British Food

I know I already did a post on the Oxford diet, but I thought it best to reflect on all of the wonderful food I got to taste these past couple of months. I also made the Oxford Diet post early in the semester so this will be a much more complete look at the foods I ate while abroad.

Fish and chips. No British pub is complete without their own version of fish and chips (and by version I mean the batter they fry the fish in). The better pubs fry their fish in batters made from their own brew of ale. These you can trust to be delicious. The first fish and chips I ate ever was my first week at CMRS when a group of us went to the Eagle and Child (est. 1650). For my first pub, it was a great experience. Great people and great food make for an unforgettable evening. The best fish and chips I had though has to be the one at Chequers (est.16th century). This historical pub offered a delectable plate of fish and chips that I enjoyed immensely. Any respectable pub that offers a good plate of fish and chips provides a good crispy slice of fish served on top of a bed of freshly made chips (fries). This must be served with a wedge of lemon for the fish as well as a side of peas (mashed or whole). I fell into the British tradition a bit and became addicted to salt and vinegar chips so I always added that to my plate.

Bangers and mash. I have to start off by saying I had never heard of this before coming here. I was headed off to the Three Goats Head for a meal with some friends and someone suggested trying the bangers and mash. I had NO idea what they were talking about but I decided to order it anyway. I was not let down. The plate I got was a pile of mashed potatoes topped with three British sausages. It was delicious and was definitely a full meal since I could barely finish it.

 

Meat pies & Pasties. I put these two together because they are very similar. The only difference in my mind is that a meat pie is something to sit down and eat, and a pastie is (in my mind) a portable meat pie. They both have a flaky crusts filled with a meat and gravy substance. Each meat pie/pastie is different with varying flavors. My favorite pastie flavor was a plain chicken pastie. My favorite place to get a meat pie (besides in a pub) was a place in the covered market called pieminster. I would always order the Matador which was British beef in a beef gravy with veggies and potatoes. On days I wanted a larger meal I could have a side of mashed potatoes added on. But the meat pies in the pubs could not be topped. Made to order, these pies were fresh and never failed to satisfy.

 

Cardiff, Wales

Hello from the United States! I am finally home and glad to be. So much happened during the last week of the program that I am still catching up on everything. While I am home I hope all of you enjoy reading this blog and enjoying the stories I tell.

During the last week of the program I decided to take a day trip to Cardiff with a couple of my friends. Cardiff being in the next country over in Wales, was a bit of a haul to get there. We set out bright and early at 8AM to the Oxford Tube for a two hour bus ride into London. After arriving, we set out for Paddington Station to catch another 2 hour train to Cardiff.

Finally after arriving in Cardiff we had arrived at our main attraction; The Doctor Who Experience. Having just traveled for four hours we ate in the Doctor Who cafe before signing in for our ‘experience’. Even in the lobby there were some costumes and relics of the show decorating the entrance. Since it is the Christmas season, the entire lobby was decked out in Christmas decorations from the past Christmas specials.

After checking in we were taken into the Doctor Who Experience where we started off as tourists in the Gallifrey Museum. There we ran into some issues and ended up on the TARDIS. We were taken through a Dalek infested room and an Angel graveyard, all the while being led by none other than the voice and commands of the current 12th Doctor. It is difficult to describe the entire experience, but I can say that it is every Whovian’s dream to have this experience.

After exiting the experience we ended up in the Doctor Who museum which is filled with old relics of the original show as well as the new. It is mostly filled with costumes of the doctors, companions, and some side characters. There were also a few of the old sets of the TARDIS from the old generation up to 9 &10’s.

The older sets of the TARDIS:

And the star of the show; 9 & 10’s TARDIS set!

The old and new costumes of Doctor Who…along with the newest costume:

Some of the costumes of companions and others:

And finally some props and sets:

After visiting the Doctor Who Museum, we set out to Cardiff Bay to walk around and see the city before another 8 hour trip back to Oxford. We found a lot of cool little areas and just enjoyed the company and place we were at. It was one of the best days of the entire trip for me.

    

After traveling for 8 hours by the time I got back into my own bed, I couldn’t help but smile. (Yes I did have a GIANT paper I had to correct, but that was the last thing on my mind) The day was just too perfect to forget. It was an amazing experience and with wonderful people. I couldn’t have asked for two better people to go with.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

I am simply days away from boarding a plane and flying home. Just three more days and I will finally be sleeping in my own bed, talking with friends and family, and running around with Max. The only thing standing in my way is a 4,000 word essay.

