Guess who gets to see plays for free and then tell people what he thinks about them?
Here's a hint.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
On London
First week of the term: completed. What better way to celebrate than with a day trip to London. It was a fairly early start. We caught a bus from Oxford to London at 9:00. At around 10 we started walking and did not really stop for the next seven hours. This means we covered a whole lot of ground and got to see a whole lot of sights.
There is a lot of stone and brick in London. This is because there has never really been a whole lot of forest in England, and what there was, they managed to use up centuries ago. It does not seem like that noteworthy, but you don't realize what an effect it has until it is all around you. I am so used to wooden construction and fake siding in the US that seeing stone and brick everywhere just has a totally different feel. It is the same in Oxford of course, but in London there is so much more of it.
Another common sight in London is monuments. Everywhere you go, any prominent square or building will have a statue or five in front of it. England has had lots of heroes and lots of deaths in its history, and all of them need recognition. This too becomes a common sight after a while, but it is surprising at first.
One of the most interesting of these was The Memorial. That was its name, by the way. It was called The Memorial. This is fitting since it memorializes the Great Fire, London's greatest tragedy. It is just rather amusing that it has no more unique name than The Memorial. It is a 222 foot stone tower with a golden torch at the top. It is 331 steps to the top of the tower. That does not sound too bad, but once you get to around 175 and realize that you are just over half-way, it becomes daunting. It is worth it, though. The view is extraordinary. I love being that high in the air, looking down on the roofs of buildings. It changes the way you see the city. Unfortunately, the entire platform was fenced in, which is logical and probably for the best. However, it did impair the view somewhat.
The architecture was, on the whole, fantastic. In any large city, you will eventually get shoddy work. Some of the expansions grafted onto Christopher Wren churches is just heart breaking, but on the whole, that is pretty rare. For the most part, London is made up of beautiful constructions. It is not like the other big cities I have seen: Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles. It is a far older city, so the older sections have smaller buildings since they harken from an era when man's grasp did not reach so high. As a result, the tallest buildings are not in the center of the city. It has an interesting effect. That combined with the many parks and squares gives the whole city a very spread out feel.
Without a doubt, the finest architecture we had the privilege of seeing was St. Paul's cathedral. I had never seen anything like in my life. It was perfectly proportioned, and everything about it made your gaze strain "further up and further in." The nave was spectacular. The graceful lines met in glistening arches overhead. These were only surpassed by the dome overhead the intersection of the nave and the transepts. It is actually multiple domes opening up into one another. It is astounding. We saw lots of things painted gold throughout the day, but it was here that we saw real gold, and a lot of it. Gold leaf and ornaments were glittered in the light of the chandeliers. And this was just a Romanesque Cathedral. I cannot wait to see a true Gothic style cathedral.
We got to stay for Evensong and even got seats in the choir section. I understood then how the high Roman Catholic services in ancient cathedrals could call people to God. I did not always understand what was going on, but to have my eyes constantly called heavenward, and to hear the praises of God clinging to the stone and filling the mammoth room, I could still feel the call to reverence. It did not change my attitudes toward the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church, but it certainly heightened my respect for high liturgy.
Another highlight of the day came at the National Gallery, an art museum with free admission. I have a great love for art museums and leapt at the chance to explore this one, despite the brief amount of time allotted. I wandered through the northern Renaissance into the Italian Renaissance and started drifting into the late medieval when I realized I was running out of time and had not seen any Impressionists. Thank goodness I found a map that could point me to the proper wing. I was inspecting Seurat's Bathers at Asnieres (not quite as spectacular as Sunday in the park, but it is great to have now seen them both), when my buddy Eric informed me that they had Van Gogh's in the next room. I kindly took my leave of George in pursuit of Vincent, and what did I find? Van Gogh's Sunflowers AND Wheat Field with Cypresses. I could not believe it. I may have jumped and done an involuntary fist pump.
But wait, there's more. On passing into this room, I had glimpsed a couple of Monet's Japanese bridges, so as excited as I was to see the Van Gogh's, time was short, so I said goodbye to Vincent and greeted my beloved Claude. Their collection of Monet's was not so extensive as that of the Art Institute of Chicago, but it was still good. And besides, I always love a few good Monet's. They had several new acquisitions, INCLUDING Lilies at Sunset. It was breathtaking (the linked picture does not do it justice, but no photo could). I had seen pictures of it online and in books before, but seeing it in person . . . it is not my favourite, but it is up there. I stood in front of it for at least five minutes just taking it in. I must have been pretty intensely focused because another patron apologized for passing between me and the painting. I do so love my Impressionists.
