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Budgeting Par Excellence

Here’s a little bit of a back story: At the beginning of term, I bought a small bag for my ballroom stuff (yes, it consumes my life, both in America and England). The front displays the following quote from Erasmus: When I get a little money, I buy books, and, if any is left over, I buy food and clothes.

Now, as much as I like that quote, I never thought that I would do anything of the sort. Then yesterday came. After I turned in my paper for my History of the English Language tutorial, I had to get some stuff in city center (or centre, I suppose). Well, Blackwell’s (which is the best toy store!) just happened to be on my way after studying in the History Faculty Library, so I thought, “Why not? I’ll just pop in and see what new items they’ve stocked since yesterday.” To my wallet’s relief, they didn’t have the book that I really wanted (which the Bodleian also doesn’t have. WHAT? I thought that that was impossible.). However, right as I turned around, I found another book that I wanted to read. So, I whipped out my wallet (and now I’m writing in alliterative verse. Guess who’s been studying Beowulf and The Dream of the Rood a bit too much?) and found that I literally had one £10 note left. Guess how much my book was? I sat there and thought about it for a second. Do I want lunch, or do I want a book? Guess which one I ended up purchasing? Yup. I bought the book instead of food.

This is just one example of why I am not an Economics/Accounting major. My budget for my year abroad three major categories, which are the following: ballroom, food, and ballroom. Random books somehow figure in that magnificent equation.

P.S. Don’t worry; I went to the ATM after that transaction and eventually found food at 8:00 p.m. I couldn’t put the book down!
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And Week 5 Begins

I can’t believe it, but I’ve been in classes for five weeks now. Within these past weeks, I’ve made best friends with the porters at the Radcliffe Camera (one of them knows me so that he no longer asks to check my bag for any prohibited items), my papers have been ripped to shreds, and I’ve wondered several times why I didn’t spend my year abroad in a more “fun” setting. Believe me, when I see some of my Holy Cross friends posting photos from their weekend trips to Germany and France, I get a little jealous. Yet, despite being ripped apart, I’ve never learned so much in such a short period of time and/or had so much fun. Yes, I know – I need to be locked up in the sanatorium for saying that spending all of my days in the Radcliffe Camera or the Bodleian Library is fun. These past five weeks have been frustrating because I know that I haven’t produced work that has been up to my potential. But,  now that both of my tutors have ripped apart at least two of my essays a piece and I’ve been in class for five weeks, I know what they want from me and how to do it in the most efficient way. Now that ballroom is in full swing (get it? Swing? Even though they don’t dance Swing here), I now have a schedule so that I’m not constantly freaking out about my papers. If I have too much time, then I just can’t accomplish anything. I’m weird like that. But back to the fun part. My research topics have been rather illuminating for what I want to do not only for my Senior Thesis (oh. Right…who said senior year is supposed to be all fun?), but also for graduate school (right. I have at least seven more years of this? Excellent!). My last topic for History of the English Language was to analyze how English became an analytical language (words derive meaning from positions) from its synthetic origins (words derive meaning from endings, like in Latin). It was fascinating. I was comparing the different languages that appear in different manuscripts and arguing how they’re different. It was fantastic. My next topic for Age of Bede (which is going much better. Then again, I really don’t think that I had anywhere to go but up. One day, I will post that awful paper on this site for all to see. But not now. I’ve got to get into graduate school first) is to basically reconstruct Anglo-Saxon society based upon the “Dream of the Rood.” This is actually what I’m thinking about doing for my senior thesis – syncretism of paganism with Christianity in Anglo-Saxon texts, specifically “Beowulf.” I’m as happy as a clam. Don’t worry; I will return to Holy Cross…eventually.

Okay, so that’s probably way more about academics than any of you ever wanted to read. As for living in Oxford, well, I’m still alive! Cooking for myself has definitely been interesting. I’m so used to going to Kimball or grabbing something from either Lower or Crossroads. No preparation time, no cleaning up. But cooking for myself has been rewarding. All of the American JYAs are branching out and trying new things. My favorite new item that we must start importing into America: treacle tart. It’s delicious. I have also been maintaining a social life with human beings other than the librarians. Saturday night was Mansfield College Ball, which only happens once every three years. They had bumper cars. I’ll let that one sink in. It was a really fun night. Of course, we all paid for it the next day because none of us finished any work all day Saturday. Oh well; it was worth it.

