Adjusting Back

It is an incredibly strange feeling to come back to my home country, yet feel out of place. After not seeing America for 6 months and living in Oxford for about 9 months, my perspective has completely shifted. I now think of America as one country among many, with its respective strengths and problems. I compare a lot of my experiences here with those that I had abroad. I compare the professors I work with and the friends that I hang out with to those I had in the UK.

I did not feel this way at all when I came home for Christmas, but now I am more used to the Oxford way of life than the Northwestern way. I wonder how people get along without tutorials, formal halls, and bops. I question whether people are analyzing carefully enough before they speak and am always thinking about other points they could consider. Also, I am a little bit worried about being able to relate with all my friends now that I've been gone so long.

On the plane ride home, I watched an episode of 30 Rock (a comedy TV show) where Tracy Morgan struggles to relate with his former peers now that he is a TV star. I started to wonder whether something similar would happen to me - I've had so many different experiences this year that my friends haven't had. Fortunately, I have gotten to spend time with a good number of friends since getting back, and they are all really excited to hear about my year abroad. It is a little awkward because they don't always have a lot to say when I share stories (and maybe I talk about Oxford too much), but we can talk about this summer/the future if the conversation gets too one-sided.

My final worry is that the elitism that surrounds Oxford will make people treat me differently. Some people think that by attending an elite university you reach some level that other humans don't. Well, I agree that Oxford does a good job at facilitating the learning process, but that's the extent of it. I believe it is wrong in any case to say that one person is better than another, and this is no exception. I simply feel very fortunate to have learned/lived in such a cool place for a year. Life is a journey and a gradual process of discovery - going to a certain school does not make you exempt from that process.

Punting and Rowing

This term at Oxford is called "Summer Term", and with summertime comes lots of fun. The first Oxford tradition I'm going to talk about is called punting, and it only exists in Cambridge, Oxford, and a few other cities around England. Punts are large boats that fit up to six people. Each punt is equipped with a large metal pole (16ft long), which one person uses to push the boat along from the bottom of the river. To steer, you can use the pole as a rudder, or you can get someone in your boat to paddle, since they also give you a canoe paddle. Here are some punting boats:

Punting is a lot of fun, as long as your punter knows what to do. When pushing off the bottom of the river, it is really easy to push your boat into the bank, which is often covered with brush and sometimes thorns. You can see how people might start getting stressed/angry if the punter can't keep the boat straight. Otherwise, punting is really relaxing and a lot of fun, especially on a warm sunny day (which are very rare even in June). Here are some pictures of my friends and me on the water:



The best part is that punting is absolutely free because St. Anne's pays the boathouse to reserve four punts for us all term!

Another big tradition at Oxford is the rowing culture. This past week was "Summer Eights," which is the culmination of the year for all the college rowing teams. It is pretty incredible - there are over 1000 rowers involved when you include the preliminary races, and on the fourth and final day of racing, thousands come out to watch the competition. At Oxford there are 39 colleges, and they each have (at least) 2 mens and 2 womens teams that compete against the other colleges. The race is different than what you expect - it is not a side-by-side race since they can't fit all of the boats next to each other on the river. Instead, the boats all start in a line, and the goal is to bump the boat in front of you. Once you bump them, the race is over. If you successfully bump the boat in front of you each of the four days of competition, you earn 'blades', which is a big honor. This year, St. Anne's Mens 1 and 2 teams both earned blades for the first time in St. Anne's history!

This is right as our Mens 1 team bumped Jesus College, earning blades

Here the crowd at the St. Anne's boathouse congratulates the Mens 1 team with lots of champagne!

To see more pictures from this term, click here!