I can't wait to...

...take a hot shower WHENEVER I WANT.
...plug in my laptop without an adaptor.
...have all of my shoes.
...drive my car to Wal-Mart in the middle of the night for juice or bacon or ice cream.
...make my purchasing decisions based on quality and money, not weight.
...say "pants" without fear.
...find my one winter hat!!
...feel 100% awesome about using American punctuation and spelling.
...listen to Arcade Fire on Spotify.
...text again!
...have a real mocha.
...always have the dishes I need.
...have my own pillow.
...wear ALL the scarves.
...regain access to Hulu & Netflix (and no longer resort to...other methods of watching American TV).
...follow recipes exactly rather than figuring out how to convert butter from grams to sticks.



(a brief listing of the smaller luxuries awaiting me at home :) )

(not that I won't miss Oxford and England and my lovely SCIO friends so so much!)

[RadCam Update]

Time: 6:12pm. Location: Radcliffe Camera. Should be: taking notes on Eisenstein's use of history out of a really helpful book. Up since: 9:30am. Have slept: 4(ish) hours. Yay!

This is me procrastinating, but ALSO we went to the Kilns today, which is where CS Lewis lived for 30 years! Jonathan Kirkpatrick, who's involved in SCIO, is the Scholar in Residence there (yeah, he lives there!), and he gave a group of us and free, fun, and educational tour, complete with tea and cakes afterward in "Jack"'s common room (sitting room). We biked out, about 20-30 minutes away, spent about 3 hours touring the house, walking through the woods out to Holy Trinity Church and back, and then stuck around for tea and story time. :) Sarah and I then biked home, had a quick (3pm) lunch, and hopped on the bus to get into town and spend a few hours at the library before it closes at 7. So that's what we're up to now, and there's so many other SCIO people here, frantically trying to finish researching for their long essays! Mine is going pretty well, actually, but I can't shake the feeling that I'll nearly run out of time, especially since I'm still very much in the note-taking stage. Goal is to finish enough reading/researching/noting tonight that I can construct at least a basic outline, so I'm not totally starting from scratch when I start writing this darn thing! (It's due on Thursday at noon, by the way. So 36 hours from now. Yikes! I'd better get back to work!) ~It is now 6:17pm, and I'm going to post this and get to it. Much love!

Before the Final Battle...

the wonderful marvellous lovely talented genius Sarah M ("Sarahgorn") posted this gem at 5am Monday night/Tuesday morning:

"I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of SCIO students fails, when we forsake our essays and break all bonds of academia, but it is not this day. An hour of failing grades and disapproving looks from Dr Baigent, when the Age of Oxford comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we write!! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Students of the Vines and North Wing!!!!!!!"


I'm going to miss her quite a bit, but darn! that's good motivation for writing this long essay! =)

In anticipation of everything other than essays:

Still procrastinating--this time in the cafe. Think I'll try to make up for my utter lack of October posts, maybe?

Current verdict (so hardly final): still sick of German nationalism, but I'm beginning to feel like I rather understanding, so it's boring in a different way, now. More of an "old hat," sort of "this-is-the-same-thing-I-wrote-last-week" thing. So I'm going to assume that's a step in the right direction (because I'm currently in a good mood and would rather not ruin it). Minus library (so far--but I really should go before SkolVo), I'm right on schedule for my Wednesday in town...but I'm thinking I'll just try to find another book (maybe two) at the library, hit the lecture, and call it a day (town-wise). I just really hate being in town allll day and having to bike back in what feels like the dead of night (even if it's barely 7). That being said then, I had my last secondary tutorial this morning, and it feels really good to be done (not because I despised it, but just because it's now one less thing to worry about!). I had a sandwich with my mocha here at Caffe Nero, but I'm hungry again already (after less than an hour), and so I may grab a snack before I run to the library and then lecture.

I find myself looking desperately forward to little things: especially Friday, now. Christmas shopping in Oxford sounds absolutely divine after the weeks I've had, and anticipating the next week of frantic essay-ing. (Not essay-writing, which I know you're thinking, but rather the entire process--mental and tangible--of putting together a 4,000+ word essay, and its ensuing insanity.)

