Gadabout

Week Four/Five: Balliol College, The University of Oxford

September 19^th – 29^th, 2011

Gadabout: One who roams about in search of amusement or social activity

Our last week at Oxford :( We had a bit more free time than usual, but most of that was spent sleeping or catching up on the readings, which was more like sleeping while trying to read. I went through three highlighters alone this week because I bought one of my professor’s books!

In International Political Economy we discussed the two books The Politics of Global Regulation and The New Global Rulers. Tutorial #3 was a lot of me sitting in a daze with so much information going over my head because I had focused my essay on the international regulation of human rights, and much of the discussion was of the business and financial aspects of regulation. I particularly wanted to discuss the role of the Arab Spring in IPE and global integration, but oh well. The tutorials have been running 2-2 ½ hours as it was. Tutorial #4 behaved much better for me haha, because Maryalice and I co-presented Professor Mattli’s third book. Because of my embarrassment the week prior, I focused this time on the privatization of financial regulation and forced myself to familiarize with the new perspective rather than applying it to the Middle East. I did not feel like I was able to contribute that particular tutorial to my greater research aspirations, but it certainly helped me understand the financial meltdown of 2008 and some of the politics behind it. Professor Mattli was nice enough to meet with me independently to explain some of the financial crisis in more detail as well.

We discussed International Libertarianism and Restitution in Tutorial #4 of Rectifying International Injustice and Collective Responsibility in the Middle East for Tutorial #5. Much to my tutor’s dismay, I continued my obsession with analyzing the situation in Israel and Middle Eastern politics haha. After weeks of avoiding in-depth discussion, we finally pursued it in the last tutorial. The basic consensus was that Israel is too unconventional for theoretical hypothetical situations to apply smoothly, and it must be considered on a unique basis. Ultimately, prospects of resolution lie in the arrangement of diplomacy and the timeliness of negotiations, not so much in a politically scientific manner.

Our group-wide Politics and the Arts tutorial was held at the infamous Eagle and Child, affectionately known as the Bird and Baby by the locals, to imitate a discussion by the Inklings. My group presented on C.S. Lewis’s “The Abolition of Man” (mind=blown), while the other groups presented on J.R.R. Tolkien and Gilbert Chesterton. The Inklings were a literary/philosophical club that met every week at the Bird and Baby, which made me wonder who those crazy old men at Caffe Nero’s are haha and if they are really these incredible authors and professors. I always seem to be sitting in their vicinity when they have ridiculous conversations name-dropping all these profound philosophers and life questions. (Today is Thursday…I’m going to have to go back to Nero’s and meet these guys!)

Wednesday, September 21^st, was the United Nations’ International Day of Peace, so to commemorate it, a group of us began volunteering at the Fair Trade store behind St. Michael’s on Cornmarket Street. Maryalice and I were always volunteer buddies, and so between the three different days that we worked we merchandised jewelry from the Philippines and Kenya, assembled welcome packets for students, and advertised in the middle of Cornmarket Street. The manager and regular volunteers are incredible people, and their stories about each item imported was even better. Fair Trade is one of my new favorite stores :) They even offered to host next year’s CLU-Oxford students whenever they would like to volunteer!

I have officially gone about a month without playing viola, so the stress of final tutorials and walking past the Holywell Music Room every day was not helping my withdrawal syndrome. On the evening of the 22^nd I attended the Adderbury Ensemble’s performance at the Sheldonian Theatre of the Bach Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, the Brandenburg 5, and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. It was so difficult to not tap my toes or nod my head at entrances! I had performed the latter two selections at least 5 times each over the past four years. The next morning I waltzed over to the Oxford Violin Shop about a mile from the dorms for a viola fix. They just handed me a £12,000 viola and bow to match, which totaled approximately $20,000, to have fun with! No credit card or contract needed! Those of you who know me in the musical realm know I have the worst memory known to musicians, and of course, I did not have any music with me here haha. Poor shop owner, I was playing random scales and “fiddling around” with various themes for about an hour. Luckily various little themes found themselves in my fingers, so I could throw that into the mix. The shop owner and luthier, Bruno Guastalla, had even called the luthier who made the viola – Michael Kearns – while I was playing it! How embarrassing lol. I had my parents e-mail me some music from home the next day so I do not have to experience that again. I now have a new activity for each city I travel to – find a luthier and pretend to be a prospective buyer! Maybe in 5-10 years lol that one viola was twice the cost of my car. In fact, I could sell my car, current viola, and both bikes for the price of that one Michael Kearns viola.

