Month: March 2010

I can’t believe that I forgot to write about this before. You can tell that I’m on break when…

Anyway, since this year marks the (alleged. It’s still a very controversial issue in the realm of manuscript studies. Believe me, there are a lot of controversies in that world. By the by, the Brits say “controversy” completely differently. We say ‘con-tro-ver-sy. They say con-‘tro-ver-sy. Just your random fact for the day.) 1,000 anniversary of the Nowell Codex being transcribed, which means that we get to sing Happy Birthday to the Beowulf manuscript! Due to this landmark event, the British Library has hosted a wide array of events related to the Beowulf manuscript, including having Seamus Heaney speak back in October (which was magical). After my parents left on Tuesday, I decided to spend the day roaming around London (such a tough life, I know). I decided to spend some more time at the British Library, since they have a permanent display of some of their manuscripts. As I walked into the dimly lit room, I had no idea that the first manuscript I would see would be Beowulf. That’s right – to celebrate its birthday (again, alleged), the British Library has put it on display. It’s not an attractive codex by any stretch of the imagination, but it is open to the first page of Beowulf, and it was so wonderful to see the infamous “HWAET!” opening the first line on the first page. Of course, I couldn’t actually touch or sit down with the manuscript, but it was a wonderful surprise nonetheless. They also displayed the working pages of Seamus Heaney’s translation; it was fascinating to see all of his revisions. So that was my nerd outbreak of the day…

And now for something completely different (any Monty Python fans out there?). This past Sunday, I danced at my first dance competition that wasn’t at the university level. My goodness – it was so different than the typical university-level comp! See, at the university level, as a newcomer, you’ll dance maybe six times (if you’re lucky enough to get to the final) per dance; since we dance four dances, that’s a total of 24 times over the space of twelve hours (approximately. And who can do Math! Woo hoo!). This style of competition was completely different. The day started with a solo competition; I danced my Cha Cha with my coach, Neil. I honestly had no idea what was going on; all I remember is him grabbing me and bringing me onto the floor. I made it to the finals in that event (yay!). Then came the fun part – the couples events. Originally, I was going to dance with Sam; however, he broke his foot on the last Friday of term. Neil was then going to partner me with a dancer from his school; unfortunately, she broke her ankle about a week before the competition (yes, I think that I’m a bad luck charm). So, on Wednesday, Neil decided that I was going to be a leader. One major problem: I had never led before and I didn’t know the leader steps. Neil partnered me with another beginner from Oxford. We practiced for about a half hour on Sunday and then headed off to the competition. The results of our efforts were a pleasant surprise, though! We ended up placing seventh in Bronze Cha/Jive and Silver in Cha/Rumba, which isn’t bad considering the circumstances! We were also the only couple from Neil’s school to make it into the Bronze final, so he was pleased with our results. It was definitely an experience, and, honestly, I think I enjoyed it more than the university level competitions. I ended up dancing about thirty times in three hours (quite a difference than the university-level!), and I really just had so much fun. So, I placed fourth in my solo, and seventh in two couple events. I’m quite pleased with those results! My next competition with Neil’s school is on April 25th, and apparently I’m dancing two dances that I’ve never danced before. Hm. This could be interesting…

