Birthdays come in all kinds of ways...even at Oxford.

:] In lieu of my 22nd birthday, THIS was my surprise as I awoke...

...this adorable little cake is from "The Cake Shop" in town...and the sheep is simply the cutest.

It it was a lovely day, overall. 

It is most necessary to include that the day of my birthday just happened to be our last trip--this time to Bath, a few hours away from Oxford--and also, notably, known for Jane Austen having been a resident there with some of her family. Ironically, Austen herself hated Bath, mostly due to the pressures of the "elite" society's particular way of life--and also of course because she felt it much too showy. Actually, we happened to bump into some costumed Austen characters getting photos taken for a celebration the next day...umbrellas and petticoats galore.

We visited the beautiful Bath Abbey, the Roman Baths (still with warm water steaming in the center), did a kind of "walking tour" for the specific architectural 

strides that make the city so unique--and even managed to drop into "Sally Lunn's Buns"...the name says it all. The abbey was probably my favorite experience of the day, getting to walk through with a sort of guide to remember the faithfulness of the Lord in our lives. 

(In fact, one spot even had us recall our baptism and how that was used in our walk to strengthen our commitment, it was a much needed exercise for my soul!). The baths themselves--still used for certain arthritic medical purposes, are very impressive...it was slightly disturbing that they had tried to replicate the bathing of locals so closely that they cast overhead images of naked men with towels standing by the sides of the inside caves.

It was actually quite a surprise how many gawking eyes stayed in that room to try and make out exactly what the images were! :] I concluded the visit by tossing a penny (Lord knows our currency is worth nothing here anyway) into the respective area in a birthday-wishing fashion! It should be noted that I had an excellent shot, and ripples ensued.

Sally Lunn's Buns is a tiny hole-in-the-wall tearoom 

that claims famous admirers like Dickens and Austen very openly, with references to their favorite rooms or specific quotations on the stairs leading up the main dining area, but I must admit that there is nothing very appealing to me about an extra large hamburger roll type-bun on a plate--even if it is covered in some sort of cream or jam. And I do mean extra large. (It never ceases to amaze me what the English will call food!). Anyway, a group of us had the famous buns and tea/coffee and laughed probably too loudly for most tearooms unaccustomed to American gregarious twenty-somethings, and it felt very birthday-appropriate.

We also observed John Wood's masterpieces of architecture: the King's Circus and the Royal Crescent, both half-moon style buildings now divided into separate

vertically-aligned apartments. The interesting thing to note regarding the Crescent, and much of the cities architecture, is that separate contractors were hired to complete the segments--so that while the front of the facades appear to be symmetrical and orderly, the back of the buildings are absolutely ambiguous.  

When we got back, we gathered momentum and went into town to enjoy whatever an Oxford-style Italian restaurant could offer us...and frankly, the food was amazing and not at all fried! Such a great birthday excursion. 

Theory of tourism, Elizabethan papers, and sheep...!

Sure, car accidents happen...bike accidents happen--this is why I've yet to get a bike. For all those who think I'm exaggerating, my roommate Terese went flying over the handles of her bicycle while tackling our lovely Headington Hill two days ago. (She ended up VERY bruised and scratched, and it was a good thing she had just gotten a helmet 30 minutes prior...) None of these sorts of accidents, however, are what I am about to allude to--I, on my own two feet and carrying my very full and extremely heavy bag through Port Meadow last night, managed to collide with a four year old little British boy. His scooter handle caught on my bag and the force of my 15, 4-inch Elizabethan portrait books,and sent the poor lad flying into a parked car. 

...

I'm serious.

So after I managed to explain to both his mother (who frankly, should have been monitoring him on a narrow sidewalk) and the car owner that it was all an unfortunate accident, I'd spent an extra 45 minutes en route in addition to my already lengthy commute. I felt horribly about the little boy, but he's okay--and I was on a mission, not intending to be cold or heartless. :]

So I'm sure that your best guess can tell you why I haven't written a  lengthy blog post recently,

 but in case you're wondering...the work has begun. I am in the very heat of a paper topic I decided to change last minute, but finally settled on answering the question, "Why are there no portraits of Queen Elizabeth I's likeness?" So far it has been much more exciting than my previous topic on how much we can be sure of in the life of St. Patrick (not to say that Royalty has any edge over Sainthood), and that was my goal after wandering through MULTIPLE libraries like a chicken with my head cut off! I have finally made it to several, gourgeous libraries :D and I'm finding that it is true: I feel much more intelligent surrounded by all those incredible books. And Oxford scholars. Andddd the fact that I breeze right by tourists 

clamoring to come inside the Bodleian with my student ID doesn't hurt either :D. 

