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?