England Journal

You’d think it wouldn’t be. It’s the halfway point of the week. It’s also the day when I turn in my econ essay, so I don’t have to really worry about essays for the rest of the week. But it seems like it rains every Wednesday, and I have three lectures, and I am always tired so I never seem to get much work done in the afternoon. So the morning is always gloomy, but usually it gets better by the afternoon, which it did yesterday but then it got worse as the night went on. I did all my stuff and went to Mass and had lunch there because I was feeling okay. Then I went to Sainsbury’s and got some tea and honey and the closest thing they had to chicken broth/chicken noodle soup that actually has some chicken broth-like quality to it. And I thought I only had 5 pounds left in my purse, but found that I had two 5 pound notes. So that was exciting.

Then the afternoon was really good. I found the open market that apparently happens every Wednesday in Oxford that I had never found before. I got four packs of cough drops for a pound. Black Currant flavored mentho-lyptus Hall’s, so the good kind, though I didn’t realize they were Black Currant flavored until later. I also found a present for my mom. Then I came back to college and found I had gotten a package from my Aunt Janet, which had lots of food. Just what I needed for the day. It was great. I have an awesome family. It had granola bars and cookies and cereal and some crackers, which I am eating with my chicken soup stuff today. So I should be good on food for a while, though if someone is really wanting to send me stuff, something I keep forgetting to tell people is microwave popcorn. I only have one bag left, and it’s a very good snack. And it might be pretty cheap to send.

So then I started chatting with Amanda and then we realized we both have skype so I called her and we talked for a while, which was really good. My voice was sounding sort of manly and I couldn’t make any high noises because it was getting a little hoarse, but it seemed fine. I wasn’t too achey, and I was actually warm. I had a nice cup of tea, and then decided to lie down before dinner instead of read (this is where I get unproductive). So I woke up before dinner and went to the hall. I saw Celia and she asked me how I was doing because she knew I had been sick. So I open my mouth to say I was all right, and nothing really came out. I mean she could hear me, but I said, apparently my voice isn’t working. So I went into dinner and sat across from Sarah H. (this is the girl whose dress I borrowed last year, not my South African friend, who will be Sarah W.). She asked me how I was, not knowing that I was sick, and I squeaked out, “A little sick.” And then she was like oh I’m so sorry, I won’t make you talk. So then nobody really talked to me the rest of dinner, not because they don’t like me but because they didn’t want to make me talk. So I was sitting there in my hoodie, and I am roasting. I started sweating but I didn’t have a t-shirt on under my hoodie, so I had to run back to my room and change into my t-shirt and get a hair thing and put my hair up. And I was still hot. We had soup, so I think that contributed and it was warm in there, but I think it was only me who was sweating. It was really weird. So after dinner, I talked to Katy a bit, stole 2 oranges from the kitchen (well really I had signed up for fruit and usually I get two pieces when I do that, but everyone else had only gotten one and I got two of the same thing so I felt like I was doing something I wasn’t supposed to). I need the vitamin C so I felt justified. There have been times when I have signed up for things and not gotten them and everybody had already left when I got my second orange so I wasn’t taking it away from anybody else.

So anyway, I went back to my room and read a little, talked to Kim through messenger and Lee for a little bit on the phone. He said I sounded terrible. Then I drank some more hot tea, gargled with salt water, took my vitamins, and tried to go to bed. By this time my throat was so sore I could barely swallow. And then during the night I was sweating again and my throat hurt and I got a stomach ache, so on the first night I was able to get some good sleep, I couldn’t. It seems there’s always something about Wednesdays that make me wake up the next morning not looking forward to the day, but then Thursday’s lectures always make it better, but that’s for the next entry.

