Lectures and Matriculation
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!