On Tuition Fees

Back in December, there were crazy protests here in Britain about tuition fee increases after the government voted to raise tuition to £9000 per year. I think that most people in the states really didn't know why it was such a big deal, so I thought I would try to explain it. £9000 seems really low when compared with tuition fees at American universities, but that's because American parents pay for some, if not all, of their kids' education. In Britain the student is generally expected to pay the entire cost of their education, which means that the average student will graduate with more than $40,000 worth of debt under the new system. When you compare this with the debt they currently accept, which is less than $20,000 for their entire degree, you can understand why they are upset. This extra debt will especially affect students from low-income backgrounds, because their parents won't be able to take up some of the slack. There are tuition fee waivers and bursaries (which help pay for your daily living costs) for low-income students, but it remains to be seen whether they will be sufficient to make up for the huge increase in cost to students.

6 weeks in 6 sentences + pictures

1. Winter here is perpetually 40 degrees and rainy with no end in sight (still debating whether this is better than the sub-zero Chicago winter).
2. I have gotten to watch a lot of debate in the student government over tuition fee increases, and I believe this, combined with my more personal conversations with Brits, has given me a better understanding of the cultural differences here.
3. One of the reasons I wanted to come to Oxford was that I thought I would have more opportunities to play music, and I was definitely right - it is amazing the stuff I have gotten to do here, from playing in different orchestras to forming my own chamber group to performing with NU alums.
4. I went to a tea party today, so there is proof that the stereotypical afternoon tea is not dead even if Brits don't do it everyday.
5. This past weekend I had the privilege of attending the Founder's Dinner at my college, which is the fanciest event of the year complete with pre-dinner champagne and desert mints marked with the St. Anne's crest!
6. It was a lot of fun until the guest speaker from the Royal Opera spoke for over 30 minutes about Anna Nicole Smith: The Opera (he called it a masterpiece).

 I got to eat at formal hall in Christ Church (Harry Potter fans, be jealous)

This is me competing at the St. Anne's Music Competition. 

I got a scholarship for music lessons because of this!

This is Stephen Isserlis, one of the best cellists in the world, before he performed the Dvorak Cello Concerto with OUO (the orchestra I was in last term) - definitely in the top 5 concerts I've ever attended.