On a more amusing note, I'm sitting in the cozy alcove bit of the cafe, and since I've been here since noon, and it's in a centrally-located bookshop, and it serves legitimate food in addition to tasty steaming beverages, it's been quite the busy place. Here's the funny: people keep coming in and awkwardly looking around for somewhere to sit. It's definitely a more traditional cozy-coffee alcove--clusters of leather chairs around tiny round tables, and one couch surrounded by the same. When I walked in, I'm afraid I did that same awkward bit, except I made it rather less awkward by just walking over to an apparently empty chair and asking the fellow sitting across if it was taken. He said no, so I took a seat and awkwardly balanced my coffee in my lap, shrugged off my coat, and got reading. I might have been slightly less uncomfortable if I'd chosen the seating cluster opposite this particular guy, except for the incredibly awkward hand-holding not coffee-drinking couple cuddling on the couch. There was a table and two empty chairs across from them...but be honest, who the heck would want to sit there?? I'd rather stand. I understand the awkward couple dynamic, I really do. But at the busiest time of day in a cafe when you haven't even got drinks? Taking up not only a couch and table, but an entire seating area because everyone else in the entire world is uncomfortably and immensely put off by your unbelievable  aura of awkwardness? I eventually managed to claim my own chair in the corner next to a table when the couple that had been there for the last 10 minutes vacated, and a few people have come and gone. The vibe is currently much less awkward (except people still peer in periodically): there's two guys on a couch (okay, could be awkward for them?), two girls sitting catty-corned to a table in one corner, an older gentleman reading the newspaper opposite the table from me, but not awkwardly at all, since I'm no longer using the table and my headphones are in (amazing the problems that solves!), and one other fellow across the room, all alone in a cluster of three chairs, also reading the paper. I've really become a much more avid people-watcher since being in Oxford, and I'm afraid it may have wreaked havoc on my productivity (which used to be top-notch and unfazeable, of course).

Next up: my desire to have the ability to channel my spotty written humour into Cracked-style articles, or even blog posts. I have good moments, certainly, and a casual style that lends itself to humourous writing, but so far I've been rather unable to come up with anything that is on par with what I wish it was. The closest I think I've come recently was my facetious note-taking in our lecture a week or two ago, in which I paid as little attention as possible, but still typed notes just in case someone noticed I was just scrolling through the Cracked archive instead of typing notes on my laptop like I should've been. This resulted in random sentences that basically consisted of what I thought I'd heard the lecturer say. I hadn't intended to write anything of value, but it ended up being rather amusing, so I sent it to Ginger and she insisted that I share it on facebook. It wasn't just the biggest hit ever, but considering I wasn't really trying for humour of wide appeal, I'm rather proud of it.
Snippets:
fake notes are pointless but they're a fair sight more interesting than, um, preserving grass in English towns? or cows or whatever.


something about white men with beards and "effing" forest (???)


land is being stolen by........probably not Robin Hood. or Christian communists, although the latter is certainly possible.


there was a crisis, but we're not sure why a park in the middle of an English town is quite so crisis-inducing. you can still call it Effing Forest, people!


nature may have won in court on a technicality, or just taken over the towns. it's unclear.


The Beatles are definitely here. Or playing through my computer. Also unclear and rather unlikely.


[In question time, I learn that poor people are involved.]

Okay, so that was that. Ginger found it hilarious (or so she said), and I'm honestly not sure if it's funnier if you were at the lecture or if you're just reading what I got out of the lecture. My mother should know that the lecture was not relevant to anything ever, except possibly research methods for writing on English societies like 100 years ago without the use of secondary sources if you're forming a thesis or something, and geography. (If that sentence made no sense, you get where I'm going with this.) I think I'll make more of an effort in the future...the idea of writing funny things kind of appeals to me. Topic suggestions welcome, I suppose, since that's usually my toughest time. :)

Much love to all, and I'm not the least bit offended if you didn't actually read all the way through this one. ~Hayley

I'd rather be reading Cracked.

It took me a long time to find the "create new post" button. How long have I been using this site? (Long enough that I must be drunk or sleep-deprived, I can tell you that much.*) My last update was hardly an update at all, but it did coincide nicely with Thanksgiving (which made me miss my family, but was a blast here in Oxford, as well--I made a pumpkin pie with Hannah!) and so I'm counting it. It's Tuesday night now (technically Wednesday morning, although barely), and I'm hanging out with Ginger, Sarah, and a sleeping Victoria in their room, hard at, ahem, work. I've decided I can give myself a *tiny* little break, since I wore myself out today sleeping until 2, writing an entire essay, and skyping Karson. ;) But seriously, I just felt the need to write something I might ever actually like to share with another person, or possibly even go back and reread myself somewhere down the road. That's not to say this is any kind of work of genius, because it's clearly not, but at least it doesn't feel like a chore. :)

That said, I have my last secondary tutorial in the morning (the real morning), for which I submitted my last essay a few hours ago (hopefully before my tutor went to bed...). I have my second-to-last primary essay/tutorial at the end of this week, my very last primary essay and tutorial Monday of next week (thank goodness; it was going to also be this week!), and then only the dreaded "long essay" before I can officially turn up my nose at school work until January! (The "long essay" is really just the length of two regular essays, and maybe not so bad as all that since I got to choose the topic and I've been "working" on it all term.)