 

Yesterday I sat in on a lecture regarding Shakespearean, or more 

specifically Stratford, tourism by the head lecturer in the English 

Literature school during which she remarked on that familiar feeling 

we (as tourists, or distinctly American tourists) often

get when visiting a long-awaited landmark or renowned spot. She 

actually was working on a book regarding this usually fascinating

topic, and had just returned from New England where she was at a 

conference marking Hawthorne and his particular spot in American

tourism. I won't bore you with all the amazing details of her theory on

tourism (suffice it to say that much of what we get enthused, or 

un-enthused about in regards to these places are a fabricated set 

of experiments in emotion to let us more properly "get it"), but I will 

ask you to share if you've ever felt what she describes as coming upon 

these locations and finding "it [the place] goes 'dead' on you, really,

cause it was more alive than it ever could be"--

"really, you've 'remembered' it before, even though you haven't been 

there", and your sense of personal ownership over the distinct 

experience feels as though its robbed you of something "more".  

This is the perfect tie into my experiences in the past week (before the 

work piled on)--since I've gotten to take two amazing day trips that I've 

yet to share or post photos about. Last week, we went to Stonehenge, 

Salisbury Cathedral, and Old Sarum. I was pretty excited to see 

Stonehenge in particular--these largest standing stones in 

Great Britain, mysteriously finding themselves thousands of miles

away from where they came from and reminding us of a time even

further back than the Neolithic age...and I found myself unusually 

unamused by the lack of an "authentic" feeling surrounding

roped off areas of rocks. 

Instead, those of you that know me will find these pictures of me having 

more fun in the sheep fields adjacent to the stones very typical of me :D.

At any rate, I did find that I was 

absolutely enthralled 

by Old Sarum--the site of ruins of a fortress-kingdom, 

used by Henry IVand others until the stones were 

brought down to create the city of Salisbury, formally 

demonstrating the separation of the state

and the Church. You can see the Cathedral from on top 

of the Old Sarum hills, and the tallest spire in 

Great Britain (at 401.3 feet for that alone) 

is absolutely breathtaking. 

At the Cathedral itself, we were able to climb the very 

daunting multiple sets of stairs to view the countryside, hear 

the bells chime, and see one of 4 surviving copies of the 

Magna Carta's manuscript. On top of a burial ground that 

is now only a few feet above water-level, the sanctuary 

is majestic! It was quite an experience to visit on 9/11 

as well--those there did pause for a moment of prayer.

 

And then just a few days ago, we visited Cardinal Woolsey/Henry VIII (and many after him)'s Hampton Court Palace--probably the most beautiful place I've

 seen so far. 

Like a miniature town, the kitchen, gardens, and tapestries alone  are impressive. Apparently, the halls are haunted by one of the Queens--I report no official signs of that. 

We also did the famous maze, priced now it 3.50 pounds...borderline ripoff, but it was quite fun. I encourage to look it up yourself to see the aerial view of the palace--humbling! 

I was able to capture so many awesome pictures because the weather was also just as beautiful as the palace, and unfortunately I will have to be posting them on Facebook in an album, because as you can tell...posting a ton of pictures of this blog can make it difficult to format and read smoothly. 

Although we visited Hampton Court a day before the lecture, I can personally attest to just how telling this woman's theory really is! Just prior to packing up to go I turned towards Sarah and remarked, "I would just adore having this whole place to explore alone...I want a personal experience." 

If man can create masterpieces so beautiful, I cannot wait to see Heaven :]. 

"Oxford: where even your 'best' isn't good enough...since 1117."

