Yet feet that wandering have gone, Turn at last to home afar.

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

      Roads go ever ever on

Under cloud and under star,

Yet feet that wandering have gone

Turn at last to home afar.

Eyes that fire and sword have seen

And horror in the halls of stone

Look at last on meadows green

And trees and hills they long have known.

(Excerpts of walking songs from The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings)

"The world surely has not another place like Oxford; it is a despair to see such a place and ever leave it, for it would take a lifetime and more than one to comprehend and enjoy it satisfactorily."
-Nathaniel Hawthorne

I have a lot of feelings when I think about going home. On the one hand, it's going home. On the other, it's leaving Oxford and England.

This semester been absolutely amazing. I've learned so much and made close friendships and memories I'll treasure forever. I'll miss so many things--the buildings in Oxford (which have ruined me for less impressive buildings everywhere, hehe), pubs, being forced to walk everywhere, meat pies, my great tutors, and most of all my dear friends. But I suppose all good things must come to an end. But to my friends and my dear Britain,  say 'until next time.'

This party of my feelings are summed up fairly well in this song: "The Call".

On the other hand, I'm excited to go home. I've spent the week introducing Oxford and London to my sister and discovering Ireland with her. It's been a blast, but it's also been a whirlwind and I'm exhausted. Being around my sister had made me miss the rest of my family, and the closer it gets to Christmas, the more I want to be with them.

This party of me is winning out at the moment, and I'm so ready and excited to fly home tomorrow! Not super excited for the flight itself, but for where it's going.

My feelings on the matter are pretty well summed up in these songs: "First Flight Home" and "Going Home for Christmas".

Thanks again to everyone who helped me get to Oxford, and thanks to everyone who made it so special.

Until next time. For now, it's Christmas, and I'm going home.

In Which I Descend Into The Earth to Read

Okay, so that title is more than a little over-dramatic. Although, the claustrophobic might think that the Lower Gladstone Link does indeed feel like that. But let me back up.

This week, week 5 of 8 in the Oxford term, I am studying medieval Scotland. As my tutor said, I just spent 4 weeks studying English history in this period (and haven't covered everything--we're looking at English-Scottish conflicts next week, I believe) and I only have one to study Scotland. Yikes.

Now, Scotland is apparently not the most popular topic of study in Oxford. Because out of the 35 or so books I searched for, New College only had four. Which means those are the only four I can check out--anything else I have to read in various parts of the Bodleian library. Which brings me to the Gladstone Link.

The Gladstone Link is, at its most basic, a tunnel connecting the old Bodleian library with the Radcliffe Camera. Presumably so the shy intellectuals don't have to mingle with the unwashed masses of humanity above ground to get from one to the other. Or to keep dry in the rain.

That's sorta-approximately where the link is. It's not that straight.

So let's say you go into the old library. And you want to get to the Rad Cam. You go down the stairs (rather than up to the reading rooms), about one level down. You enter a tunnel. (Fun fact--the Link was undergoing renovations when I was visiting in 2012.)

The Link Tunnel

 But, as the British by necessity of their tiny island need to make use of every bit of space available, the Gladstone Link is also two (small) floors of TIGHT shelving. I mean, the shelves move so you can fit as many as possible and still fit between them. The Upper Gladstone Link you pass through when using the Link as a commute. It has a lot of old metal shelves as well as new shelves.

Original shelving in upper GL via:
http://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/history/files/2014/07/Gladstone-shelving1.jpg

Anyway. Now I've just walked through the Link. But today, I had to find a book. A book that apparently had to be buried in the Lower Gladstone Link (ba-bum-buuuuuummmmm). :P

So down another (narrow) set of stairs I go. Into the relatively low-ceiling-ed Lower Gladstone Link. There's no sunlight. No windows. It's underground. Duh. The shelves move side-to-side, and have notes on them saying 'Check that the aisle is clear and then gently turn wheel to move shelves.' Once moved, the space between shelves is pretty narrow--and the entire time I was between them I was thinking 'what if someone forgets to check that the aisle is clear?!

Shelving in the lower GL

Anyway. I survived. I got my book. I read it. I really liked it. So I decided to purchase the Kindle edition when I got home. haha ;)

Then I ate an entire oven pizza for dinner and two chocolate chip digestives. I guess this makes me a stereotypical college student. :P

Anywho. Until next time--cheerio!