Well it’s probably a good thing that I didn’t have time to write in my blog on Monday because the title of it would have been “I’m going to make a lot of generalizations about British people.” I was not very happy. The deadline for payment was posted on Friday, I think, that it would be this past Monday. I didn’t see it until after the people who I could talk to about it had left for the weekend. So I sent the bursar an e-mail, but nobody seems to check their e-mail on the weekends. So Monday I went to go talk to David or Mary, one of the two financial people, but neither of them were going to be in on that day, the deadline that was set. So my check was weird because it was made out to me and Regent’s, so I wasn’t sure if it would work. So I couldn’t pay and was really worried that they would charge me 10% because that’s what the signs said. So finally Tuesday, I talked to David and he said that they knew I was working on it so there was no worry of me getting charged. But then I went and finally found Mary and got the check the way it was supposed to be. She gave me a receipt, which said I had no balance, which isn’t true. But that’s okay. Then I got my other checks mailed to my bank back home so I can do an electronic transfer to my new bank here. So by Tuesday I wasn’t feeling as hostile toward Britain. I had my tutorial, which went pretty well. I never talk as much as Simon and James and I should jump in there, but I’m okay with sitting back and listening and taking notes, which isn’t what the tutorial setting is supposed to be like. But anyway, I was feeling more productive.

But then the sickness kicked in. I had been coughing on Monday, but then I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep, so I guess it got worse. I was achey and chilled and my throat started getting sore and I was still coughing. So I came back to my room and ate some Ramen and took some tylenol and fell asleep for a little bit. Then I had to go learn how to use the erg machine for rowing, where we pull this thing against resistance and time how long it takes us to go a certain distance. So then I walked to the library and got some books for my next politics essay and even found an econ book for my essay which was due today. And I stopped by the post office, but I was starting to feel awful again. So I came back and took some more drugs and slept some more. And then I woke up and tried to call my uncle to ask what other drugs I should take. So finally I went into the kitchen and stole someone’s tea, but I think it was really old, so hopefully nobody will miss it. But that gave me some energy and I got a little stuff done, got a hold of my uncle, and then fell asleep to wake up early this morning and finish my essay, which I will write about later.

I have a lot I want to write about, but at the moment, I’m really achey and still have an essay to work on and I just want to sleep and take lots of drugs to make my pain go away.

So today, I pretty much studied, reading a lot. And signing up for two societies at Oxford that took up some time. I revised my resume too. It’s looking a little bit impressive now. But the real reason I wanted to write something was because of Mass today. As I walked in, Sister Nora stopped me and asked if I would bring up the gifts, so of course I couldn’t say no. But it made me really nervous. I know, it’s not that much to do, but it’s in front of all these people and the British Catholics do things differently sometimes. But then Sister asked what my name is. Mind you, I’ve probably introduced myself to her at least 10 times. And I come to lunchtime Mass at least twice each week and I’ve talked to her quite a few times. So I said Caitlan, and recognition dawns and as she always does, she says, “Oh yes, I remember.” So apparently my face is not memorable at all, but name is, maybe because it’s Irish, but I’m American. The Irish pronunciation is different, so they say it that way sometimes and then repeat how I say it every now and then too. I can’t really tell you how they say it for the Irish name, but it’s something like “Cot-leen” if you can imagine that. So anyway, I participated in Mass today. Yay!

Thought you guys might actually like to see some pictures of Katy and Ashley since I talk about them a lot. And I really like the picture of Ashley and me. I like the one of Katy and me too.

This is Ashley and me during Formal Hall, when we had to be even fancier because it was guest night.

This is Katy and me after Formal Hall in the JCR when they were serving champagne and chocolates for guest night.

I keep falling asleep early and not doing my blog. Well actually last night I was up pretty late, but Friday night I think I fell asleep at around 10:30. I think I have finally gotten into the habit of waking up fairly early though. I’ve been waking up at 8 without my alarm clock waking me up first, so I think that’s good.

So Friday I had my tutorial, which was good. I had gotten a lot of comments on my essay, mostly having to do with the form of the essay, or at least as many of those as on the content. So I wasn’t feeling very good about it, but I think Simon, my tutor, put almost as many comments on the other two guys’ papers. He spent a lot of time on how we should be writing the essay, physical appearance and how to make sure we answer the question. Which was really good. Writing an Oxford essay is quite different from any American essay. I might have said that in an entry before. But anyway, then I went shopping some with Katy and Ashley. I got a new skirt and top for formal hall. I really like the skirt, and it has a pocket! And it was only 6 pounds, so that’s what I’ll be wearing to all the formal halls that are fancier from now on. I figured because of that, it would be a good investment. Then we had formal hall, and I found out another girl who lives down the hall from me is Catholic, which is exciting. Dinner was pretty good too, something called a Butterbean Kiev. I liked it. The desert was poached pear, which was a little iffy. We had drinks up in the JCR after dinner, and Ula worked the bar for an hour, so we went back to chat with her some. And we sat around and talked. Nothing too exciting. I made plans to meet up with Brad to go over to his house the next night so I wouldn’t get lost. And then Ashley and Katy came down to my room and we almost got plane tickets for Scotland, but we couldn’t find what we wanted, so then they left and I fell asleep.

