6/12/13
I really did have the best intentions. But then I started getting busy.
So, what's been happening to me, you ask?
First and foremost- I went to London on June 6th.
And here's what I've discovered. One day is not nearly enough time to see London. Not nearly enough. So after driving the 2 hours there (oh the traffic! It was terrible! We sat through 5 green lights because the line didn't move at all!) we walked around, and our tour guide pointed out Buckingham Palace, Parliament, the Eye of London, and Westminster Abbey. And you know, it was nice, I took some pictures. Then we went to the Churchill War Rooms. Then I and some of my friends wandered about London, went inside Parliament, and got ice cream. And then we went home. I'm serious. It was crazy short. I felt like I was there for a grand total of five minutes. I discerned from that five minutes that it was a rather large city, with very pretty buildings, a lot of unnecessary red telephone booths, a brownish river, and expensive churches. And on that last note, don't you think churches should be free? Westminster Abbey was 20 pounds, or around 30 dollars. Does Westminster know what I can do with 30 dollars? I could buy eight lattes, fill up a tank of gas, buy a really cute dress (which would last for the next five years), or eat a ton of food. Or I could stand in a church for 30 minutes and stare at some stained glass, and try to take pictures of the stained glass (which would turn out dim and blurry). I mean, ok, it would have been awesome. And I really wanted to see the Poet's Corner (where famous English literary figures are buried- think Dickens, Wordsworth, ect). And I wanted to see the World War One tomb of the Unknown Warrior, You are probably wondering why I didn't just get over it, and pay the thirty dollars. Well, actually, it was closed. I would have gone in. Yes, before I realized that it was closed, I considered trying to convince them that I was seventeen to get an eight pound ticket. But I knew this was wrong. Even though it would have totally worked. It would have been wrong. I was going to go in and pay my 20 pounds and go see the Abbey. But And it was closed.
But Parliament was both open and free. So the group of us, mostly Hillsdale people, went over their and watched a House of Commons debate. The debate didn't seemed to be an issue of great national importance. This I know for two reasons.
1) There were about ten people in the room. Seven of them were more focused on their phones and ipads more than on the speaker. One member might have been asleep, or blinking for quite a long time.
2) The speaker in question was getting quite riled up about the apparent "bumblebee crisis" and the need for government action to save the bumblebees, who apparently are getting sick and dying from farmers' pesticides. There were a lot of statistics going on, and he seemed to take the whole insect destruction thing as an affront to his personal honor. One thing that struck me was his call for more government scientists to research this problem, as right now only seven scientists were devoted to the problem. I guess I don't know a lot about science, but that really seems like plenty to solve this one problem.
I just don't even know.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
The weekend :)
6/4/13
Dear blog
readers
It’s Tuesday. I’m not sure what happened to
this whole, “I’m going to write a detailed, descriptive, and intelligent post
every day.” I think the problem has been a combination of mild laziness and
mild forgetfulness. So, let’s go over my weekend, and Monday.
On Saturday, the OSAP group went to Windsor
Palace. We were leaving at nine, but I got up early to take photos of Christ
Church Meadows and get a book from my library. Christ Church Meadows is a park
open to the public, which is a five minute walk from my house. It’s technically
part of Christ Church College grounds, but you can only see parts of the
buildings from the park. Anyways, it’s not just a dinky little park with two
slides and a swing set. It actually doesn’t have a slide or a swing set. It’s
just a lot of paths that go through meadows and trees and by the Thames River. To
run around the biggest loop is about a 12 minute run for me, if that’s any
indication of its size. From this, I’m guessing it’s about a mile and ½ loop,
but who knows. But the park is absolutely stunning, and has a field full of
cows in the center. Ducks and geese are also a big part of the wildlife, and I’m
keep seeing a deer hanging out with the cows. I’m not sure if the deer is tame
or what, but it’s living the dream. It’s completely safe in the cow field, and
it can eat their food. A lot of people do their homework there (not with the
deer, but in the park), or have picnics when the weather is nice. But I got up
early to take pictures, because when I run there, I always want a picture, but
I’m running so I can’t take any. It was a big life problem. So Saturday fixed my picture dilemma. I also
petted a women’s dog there, and it sat on my foot. It was glorious. After that
I successfully found my book at the library, and then hurried to the bus. The
bus ride was about an hour, and I did a lot of staring out the window. The area
surrounding Oxford is very pastoral, with rolling fields of greens and the
like. Unfortunately, I also felt a little carsick. But I had a quick recovery
once I got off the bus, and we made our way to the castle. The castle was not
exactly what I envisioned. I guess I assumed it would be more chateaux than
castle, more elegant than medieval. But
it was pretty medieval. Knights’ armor hung on many walls, along with a lot of
swords and guns. Don’t get me wrong. The castle was still beautiful. Beautiful, and ready to fight a small war
with its wall displays. After viewing
the castle, Amanda and I walked down around the city. We ate, we shopped, and
spent a lot of time in bookstores. After we all came back, I just worked on my
reading for my upcoming paper.
