Day Nine

October 8

Yesterday was another entire day of studying and working. It was quite dull and by the end of the day I was fried. Hopefully I have some good work to turn in and talk about with Dr. Roberts.

Today we had a lecture on English politics. Again it was a bit dull but I guess I typically think politics is dull. After that we went to the fresher’s fair. This is where all the freshman and new students at the college can have a chance to see what kind of activities and clubs they can join. Basically people wanting you to join their group bombard you. I got tons of pamphlets and leaflets and information to sort through. I think I will join the handbell choir. I rang handbells in middle school at church and I always had fun doing it. Hopefully I’m not too rusty and I can do that for the term.

After the fair we returned for another lecture on the Oxford essay. This was possible the most useful lecture so far. Dr. Ed Clark spoke about what the professors will be expecting from us as we write our essays. After his lecture I had a meeting with Dr. Clark, as he will be my Shakespeare tutor. We set up our first tutorial and I was given the assignment to read and compare Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He also said if I have the time and ambition that I could read Love’s Labour’s Lost and Richard II, and throw in any similarities they have with the first two. I’m very excited about this tutorial. It’s a very nice contrast to the stress and rigor of chemistry to have something I love to read and talk about as a second course.

After my meeting with Dr. Clark I joined everyone again at a student panel. This was an opportunity for al of us to ask questions of current Oxford students. After the panel we had a party in the OSAP office and I spent a lot of time talking with a chemistry student who is in her last year here. She studied for three years and has passed her examinations and is now working on research that will lead to her thesis. She loves it here and had a ton of good things to say about the college as well as a lot of suggestions about where the best places to eat and drink and party are.

We soon moved to a pub down the street where I began talking with some of the advisors who work in the OSAP office. I haven’t had a lot of time to talk with them outside of our daily lectures and it was a very nice time. On the way home later Rebecca and I stopped at a kabob stand and both got lamb kabobs. It turns out a kabob is like Chipotle for gyros. It was the biggest gyro I have ever seen, let alone eaten. It was quite delicious though.