If Only Everyday were like Today

Tuesday, May 22nd

This has been one of my favorite days in Oxford.

I had my 5th Trinity term tutorial this morning. It went pretty well becuase I worked harder on this one - It amazing how much I feel I learn in just one tutorial session. I guess having someone holding me directly accountable to explain what I've learned makes a huge difference.

After this I headed back to Regent's, where I met my housemate Jonny and we went to get lunch from a sandwhich place. I generally don't eat outside of college but today we planned to go Punting instead of lunch since it was Tyler's last day with us. So next we headed to the river for punting!!

Punting is something very unique and popular in Oxford... the boat is sort of like a Gondola, it sits low in the water and someone stands in up on the back of it to steer with a giant pole. I have to mention here that today was absolutely gorgeous in every way. Just warm enough to feel like summer...just breezy enough to be comfortable....and the most beautiful clouds! It made for a perfect time on the river. After working so much the past days, I just loved laying there in the boat and soaking it it. Tiny white gosling feathers covered the water and floated all around in the air. I don't know where they came from really...it almost seemed like it was snowing....it was really beautiful though.

After punting, I headed off for a walk around Oxford. I stopped in Merton College just to have a peek since I haven't been there yet. In the back there was the most massive tree covering the yard. I tood several photographs because it was so breathtaking. I found myself wanting to climb it. It has been so long since I've climbed a tree. I visited the college chapel then headed on for a walk through Christ Church gardens. This was my first time walking through the long path of gigantic trees. I just imagined how many people have enjoyed this same walk. It follows right along a pasture and offers the perfect view of the University from a distance. I found myself stopping by the river. Usually when I come to the head of the river it is for rowing practice. This time I was able to stop and lay in the sun for a while. I fell asleep in the grass listening to the rowing cox's leading their crews on the river.

When I woke up it was just about 5- and time to hear the McCandles lecture presented by Dr. Ward. Dr. Ward is one of my philosophy professors at Georgetown College. His lecture concerned different ideas of conversion as contested by two well known theologians. It is always nice to have visitors from Georgetown come. After dinner Tyler, Kristie, and I went with Dr. Ward to the Turf Tavern pub for some good catching up.

I took the passage through Queens lane on the way home, which is sort of dark and scary in the romanticized Oxford way. It was one of the few times on bike that I've been able to view all the stars behind the "dreaming spires" of the colleges. It is a beautiful spring night in Oxford.

Something Different

I wish this layout attached the date to my blog entries...and I like the background too much to change it so i guess I'll just have to write it myself.

May 19th!....well, in america...here it is 1:17 on May 20th...

either way, I'm exactly one month out from returning to the states. A scary thought really. so i'm going to put off thinking about it.

Today Alanna woke me to go play Rounders witht the Regent's students. It was a form of softball except the ball was very tiny, the bat was tiny, the field was tiny, and you only hit with one hand. The rules of this game were nothing like I've ever experienced. Apparently you run even if you don't hit the ball.....a very good thing for me. So after the ball has been thrown 20 times however many "rounders" you've gotten (which is someone gets all the way around) is your score. They don't have bases either...instead there are skinny poles shooting up from the ground that I wanted very much to hang on to as I ran past.

The sky was perfect. The temperature was just great...and it was just a great something different to try out. We played the girls from Christ Church college just for fun, i think they beat us but I don't guess I paid very close attention...mainly I just ran when people told me too. It was fun.

This evening I had dinner with Ula. She is my Polish friend who lives in Italy. She made Ragout (pasta and bolognese sauce) for us and shared some of her amazing Jasmine tea with me. She uses real tea leaves, so I was impressed...

After dinner we went to the Natural Science / Pitt Rivers Museum for a night event called "In a Different Light"....The highlight was watching Tibetan Monks do a dance and a prayer chant. I've never seen anything like it and their clothes were just amazingly ornate and their hats were huge! As I obviously am having a hard time describing this well, I've just included pictures....and here's an article from the Oxford website

Blah.

I have not felt like writing.

anything.

