chawton: the world of jane

"She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste." --Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth on Pemberley

Yesterday our Austen class--with a couple of additions of people who just wanted to come--traversed to Chawton to see Jane's home as well as the lovely home of her brother Edward, which is now home to a library specialising in women's writing from roughly 1600-1830. 

Chawton is absolutely gorgeous. It's this tiny English town in the country, complete with just about nothing to do except marvel at rolling English hills. It's very charming, though, and even on a cloudy day like yesterday it's really, really beautiful. 

 This was Jane's house. She and her sister Cassandra shared a bedroom, and they lived their with their family, as neither married. Now, of course, it's been turned into a museum of sorts, but many of the original furnishings remain, as well as original garments, tools, etc. from the house.

This is Jane's actual writing desk--tiny, right?
 Kathryn Sutherland, my absolutely brilliant professor (if you've seen articles lately, which I certainly have seen dozens, about the digitization of Austen's manuscripts or the resulting questions of how much influence her editor had upon her work, that was all Kathryn's project), feels that her writing, which is sort of cramped in both its subject matter and its treatment of life in rural England, stems from these sort of cramped writing circumstances. Regardless, it's pretty frickin' cool.

And here's the Knight house, where Edward Austen Knight lived. While we were there, they were having an adorable Halloween party for some very cute English children. The house is beautiful, and absolutely huge! The grounds have lots of buildings on them, from the church to the stables, and the surrounding countryside is populated by lots of sheep.  Many of the original furnishings from this house are still there, too, like the original furnaces and preparation-tables in the kitchen, lots of paintings on the walls, and even some of the original wallpaper.


Chawton was pretty much fantastic, and it was so fun to go with my whole Austen class. Because we were with Kathryn and Freya (our other professor), we got to see and even handle the first edition printings of some of the Austen novels that the museum happens to own, which are worth an insane amount of money and are terrifying but thrilling to get to hold.

We are maybe possibly planning an unofficial trip to Stratford soon. I'll keep you posted.

oxford: a villanelle

In a conversation with Mr. Charles Greenberg that took place about half an hour ago, we were discussing the near-impossibility of writing a good villanelle. I submit as proof my first draft of the villanelle I attempted on the fly; I only post it at all because it's about Oxford:

A year spent wand’ring under ancient spires

that punctuate the city as they dream:

this new world that, in reaching down, inspires

sweet visions of the Bard’s bare ruined choirs

that, crumbling, are complicit in my scheme:

a year spent wand’ring under ancient spires.

Every Bodleian moment lights the fires.

Swimming with ideas, these textbooks teem

with this new world that, in reaching down, inspires

oars dipping in and out of cold sapphires—

the sun reflected in a bright Thames gleam—

a year spent wand’ring under ancient spires:

charm so rare could but be Oxfordshire’s.

The tea-sets plenty, scones with jam and cream:

this new world that, in reaching down, inspires 

me ever to be what this place requires—

joining with my own words in the stream

of years spent wand’ring under ancient spires:

this new world that—in reaching down—inspires.

oh, the glamour

At great pains of memory, I endeavour to present to you my Tuesday of 2nd Week, the 19th of October:

1. read Jane Austen and listen to the Decemberists.
2. read Jane Austen and listen to Neutral Milk Hotel.
3. read Jane Austen and listen to the soundtrack from Cabaret.
4. read Jane Austen and listen to Owl City; start a crochet project.
5. read Jane Austen and listen to Belle & Sebastian; keep crocheting.
6. read Jane Austen and listen to the soundtrack from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog; finish crocheting.
7. read Jane Austen and listen to the Pipettes.
8. talk to the illustrious and lovely Ben on Facebook for ten minutes before he goes to work. Realise that this is first human contact of the day...and it's on Facebook.
9. walk to Tesco. Buy milk, eggs, detergent, peanut butter, shaving razors, two jars of Nutella. You know. Just the necessities.
10. walk home. Look a little funny trying not to break the eggs while carrying heavy milk and heavier detergent.
11. read Jane Austen and listen to Neko Case.
12. read Jane Austen and listen to the soundtrack from Wicked.
13. realising you haven't eaten anything today, munch on some frozen grapes as a combined breakfast/lunch/early dinner.
14. write blog post.

I know, I know--the glamour of my life in England is almost unbearable. I wouldn't expect you to understand the subtleties, the nuances.