So Saturday morning, Ula and I went to the Social Sciences Library (SSL from now on) to study a bit. Then we came back and found out rowing practice was cancelled, so I ate lunch with Ula. She made me some homemade Italian, but she said it wasn’t as good as when she made it at home. It was tomato sauce with tuna, which I had never had, but was very good. Then I read some, sent another e-mail about my paying for over here, and at 5, Katy, Ashley, Ula, Celia (the Catholic girl), and I met up to go to the Eagle and Child pub. It was a little tricky to find seats, but we finally did. I had some really good onion rings because I wasn’t sure if I was eating at Brad’s later. I did laundry yesterday too. Woohoo!! I did it at Katy and Ashley’s so I wouldn’t have to pay, but it took forever. It barely finished in time for me to meet Brad, but I took it home wet, so now it’s all hanging in my room to dry. Brad’s was fun. Katy came with me, and I had some really good lasagna and cheesecake. And heard quite a few funny stories. I’m still a little shy around that group, but they are fun to be around. I don’t know, I didn’t talk much, so they may think I’m boring. But anyway, Katy and I left and headed back to our places in opposite directions, after having a bit of trouble trying to get the gate open so we could get out of the apartment complex.

I came back and had a good conversation with Kyle. Thursday I had a good conversation with my mom. I miss my friends and family. Yesterday I was also looking at pictures, which was making me a bit homesick. I talked to Jonny online too. And he asked me if it was weird being a proper student, which everyone asks me. I guess it is, but I think it’ll be more weird when I actually come back in January. One time Ashley and I were talking about how sometimes she wished the 8 weeks were already over. She doesn’t want to wish it away, but she wants to be back home. And I said I feel sort of the same sometimes. I sort of just want it to be over and be back to my normal life. And she said, Caitlan, this is your normal life now. Which I guess it is, but it also includes flying back and forth between home and here. I downloaded some Christmas songs the other day. I want it to be Christmas. I am enjoying myself, but I also enjoy my life back home. I feel like I have no time to sit and do nothing. I’m getting back into next week and I haven’t finished either of my essays again. So that’s the work for today. All right, I better get to work and let you all stop reading.

On Thursdays, I have lectures from 9:30 until 1, and the first one is on one end of town, the second one on the other, and the third one back at the first place, so I have to run back and forth a lot. And it takes up so much time to go to lectures. I know they help me, but last year, I just got to read all the time and this year, I always feel underprepared because there is no way I can get all the reading done. Also on Thursdays, I get my marked work back from my econ tutor. This week, it wasn’t so good. I don’t know that I really answered the question, and I don’t think anything I said was wrong, but he wants me to change how I write my essays. American essays are completely different. We focus a lot on the style of the writing as well as the facts, trying to make everything flow. He told me I should have subheadings and clearer breaks between paragraphs for the visual effect. And to state “This essay will.” I don’t know that I have ever written in a paper or essay, “This paper will do this, this, and this,” but I guess that’s what I am supposed to do now. There were some other things too. We’ll see if I can improve it for next week’s essay.

There are some redeeming factors to my Thursdays though. I get to go to Mass after all my lectures, which takes up more time, but I really enjoy it. It helps me focus and take a break from everything else. Then I have a good lunch for really cheap. Also, I think my three favorite lectures are those on Thursdays: international econ, competition policy, and British politics and government. I’m still not sure about the BPG tutorial, but I love the lectures. The history is so interesting.

