Last week was incredibly busy in terms of work– I had my regular 3000 word English essay due on Tuesday, and then a paper on Heidegger due Thursday. Luckily my friend, a visiting student from Davidson who also studies philosophy, was able to talk me through some of Heidegger, so I was able to construct a coherent essay and have a really fantastic discussion with my tutor. And now I’m on to my next essay…

I definitely intend to take time to reflect on the tutorial system, but this week I need a break from thinking about academics, so I am going to tell you about the fun activities I’ve managed to fit in between the papers and reading and research.

As I briefly mentioned, I have started taking circus lessons! I searched everywhere and asked everyone about an Oxford circus student group, but had no luck finding anything. So I looked up circus in Oxford, and found the Oxford Circus Academy, only a 20 minute bus ride away from Catz. Two Mondays ago I went to my first corde lisse (aerial rope) lesson, and it was amazing! It felt so great to be back in the air. And yes, I had rope burns and blisters and incredibly sore arms the next day, but it was so worth it. Tomorrow will be my third class. 🙂 And it also means I get to meet actual people who live in Oxford! It’s a really fun group, and last class I got someone to take a couple pictures of me:

(Toe climb! My favorite 😀 )

 

(Walking in the air…)

 

(Gazelle! From the ground because I was too tired to do it up high XP )

In addition to going to Circus, I started going to a Figure Drawing class! Well, they call it Life Drawing here. It’s at Christ Church, the same place I have my Philosophy tutorial, which is a complete maze to me– I can’t find anything without a full-time student’s help! I can see how Rowling based Hogwarts partially of its campus. 😉 Like circus, it feels wonderful to draw again. I’ve missed noticing the shadows and lights and not-spaces that people’s bodies make, playing around with colors and styles, and having my hands covered in charcoal. Plus it seems the halfway break for snack is a universal aspect of Figure Drawing, and of course the British snack features tea and biscuits. 🙂

After my tutorial on Thursday, I went to Blackwell’s (my favorite bookstore) to get some reading done. Okay, yes, this is an academic activity, but I had to mention it because Blackwell’s has the best cafe, and it is my favorite place to work, and being particularly exhausted I treated myself to a little something extra that afternoon:

Mmmm… white and dark chocolate cheesecake and a white chocolate mocha… And it worked! I was so motivated I read 140 pages of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon in one sitting!

Some of my American friends have also been feeling the stress, so we decided to rent a puppy. Yes, we found a website called Borrow a Puppy, and we set up weekly walking sessions with an adorable two-year-old Golden Retriever named Wilby. It is as amazing as it sounds. Check out this cutie:

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(video- click on the link to download)

On Friday afternoon as a much-needed decompression session at the end of the week, we walked over to University Park and played with Wilby. It had rained all morning, but the sun came out for our walk, and we enjoyed the beauty of the park almost as much as the adorable dog.

Finally, this evening I went to a meeting of the International Student section of WomCam, or Women’s Campaign, a University-wide feminist group. We met up at G & D’s (basically the best ice cream ever):

I was surprised and thrilled when our introductions included name and preferred gender pronouns– asking for pronouns is something that I am familiar with in many queer spaces, and it always makes me feel a little safer. I identify as the same gender I was assigned at birth, so when people call me “she” it feels right. But I know many people whose identities don’t match the assumptions people make about them, and it’s nice to know their identities will be respected. Our conversation covered quite a few topics– experiences with sexism or other forms of prejudice, our thoughts on the word “feminism” and whether or not we felt comfortable identifying ourselves with it, and even the feminist implications of characters in Harry Potter. It was a lovely time, and I look forward to meeting again next week!

Wow, having written all of that, I realize I’m actually doing more than I thought! Sometimes it feels like I spend most of my time in my room or in the library studying, but I have actually begun to integrate myself into life outside of school here, at the University and beyond.