Having finished my tutorials, I have started to reflect a bit on the term. Sure there were some tough times, but I think I’m coming out for the better. My writing has improved exponentially (something I didn’t think was possible). I always thought my strength was my writing, though this past semester has proved me otherwise. My writing needed a lot of work and I hope that after all of this my writing will continue to improve.

I was able to end my Byzantium tutorial on a good note. He told me my paper was the best I had written all term. We were finally able to discuss history instead of the structure of my paper. It was nice being able to discuss and debate my interpretation of the sources. There were a lot of things I would have changed about the class both as a student and a teacher, but I believe I learned a lot (even if it was to learn what not to do with students). He did care about my learning and my progress, but I think cultural differences got in the way. Having not taught a foreign student before, he was not experienced with working with an alternative approach to learning. He simply taught me as a typical Oxford student who grew up in the UK. It wasn’t until I approached him and talked with him that he noticed things needed to change. While I could tell it was difficult for him at times, I think I started progressing better once we sorted our differences out.

Philosophy was also an experience for me. Having not taken any philosophy courses before this semester, I had to learn to read and write differently and learn how to ‘follow a thought’. There were some good weeks as well as some not so good weeks, but I fought through it and tried my best to push myself. I think by the end my tutor was hesitant to say I had improved greatly but told me I am on the path and at the threshold of a new way of thinking and writing. I know this tutor speaks his mind so this means a lot to me. He believes in me and can see a great potential in me that I have yet to master.

This semester has been the hardest academic semester of my life. The hours I spent reading, writing, re-writing, and defending my papers can amount to nothing I have experienced before. There were some high moments, some very very low moments, some mental breakdowns, countless cups of tea, and numerous late nights (or early mornings depending how you look at it). I never would have been able to survive such an ordeal without the help of the amazing people I have met at CMRS. You people helped me through this and I thank you for that. The community we created this term was something I have never experienced before in college. I hope you all feel that I supported you in the same way you supported me.

For those who follow this blog, my posts will not stop when I land in the US. I will write for a bit longer reflecting on everything I experienced here as well as wrapping up any stories or events that I forgot to mention or write about. This blog took a backseat when my tutorials began because I became so busy and blind to everything but my work. Please don’t feel as if I neglected you or forgot about you, I just didn’t have the time. BUT don’t worry, you shall know every adventure I had here, it just depends on when I will be able to sit down and write it all out. I’m guessing this is my last post before flying out so the next time you hear from me, I will be back in the States!

Cheers!

The Guenthers take Oxford

After spending three days in London, my parents traveled to Oxford to visit me in my natural environment. Tuesday, always being a late night for me due to a paper, I only got to spend about an hour with them. We went to a pub nearby that I had recently heard of called Checkers. This historic pub had the most delicious fish and chips I’ve had since arriving here. On top of the amazing food, the place was decorated for Christmas making it feel cozy and comfortable.

It was a similar situation for Wednesday. After having seminar from 10-12, I went straight to the Bod to complete my paper that I had stayed up till 3 in the morning the night before attempting to finish. After waking up for my 10 o’clock seminar I walked over to the local Costa (imagine British Starbucks) and stocked up on food and caffeine. As luck would have it, as I was walking back to St. Michael’s Hall for class, I ran into Mom and Dad who had just picked up a power converter. After seeing my exhaustion, they told me to sleep after I turned in my paper and we could meet up later. I agreed to meet with them at 6 for dinner, after a few hours of sleeping. It was a giant relief after turning in my paper and finally being able to sleep. After catching up on some sleep I decided to take my parents to one of the more popular pubs in Oxford, the Eagle and Child. This is the pub that the Inklings would meet in while they were writing their novels. Here we all tried different meat pies. Mom and I tried the beef and pale ale pie and Dad tried the Lamb Skew pie. All of it look and was delicious.

Marking the end of my paper, I now had the rest of the week to spend with my parents. Following my morning lecture On Thursday we met up and went to a teashop called the Nosebag. This little teashop is a wonderful place to munch on pastries, drink tea (or coffee), and enjoy the company; and we did just that. After filling ourselves up with scones and English tea, we set off to Keble College. While the front of Keble was under construction, it is still a wonderful sight to see. I walked my parents around the grounds and took them into Keble Church. Even to someone who loves old Cathedrals, the Keble Church is a sight to remember. The walls are filled with mosaics depicting various bible scenes with gold trimming everywhere.

