As previously mentioned, I spent last week studying at Oxford University. Well, technically I studied at University College, which is the oldest college in the University, but... you know what? I'm not going to get into it. In any case, studying at Oxford must have put me in the mood for debating, because I encountered ideas that I disagreed with in each of my classes. As a result, my class summaries this week are going to consist of me presenting the idea as it came up in class and then countering it. The original idea will be in bold, with my argument in regular font.
Gender Identities in Medieval Literature: The hazing rituals that 13th century Oxford students held were performed solely to help and educate incoming freshmen. Some of you might be surprised to learn that frat culture goes all the way back to the 13th century. In those days, incoming freshmen were taunted, shaved, accused of false crimes, and sometimes even doused in goat urine. Now, some people might argue that the upperclassmen performed these rituals out of a genuine desire to help the freshmen become more manly and scholarly--after all, these rituals were highly symbolic. I don't buy that argument at all. For one thing, the upperclassmen had to be legally banned from throwing feces at incoming freshmen, so they clearly weren't acting out of the goodness of their hearts. And for another, the drinking songs from that culture suggest the upperclassmen didn't have any goodness in their hearts. But that's a story for a different time.
Fantasies of Youth: The narrator of a story that takes place in an alternate world has to be reliable. For this class, we read the Hobbit and were asked to determine if the narrator is reliable or not. He is, but that's beside the point. The point is that someone tried to argue that narrators of fantasy stories must be reliable because if they're not, readers won't be immersed in the world. Not only is this an overgeneralization, but it's also clearly wrong. For evidence, I point to A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. That series is incredibly popular, takes place in a fantasy world, and has the most unreliable narrator I've ever encountered.
Writing for Children: Violence is rare in books for kids that are 9-12 years old. Personally, my favorite books when I was 9-12 all had instances of distilled violence. Wings of Fire by Tui Sutherland starts with a character falling off a cliff, and Warriors by Erin Hunter features a character death in the first few chapters. Even the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan involves a kid slaying monsters. It probably says a lot about me that all my favorite books were a little gory. But since these books are all hugely popular, this also says something about the children's literary market; namely, that violence and action have a place in books for kids ages 9-12.
Advanced Creative Writing Tutorial: I didn't actually have a tutorial this week, so I didn't have anything to disagree with. I did, however, have time to finish my novel timeline. Check out my 11 pages of madness:
I don't have a caption that can do this justice...
Now, because Oxford is, well, Oxford, you might be assuming that my week there was all work and no fun. This could not be further from the truth. I spent a good portion of my trip to Oxford exploring the city, seeing the sights, and having a blast.
On Monday, I visited the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. This place was huge, stunning, and stuffed to the brim with cool artifacts. Unfortunately, I arrived an hour before closing time, so I didn't get to see much. That being said, I spotted decorated Greek pots, a Viking hoard, and weapons from a variety of eras and locations. Which was awesome. After my brief jaunt around the museum, I stopped at the four-story-tall Waterstones bookstore. I resisted the urge to buy anything, but just barely.
Entrance to the Ashmolean
I didn't have any classes on Tuesday, so naturally, I spent the day exploring. First, I returned to the Ashmolean museum to take a look at what I'd missed the day before. This was probably the best choice I've made so far during my time in the UK. I saw Sumerian ax blades, English longbows, tons of ancient Greek and Chinese statues, and so much more. My favorite find was a rubbing of a brass that depicted a 13th century knight. The knight had armor very similar to the kit I fence in, and I plan to use the rubbing as a basis for making my own kit more historically accurate.
My Dream Armor
After my trip to the Ashmolean, I checked out the Oxford Museum of Natural History and its neighbor, the Pitt Rivers Museum. The Museum of Natural History was gorgeous and filled with standard museum fare: dinosaur skeletons, an exhibit about prehistoric animals, and lots and lots of bugs. The Pitt Rivers Museum, on the other hand, was...strange. To illustrate, here's a list of the bizarre things that I saw there:
Traditional clothing of Northern Alaskan natives
Canoes
Old pipes from various cultures
Indian saddles
Bagpipes
Ancient Pens
Shrunken Heads
Sounds a bit like "We Didn't Start the Fire," doesn't it? Needless to say, Pitt Rivers Museum was a highlight of my trip to Oxford.
Inside of the Museum of Natural History
My Tuesday didn't end there. After a quick lunch, I went on a tour of Christ Church College. It was led by a Christ Church alumn who teaches with my study abroad program, so we got to have a behind the scenes look at the college. We snuck into the Masters' Garden, said hello to the fish in a central fountain, and climbed the staircase where the first meeting between Harry Potter and McGonagall was filmed. We were even allowed access to the library archive, where we saw the first edition of Sir Isaac Newton's book Principia mathematica. After the tour, my peers and I went out for some delicious Indian food and gelato.
Christ Church College Masters' Garden
Where Potter Meets McGonagall
Library Archives
Thursday was, as a whole, rather uneventful. The only exciting bit was the formal dinner hosted to celebrate our week in Oxford. And the only reason that was exciting was because, when they broke out the desserts, everyone else got cheesecake...and I got a plate of fruit. My friends assured me that my face was priceless. Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't mad. I gathered that someone had told the staff I'm diabetic, and the staff had decided to be "helpful" without really understanding the nuances of my diabetes. I was just stunned; it was completely out of the blue. Thankfully, somebody had left before dessert, so I got some cheesecake in the end. All's well that ends well.
And that sums up my adventures as an Oxford student. I won't bore you with the details of my weekend, because I spent most of it studying. This upcoming week promises to be crazy busy though, so stay tuned for more of my adventures.
Thanks for reading!
Abby
Artsy Picture of the Day: The Museum of Natural History
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