Writings, Sightings and Singings

To borrow a phrase from Emma, I seem to be remiss in my blogging duties! I have an excuse...more than one actually...that I'm sure you will be very interested in. I had a lot of work to get done and I wanted to take some pictures. That said, I've completed some of my work (though it is ongoing) and I've taken pictures of Oxford!

This is a picture of one of the many parts of the Bodleian Library. I have not been in this building yet as most of the sources I've been using are in the Upper or Lower Radcliffe Camera (of which I have no pictures, of course...), but I walk past it on a regular basis. You can sort of see two of the many men's heads that are part of the architecture. They are terribly frightening as most of them have open mouths wherein their teeth are visible and they have holes for pupils in their eyes.

This week my essays were on the Battle of the Somme (1 July through mid-November, 1916) and Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur. The essay on the Somme was a lot of fun to research and write. I didn't know much about it because in the US we don't study WWI until the point at which the Americans joined the fight in 1917. My other essay turned out really well, which was unexpected as I wasn't terribly interested in the subject matter.

I figured it might be nice to prove to my mother that I can in fact keep my room clean so I took a couple of pictures. The desk looks like a mess because I was taking a break from writing my essay (so its a mid-essay writing shot) but I didn't even have to make my bed before I took the other picture!

I joined the Wadham Chapel Choir and I'm having an amazing time. We sing the Sunday evening service in the Wadham Chapel and rehearse twice a week. It was auditioned so everyone has an amazing voice. The choir is truly spectacular. The chapel has fabulous acoustics and I'm pretty sure that even the world's worst singer would sound all right in there. The services are all by candlelight which makes it slightly difficult to see the music, but I appreciate the effect. There is also no heat in the chapel and since it is made of stone, the entire choir sang in their coats and scarves. I'm looking forward to singing Christmas songs later in the year but I'm not looking forward to the decrease in temperature in the chapel. We sit really tightly in the benches so we stay warmer! I also am going to play in the Wadham Orchestra and my first rehearsal is tonight. We'll see how that goes.

The other night, Emma, Katie, Rachele and I went to a pub called the Rose and Crown for a pint in celebration of having gotten all our work done. As we walked in, we noticed none other than Thom Yorke, lead singer of Radiohead, sitting at a table with a pint and a book. Yeah, that was thrilling. Also, the Rose and Crown is going to be our local haunt. Its really quaint and has a fabulous outdoor seating area with these huge heaters so you don't even notice you are cold. It is a good time.

I've been sitting in my sweatpants all morning and now I have to get dressed because I have a choir rehearsal and a meeting with our programme director, Debbie. Emma and I are co-editors of the trans-Atlantic, Wadham/Sarah Lawrence zine called Call and Response and the first issue is supposed to be coming from Sarah Lawrence soon so we need funds and a printer. This is my job for the day.

More pictures and anecdotes are hopefully forthcoming!