Tuesday, May 26, 2009
A few more pictures
Friday, May 8, 2009
Back in Oxford
Hello!
I’m finally back in
Stockholm, Sweden: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018072&id=1294230414&l=8db94adfb2
Geneva, Switzerland: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018136&id=1294230414&l=c512c86bb8
Amsterdam, The Netherlands: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018390&id=1294230414&l=0c318f20f2
and http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018424&id=1294230414&l=266bbac263
Paris, France: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018426&id=1294230414&l=d73b53f392
and http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018427&id=1294230414&l=d614f766bf
I’ll be finishing up pictures from
This term is going really well so far. I have some good tutorials, and I’m much better adjusted to the system so I can do more fun things and still get plenty of work done! My tutorials this term are Post Modern and Contemporary Lit (major) and C.S. Lewis (minor). It is a busy term; there are things going on all the time here! Springtime in
Here are some of the things I’m looking forward to in the next few weeks:
--Tea Party at the Warner’s, May 17, Penelope makes outstanding cakes, desserts, and cucumber sandwiches . . . and we all stuff our faces.
--Seeing Les Mis in
--Trip to
--Beating of the Bounds, May 21, an
--WJC choir comes to
--Trip to
--Jacque, Joy and Madison take a day trip to
--Walk up to The Kiln’s (C.S. Lewis home) and Lewis’s gravesite
And the term will be over before I know it, and I’ll be back in KC on June 21!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Spring Break
Hello again . . . it’s almost the end of Hilary term here in
March 12 Dane comes to
March 13-15
March 16-17
March 18-29
March 20-21
March 22 We head back to
March 23 Dane and I fly back to the
March 23-April 3 I’m home in the
April 3-4 I travel back to
April 5 Fly to
April 6-7 See Berlin, also Joy joins us!
April 8 Joy, Ashton, and I take the train to Nice.
April 9-10 See Nice. (And turn 21)
April 11 Joy splits from Ashton and I; we travel to
April 12-13 Spend the Easter holiday in
April 14 Train to
April 15 See
April 16 Train to
April 17-18 See
April 19 Fly back to
April 20 Start Trinity Term!
I will post pictures with much more success this time, but as I was unsuccessful in ever posting a full account of
Also, if you want a postcard from any of these place, let me know!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Scotland Pictures
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Pictures
Friday, February 6, 2009
The Great "Snowstorm"
So if you watch the news then I'm sure you know that a legendary snowstorm is hitting England (mostly London is getting the worst of it, I think). It has snowed on and off for 3 days-ish here. It's wonderful, reminds me of home, and makes everything all the more beautiful. So . . . I've attempted to put some pictures up. They are taken from my window in the front of the house, and they are all pretty much the same--one from each day of snow--but I felt like I needed to document it all since, hey, this hasn't happened for 18 years. Pictures go in order from Day 3, 2, 1. Also notice in pictures, you can park in any direction on any side of the street.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Tutorials
General Outline of Course:
“I have the feelings of a woman but I have only the language of men.” (Far From the Madding Crowd) A study of women through the ages to show how they were trapped by the patriarchy and how they struggled to express themselves. The course will balance “accepted” great works against the less familiar.
Week One:
Virginia Woolf: A Room of One’s Own,
Virginia Woolf: Three
James King: Virginia Woolf
Does Virginia Woolf’s position as feminist icon reflect the complexity of her views?
Week Two:
Virginia Woolf: Mrs Dalloway
To The Lighthouse
(
How does Virginia Woolf rewrite the novel to reflect the movement of a woman’s mind?
Week Three:
Fanny Burney: Evelina
Evelina was an enormously popular novel. Why is its modern readership so tiny?
Week Four:
Jane Austen: Emma
How deeply does Jane Austen examine the causes of Emma’s dissatisfaction? Are we satisfied that they are resolved by the conclusion of the novel?
Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Aurora Leigh
Are we convinced of the correctness of
Week Six:
Rewriting Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre
Jean Rhys: Wide
Why is it so important to reclaim Jane Eyre for the woman’s movement?
Week Seven:
Angela Carter: The Magic Toyshop, Nights at the Circus
Does Carter’s style of writing suggest there is another world available for women if they are brave enough to access it?
Week Eight:
Clare Morrall: Astonishing Splashes of Colour
How does the writer manipulate our opinion of the central character?