Of Shelob and Courage

Sam facing down Shelob with the light of Eärendil

Alright guys. Yesterday, in the wee hours of the morning (around midnight to 1:30), my flatmate Alexis and I faced our greatest challenge up to that point in Oxford--a spider. A spawn of the devil. A horror to behold. AND IT WOULD NOT DIE.

First, it should be clarified that I am have arachnophobia. I don't like bugs of any nature in general, but arachnids--they send me running for the hills. So imagine my vexation when I opened my door and right in my path, much too close for comfort, in my doorway was a huge, ugly spider.

Now, Alexis has killed spiders for me in the past. And although it was almost 12 in the morning, we had both been up not long before, so I messaged her. She graciously came to rescue me--but was unprepared for the monstrosity before her.

What followed was an inelegant dance--the spider at first sitting in my doorway, me trapped in my room, her trapped in the hall--while we tried to talk each other into killing it. I bore myself with no small measure of embarrassment. Then it moved out of the doorway and along the wall--toward our other flatmates' room. I put on my boots but didn't dare to get so close. Alexis grabbed her crutch, and I summoned my courage and smushed it--or at least tried. We thought we had succeeded in smashing it in the corner of the wall. But we weren't sure. I tried again. It didn't move. Then Alexis tried--and it moved.

It ran away and into the living room! She put on one of my boots and took the crutch. She tried to get it with the crutch, but it wouldn't die! And then she stepped on it--and yet it lived, the fiend. Then she stepped upon it and ground it with fury into the carpet, whereupon its miserable life of inflicting terror ended.

Much shaken, we went to bed.

Now that our fearsome foe has been so valiantly vanquished by Alexis, and the mangled corpse removed and disposed of by myself yesterday morning with the aid of the mighty vacuum, and time has helped to alleviate the ghost of the memory of our horrible battle, I thought I could share with you a photo of our devilish adversary. I was going to post it on Facebook. But no--its horror is too great to allow it to mar my timeline and infest my Facebook photos for all eternity.

But, all should know of our exploits, the vileness of the villain our eight-legged enemy, and Alexis' bravery. Accordingly, look below at your own peril (of nightmares). *cough, cough, Logan, cough*







NOPE. NOPE, NOPE. I WAS WRONG. CAN'T HANDLE IT.

...and goodnight. Hopefully next time I'll have happier tidings. :)

In Which I Try Many Things

New College

Before diving into everything I did in the past week, I need to say something.

Thank you.

I just want to say thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, to everyone who helped and supported me. I had another moment of wonder this week, where it just struck me to my core, how crazy this is. I've loved Great Britain since I was probably 12. I've dreamed of living here for years. I worked toward this for just over a year. So many people supported me when it felt impossible. And here I am. Walking down the streets of a place I've loved so long. It's been great fun seeing Oxford pop up in my medieval history reading. Basically, I'm awestruck, and just felt the need to say thank you again. :)

This week has been amazing and slightly crazy! For 1st week, our first real week of Oxford University, we fittingly had our first week of real British weather. Basically, it rained every day this week. A few days it just was a misty drizzle all day long, some days it was light rain off and on, sometimes a combination, sometimes one or two instances of slightly heavier rain. But it has not poured, at least not during the day. Last night the rain hitting my window woke me--it wasn't slamming into the window, and it first I wasn't sure what it was, but it was closer to the rain I know in Colorado.

Sunday I tried fencing. It was a ton of fun, but the practising centre is a 40 minute walk away, and that just eats too much of my time.

Monday I met with my secondary tutor for my History & Theology of the Reformation tutorial. He's very nice and let me borrow a bunch of his books for my reading for the term. I'm currently reading an overview of the Reformation in Christian Thought: A Historical Introduction by Meister and Stump. It's well-written and very interesting, and I'm excited for the rest of the semester.

Also on Monday night (I think--it can be hard to keep track of days here!) I went with some other Summit students to a nice Chinese restaurant and ordered lamb. It was super good. And I tried a dumpling, which was ridiculously good, and we all sampled each other's food and basically everything was delish.

Tuesday I went ceilidh dancing (Scottish folk dancing) which was quite fun.