For an academic program that revolves around weekly essays and little more- this is not a good thing. Nor is it good for a blog site which can't exist unless I do something worth writing about. I've have tried to analyze myself - and respond accordingly, but nothing I've rationalized seems to make me feel like doing anything. I could be lazy. I could be a bit burned out. I could just be uninterested-or interested in other things. I could be homesick. I could just be ready to move to whatever is suppose to come next......Or I could just blame it all on the weather...it has been raining for a week now.

For the sake of the value of my last four weeks...and for this blog, lets hope that I become motivated to do SOMETHING. otherwise I will have to resort to talking about the weather some more i guess......


It's not that I'm not getting the work done. I am. But I'm not working nearly as intensely as I did last term. And because International relations is very specific in terms of historical events, it is not good for me to come to a tutorial just not knowing things. This is what happened last Tuesday. My topic was NATO. I read everything Lee told me to. I understood the concepts and the challenges.....but when it came to writing the essay I just didn't get the answer right. I tried to look more broadly and theoretically as he suggested...and instead I turned out far too broad and still missing the theory part altogether.

Now, I have decided to do better this week....but like I said, I feel as though I 've lost most of my interest in working on it altogether. I know that this has to be my perfectionism creeping in again. It has to be. I'm afraid that if I work the amount that I would to try to get it right....I may still get it wrong....and no matter what there is no way I'm going to know all that I should to just pop off examples that Lee is looking for in the tutorial. This subject is getting as hard as I will let it become....and at times like this I wish there were some moderation about me. At least then I could half way try. Instead I know that I will continue to just completely slack....or I'm going to obsess over my essay for a full 6 days and still stress over it when its done. I thought I had achieved some sort of balance...but I realize now I was just relying on my previous knowledge of the topic to allow me to work less...now the material is relatively unfamiliar...and I seem to be backing down. Probably doesn't make for the most intriguing blog subject. But I feel as though I need to recognize my need to get with the program before I get to the end and wonder why I wasted the time.

Right. It's only worth as much as I'm willing to work on it.

So, in an attempt for inspiration I attended the Elizabeth Colson lecture last evening associated with the Center for Refugee Studies. Mark Duffield presented a talk on Development Emergency...or rather the emergencies that occur with underdevelopment. Duffield was an Oxfam Representative in Sudan in the late 80's and is now at the University of Bristol. The talk was interesting enough...but what I love the most is the response of the people in the room. This lecture isn't a typical weekly lecture for students. Its more of a special event catering to researchers who have been working on these topics for ages. The dialogue going on between Duffield and the adults presents was really above my level of understanding most of the time. The crowd, even though they agreed with some of his work, were just incredibly harsh on an level that could only be witnessed in such scholarly settings.... The critiques when beyond basic "left vs. right wing" debate to a this theoretical analysis of what his arguments for development contained....and I wondered how nerve racking it must be to deliver a lecture to people who have been involved in this research to an equal extent. Of course this seemed to be no trouble for the speaker. One of the men in the crowd was part of the Tsunami response evaluation committee so he felt the need to bring that to the table...and others in the room would bring their own research into their challenges to Marks' paper as well. Most of it was beyond anything I could really understand fully, but I found the dialogue fascinating and also a reminder of just how much I don't know about the topic I am to major in.

Political studies just offers endless topics for debate.....and whats truly interesting to me is that the issues of real significance seem to be locked away in rooms of these lectures cared for only by scholars and researchers in the field. Not that the big issues we get hung up on for voting aren't important...I think its just interesting to see what becomes priority when shaping political choices in general. Because the truth is that the idea of "development" would not even cross my mind were I not studying politics -well, aside from the realization that poverty exists. Beyond that, everything I know politically would still circle around healthcare, taxes, etc. I hate that I don't have an opinion on some of the topics I'm convering becuase I never have have been challenged to consider the issue. Development is just one of these. Even though I study politics, I generally don't blog about it basically because most people find it boring or just have a very solid opinion about it anyway... I have to admit that I find most of the popular debates overdone between people who aren't going to compromise anyhow. But beyond abortion, and the death penalty, and gun laws and all of these topics that it seem to ground the political perspectives of most people I have met....there are some issues that are more than relevant and demand more attention than simply the debates of well-experienced scholars using jargon that prevents a simple mind like mine from taking part in the discussion.....

