Living it up in London

This post is a little late, but it's still relevant!

On February 1, I was given the opportunity to go on a tour of London with my fellow SCIO students. We saw a ton of things, but here are just a few highlights of my trip (and pictures I just enjoy):

I don't know what this building is, but look at the blue sky! It only sprinkled once during our entire day.

A park in London. I wonder why they need so many benches...

Trees in the aforementioned park.

Another mysterious building.

Beautiful street art. I think it was being sold for around 69 pounds.

Green Park, a park right next to Buckingham Palace.

A tree and the sun in Green Park.

The gates leading into the Palace courtyard! (Well, the front of the Palace area).

Buckingham Palace! The Queen wasn't home.

A statue of Queen Victoria in front of Buckingham Palace.

Some geese with sass in the park. I think they just wanted food.

The London Eye. It's my goal to make it in there while I'm here.

Geese admiring a pelican.

Another cool building that looked like a castle.

More trees. I think I just like photographing trees.

Big Ben!

Cool building, blue sky.

Typical London telephone booth photo.

Big Ben again.

Downing Street, where the Prime Minister lives.

A black telephone booth. Somehow it seemed eerie...

I don't actually know what this was. But I stopped in the middle of the road to take a picture of it.

The National Gallery. I didn't actually go in.

A blue chicken. That is all the explanation I have.

The Sherlock Holmes, one of many cleverly named pubs in London.

The stairs heading up The Monument, which we walked. It was 317 steps to the top. All in a spiral. Not for those who are afraid of heights.

But the view from the top was amazing! The next few pictures are from the top of the Monument.

The Monument was built to remember the London fire.

This is the Tower Bridge, which America thought they were buying when they bought the London Bridge.

The Monument from the bottom.

The Tower of London! I hope to get inside. Apparently there are plenty of attractions inside! :)

A covered market. (For Harry Potter fans, apparently a short clip was filmed here on the way to Diagon Alley!)

I like coffee. This is where the first coffeehouse stood!

I don't remember what this is.

The sunset looked amazing over the cityscape.

At the end of the day, my legs were sore, but it was totally worth it! I got a glimpse of what London is look, and cannot wait to make it back there soon!

"Try to Live Everyday as if it was the Final Day of [Your] Extraordinary Ordinary Life."

My title post, though it may seem quite unfitting at first, really hit me a few days ago. This quote, from the film "About Time" (an amazing film!) really stuck with me after watching it. In the movie, the main character is a time traveler. In the end, he realizes that life is amazing enough even without time travel. That being besides the point...

Almost every day for the past couple weeks has been very, very, very stressful. When writing one to two 7 page research essays a week, a person can easily become distressed to the point of wanting to cry (I've been at that point many times). The work builds up, the sleep disappears, and the challenges just keep coming (the rain doesn't help either). But I've learned that I can't give up. I'm almost half way done with the term, and that terrifies me. I don't know how I'm doing on my secondary tutorial or my primary either, for that case. I just keep writing essays, not knowing if I'm doing well or not. It's rough.

This morning, I woke up earlier than usual, half by intention and half by the amazingly loud fire alarm test that happens every Thursday morning when I'm attempting to sleep. Anyways, I woke up early, with two hours before my first lecture. While I usually hate waking up early, it was really pleasant for once. I was able to take my time getting ready, drink a nice warm cup of coffee, soak in the silence, and write a few postcards to people back home. Little did I know how enjoyable this made my morning. I went to lecture awake and refreshed, even though it was only 10am.

My experience this morning made me realize something: Even in the stress of my program, amidst all the hard essay work, I need to take time to relax and reflect on life. I've also realized that I shouldn't sit in my room all the time. I need to get out and explore more. I mean, I'm in England! I should be spending every spare moment (more like every spare break in work) to get out and see the country. I should study in the libraries, admiring the number of books that Oxford has. With 9 weeks left in my program, I've decided that I am going to make the most of it. 

These are my goals for the rest of the program:

1) Do well on my essays

2) But don't spend too much time stressing over them

3) Enjoy the mile long walk to lecture everyday

4) Or, as you might say, take time to smell the roses (or pet the dogs?)

5) Enjoy the daily rain that falls

6) Thank God for the rain he provides 

7) Walk in the sprinkling rain and let it run down my face

8) But remember an umbrella, just in case

9) And a raincoat and wellies

10) Visit the attractions within Oxford

11) Visit the tourist towns in the UK

12) Go to Paris

13) Stop stressing about life

14) Look forward to the next essay, rather than dread it

15) Work ahead

16) Get plenty of sleep

17) But not too much (preferably around the 8 hr. mark)

18) Wake up earlier

19) Go to bed earlier

20) Interact with the Brits

21) Realize where I am

22) Take advantage of the fact that I'm in Oxford

23) And that I even had the opportunity to come here

24) Soak it all in

25) Live everyday as if it was the final day of my extraordinary ordinary life!