On my plate for this week (I'll pretend like it's Sunday night and give the whole week's activities, because it's rather more exciting that way):
Monday: get to the Taylorian (library) at 9am with Tara, Ashley, and Jonathan and claim the best study desks. Meet Ginger for lunch at The Eagle and Child (pub) down the street at 2pm. Go back to the library with Tara and Ashley to work until 6pm (and actually accomplish rather a lot!). Meet Ginger and Sarah M at Pret (cafe) for a quick snack and hot chocolate before heading to the Sheldonian (theatre) for a Christmas carol service at 7pm. Bike home in the light rain at 8pm. Procrastinate/work until 2am.
Tuesday: sleep until 2, write secondary essay, order kebabs with Ginger and Jonathan, eat said kebabs while watching Community, finish essay at barely 10, skype Karson until a little after midnight, meet up with Ginger and Sarah to work in their room until ???
Wednesday: 10:30 tutorial, followed immediately by coffee. Followed less immediately by a trip to the library to get books/do work until "SkolVo" (mandatory SCIO lecture) at 2:30, which is followed by a full British afternoon tea. Probably go back to the library, or possibly home, depending on the weather.
Thursday: I dunno. Possibly a tutorial. Possibly a visit to Richard Dawkins's house. (No, I'm not joking.)
Friday: Maybe a tutorial. But definitely Christmas shopping (slash souvenir shopping, since they're mostly the same thing this year :P). Followed by the Oxford Christmas Light Night (light turning-on and parade and what not) from 5 to 10! There will be NO schoolwork! :)
I need to stop, I'm gonna go crazy just thinking about everything that needs to happen/get done in the next less-than-two weeks!!

On that note, I'll include a brief bit on how weird it is that I only have 12 days left in Oxford. (Spoiler alert: it's very weird.) I'm obviously very sad to be leaving this wonderful place and these lovely people (I almost typed "living" instead of "leaving", if that tells you anything), but at the same time I'm almost inordinately excited to be getting home and seeing my family and friends and, of course, boyfriend. :) The semester's gone by pretty fast, but it is definitely feeling long as we near the end, although simultaneously I haven't nearly enough time to do everything I want to in Oxford before my short time here is up!


That said, I just looked up Chicago weather on weather.com, and they still don't have anything even remotely definitive for after Dec 8, but I'll be checking back in a few days to make sure there's no chance of our flights getting delayed, because I would be immensely unhappy (this is me being a realist, not a pessimist. Really). But anyway, I'll miss Oxford more than I can even say (although Ginger rather can, read her post here: purveyorofdreams.blogspot.com), but I'm very ready to be not only back in the United States/Arkansas, but to see everyone I haven't seen in over three months! (Especially--well, you know who you are. ;))

P.S.- I've basically been alternating between Christmas music and Cage the Elephant. That's the sort of weird mood I'm in. :D



*No, Mum, I'm not durnk. Prosime/

the Taylor Institution Library (Taylorian)

The Thanksgiving Post :)

My friend Hannah's facebook status tonight absolutely made my day:


Tell Sarah she can keep writing my paper while I'm gone. Come back to this - night completely made. 
"Next I will talk about the “carpe diem,” which, although similar to “sense-datum,” is much more quotable. For instance, you can change it to say carpe cakem: seize the cake, carpe teaum: “seize the tea,” etc. Although this may not seem directly connected to philosophy but rather connected to dinner, this is simply not the case. Cake and tea are exceedingly important when considering philosophy in general because without these things, we would just be sad, angry little people with no joy. Cake and tea point us to the ultimate truths of God in their deliciousness and simple beauty and as such may be considered the crux of all good philosophy. They allow for the viewpoint of the philosopher to be balanced and healthy, if a little tubby. But a bit of extra tub around the middle never hurt anyone.
Another good tid-bit of philosophy: never count your chickens before they hatch, because one may actually be a chicken."
:)


I love all my friends here at the Vines, and while I can't wait to be home, I will miss them all so very very much!! <3

[requested title not found]

DISCLAIMER: This is very different from what I've previously posted--but don't read me wrong. It's not a comment on how terrible Oxford is, just how strangely the entire experience has been affecting me. I've basically summed up the term's negative emotions and vomited them all up in one place, because I think I needed it. I'm seriously rethinking what I've been doing with my life up until now, and what I'll be doing in the future; this is just mildly eloquent venting of my surprising emotions.

The closer I get to a deadline, the more acutely I feel my utter lack of motivation. I hate the feeling that I've made a mistake because I had to make a decision without knowing all the information--but that's how my primary tutorial feels. Apparently tutorials are supposed to be building on a foundation you've already got, not functioning as the foundation itself--this would have been good to know before I signed up for "Nationalism in Western Europe, 1799-1890." I knew NOTHING coming into this course, and apparently that's not typical. So not only am I just now starting on the "normal" coursework in 5th week, but I still feel woefully unprepared and inadequate. The assigned reading is two leading theorists of nationalism...their main works are obtuse, stuffy, unnecessarily complicated, and bore me absolutely--literally, to tears.

