Tutorials!

I have either one or two tutorials a week.  "Tutorials" are one-on-one classes with a professor.  The professor assigns a (huge) reading list the week before, and I write a paper during the week.  We then discuss it at the tutorial.

One of my tutorials is at Christ Church, perhaps the most famous of all the Oxford Colleges.  It's also the most touristy, and visitors are not allowed to go through the main gate.

I don't actually like Christ Church that much.  I think a lot of other colleges look much nicer, and seem less stuffy, but whatever.

 

 Christ Church has a large main quad.  That's the entrance from the previous photo.

 Another view of the Quad, this time taken from the entrance.

You can't see it, but there's an arch on the right side, at the corner of the quad.  I go through that to get to my tutorial.

Up a flight of stairs is the Christ Church dining hall.  Tourists everywhere.

I'm actually eating a formal dinner here tonight.  (No idea why the pictures came out so blurry, but oh well)

Notice that there is a lot of silverware on these tables.  Seems to be about 5 implements per seat.  These pictures were taken just after lunch, so they're probably setting up for dinner (which comes before formal dinner).  There are also "guest dinners" which are even more formal than formal dinner.  I'm guessing that there could be up to 9 pieces of silverware at the dinner tonight.

That's the arch I go through.  View from the upper level balcony.

I go through the arch, but  those stairs lead to the dining hall, not my tutorial.  Normally I go this way.

Turn right into this courtyard.

Then go through this passageway.

To the meadow buildings.  They're kinda in need of renovation...

Here's my professors office (she didn't want a picture taken).  Notice that offices are much friendlier here.  You can see clothes and stuff everywhere, because it seems professors half-live in their offices.  This professor didn't want her picture taken.

Where I sit.

My other tutorial is actually held at the professors house, not in a college.

And here it is.

He has a special room for talking with students.  Bookcases are rather intimidating.

Where I sit.

Professor Holmes looking like a baller.

Burnout

Hoooly shit it's almost seventh week already.  This has been an insanely fast term.

During program orientation, we were told that the term would seem to go by incredibly quickly, and it has.  We were also told that we would feel totally exhausted by the end of it, which also seems certain to come true.  There's actually a phenomenon called "fifth week blues" at Oxford, because students are tired of work but there's still almost half a term to go.  I know I had a pretty crappy fifth week, and a bunch of other people did too.

The frustrating part about work at Oxford is that you do the same thing every day.  I get up at noon or so, eat, go to the library, and read until I'm too hungry or bored or tired to continue.  Then I come home, make dinner, and depending on the day do something afterwards (write, drink, go back to library, or miscellaneous).  It's actually pretty funny how many humanities majors in the program want to take math classes next semester at their home universities, just so they have a break from reading all day.  Also, I think I've developed Stockholm Syndrome with the social science library, which is a little troubling.

Fortunately, when I'm reading about something I'm genuinely really interested in or passionate about, I don't get bored at all (although I am less productive, since all I want to read about is that topic, not whatever my essay is actually about).

Also, I'm more convinced than ever that the study of how the internet is affecting society is ridiculously under examined topic in academia.  At this point, I've read 75% of the authors cited in most books relating to the topic.  I visited the Oxford Internet Institute, and it's tiny.  Although it seems fantastic.  I was listening in to the conversation of some grad students there about Google's new enhanced reality glasses and they seemed like exactly the type of people I enjoy hanging out with.

I don't want this blog post to come across as too negative -- this has been a really enjoyable and valuable experience.  But I am really glad that I'm getting a break in two weeks.

New College!

Oxford is not as homogeneous as most universities.  Instead, it is split into 38 colleges, each with their own dining facility, housing, library, and traditions.  I am a member of New College.  The decentralized system can actually be a major hassle, since I don't have access to any of the other college libraries and the quality of food at the New College dining hall is mediocre at best.

Somewhat counter-intuitively, New College is actually one of the oldest colleges, founded in the 14th century.  I took plenty of pictures this time :D

This is what New College looks like from Holywell St. 

And here's the entrance to New College.  Except...

These buildings were actually built "recently" to house freshmen.  The actual college through the gate is largely invisible from the street.

Holy shit it's a fucking castle.

The old part of New College (i.e. almost the whole college) is surrounded by walls.  These were clearly not built as decoration.  They look like extremely serious fortifications.

There are arrow slits and stuff in the towers.

New College also has an extensive set of grounds.  In the middle there is "the mound".  The mound is off limits for reasons that have been lost to history.  An old staircase leads to the top.

I kinda expect there to be a sword in the stone up there or something.

Of course, the grounds are also surrounded by walls.

Other side of the grounds.  I don't remember what these buildings are for.

Ok, enough of the grounds.  What does the main part of the college look like?

O.O

Panning shot of the front of the college.

 Entrance to the chapel.

Chapel.  In retrospect I probably should have taken some pictures of the stained glass on the sides but oh well.

Here is the main quad at New College.  It had just snowed when I took these pictures so somebody made a snowman :-)

New College also has a set of cloisters.

Astute readers will recognize this area from a shot in Harry Potter.  I actually had no idea, but a bunch of people recognized the cloisters from the movies when the JCR president gave us a tour.

JCR = Junior Common Room (i.e. undergraduate).  Its just a social hangout area.  Every college has its own common room and also its own bar.  It's pretty funny seeing a bar in these old underground stone rooms.

More cloister pics.  Various status line the walls.

You're probably thinking that this place looks pretty sweet, and I'm spending my days in some fairytale castle.  Unfortunately, I'm almost never at New College.  The New College library is pretty bad, and it's the only library I can borrow books from.  All other libraries I have access to force me to stay in them if I want to read the books.  The food is cheap but bad and there aren't many events at the college I'm interested in.  Instead I spend 90% of my time in the Social Science library, where I can get almost all the books I need.

I pass gorgeous New College every day on my walk over here.