basic primer: oxford university is made up of 39 (i think) individual colleges. students apply and enroll in a specific college, where they live, take their meals, and usually take their classes. their degree is an oxford university degree, though - they take final examinations that are uniform throughout all colleges, so a history degree from one college should mean the same thing as a history degree from another college.
our program is housed in two colleges, pembroke and oriel, and i live and work in pembroke. now that i'm in my second summer working here, i'm much less a deer in the headlights, and i'm getting to know more of the college staff (the porters [who provide security, control the keys, are the general caretakers of the college 24/7], conference services, the maintenance staff, the bursar, the chef and dining hall staff). in short: i'm immersing myself more in the college that i did last summer.
pembroke is beautiful, simple as that. i love living here. the grounds are well maintained and the college is on the smaller side, so it feels really cozy. here are a couple photos - more to follow, of course.
pembroke has three quads - the old quad (adjacent to the main gate), which leads to the chapel quad (below - boo for yucky gray skies) through an archway, which leads to the north quad through an archway.
my room is great this year - it is en suite (has a bathroom and mini shower), and looks out on chapel quad. if you look at the middle of the above picture, you'll see my room! here's a closer picture:
the doorway on the left leads into our stairway, and my room is the first room on the right, on the ground floor. those are my two windows. it's been a bit loud in the mornings, with the noise of kids walking around or sitting on the bench that is literally right outside my window, but i can't really complain. many of the rooms in the college overlook an alleyway that runs behind the college and is full (apparently) of angry drunk people in the wee hours of the morning. i'll take talkative high school students any day.
i sleep with my windows open, and so far it's been the perfect temperature. my little travel alarm clock has a thermometer on it, so i can tell you exactly the temperature in my room:
tip of the day: want to know how to convert celsuis to fahrenheit but can't remember that weird formula involving 5/9ths or 9/5ths? one of the americans that i work with gave me this tip last year, and it has helped me a lot:
20 degrees C = 68 degrees F and
30 degrees C = 86 degrees F.
(and if a child has a temperature of 40 degrees C you should take him to the hospital. i learned that tip last year.)
68/86 is easy for me to remember.
so from 68 degree oxford (i am wearing a sweater and jeans right now) to 95 degree atlanta and 97 degree north wilkesboro (yikes, guys - hope you're staying cool!), goodbye for now...
Missing you lots!
ReplyDeleteFrom 100 degree Manhattan,
Roomie :)
What are those kids doing sitting on the grass in the quad? I thought only "fellow" (or something like that" were allowed to walk on the grass.
ReplyDeleteoooh, good memory, dad! so there is one quad in the college that only fellows are allowed to walk on and one quad that anyone can walk on. this is the latter.
ReplyDelete