1 month down...

and so here i am, over a month into the program. it's 4th week, which means that my tutorials are already half way over, and i'm almost at the half-way mark with seminars. soon i'll have to turn my attention to my flipping huge seminar paper that i will have to write on aquinas (worth 80% of my grade. whaaaaat?!) and my final projects for my tutorials, but i prefer not to think about that right now. i'm taking a break from my austen paper that doesn't seem to want to cooperate with me (on mansfield park, to be exact, which isn't a horrible book, but isn't nearly as fun as pride and prejudice. no colin firth scowling and brooding as mr darcy to look at, for one), so i thought i would update, as updates are sorely needed. now, then. what have i done for the past month? let's think....

1. made friends.

my roommate, val, and i get along really well. sometimes too well, if our midnight giggle fests while attempting to study/take notes/write papers is any indication. but we can give each other space when necessary, put up with one another's mood swings, go out for a pint and chill, gab about boys, and ferociously bitch about all the people in our house that we don't like (um.... everyone except for the people who live in our alcove and the handful who are on the "good" list, which fluctuates from day-to-day, depending on mood, etc. once again, we are rather moody). this has given our room the name "the bitchy room," but we are quite proud of that fact. we have also somehow been adopted by the boys in room 26, paul and luke, fondly known as the apostles, who come down frequently throughout the day. paul offers one word requests. por ejemplo: "tea?" (with hopeful smile) or "dinner?" (again, hopeful smiles). luke offers effusive invitations: "so, me and some of the guys are headed down to one of the pubs for a pint.... wanna come?" luke also offers lovely bedtime wishes. "so, me and some of the guys are headed down to the one of the pubs for a pint. thought i'd let you know. sweet dreams!" (they're such nice boys). they also come down to chill and ignore work for a few, though val and i suspect that they come just to watch the insane zoo-like spectacle that the two of us provide as we giggle and bitch our way through life. ah, yes. lovely.

the alcove is also quite a cozy one. six of us live here altogether: val and i in room six; laura and amelia in room five; and julia and claire in room four. somehow we all manage to get along. julia's boyfriend, andre, is an honourary member of the alcove, as he is down here quite a bit. but we've started neat little traditions of picking a movie to watch friday nights and undertaking a fun recipe saturday afternoons (kitchen parties are very, very awesome). last week laura and i put together pasta (noodles made by laura; smashing sauce made by moi -- sauteed mushrooms and spinach along with a mushroom tomato sauce) and yummy foccaccia (with melted butter and garlic sauce on top! made by me!), which went along with a delicious salad made by amelia. fantastic. i'm hearing rumours in favour of mexican this coming weekend, which could be really, really exciting...

2. figured out oxford streets...

i think i've finally gotten this "street" thing down. oxford, unlike american cities, isn't based on any type of rational grid, nor does it have blocks. instead, there are little chunks of streets that sort of blend into the next. hence, one can walk down cornmarket, cross the street and be on magdelen, and then cross the street again and be on st giles, and, if feeling intrepid, cross the street again and be on woodstock road (which stretches a long, long way). i have, with the aid of my handy map (which i am never without), discovered the university parks, at last found my way (alone. and sober.) to the eagle and child, as well as the catholic church, found the oxford university sports centre, located the music faculty library, found the social sciences building on manor road (the first modern building i've been in the entire month. crazy!), and discovered: merton college, oriel college, st hugh's college, st antony's college, and st edmund's hall. i've at last figured out where the "really cute cafe" is (on high street, cross street queen's) and where "that ice cream shop" is (st aldates, just past christ church; or, for the other ice cream shop, little clarendon, just past the eagle and child). i've also figured out how to find saintsbury's local, quite necessary if i'm craving something to eat/drink and the closer saintsbury's is closed (i.e. if it's after 8 p.m. mon-sat, as everything bloody closes early in this town). in short, i feel as though i can finally command oxford streets, which is really, really useful, as i walk virtually everywhere.

