Make New Friends, But Keep The Old

I had the second day of my tutorial at Oxford this afternoon, and I must admit that I spent all of yesterday dreading it and all of this morning wishing I had opted to take just the regular four classes so as to avoid the stress of the tutorial system. Today, however, was much better than I could ever have expected.

First, a note on the past few days. The weekend and Monday and Tuesday were spent primarily in reading for my classes and writing for my tutorial. Monday was distinctive for being half-full of finishing my Whig and Tory paper, for the creation a wonderful chicken and rice stir-fry, and for the discovery of Monday Student Night at The Huntsman (in addition to Thursday Student Night). Additionally, I began reading The Wind in the Willows (my roommate is reading it for a class, so I decided to peruse it) and discovered that, indeed, they are along a towpath: After Mole tips the boat Rat says, “Now then, old fellow! Trot up and down the towing-path as hard as you can, till you’re warm and dry again, while I dive for the luncheon-basket.”

Tuesday was exhausting. I had two hours of Tudors and Stuarts in the morning, followed by a hodge-podge lunch, then two hours of Irish Literature in the afternoon. Both of those classes turned out wonderfully. I had been rather worried about Irish Lit, but yesterday seemed to portend greatness ahead, and I must say, most of my fears are allayed. I love all of my classes—including my tutorial.

At any rate, I woke up this morning rather terrified and without having revised my paper to the degree that I normally do, and in general quite unhappy with the state of the world. Plus, it was extremely foggy (but the fog burned off into a gorgeous day). We left at 9:43 instead of 11:43 in order to have some time to look around the city before meeting with Leslie. Greg and I got to Oxford no problems; we looked around at the Oxford Castle, Nuffield College (one of the many Oxford colleges), and into shops and I was having such a pleasant time I almost forgot that I had a paper to present later that day.

Nuffield College.

We had lunch at a nice Malaysian place called Makan La, and I must say it was nice to get a change of cuisine from pasta and sandwiches in the flat. After lunch I called my old friend, Eric, to see what he was up to (he’s studying abroad at Oxford for the entire year). We made plans to meet in front of University College, where Greg and I study, and in the meantime I looked into a few more shops. I considered buying an Oxford hoodie, but maybe I’ll do that during the ASE week in residence. The best thing I saw that I most wanted to buy was a hat that said, “Oxford University: Est. 1231”.

Around 1:10 I met Eric in front of University College. It was so nice to see him again after over a year!!! It was like we’d never missed a beat we picked up talking again so quickly. He’s studying math and philosophy, which is fitting for him, and he was asking me if I had done any acting recently or if I was writing anything new at all.

Me and Eric!

He took me and Greg into a very pretty park-like area behind Christ Church College at Oxford, which he explained is one of the richest colleges, and one that his college—Pembroke College—absolutely detests. Apparently long ago the Pembroke college boys went over to a meadow owned by Christ Church College and painted a cow, but the paint was lead-based and the cow died. The boys of CCC were extremely angry and stole the Pembroke Mascot, the Pembroke Cat, and threw it out a window and it died and now the two colleges hate each other. This probably happened in the 1600s. Then Greg and Eric got into a spat about whether or not English food is any good, which was absolutely hilarious! I think my favorite quote was when Eric said, “Blood pudding is great, fuck you!” and “Don’t knock English breakfasts!” to Greg. Anyways, we had a lovely walk and it was a gorgeous day. The colleges at Oxford are all so pretty and picturesque!

Shortly though, it was time for our tutorial. We met Leslie at the gate of University College, and he led us to the classroom. I had to read my Whig and Tory paper aloud to him today (next tutorial Greg will read his aloud). I got a very decent grade!!! I was surprised and quite pleased!!! Then we discussed the appropriations of war money during the late 1600s and into the 1700s, and the creation of the London Season, and how some profited and others went under financially due to warfare. Overall, I felt quite happy and light about the whole tutorial thing today. And now no more class for two weeks! Next week the whole program goes to Stratford-Upon-Avon, so classes are cancelled! It’s like a little Spring Break only two weeks into classes! “O rapture!”