Churchgoing: ST. Ebbes
Sunday January 21
I attended St. Ebbs church with the girls from my house. It was in an extremely old church but the service was pretty contemporary. They served a student lunch afterwards which was a great thing and the speaker opened up for questions of the sermon. I thought that was an interesting idea. The service reminded me very much of Hillcrest...minus clapping. Everyone was very friendly.
Sunday Night Dinner Guests
Sunday night we had guests over to Stanley...one of the guys explained to me how heritage
works here...all of his family had been to Cambridge and as the eldest grandson there were certain duties attached that he was expected to follow in...He wore a ring that signified that role complete with his family coat of arms. He could trace the family back to the war of the roses...which was one of the symbols on the coat of arms. I just can't even imagine knowing my family history to that extent. It was interesting hearing him describe how becoming a Christian changed his entire perspective of himself and his role in the family...because now devotion to God trumped devotion to his grandfather...and where Eaton College (the school that prince william and harry also attended) taught him he was the best thing since sliced bread, being a follower of Christ made him realize otherwise.
Monday January 22
I read virtually all day but felt like accomplished nothing. I realize that every week will be very similar in this reading/writing thing.
My First Lecture: About time I showed up for class
Tuesday January 23
Well, my first completed month as a 21 year old has been quite exciting to say the least!
One of the advantages to going to school here is attending lectures by some of the most brilliant minds in the world. G.A. Cohen taught my lecture at All Souls College. He is also the author of a few of the books I have had to read for my classes already. The lecture was jam packed with people from many other colleges. We crammed into the tiny "old library" room...which was very ornately decorated with images of crests on both the wall and ceilings. Little details like that make Oxford such a beautiful place.
Dr. Cohen was a witty man....the lecture was an overview of the introduction from his latest book "Distributive Justice" which has not yet been put in print. Unlike my usual lectures, where I rarely can distinguish the exact view of my professor who is teaching me to think for my self based on all points of view....Cohen taught from his own writing...pitting his view against John Rawls...who is another well known political philosopher of today...and whose writing I am becoming well acquainted with lately...So instead of deciding which opinion of many I agree with during the lecture...I have to decided whether or not I agree with the speaker himself! Which is very difficult when he's presenting very well thought research. It's an interesting experience to say the least.
The Great LOCK OUT Disaster
Wednesday January 24th
I decided to stay in to work on my paper...which went well until about 10pm when I locked myself out of my room. Now, the house has a master key, but remember that this situation involved ME , and any unusual disaster that can happen to me does.
See, earlier Kristie had me use the key to go to her room and check to see if she left her straightener on. So when I was finished I just put it on my desk to take back downstairs later. Unfortunately, I forgot to do this when leaving my room...and I also forgot to unlock the door. Great. And my paper was due in less than 24 hours.
So after unsuccessfully trying to pick the lock with a hair pin...and Taylor and Tyler's valiant attempts to break the door down and unjar my window...I consented to stay in a upstairs bedroom and get in touch with people back home. No reason to panic, there was nothing I could do to change the situation. I could only hope that the college would have a key to help me with the next day.
I planned on sleeping, but I was too nervous, so despite my attempts to start the paper early, I ended up staying up all night yet again trying to outline my paper without access to any sources.
Thursday January 25 : A Frantic Day
When 8 am finally rolled around, I tried unsucessfully to call school. I don't get the phone system here yet at all. Apparently I need some kind of pin number. The only option left was to go to school...so I borrowed Ryan's bike and made my first bike ride to school...Kristie graciously let me borrow some of her clothing and gloves..since I had been in my pj's when I was locked out..and didn't think this would be good for bike riding.
Riding a bike here is an experience. Cars just zip in and out everywhere....not to mention I'm on the opposite side of the road as I am in America...but it was so nice to make the trip in 15 minutes.
By the time I arrived at college, however, I think my fingers were frozen to the handle bars...unfortunately Kristies gloves didin't have fingers...and I hadn't thought would this would mean for me on my journey..
The office didn't open until 9 (everything seems to be an hour later here...lunch at 1, dinner at 7)
So I just went to breakfast...I figured, again, just because I'm going to worry doesn't mean I have to go hungry while doing it. I had a nice chat with Michael from London. He's originally from Nigeria, and he's doing Political Science and Econ...so we can talk about liberty. :)
I saw Bob, the mainenance guy, who gave me a key and I was on my way! So, at about 10:30 with about 6 hours to go I was going to start writing this paper on no sleep. Some time I need to work on getting a better system implemented for this school thing. At least I had read for 4 days straight.
I pushed my time to the limit and left the house only 15 minutes before dinner...now, if you remember my explanation of how the eating goes, I can't be too late or I don't get served....I didn't have a bike...so I proceeded to just run the 2 miles to college. You know, put that 9 years of cross country to use. You can imagine what this looked like, so I won't go into detail. The important thing is, I was able to eat that night.
I was a sight walking to formal in my brown fancy dress, complete with a black winter coat and walking boots!! Don't worry, I carried extra shoes...I was hoping I would just look "artsy" or something. I'm not sure I really pulled it off.
A view of the dining hall, all dressed up!
Chatting it up with Rhys from Wales(pronounced Reese) and Dan.
Sharing a Laugh
What fun!
A picture I took from the bus....so many people just wating to cross the street!!
Dr. Taul was a great help with taking pictures.......
He had to sit on the ground to get this one!
It was a long day, but memorable. I look forward to making my way back and actually getting to see things more up close now that I know where everything is.
