Oxford, United Kingdom
Friday, January 13, 2006
Today it was actually sunny. That's right - Oxford's ceiling clears up sometimes! Yesterday was our first fully-functioning sunny day, and we had the pleasure of learning the library system in a downstairs faculty library amongst other things. The walk to the library was nice - through the University Park pictured here. Today, I ran to my first session of my English Integrative Seminar at Keble College (also pictured here). I wondered back to Wycliffe through the park and snatched these shots. It was lovely. :) I spent the rest of the day shopping down on Cornmarket street, and in a bizarre store called Argos, I bought a Casio sea-pathfinder watch that will tell me the moon phase and current tide level for any date from now til 2039. Never leave home without knowing the moon's shape and lunitidal interval, that's what I say. It has loads of other very useful features like a snooze alarm - all for a mere 20 pounds. When you enter an Argos in the future, know what to expect. You will immediately find an empty catalogue hundreds of laminated pages long
. These pages are like any detailed product catalogue ever known to man, and after choosing your poison, you write it's number down (or simply remember it if you're really good) and pay for it. Then you wait 'til your order number's called on the automated system and go to your collection station (not unlike the D.O.T. office). The teller person behind the counter prints takes your receipt, goes through a little door in the back, and your item rolls out on a little conveyor belt. The teller then takes it off the conveyor belt, unwraps/-packages it for you to inspect, and then bags it and you leave. I have since been informed that this is an East German store chain. Whatever it's origin, I can't wait 'til they come to the States because who doesn't like to see a conveyor belt when they buy something? Not this girl. :) Oh, we also had tea and watched more of British history unfold on Simon Schama's video series. Riveting.
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small world!
Hi Nicole,
This is Cindy's sister Sara, we spoke on the phone a while back. I just got an email directing me to your travellog and it's really taking me back! I can't quite remember if in my first year I lived at 8 Crick or 9 Crick but I'm pretty sure it was 8. Is that where you're living?! I remember the family we lived with as a lovely older couple and their slightly sharky son Charlie who ended up hooking up with one of the girls in the house. Surely Charlie's gone by now. Remind me of their names if this is indeed the same house and there is an older couple living upstairs with a small farmload of pets (number of yip yip dogs, cats and some birds I think).
Good to hear you're getting on well and picking up the lingo. Have you gotten a bike yet? It will help immensely. Just watch out for cobblestones, especially around the Bodleian, where I seem to remember wiping out and taking with me a largish group of French teenagers and a nun (their chaperone... she was incredibly nice about the whole thing).
Jamal's was my favorite Indian place. Is Freud's still there by any chance? That was my old haunt, spent way too much time there. Oh, for the days. Shame you won't be there for the Spring... or will you?
Well, have an incredible time, I know you will. And if there is anything at all I can help with, please don't hesitate.
Sara
Hey Sara!
Yes, of course I remember you! 8 Crick Road is now owned by SCIO, the program I'm with, but 9 Crick Road may very well be your old house. Or it could be this one and you lived here before SCIO owned it. I dunno. There's a beautiful spiral staircase descending from the second floor. And the brick is yellow rather than red. It's on the corner. I dunno what else to say.
Haven't got a bike, but I'm seriously considering it after all the walking I've done this past week. Yeah, those stones near the Bodley are wicked, aren't they? I have trouble just walking on them! Oof - rough story. Glad no one was seriously injured. :) Jamal's was so good! I'm taking Clarisse there when she comes. I'm not sure about Freud's - I'll ask around. I'll be here until April 13. Does that count as spring? Hope you are doing well in the States. Much love - Nicole
Same house! Wicked!
So, I am 99% sure it was 8 Crick. There is a reunion site for BU that lists 8 Crick as the house. Apparently BU now houses students at St. Anne's, its sister college. It sounds like there has been some renovation done on the house (spiral staircase! fancy!). I thought the brick was red when we were there, but it could have been yellow (we ARE talking 13 years ago!).
If you get a bike, go cheap. They get stolen all the time. I think I went through 5 or 6 in my 2 years. There are a ton of places that sell the used ones to students (I got mine for about 10 pounds but surely they're pricier now). Didn't know Clarisse was coming! Cool!!
I'm not sure if by April 13, Oxford will be out of its very very wet stage and into glorious Spring, but I will be wishing for it for you from across the pond. If you decide to extend your stay (if that's a possibility) and want help with that, let me know. Who are your English tutors??
All is well here, we are settling into Savannah and are attempting to finally finish this movie we've been working on! OK, I'll quit distracting you from the time of your life!
xo
Sara
I think you're right!
Interesting - I was describing 9 Crick Road: yellow brick v. the red brick of 8, spiral staircase. You passed the test that I unintentionally gave from my muddled description. :D That's so cool! My tutors are Dr. Emma Plaskitt for C.S. Lewis, and Dr. Kiernon Winn for Creative Writing. My lecturers include Prof. Deborah Cameron, Prof. Butler (a guy for 20th cent. poetry), Dr. Rajeswari Sunder Rajan for Postcolonial Lit, and Dr. Pasternak Slater for English poetry since 1950. It's so amazing here! I'm not sure about extending my stay - but I will definitely let you know if I decide to. Since Oxford doesn't offer creative writing as an available track, the only thing I would consider would be Postcolonial Lit because it pulls together my love for psych and anthropology with writing. I'm pumped about that lecture.