After leaving Keble we walked around near my tutorial site for the day at Oriel College. We planned on meeting at the Botanic Gardens afterwards.

After arriving at the Gardens, I was dismayed to find that most of the plants had been cut down in preparation for winter. Despite the lack of vegetation, we took a stroll around the garden and talked.

Since this was Thanksgiving day we decided to go to a nice restaurant for dinner. We found a local pub called The Red Lion. After putting on some nicer clothes (a plaque above the pub said only ‘smart casual’ was allowed entrance) we walked in and grabbed a seat. Since we arrived at 5:30 we were given the lunch menu. We all decided to get the two course meal. For myself I ordered the cauliflower curry soup appetizer, same as Mom, and the Yorkshire ham plate, which my Dad also got. Dad decided to skip the appetizer and get an apple dessert in its place. All in all, the food was delicious and while not the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, the dinner was amazing.

And lastly on Friday, I decided to take my parents around a bit of Oxford. We started the day with a Bod tour. While the tour didn’t take us into any of the areas that I study in, we got to visit the Duke Humphrey’s Room and some other smaller rooms used for various events and not academic work. After a wonderful tour we took off to Port Meadow. Port Meadow is a humungous park in Oxford that is basically untouched by civilization. The grounds here are what people believed England looked like before being settled. Besides a few footpaths, the place is untouched. They have a cow herd as well as a herd of ponies within the grounds.

After walking around for  a very long time, our feet were ready to fall off. We walked back to the center of Oxford and grabbed a few pasties to tie us over to dinner. Since it was starting to get dark out, we decided to go indoors and do a bit of shopping. Luckily Oxford wasn’t too bad on Black Friday. Apparently Black Friday has begun to occur even here in the UK and was quite disastrous this year. It looked like chaos at many of the stores on the tv. I was glad not to be around any of those stores! We finally finished off the night by eating at our last pub of the week called the Pen and Wig.

In all, having my parents visit me was the best gift I could have ever asked for. After being here for three months it was nice to see them again. While technology keeps us connected through facetime and emails, being with the people you love is the greatest feeling in the world. Now that both of them are back safe and sound, it is back to work for me! This is my last week of tutorials so I have one philosophy and one Byzantine paper left to do and then I’m done! With tutorials of course…. Then I have a final seminar paper due next week. This 4,000 word essay is on a topic of my choosing within the realm of the class that I’m taking. So I will be writing a paper answering how intrinsically English the United States really is down to the core of our governmental structures.

The Guenthers Take London

This past week my parents flew over 4,000 miles to see me in England! For seven days my parents came over and saw both London and Oxford (I’ll create another post for our Oxford adventures).

After arriving in London on Saturday, I took the Tube down to join them for the weekend. It was such an amazing feeling seeing Mom and Dad again after so long. As 7th week was starting I was starting to feel a bit down and had lost the little motivation I had. I was feeling down and a bit disheartened about my work and where I was at. Seeing both of them filled my heart with joy and I felt a deep happiness that I hadn’t felt in a while. In a way I felt I was almost home. I may not be in the states, but having a form of home here made all the difference. After reuniting after almost 3 months apart we set out on the town!

Our first night in London we decided to go to the grand opening of Winter Wonderland. Basically, the city of London shuts down half of Hyde Park (that is a huge park to begin with) and create a Christmas market/amusement park for the winter months of the year. After making our way over we realized that since it was opening day the park was PACKED. Since we were already there we decided to walk around and see what was going on. There were rows of shops selling Christmas trinkets and other wintery items. After weaving through those we found the best part…the food. While there weren’t any sit down places to eat we found a nice bratwurst stand and enjoyed the view and the company.

Afterwards we decided to just walk around before calling it a night. We (and by we I mean I) got turned around a few times but we made it back alright! We ended up in a detour that took us through Piccadilly Circus at night then traversing to Trafalgar Square where we walked down Whitehall Street towards Parliament. This was our first view of Big Ben, Parliament, and the London Eye.