Academic Love

This is going to be a post that I might rethink later on in the term when the work is starting to get to me, so I'm going to post it now. 

The past two weeks, while crazy, have been amazing! I am a person who doesn't particularly like writing essays, making this whole SCIO program a challenge for me since we write one or two essays a week. However, I have realized that I love researching. Yes, at times it isn't very fun, but other times it is. When I am in a rush and only looking for what I need, researching is stressful, but when I have time and I can relax a little, I love it.

Tonight, I was reading The Cambridge Companion to Frances Burney as part of my research on Evelina (a great novel). The chapter on Burney's family was very interesting to me and I was glad I read it. Even though it may not directly relate to my essay on her novel, it does help me know a little more about her personal life and how it affected the novels she wrote.

My previous three essays on John Keats, Andrew Marvell, and William Blake have also taught me more about the individual poets and the time they lived in. While I never used to think that reading nonfiction was very entertaining, my hope is to read more of it when I return home after the program. I love learning about the author's lives and the reasoning behind their works. 

I know that later on in the term I will look back and think, "Why would I have ever seen this as fun?" I'm hoping then that I can look back and regain some of the joy I feel at this moment. I am truly going to miss academic work after graduation in May. As a memento, here's some pictures of my studying so far this term.

A List of Firsts

Even though it's only half way through the week, this week has already been filled with a lot of things going on for me and a lot of firsts happening for my term.

First lecture = done.

First essay = done.

First tutorial = done.

First meal cooked = done.

First trip set = done.

So far, I have attended two lectures (I attempted another, but it was cancelled). I've gone to Shakespeare on the Edge and the Materiality of Texts. They were both really good, and an awesome thing about them, we clapped at the end. I want to do that for every class!

My first essay was for my primary tutorial, English Literature 1740-1832. For this essay, I was writing on John Keats' six odes and their use of the senses. As I am a procrastinator, this was my desk the night before it was due. 

As a side note, I did get to use some pretty cool old books!

My first tutorial was good. My tutor started it by asking if I wanted coffee. It's going to be a great term! We discussed Keats for about an hour and discussed the rest of the term.

I also cooked my first meal for my food group this week. I made a four cheese pasta with ham and peas in it, and added rolls and grapes as the side dishes. Luckily, I have a bunch left over, so I get to eat it all week! Here's the final dish:

Here's my friend Rachel posing with the table after she set it and I provided the food... (Not sure why she's making that face...I really hope she reads this). :)

I finally figured out my schedule for the semester, so I got to fill out my planner, which is something that I love doing.

Part of the term that I get is mid-term break. And, a great opportunity, I get to go to Wales for the break!!! I'm very excited and I just found out about it, so it's still very exciting to me. I originally didn't make it on the list of those who could go, but someone dropped out, so now I can go! I'm also going to try and plan some weekend trips, hopefully one of which will be to Paris if I get lucky. 

My week has already been full of firsts and it's not even over yet! I hope you enjoy hearing about my term and I hope I'm doing a good job keeping you all informed. I appreciate you taking the time reading my blog!

Orientation Week

I'm sorry now for the amount of words in this post compared to pictures. This past week was orientation week for me, so a lot of information was thrown at all of us. We learned all about the libraries (yay!), food groups, cycling, etc. We also had our first two (kind of) English Seminars (they were mainly informational sessions). Along with all the information, we received our first essay assignments, two of which I have due this week. The rest of my week was spent exploring Oxford, shopping, and sitting around being lazy. :) (I know you're proud Mom!)

One important thing that we figured out this week was food groups. In Wycliffe Hall, we have two food groups (7 people each). My food group started out with eight, but sadly, one of the girls had to go home due to an injury. My group now consists of six girls and our Junior Dean. I don't know if he feels outnumbered by the number of females. The way the food group works is that every Sunday-Thursday, one of us cooks for everyone, rather than just cooking for ourselves. This helps both with cost and also gives us time to socialize. I'm up for cooking in two days, so I'm trying to figure out what to make. So far, we've had a Swedish dish, taco soup, spaghetti with chicken, and french bread pizza. All the food has been amazing so far!

I'm sorry that it's such a short post, but I'm blanking on what to write about. Hopefully I'll write again later this week about my first essays that I have due. But, for now, I have to actually go and work on them!