I have plenty of motivation to read for my secondary tutorial (Shakespeare, currently) and to scroll through Facebook, to make oatmeal and to shoo bees out the window, to write an overly-emotional blog post and to create new Spotify playlists. But the motivation to put any more effort into understanding theories of nationalism? Eludes me entirely. I do have barely enough motivation to want to want to work on this essay (it's due tomorrow night, after all), but that cannot--apparently--be translated into the purpose and drive that will turn in a 2,000 word essay at 8pm on Thursday.

Even the motivation to just "get it done" has evaporated, and I'm left feeling empty and purposeless (which is, honestly, ridiculous). Right now, the only thing that even gets me through the knowledge of impending (constant) essays is that I'll be done in a month. And I don't like my only consolation to be "being done" because that's really no consolation at all, a month out, and it makes me feel like I'm not getting anything at all out of studying at Oxford--also ridiculous, because I truly am learning a ton, and rather enjoying myself most days. I just feel no interest in or connection to what I'm learning, which is--of course--making me rethink my entire academic life up to this point, and making me wish fervently that I could just stop turning in essays, tell my tutors to sleep in, and chill in Oxford for the next month.

I'm starting to take issue with the very structure of learning in Oxford--it may have worked for hundreds of years, but it doesn't work for me. I meet with my tutor once a week (or every other week)...to talk about an essay I've already written. I get zero guidance on my next essay, except that it ought to "be a bit longer" or "go into a tad more detail" than my last ones. I am assigned a question to answer, and given a list of books to read. I skim through the 5-10 books, try to understand each one of them and then form a coherent 2,000-word argument based on what I've "understood", and turn that in the night before my meeting. The next day I go in, talk to my tutor about all the things I've misunderstood (and get them nicely explained and feel like I've really grasped what's going on, but with no benefit to my essay or my grade), and then I say "have a good week!" and repeat the process all over again.

This is omitting the inevitable panic attack/crisis/wave of depression/constant homesickness/lack of purpose accompanying each and every book I pick up. And also omitting the facts that I'm writing three 2,000-word essays every two weeks, and expected to be working on a 4,000-word term essay in my "free time" (?), and supposed to be attending four relevant lectures a week (an especially difficult assignment when none of the offered lectures are the least bit relevant to anything I'm studying).

My sleep schedule is the most screwed up it's ever been, and that's saying a lot, if you know me. I stay up late, intermittently actually accomplishing work. I go to bed at (maybe) 5am, and then feel like I've wasted my entire day when I don't wake up until (maybe) 2pm. I love Oxford, but I often can't remember why I'm here, or I honestly feel like I'm wasting my time, or I don't belong. I'm not usually one for broadcasting my emotions, or whatever, but I feel like (while everyone here is great and I love them) there's nobody in this entire city (much less this house) who understands how I'm feeling about this stuff. I'm not as motivated as the other people here, as single-mindedly "academic".  Sure, they procrastinate and don't want to write essays either, but no one else has considered just not doing it. I have. And if I say things like that, everyone looks at me like I'm crazy. I value sleep over research. Again, I'm the crazy one. And honestly, even if I'm not the only one here going through this, it sure feels like I am. When others talk about not having motivation, it's because they're tired, not because they're genuinely bored by their subject material. I've been getting sleep, because it's so much more interesting than nationalism (which, I've learned, is essentially undefinable; this is ridiculously upsetting and hurts its reputation with me).

I'm trying to keep perspective (after all, I've been here for 2 months already and survived, and I am coming home in a month), but sometimes (read: rather too often) I feel like just dropping everything, taking the coach to London, and getting on a plane back to Arkansas. I would love to just forget about essays and tutorials and nerd-drama and the day-to-day irritants of living with people who are so like me and yet so not. I'm not used to being the least academic person in...well, anywhere. But here I very well may be, and it only serves to steal more of my lagging motivation.

Lest any reader of this melancholy post worry that I am depressed, that's genuinely not the case. I really just have been feeling these things for a while, and I'm not traditionally very good at expressing emotions--I don't often see much of a need for it. But tonight I did (that might be 3am talking), and if you actually bore with me, I should buy you chocolate (to share with me, of course).

Reminiscences of the Weekend~

~Clever titles continue to elude me.

Let's begin by coming clean: I should be reading a commentary on Marlowe's Edward II right now. But I'm listening to instrumental Christmas music, having a cup of coffee, and blogging instead. Also, the essay isn't due until a week from tomorrow, so that's wayyyy much time. Also, Vince Guaraldi and coffee don't go well with a stuffy academic essay on Marlowe. They do, however, go great with reflecting on the weekend. :)

Thursday night: finished primary essay an hour late, then stayed up and frantically finished the ridiculously long and detailed proposal for the long essay due at the end of term. Spent pretty much the whole day being really homesick. I'd really rather not talk about it.

