Rainy Day

Nothing to do with Utopia.

So after a few weeks filled with all kinds of new stuff to do, things are finally beginning to settle down into a routine. I've got my classes: A-Course, B-course, C-Course...and lots of reading to go with them. Did I say "lots"? Because what I meant was, ALL I DO IS READ. In fact, writing this blog entry is a break from reading Utopia--which, by the way, is not as fun to read as Ever After would have you believe. I only WISH I had an evil stepsister to come and burn this book. Then again, I'd have to pay the library for it if that happened, which would probably be expen$ivo, as everything is here.

17th c. printing: all the cool kids are doing it.

In addition to my regular classes, they have an interesting system here at Oxford, where you can kind of just drop in and out of some classes whenever you feel like it. For example, last week I went to one random lecture about Shakespeare and Ovid, and earlier this week I went to a early modern manuscript master class...just because I can. I'm also in a Latin class that just meets because we feel like it--no one actually enrolls, we just show up and learn about early modern Latin (btw, did you know they put declensions in a different order here? It's not N.G.D.Acc.Abl.(V), it's N.V.Acc.G.D.Abl...what the heck!?).  I went to a printing class in the basement of the New Bod on Friday afternoon, where 30 people showed up and listened to a lecture about 17th century paper making and watermarks just because they were interested...again, no one enrolls or gets units for the classes. They just happen, and people go. I can only imagine how disastrous this system would be at UCLA, where you can barely get people to go to classes they actually need to pass to graduate. Obviously I'm going to a school for nerds.

Vintage cybermen with the fifth doctor.

This week I also revisited a few of the societies I scoped out last week. On Thursday I returned to the Doctor Who Soc for a screening of "Earthshock," featuring the fifth doctor. It was basically as campy and low-budget as a I expected from old Who. Seriously...you think the cybermen look ridiculous now? You ain't seen nothin'. It was fun though, since everyone there also thought it was silly and had a good laugh at the more cheesy parts ("more cheesy parts" = the whole thing). I think I'll probably stick with this soc, since there's no way I'm going to ever slog through old Who on my own, and the people seem relatively chill.

On Saturday I made a second appearance at the anime soc, but this time I dragged Meagan with me to alleviate the awkwardness. My plan succeeded, and I think I'll keep going to this one too, as long as I have a comrade in arms to geek out with. On the other hand, I think the "speculative fiction" soc has lost me forever, through a combination of unbearable awkwardness and the unfortunate reality that I will not have any time to read scifi/fantasy novels here...I'm too busy reading things for class. (This, however, did not prevent me from getting really excited about an online Borders coupon the other day and ordering a bunch of novels I won't get to read until Xmas...someone should be around to stop me from doing this kind of thing. You know I can't say no to cheap books!)

Our hall in college...this is where we had Introductory Dinner.

 Last night I had my last real "new student" type event, the Introductory Dinner at St Cross, where we meet our college advisor. This event reminded me of nothing so much as Monday night dinner at ADPi...and not only because it was on a Monday night. The dress code was "daily wear with gowns; please no jeans or trainers" (for those of you who don't speak Brit, that means no sneakers).  So basically I wore pin attire + my sweet graduate gown that you all saw pics of last week. Just the gown though, not the whole black and white affair that Caroline commented on so astutely last week. At the dinner we all stood while the Master said a Latin prayer and then had a super classy three course meal served to us (sorry guys, it was way better than food at the HOP). My advisor is actually pretty rad; she's the librarian for St X and was fun to talk to. I also sat next to one of the Fathers from Pusey House (the little Anglican institution with which we share the premises) who happened to have studied Renaissance Lit at Oxford in his time, and we had a lively chat about Samuel Daniel and Edmund Spenser. Oh, and I got into a debate with a fellow advis-ee, who is in the Medieval strand, about the merits of Timon of Athens, a Shakespeare play I happen to detest. Did I say I went to a school for nerds? Obviously I fit right in.

I know...this pig is effing adorable.

Today it's been raining all day, but in that on-and-off way particular to English weather. Like, it's raining just enough that you need an umbrella, but every once in a while it'll stop for a while or start pouring for a while. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, I've been cooped up for most of the day with my books. And speaking of books, I think it's about time I got back to Utopia. Hopefully tomorrow I'll see some sun!

l8er sk8er...

KQ