The First Week of Classes

July 19,2005
When I woke up (around 7:30am) my back hurt really bad. I sat up in bed and it hurt even more. I decided to go back to sleep for another hour to see if it would help. When I got up again to go to class, the pain was a little better, but not much. I took some Tylonol (which helped, finally) and went to class.

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Dr. Horsewood asked if we had gone over the rules of Mansfield College. We said that we had, but he gave us four more rules:
1.) If you see your professor in the pub, it IS okay to buy him a drink.
2.) The only time it is not okay to buy him a drink, is if he’s with a member of the opposite sex.
3.) If he is with a member of the opposite sex, don’t take pictures.
4.) The professor is NEVER drunk; regardless of how he might be talking or stumbling, he’s never drunk.

He also notified us that class may be cut short if he has a hangover. (He’s a character…rather odd. And he likes his beer. We use it for supply and demand curves a lot in class.)

We also talked about the Oxford police in Dr. Horsewood’s class. He said that the police are usually rather slow at responding to calls, especially the more explosive situations that might involve violence. They usually come around in a few hours or the next day if they can, simply to let the situation die down. However, one of the professors in Oxford University who was in his early 60’s was having a tutor session with one of his students (a woman around the age of 23). She apparently had a crush on him and during their session, she started removing articles of clothing. The professor, not knowing what to do, freaked out and called the police about a naked girl in his office. There were three separate police cars on site within three minutes to investigate the case.

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After class, I started my laundry and took a nap to help with the lack of sleep from the night before. I spent some time in the computer lab and then went to dinner. After dinner, I received compensation for the money that had been stolen. Mansfield College had agreed to pay us because of the security measures they should have taken. Then, I went downstairs to the pub. I tried a Schnapps Raspberry drink that tasted similar to a Bacardi Razz in the states. Then, I went back to my room to shower and go to bed.

I picked up my laundry from the laundry room on the way back to my dorm and found that five articles of clothing had been ruined. Two shirts and two pairs of pants had turned brown in the wash. Other things had changed colours in areas as well. Also, even after two dryer cycles, NOTHING was dry.

I took my clothes back to my room and laid them out all over the place. Then, I took a shower and went to bed.

July 20, 2005
I woke up and my back felt a lot better than the day before. I went to breakfast then got my books to go to class.

The two professors, Dr. Holmes and Dr. Horsewood, pick on each other incessantly. It’s quite funny. Dr. Holmes claims that Dr. Horsewood is tacky and that he drives an “old person” car. Dr. Horsewood calls Dr. Homes “Martin Timothy Samuel” or “the amazing pink pinstripe” and says he stinks at picking winners for the horse races. It’s odd, but quite entertaining. They seem to get along well enough outside of class. On occasion, they’ll both refer to each other as “my learned and distinguished colleague.” It keeps class fun, to say the least.

After class, I checked my e-mail and went to lunch. Around 2, I had a walking tour of Oxford where we got to see all the colleges. We talked about the library. All of the books are downstairs under the town. If you want a book, you have to request it from the library and then they go to down to retrieve it for you. No one is allowed to go down to the stacks though.

We also saw Christ Place where they filmed the Harry Potter movies. It was interesting and very pretty. I talked to the tour guide, Lucinda, about how the school works. Basically, they have lectures and they meet with a tutor twice a week where they have to turn in papers (based on 40 books) that are 3,000 to 5,000 words long. Then, their tutor rips it apart and they write another paper for the next tutor session. They don’t get any grades for the first three years of college. Then, they have a week of exams where they take eight 3-hour essay exams. Based on the performance on those eight exams, they are given a 2-0 (highest) a 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, or 2-4 (failing). Lucinda said that a lot of people drip out during that week and a lot of people crack. They have a really high suicide rate as well. I’m actually kind of glad I don’t go here. I’m not sure I would like it.

After the tour, I went to Oxford’s oldest bookstore with Kelsey to look around. It’s really big and it has a lot of levels in it. Neither one of us bought anything, but it was fun to look.

I came back to Mansfield with Kelsey and updated my web log again. Then, I took a short nap and went to dinner. The rice was WAY too salty. Although it was the most spice we’ve had on food since we’ve been here, it was too salty for almost everyone’s taste. Most people didn’t eat much of the main course.

After dinner, I checked my e-mail and then went back to my room to write in my journal.

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Things I miss most about the U.S.:
1.) Free bathrooms
2.) Free water
3.) Water with ice
4.) Soft toilet paper (thanks Dad & Mom!!!)
5.) Good customer service

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I went to the computer lab to update my web log. After typing for awhile, I updated it and decided to go to bed. I took a shower and climbed into bed. I listened to a new playlist and found a couple songs I really liked (Leona Neass – “Calling” and Frou Frou – “It’s Good to be in Love”).

July 21, 2005
I got up and went to breakfast. I had several pieces of toast and a bowl of cereal. I went back to my room to get my things and went to class. I checked my e-mail before class, but I didn’t have anything interesting…just junk mail. I went to class and we talked about the early 70’s before the rise of Margaret Thatcher in the Conservative Party. Then, in Dr. Horsewood’s class, we talked about GATT. He addressed the rumour about him being banned from UNL. He said it’s not true and he never slept in a sorority. Ha! We also talked about cricket (he explained the rules).

I went back to my dorm and called my parents. They had just gotten up and were about to have breakfast. I talked until lunch and went to the dining hall.

I wanted to update my web log again and then I just surfed the Internet for a while. I went to dinner and then went to Amber & Kelsey’s room. We hung out for a while talking. I went to change into a nicer shirt to wear to the bars (because Lizzie was going to take us out).

I met Amber and Kelsey back in their room after I had changed and we went to the pub downstairs to meet up with Lizzie. We had one drink and then walked to the pub. It was actually quite a ways from the college (about a ½ hour walk).

I had a lot of fun and then when Amber, Kelsey and I left, we had to walk home one of the guys who was quite drunk. He was a little hard to take care of on the walk home, but he made it home safe.

July 22, 2005
When I woke up, I went to breakfast, then class. Lizzie had a bit of a hangover. We had class and we were supposed to have a review session with Dr. Horsewood in the afternoon, but everyone voted to move it to Wednesday. We went to lunch and at lunch, Amber, Kelsey and I planned to see a movie (we wanted to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). My pens had run out of ink from taking notes and writing in my journal, so we decided to go to the stationary store and then the movie theatre to see when the movies were. When we got back, I showered and shaved my legs to go to high tea.

Our group for high tea met outside the dorms and then we walked with Lizzie to the Old Parsonage Hotel. We had small sandwiches, scones, cookies (called biscuits), cake and English tea (with milk and sugar). We talked for almost two hours. The cones were SO good!! They had powdered sugar on them and the butter was really soft and creamy. Mmm… I also love English tea! I pug milk and sugar in it and it tastes so good! I’ve had it with every meal since we’ve gone to high tea.

We were all so full from tea, that we planned to go to a movie and have dinner later than 6:30 ad Pizza Hut. We planned to see an 8:30 movie. We met at 7pm to have dinner but Pizza Hut took a LONG time and we ended up missing the movie. We went back to the campus and downstairs to the pub. I talked with Bill and Ben about the two weeks before Oxford started. Then, I went back to my room, and packed my things for London. I showered and went to bed.