*Disclaimer: We found out that Big Ben is not actually the name of the bell tower. The bell inside the tower that chimes the hours is named Big Ben. The tower itself is called the Elisabeth Tower.*

For our full day in London, we decided to focus on the touristy activities since I had not done that yet. Of course London wanted to give us the London experience so it rained…all day long. We decided to start the day with a bus tour through the entire city. While it was a double-decker bus, we decided to stay on the first level and not brave the cold wet weather above. This was a very enjoyable tour. We put our headphones in the jack and listened to a commentator talk about the different streets/parks/buildings we were passing and giving us the history of it all. It also allowed us to get a general sense of the town before heading out on our own. After jumping off the bus (not literally of course), we set out for some lunch. Little did we know a fútball (American soccer) game was going on. This put a damper on our search for a pub, but we finally found one!

After introducing Mom and Dad to their first fish and chips of the trip, we set out on the town again. This time we had our eyes set on the London Eye. Since it was raining, we practically walked onto the Eye. For those who are not aware of the London Eye, it is a giant ferris wheel in London that overlooks a large chunk of London. Stretching far higher than most buildings around it, we got a great view of the city. It is such an interesting structure that I’ll list a few of the cool facts about it:

1. The wheel does not stop (except to allow those with disabilities on board). It continuously moves at a very slow pace.

2. The slow speed is so slow it takes 30 minutes to make a full revolution. Giving the viewers a great sight that lasts.

3. Security looks tight. Not sure how accurate they are, but they definitely take a lot of measures to keep the wheel safe. On our way onto the wheel our bags were checked for any sharp items. As we were nearing the end we saw the pod in front of us empty and a team came on and checked for anything left and even used one of the mirrors security people use to check for explosives under the benches. I guess this ensures the safety of everyone on board since it is such an iconic part of London.

After exiting the London Eye we walked back across the river and decided to cash in on our boat tour (which came with our bus tickets). This boat tour was a quick stroll town the Thames where we ended up near the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. We decided to check out the Tower of London and the poppies that I had been talking about. Unfortunately most of the poppies had already been removed from the moat and given to those who bought them.

After making our way back to the hotel (which took much longer than expected) we finally were able to sit back and relax. This was by far my favorite part. Don’t get me wrong, I loved going out with my parents and seeing everything in London, but the best part of that was being with my parents. Being able to sit down and talk with them, I felt relaxed and finally at ease in the first time in a long time. While this program has been good for me, it has exhausted me both mentally and physically. It feels like I have been in a state of finals week for 12 weeks straight. I know I’m usually fried after one week, this has pushed me past what I ever thought possible. It was nice to shut my brain off (in an academic way) and just be with my family. Next on my list is to give Max a big hug!

Bonus photos!

     

 

London Book Tour

As a fun little trip, a few of us decided to take a book tour in London yesterday. We chose four bookshops around the London area and headed out. We set out a little after 10 in the morning and hopped on the Oxford Tube. After arriving in London just after noon we decided to visit our first bookshop before finding lunch. So we headed into the underground tube and found our way to Piccadilly Circus where the famous Hatchards Bookshop is located.

 

This bookshop is the oldest in London dating back to 1797! Now it is a bustling multilevel bookshop filled with new books and various signed editions. (One of our group bought a signed copy of the Stephan Fry autobiography) As a historical bookshop, this one has deep roots in the community; It runs off the royal decree of the Queen of England, Duke of Edinburgh, and the Prince of Whales. This place is literary heaven (next to the Bod of course). It was here that I happened across the newest illustrations of the Harry Potter books. For the 15th anniversary of the US release, the company decided to give the books a complete redesign. While I was a fan of the old illustrations, the new ones are also amazing. So, being in England, I had to get the one book I could never get back home: The Philosopher’s Stone.

After dragging ourself out of Hatchards, we walked through Piccadilly Circus to find a place to eat. Since a certain person in our group has a soft spot for a place called Garfunkel’s, we decided to stop at one. After refueling, we headed out again for more books. At this point of our trip we realized that buying books may not be our best financial decision. We decided this because we started going to old, second hand bookshops. These shops were full of first and second editions of books with some being signed by the author. At one point I held a 1920s edition of Marco Polos Travels. It was a beautiful purple leather bound book. If it wasn’t for the fact it was 800 pounds, it would have been a great book to have! At a certain point I decided that while I wasn’t going to buy any books, just seeing them was an experience. We found a great alleyway that contained numerous bookshops that peaked our interests. According to a group tour walking by, it was also the same street used in the Harry Potter films to film the Knockturn Alley scenes. Based on what we saw, I can see this was the perfect spot.