Wednesday I went ballroom dancing, which was a ton of fun. I'm going to join the Oxford University Dancesport Club and take ballroom lessons, and maybe Latin and salsa lessons. Should be pretty awesome.

Bodleian

Thursday I submitted my first essay, studied at the Bodleian (always a pleasure), and spent a night in watching Take the Lead after all this dancing. ;)

Friday (yesterday) I had my first honest tutorial. We basically discussed the Norman Conquest and my readings for an hour, then he told me what he thought of my essay (he really liked it, with a few critiques--whew), and assigned next week's readings. He assigned me some tough reading on the medieval English state, so that should be interesting, and gave me some information to start looking at a big issue to tackle in week 8.

Then yesterday afternoon we had worldview class, which was nice to get back to, then had dinner with the lovely Bywaters (Kevin Bywater teaches the worldview class).

Today it's studying and shopping and wasting the morning talking about dresses and weddings with my awesome flatmates. ;)

Also--Christmas is coming... :)

Corn Market Street

In Which I Read in the Midst of Grandeur

Today I've been reading. And for a spell of that reading, I made my way into the Radcliffe Camera.

A few things you should know about the Radcliffe Camera, or Rad Cam.

1) It first opened in 1747.
2) It is part of the Bodleian Library.
3) It houses books, but functions primarily as reading rooms.
4) It is connected to the old Bodleian Library building via a tunnel, the Gladstone Link.
5) It has a lower and upper reading room(s).
6) As part of the Bodleian, non-members are not allowed inside.
7) No photography is permitted inside.

However, although I took no photos, I've found some online to share with you.

First, the outside:



The lower reading rooms:
      

The upper reading rooms:







There you have it. A beautiful building/library. I can't say how blessed I am to have the privilege to have the ability to study in it.

In Which I Meet With My Primary Tutor

The Oxford tutorial is a special thing. To sum up, you meet one-on-one or two-on-one (with a few exceptions) with an expert in your field of study. You're given a reading list and (an) essay prompt(s). You write your persuasive essay, meet with your tutor, and defend your argument.

So yesterday I met the tutor for my primary tutorial. We'll meet once a week for 8 weeks.


He's very nice, and I'm excited to work with him. I'll be studying post-Norman Conquest Britain. I've gotten my first assignment, and I have a stack of period sources to read, and a two-page list of suggested reading. Obviously I can't read all the suggested reading, and it's not expected. It's wonderful because I get the opportunity to focus on what I want to focus on, and to work with the tutor to tailor the course to my interests, even as they develop throughout the term.

New College Crest

Now, normally, what students with WISC/OSAP usually experience is slightly different than the  normal Oxford experience. But, also excitingly, my tutor told me that every Michaelmas term Oxford runs a Medieval History 2 class that covers post-Conquest Britain. So he's tailoring my class to basically run in conjunction with that class, and will be giving me a lecture list. So essentially I'll be taking a normal Oxford class!

Well, I was up late last night searching the libraries catalogue online for some of the reading resources. After sleeping in a bit, I need to get a move on. ;) I have reading to do, will try and get to the library today, and have the university fresher's fair to attend. I may even try and purchase some Oxford gear today.

So until next time,
Cheers!

In Which I Become an Official University of Oxford Associate Member

Allow me to begin by saying that I can't believe I've been in Oxford for over a month. And have less than three months left! But let's not talk about that second point, shall we?

Let's see...shall I attempt to summarize?

I've spent the last month doing worldview sessions, which have been amazing; getting to know the other Summit Oxford students, all of whom are awesome; settling into English life, including coming to grips with the fact that £5 is really good deal for a meal out--then you do the conversion rate and decide to eat in; doing a bit of exploring--a couple trips to London, a trip into the Cotswolds, an afternoon in Abingdon, a day in the Ashmolean Museum, and doing a spot of wandering about Oxford; and getting ready for the term to start.

Most excitingly, it's Week 0, or Noughth Week, at University of Oxford--also known as fresher's week, when all the freshmen arrive. Which means term officially starts NEXT WEEK! I'm thrilled to announce that I've heard from both my tutors, and am meeting with my primary tutor (Medieval history) for the first time tomorrow. Furthermore, yesterday we were inducted into the Bodleian Library. The Library is huge, world famous, and fairly exclusive. And I'm a member. *grin* We had to recite a pledge not to take any books from the library, harm the books in any way, or set any fires in the library--thank goodness for electric lighting and heating, yes?--and sign a statement to that affect. Then we received our Bodleian cards.

