First Week in Review

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September 10th 2006

Published: September 10th 2006

Well, let's see, I've definitely enjoyed this first week in Oxford. I haven't done all that much, but, even so, it's been great. We've gone on two field trips already. Our first one was last Sunday (September 3rd) and we went to Glocester Cathedral and Berkeley Castle. Both places were so beautiful. Glocester Cathedral had some of the most amazing stained glass I've ever seen. On Wednesday, which happened to be our longest field trip and my birthday, we went to Wells Cathedral and Glastonbury Abbey. I'm starting to realize that cathedrals are all very beautiful, but also very similiar. But, the best part of Wednesday was that we did a drive by (literally, we just drove by) of Stonehenge. I wish we could have stopped, but even so I was still able to take a pretty decent picture. That's why I'm the paparazzi! 😊

We haven't really started classes yet, but we have started learning...if that makes any sense. The month of September is dedicated to the Integral course, which naturally has nothing to do with the Integral Program at Saint Mary's. Four days a week (all but Wednesday) we have two lectures each day. These lectures are about an hour each and are on different aspects of medieval times. They are more or less chronological, with each week being a different section of the middle ages. Some of the lecturers are very engaging and interesting, which makes the hour fly by. But then there are some that drag on forever and are impossible to stay awake for. I'm not the best note-taker either, seeing as I've never experienced lectures until this week. But, I'm learning and trying my best. Along with the lectures are the four field trips throughout England. As I mentioned before, we've already been on two of them. The next part of the Integral course is the Colloquium. This is basically a larger seminar every fortnight (every two weeks). They have split up the students at CMRS (all 45 of us) into two groups, one who meets on Mondays and the other who meets on Tuesdays. I'm in the Tuesday group with Dr. Philpott, the Senior Tutor at CMRS. He is a very funny man and I am looking forward to this class. Despite being a part of the Integral course, since it takes place every fortnight it runs all semester.

The most intimidating part of the Integral course is the exam in the beginning of October. It is a three hour exam in which we are expected to write four essays. Since each week of the Integral course is defined by a time period, we are to write one essay based on the lectures and field trips from that week. We are given a variety of questions to choose from, but we don't know them ahead of time. So, we have to prepare one or two of the lectures very well in order to write about it. I haven't taken a test in so long, so who knows how well I'll do...

And finally there is a research paper due at the end of the fall term that is to be no more than 2000 words. They expect us to be more or less done with the paper by the start of the official fall term in October. I know its what they want, but I'm not sure how feasible it really is. Again, I'll try and see what I come up with...

I have started one class and that is my Great Books Seminar class. We had our first class on Friday the 8th and it was not what I was used to. Dr. Crowe just lectured us on Plato and Aristotle, not at all on our reading, which was by Aquinas. It was very odd. Mandy (another Integral major from SMC) tried to ask questions to start conversation, but Crowe would answer her question before the rest of us could put our two pence in. 😊 We vowed that next Friday we will have an actual conversation and not a lecture because none of us were pleased with that class.

Despite the fact that I have a ton of reading to do and things to think about, I've still managed to have a good time here in Oxford. Mandy and Liz took me out on Wednesday night to celebrate my birthday and we had a grand time out on the town. We had so much fun that my roommate Cate was sad she missed out. So, we went out dancing and such on Thursday night. We went to this place called the Purple Turtle which is literally an underground bar and club at the end of the alley next to Gap. It is so random, but so fun all the same. On Friday night Mandy, Liz, Cate, and I had every intention of staying in and watching movies all night long. We watched one movie before our friends Travis, Sean, and Jose convinced us to go out with them. We ended up at the Purple Turtle again because it was the cheapest place (only £3 cover charge) we could find on a Friday night. We've also discovered the wonder of the Kebab Kid. It is this tiny little food place (you can't really call it a restaurant) that sells the most delicious chicken kebabs. These aren't like chicken on a stick type kebabs. It is yummy chicken with lettuce, tomatoes and garlicy cream sauce in a piece of naan or pita bread. They are huge (one feeds 4 girls easily) and super cheap as well. After a night of dancing, we love it!

Saturday was spent lounging around and doing absolutley nothing of significance. We woke up and watched "The Princess Bride" and then decided to go to Sainsbury's (the grocery store) to get pasta and such to make dinner. Mandy and Liz were in charge of dinner while Cate and I supervised and cleaned up. It was a little bland, but it was edible and pretty healthy. Today we woke up late again, went out do a little light shopping and have a late lunch at O'Neill's, an Irish pub. It was nice to wander around the city and window shop. I found the most beautiful scarf for £12 at a department store, but I resisted buying it. I'm positive I can find a similiar scarf at a better price somewhere else. And, it's not even scarf weather yet, so I'm in no rush. After shopping we came back to the room and again haven't done much of anything. I really should read "Confessions" by Augustine, but there is no motivation because I read it last year and remember a lot of it surprisingly. I suppose I should at least skim through the important parts and see if I have any lingering questions for Colloquium on Tuesday.

Well, once again, I wrote a lot and didn't include any pictures. But, I do have an entire Yahoo! Photos site dedicated to my Oxford travels, so I highly recommend checking that out:

http://photos.yahoo.com/meganinoxford

Enjoy and thanks again for reading!

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