Well, you guessed it – I’m back off to the library. Until next time!
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Dark Chocolate, Early Grey Tea, and Bede.

I’m pretty sure that you can gather from my title that I’m extremely content at the moment. I really don’t think that a better combination exists in the world!

I cannot believe that it’s already November. The weather here indicates otherwise. It’s been sunny (I’m not entirely sure that I’m in the right place) and there’s just the right amount of crispness in the air for fall. It’s gorgeous. Whenever I’m walking around the city (I think I walk 2.5 miles per day), I just have to smile because everything about this city is just fantastic. I know, I sound like such a fan-girl. But, there’s really no other way to describe Oxford as a city, let alone an academic experience. My tutorials are going well; in my History of the English Language class, I had to translate Caedmon’s Hymn (the oldest Old English poem – don’t listen to what your high school teachers tell you about Beowulf!) in two different dialects and then argue which one was older and support it based upon linguistic evidence. This week, I had to analyze the influence of Old Norse in the Old English lexicon. Talk about a fascinating subject! I was dismayed that I wasn’t able to engage with primary sources like I did last week, but I still loved the topic nevertheless. My Age of Bede tutorial is…well, it’s going. I royally messed up my first paper. The paper was atrocious; there are no words for it. However, my tutor, Hugh, was really nice about it. He said that even though the essay was disappointing (that’s putting it kindly), he knew that a) I knew the information; I just lacked incorporating that information into my paper  and b) it was my first history paper at Oxford. My next paper for that class is due on Thursday, and I feel so much more confident this time around. Now that I’ve been here for four weeks, I’ve been able to develop a schedule so that I’m not going crazy with all of this free time. Now I know how I need to schedule my studying time (which is basically all day) and also how to schedule my writing time. Even though I’ve had a bit of difficulty adjusting to the free-time aspect of this schedule, I think that I’ve finally found my balance. Furthermore, my classes have inspired my topic for my Senior Thesis.

In addition to getting to know the Bodleian quite well (I’m never leaving. EVER.), I swear that I’ve had some form of a social life (however meager it might be). I made the Ballroom Dance Team, so I’ll be competing for the rest of the year. Dancing is quite different over here than it is in America (the major difference is contact), so I’m still adjusting to constantly holding my frame for Ballroom. Latin, however, is quite similar to Rhythm. Also, I went to London to see Seamus Heaney talk about “Beowulf” at the British Library. That was such a magical night. There was also a performer who literally sang “Beowulf” in Old English and accompanied himself on a lyre. You know, just another night in London. And you all think that Medievalists are strange…

Speaking of Medievalists, Holy Cross CISS (Center for Interdisciplinary Studies) has confirmed that I’m insane. I designed my own secondary major of Medieval studies that combined Medieval literature, history, philology, philosophy, and theology. For those of you who don’t know, CISS allows you to create your own major provided that you include classes from at least three different fields; you’re also required to have two faculty advisers. The most frightening aspect of this entire process, though, is that my senior year is now literally mapped out. I’m glad that I finished all of my core requirements by the end of my sophomore year (to all underclassmen and prospective students: I urge you to do this!) because I’m taking English and Medieval studies classes for my last two years. It was just frightening to look at a piece of paper and see the rest of my Holy Cross career mapped out before my eyes. But we’re not going to talk about that. One of the really awesome things about having this double major is that I’m required to write my Senior Thesis on a topic that addresses both of my majors (I could write two theses, and as much as I would love to do that, I don’t think that I realistically can). Right now, I have two options in my head. One of them is exploring the phenomenological and existential natures of the writings of Julian of Norwich and Flannery O’Connor. The other one (which has actually been inspired by my Age of Bede class, actually) is exploring the syncretism of Anglo-Saxon paganism and Christianity in Anglo-Saxon poetry. I think I might want to specifically focus on the theology of the body for this time period (a la my Tolkien essay from last semester). My proposal isn’t due until March, so I have some time to solidify what I want to do.

All right, I need to read some more of Creepy Bede (don’t ask. The answer is very long and very complex). Until next time!