At this point of the day we realized it was too soon to head back to Oxford so we decided to walk around for a bit. We decided to take a walk towards Trafalgar Square that was just down the road from where we were. After a short walk-through we looked for a place to sit and eat before heading back. We found a small pub called The Crown. While settling down at a table and figuring out what to order, the power went out…only in the pub. After a few power outages, the pub decided to close down for the night. Having lost out on food, we headed towards Big Ben and took the tube back to the bus station. Before going back to CMRS we stopped of at a wonderful food stand called Posh Nosh. This holy of all foods is a food truck run by a wonderful man. The staff is always nice to me whenever I go and the food seems to be getting cheaper the more I go there! Posh Nosh is the food truck of choice for CMRS people and it seems that someone goes there every night. And thus, with a box of chips and a coke in hand, our London excursion ended with deliciousness.

Oxford Union

I recently joined the Oxford Union. So far, I’m not sure if it was a worthwhile investment, but it sure is getting close! The Union is an Oxford group that prides itself it the debates it hosts in the legendary Union Debate Hall. (see below for picture) Once I was a member (you must pay to get in), I had access to the Union buildings. This includes a 24/7 library, bar, meeting areas, and of course, the debate hall.

This term, there were so many great speakers lined up. These included Ian McKellen, Stephan Fry, Morgan Freeman, Buzz Aldrin, and many more. Hearing these names I couldn’t think of a reason why not to join. This was apparently the thought of many Oxford students…. For a lecture hall that fits 450 students, roughly two thousand showed up for the first three lectures ( I listed them in order). After spending hours in line, some students were sent away due to the lecture hall being full. Knowing this, a friend and I planned to get in line at 5 for the Stephan Fry lecture at 8. After walking back from the Bod at 3 we noticed people were already lining up! We quickly headed down to the Union and took our place in line. We ended up standing in line for just over five hours to get in. And as you can see in the picture above, I just barely got in. The seats down below are taken first and the last of the people who come in, cram into the balcony.

It was quite cold waiting in line for such a long time. We ended up taking turns in line. At one point one of us left for warmer clothes and brought back hot drinks and food! But we finally made it and got to witness Stephan Fry give a lecture.

I am a bit sad that the Union has students wait outside for hours without telling the line where the cut off is. With people starting to line up at noon for an 8 o’clock lecture, that just seems too much; especially since we are all members! With the workload I have, I unfortunately cannot take 5-8 hours a week waiting in line for a lecture I may or may not see. But if this is my only issue, then I’m happy I joined. Especially since there are so many great speakers still coming. I will just have to take advantage of the rest of what the Union has to offer and make the most of it!

But enough of that! Back to the Stephan Fry lecture!! It is hard to describe in words how amazing and articulated this man is. At one point during the lecture I came out of what I can only call a trance. Sort of like when you are watching a movie and you forget, but once you realize there is a border to the movie screen, it is difficult to forget. I came out of this ‘trance’ and looked around. Every single person in the audience was transfixed on Mr. Fry. He had the undivided attention of every single person in the room. I only was able to observe that much before being pulled back into his speech. He spent a large portion of his lecture on Oscar Wilde. It was evident in the way Mr. Fry was speaking that Oscar Wilde was a major inspiration to him. His passion came through with his words and he made all of us feel connected to the story. He had the perfect ability to make situations serious, but humorous at the same time. If I become half the public speaker of Mr. Fry I believe I will be great.

5th Week Blues

Hi all!

So terribly sorry for the lack of posts. I have been very busy with my weekly workload that I haven’t had much time to write on a regular basis (Can’t say I didn’t warn you!).

I should start off by explaining the title of this post. The average Oxford term (semester) is 8 weeks long. People don’t reference days with the days of the month but by the days of the week. For instance, this is the fifth week of classes so I met my professor on the Tuesday of fifth week. The idea of the fifth week blues is a phenomenon that students feel when they are tired and the end of the semester isn’t quite in site yet. Students feel down, and there is usually a mental breakdown somewhere in there. I have not experienced this ‘fifth week blues’ but I have witnessed many people here at CMRS who have.

Yesterday was the day that marked 30 days until the day I return home. It is hard to believe that in just under a month I will be on a plane bound for the States. I am both excited and wary. I cannot wait to go home and see my family and friends again (and to give Max a very big hug).