Why was I a junior in college before I grasped the reality of human trafficking? Why can I not understand the intricacies of a debate on facilitating or giving up on development as a response to the third world?

Okay, well now that I have succeeded in boring myself in a political discussion that I promised never to have on my blog.......i can get back to the business of reading for my next question "Why is Security such a Contested Concept?".

hmm...i didn't realize it was.

just kidding.

Dahby Day

Derby Day just isn't the same in England. I heard the queen even left and went to Kentucky to join in the excitement. But I didn't miss out on all the fun. No, because my friend Celia had her birthday party last Saturday...which I considered to be a Cinco de Mayo/Derby/Birthday celebration.

While I may not come home with an English accent, I have learned a thing or two about words while I've been here...for starters it is the Kentucky "DAHby".....Kristie and I tried to explain that the correct term is Derby...but it all just came out Deerrrrby when Celia was repeating it..and I have agreed that the "ah" sounded much better than all that...

Our friend Sarah hosted the BBQ at her house. It was my first bbq while I've been here and it was Celia's first birthday BBQ -so an exciting time for all. The food was amazing, of course..and I ate until I was miserable. We had KousKous with our grilled chicken, hamburges, and suasage...and I've wondered why we don't have kouskous in the states...it is pretty good if it is cook right.

I always love going to Sarah's house. First, I love hearing her tell of south africa. Second, I love being in an actual home everynow and then.

The day was absolutely perfect for a dahby. We spent all of our time outside in the sun in Sarahs backyard/garden. She has a little greenhouse that I thought was just amazing. And I've decided that I want a little green house in my backyard one day.

Also, we played croquet! This seems to be a very Oxford thing as Regent's has croquet set up in the quad all of the time now. I remember playing on an old set when I was really young-but I truly can't remember the rules- none of us were really great at is so we just spent most of the time taking pictures.......yeah, check them out

It was a nice saturday all around. Cinco de Dahbirthday. sure.

MayDay Madness

View my MayDay Photo Album

Do people actually celebrate may day?

Well, at Oxford university they do. It is a huge tradition here at 6 am for everyone in Oxford to gather in front of Magdalen College to listen to the boys choir sing and bring in the spring with a little bit of liturgy.

No, students don't wake up at the crack of dawn for this tradition. Actually, they stay out all night at their formal balls, bops, or other parties - and stammer on to Magdelen bridge still decked out in tuxes , gowns, and highheels from the night before. The stanley road housemates were not part of this crew- we actually woke up around 4:30 am to cycle to the city center for the grand event. Aside from my few 6am rowing practices, this was the earliest I had ventured outside as the starting of the day rather than an end to it-

The street was packed full of students and adults alike. It was a beautiful morning for a May Day celebration, but I couldn't believe the number of people that had stayed awake all night for it. Alli and I somehow got behind Matt, Taylor and Tyler to the point where we couldn't find them anymore- but we managed to find a spot to stand directly infront of the tower to hear the singing.

The singing was nice, but short. I could tell many of the students had never been as they seemed a bit dissappointed that the church hadn't shot off fireworks or done something more bizarre than a modest scripture reading and few songs. I guess the hype with this event is really about what happens afterwards. Apparently students in past years have just haul themselves off of Magdalen bridge into the river below-which is not too high this time of year. Because of the enourmous amount of injuries in the past, police have to close down the bridge to protect the students from....themselves.....

Photo from this year's event- bbc

(read a 2005 article on it here. Crazy Stuff.)

I can't imagine why anyone would continue jump off a bridge when people are obviously breaking legs and scraping themselves up...It gives a new perspective on that whole "jumping off a bridge if your friend does" analogy....it seems Oxford students will at least say yes for the sake of May Day.


Oxford students, as expected, are not to be underestimated. The tradition of bridge jumping continued this year by a faithful few who just waited until the police had gone.....


Aside from the early morning excitement, I witnessed some strange singing groups dressed in green.....drummers on the street....and a fire juggling guy dressed as a jester...