And for the past two Thursdays, I have done something fun in the evening. Last week, Ula, Ashley, Katy, and I went to a Tapas Bar, which was a lot of fun and good food. And this week, Ashley invited me to see the Glenn Miller Orchestra, which was awesome. The director, Ray McVay, was sort of crazy and the audience wasn’t very responsive and didn’t really know that you always clap after a solo. Or at least I always do. Towards the end, others on the stage were sort of directing the audience to clap. But the music was wonderful and entertaining. There was an old guy sitting next to me, who was a little big, not really big, but the seats were pretty small, so I had to sort of lean towards Ashley the whole show. But during the intermission, he asked me how I liked the show and if I had seen them before. I told him I hadn’t but my friend had invited me because she had seen them in the states. He said he saw the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the original one, in Paris during or after the war (I couldn’t understand which he said). I was amazed. We talked a little about me being at the university and we said bye at the end of the show. Not a huge conversation, but it was neat. As we were walking out, another old man said, “It’s nice to see some younger faces here too.” I think the three of us were some of the youngest people there. It was great.

So we’ll see how next Thursday goes. Maybe another adventure for that night too.

So I haven’t written in a few days because I’ve been holed up in my room or the library working on two essays in two days. Last year people always talked about their “essay crisis,” but I never really came close to that, most likely because I only have one tutorial and no lectures. But I think I had two essay crises back to back just now. I guess I was never working until the last minute. I got both done with a few hours to spare, but I didn’t get much sleep and was waking up at 5 a.m. to finish them. It’s my own fault. I procrastinated all day Sunday rather than working, and then I realized that I hadn’t read as much as I had thought. Then I fell asleep earlier than planned. I also had an unscheduled rowing practice and an unscheduled rowing meeting, but the majority of the problem was my own. And it made me realize I have to get into my routine. I can’t handle not getting my eight hours. And I like the feeling of not being stressed. However, I was proud of myself for not stressing out too much because I just figured I would do the best I could and it doesn’t count toward my grade.

My politics essay, I’m not sure if I answered correctly, but I contributed a little to the tutorial. My economics essay, he wants us to write in an exam setting so I only had an hour to write it anyway. I just had to do all the reading and setting up of the essay in one day because the politics essay took much longer than I had planned. But they’re both in. I had my lectures today and then went to Mass and had lunch. Then I came back to my room to meet Ashley and we went and got tickets for the Glenn Miller Orchestra, which will be at the Oxford Playhouse tomorrow. One of Ashley’s housemates, Stephania, a girl from Italy, is also coming with us. I’m really excited about it. I wasn’t sure if I was going to go because of money but I decided I needed a break. I also decided that if I ever get rich and pay off all my loans, then I want to go to plays, concerts, and ballets all the time. I love it. I’ve tried to do all of it, and I might have succeeded at ballet had I stuck it out, but now I just enjoy watching others succeed with their talents.

After this, Ashley and I went to this shop that is really cheap. It’s like the cheapest place for clothes that I’ve seen in Oxford. You can get shirts for 2 pounds. It made me very happy. I might need to get a couple extra shirts or pair of pants for rowing and I was thinking about getting a nicer shirt for formal hall this week because it is guest night, a fancier night than normal. I don’t know if I will, but it makes me happy that I have the option. So then Ashley had her tut, so I walked around and visited some more shops. I didn’t buy anything, but it was nice to be out of my room. Then I ran into Katy and Ula, both of whom were taking a break from working on essays. I need to start reading for my next politics one and finish my discussion questions for my econ tut on Friday, but I think I deserved a little time off. I’ll have to go to the library for most of my politics reading because all but three of the books for this week’s topic are either checked out and the only copy left is confined or there was only one copy, confined, to begin with, which stinks. But I guess maybe I’ll concentrate better in the library. So that’s for tomorrow afternoon. I have lectures all morning again. And by the way, not all the lectures are as exciting as that first week. Of course today I was really tired, so I had some trouble paying attention, but I think it also had to do with the lecturer. My international relations lecture had a new person, and he was a little hard to follow. The econ one is probably just the most boring of all the econ ones I go to, so I compare it to them and it doesn’t seem as good. It’s income distribution and inequality, which I think I would find interesting, but even last week, it just didn’t make me really excited about it. I like the lecturer, and he seems like he would be really interesting to listen to, so I just blame the topic. I don’t know. I think part of the reason last week went by so quickly and was so exciting was because it was all new. Now it’s just repetition, and if I don’t get into my routine soon, I’ll want to shoot myself, but it also makes it a little more dull to keep following the same patterns. I guess I’ll just have to shake things up a little on the weekends. And go got plays, etc. every now and then with Ashley.