There were many other exciting events in the day. Other cool sites included Big Ben, the Tower of London, the New Globe Theatre, and Buckingham palace among others. There was more seen than done, which was fine, it just means I'll have to visit the city again some time.
There is a lot of stone and brick in London. This is because there has never really been a whole lot of forest in England, and what there was, they managed to use up centuries ago. It does not seem like that noteworthy, but you don't realize what an effect it has until it is all around you. I am so used to wooden construction and fake siding in the US that seeing stone and brick everywhere just has a totally different feel. It is the same in Oxford of course, but in London there is so much more of it.
Another common sight in London is monuments. Everywhere you go, any prominent square or building will have a statue or five in front of it. England has had lots of heroes and lots of deaths in its history, and all of them need recognition. This too becomes a common sight after a while, but it is surprising at first.
One of the most interesting of these was The Memorial. That was its name, by the way. It was called The Memorial. This is fitting since it memorializes the Great Fire, London's greatest tragedy. It is just rather amusing that it has no more unique name than The Memorial. It is a 222 foot stone tower with a golden torch at the top. It is 331 steps to the top of the tower. That does not sound too bad, but once you get to around 175 and realize that you are just over half-way, it becomes daunting. It is worth it, though. The view is extraordinary. I love being that high in the air, looking down on the roofs of buildings. It changes the way you see the city. Unfortunately, the entire platform was fenced in, which is logical and probably for the best. However, it did impair the view somewhat.
The architecture was, on the whole, fantastic. In any large city, you will eventually get shoddy work. Some of the expansions grafted onto Christopher Wren churches is just heart breaking, but on the whole, that is pretty rare. For the most part, London is made up of beautiful constructions. It is not like the other big cities I have seen: Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles. It is a far older city, so the older sections have smaller buildings since they harken from an era when man's grasp did not reach so high. As a result, the tallest buildings are not in the center of the city. It has an interesting effect. That combined with the many parks and squares gives the whole city a very spread out feel.
Without a doubt, the finest architecture we had the privilege of seeing was St. Paul's cathedral. I had never seen anything like in my life. It was perfectly proportioned, and everything about it made your gaze strain "further up and further in." The nave was spectacular. The graceful lines met in glistening arches overhead. These were only surpassed by the dome overhead the intersection of the nave and the transepts. It is actually multiple domes opening up into one another. It is astounding. We saw lots of things painted gold throughout the day, but it was here that we saw real gold, and a lot of it. Gold leaf and ornaments were glittered in the light of the chandeliers. And this was just a Romanesque Cathedral. I cannot wait to see a true Gothic style cathedral.
We got to stay for Evensong and even got seats in the choir section. I understood then how the high Roman Catholic services in ancient cathedrals could call people to God. I did not always understand what was going on, but to have my eyes constantly called heavenward, and to hear the praises of God clinging to the stone and filling the mammoth room, I could still feel the call to reverence. It did not change my attitudes toward the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church, but it certainly heightened my respect for high liturgy.
Another highlight of the day came at the National Gallery, an art museum with free admission. I have a great love for art museums and leapt at the chance to explore this one, despite the brief amount of time allotted. I wandered through the northern Renaissance into the Italian Renaissance and started drifting into the late medieval when I realized I was running out of time and had not seen any Impressionists. Thank goodness I found a map that could point me to the proper wing. I was inspecting Seurat's Bathers at Asnieres (not quite as spectacular as Sunday in the park, but it is great to have now seen them both), when my buddy Eric informed me that they had Van Gogh's in the next room. I kindly took my leave of George in pursuit of Vincent, and what did I find? Van Gogh's Sunflowers AND Wheat Field with Cypresses. I could not believe it. I may have jumped and done an involuntary fist pump.
But wait, there's more. On passing into this room, I had glimpsed a couple of Monet's Japanese bridges, so as excited as I was to see the Van Gogh's, time was short, so I said goodbye to Vincent and greeted my beloved Claude. Their collection of Monet's was not so extensive as that of the Art Institute of Chicago, but it was still good. And besides, I always love a few good Monet's. They had several new acquisitions, INCLUDING Lilies at Sunset. It was breathtaking (the linked picture does not do it justice, but no photo could). I had seen pictures of it online and in books before, but seeing it in person . . . it is not my favourite, but it is up there. I stood in front of it for at least five minutes just taking it in. I must have been pretty intensely focused because another patron apologized for passing between me and the painting. I do so love my Impressionists.