Friday: Slept in a bit, made it into town for my tutorial at 2 (in the rain), ran some errands. Spent the later afternoon/early evening preparing for "Half-o-ween", along with the rest of the Vines. That night: we partied. The first half hour was a little awkward because nothing had been quite planned and the food wasn't all ready yet. But it wasn't long before things got going, and we played a succession of games, which got progressively more fun, culminating in a game of Zombie Live Mafia. Imagine the game Mafia (you know, with the cards) being acted out in a three story pitch black house, plus zombies. We had a blast. Then we had a costume contest, a dessert contest (aka eating time), and piled into the living room to watch Psycho. Most people went to bed, but a few of us stuck around and put in School of Rock, then even less of us stayed up talking until around 6am. It was great. :)

Saturday: Guy Fawkes Day (5 November). Ginger and I went into Headington (the suburb that's a bit closer than Oxford to our house) for some foodage/drinkage and groceries, watched some fireworks, made some delicious mom-food (poppyseed chicken), and joined the others in watching V for Vendetta, because that's what Americans do on Bonfire Night (since the bonfire itself cost 6 quid).

Sunday: Ginger and I were going to hit Starbucks for the last day of their two-for-one holiday lattes deal and get some English Renaissance reading done, but we both were a little late getting up. The only negative was that the reading didn't get done...instead we made it to Starbucks an hour before they closed with three other friends, and had a lovely (albeit rather short) time there, before heading back. Ginger, Sarah M, and I then spent our time between Starbucks and church making plans for our trip to *drumroll*....Edinburgh! Sarah S is going to, but she was working on school at the time. We'll still need to book everything, but we're heading up a week from this Friday night for a long weekend in Scotland, and it's all coming together nicely and very exciting. :) We had to put a pin in that, however, around 7, and make our way to church, along with Tara.

Sunday night: Church was splendid, although communion got a little confusing at one point. The message was one I'd apparently been needing to hear, and my mantra for this week (if not much longer) is Mark 9:24- "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" The pastor made the great point that this is more a matter of faith than what we immediately think of as belief--and it was the reason the disciples couldn't cast out the demon. They had stopped relying on God (believing) and begun to rely on their own strength. Never works out, but sometimes I forget that; I think everyone does. It's been a while since a message at church really hit me, another reason I think I didn't realize I needed this. More prayer, less self-reliance.

Later Sunday night: Had a Skype date set up with Karson--that was marvellous, as always. He's so wonderful and encouraging and kind of my favorite person to talk to (no offence to anyone else ;). I love how we can kind of just talk about whatever, and it always makes me that much more impatient to see him in person--in just 37 days! I skyped with Mom and Dad after that, which was also great. Mom thinks she needs to make a list of things to ask me, but I'm happy just chatting a bit. I miss them a ton, too, even if I might not say it as much. :)

Sunday night/Monday morning: Um...may have stayed up until 5 talking with Ginger, Sarah M, Hannah, and Jonathan. I'm not quite sure how we started out, but the talking easily lasted 3+ hours, and we covered everything from the psychology of the self to the Catholic view of feminism, delicacies of race relations to how society has screwed up the way we see gender issues. Best conversation I've had in a long time, and it was totally worth the weird sleep (or lack thereof). I'm so thankful to be living in a house where I can have these genuine, respectful discussions with my friends. <3

So, while I might not have gotten much essay-writing done this weekend, it was time well-spent, and these will be the things I remember years from now when I think back on my time in Oxford, not the effects nationalism had on German unification in 1870. (Although with all the reading I've done, that will likely stick with me a while longer than I'd like. :P)

The homesickness is pretty up-and-down at this point. The depression doesn't really hit unless coupled with a late essay, but the general homesickness is a bit more acute and constant now that I've been here over 2 months. However, Oxford is still lovely (even with the increased rain), the people are still wonderful (even though they keep me up all night), and I'm that much closer to coming back the States (35 days). <3 -Hayley

**A note after seeing this posted....It's not 8:51am. I don't know what timezone this site thinks I'm in, but it's actually 5pm. Whatever. :P

Veronica Mars and Pumpkins

I feel like I've been really terrible about updating this, and then honestly when I do update, it's usually rather hurried and thoroughly uneloquent. I update on facebook quite a bit, so that's got to be worth something, right? And anyway, even when I'm in the process of writing a post, I get distracted by the dumbest things. Or even not-dumb things, but things that could wait. Let's be honest, though, I don't know why I bother. It's something of an outlet, I suppose (read: procrastination tool), and the peeps back home can read it if they're bored. In other news, the subtitle of this post is "Why do I blog?" And the titular question goes unanswered, I spoil it for you. Sometimes I feel like I'm something of the blogging version of that person who talks just to hear their own voice...but then I remember there are people out there who say really dumb things, which is so much worse than rambling.

