Week Three: Balliol College, University of Oxford
September 12th – 18th, 2011
This whole week is in a blur, especially because it is book-ended with tutorials, so my weekend consists of Thursday-Friday rather than Saturday-Sunday. Hence the delay in posting about last week until now.
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| Reflection of the sky in the river from our walk to the Trout |
As far as the tutorials are concerned, homework was in full force. We discussed the concepts of compensation, counterfactual obligations, and non-identity in Rectifying International Injustice. My essay focused on non-identity, which is a counterfactual of who could have existed, but does not exist, because of certain historical injustices. Dr. Dan loves throwing us into hypothetical situations that have no correct answer. You have to have quite an imagination to be a philosopher – it is so much fun yet so mind-boggling. Maryalice and I discussed Professor Mattli’s book The Logic of Regional Integration in our second International Political Economy class. I had to present a summary of the theoretical argument and then critique/analyze its weaknesses and limitations, and reflect on its relevance in today’s society. He stopped me halfway through my summary for discussion, which lasted another hour and a half. This class went so much smoother than last week’s because we never ran out of things to say. It was still beyond intimidating though! The tutorial had started off on a really high note, too, because we ran into Professor Mattli in the Canterbury Quad of St. John’s College on our way to class. He gave us an exclusive tour of the college including the “rockery” and some “secret” gardens. It was absolutely breath-taking. We even walked on the grass! Shhhh!
The next round of tutorials was on Sunday the 18th with Dr. Brint. Nikki and I attended Social Ethics in Tower 4 of the Jowett Walk Annex, right next door to our dormitories (Tower 2). This was our final tutorial :( unfortunately, since this was only a single-unit independent study. Dr. Brint allowed us to write about how Sir Isaiah Berlin affected our lives academically, which for me was more how he applies to my research on how religion influences the Israeli democracy. I could talk for hours about this, so I will save you the time. Message me if you’re interested. Dr. Brint and I walked to our next tutorial immediately afterwards for Cityscapes, and in the meantime we were able to discuss some logistics for my Political Science Departmental Honors research project. Dr. Shaw had helped me sort through some ideas beforehand, which included setting a new goal of having my thesis project “in review” for publication before spring 2013 rather than finishing it by the time I graduate. This means the paper is only 32 pages long, which is about half the length of my original proposal. Good that it is shorter, bad that I need to be more concise and articulate, good that this will make me do just that, and bad that it is a semester earlier haha. I’m excited though, because this makes perfection a plan, not just a dream. Dr. Brint and I will continue the conversation while we’re abroad by taking a walk in each city we visit to narrow down my ideas into a workable thesis by the time we reach Barcelona. Anyways! The Cityscapes tutorial was held at the Mitre on High Street for tea and scones. We discussed more about Mexican identity, particularly the concepts of solitude and love. Our next meeting will be in France!!!
In between these two whirlwind sets of tutorials was quite a bit of team-bonding with the Lutheran Society’s University of Thirteen (fourteen for the week, if you count Dr. Shaw). Monday night Dr. Brint so graciously hosted everyone at his apartment for some incredible home-cooked Indian food, which I had never had before. Dr. Shaw brought from CLU a pencil for everyone, which turned out to be the life of the party. Who knew an inanimate object could provide hours of entertainment? I guess that’s what happens when you put 14 G/T people in the same room. Other social events included a couple more stops at the Turf Tavern to unwind, Girls’ Night Out, and Girls’ Night In. The latter was more of a mending mechanism to keep the drama count as low as possible haha. We had a blast though. I had also finally mustered up the courage to go for a run in one of the most formal cities I’ve ever been. University Park is gorgeous and about a half-mile away. It’s perfect for a 30-45 minute run followed by some core training back at the dorms. The first run wasn’t so bad, but I was “smart” enough to go again the day after with Austin, which wasn't such a good idea haha. Oh well. It is beautiful, though. At one point on the complete opposite side of the park from our entrance is a bridge about 20 feet above the river. It’s the perfect spot for a stretch break. :)
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| Jordan and Sam were some of the people who started this maddness |
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| The boys were jealous of our Girls' Night Out, so they tried to join in on the fun... |
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| The girls at the White Horse pub! |
Other adventures during the week led me to meet two incredible people, although neither from the UK. One is from Dubai, so of course I couldn’t resist asking all kinds of pressing questions about religion and politics in the Middle East from his perspective. That’s the beauty of Oxford – every small conversation of small talk can shift in an instant, and everyone has the mental capacity to handle a big question on a pub night. Haven’t tried the “night clubs” yet, but that’s not really my scene. At least in pubs you can hear what each other is saying! Nikki, Mira, Beth, and I met another wonderful person on an ice cream run on Friday. (The first ice cream shop we tried closed at 6:30, which makes no sense for after-dinner dessert, so meeting this lady was meant-to-be.) This lady had come by herself for a quick dinner, and asked if she could join us after she finished eating. We ended up talking for over an hour about out studies, student life in Oxford, politics, and her life in China. She works as a managing editor for the Society of China University Journals in Natural Science and as a senior editor professor at Zhejiang University, one of the top schools in China. Everything she said was fascinating. The one thing she told us to remember, though, was to teach our kids mathematic logic when they are babies rather than reading poetry haha. Music, of course, helps with that too.
Other festivities of the week included a walk to the Trout County Pub, which took about four hours round trip. So worth it though! We started at Dr. Brint’s apartment with Dr. Shaw and the rest of the Californian Lutherans, and hiked beyond Jericho to some pastures alongside the river for a couple miles. We stumbled across some blackberries, ponies, a swan-chasing Labrador (adorable!), livestock with their cow patties, and massive spiders, all accompanied by great friends and even better conversations. Then Saturday was filled with having tea with Dr. Shaw and friends to discuss the remaining time at CLU and life after college, hunting for a pair of flip-flops, and picnic-ing at Dr. Brint’s apartment for Mira’s birthday. So apparently, rubber flip-flops (only a couple dollars at Old Navy) cost £22!!! That’s nearly $35! We ended up finding some fancier sandals for only £3 at a department store, since Mira’s fancy flip-flops are now un-fixable. Our picnic right afterwards was absolutely delicious – best sandwiches I have ever had! It was all fresh food from the festival at the castle adjacent to Dr. Brint’s apartment. Later that evening we all met at the pub called “Far from the Meddling Crowd” (how fitting) to say adieu to Dr. Shaw before he leaves for the real world. Unfortunately, I had already tried to get some research done between dinner and the pub, so my mind was completely absorbed swimming in ideas and wasn’t able to be productively social that evening.
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| So you see the group picture above? Luckily we didn't see this little "friend" until after the photo was taken |
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| A fat cow trying to play peek-a-boo with Mira and I |
Well, I think that covers everything! I have officially written approximately 5,400 words and read nearly 350 pages in the past four days. This is why I do NOTHING productive when I go home.
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