Before I left for England, my friend, Kelsey, who studied at Oxford last year, gave me the best piece of advice. She told me, \u201cYou\u2019re not going to know what to do for your first couple of weeks.\u201d You know what? She was correct! At Holy Cross, I have such a structured life (as any of my friends will tell you). I have classes Monday through Friday from about ten to 3:00. I then stay in the library until about midnight (sometimes, I do eat and sleep). Professors give structured syllabi and reading lists. Oxford is completely different. I meet with my primary tutor once a week, and my secondary tutor once every other week. Every meeting is just a demolition of a paper. For instance, my first tutorial this past Tuesday involved my tutor telling me, \u201cYou\u2019re completely wrong here\u201d about five times. Granted, it was not the best paper that I have ever written in my life, and a professor at Holy Cross would\u2019ve told me the same exact thing. But I absorbed her criticism because it was delivered verbally. I\u2019m writing my second paper for her right now, and after every sentence that I write, I\u2019ll stop and think, \u201cWhat is Charlotte going to say to this?\u201d Even if it\u2019s something as minute as \u201cThe sky is blue,\u201d I still ask myself that question. I\u2019ve only been in classes for two weeks, and I already think that I\u2019m becoming a much more structured writer.<\/p>\n
Even though that\u2019s fantastic, I still have no idea how to structure my time. I\u2019m trying to find my routine, but it\u2019s rather difficult. I mean, I have two papers due within the week and they both have to be brilliant. When do I stop writing one, and when do I start writing the other? When do I factor in a social life (hah!)? I can\u2019t believe that I\u2019m saying this, but I don\u2019t like having all this free time. It\u2019s frightening! Ah, Professor Manoussakis would be proud because he\u2019d see this as an analogy to free will. But that\u2019s another story for another day.<\/p>\n
In other news, my History of the English Language course has somewhat directed my future. As much as I love Old English, Latin, Sanskrit, and various other dead languages, I\u2019ve come to the conclusion that I could never be a linguist. Again, I\u2019m enjoying this tutorial – I truly am. But there\u2019s nothing to really analyze. Instead of writing about a text, I\u2019m writing how the text came to be written in English. It\u2019s fascinating, but I do miss analyzation. I also am not liking the obvious barrier to the study of Old English (and all other dead languages, for that matter)- \u201cno one speaks it anymore, so we can\u2019t be sure.\u201d Then again, it\u2019s kind of a nice contrast to my Age of Bede essay prompt, which is \u201cDid Bede unreservedly select \u201cgood\u201d models for Christianity in The Ecclesiastical History of the English People?\u201d (My tutor stated it much more intelligently than that.) Sounds easy, right? It would be easy enough to just write a paper laden with examples about how Bede did compliment virtuous people unreservedly and be done with it. However, I know that this tutor knows that the answer is yes, and he wants me to find out why Bede did it. I know that it sounds like I\u2019m complaining, but, honestly, this is so much fun! I do like the standard to which the tutors hold you. Professors at Holy Cross do the same, but, then again, I\u2019m not writing an essay a week for them.<\/p>\n
P.S. I have officially maxed out my Oxford University Library card. Every faculty library permits borrowing (you did read my last entry, right?) up to a certain amount. Well, out of all the libraries for which I\u2019m registered (six or seven), I think that I can check out only one more book from each. That\u2019s a problem. See, my library card is like a credit card for some people. Except, I do have an excuse – I don\u2019t have to buy any books for my classes; I just have to rent them. Yes, yes, that\u2019s it! It\u2019s all for my classes…that happen to be exactly what I want to study so I end up getting way too into them. It\u2019s only a problem when the libraries send out collection officers after your hoard. Which they haven\u2019t…yet.<\/p>\n
P.P.S. I received my camera charger and card reader in the mail (THANK YOU, PARENTALS!), so expect to see some photos up here!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before I left for England, my friend, Kelsey, who studied at Oxford last year, gave me the best piece of advice. She told me, \u201cYou\u2019re not going to know what to do for your first couple of weeks.\u201d You know what? She was correct! At Holy Cross, I have such a structured life (as any … <\/p>\n