Why I have not been making blog posts recently

My legions of regular blog readers might wonder why I haven't written much recently.  Welcome to the Oxford tutorial system!

At Oxford, lectures are optional.  Instead, the bulk of the teaching is done in "tutorials", one on one sessions between student and professor.  The student prepares a paper in response to a question, and then presents it to the professor.  Here's how my first tutorial went --

Me: *starts reading paper*
I get through my introduction up to my thesis
Prof: You're wrong.
*we argue for an hour*
Prof: Ok, great job, see you next week.
Me: Um... do you want to see my paper?
Prof: Nah.

Interestingly, this sort of system forces you to learn way more about your topic than you would ever put in a paper.  I end up referencing all sorts of random stuff I've come across in my research which happen to come up in discussion.  Discussions feel slightly absurd, since the professor is an expert in the field and you're some random kid.  In that first tutorial, I was 100% convinced I was wrong within 10 minutes.

The tutorial system causes Oxford to segment its calendar in an unusual way.  There are 8 weeks in a term, and all events are referred to based on the week.  A sample poster for an event would be "classical flute concert, 7PM Wednesday 5th week".  The problem with this heavily segmented week system is that there are eight weeks per term and I have twelve tutorials per term.  So half the time, I have two tutorials per week, and half the time I only have one.  A one tutorial week is less work than I have back home, but a two tutorial week is BLUUGH DEATH BLUUGH.  I have two two-tutorial weeks in a row, and it's really more like two and a half.  I have one tutorial on Monday and one on Thursday, so I have to go thurs-mon-thurs-mon-thurs with no break.

I really like how the system forces students to read a lot.  Today for example, I was reading about Henry Morgenthau, Treasury Secretary under FDR.  Neither of my classes is really about this guy at all, or even all that related.  Yet because of the amount of wide ranging reading that is mandatory for classes, he keeps coming up in various contexts, which I think illustrates how learning at Oxford is more multi-faceted than I expected.

Pictures of various university buildings

Turns out I'm too lazy to borrow people's cameras and actually take pictures, so I'm just gonna steal facebook pics from people who aren't too lazy.


Classes just started.  Oxford operates on a "tutorial" system, where students meet with professors one-on-one once a week with a paper.  The professor then critiques the paper.  I'm taking two tutorial classes this term, with my first paper due Monday.  The reading list for that paper was 32 books long (!), but hopefully it turns out ok.

Anyway, on a less stressful note the campus is absolutely gorgeous, so on to some pictures!

Not even sure what building this is to be honest, or what college it is part of.  Oxford is divided into 38 colleges that are all quite independent -- for example, as a member of new college I can't use the facilities of any of the other colleges, including their libraries.  This has made finding books rather annoying.

 

 Yeah, the whole place looks like this.

Lots of US colleges claim to look like castles.  First, after seeing Oxford those claims seem like jokes.  Second, the interiors of those sorts of buildings are never like castles.  In Oxford, you get the complete medieval experience, inside and out.  If I ever get pictures of New College, it looks even more medieval, with cloisters and whatnot.  The dining hall has huge portraits on the walls.  Also, dining halls have traditional seating, with long tables.  No cafe style seating with groups of four to a table -- here professors sit at high table, looking down at lines of students.  Who wear academic gowns to dinner.

 Half of the stuff here seems like it should be a museum.  There are lots of tourists who are charged admission to get access to rooms where I'll just be chilling, reading a book.

 One of the buildings of the main library at Oxford, the Bodleian library (at least, I'm pretty sure this building is one of the Bodleian buildings.  Interestingly, underground this building (where most of the books are), it looks like a modern office building, which is something of a jarring contrast to the exterior.

 One more picture.

First days in Oxford

Hi guys, time for my first real blog post!

Oxford is fantastic (easy for me to say, since classes haven't started yet).  It is a city which I think everyone should visit at least once.  The architecture is absolutely spectacular, since the city has never been attacked.  Eveyone walks or bikes, and the streets are lined with old buildings holding cafes, bookstores, random specialty shops, etc.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some pictures of the city.  Actually, most of the pictures are of my apartment which is substantially less cool, but whatever.

 

51 Walton Crescent, where I am living.   It's a fantastic apartment a short walk away from the city center.

 

My room, which is unsurprisingly a mess.

 

View from my window.

 

The common room downstairs.  We also have a kitchen, with a dishwasher, washing machine, and dryer.  Really nice.

  

I believe this is St. Giles street.  Oxford has random spectacular architecture everywhere, but all of the ordinary buildings look old as well.

  

Walking towards Cornmarket street.  Notice how many people are there.

Since it was a weekend there were random street performers in the afternoon.  This guy was pretty baller.

Also live music as you walk down the street.  They were actually really good.

And this is what the university looks like.  Just to get you excited for my next set of pictures, which will be pictures of Hogwarts Oxford university.