There were many other exciting events in the day. Other cool sites included Big Ben, the Tower of London, the New Globe Theatre, and Buckingham palace among others. There was more seen than done, which was fine, it just means I'll have to visit the city again some time.
Monday, January 18, 2010
On Oxford (part iii: the Inevitable)
It was bound to happen sooner or later.
I miss people back home.
I did survive my paper though.
I forgot how short 1500 words actually is, and the paper came a lot easier than I expected. So that's good news. Now I just need to get into the swing of studying full time.
I miss people back home.
I did survive my paper though.
I forgot how short 1500 words actually is, and the paper came a lot easier than I expected. So that's good news. Now I just need to get into the swing of studying full time.
Friday, January 15, 2010
On Oxford (part ii: Adjusting)
I think it is about time for another post. After all, I have been in Oxford over a week now. That means a number of things:
1. Oxford is a relatively safe city.
2. I have managed to go without offending any British people to the point of a duel to the death.
3. Even though there is a lot of snow here, it is not the end of the world as most of the United Kingdom seems to believe.
4. I have not gone somewhere I was forbidden and subsequently died as a result of being somewhere I wasn't supposed to be.
5. I have not given up.
That last one is the most important. In a lot of ways this has been a very daunting week. It started out fine enough. Lots of introductions, asking the same questions over and over:
Hi, what's your name?
I'm Greg
(sometimes insert: "No not Craig . . . Greg")
I'm from Bethel.
(often insert: No, not that Bethel. It's in Northern Indiana)
So where are you from?
I'm studying English. What are you studying?
My primary tutorial is Victorian Lit., and my secondary tutorial is History of the English Language. What are your tutorials?
On and on this went. There are around fifty people in this program, and I have introduced myself to all of them, some of them more than once. Such it always is at the beginning of something like this. Every now and then, a person and I would find something in common and strike up a sudden and passionate conversation: perhaps about Kant or women writers in the Victorian Era or Shakespeare or Transhumanism or Bible Quizzing. However, these were not quite common. Time and time again I just accepted that I would have to get to know people over time. That is more to my liking and my nature anyway, so I was fine with it.
The weekend was very relaxed, and I did end up getting to know people better. I went with a pack of people one day to explore the city. On another occasion, I went with a group to get a late dinner of fish and chips at the Eagle and Child: a frequent haunt of the Inklings. I saw the corner where they used to sit, but did not get to sit there myself. I also got to visit a really cool church that ends services in a moment of silence followed by fellowship with tea and coffee. A group of Brits that we met there invited us to lunch to get to know us. It was awesome.
However great all this was, underneath there was always an anxiety. We were here to study and study hard. As nice as the relaxation was, we all wanted to get down to work.
Work started on Monday. It was just the beginning of orientation, but at least it was something to do. They had given us handbooks on how the program was supposed to work, but it was nice to have an actual person explaining it to us. It wasn't until Monday that I finally found out who my tutors were, and then it was not until Thursday I found out that I had to read Jane Eyre and write a 1,500 word essay on it incorporating secondary sources and that said paper was due Monday.
That's when I freaked out a little.
I knew this semester would be tough, but having less than five days to write a paper for someone I had not even met in person yet, that freaked me out. I am a fast reader and all, but Jane Eyre is still a hefty novel, as are all Victorian novels, admittedly, but I chose this tutorial. Fortunately (and I use that term somewhat loosely), our two field trips this week were cancelled: one to St. Albens, a historical cathedral, and one to London.
Why were they cancelled you might ask?
It has snowed here in England, and the whole nation is panicking a bit. Apparently, Britain does not generally get a whole lot of snow in the winter. So the fact that they have gotten somewhere around a foot in the course of a weak is terrifying to these reserved British folks. One of my tutors said that they haven't gotten weather like this in 63 years. For me, coming from Indian, this weather seems like nothing, but it is like a Blizzard hitting San Diego here. It is so "bad" in fact, that the nation has run out of street salt.
Anyway, these cancellations afforded me plenty of time to hole away in the gorgeous Radcliffe Camera, a reading room for the Bodleian Library, and take care of reading Jane Eyre. Now that I have finished that up, I can devote my day tomorrow to reading secondary sources and spend time Sunday writing the paper.
It is going to be a very demanding semester indeed.