On Sunday, I went on a run with the
Athletic Club. They were booking it, though, so I didn’t run with the main
group for a very long time. I just kinda turned around after a certain point. After that I spent a large amount of the day in the
Christ Church Park reading, and then came back to do some more reading. It was
super exciting. But a good day.
Monday brought library and tea. And I
ran eight miles instead of the four I intended to do. I got a little lost at
one point, but it was a good run. Well, I actually have to go and finish this
paper which is due tomorrow, but more is to come!
Saturday, June 1, 2013
a stream of consciousness post
5/1/13
I saw boat racing last Saturday. It was on the Thames River close to my house. I had no idea how the racing worked or what was going on, but my friend Amanda and I ate a brownie. It was tasty. If I was on a rowing team, I'd want to be the one yelling, "row...row...row...row...row...row." And just to spicy things up, I'd yell, "row...row...row...banana...row..." and insert other random words into the rowing pattern. It'd be both unexpected and sassy. (Though, there would be limits to this, I couldn't very well say, "row...row...row...row... superfragilisticexpialidocious...row..." because we'd lose the race. Not a good rhythm for speedy rowing.)
I ran eight miles on Sunday with some Athletic club people. It was tiring. But fun. We ran by the Thames River. I worked on my paper.
Monday is drawing a complete blank for me here. I think it rained a lot.... I went running for 25 minutes in the morning... Oh yes! That day I studied in a coffee shop, and had really good peppermint chai. Then I went to the library, and then after that my friend Ashley came and ate dinner with me. We had pasta. She brought French bread and I ate a disproportionate amount of it.
Tuesday it definitely rained a lot, and I went and got tea with my friend Amanda. It was fun. I tried to get a lot of work done. This failed. I was going to go do a workout, but it was raining. And I was hungry. So I ate a lot of food instead.
Wednesday was a day of desperate essay finishing. I didn't leave my room, except to do a brief run. Went to bed at one in the morning.
Thursday I was exhausted from essay writing and got up at 5:30am, but I thought my tutorial went well, and received positive feedback on my first paper. I seriously considered running, but instead ate a lot of food. Was really tired. Then we all went to Plays in the Pub, where we read a play out loud about suffragettes in the 1920s with some Oxford students. We all had roles. I was the male waiter, as I refused all larger roles. They also wanted me to speak in a British accent, but this too I refused. Came home around 11pm, and slept for 12 hours.
Friday was yesterday. And I did a lot of stuff. I got some books from the library. I tried to read them at Starbucks, got hopeless distracted, came home, read some more, ate some dinner, and then went running. And then I just chilled after nine, which was nice.
I'll describe today tomorrow.
Thanks for putting up with this random out-flowing of words.
I saw boat racing last Saturday. It was on the Thames River close to my house. I had no idea how the racing worked or what was going on, but my friend Amanda and I ate a brownie. It was tasty. If I was on a rowing team, I'd want to be the one yelling, "row...row...row...row...row...row." And just to spicy things up, I'd yell, "row...row...row...banana...row..." and insert other random words into the rowing pattern. It'd be both unexpected and sassy. (Though, there would be limits to this, I couldn't very well say, "row...row...row...row... superfragilisticexpialidocious...row..." because we'd lose the race. Not a good rhythm for speedy rowing.)
I ran eight miles on Sunday with some Athletic club people. It was tiring. But fun. We ran by the Thames River. I worked on my paper.
Monday is drawing a complete blank for me here. I think it rained a lot.... I went running for 25 minutes in the morning... Oh yes! That day I studied in a coffee shop, and had really good peppermint chai. Then I went to the library, and then after that my friend Ashley came and ate dinner with me. We had pasta. She brought French bread and I ate a disproportionate amount of it.
Tuesday it definitely rained a lot, and I went and got tea with my friend Amanda. It was fun. I tried to get a lot of work done. This failed. I was going to go do a workout, but it was raining. And I was hungry. So I ate a lot of food instead.
Wednesday was a day of desperate essay finishing. I didn't leave my room, except to do a brief run. Went to bed at one in the morning.
