself how to concentrate again because after a long summer I’m easily distracted. What I’m studying is really great though. It’s post-colonial literature and I’m reading such good books. My favorites so far are Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand, and Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid. I recommend both. I’ve been reading a lot of criticism and theory as well, which have been fascinating. Of course, I have a paper due each week for my tutorial and that’s been a challenge, but a rewarding one. 

What else? I’m in a singing group, which I auditioned for. It’s amazing because they sing the music I love to sing. It’s all pop and show tunes and arrangements from Glee. I could not be more thrilled!

One of the greatest things about being here is the chance to start fresh somewhere, clean slate. I like that. It’s totally what I needed. I could go on about that, but I think I should get some reading done before another day flies by…

Life is good.

Earlier today, the High Street was flooded with freshers in matriculation robes and gowns. It was surreal. They wear versions of graduation robes but without sleeves because the sleeve length symbolises level of study and they are just beginning their university careers. 

Yesterday, I went to water polo practice, which I enjoyed a lot.

Lots of reading to do.

Lots of writing to do.

Lots of things to do.

The best things.

These are a few…

…of my favorite things about being in Oxford so far:

New everything (!)

Top 40 British pop

Books, books, booky books

Magdalen College library

The Stanford House tower

Solid buildings that heat up properly and don’t have awful draughty problems

Being able to meet whoever I want because I’m foreign

British hip-hop/R&B radio on BBC 1X

My new favorite show: Lip Service on BBC 3

Lemonade (kind of like 7UP/Sprite but sooo much better)

The ham for sandwiches is way better here

The tea is obviously better here

Being able to be a “fresher” without any of the awkward freshman nonsense

Writing like a madwoman

New friends (in Stanford House and in my college/from around)

and much much much more :D

English Major Moment #1

Just realized that I left my Elements of Style book at home in California but thankfully Stanford House library has two copies. Got scared there for a minute. Now if only I could find an MLA formatting book, because I left that one too…

From the Stanford-in-Oxford House

I’m in the computer cluster at the Stanford House, which looks eerily like any normal (on campus) Stanford cluster, right down to the Macs, printers and even the blue swivel chairs…pretty funny. We don’t get our LAN connections until tomorrow, so I’m restricted to the public computers since the internet from the hotel expired. The hotel internet reception stretched to my room here, but the timer ran out at 8 pm.

Speaking of my room, it’s pretty cool. I live in the “tower”, which is just as cool as it sounds :D. I have a roommate and she seems really awesome. We have a lot of space, which is nice. The only thing is that the room is on the top floor, so it has been getting pretty warm, what with the heaters along side an entire wall. But we opened a window so it seems better now.

I ended up going shopping for food this afternoon with my roommate and another friend. We made pasta primavera for dinner (“supper”) and it was tasty. We don’t have access to the college dining halls until about a week from Thursday, so we have to fend for ourselves. I’m kind of happy about that, and I’m looking forward to cooking.

Speaking of colleges, I’m now in Magdalen College, which happens to be located just directly across the street. Already, I know a couple of people who are also in the college (from Oxford) and I also talked to some of my fellow college members in Stanford-in-Oxford, so I think it will be a good group.

We’re super scheduled for tomorrow, but it’s gonna be good things like orientations and “getting to know you”.