Yesterday we also found out which college we were assigned to. I'm in New College! Today the New College students got a tour of the college, which is old and gorgeous (except for the construction, sad day), and received a packet of information, as well as our college library cards. So, now that I'm been inducted into the Bodleian and New College, I am officially an associate member of the University of Oxford!

Tomorrow I have more orientation, and meet with my tutor. Thursday we attend the fresher's fair, where we can get information on clubs and societies. In particular, I'm excited to get information on the following, so I can decide which to participate in:

Fencing Club
Archery Club
Dancesport Club
Tolkien Society
Doctor Who Society
Scottish Dance Society
Inter-Collegiate Christian Union

And New College's non-auditioning choir, The Wykeham Singers.

To find out about New College to your heart's content, visit: http://new.ox.ac.uk/.
May I particularly recommend you look at the photo galleries,

Until next time,
Cheers!

My cards!

Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill

English countryside while on a train to the Cotswolds

'Wicked' in London

Abingdon

Sheep are very common place. As in lamb in food dishes.

English countryside while on a bus in Gloucestershire

In Which I Am a Tourist and Don't Care, and Worldview Sessions Start

Friday, 5 September
We had orientation, took group pictures (thanks, Judson!), I did some shopping, and we went over to the guys' place to watch Doctor Who. It's fun that several of our group love Doctor Who!

The Summit group!

Saturday, 6 September

Photos courtesy Charity Lewis

Saturday was a lovely day. Most of our group went punting. We had mimosas and lunch on the boats and generally were pretend-sophisticated. *sticks pinky in air* ;)






Sunday, 7 September
We attended St. Ebbes' Church. They had a lovely service and meet in a beautiful building.

Monday, 8 September-Tuesday, 9 September
I did reading, walked around Oxford and took some pictures, soaking in the ancient and always changing yet always the same beauty of Oxford, and generally being that tourist walking about with a camera.


Wednesday, 10 September-Friday, 12 September
Worldview classes started on Wednesday. We dived right into the Bible, looking at Genesis, Psalms, Deuteronomy, and roving over a variety of subjects from marriage to the creation debate and more, as well as getting to know each other more and getting to know Kevin Bywater, the worldview instructor. On Friday night we meant his beautiful family and had dinner together.

Other random highlights--I have difficulty remembering on which days they happened:
-Dinner at the Eagle and Child Pub (where Tolkien and Lewis and the Inklings would meet)
-Hanging out on numerous occasions with the other students
-Getting comfortable with the bus system in Oxford and learning to use public transportation
-Seeing two muntjac deer go bounding by out the window of the bus in quick passing
-Ladies' crepe night with lots of fillings

St. Ebbes'

Saturday, 13 September
Reading (doing quite a lot of that already), shopping, etc.

Sunday, 14 September
Church (excellent service), reading, chilling.

So, yeah. Probably sounds pretty boring, but I assure you, it's not! I'm having a great time and learning to deal with some interesting things. Examples:

-England has huge bugs, and as previously noted, a spider infestation. I wasn't expecting that.
-I miss pressurized hot water and hot water just coming out of the tap and not having to wait and fiddle with the tap to get it to work.
-I miss knowing what the settings on the washer and oven mean.
-I, believe it or not, miss one-stop shopping at Wal-Mart.
-I miss clothes dryers.
-I miss petting my dog. I miss my family too, but I can talk to them online. The dog doesn't get it. ;)
-I wish things weren't almost twice as expensive...but I was expecting that.
-

But those are minor inconveniences. :)

Here are some other awesome things about living in Oxford:

-I'm going to be so fit from walking everywhere! It's about 15 minutes to the closest grocery store.
-I love the character of the surrounding towns, such as Eynsham, were we have our worldview classes, and Witney, were the Bywaters live. They're beautiful.
-I love being surrounded by the old architecture
-I love my flatmates and all the students in the class! We have an awesome group.
-I love that tea and custard are cheap here.

I know there's more, but I can't think of it right now.

Thanks to everyone back home for your thoughts and prayers!

Cheers!