Bavarians, 5 a.m. Champagne and Twitter Methodology

Things I have started doing since I came to Britain:
1. Writing dates backwards.  It's 4/5/2012. Problematic on days like today, where both 4/5/2012 and 5/4/2012 are viable dates...
2. Writing times with periods instead of colons.  It's 9.42.
3. Clocking afternoon and nighttime times as 14.32 instead of 2.32. This one particularly annoys me.

The one I'm most upset about: Caught myself the other day saying things like "I'm going to have a shower" or "I'll have a think about that." What? Why? How did this unnecessary verb weasel into my vocabulary?

ANYWHO. Let's see, what have I done lately?

Last weekend was Bavarian Night. Which involved my German roommate and German next-door neighbor cooking a bunch of us dinner in lederhosen, which my Dad has informed me literally means "leather pants." And then  listened to the Bavarian anthem and watched Bavarian cartoons, which involved a bunch of cartoon characters that the rest of the Europeans knew but I did not.  Apparently the U.S. has more endemic cartoons.

And then Monday night / Tuesday morning was May Day! Oxford is famous for it's May Morning celebrations (oh hey, wikipedia page) which celebrate what exactly? The first of May? Spring started over a month ago?

Anyways, the idea is that you are supposed to stay up all night and then at glorious sunrise at 6. a.m. mosey over to Magdalen bridge and then listen to a boy's choir sing hymns from the top of the tower (which I climbed once, see my Dead Kings and Incorrectly Intoned Questions post for a picture of the tower). And then YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO JUMP OFF THE BRIDGE. This was previously thought of as a "thing" to do, but since the water is about 3 feet deep.... broken bones galore.  The number of warnings we received in the days prior about bridge jumping...Luckily seemingly the entire fire brigade of Oxford was out in their wet suits and ready for a river dive if anything happened (they stationed themselves at Hilda's).

I did not stay up all night. Too old for this. (hah).

6 a.m. fashion. Note the mismatched socks... with heels. 

But I did wake up at 5 a.m. to enjoy brunch with my fellow Hildabeasts, where we drank champagne (yes, at 5 a.m., so smooth) and then listened to the singing. Which was lovely had it not been raining the whole time.  Although the rain did allow for some hilarious views of drunken undergrads in formal wear, freezing cold without coats and rain-drenched rat-tail hair, tottering around in heels at 6 a.m. Don't worry, they were too drunk to feel it.  We scoffed and and laughed and discussed our superiority in our umbrellas and trench coats like all grad students will do in these situations.

On the research front: Hello, Twitter-as-a-research-strategy. I've been conducting research for my dissertation by surveying individuals (academics, teachers, IT managers, consultants, nonprofits) within the Learning & Technology field. Turns out the those working in L&T use Twitter. A LOT.

Hence the start of the Twitter Methodology section of my research. What, you haven't answered my three emails? What if I "tweet" it to you? Oh hey, that worked? Now you'll fill out my questionnaire? And share it with others? Guess I'll "tweet" you a thanks?

My heart is bleeding. I really dislike(d) Twitter. I hate the character limit. You can't explain a research approach in 140 characters. You cannot attach an abstract in a "tweet." I am a sellout! Or I am super hip. One of the two. Opinions may differ.

Going to have lots of fun describing what "twitter" and "tweet" mean to the Oxford Review Board. 10 bucks says they do not have Twitter handles. Read more about the research on my other blog which I created due to interest from research participants. Can you tell I miss journalism?

Coming up: Shakespeare Time! (said to the tune of Hammer Time) Stratford-Upon-Avon on Monday.

Miss you 'Merica,

Lisa