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The Next Steps

I am officially the most unnatural shade of orange that I have been in my entire life. But, the good news is that this month of dance competitions has finally concluded. I spent last weekend at Blackpool (it’s beginning to be my home away from home) for the 50th IVDC (essentially, the national university championships). It was such a fascinating experience – the organizers brought in the Empress Orchestra to play the music for our final team match rounds. Dancing to a live orchestra is always an honor, but dancing in the Winter Gardens to the Empress Orchestra? That’s a rare treat that only the world champions really get to enjoy.

Dean and I did well. We managed to dance the best that we’ve ever done in ballroom. We were a bit disappointed with the Latin results, but these things happen. We came 13th in both events – so now we’re asking the awful nagging questions like “If I had held my poise a bit more, would the judge have marked me? Would I have been through the next round if I smiled a bit more?” Overall, we can’t really complain about our performances. Oxford unfortunately lost the Overall title to Cambridge. We have our Varsity match against the Tabs in May where we will hopefully reclaim our rightful title.

Now that the dancing high has worn off, I’ve chained myself to my desk. I have a massive Paleography exam on Thursday and two essays due in two weeks. It’s going to be a busy two weeks… For the Paleography exam, I have to transcribe a given set of plates and correctly date them (within fifty years) and identify the script used. You never knew it, but the crossbar above a “t” tells you a whole lot about a manuscript’s date.

In very exciting news, I’ve been accepted to speak at my first conference. I will give my paper at COLSONOEL, which is a conference geared specifically toward topics relating to Old Norse, Old English, and Latin studies. The conference is going to be held at Cambridge in May. I’m rather excited about this next step in my academic career.

And now, I’m off to study more manuscripts!
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How To Train Your Paleographer

Well, I’m back in England and classes have commenced at Oxford. And, most excitingly, I matriculated into the University on Saturday (this is a ceremony reserved only for full-time Oxford students, and visiting students are not allowed to participate). I am an official student of Oxford University!

In my academic gown and sub fusc in front of the Hertford Bridge

Since I’ve been back, life has been so crazy with new graduate initiation and orientation events, classes, studying, meeting new friends (and old!), dancing, and just settling into a new country in general. In the past three weeks, I’ve met so many wonderful new people through St. Hilda’s, which is my new college, and my graduate program. There’s a group  of almost twenty of us from St. Hilda’s that does everything together. I’m quite lucky since my two housemates are also in the group, and our house tends to be the place where we have group dinners.

Our house has a great backyard, so we held a bar-be-que last weekend. When the weather gets nice again in Trinity term, we’re planning on throwing a few more outside dinners.

Being here as a graduate student is definitely different from my year abroad. Firstly, I don’t have any tutorials – I have lectures and massive dissertation style essays due at the end of every term. No, it’s not nerve wracking at all… I’m taking a general course on Medieval Literature (we alternate between Old and Middle English texts every week), a Paleography and Codicology course (EEP EEP EEP EEP), and a course on conversion narratives in Old Norse and English Literature. Needless to say, I’ve been spending most of my time in the many libraries around town. I now have access to the Rare Books and Special Collections Room at the Bodleian, which means I can access a wide range of manuscripts on any day. It’s mind-boggling, really. Every day that I’m here I just realize how fortunate I am to be in the best city/university on earth for Medieval Studies. I’ve also met so many intelligent people from other disciplines, and conversation at the dinner table is always so interesting. We have a formal dinner for graduate students on Wednesday, and I cannot wait to see what conversation will be like at that event.

Well, I’m off to sleep and then another day packed with manuscripts and rhinestones awaits!
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One Month

In exactly one month, I’ll be flying over to London to begin my two year stay at Oxford. No, it hasn’t sunk in yet. Ironically enough, one of my best British friends, Yszi, is visiting at the moment.

Yszi and me

I guess her presence is tuning my ear for the British accents I’ll be hearing shortly. It’s been so much fun having her on this side of the pond – she can’t get over the size of our roads, how much sugar is in American Coke (nearly 3 times that of British Coke), and how awesome our customer service is.

