Week Two

Starting the second full week at Oxford! As I think back about this last week, I still am in a bit of shock that I am living in England. But the best kind of shock! 

Most of this week was spent in orientation and exploration.  We have bikes now, so transportation has gotten much faster and more exciting! It takes about 15 minutes to bike from The Vines into town, and I will be cycling into town nearly every day, for lectures, tutorials and library visits. Going into town is great - it's downhill. Coming up is a little harder, and complaints about "the hill" have been circulating amongst us all!
 Despite my lack of experience, being able to cycle has opened up the city for me, and I have enjoyed exploring downtown on wheels. Oxford is full of beautiful buildings and small streets just asking to be looked at, and I hope that I will become an expert at navigating my way around.

I have met one of my tutors, and also the professor for the seminar I will be taking after Hilary term is over. Dr. Thorpe is the Shakespeare tutor this semester, and he had a group meeting with the different students he's tutoring before term began, to answer any questions and give the first homework assignment. I wasn't sure what the meeting would be like, but the meeting put my nerves to rest. He had the meeting in a pub in town, and presented quite the friendly first impression: He was drinking an enormous cup of tea, sitting quite comfortably at a wooden table that was tucked in the side of the restaurant. He asked questions about what we had read of Shakespeare, what we liked, and gave us a meeting time and essay question, and that was that! My first tutorial will be on Thursday, and I have been enjoying reading Macbeth for this week's homework.
The seminar professor, who I won't see much of until Hilary term is over, is the quintessential British professor. The first day, he walked in a few minutes late, his umbrella under one arm, wearing a green plaid coat over his sweater, with his grey and bushy hair flying in all directions. Instant admiration.
I'm still a bit nervous about tutorials starting, but I am getting more and more excited as well. I think this will be an amazing opportunity to study in-depth in ways I haven't gotten to before.

A group of us went on a field trip to London yesterday! Simon, one of the directors of the SCIO program, led the tour. He has a good store of information about London history, and a wry sense of humor as well, so the tour was quite funny as well as informative. There were about 20 of us walking around together, and I'm sure we must have looked amusing, as we all tried to stay together amidst the crowds and traffic. The highlight of the trip was going to Evensong at St. Paul's, where we sat in the choir seats near the altar. The cathedral is breathtaking, and hearing the music echo left me with the best of solemn feelings.

All in all, this has been quite a week! Full of new things, and the promise of lots of work to come. I have done reading, but tomorrow, the semester's work will begin in earnest. I think I am ready for it.