Dead Kings and Incorrectly Intoned Questions

Happy Friday!

Typical Friday at Oxford: I'm tired but have tons to do. It's beautiful out. I don't want to read about the facets of digital divides. I have this thing where I hate feeling like I'm not being productive for even a half hour, so to feel productive I fill my time doing mindless minor tasks which alleviates the feeling of non-productivity but is really not contributing to anything. Such as: go swim. Email mom. Make list of groceries. Write blog. [recent examples]

So, in the spirit of being "productive," a recap of this week!

Dead Kings Galore   Yesterday I went to the "Learning Without Frontiers" conference in London, and then got out of the conference early and decided to attempt to navigate around London without a map.  It worked well because all of the London police have smart phones, so I just went from smart phone to smart phone and played the "I'm a foolish blonde American" card (reserved for only the most necessary of circumstances).

Newton's grave. 

Ended up inside Westminster Abbey.  JAW DROP.  I did the entire audio tour plus some.  It was incredible. Walk in and you see the high alter where kings were crowned (and yes, where Will&Kate were wed).  Turn left and you'll see the tombs of famous king after king after king (and queen). Go straight and you'll see Poet's Corner, with memorials / tombs of Chaucer, Bronte, Austin, Shakespeare, Carroll, Dickens, etc. (the list goes on and on and on).  JAW DROP.  Handel's tomb. Graves of Newton and Darwin. Shivers all around.  I stayed there for like 3 hours.  And now I will be reading a full history of England so I can feel like I more fully appreciate what I just saw (what did Henry VII do, again?).


Tower Climbing And then today I got to climb up the tallest tower in Oxford, Magdalen (Maud-lin) Tower, seen in the picture.  This was particularly exciting because you need a signed letter from a fellow of Magdalen dated on the day you're planning to go up to be able to get the key to this tower, and you had to use this huge key to unlock this ancient grandiose door. Small narrow winding steep staircase up one of the spires, and you got to stand in the open air on top and realize what a long way down it was.  Not for the faint of heart.  But the view was breathtaking. We decided that we should have had a frisbee-throwing competition off the tower. Not sure the fellows would approve. Next time. Pictures soon.

[Found productivity.  One day time lapse. Fast-forward to Saturday.]

And then on Friday night I went dancing at a shady club, which is hard to avoid in Oxford since all of the clubs are shady. I swear, one of the most disconcerting things Brits say is "Are you alright?" What they mean is "How are you?", but what Americans like me hear is "Are you sick/hurt/going to die?"  In the U.S., it's only a phrase you use if someone's injured or very obviously distressed.  So I always look visibly panicked/confused if someone asks me this (do I look upset? is there something wrong with my face?) and I still don't know the correct way this conversation should take place. Are you supposed to just say "yes"?  Are you supposed to comment on your mental health?

Anyways, one of my American friends had one of her American friends visiting, and he noticed also that  us Americans have changed the intonation of how we ask questions.  For instance, if someone was to ask "Are you alright?" in the U.S., your voice would go up a couple of pitches at the end of the question: "Are you alright?" In the U.K. it's the exact opposite.  Your voice starts high and goes low.  And now I do it the British way, apparently according to American who noticed it immediately. I was stoked [translation for non-U.S.: real excited].  That kind of counts as picking up the accent, right?! It's kinda sing-songy though, I can't wait to be mocked when I go home.

Anyways, and now suddenly it's Saturday and I'm dead tired from dancing last night and then outdoor frisbee practice today. Time to go drink some tea (yes, I've started liking tea) and read, read, read, if I can keep my eyes open.

Next week: Put your sociology hat on for a sociological look at Impatient Americans! I've been meaning to write about this particular cross-cultural difference that has become blatantly obvious for awhile.  It does not necessarily reflect bad on the U.S., I suppose...but maybe a bit.

Hasta luego! Au revoir! Lisa

Happy Hilary Term! And the Vulcan Michigander greeting

It's a Sunday and I'm in this frantic push to feel on top of my readings.  I've been reading almost all day.  I've read about educational neuroscience, about international education policy trends, about gender differences in perceptions of video games in Taiwan, about sampling methods, about ICT in Chilean socio-economic classes...

And I'm still. not. on. top. of. my. readings! Welcome to Hilary term!

Background on Oxford terms: So, Oxford operates under the trimester system much like my lovely alma mater.  Terms are 8 weeks long, with usually papers for graduates due in 9th week.  We are currently in Hilary term, casually referred to as Hellary Term. I'm not exactly sure why it's so distinctly busier than Michaelmas Term (in the fall).  Possibly because of the whole dissertation looming over our graduate heads.  Possibly because, for most Oxford graduates, it's the last term with classes, before we start Trinity Term which is entirely devoted to our dissertations. And our professors are trying to stuff everything possible into 8 weeks while they still have us.

Possibly because it's like graduating from Kalamazoo College all over again.  There's a huge paper to write, I need to job shop, I've already involved myself in two extra classes (bonjour!) and the usual sports. Plus our MCR (middle common room; the group of graduates at our college) is quite literally over-active.  We've had events every day for the past five days or so.

On the bright side, I love being frantically busy, so who can complain?

We had a lovely international pot luck on Friday where we were supposed to bring an authentic dish from our respective country. I found this quite challenging in the U.S., where we generally steal other food from other countries and then Americanize it (cough TexMex cough). But I did indeed succeed.  Puppy chow!  No one outside the Americans knew what it was; all of the Americans definitely knew what it was.  And plus it emblemized (why is this not a verb? fine. exemplified) American food so well.  Sugar, chocolate, fat, starch.  Check check check. On a side note, many non-US Oxonians suggested we should deep fry something already deep fried, which would emblemize what they thought US food was like. Ouch.  Thank you McDonalds.

I really don't think the Brits can talk though. Quirks of being in Britain: Second Desserts.
Oh hey, your stomach is about to burst because you've just finished this three course meal including dessert  at formal dinner? Let's all go eat some more at Second Desserts. Fine cheese, crackers, and this awful, awful drink called Port, which I found is thus named because it is from Portugal, and is a super concentrated sweet red wine that is not delicious but is part of Second Desserts so you must drink it.  We had a formal exchange dinner with Mansfield College (one of the other colleges at Oxford) on Wednesday, had Second Desserts.  Happens every time. I'm not sure why.

I am still playing Ultimate Frisbee here and I played for the first time ever in shorts in January.  I keep forgetting that it's not really winter here (it's chilly, but not COLD) and over-dressing in warm clothes whenever I leave the house.  This is particularly problematic when I go running in my full winter gear and begrudgingly realize when I'm sweating through my clothes halfway through that really, I could be wearing a t-shirt. Actually, that's awesome. I love non-Michigan places.

Other things I did in the past two weeks: went to the British Education Technology show in London, which was massive and really illustrated the commercialization of education (resisting. urge. for. tangent.)  Went to the British  Museum and saw the Rosetta Stone and a bunch of other amazing (read: stolen) treasures from around the world.  And then studied, studied, studied.  I am hoping to get out of Oxford a bit more this term and sight see more often, but it's going to take a bunch of planning.

And last, but not least, I met another Michigander!  In the middle of the Mansfield exchange dinner. We stopped, held up our hands, and happily pointed out on our palms where we were from.  Everyone eyed us like we were doing our Vulcan greeting from another planet.  It was magic.

Sorry for the all-over-the-place nature of this post, but on the other hand it really exemplifies my mind these days, doesn't it. Next up: similarities and differences between UK and US education! I've been meaning to write about that! Until next time!

Sending my love across the pond,  Lisa