3. gotten involved in stuff (left vague for a reason)

where do i start? this week, actually, is my first actually getting out of st michael's and doing things besides my work. monday i finally went to the social sciences building to get myself acquainted with the sociology department and sit in on a seminar entitled, "division of domestic labour and women's human capital," which was really interesting, just to see what the "oxford style" is. the sociology program here, which is solely a graduate program, is based on middle-range theory with a huge emphasis on empirical study. the prospectus points out how sociology has gotten a reputation for being mostly theoretical (which is a fair assessment), and so the oxford program seeks to take theory and apply it. i meet a really nice grad student named kathleen who volunteered to sit down with me next week over coffee and tell me more about the program, which is a super awesome thing. i'm sort of falling in love with this town, and i know it's going to be very, very hard to leave, and coming back for grad school, well.... that'd just be awesome. but i have to figure out if what i want to study will fit in here, and if i want to do empirical studies... sigh. a lot to think on for right now.

monday night i went to my first salsa class and it was awesome. (there were also cute boys who smelled good! ooooooh!) it was the 4th class that most people had gone to, so i had a bit of make up work to do, but i worked really hard (and had some good partners who were quite patient with my ignorance) and by the end felt like i had mastered, well, something. the music was good, all sensuous and latin, and once i got into it, it was fantastic. i can't wait for next week's lesson... hopefully i'll start to meet some guys and have a wee bit of fun.

yesterday wasn't so hot -- i was in bed with a tummyache most of the day -- but i got myself together to go to my first university chorus rehearsal. university chorus is non-auditioning and everyone is welcome, which is fantastic, seeing how rusty i am. we're doing two pieces by faure: the requium and the cantique de jean racine. it's interesting, bouncing back and forth between latin and french. but i met a few more grad students there who are really nice (also canadian, which is fun, because i love canada), and i think i know who to sit next to next week. always useful...

4. gotten into this school thing... sorta...

so, last week was the first week where wednesday rolled around and i had already finished almost my entire austen essay and half of my narrative work. this week, not so much. between taking monday to do fun extracurricular stuff and being sick almost all of tuesday, i'm kinda behind. okay, a lot behind. and that makes me really nervous because i'm just not in the mood for pulling an all-nighter.... but i'm hoping that i can get myself back on track. as it is, i am doing more work than i've ever done, it seems, in my life. i have a book and an essay to write a week; a short story a week; and any other exercises that my narrative tutor, frith, sees fit to give me. frith finds my work, with revisions and a bit of effort, publishable. that still astounds me. the difficulty i'm facing right now, though, is coming up with the proper plotline for what i have planned... there is an idea for a novel that i've been kicking around, but... there's something missing. still. i think that's why i've been boycotting work all week. my muse won't talk to me, so i won't talk to it -- not the most productive nor the most mature decision, but the one that seemed to be the best at the time. now i have to finish my austen essay so i can sit and ponder this novel dilemma, and hopefully not be up till 6 a.m. friday morning...

...

i still can't believe an entire month has gone on. i feel like i fit in to this landscape, though. the city of dreaming spires, with the river lazily cutting through and the cobblestone streets and the trees and the lawns and the quaint shops and the stone buildings... all the students running around, books in hand... sitting in coffee shops and debating politics and philosophy and theology.... and, at night, staggering around after a bit of fun at the pub... i love it all. i don't want it to end. but, we'll see. there are a few grad school programs that i'm looking at, and maybe in a year or so....

anyway, i'm off to see if i can bend this essay to my will, and then onward to philosophy in a couple of hours. silly aquinas. we're talking about the soul today. goodness knows where that will take us, as i have been 1) dismembered (figuratively) in an attempt to prove something philosophical (can't remember what), as well as 2) spray-painted gold in order to demonstrate "the action" and "the effect" (or something like that), and goodness knows what else. that class is hilarious. then it's back to the room for more work, a break for dinner and more work.... and if i make it to saturday, my first wine-tasting class. sigh. lots and lots going on. well, then.... off i go...