Before I can begin to think about going home, I must finish my last three weeks here. I have seven more essays to write! Six 2,000 word essays and one 4,000 word. One thing I have learned about my writing here is that I have a lot of filler language that just sounds good. It is an awkward situation when a tutor asks me why I worded my sentences as “x,y,z” and my only response is because it sounded good. I have learned to think about my word choices. The last thing I must learn by the end is to put all of my thoughts into an essay. Both of my tutors have told me that I assume the reader has knowledge and I jump to conclusions. I must illustrate my thoughts on the paper and lead the reader through my thought process.

Well that’s all the update I can think of for now! I’ll try and make another post this week describing some of the shenanigans I’ve been up to.

Cheerio

Birthday in Oxford

I can’t believe I’m 22!

It was a bit sad knowing this would be the first time that I wouldn’t be home seeing my friends and family on the weekend of my birthday, BUT my wonderful and amazing friends here at CMRS made my birthday one to remember!

To start the day off, my awesome roommate left me a few notes to get me in the birthday mood. Thanks again Erin! You are the best roommate I could have asked for!

After finishing my paper for my Byzantine tutorial, I was treated to a nice dinner at a local Indian restaurant called Chutney’s. The food was….there are no words to describe the deliciousness of it all. After coming back to CMRS I was quarantined in my bedroom until they were ‘ready’. At this point, I had no idea what was going on. I was a fish out of water! After a few minutes I was called into the JCR where there were homemade red velvet cupcakes lit up like….well a birthday cake! After the traditional happy birthday song we feasted on the deliciousness of Hannah’s baking and drank cider. To finish off an already perfect night, we sat around the TV and watched A Very Potter Sequel.

*Thank you Bridget, Frannie, Hannah, and Jonathan for the dinner and wonderful night that followed!*

I would like to take this moment to thank everyone at CMRS who helped make my birthday special. Even if it was a simple ‘happy birthday’ I am thankful. I really felt at home here and a sense of belonging. And also a shoutout to everyone at home who also made this birthday special. All of your well wishes meant the world to me and I appreciate every single one of them!

Highs and Lows

Since I started this blog to allow everyone a glimpse of everything that I am doing and feeling, I want to talk about the good and the bad of Oxford. I’m not sure how any of you prefer to read a combination of good and bad news so I will leave it up to you to decide. I’ll label both the best of my time here and the not so great times here and you can choose which to read first.

High

There are so many wonderful things to talk about in Oxford, but the one thing that has kept me afloat these many weeks are my friends here at CMRS. I have met some of the best people in the world here. We all are extreme academics who strive to better ourselves, but we also enjoy the occasional Dr. Who or video game to pass the time. People are always in a state of working or attempting to relax from a full day’s work and that is perfectly acceptable. No matter what mood you are in, you can find someone to be with.  I feel at home here with everyone. All of us are going through the strictest academic program we have ever faced, and we are doing it together. When one of us breaks down, there are two more to help the person up. If someone is hungry because they spent all day in the Bod, there is food in someone’s fridge for them. The community we have created here is amazing and so full of love and friendship. I’m not sure how far I could have made it without my friends here. The beauty of Oxford always amazes me as well. Sometimes I have to stop myself and remember where I am because I have grown accustomed to the sight. The City of Spires truly is an incredible site. I mean, there’s a pub around the corner that dates back to 1242! The city can be so old in terms of history, but so new in the students and knowledge it possesses. Oxford has accepted change and has thrived as a city of knowledge.  While Elmhurst is a great college, this semester in Oxford has pushed me far beyond what I did back home. This would be true if I had come from any other institution in the States anyway. The program I am in is condensing a normal 15 week semester into a mere 8 weeks. That is a lot of information to take in within a short period of time. Tutors here also work with you on writing the perfect essay (though you could never write one because nothing is perfect). I have noticed that I write some things in essays just because it sounds good together. Here, I have to support why I wrote what I wrote. I never realized how much I do this, but I now actively try to avoid it. It is only week three and I am already seeing a major improvement in my writing. Too bad I’m done with all of my classes after this semester!! But no matter what, I know this program is pushing me to test my limits and to also expand them, which I guess is a universal gift. Oxford is an amazing place to study abroad. The academics push you, but there are always extracurriculars to relieve the stress a bit. And the best prescription for a bad/stressful day is a nice walk (my favorite is the Botanic Garden). Just the other day I needed to clear my head so I hiked over to the gardens and sat on a bench for a while. While staring at the fountain for a bit, a little friend decided to join me. A duck that usually lives near/around the pond decided I was interesting enough to investigate. He came right up to me and my backpack and had a look-around. After deeming me okay he just hung around my feet for the rest of the time I was there. Hanging out with a duck may not seem like an iconic Oxford experience, but it did help me realize that I am in Oxford and I should take advantage of that.