As I was going back through my blog entries, I realized that I really haven’t explained the tutorial system and the subsequent variations of it. The tutorial system actually stems from the Medieval Scholastic tradition of learning in which students would argue (in Latin, of course!) both sides of an argument in front of their teachers. Intimidating, right? Well, the 21st century version isn’t that nervewracking, but it’s still an experience. Generally, an Oxford tutorial will entail the student bringing an essay (ranging from 2500-5000 words, depending upon the assignment) and reading it aloud to the tutor. I think this is one of the best writing skills that I’ve adopted from my year abroad here; you really get a feel of how your essay flows (or doesn’t) when you read it aloud. This method also really helps when you’re writing an Oxford essay because the tutorial essay is supposed to flow like a conversation between you and your tutor. It’s quite a different approach than an American term paper. Anyway, after that, the tutor then rips apart your argument. Tears might be involved, but are not necessarily a requirement. Just kidding. Sort of. So that’s the typical Oxford tutorial; this is how Ralph structured my meetings with him. A slightly updated version, however, hails from Cambridge (ewww. Juuust kidding) and the general advances of technology. Some tutors prefer to see the essay before the tutorial meeting. That way, you don’t spend half an hour reading your paper and rushing through all of the criticism for the next half hour; instead, you spend an entire hour being grilled by someone at the top of their field. Intimidating? Yes. Exhilarating? Oh yes! This is the method that Charlotte, Hugh, and Rosalyn employed for my tutorials with them. It’s a tad frightening because they have the essay for about twenty-four hours; that means that they can really just rip it apart. Now, after most of my tutorials, I made a quick pit stop at Ben’s Cookies to reward (or console depending upon the day!) myself for surviving (for anyone making a trip to Oxford, a trip to Ben’s Cookies (right at the front of the Covered Market) is essential; I personally recommend the dark chocolate and orange, dark chocolate and ginger, and/or milk chocolate and praline.). So that’s a very broad and sweeping generalization of the tutorial system. Like I said, it is quite different from the American approach, but there are certain elements that I quite enjoy.

Sorry for the recent lack of posts; I’ve been quite busy giving my parents a  whirlwind tour of the south of England in five days; we started in Oxford and then visited Bath (you have to pronounce it with a long a or else the Brits just will not understand you) and Blenheim Palace (this is where Winston Churchill grew up. It’s absolutely exquisite!). I felt like I had so much to show them in Oxford alone; we spent Thursday running around all the colleges, museums, and libraries (no, I didn’t make my parents tour the libraries; they wanted to see them. I promise!). Even after spending just one day in Oxford, my parents now understand why I love this place so much and have accepted the fact that I will not be returning at the end of term. Just kidding, Holy Cross. My parents also really enjoyed Bath; we took a tour of the Roman baths, so I was happy as a clam. One area of the exhibit testifies to how popular these springs were throughout the centuries. The water level is at the original Roman level, but the orange stain around the walls indicates how high the levels were during the Medieval period; to top it all off, the room is decorated with Victorian wall hangings and architecture. It’s lovely, really. After our extremely rapid tour of Oxford and the surrounding areas, we headed into London for two days. Yes, we managed to see a majority of the sites in London in a mere forty-eight hours. I think that that might be a record. We even managed to see a play in the West End (for the record, Billy Eliot is a fantastic production)! It’s a good thing that we were walking everywhere, though; I think we ate lunch and dinner at a pub every night that my parents were here. I can’t believe that I’m saying this, but I really don’t think I’ll ever want to eat fish n’ chips or steak and kidney pie again!

Having both Carleen and my parents here made me realize just how acclimated I’ve become to England. Granted, I don’t speak with a British accent or anything (my British friends still make fun of the way I talk, actually), but there are just some things that have become second nature to me now and I don’t even think about it anymore. For instance, the entire “order your food at the bar” system in most English pubs baffled Carleen and my parents at first, but it doesn’t really phase me anymore. Sure, the first time that I wanted fish n’ chips from the Eagle and Child (no, I don’t love that place just because of the Tolkien affiliation…), it was a tad weird, but now I’ve acclimated to the system. I haven’t forgotten my American roots (believe me, my British friends will tell you that the opposite is quite true), but I’ve just acclimated to the culture here; now I don’t even think of the differences between the two cultures.

I don’t have anymore visitors for quite some time now, so now it’s back to finishing some research, planning my epic tour of Medieval sites around the UK (oooooh yes. Lindisfarne is on the itinerary!!), and (guess what?!) dancing. Am I predictable or what?

Until then, please enjoy the photos below of my visitors and the places that we explored.

Colleen

I can’t believe it, but I’m finished with Hilary Term. These past two terms seem to drag at the beginning of term, but sometime around fourth week, everything just starts going and it feels like there’s no stopping. I just submitted my course approval forms for Holy Cross, and it truly seems like ages ago that I first opened M.L. West’s book on stemmatics and wrote my first paper for Ralph. All in all, this term was exceptionally busy, but it was rewarding nonetheless. I simply adored my Medieval Paleography tutorial with Ralph Hanna. I focused on Insular manuscripts for the majority of the term, and I couldn’t have been happier doing so. Out of all the manuscripts on which I focused, I think that my favorite was the Junius manuscript. Ralph pushed me to explore the connection between the images and text present in the manuscript, and I came to some interesting conclusions. Who knows – maybe there’s a Ph.D. with my name on it! Dealing with manuscripts, as old and dusty as it may seem, was such a fantastic experience. Victorian literature also went really well; I enjoyed dealing with something a bit more modern than usual! I also loved how my tutor, Rosalyn, took such an interdisciplinary approach to the tutorials. It was never just about what the text said; she always brought up the political and social environments in which these books were written.

