An Update for Update's Sake

So apparently when you start a blog and update daily (sometimes a few times a day) people start to expect regular updates - as I've been a bit busy over the past few days I haven't really thought much about blogging and some people aren't too happy about that. Thus, I thought it might be a good idea to go ahead and post something.

This week has been full of work for the most part. My tutorial this week deals with the courts as patrons of the arts. My essay will be on the patronage of King Philip IV of Spain - finally some Spanish art! (now if it were only modern and political I'd be set!). I'm still working on my readings and research so I don't quite have images to share.

Other than that I've yet to do much around Oxford. School work tends to dominate your life in one way or another here. If I'm not busy with my own tutorial then everyone else is working on there's. The American students here surely work quite hard, but the Brits seem to study 24/7 and read much more than us - perhaps it's b/c they only take one test at the end of their 3 years that determines everything for them, that's right, just one test, that's it. Nevertheless, there's parties and such with the Regents students on the weekends but during the week I'm either working (which involves searching for books, library hopping -in the states we have bar hops but never library hops - here a library hop is common for most essays- reading, note taking, outlining, drafting and, finally, writing....but then I have to make sure I can discuss all of that for my actual tutorial). So yes, Oxford is a lot of work but at the same time I rather enjoy it. It's nice to study one thing, one subject and devote all of your time to it. It's also quite nice to find my inner academic and to have resources I've never had before. And at times the dinner conversations about philosophy, religion, politics, etc are fun too (although there's also a fair share between the Americans and the Brits about Beyonce, Rhianna/Chris Brown, "the college cup" (red Solo cups) and anything else related to American pop culture).

I'm determined to see the sights around Oxford before I leave. Other Georgetowners have told me that this can be hard to do during the term but I'm determined to work it in my time here. I figure I should at least see the other colleges, especially since I can and it's free while I have my Oxford student ID (many colleges aren't open to visitors, and if they are visitors usually have to pay). I figure I should also see the museums and such Oxford has to offer. I also plan on making it to London at least once, preferably twice (with a trip to the theatre at lease once), and to Stonehenge. That, along with my tutorial and college activities, should keep me plenty busy. Ideally I'd also visit Cambridge (all the Regents students see no real reason for this unless it's to make fun of that "lesser" instituion there) and Bath but I'm not so sure there's time for all of that.

So that's about it at the moment. I'll do my best to get back to regular blog posting, although it's semi-based on me doing different things so I probably won't post again until I actually do something interesting. Oh and just so you know, England is expensive...