One week from today I will have handed in my dissertation and I will have a few weeks left as a Master's student at Oxford. I have my alumni card already and several emails telling me what to do next. They are even helping me find a job if I would like. I'm still not sure what is going to happen after July. For now, I am very excited to get to go home and see my family. I'm also excited to go to sleep and not have my alarm set, get up and then take a nap.
Right now I'm in Duke Humphrey's library, my favorite spot inside spot in all of Oxford. (I have several favorite spots outside.) Above me is a portrait of Elizabeth I from 1571 and a beautiful bride in her wedding dress just walked by outside between the Divinity Schools and the Sheldonian. I think they rent the Divinity Schools out for wedding receptions. I have a pile of books on both sides of my computer, a hard copy of my paper with my notes tearing it up spread out in disarray and the huge books that make up part of the special collections are in front of me on shelves that remind me "Please do not touch these books." A friend of mine tried once and an alarm went off, libraries here don't joke.
So yesterday I went on a road trip, it was very random, but three friends from Keble and I went to Wales to see Caerphilly Castle. Its the largest castle in Wales and second largest in England. The funniest thing about the trip was trying to read the road signs once we were actually in Wales. You see, Welsh is a very strange language. It uses Roman letters but the pronunciation matches nothing in English at all. Welcome to Wales is Croeso i Gymru. Oh, if you've ever heard of or read the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander then you probably already knew this but Prydain is Britain in Welsh. Makes sense because of Alexander's love of Welsh legends and King Arthur. (Arthur was supposed to have come from Wales, the Welsh dragon and all.)
I need to get back to work. If I can work for another two hours then I get to go on a run. Exciting life is the life I lead. Oh, this is fun news, I'm on a girls basketball team here, closely associated with Magdalene College but with girls from a couple colleges. We played our first game last Thursday and we won, quite handily. There are a few more games and then we start in the finals for cuppers. I don't really know what that means, I think its Oxford speak for tournament. Anyway, I'll see ya soon.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Monday, May 6, 2013
May Has Arrived
I will post some pictures soon, the flowers here an indescribable. I walk outside and I'm greeted by waves of scents from the flowering trees nearby and the flowers planted near the front door of Acland. University Parks is covered with blossoms and unfurling leaves and riotous profusions of colour and petals. Oh its beautiful. I start running and I never make it terribly far before I stop and smell a flower or look at some of the petals.
Trinity term is well underway. This is already third week and I'm hard at work on my dissertation, immersed in books on literary patronage, translations and writing of history in Elizabethan England. The further I get into the work the more interesting it becomes. It is a view of communication and examining how and why authors would communicate in the way they did. At the same time its also a lesson in citing early printed books and the mechanics and details of writing academic papers. There is a lot more to it than just writing a good paper. Citations must be correct, abbreviations for the main texts need to be clear, primary sources, printed early material, secondary sources must all be correctly ordered in the bibliography. But it really is interesting. I'm also continuing with French and Latin and this is very interesting as well, I've been learning so much about communication in other languages and seeing the strengths and weaknesses of language.
Other than many hours in the library I've been running and I play basketball for Keble College. I've been reading Alexander Pushkin lately and enjoying Shakespeare alongside the Thames in Christ Church Meadow. The Rotary Club of Ascot invited the Oxfordshire Scholars to a day at the races last week and I had the opportunity to give my presentation on Kansas at their meeting later that day. The races were so amazing, the horses there are absolutely exquisite. We also had an absolutely beautiful day, blue skies and little wind, it was such a wonderful experience.
I can't believe I will be finishing up my degree within two months. Its been a crazy eight months, passing by so quickly, I've learned so much, academically and personally. It has been an honour to be a part of Rotary throughout this year.
Trinity term is well underway. This is already third week and I'm hard at work on my dissertation, immersed in books on literary patronage, translations and writing of history in Elizabethan England. The further I get into the work the more interesting it becomes. It is a view of communication and examining how and why authors would communicate in the way they did. At the same time its also a lesson in citing early printed books and the mechanics and details of writing academic papers. There is a lot more to it than just writing a good paper. Citations must be correct, abbreviations for the main texts need to be clear, primary sources, printed early material, secondary sources must all be correctly ordered in the bibliography. But it really is interesting. I'm also continuing with French and Latin and this is very interesting as well, I've been learning so much about communication in other languages and seeing the strengths and weaknesses of language.
Other than many hours in the library I've been running and I play basketball for Keble College. I've been reading Alexander Pushkin lately and enjoying Shakespeare alongside the Thames in Christ Church Meadow. The Rotary Club of Ascot invited the Oxfordshire Scholars to a day at the races last week and I had the opportunity to give my presentation on Kansas at their meeting later that day. The races were so amazing, the horses there are absolutely exquisite. We also had an absolutely beautiful day, blue skies and little wind, it was such a wonderful experience.
I can't believe I will be finishing up my degree within two months. Its been a crazy eight months, passing by so quickly, I've learned so much, academically and personally. It has been an honour to be a part of Rotary throughout this year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)