Lately:
Tutorials have started! Tomorrow marks the beginning of the third week of term, which is affectionately known here in Oxford as "Third Week" (yup). So far this semester, I've written 6 2,000(ish)-word essays, attended a few lectures of varying intellectual levels and topics, met with my primary tutor 2 official times and my secondary tutor once. This is not me ranking them as individuals: the tutorial I attend 8 times (once a week) and write a weekly essay for is called "primary" and the tutorial I attend 4 times (every other even week) and write a bi-weekly essay for is called "secondary", I think mostly because it just happens less, not because it's less important. Also, I get 6 transfer credits for my primary, and only 3 for my secondary.

Also during term-time (so not that first month, which wasn't official Oxford term) we're to be working on our "long essay" (which is exactly what it sounds like. 4,000+ words on the topic of our choice). My topic is super exciting (for a cinematically-inclined history nerd, that is): Soviet film propaganda. We're supposed to turn something in on Monday narrowing that down a bit, so it will undergo a little editorial work this weekend. But I'm glad I'll at least be working on something fun that I chose all semester--rather unusual, that. ;)

In other news, I've officially become nocturnal. The past week, I've typically not gone to bed before 4am, half the time because I was frantically researching or writing essays, and the other half because Ginger and I (and others) have stayed up making pumpkin/chocolate chip/almond muffins and watching Veronica Mars, among other activities like keeping up with the Cards game, chatting with Karson, and drinking wayyyy too much tea (as if that's possible here). I've discovered the wonders of British grocery store bakery bread for 50p (that's less than a dollar!), which is incredibly fresh and delicious and lasts for a little less than a week. Also, clotted cream (which sounds gross, I know) goes with strawberry jam on scones. It just does. Oaties: "biscuits" made of oats, sometimes packaged with half of them as chocolate, but putting Nutella on the plain ones is even better. All of these things go. with. tea. So does any form of cake. Or cookie. Or muffin. (Those pumpkin muffins were--still are--delish. We ate them while drinking tea and watching Australia.)

So basically, all is well. I'm more homesick than usual, but I guess maybe that's to be expected, seeing as it's just a little past halfway in my time here. I considered posting a facebook status of everyone I missed, but that seemed counterproductive. I'd be better off listing what I don't miss. ha. But I've been really missing my boyfriend (as to be expected, but it's still hard), my dog (I always miss him when I'm at school, but I didn't even get to see him over break :/), my family (even though I've been away at school, England is a lot further away, and I can kind of feel it), my JBU friends (so so much), all my other friends (even though I wouldn't see them as much anyway, it's kind of like with my family, and I just feel so far away from everyone back home), and I miss the USA, especially Arkansas (read: Chick-fil-a), and very especially Siloam Springs & JBU (read: Pour Jons). Luckily, I have some wonderful friends here in Oxford. <3 -Hayley

Failing to Succeed

Contrary to the philosophical title here, what I mean is that I fail miserably at updating a blog, but only because I've been rather busy not failing in my studies, travels, and friendships--theoretically. My deep and justifiable desire to take a break from reading up on nineteenth-century Europe is the root of this first-in-a-week blog post. Also, the fact that stuff actually has happened since I last wrote!

Ginger, Sarah, and I, along with our new friends Hannah and Tala (the latter is one of my roommates) headed off to Paris last weekend for our unique (and five-day!) mid-term break. Wednesday night, we had two 2,000-word essays to be turned in, so none of us had slept in nearly a week (felt like months). We got up Thursday morning and walked to the bus stop, along with the rest of SCIO, to board a coach to London for our field trip to the Imperial War Museum. Many of the students (ourselves included) brought along their holiday luggage (vacations are called holidays here in merry ole England, btdubs), as we were leaving (mostly by bus or coach*) from London after field trip officially ended at 3pm.

Our coach didn't leave until 10:30 that night, however, so Sarah, Ginger, and I had time to tour the BBC and meet up with the other girls at Pret a Manger before reporting (with some difficulty) to the coach station at 9:30. Armed with an assortment of bacon crisps, earbuds, hoodies, and water bottles, we managed to get seats all together. However, as there were five of us, and only two to a seat....Ginger had to sit next to a (very nice female) stranger. No one slept particularly well on that 8-hour coach trip, but we made it to Paris without incident and wandered a bit in the wee hours of the hazy Parisian morning (it was about 6:30am when we arrived) locating an ATM and our hostel. All was then well, so we did what any sane person would do their first day in Paris. We napped. (Soon followed by showers and a picnic in the park under the Eiffel Tower, naturally.)

