Hooliganism and Losing the Melk

I just got back from watching "Love Actually" at our Mexican Night Sunday potluck.  It's a different movie to watch with mostly non-Americans. Despite being a harmless rom-com, it slips in the American president as a womanizing bully and American women as loose Wisconsin sorority girls who go gaga for British accents.  Everyone had lots of fun with this. And it's a tad bit hard to defend one's country when retrospectively it's easy to see that's how we might be portrayed. I mean, let's be serious, we do swoon for British accents.

[Sidenote: did you know Hugh Grant went to Oxford? Apparently he comes back sometimes and goes to the bar and buys "obscene amounts of alcohol" for every student there, according to one of our orientation speakers.]

We've set up a Sunday potluck-style meal every week since the term started, hosted by one of the Hilda's Hooligans, our rogue not-so-secret posse of fresher grad students at St. Hilda's from all over the world. We created the group mainly so we could all contact each other, but it's blossomed into a full-fledged cult-like entity full of shenanigans, great conversations, and amazing interesting friends.  I look forward to Sundays every week. Next goal: steal a deer from rival-across-river Magdalen College (they have a deer park).

I've found myself not attempting the English accent so much (I can't quite pull off the Kate Winslet level yet, which is of course what I'm aspiring to), but rather I'm much more conscious of my Michigan accent. Particularly I've been losing the Michigan vowels:

• Michigan A - sharp sound, like aee-pple or aaaax-ccent, contrast with British ah-pple
• Michigan O - saying "fer" instead of "for." This is the most common one for me to change.
• Michigan I - Milk = Melk. Why, Michigan, why?

These sound ridiculous when compared to the deep vowel sounds of British English. I know I should be proud of my Michigander talk but really, I'm not so sad to see the accent go. At least then when I speak, everyone knows I'm not British, but not everyone knows the exact location of the States I'm from. Even other U.S.ers mock me when I say melk.

After last weekend's matriculation madness, finally I've had a school-filled weekend. A true 'Welcome to Oxford.' Okay, an almost-school-filled weekend, except for all that Ultimate Frisbee I played. In shorts and a t-shirt! In October! Twas brilliant.

In more important news, I've confirmed that "spooning" is indeed a universal term. Who knew!

Oxford is celebrating Halloween with a University-wide... cross-dressing party? Should be interesting. I also hope to go to London next weekend, stay tuned! Also I will update about the Hilda's Crest which has seahorse-unicorns on it. Toodaloo, Lisa