The Lutheran Society met at The Rose in search of the best tea and scones in Oxford for Friday afternoon tea. The scones were incredibly delicious, a fluffy biscuit with cream and jam, accompanied by hot vanilla black tea. I know this seems a bit out of place, but it is totally worth mentioning. Unfortunately The Rose is closing this week for good :(

Now the title of this blog post – GADABOUT – pertains to what happened after all my tutorials were finished, from the afternoon of September 27^th onward. Here are some blurbs about a few of the incredible and random people I had met while wandering around Oxford! The trick is to walk slow and look up…it’s more inviting, so people will naturally strike up conversations.

1.       Shabibi: shop owner in Oxford’s Covered Market from Kashmir, India; he knows 7 different languages and has shops all over the world selling (at a ridiculous price, mind you) crafts and colored fabrics from Kashmir; I stumbled upon his store because I recognized much of the fabrics from Turkey and was feeling nostalgic. Before I could escape after seeing all the prices, Shabibi stopped me and struck up a conversation that lasted over an hour. He talked non-stop about the beauty of traveling and meeting people, and how much he loves his job. His store is filled with the most rich and vibrant colors that the eye can experience, and he loves how it always makes the customers leave with a smile on their face, whether they buy something or not. After our conversation, I went to purchase a little camera bag. He said: “Are you sure? Do you really, really, want this? Just because we talked for so long does not mean you have to buy something. I just enjoyed talking with you. Let’s stay in touch, would you like to get coffee?” Unfortunately I was leaving in a couple days, so I kindly declined. But I did end up purchasing the camera bag (which he gave to me at a discount without me asking), because I sincerely wanted to. Very rarely can I walk into a bazaar and not feel obligated to purchase anything with the vendor being so pushy. I sincerely thanked him for his time and for being a friend, not a salesman.

2.       Café 360: I had met some Oxford students in front of the Fair Trade store because it shares a building with their Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union. They invited me to an International Student Welcome coffee that evening to meet everyone, so I brought a few friends along. We met people from Scotland, southern England, India, China, Indonesia, and Turkey, and that was only the small handful at my table. We all played Jenga and drank “squash” while exchanging Oxford stories. I actually ran into one of the girls, Alicia, the day after on Cornmarket Street! Small town.

3.       Gilli: Store manager of Fair Trade at St. Michael’s; we did not talk much about personal things, but she is incredibly sweet and really opened up her shop to us. She explained all the stories behind the Fair Trade items and the villages they came from, and even gave us some FT chocolate for our volunteering efforts. As a manager of a non-profit store run by volunteers, she has an extremely difficult job. If no one volunteers, they have to close the shop for the day :(

4.       French guy while I was buying lunch – don’t remember his name, but we’re both going to be in Paris this weekend haha

5.       Two Persians from Iran: I met these guys while I was eating the crepes I had bought from the French guy and trying to video-type a violinist/trapeze artist. They are studying Middle Eastern Studies in Oxford working on their doctorates. We discussed everything from Middle Eastern politics to the stereotypes of Americans (they thought I was a “redneck” when they found out I was from Texas). We then exchanged e-mails for future help with research. Unfortunately I had run out of business cards, so I embarrassingly had to write my e-mail on a napkin. I immediately went to the print shop to get a few more cut.

6.       Two economists from Milan: they made fun of me because I couldn’t remember whether I went to Milan with TYO over five years ago. Remember that terrible memory of mine? lol

I have a new goal to meet someone new every day and get rid of these business cards haha. You meet the most interesting people abroad because nobody has their cars to be antisocial and efficiency is overrated, so everyone is just there to enjoy life and absorb new cultures. Everyone has a story.

Last night, September 28^th, was the final banquet for the Oxford portion of our program. It was hardly even bittersweet, it is Turkish Coffee Bitter. I am going to miss it here so much, and I am dreading packing for France. I know the next half of our tour is going to be incredible, but I am finally in the groove of Oxford tutorials and I feel like I have barely seen the tip of the iceberg in these topics. I have so much more to learn! I hope my professors don’t mind, but I’m going to be e-mailing them quite a bit to continue our conversations.

And last and perhaps least, my last day at Oxford :( I spent some time taking Paddington Bear around some of Oxford for some glamour shots,  eating the last bit of my favorite foods here (the English breakfast with poached eggs, hash browns, boiled tomato, mushrooms, and fresh fruit; tomato soup and ciabatta from Caffe Nero’s; a dessert from The Alternative Tuck Shop; and a Balliol College/Hogwarts-style dinner). I LOVE OXFORD!

I wonder anybody does anything at Oxford but dream and remember, the place is so beautiful. One almost expects the people to sing instead of speaking. It is all like an opera.

~William Butler Yeats