The past couple weeks have been OK. Two weeks ago I got a pretty bad cold, and I immediately realized that this academic system doesn't allow for that, at least during term time. Fortunately, I am all better now, so I will try to impress my tutors a lot the rest of term! It's funny that I'm thinking of impressing them, because I don't think that impressing my professors would have crossed my mind last year. I noticed when I first got here that everyone talked to impress, and now I know why - when you meet with your professors 1-on-1 every week, there is a lot of pressure to impress them with your knowledge. It is especially important for visiting students because our professors determine our grades subjectively at the end of each term.
Last Saturday we went to a carnival for the Bonfire Night (aka Guy Fawkes Night) celebration. They had fireworks (that would be considered pretty bad by American standards), they had some carnival rides, and then they had a HUGE bonfire where they were burning a wooden replica of Guy Fawkes! I was shocked that a town with a history of burning innocent people alive would celebrate the capital punishment of Guy Fawkes in such a grotesque way. But it happened.
We left the carnival and had to find somewhere to eat (the dining hall isn't open on weekends), so we went to an amazing Spanish Tapas restaurant in Cowley, one of the neighborhoods outside the city. After days (or maybe even weeks) of being disappointed meal after meal, it reminded me what it's like to have a really great meal. The stereotype about British food is true - it makes McDonald's look pretty good. Note that this is coming from someone who has never complained about a dining hall before. I think we are going to start cooking in the dorm kitchen more often because it is relatively inexpensive, and you have a lot more to choose from by buying your own food.
About 1 in 10 days is sunny, so yesterday was great even though it was really cold (can't believe it hit 70 in Evanston the same day!). I biked down to the Iffley Road Sports Complex, where Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile. There wasn't much to see, since the track has obviously been redone since he ran there in the 1950s, but it was still cool to go. Also, I checked out their sports fields, and they were kind of sad compared to American schools. It looked like Rugby was the biggest spectator sport, and the stands fit about as many people as the Towson High School football "stadium." University-level sports here just don't matter. In fact, most professional sports players drop out of school as soon as their talent is realized (around age 14-16). I think that's why University sports are so bad - none of the talent actually goes to college.
Here is the hall where Harry Potter was filmed! I ate there.
Here is the bonfire and the effigy.
This is the Tapas Restaurant and my friends Max and Clare.
That's all I have for now. Wish me luck - I have a concert tomorrow! It's going to be awesome!!