But I have not given up. I feel as though I will survive this first test, and I can survive subsequent ones as well: perhaps only by the grace of God, but that was enough this time, and I'm sure it will be enough in the future as well.
1. Oxford is a relatively safe city.
2. I have managed to go without offending any British people to the point of a duel to the death.
3. Even though there is a lot of snow here, it is not the end of the world as most of the United Kingdom seems to believe.
4. I have not gone somewhere I was forbidden and subsequently died as a result of being somewhere I wasn't supposed to be.
5. I have not given up.
That last one is the most important. In a lot of ways this has been a very daunting week. It started out fine enough. Lots of introductions, asking the same questions over and over:
Hi, what's your name?
I'm Greg
(sometimes insert: "No not Craig . . . Greg")
I'm from Bethel.
(often insert: No, not that Bethel. It's in Northern Indiana)
So where are you from?
I'm studying English. What are you studying?
My primary tutorial is Victorian Lit., and my secondary tutorial is History of the English Language. What are your tutorials?
On and on this went. There are around fifty people in this program, and I have introduced myself to all of them, some of them more than once. Such it always is at the beginning of something like this. Every now and then, a person and I would find something in common and strike up a sudden and passionate conversation: perhaps about Kant or women writers in the Victorian Era or Shakespeare or Transhumanism or Bible Quizzing. However, these were not quite common. Time and time again I just accepted that I would have to get to know people over time. That is more to my liking and my nature anyway, so I was fine with it.
The weekend was very relaxed, and I did end up getting to know people better. I went with a pack of people one day to explore the city. On another occasion, I went with a group to get a late dinner of fish and chips at the Eagle and Child: a frequent haunt of the Inklings. I saw the corner where they used to sit, but did not get to sit there myself. I also got to visit a really cool church that ends services in a moment of silence followed by fellowship with tea and coffee. A group of Brits that we met there invited us to lunch to get to know us. It was awesome.
However great all this was, underneath there was always an anxiety. We were here to study and study hard. As nice as the relaxation was, we all wanted to get down to work.
Work started on Monday. It was just the beginning of orientation, but at least it was something to do. They had given us handbooks on how the program was supposed to work, but it was nice to have an actual person explaining it to us. It wasn't until Monday that I finally found out who my tutors were, and then it was not until Thursday I found out that I had to read Jane Eyre and write a 1,500 word essay on it incorporating secondary sources and that said paper was due Monday.
That's when I freaked out a little.
I knew this semester would be tough, but having less than five days to write a paper for someone I had not even met in person yet, that freaked me out. I am a fast reader and all, but Jane Eyre is still a hefty novel, as are all Victorian novels, admittedly, but I chose this tutorial. Fortunately (and I use that term somewhat loosely), our two field trips this week were cancelled: one to St. Albens, a historical cathedral, and one to London.
Why were they cancelled you might ask?
It has snowed here in England, and the whole nation is panicking a bit. Apparently, Britain does not generally get a whole lot of snow in the winter. So the fact that they have gotten somewhere around a foot in the course of a weak is terrifying to these reserved British folks. One of my tutors said that they haven't gotten weather like this in 63 years. For me, coming from Indian, this weather seems like nothing, but it is like a Blizzard hitting San Diego here. It is so "bad" in fact, that the nation has run out of street salt.
Anyway, these cancellations afforded me plenty of time to hole away in the gorgeous Radcliffe Camera, a reading room for the Bodleian Library, and take care of reading Jane Eyre. Now that I have finished that up, I can devote my day tomorrow to reading secondary sources and spend time Sunday writing the paper.
It is going to be a very demanding semester indeed.
But I have not given up. I feel as though I will survive this first test, and I can survive subsequent ones as well: perhaps only by the grace of God, but that was enough this time, and I'm sure it will be enough in the future as well.
Friday, January 8, 2010
On Oxford (part i: Arriving)
Made it.
Whew.
I just flew in and boy are my arms tired . . . sorry for that. Jet lag will mess with your reasoning skills. This is the first time I have ever had to deal with serious jet lag. There is a five hour difference between here and home and a six hour difference between here and the airport from which I left with my friend and traveling companion Eric. If that was not enough to throw me, flying through the night, which ended up being an extremely short night since we were heading east, definitely messed with me. I only got a few hours of sleep and sleep in a plane is never the same as sleep in real life. But hey, they served us a snack and two meals, so I guess I can't complain.