So I’m at Katy and Ashley’s using their wireless internet because mine isn’t working again, and it probably won’t be fixed until Monday because everything shuts down on the weekends for the University, which I guess that’s sort of how G-town was too. But anyway, I’ve been wanting to write about the lectures I’ve been going to for a while. They’ve been really interesting. I’m going to 4 for Microeconomics, 2 for International Relations (one on the Cold War), 2 for International Economics, and 1 for British Politics and Government. The two tuts I have are British Politics and Microeconomics, but we’re supposed to go to any lectures that look like they might apply to us at some point in our course because they might not be offered another time while we are here or they may conflict with another compulsory lecture. So my days are quite busy with lectures, especially when they are in different buildings and I have to practically run across Oxford to get to each lecture on time. At some of the lectures, the students clap at the end, and coming out of the building almost seems like you were at some big concert or play or something, pushing through all the people to try to get outside so you can get to your next thing. Which I guess maybe lots of big schools are like that, but G-town, not so much. So there has only been one lecture where I was sort of bored and had trouble keeping my eyes open, but I had had my crazy rowing practice early that morning, so I hadn’t gotten my whole 8 hours of sleep the night before. I need my sleep. But every other lecture goes by really quickly. The lecturers try to squeeze in so much in a very small amount of time. It’s not the same as classes. I like them. Of course, I may not be saying that after I’ve been going to them a bit longer, but the information will really help me on my tuts also, so I keep my mind focused on what the speakers are saying, and try to take good notes. I also had my first tut for Econ this Friday. I got my set of questions back on Thursday, and he seemed really pleased with my answers, which I was really nervous about. The tut went really well. I was nervous about speaking in front of the other two students, but when we got in there, it was fine. I feel like I learned a lot, and Simon, the tutor, is really good at making sure we understand all the concepts and the basics behind them. He helps when we look a little puzzled too, doesn’t just let you stand there and look stupid. So that was really good. I think I’ll really like that tut. I’m writing my essay today for my first BPG tut on Tuesday. Then I have my first essay (instead of questions) for my Econ tut due Wednesday. These next three days are going to be pretty crazy, but then hopefully I’ll get into my routine, and things will be all right. I’m trying not to stress because it seems that you just get the essay written as well as you can, and the tutor will probably mark it and we’ll discuss in the tut, but the marking doesn’t go to my final ranking. Over Christmas, I’ll be studying a lot for collections, which I think are like practice exams and also don’t contribute to your grade yet, which I’ll take in January. So I’ll just get words on paper, and hope it won’t be terrible, so as long as I don’t look like a complete idiot, I’m okay.

Well that paragraph was really long, so I’ll keep the next one fairly short. Matriculation is when you officially become a member of the university, where you have to dress up in the same dress you’ll have for graduation, and you go in, and the whole class is presented, and they say some Latin. Then the vice-chancellor gives a short little speech about matriculation, and he leaves and then you leave. Very short, shorter than I expected. But it was fun to get pictures. I wore Jonny’s hat so I wouldn’t have to buy one, and it was a little big, so it kept almost falling off. We took lots of pictures too.

Which I don’t have those up yet, but I did just put up a few pictures of the Bop on flickr.com, my name is cathead26, so look for that if you have to search for me. Lots of fun yesterday. We also went to London (Katy, Ashley, Dr. Taul, and I), but I’ll have to write about that later because I really need to get to work. Enjoy the pictures!

My internet isn’t working in my room again, so I’m in the library, and I need to get to bed b/c I have to get up early tomorrow for matriculation and I was up early this morning for rowing, so I’ll hopefully write a longer entry later this weekend. Going to London tomorrow! Yay!