What will come next? There's no telling, really, but I'll give you a hint: I feel some Yeah Yeah Yeahs coming on.

matriculam universitatis

Last night we went to formal hall at New College, which is Brian's school (the photo is Mark, Olga, and me). The food was fantastic and the atmosphere was nice--it was so sweet of Brian to invite us! I'm going to look into when Regent's black-tie guest night is (I think this week, but maybe next) and see if the gang wants to come.

In other news, matriculation was today!

That's where we all dress up in our schoolgirl outfits (properly called sub-fusc) and gowns and march down to the exam schools to be formally let into the University. Oh, and along the way random tourists photograph us without our knowledge or consent, so it's kind of like being in a zoo. It was fun, however, and I love the tradition of it all--they've been matriculating for hundreds of years, and if it seems a little dusty and antiquated a tradition, that's because it is. Which is fantastic. Why is Celeste so tall?!


(Many of) the lovely ladies of the MCR, all dressed up in our sub-fusc and gowns!

wordsworth and byron and austen, oh my

Now that term has started, I've gotten considerably busier--in that I think I've spent more time in the library than sleeping in the last three days. My A course (which is the one with the insane reading list) is good, though the only text we've really talked about specifically is Wordsworth's The Prelude, which I'll freely confess to loathing. Somehow I got roped into presenting on Byron's Don Juan next Monday, so we'll see how that goes. I've never actually read Don Juan, and it's quite lengthy: hence the library hours. I do really love it, though, so it's not so bad, just sometimes the stanza form becomes a little oppressively routine.

Today was my big day of classes. I had my B course in the morning, and then, well, I should have a course immediately following, but due to an apparently highly characteristic mix-up, class was cancelled today. So we went out for coffee and then read in the library for a bit.

My first meeting of my Austen options course was today, as well. The two professors--Kathryn Sutherland and Freya Johnston--are really fantastic, and the course is going to be excellent. There are, I think, ten of us in it, and we're all pretty serious Janeites. My assignment for next week involves reading both Austen's letters and the Juvenilia, which consists of Austen's early (as in, childhood and teenage) writings. I have very much always wanted to read the juvenilia, since there are some really interesting early writings in it. Let's hope I can get it all done in time, though.

In other news, I've almost made it out of first week alive. I have two lectures that I'm planning on attending tomorrow, but nothing formally academic, thank goodness. Oh, but rowing tomorrow at 6:30 AM...not the best time to be on the Thames, as it's already growing cold here. I need a nap just thinking about it...

traditions

Last night I went to my first formal hall. Basically, we all get to wear pretty dresses (and our postgrad gowns, which are extremely dorky-looking but in an endearing sort of way) and eat in the hall together: think Harry Potter. There are all sorts of rules: you can't talk about the paintings on the walls of past heads of the college--and no, I can't tell you why, because I wasn't allowed to ask!--and if you leave the hall for any reason during the meal you have to bow to the head table on both exiting and reentering. Anyway, the food was fantastic, and it was nice to see everyone all dressed up.

As our slightly less classy follow-up to formal hall, Regent's had its first bop of the year! A bop is a themed party with dancing and cheesy music and costumes. Our theme was "alphabet bop": come dressed as something starting with the first letter of your name.


Being lame--and not wanting to spend money--I came as "Colourful" (if you just did a double-take and said to yourself, wait a sec, colourful doesn't start with an H!, then you've missed the memo: I go by my  middle name here).

Many people's costumes were lamer than mine, especially the other postgrads'. However, Celeste's Cruella Deville happened to be fantastic, complete with black-and-white wig and vintage fur stole. Anyway, the bop was super fun, and I suppose constitutes another equally legitimate, albeit more recent, Oxfordian tradition.

Another tradition: rowing! In a fit of doing-things-I-wouldn't-normally-do, I signed up to be on the Regent's crew team with Celeste, Nitya, Charlotte, and Karith. I'm going to be awful--but hopefully, with the exception of Celeste who has rowed before, we all will. We have our first practice today, so I'll keep you posted. Unfortunately, I'm sort of sick right now, so I'll be extra-awful. Hurrah! But I figured, you can't come to Oxford and not try rowing at least once! Even if you're awful...right?

inductions galore

So yesterday was the English induction. The St. Cross building--where the English faculty and library are--is huge and rather imposing. Apparently everyone else thinks it's ugly, but I kind of like it.

Anyway, we sat through a lengthy series of lecture, mostly in library usage and tech support. Unfortunately, our almost-identical library orientation took place at Regent's less than 24 hours before. So here I sit in this giant lecture room, having not eaten all day, listening to a morning's worth of self-evident library-related stuff. To be fair, the Bodleian system is really, really complicated. And they did give us tea and biscuits afterward.