So, Hilary Term overall was a major success. The only thing that could’ve made it better would be if Sam and I won Jive at IVDC. Alas…Just kidding. I promise that I’m over it! So, what am I going to do now that I have six weeks of freedom? Right now, I’m looking up recipes on BonAppetit.com (Confession: I am a major foodie. Oh, the stories I could tell you about my food adventures in England. In fact, that will be the subject of my post tomorrow!). Last week, my friend, Carleen (yes, try saying Colleen and Carleen five times fast), came to visit me over her Spring Break. It was a bit tricky to manage since I still had two tutorials, but we still went to Bath and London. She was also able to explore Oxford on the days that I had to study. She left yesterday, and now I have two days to finish some applications and the like (the work never ends, does it?) until my parents arrive. We’re spending Wednesday through Friday in Oxford, and then we’ll spend Saturday to Tuesday in London. I have dance lessons throughout the week (that came as a shock, didn’t it?!), and then I’ve got some general reading to do. Ah, life is perfect right now – reading, dancing, parentals coming (which means LOTS of good food!), and the sun is shining with a high of 50 degrees. Life couldn’t be more perfect!

Can you believe that it’s already March 1st? Right now, I’m sitting in my room in the Dale building with the windows cracked opened with a nice cup of Earl Grey tea and George Eliot’s Middlemarch in front of me. I think that’s a perfect way to start this new month! So let’s recap on my exploits from February, shall we? I really don’t know where that month went. I think I spent it all at ballroom competitions, actually. The first competition was on February 6th, and it was held in Sheffield (no, that doesn’t mean a thing to me, either. My knowledge of English geography is pretty limited to the southern region). Sam and I actually did quite well there; we advanced through the rounds of Waltz and Quickstep and actually reached the semi finals, which isn’t too bad considering that Sam dislikes the Waltz and Quickstep! Latin, as usual, was our stronger arena. We placed fourth in Cha Cha and second in Jive. The next weekend, we headed off to Peterborough, where the team competed at SUDC, which is basically the regional championships. We still did all right in the ballroom discipline, but, once more, the Latin dances proved to be our better dances again. We placed seventh in Cha Cha and second in Jive. After receiving numerous compliments on our dancing, Sam and I were determined to win Jive at IVDC, which is the national championships for UK University-level DanceSport. IVDC was this past weekend, and the results of the Beginners’ level proved to be…well, odd. Sam and I placed fourth in Waltz. I know, right? We were the only Oxford couple in the final, which shocked all of us because two of my friends, Pete and Georgie, are fantastic in both the Waltz and Quickstep. My other friends Jem and Sarah were the only Oxford couple in the Quickstep final, too. Then came the heartbreaker. Sam and I made it to the Quarters of Cha Cha and only the Semis of Jive. No one has any idea what happened. But, here’s the odd thing – Pete and Georgie, who are fantastic ballroom dancers, made it into the Jive final. The four of us joked that the judges must have mistook our numbers and switched them around! It really was an odd judging day for the beginners. But, more importantly, Oxford ended up winning the National Title. Woo hoo! There really was some fantastic dancing throughout the entire day, and I’m so thrilled that I was able to dance in the Winter Gardens, which is the home of British DanceSport. As for my beloved Jive and Cha, well, don’t worry – my journey with ballroom dance didn’t end on Saturday. I have some higher level competitions coming up over the March/April break, and then we have the Varsity Match against Cambridge in May. There’s a new beginner-level competition, and we’re already planning our domination of the dance floor. Okay, that sounds like a terrible dance movie title or something.

Anyway, I’ve uploaded some photos that my friend, Vivien, took from the various competitions. Enjoy!