Low

I am coming out of the second week of tutorials, which are the toughest and most rigorous classes I have ever taken. Tutors here expect my best work week after week and ALWAYS find ways for me to improve. But this is not my low, in fact, I have never enjoyed classes more than this. What hurt me was the manor in which one of my tutors treated me. I am not writing this just to complain about what has happened to me, but to also tell people the importance of standing up for yourself when you feel uncomfortable or wronged. My first Byzantium tute (British term for one of the tutorial meetings) did not go how I expected. For the entirety of my tute, my tutor consistently put me down and told me how I was incompetent in the ways of writing papers and researching history. While I welcome criticism in a constructive way, my tutor’s method of using destructive criticism did not sit well with me. I felt depressed after the meeting and broke down. The comments crowding my paper did not make it better. Most of the comments were typed in all caps and while correct, gave no advice to fix the issues. He simply stated what was wrong with my paper and left it at that. This accounts of my tute may not sound bad, but I came out of our meeting almost in tears. He gave me no advice as to how to improve and simply put me down for an hour straight. It was hard to take. Afterwards, many of my classmates attempted to help me though and asked to see the paper. After viewing it, they called my tutor unprofessional and some nasty words that I will not repeat here (but I’m sure you can imagine). Even after all this, and despite the horrible feeling in my gut, I continued my day because I was told this was the ‘Oxford life’. Eventually I went to one of my other professors who I love dearly and I like to think cares deeply for all of us. I knew she would tell me the truth, even if it would be a simple ‘that’s just how it is here’. After explaining how I felt and showing her the paper, she reacted the same way as my classmates and told me to alert my senior tutor of the issue. The next day I was sitting in the office of my senior tutor explaining all that I had explained the day before. With a simple smirk he told me “This is just how life in Oxford is for a student” and “Your tutor is simply training you to be a heavy-weight champion of essay writing”. After this speech he then highlights the criticism my tutor wrote in my paper and lectures me on how to improve my writing for this class. To finish everything off he sends me off with the song Eye of the Tiger from Rocky. To make things simple, I felt distressed after the meeting. I had been told by almost every single person I should not be taking language like this from anyone, especially my tutor. He was being a bully. I was stuck. I knew the treatment of me in the tutorial was bad, but the person in charge of my academics here did not want to help me except to tell my tutor to ‘tone it down’ if I could’t handle the Oxford life. Surprisingly enough, my tute the next week went phenomenally better. I have my suspicions that my seminar tutor found him and gave him a talking to. But even if she didn’t, he was a completely different person. He was constructive and even supporting a times. I felt as if this were an actually tutorial again. Even though this was a tough time for me I learned a few things. 1. Never be afraid to ask for help (physically or mentally). During the occasional cry session, I always had someone there to talk to me and tell me everything was going to be fine. Everyone here was supporting. 2. Stand up for yourself if you feel you have been wronged. Even if there are people around you saying ‘this is just the way things are’ you are the master of your emotions. If you felt wronged or attacked, tell someone, especially someone you trust to take care of you. I may still be fighting this battle but I know I have a great support behind me. *Never accept the notion “That’s just how it is”. If something isn’t working for you, change it. 3. Don’t let a moment or instance impede on your ability to enjoy life. I will admit that during this past week I have been in a sour mood for most of my waking hours. I have finally realized that it did nothing for me. Why should I let one guy or two guys keep me from enjoying my time here in Oxford. I’m in Oxford for Pete’s sake!!

UPDATE: A week after posting this, my tutorial took a turn for the worse. He was worse than ever with his comments and I broke down again. After coming to the realization that he did not change his ways and I was going to receive no help from the administration here, I took matters into my own hands. I met with my tutor over coffee a few days before my next tute and told him how I felt and what I would benefit from with constructive criticism. We discussed what we both expected out of each other for the rest of the term and came to an agreement. After this meeting, my tutorials have been amazing. In fact, I almost want to say it was my favorite tute since coming here! I am glad I finally stood up for myself and changed what needed to be changed because now I can proceed with the rest of the term knowing that while I may not write the perfect paper, he will be there to help me try.