Sunday, January 18, 2009
There Can Only Be One . . . part II
Our next stop was Inverness, which is Gaelic-ish. Ibenhir (?) or some form of “inver” means river, and “Ness” or “Niss” is the name of that river. So, now let’s put two and two together, Inverness means river Ness because it is located on the Ness river which connects to Loch Ness (not far down the road). The further north we went by train, the more the language changed. First, the train stations just showed the name of the town, then the town name in English with Gaelic under, and finally furthest north, the Gaelic name was sometimes first or maybe the only name listed. I also think that trying to pronounce Gaelic is an experience no one should go without. Try this town name: Drumnadrochit. Not bad, you did pretty good, but that’s actually the English translation (gottcha). The Gaelic name for this town is “Druim na Droichaid,” and I hope you have as hard of a time pronouncing that as I did. Drumnadrochit was the town nearest Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle ruins. To see Loch Ness you can pay a hefty sum to take a cruise and tour castle ruins, or you take the Robyn-Brett-Madison tour. Being cheap college students (and having myself learned thrifty ways from my family members), we did not actually visit the castle or take a cruise on the loch. Rather, we took the bus to the castle, stood in the parking lot, and peered over the wire fence at it. It was marvelous. After sitting on Brett’s shoulder’s in order to snap some pictures sans fencing, we decided we’d had our fill (no Nessie), and started the walk back to town.
One of my favorite parts of my trip was this little country highway. There were lochs in the distance, farmers’ fields, and hills. It was all green, but frosted over. And there were sheep, a lot of sheep. There are more sheep than people in Scotland (no lie). Robyn, doing only what would be considered natural, tried to communicate with the sheep (and a few very fat birds). Brett I think was a little embarrassed by how bad we were at bleating and baaing, but I think we got our point across to the sheep.
Inverness is also home to some fantastic Scottish pubs. We were lucky to happen upon one our first night called Finlay’s, and it seemed to be a local hang out. This is why I enjoy pubs in Scotland: they seem to be for all ages (of course excluding those below 18), they are casual, and they play live folk music. Old men and old women danced along to the banjo/guitar/accordion band (we couldn’t understand the man singing, but it was great); three generations socialized together. The other pub we went to the following night, Hootananny’s, was super busy. By the time we left there was not room to stand up and walk. Again, it was an all ages affair (we talked a very nice old Scottish man), and this time there were bagpipes (!!). It was a bagpipe rock type band—very enjoyable and good for people watching.
That about wraps up Inverness unless you have questions, etc., and don't worry, for all you die-hard Highlander fans I will get back to the movie reference in my next post! As far as pictures go, I am having a little difficulty with that so I am looking for a solution.
Also, I know it’s been a while since my last post. This is because while I am fairly settled into my Oxford surroundings, tutorials started and I realized that I was not academically settled in to a routine. So this first bit of work has come upon me (and everyone else here) very fast and in insanely large quantities. I am going to try to finish with Scotland in a few more posts and get on to life here in Oxford, but bear with me and my large reading list!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
“There Can Be Only One . . .”
Our trip began in Oxford where all went smoothly—we had a horribly jet-lagged afternoon to see the city center, buy cell phones, and realize that the British do not believe in public trashcans. A few things to know, but also things that aren’t really riveting: we traveled by train through Scotland (mostly in the afternoons arriving to our destinations in the evening), trains are good for viewing the scenery, Brett and Robyn traveled with me (we all get along, it made the trip enjoyable), Joy and her brother joined us for various legs of the trip. Now for the fun stuff. Hogmanay was the giant New Year’s Eve celebration, and it was indeed giant. After trekking to and from our apartment (rented for 2 nights) we enjoyed freezing our behinds off as we stood in a little circle on a crowded street from about 10:30-12:30. All of this didn’t seem so bad after enjoying some amazing fireworks and singing “Auld Lang Syne” and “I’m Gonna Be (500 miles)” with thousands of people.
We spent the next day at Edinburgh Castle (magnificent), went to an American pizza place for dinner, and checked out the pub scene before retiring to the apartment. The castle is definitely one of Edinburgh’s most defining and breathtaking sites. In the middle of this city—between old and new—is a huge outcropping of rock. On this giant mountain/cliff structure sits the castle. At the base of the castle is the Royal Mile, and on the other side of the castle is a steep drop to a valley (which is where Waverly train station is and maybe some gardens). We took to calling this valley between Princes Street (New town) and the Royal Mile/Castle (Old town) “the big ditch.” Classy, right?
p.s. So as not to create an entirely-too-long post, I am leaving out a lot and will add it in later posts, and I will post town by town . . . but please ask questions if there is something I skip that you want details on!
Until next time, enjoy some pictures--they are at the absolute bottom of the page!