"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).