The adventure continues!...so starting this week we've been inundated with literally all sorts of 'orienting' information that we'll need to know for the coming weeks. It has been so exciting to get acquainted with the university and with my college specifically--Wycliffe Hall. (Oxford is broken up into colleges, and each has varying specializations; it should be noted that some have quite a bit more funding than the others, but essentially they are all connected as degree programs are to the university at large in the states.) This college is where we'll be based out of while we are at Oxford, and it functions primarily as a theological school for ordinands/those pursuing ministry and theology. They connect us with our particular disciplines and tutors out of those disciplines accordingly. 

Those of you wondering exactly what it is that I am doing while here, I will indulge you. (Those uninterested, hope the perusal is going swimmingly:]). For the first 4 weeks I'm doing pre-term work, because the actual Oxford semester begins in October--and that will be a VERY full term of 8 weeks total. Because the rest of the undergrads (or junior members) have yet to arrive, for these first few weeks I am doing 2 additional courses--a British Landscapes course and my English Lit integrative seminar. 

Since this is a study abroad programme connection, there is the goal of "cultural immersion", and therefore the Oxford equivalent becomes an in-depth British history class for us. We are learning about the whole of English history, as well as choosing 3 of numerous research questions from certain eras that interest us (be it King Arthur, Henry II, etc.) on which to do case study essays. Occasionally, this overlaps with a field visit--the first of which is tomorrow to Stonehenge, Old Sarum, and Salisbury. The chief aim of this preterm class is to allow us much practice in writing and researching the "Oxford way", in order to not fall flat on our faces come tutorials. 
The other class is particularly interesting because it is allowing me to explore the purpose of the discipline of English in the first place...through the discussion of various issues. During the course (which continues on into the fullterm) we get to choose a topic  (be it the development of romance in a certain time period in literature, value of fiction or humour to both scholars at large and Christian scholars, etc.) and write a lengthy paper on whatever we choose. SO, basically, I get to choose whatever topic and whatever books I want! :D and for that, I am very excited. We are told they want this to either be a continuation of a previous study or utilize our tutorial work, and therefore so we meet with our leader several times to gather and hone a narrow topic. It's all set up to mirror graduate school so that we get a taste of writing a dissertation, and "finding our voice in our particular field". 

I'll be going to 8 lecture series that I can choose out of many, many options--as long as I can relate them to my areas of study: Modern lit and Creative writing. Then, I write all my respective essays and talk about my research with my tutor once a week (or a fortnight)...and wait for them to push me to write better and ask better questions. 

Of course, while we are preparing for these, our instructors keep trying to scare us to a degree--and they are telling us to un-learn everything we've ever learned about writing an essay: no more introduction, no more "thesis" statement, or bland spoon-fed questions to answer. We have "REAL" resources (between the Bodleian Library and 100 others with volumes literally kept in perpetuity)--so we are expected to "move from a passive consumption of learning to an active direction of learning". Oh, Oxford. 

Also, apparently, this style of learning is only done at Oxford and Cambridge because they are the only two universities that can still properly afford to have one tutor per student! This accounts for why the individualized structure is so coveted.

While all of this information is terribly exciting, it is also very nerve-wracking without consistent reliance on the Lord for the guidance on my true identity and worth--all glory to Him for creating such marvelous minds to work for knowledge.

what is perhaps even more exciting, however, is that I now am the proud owner of an official Oxford email address [aubrie.kusmit@wycliffe.ox.ac.uk, if you should need it], as well as student ID to access all this wonderful information. it is truly...exciting.

I also was able to drop by the St. Giles' fair yesterday and I thought I'd post some pictures of one of the oldest running Medieval fairs in Europe...it wasn't impressive for more than the normal amount of junky, greasy food and interesting people watching. They did, however, have a "Rock N Shake" ride with a picture of 14 year old Britney Spears on it. 

This nighttime picture below is the dedication

of the fair with the

choir of St. Giles the night previous (this intersection is part of my morning and afternoon commute). 

Rainy days go better with a cup of coffee...

To anyone who may have yet to be assured of my safe arrival at Oxford,...I am here! Actually, I arrived on Friday the 5th in the London/Heathrow airport at around 10:30am, and from there started my journey towards adventure and expansion of mind. My mind, to be specific. (Perhaps it is also a journey towards adjusting my weather tolerance :]; to date it really has rained every day).