I had to get on to my tutorial though, so I couldn't stay around for all the festivities. My meeting last Tuesday went pretty well again. This week we discussed Neoliberalism and Constructivist theories- nothing to get to excited about as far as my blogging is concerned. I celebrated the end of another week with my first visit to the Westgate Mall.



I wasn't excited enough to jump off any bridges or anything.

Black Coffee

Oxford has fastforwarded my life by 10 years.

This is the conclusion Kristie and I have reached as we begin our final month of life in England. First of all, we have each embarked on a new series of cooking experiences. While left to my own resources over break, I moved from the reliable pasta dish to discover the endless possibilities of a potato. I guess that isn't so noteworthy. But then I made a casserole. And I found myself spending half of my day looking up recipes and cooking...and the other half enjoying whatever creations Kristie and I came up with. While the end of break has left me with much less motivation for getting too creative with food- I still find myself getting excited over figuring out a new use for my block of cheddar or that long grain white rice .....

I'm jealous of Kristie. She studies Art history- so instead of spending an afternoon cooped in a library she gets to look at stained glass windows in some of the colleges around her. She also only has 4 essays due this term-the rest of her tutorials being a more hands on art experience with her tutor- like a visit to Christ Church. I've decided I'm an easily influenced person as her relaxed nature is rubbing off on me- and for some reason I feel like I can just spend a day lazily chatting it up with K-dog (this is my new title for her) in the coffee shop or on some random field trip we decide to make.

Last Thursday we couldn't decide what to do- so instead of reading we baked Peanut Butter Cookies. We found a recipe for these cookies which only required three ingredients! That's right. Not only are we solving our motivation issues by eating- but we have reached the stage of life were the excitement is more in the act of cooking.

Another day we visited the Christ Chruch dining hall (the same dining Hall used for the Harry Potter movies) We've been waiting a while to do this so were thrilled to go inside and check out all the dining perks of the Christ Chruch students. It was incredibly impressive. They have lamps going down the tables, proper place mats with menus printed on them- and they even have juice!!- not just water.

Now, all of this may not seem to justify my feeling older than I should. Anyone can bake a casserole if they are hungry enough. And most college students will find some way to put off work. (Like right now, I'm blogging) But the kicker comes in the things that are completely contrary to anything that seems to identify me as Jennifer Martin.

1. I drank black coffee the other day, not to stay awake, just because I simply didn't bother to add milk or sugar. Black coffee is something I did not envision myself EVER consuming. And if I were to drink it, I certainly would have to be thirty with a regular career demanding a caffeine fix each morning. Kristie has also confessed to this.

2. I have consistently felt the need to go to bed before 10 pm for more than a couple of weeks now. I cannot discuss this any further as the shock of it alone may have already sent many of my past room mates into fits of worry over me.

3. I take multi-vitamins. (Kristie steals hers from Tyler)

4. The whole booking flights and just up and going to Paris for the weekend or hopping on a bus to London still freaks me out. I keep wondering if I would let my daughter do that at my age if I have one-and I keep thinking there is no way I would trust for things to work out for this person that doesn't even exist. What's even more strange is that everything with our travel plans have worked out. We didn't get mugged or pick pocketed or anything crazy. The hostels actually existed. And we visited a TON of museums, cathedrals, and the best art in the world. One day when I get around to blogging about Paris you will realize how nerdy Kristie and I really are. Anyhow, basically the entire travel bit makes me wonder how my parents stood not knowing where I was half of the time for 5 weeks.

5. I have noticed that I've encountered fewer disasters as of late that would normally result from my scattered mind. Either I'm just not getting out enough for things to happen...or I may actually be getting some form of ordered system going on. Now that Ive said this who knows what will come up.


Okay, well, this is all for now on the matter of my behavior that should place me well beyond the age of 21. All is not lost- one thing I have not out grown is my outstanding procratination ability. Of course, the fact that I condsider writing a grand alternative to ...well, writing....that is just another issue in itself.

Spring is My Favorite

I finally got some pictures together of Spring time at Regent's Park college.

Click Here if you would rather look at pictures of spring than do work.