Fall in Oxford

I WILL get back on a more regular posting schedule, I promise.

Staying busy around here hasn't been a problem, that's for sure. Some highlights, in no particular order:

The weather around here has been totally bizarre in the past week or so. Tuesday, for example, it was beautiful and sunny when I woke up. When we left for lunch and lecture around 11am, it had started to drizzle. By the time we had finished lunch it was pouring, but when we left the English building after our lecture the sun was almost blinding. Within an hour it was raining hard again, but when I went outside later there was not a cloud in the sky! Very strange, but we've managed to make the most of the nice days, or nice hours within not-so-nice days. For example, on Saturday, Rachel, Robin, Bryan and I went out for a Thai lunch and then to the Oxford Univeristy botanical gardens. Entry is free for students, so we figured, why not? It turned out to be a very nice afternoon, and the gardens were beautiful. The gardens are a nice size, small enough to walk around in an hour. There are plenty of blooming plants to see, even in late fall, and the big old trees they have in the garden were showing absolutely gorgeous colors. The four of us had fun just sort of wandering around, taking silly pictures, and generally enjoying being outside. Our favorite part was either watching people trying to punt on the river or exploring the greenhouse, which has all sorts of exotic plants - I don't think I ever realized that pineapples grow in the ground. On a similar note, I wandered around Christchurch Meadow for the first time last week, on a brillaint fall day. I had just finished a paper and needed to get out of my room, so I went for a walk around the big loop. Christchurch is the college right across the street, and they have their own meadow right next to the college, complete with river views and cows. Yes, cows, living in the middle of the city of Oxford. Anwyay, there's a nice dirt trail you can walk or jog around the perimeter of the meadow - I think the trail's about a mile long. There were lots of people out, some picnicking, some just sitting on benches enjoying the sunshine. You don't have to be a Christchurch student, or even an Oxford student, to enter the meadow during the day, so I ran into all sorts of tourists, people taking pictures, and a large group of French schoolchildren. I wish I'd had my camera, because it would have been great to get some pictures of all the fall foliage on a sunny day.

In basketball news, there isn't really any news. We still haven't had another game, mostly due to scheduling troubles - the university really doesn't like to give us court time! We've still been having practice twice a week, which is getting more and more enjoyable as I get to know the team and get in better shape. I finally feel like I'm playing more at the level I want to play, not just struggling to get up and down the court for lack of air. We're getting antsy to have a game though. It's hard to just practice and practice and practice all the time and never test our skills against an opponent, which always helps a team (and its players) understand what it needs to work on.

Something I've been meaning to explain for a long time and haven't: Pembroke has its own college grace, which is to be read before every formal meal. Apparently, the students used to say it together, but instead of having everybody learn it now, one person reads it. For this year, that person is me! The chaplain asked for a volunteer in choir on the first Sunday, and I raised my hand without really thinking about it. He told me that no one would care how I said it, so I just use my Latin training mixed with years of singing church Latin to come up with my own pronunciation. My reward is that I'm reimbursed for all the meals at which I say grace, which is every Tuesday and Thursday, since I eat in a separate room with the choir on Sundays. Not a bad deal, and how many people can say they read Latin grace in front of their whole class at college on a regular basis?

That being said, I would like to prove that not everything is old-school at Oxford. Last Monday we went to a concert with the band Passion Pit at a club on the other side of Oxford. Lots of loud guitars, thumping bass, screaming teenagers, annoyed adults, people smashed together... all the things a pop/rock concert should be. The first opening band was good, being the suppliers of the loud guitars. The second opening act was... interesting. The performer was sort of a dj, remixing other people's pop songs into funky techno beats, but singing the lyrics himself and doing ridiculous dances. A couple times I wondered if the audience was enjoying the music, or enjoying making fun of him. His last song was the song that the children sing during the party in the Sound of Music ("There's a sad sort of ringing from the clock in the hall..."). He introduced it as a song for anyone in the room wearing knee socks, and invited anyone who knew the words to sing along. So I sang along, though I wasn't wearing knee socks, but really, it was just strange. Passion Pit, the main act, was pretty good - I know a couple of their songs from listening to XPN - but they were having technical difficulties all through the night, which began with it taking an hour for them to get their stuff set up after the previous act. All in all, we had a good time.

Ok, that's enough for now. This weekend Kyle is coming from Spain to visit me, and I'm singing in a wedding with the choir on Saturday. Next week is an off week, since my tutor will be away - I can't wait for a break from mad essay writing (I have one due today that is just bad, but sometimes you just hit a wall, you know?).