But then I got to meet with my strand-mates (the other people doing 1800-1914). I really like the group, and it's a good size (maybe 18 or 20 people). A few of us went for lunch at the Turf after, and I think I'm really going to like spending time with them.

This morning I went to the fresh market in Gloucester Green. They run it every Wednesday, but at this time last week I was still living a hostel so I didn't pay attention to prices of food yet. Holy cow! I got a pound and a half of tomatoes, nine bananas, and a huge basket of grapes for under four quid. So I had a banana and a tomato (pronounced toe-MAH-toe, of course) for lunch. Before realizing that the English department is giving me lunch. But that's okay.

In the meantime, my room is almost perfect. I have a brand-new mattress and now I'm reasonably stocked on food. The only thing wanting may be the curtain for my closet, and I'm working on that. I got all of my photos up: take a look! See if you can spot yourself! If you can't, send me pictures...

things i miss

Things I miss about home:

• thrift stores. Real, honest, kinda-dirty-but-extremely-cheap thrift stores. I have attempted to explain the glory of new clothes for under a dollar lately (to Rowena, this morning), and it has made me more homesick than I'd have imagined.
• Francar's.
• craft stashes of fabric and yarn. On that note, my sewing machine as well.
• the word "y'all."
• having sneakers in every color.
• not having to cook.
• Glee.
• both Dogwood and Emmanuel churches.
• my kitty.
• board games. Real ones. 
• PB&J sandwiches. They don't eat those here! I've had people actually ask me if Americans really eat peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Apparently it's something of a stereotype.
• my golf cart.
• most importantly, all of you.

Things I don't miss about home:

• the heat.
• having to drive or have someone else drive everywhere.
• American bars and restaurants.
• feeling culturally bound to smile at everyone I meet.
• Wal-mart.
• Democrats.
• Republicans.
• Nathan Deal. I know I just said "Republicans," but really, he necessitates such repetition.
• cruddy beer.
• the complete lack of public transportation.
• lots and lots of unhealthy food.

Anyway, today was absolutely beautiful. I got to spend much of my day with the lovely Rowena, hurrah! And I opened my bank account! And I found my planner! Life is full of excitement right now, it seems, given all the exclamation points.

i have an address!

Last night we went out to Fire & Stone, which is a sweet pizza place in city centre (the photo is of me with the lovely Nitya, who is a member of the business school but finds time in her busy schedule to hang out with us Regents folk). F&S organizes the menu in a really cool way--it's by continent, and within continents are cities. Each city is the name of a pizza. I had the Melbourne, which involves sliced brie, roasted butternut squash, roasted red onions and toasted pumpkin seeds on top. Pretty much best pizza ever, and it was a LOT of food. And only four pounds. Yay Rowena and her coupons!

Oh, but the real subject of this post: my address. You should all send me letters and food and sweaters:

Room 327
25 Wellington Square
Oxford OX1 2JH
United Kingdom


Yes? Yes. Do it.

adventures in accommodation

Oh, the places I've lived in the last week! From a lovely bed-and-breakfast down Abingdon with Corbin, to a cheap but nice hostel down Hythe Bridge, and now in a cold room--but finally one that is all my own--on Little Clarendon. Here's the photo of my hostel: there were only four beds, and it was an all-female dorm. My roommates were all pretty awesome, and I actually had a quite good time.





Here's where I live now: my dorm in Wellington Square. It looks a little sad and lonely--particularly when considering that it has no heat right now--but once I get it set up I'm sure it'll be cozy. There's a little sink with a cute curtain to draw over it, though strangely the curtain doesn't go all the way across the closet even though the rod does. I guess I'll have to get a curtain! I wish I'd made my T-shirt curtain while I had the chance back at home, since now I'd be able to get some use of it.




I was a little concerned about the no heat since I hadn't unlocked the achievement yet of obtaining sheets and a comforter. By the time this began to alarm me, stuff was closing: Argos was closed, M&S didn't turn out to carry bedclothes at all. Fortunately, Primark carries lovely inexpensive (well, relatively so) sheets and duvets and things, so now I'm warm and cozy in my extremely cheaply made bed-dressings. On an equally extremely uncomfortable bed.


Builds character, right?

Bonus picture: fun things! Fun things at the Eagle and Child! From left to right: Chana, Olga, Mark, me, Brian, Sungwoo, and Seungil. Hurrah!