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.