10.11.2004
oh wow.
So it finally hit me today as I was walking home from my first lecture: I live in Oxford. I study in Oxford. I'm was walking down High Street, with traffic moving on the wrong sides of the road, and British flags flying over one particular storefront, and it really hit me that *none* of that seemed strange anymore. Which just means that for the first time, I felt like this was home. And that is SO cool.
Went to three lectures today.
1) Topics in Early Greek History.
This was phenomenal: it's being taught by my program supervisor, so I like him already, but it was also presented in an incredibly easy to follow manner. Today's topic: Greek slavery, and the different types that existed, including the Helots, chattel slavery, and debt-bondage.
2) Elementary Greek.
I'm taking this one b/c while I majored in Greek, I lost a lot of it in the last three years. We started off talking about the alphabet today. That was useless... And the lecturer is really very dull and unintelligible. It's too bad, really.
3) Philosophy of Math.
This was crazy. I mean, severely weird. So I don't know much about philosophy, and I sure as heck don't know much about math. So the combination therein is wacky as can be. Which, I think, is tres cool, in that I'm here at Oxford to learn about Ancient History, but sometimes, we gotta take a break and learn about something which totally expands our horizons.
I auditioned for Magdala today. Magdala is, according to most of the singers around Oxford, possibly *the* best ensemble, hands down. It's certainly excellent for early music which, thanks to Lee, has become my new obsession. In fact, they don't do anything later than the 1600's. I've been accepted, but only as a permanend deputy, which means that if and only if one of the singers is absent can I step in. The good news is that two of the tenors are professional and happen to live in the area. One of them is in the Tallis Scholars, and another is with a very famous group whose name escapes me now: both of them have a tendency to be away performing, which gives me a great opportunity to sing. And furthermore, I get to listen to them up close when they're not away, which is marvellous. My mom brought up that I'm getting very busy, and indeed I am. But I think that I can handle it. (yes, I can hear my brain shouting "hubris! hubris!" right now)
Because the last thing I did before coming home was to go down to the University Rowing Club to try out for the Keble College Boat Club (sponsored by Lehman Brothers). First, a word: yes they are indeed sponsored by Lehman Brothers, which I find extremely funny. So by strange twist of fate, I'm one of the better novices out there, in that I'm not a novice: I rowed in high school but kind of let me stamina (and physique) go pretty hard. I miss rowing a lot: it's something that I had a lot of fun with when I was in high school. To be sure, I hate the training, I hate lifting, I hate running, and I really hate the ergometer (rowing machine). But somehow the energy that you didn't have when you're erging is magically there when you're out on the river. I miss that feeling. They want me on one of the novice boats, which I think we can stack with a lot of "novices" that are not quite novices. Rowing seems a bit stranger out here: the bump races are set up such that you are not aiming to cross the finish line first; you are aiming to hit the boat in front of you. This is foreign to me, but then again so have most things in this country.
Got a birthday present from my brother today: it's an automatic egg cooker shaped like a chicken. It's hilarious, and I want to thank him for his generosity.
Went to three lectures today.
1) Topics in Early Greek History.
This was phenomenal: it's being taught by my program supervisor, so I like him already, but it was also presented in an incredibly easy to follow manner. Today's topic: Greek slavery, and the different types that existed, including the Helots, chattel slavery, and debt-bondage.
2) Elementary Greek.
I'm taking this one b/c while I majored in Greek, I lost a lot of it in the last three years. We started off talking about the alphabet today. That was useless... And the lecturer is really very dull and unintelligible. It's too bad, really.
3) Philosophy of Math.
This was crazy. I mean, severely weird. So I don't know much about philosophy, and I sure as heck don't know much about math. So the combination therein is wacky as can be. Which, I think, is tres cool, in that I'm here at Oxford to learn about Ancient History, but sometimes, we gotta take a break and learn about something which totally expands our horizons.
I auditioned for Magdala today. Magdala is, according to most of the singers around Oxford, possibly *the* best ensemble, hands down. It's certainly excellent for early music which, thanks to Lee, has become my new obsession. In fact, they don't do anything later than the 1600's. I've been accepted, but only as a permanend deputy, which means that if and only if one of the singers is absent can I step in. The good news is that two of the tenors are professional and happen to live in the area. One of them is in the Tallis Scholars, and another is with a very famous group whose name escapes me now: both of them have a tendency to be away performing, which gives me a great opportunity to sing. And furthermore, I get to listen to them up close when they're not away, which is marvellous. My mom brought up that I'm getting very busy, and indeed I am. But I think that I can handle it. (yes, I can hear my brain shouting "hubris! hubris!" right now)
Because the last thing I did before coming home was to go down to the University Rowing Club to try out for the Keble College Boat Club (sponsored by Lehman Brothers). First, a word: yes they are indeed sponsored by Lehman Brothers, which I find extremely funny. So by strange twist of fate, I'm one of the better novices out there, in that I'm not a novice: I rowed in high school but kind of let me stamina (and physique) go pretty hard. I miss rowing a lot: it's something that I had a lot of fun with when I was in high school. To be sure, I hate the training, I hate lifting, I hate running, and I really hate the ergometer (rowing machine). But somehow the energy that you didn't have when you're erging is magically there when you're out on the river. I miss that feeling. They want me on one of the novice boats, which I think we can stack with a lot of "novices" that are not quite novices. Rowing seems a bit stranger out here: the bump races are set up such that you are not aiming to cross the finish line first; you are aiming to hit the boat in front of you. This is foreign to me, but then again so have most things in this country.
Got a birthday present from my brother today: it's an automatic egg cooker shaped like a chicken. It's hilarious, and I want to thank him for his generosity.