I like having to walk everywhere, though a bike would be helpful if I ever wanted to go in the direction of Headington... Walking let's you pop into teensy little stores and cafes without the bother of locking up your bike or accidently speeding past. But for groceries from the Sainsbury's in Westgate, a bike would be most helpful. I nearly amputated my fingers tonight!
Coolness, getting done with a movie down in Savannah. How do you like it in the South? And how's the coast?
Much love,
Nicole
Bee-zahh!
Well, that is too cool! I have many fond memories from that house. My room btw was a single on the second floor (lucked out on that one!). My room overlooked the back yard, or garden, as they called it. As I remember it was a right at the top of the stairs to get to it. I really don't remember that spiral staircase though so maybe the house is totally different now. Where is your room?
I don't think I know any of your tutors, although Pasternak Slater sounds familiar. Looks like you're doing some very interesting stuff.
I remember having the same concerns about the lack of Creative Writing curriculum. Which I think derives from the position held at Oxford that writers best learn how to write from reading other authors. And that at the undergraduate level, a person is much more a student of literature than a writer. The tutors I talked with generally trashed the Creative Writing curriculum in the States (at the undergrad level) as being too soft and lacking in discipline, which, I dunno, may be true, also may be too harsh of a critique. I never really experienced it.
I think it all depends on what you need as a writer and what type of writing you want to do. For me, I desperately needed the education I got there, as it tested and challenged and pushed me out of the lazy zone I was in at home. Also, I concentrated in Spenser and Milton, and Oxford offered the most vast resources to me for those two.
I remember not so fondly the deep digging gouges by thin plastic on fingers the shade of scarlet-purple coming back from Sainsbury's (as well as kicking myself over buying too many canned goods... and why didn't I have the presence of mind to bring the backpack (rucksack) on this trip?!). Alas, if you're only there for a short time, you can stick it out without a bike (which at times can make the grocery trip even harder, unless you're really good at balancing shopping bags off of handlebars). I was doing a lot of other stuff that required a mode of transport.
I love the beauty and intimacy of the South, its warmth and its (oh I guess I'll say it) 'charm'. We picked Savannah because Graham went to school here (Savannah College of Art and Design) and we thought it might be a good base for him to make films from. There are aspects of Savannah that I love - in many ways it is an artists' town - but sadly right now the prevailiing distinction Savannah has is its crime problem. There have been a lot of shootings of late and there is a pretty thick racial divide here. I'd like to say I think things might change, but Savannah seems stuck on staying the same. So, I dunno.
The coast I haven't experienced so much of yet. We have been to Tybee and some of the islands around here and around Charleston. I think I liked the islands around Charleston best - the giant live oaks and the feeling you have that you're so far away from anywhere. I need to find a spot where I can go to just stare out at the ocean.
So, this is ending up quite long and I don't want you to waste any more precious time reading my ramble, so I'm going to sign off. Before I do though, I want you to know that I am making a note to tune into Ellen (love her!) on the 26th in the hopes that she'll mention you and your bottle of Plymouth gin!!! ; )
Lots of love,
Sara
Awww!
Yea! That's so cool. I live in the basement over(under?)looking the street. I'm gonna have to sneak into some of the guys rooms to take pictures of your old room! :D Are we talking British second floor or American? The spiral stairs are on 9 Crick Rd. (not ours - we aren't that shmancy, as I'm sure you recall ;). Isn't the kitchen awesome?! I love it.
Re: cycles - I'm amazed to see people riding one-handed talking on cell phones (mobiles)! Quite skilled, these Brits. And they are so sneaky - I've nearly been run over at least twice. Cars are easy to spot, but those bikes don't grab my attention so much. Eh.
Graham graduated from SCAD, huh? I have a friend who's studying Industrial Design there right now. Lucas something or other (like you know him :D. I'm totally gonna have to visit sometime (pending your thumbs up, of course). Nashville's not all that far away. If you ever want to see Music City, I'll be your tour guide. My best friend/sister separated from birth lived in/near Charleston, SC for a while. She loves it there. I may just have to do a huge tour of the states after I graduate, visiting everyone I know from this program and elsewhere.
Yes! Thanks for watching Ellen for me! I love her to death, and I really hope it arrived at least. I did a really horrific packing job (the gin weighed down one side of it completely, but I did bubble wrap it like no other). There's some other stuff in there too. Anyways... yes, I'm having a blast. And I feel like I'm only talking about me. That's the weirdest thing about e-communication... Right. Off to uploading pictures from London.
Re: Awww!
Btw - Lindz isn't really my sister separated from birth. I thought I'd clarify before any Jerry Springer questions arose in your mind :D