There wasn't much to see as we flew. There was that dreadful combination of night, cloudiness, and flying over ocean that made the window or aisle toss up rather irrelevant. However as we approached our destination, we flew over Ireland just as dawn was breaking and got to watch tiny, distant city lights get swallowed up in the sunrise. That and diving into the clouds over London were both very cool.
Getting from London to Oxford was actually our biggest difficulty. Signage was pretty good inside Heathrow, the airport where we landed, but the Central Bus Station was a night mare. We finally got tickets for a boss to Oxford, walked out to the stands where buses were waiting, and headed for our bus. We were waiting in the queue for our bus when it suddenly pulled out and drove away. This left us bewildered until we realized that we were in the wrong queue. Instead of waiting in a ten minute line to pay five pounds to exchange our ticket, we decided to chance it and hope that the next bus would accept our tickets for the bus that had just left. Fortunately, he did and we were finally on our way to Oxford.
It is amazing to see the buildings that are so much older here. Everything is so much more ingrained into the environment, kind of like it has settled there and the landscape has grafted in the houses and streets after years of living alongside them. Then there was the Jacobean styled McDonald's we passed. That was weird.
Our residence for the term is called the Vines: it is a fantastic old brick house down a narrow lane and it has all sorts of creaks and groans and drafts to make us feel welcome. The room is a lot more spacious than I had expected, and I think I will be able to make myself quite at home here.
It is still weird to me that I am actually here right now.
Whew.
I just flew in and boy are my arms tired . . . sorry for that. Jet lag will mess with your reasoning skills. This is the first time I have ever had to deal with serious jet lag. There is a five hour difference between here and home and a six hour difference between here and the airport from which I left with my friend and traveling companion Eric. If that was not enough to throw me, flying through the night, which ended up being an extremely short night since we were heading east, definitely messed with me. I only got a few hours of sleep and sleep in a plane is never the same as sleep in real life. But hey, they served us a snack and two meals, so I guess I can't complain.
There wasn't much to see as we flew. There was that dreadful combination of night, cloudiness, and flying over ocean that made the window or aisle toss up rather irrelevant. However as we approached our destination, we flew over Ireland just as dawn was breaking and got to watch tiny, distant city lights get swallowed up in the sunrise. That and diving into the clouds over London were both very cool.
Getting from London to Oxford was actually our biggest difficulty. Signage was pretty good inside Heathrow, the airport where we landed, but the Central Bus Station was a night mare. We finally got tickets for a boss to Oxford, walked out to the stands where buses were waiting, and headed for our bus. We were waiting in the queue for our bus when it suddenly pulled out and drove away. This left us bewildered until we realized that we were in the wrong queue. Instead of waiting in a ten minute line to pay five pounds to exchange our ticket, we decided to chance it and hope that the next bus would accept our tickets for the bus that had just left. Fortunately, he did and we were finally on our way to Oxford.
It is amazing to see the buildings that are so much older here. Everything is so much more ingrained into the environment, kind of like it has settled there and the landscape has grafted in the houses and streets after years of living alongside them. Then there was the Jacobean styled McDonald's we passed. That was weird.
Our residence for the term is called the Vines: it is a fantastic old brick house down a narrow lane and it has all sorts of creaks and groans and drafts to make us feel welcome. The room is a lot more spacious than I had expected, and I think I will be able to make myself quite at home here.
It is still weird to me that I am actually here right now.
Monday, January 4, 2010
On New Year Snow
I suppose that technically it's a little late for a New Year poem, but I have not had much internet access lately so this is when it's going up.
Clean
It seems like just another day
Just another night
In the grand scheme of things
the sun that set tonight
Will rise the same tomorrow
The snow that fell
Will still remain
It will still remain
But as I sit in silence
Removed from celebration
The lights still hung on the Christmas tree
Paint the ceiling
In a wash of softly mottled amber
As though it were spreading
Blank papyrus overhead
Opening a new page
For a new life to be written
Fresh and clean
Like the new fallen snow
And maybe one day in the year
It isn't so wrong
To hope
Clean
It seems like just another day
Just another night
In the grand scheme of things
the sun that set tonight
Will rise the same tomorrow
The snow that fell
Will still remain
It will still remain
But as I sit in silence
Removed from celebration
The lights still hung on the Christmas tree
Paint the ceiling
In a wash of softly mottled amber
As though it were spreading
Blank papyrus overhead
Opening a new page
For a new life to be written
Fresh and clean
Like the new fallen snow
And maybe one day in the year
It isn't so wrong
To hope
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