Picnics, I would say, encapsulate our trip pretty well. We had lunch/dinner/snacks at all the major sites in Paris: Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, outside a random bank across the street from a classy crepe window down the street from Luxembourg Gardens (because they had closed 15 minutes before we arrived :( ), I could go on. So we did indeed see the Louvre (photos on facebook, of everything really), and did some shopping on Champs Elysees. "White Night" was our second night there, and while I'm not totally sure what it is, for us it involved shoving our way through huge crowds around Sacre Coeur and through Montmartre at 11pm, searching random artsy-tourist windows for Coca-Cola that cost less than 4 euros (harder than it sounds). Great view from the top, though. :)

Last day was Monday, so we had to check out of the hostel by noon and wander (again) until boarding the coach back at 11pm. Fortunately, this was before we had made it out to Champs Elysees, so we were able to hit the shopping and the Arc de Triomphe, which involved quite a bit of sitting. This was also the night we obtained our last Parisian crepes (because that obviously had to be our last meal), and the metro trip back was incredibly long, especially considering Paris is very compact. But we made it to the coach, onto the coach, across the Channel (ugh), back into London, onto the Oxford coach, and home to the Vines with very little incident. It was actually a much better coach trip: we go the seats up front, and Tala got two seats to herself (even though a childish 60-something lady was glaring at us from two seats back, since apparently she thought she deserved to sit there more than we did :P).

Favorite things about Paris (in no particular order):

• The Eiffel Tower. Don't care if it's cliche and touristy, that is one beautiful piece of architecture.
• The Nike of Samothrace (Winged Victory) in the Louvre. Not only is the sculpture beautiful, but those Parisians really know how to display art.
• The plaza outside Notre Dame. There were really, really random street performers, and it was really fun and exotic.
• The Latin Quarter. Thought it might be sorta sketch, but it's this tiny little network of alleys across the river from Notre Dame, behind Saint-Germain and Saint-Michel, with tons of creperies, cafes, and shops. Really fun and non-sketch at night, so that's always a plus :)
• Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore. The famous English bookstore directly across the river from Notre Dame. The first floor is pretty standard (though very crowded with books--think Dickson Street Book Shoppe), but the second floor is home to old, first edition type books (and the young adult section, for some reason), as well as a reading room (where they were holding a writers group at the time we visited), a nook equipped with a typewriter, a keyboard, and windowseats. I didn't buy anything, but I could hang out there for hours.
• Anywhere that's not Gallieni station. We nicknamed that place the world's toilet. Just don't go. :P

*It was only this Thursday that we learned the difference between a bus and a coach, actually. A bus travels within a city, and a coach travels between cities. So....not that big of a deal, really. They're shaped the same, and equally uncomfortable to sleep on.

Laugh, Learn, Live

This post is dedicated to things I like here, things I've learned here, and things about here that make me laugh. It may be the first of many, seeing as it's only week 3. :)

• "Cheers!" is some kind of go-to British word. It's lovely.
• I take my tea with a spoonful of sugar and a bit of milk. PG Tips really is the best.
• The Brits don't understand coffee.
• Most people here seem to go through the same stages of paper-writing as I do. These stages include: procrastination in all its forms, snacking incessantly, general late-night wackiness.
• We can go on field trips to palaces, London, ancient ruins, and the seaside....and all of these take about the same amount of time to get to....and include so very many photo-ops.
• Writing about Trafalgar might be more difficult, but the books are really easy to get to before [everyone else].
• In church, we learn about the wr-oh-th of G-oh-d. And it's S-oh-m, not Sam.
• When in doubt, always say trousers.
• Cracking the windows might keep out the mold, but it lets in the cold. And bugs.
• There don't seem to be storms in England, but there is soooooo much rain. So much.
• If I wear grey and brown, it only means I look more local...no one asks me if I'm okay. :P
• C.S. Lewis is a big deal here, too.

That's all for now! Mostly because it's 1am and I might ought to go to bed before tomorrow's field trip. Cheers! :)

Maybe I Don't Try So Very Hard

:) Well, the reason I haven't updated is because I've been having such a great time here in Oxford! Also there was a paper. First one of the term, and kind of a doozy. But it's finished, and the next ones aren't due for another two weeks. Today was a day for celebration: I hung out with some friends at the Eagle and Child, then we came back and cooked a (late) delicious pasta dinner and also yummy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. My friend Sarah (not the JBU one!) makes the most wonderful tea ever, and she's so sweet to make it for us practically every night. Right now a small group is watching movies in our common room, which has incredibly comfortable couches. Fargo first, now Cool Runnings. It's been quite a marvellous first-paper celebration, and we imagine it will also be a great weekend :)  -Hayley