I found my way relatively quickly to the central bus station and before long, I was on the coach bus to Oxford. I was hoping that my bus would have at least one other American student heading my way, but the more I glanced around me to observe the typical giveaways (nervous gesturing, fatigue, confusion, dumbfounded nodding, etc...), I discovered that I was indeed alone. As if on cue, halfway through to the first coach stop, the fog and rain began to settle outside my windows. I was the 4th of six stops in Oxford, and made my way out to the corner of Gipsy Lane with both of my suitcases in hand. I attempted to follow my makeshift scribbled directions: “follow in the direction of the moving bus, cross the busy road at the corner, and turn right approximately 100 yards on Pullens Lane—" it was almost hilarious how specific they were! I didn’t quite manage to grasp the hilarity in full however, particularly after a sleepless night trudging through puddle muddles with two heavy suitcases in a strange place...but, it was still humorous. 

Luckily, once I made it down the lane a few feet, a sweet Oxford student named Ollie asked if I were continuing down the road in his general direction, and if he could help? I was very appreciative, and consequently got to engage in my first interaction (or should I say interrogation) with a student from the university itself! When we parted, he was quick 

to ask if there were some sort of a lecture series or something going on at this gourgeous building—“This is actually where I am living while I’m here”, I responded. He shook his head as he walked away laughing...”Not a bad lot at all to live here!”

He is absolutely right. The Vines is my beautifully spacious home on the crest of Headington Hill, and happens to be on

 1.5 acres of garden.

It has a huge backyard with a cunning little reflection pond, and houses 44 of the American students studying at the Oxford programme with me. Pictures will follow of my own room and living space (still a work in progress), but as the many who know my taste will agree...I’ve got quite a bit of sprucing to do till it feels like a proper home! (No bare walls for me will do much to activate my creativity...)

Myself and the other students on the programme are responsible for navigating our one fairly large community kitchen & common room, and I am finding the task rather daunting (even in comparison with my intense coursework :]).

The only downside of this humble living is its 35-40 minute walking distance from the center of Oxford. Many of the students are buying used/refurbished cycles for relatively cheap, since the bus pass costs an extra arm and a leg! (Oh, the poor unfortunate US dollar.) 

So, I thought about that as well...but my brief experience with a bicycle has been:

a) not on the street; 

b) not on the wrong side of the street;

and c) not in rain and mud. 

To be fair, I also had many a disturbing image flash through my mind after my careful observation of the local bikers...let’s just say everyone who looked as if they were struggling to survive while riding quickly became me --i.e. the woman whose skirt tore mid-pedal, the huffing and puffing middle aged man, etc.!

Therefore, I think I have officially decided to discipline myself to make that walk despite the distance. Hopefully, it will become routine, and I’ve already decided its character-building!
So I spent my weekend discovering Oxford: walking to the local grocery stores, drinking delicious Moraccan 50/50 coffee (which makes everything...even forgetting to bring an essential item like socks...somehow much easier to bare) with a housemate Sarah, and even eating overpriced Indian food in a local restaurant. With Sarah, I was able to chat with another person for the first time about my fears entering this semester and the extent of what I've overcome to get here.

 Thankfully, Sarah and I discussed our struggles with living out our Christian faith authentically in our particular disciplines, and our excitement about entering this time of intense scholarship...through her, the Lord was able to confirm to me that I do have a purpose being here, and He's teaching me to not severe the tie between His life-giving tree and my own little branch :]. 

Since we were told almost from the moment we arrived that this weekend would be relaxing like none other once we started our work, we decided to make the best of it. We spent Sunday night trying out a few pubs in town. We had fish and chips at The Eagle and Child last night, home many an evening to “The Inklings”, including Tolkien and Lewis in their formative days. It was quaint and enjoyable. Another local pub we dropped in delivered excellent amateur folk music, so one of my roommates Daena (also from Biola), Sarah, and I spent some time watching and talking about expectations. 

Here's to the most challenging, and hopefully amazing, semester of my life...!

Once I get ins and outs of the way the programme is structured and all the exciting details...I will be updating again!