Last night at dinner at one of our favorite restaurants (how’d you guess it’s an Irish pub?), somehow the conversation turned toward how moving me in Freshman year was such a hassle and how miserable I was on that day/night. To any incoming freshmen who read this blog – beware. It is one of the most tiring days (emotionally and physically) that you will experience. I remember that my emotions ranged from being absolutely thrilled and then quickly to absolutely horrified. As we inched closer toward Holy Cross, I suddenly realized that I didn’t know anyone at this school, that I was nearly two thousand miles away from home, and my parents and sister were leaving me that night. Since we arrived at Holy Cross late (as in, at 2:30 p.m. and we had to be at Mass for 4:00 p.m.), my room was barely set up – Mom had unpacked my clothes and Dad had set up my desk area, but we didn’t have a chance to make any Target runs. Meanwhile, Carrie’s side of the room looked amazing – she had even been to the bookstore a few times. I, however, didn’t even have my Holy Cross ID. Dad and Caitie went to Mass to save seats, and Mom and I headed off to Public Safety to pick up my ID. Then we hiked back up the Hill to catch the last half of Mass…and then Paul Covino said those words that I was dreading. “Parents, go home. Students, please process to the soccer field.” My parents quickly said good-bye to me since they had to make a mile to move my sister into Colgate. I inevitably burst into tears. That night, I hung out with Carrie and went to our Orientation activities with her, but I remember returning to the room and just feeling crushed. It was such an exhausting day.

Things started to get better automatically, though. The next day, I attended Orientation activities, and I figured out how to call for cabs and get myself to Target and the grocery store. I met more people through my Orientation activities, and Carrie and I had most of our meals together in those first few days. I also had my interview for the blogging position on that Wednesday, which was also the first day of classes. Things just started clicking, and I suddenly started feeling so much more relaxed. As each day progressed, I fell more in love with Holy Cross, and between the professors, my friends, my classes, and the general atmosphere, Holy Cross became my home.

Now let’s fast forward a few years, shall we? Specifically to Graduation Day, when I was crying because I didn’t want to leave Holy Cross. Quite the change from Freshman Move in Day 2007, isn’t it? So to the incoming Class of 2015  – August 27th might be the worst day of your life. But I can almost guarantee you that it gets better nearly instantaneously the next day. So hang in there, and remember to get there before 2:30 p.m.
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Once a Crusader, Always a Crusader

About two days ago, I received my huge course booklet from the English Faculty at Oxford. The first two terms of my first year are taught courses, and my third term involves a dissertation. Then in my second year, I’ll write another (i.e. bigger) dissertation. For the first two terms, I have two required courses – one is an introduction to studying Medieval Literature at the graduate level, and the other is on paleography and textual criticism. The general Medieval Literature course alternates between Old and Middle English works, so I’ll have a fair amount of exposure to both traditions. We’ll explore key themes like the medieval concept of orality and written works, authorship and what it means to revise a text, etc. We’ll explore literature ranging from the Exter Book Riddles to Bede to Ancrene Wisse. In my paleography course, we’ll learn how to identify specific English scribes based upon their handwriting. We’ll be able to tell in what year and where (approximately, at least) they’re writing based upon the fashions in their scripts. Most importantly, we’ll be able to look at manuscripts (either the originals or fascimilies) and transcribe the documents.

I get to choose my third course, and the options are overwhelming (in a good way!). For the first term (Michaelmas), I could choose Memories of Conversion in Old English and Old Norse, Middle English Arthurian Texts, Imagining the Polity in England 1377 to 1422, or Older Scots Literature. For the second term (Hilary), I could choose Early Middle English Devotional Writing for Women, Old Norse Literature, Heroic Poetry in Old Norse and Old English, or the Language of Middle English Literature. As I was reading through my options, I realized that I needed help in choosing. So, I asked Professor Kee for his recommendations. He gave me some great advice for my future career as a medievalist, and also reminded me that the best way to handle graduate school is to just follow my heart. So, I will be taking Memories of Conversion in Old English and Old Norse (this was what I wanted to write my senior thesis on before I found the Julian/Flannery topic) in the first term and the Language of Middle English Literature in the second term. Bring on the reading lists!