I try :)

Wow. I'm pretty awful at this blogging thing, huh? In all fairness, I knew I would be. :) Been kind of a crazy weekend, spent all day Saturday in London(!) doing wonderful and fun things with friends. Spent Sunday wishing I could work on my paper, but accomplished nothing. I did, however, get to Skype (well, FaceTime and GoogleChat) with Karson and with my parents, so it wasn't such a waste of a day. ;) Everyone here at the house has been pretty intense on this paper we've got due on Thursday night, and for good reason--it's a doozy! Or so we're learning. After spending all afternoon in the library, most of us now "have an idea" where we're "going with it" or something along those lines. A few enterprising students are way ahead, but we're pretty sure they don't sleep. :P Had fun tonight taking a study break to hit the store and then make cookies with the girls--just like back home. :) Still missing everyone, some times more than others, but it's hard to be too sad in Oxford, because it's just so beautiful and marvellous, even with wind and rain (of which we had a taste today).  -Hayley

My Week So Far

So on Monday we did make it to The Eagle and Child, and it was so very nice. The fish and chips were  (was?) good, and we had a lot of fun hanging out. Prior to that was our first day of orientation, which really wasn't so bad. :P We got to meet a lot of the staff and such, and hear more about what this first month is going to look like. It was so funny to have everyone in the living room tonight looking through possible essay topics and not being able to decide on one. :P Also, today was the first bike ride for me, and was quite successful! Got a bit tired on the way back, and it was a little drizzly, but it was fun, pretty easy, and so much faster than walking! Still don't think I'd be comfortable on any main roads, but the paths and back roads are really nice :)

There was so much else going on this week.....well, I wrote the above paragraph and then didn't post it immediately due to an imminent skype date. ;) But most of all that's gone on this week (so, Tuesday and Wednesday) was just orientation/academic stuff, so not incredibly exciting anyway. :)

Today--Thursday--we went on our first field trip! This one I think was the one everybody knew about/was looking forward to; we went to Stonehenge, Old Sarum (Iron Age castle-fort), and Salisbury (to see the cathedral there, mainly). It was a little chilly in the morning, but we made the best of it as only college students can: being silly. Some of the guys took it upon themselves to start creating "Humanhenge" (I think that's what they called it), and the rest of the group quickly joined, at least in the photo taking. :P It was a longggggg day, but totally worth it for all the history and fun. :D -Hayley

Weekend Update!

Right then. It's Sunday night, today's been quite nice! Headed out to Wycliffe Hall (the "main campus" of the program, if you will) for afternoon tea, and hung out there for a bit before moving on to Christ Church for evensong. We had some nice leisurely (and beautiful!) walking around time before and after, including a stop at The Eagle and Child (famous for C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, and the Inklings) and a tasty pizza place. We hopped a bus back pretty early in the night (like 9!) because we were afraid it might rain, which of course it didn't. At any rate, it's been a pretty nice and quiet day, culminating in some house-bonding over board games and Pride & Prejudice. :) I do wish I had a bit more to update on, but as orientation and such starts tomorrow, I imagine more will come. Still love and miss you all!  -Hayley

Made It!

Considering it's 1:30am here, perhaps I ought to keep this post short and sweet. :)

It's been kind of an overwhelming week, which you may have seen if you're keeping up on facebook. I arrived in London Tuesday morning with Ginger and Sarah, and we hit the ground running (although a nap may have found its way in that afternoon). After a lovely (and busy!) few days in London, we hopped on a bus to Oxford Friday morning, and--after maybe just a few missteps--arrived safely at our new home, The Vines.

Friday evening was spent meeting the other thirty-odd residents here at our ginormous house, eating pizza, and sleeping. Saturday, most of us slept in (as this will likely be our last chance for a while) and enjoyed some "BBQ" while we got our bikes assigned. Many of the girls chose a lovely red bike...myself included. We've opted to go into town for ribbons at some point, as we'll need some way to distinguish them. :)

We also made it briefly into Oxford City Centre, where all the shopping and such takes place. Popped into a department store for towels, then hoofed it back home (it's a nice 30-45 minute walk, depending on how far into town you need to go). Met up with some fellow students back at The Vines after that, then walked the opposite direction out into Headington (some sort of suburb, I've gathered) for dinner at a chain-style pub (so less local, but still quite good).

Tonight was mostly spent trying to find somewhere I could stream the Hogs game (finally successful for the last minute or so of the first half!) and chilling with the roomies--both of whom are quite nice. Haven't had much chance to film things or take photos, but that will come. Tomorrow being Sunday, we've got just a bit more time to relax before we have "orientation" on Monday and jump into schooly things.

And so I retire, with my first blog post done and the knowledge of a looming Razorback victory. I miss everyone back home quite a bit, and I wish you could all be here with me :)