Thursday I was exhausted from essay writing and got up at 5:30am, but I thought my tutorial went well, and received positive feedback on my first paper. I seriously considered running, but instead ate a lot of food. Was really tired. Then we all went to Plays in the Pub, where we read a play out loud about suffragettes in the 1920s with some Oxford students. We all had roles. I was the male waiter, as I refused all larger roles. They also wanted me to speak in a British accent, but this too I refused. Came home around 11pm, and slept for 12 hours.
Friday was yesterday. And I did a lot of stuff. I got some books from the library. I tried to read them at Starbucks, got hopeless distracted, came home, read some more, ate some dinner, and then went running. And then I just chilled after nine, which was nice.
I'll describe today tomorrow.
Thanks for putting up with this random out-flowing of words.
"Play up! play up! and play the game!"
6/1/13
This is an odd summer for my parents. They'll have 23 days of utter quiet in the summertime months, interrupted only by the barking of determined little dogs and the roaring hum of the lawnmower. I don't think they've ever had a summer quite like it. The last summer without the near constant presence of children (or teenagers) was in 1991. 1991. Sure, they got rid of us for 20 glorious days in 2008, but then we both came back for the rest of the summer. This year, they'll just have me. And I'm much less noisy. And no longer a teenager.
Its really an odd summer for me as well. I feel a little stretched out by all my traveling. Not only physical traveling to live in a city thousands of miles away from home, but a sort of time travel. The medieval architecture here is almost overwhelming at points, and I look around at the stained glass and Gothic spires, and almost feel a need to introduce my alien presence.
"Why hello, building from the 14th century, pleased to meet you." The buildings replies are normally quite stoic. I get a brief feeling that monks are watching me.
But this feeling doesn't last for long, as I'm always jolted out of it by the bustling presence of Oxford itself. A tourist asks for directions, a motorcycle zooms by, a tour guide speaks loudly, a street performer sings looking for change. And I'm surrounded by tourists, students, and a seemingly endless swarm of people that are undoubtedly in the 21st century. Quite honestly, the hoards of people are the biggest shock in coming here.
So then, I read. I read about Britain in years of 1914-1918, and I can almost see those Brits walking about Oxford, albeit a much slower paced Oxford. Men in academic dress, small motorcars occasionally passing, and the whistle of a train in the distance. A sign hangs asking, "Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?" The sign is a bit wasted here. Enlistment rates were good at Oxford, and most students instantly became officers, experienced or not. (It was said that the life of football, ruby, and rowing had prepared the young elite men perfectly for war. That kicking around a football ball could be transferred to the battlefield, and indeed, one officer tried to kick a football to the German trenches to inspire his troops. He was killed instantly. The football in question is in the Imperial War Museum. I'm not quite sure whether to feel anger or pity at the young officer's stupidly brave and entirely unnecessary last kick.) Unfortunately for them, officers had the highest death rate. It gives me pause to remember how many died, and how that world changed so drastically. Its quite sad, even for someone as far removed as me.But I don't think we can ever be removed from human suffering. Its something we all know to varying degrees, and sympathy seems to be an involuntary reaction to the suffering of others, whether it be a crisis occurring ten years ago or two thousand years ago. Its when we don't feel sympathy that something has gone wrong.
At this point, perhaps I should try to escape my musings and actually try to tell you about my week. Lets see. I did a lot of writing and reading. I know. Super interesting to the outside observer. Perhaps instead of going in a day by day scenario, I'll just give you a stream of consciousness post.
This is an odd summer for my parents. They'll have 23 days of utter quiet in the summertime months, interrupted only by the barking of determined little dogs and the roaring hum of the lawnmower. I don't think they've ever had a summer quite like it. The last summer without the near constant presence of children (or teenagers) was in 1991. 1991. Sure, they got rid of us for 20 glorious days in 2008, but then we both came back for the rest of the summer. This year, they'll just have me. And I'm much less noisy. And no longer a teenager.
Its really an odd summer for me as well. I feel a little stretched out by all my traveling. Not only physical traveling to live in a city thousands of miles away from home, but a sort of time travel. The medieval architecture here is almost overwhelming at points, and I look around at the stained glass and Gothic spires, and almost feel a need to introduce my alien presence.
"Why hello, building from the 14th century, pleased to meet you." The buildings replies are normally quite stoic. I get a brief feeling that monks are watching me.
But this feeling doesn't last for long, as I'm always jolted out of it by the bustling presence of Oxford itself. A tourist asks for directions, a motorcycle zooms by, a tour guide speaks loudly, a street performer sings looking for change. And I'm surrounded by tourists, students, and a seemingly endless swarm of people that are undoubtedly in the 21st century. Quite honestly, the hoards of people are the biggest shock in coming here.
So then, I read. I read about Britain in years of 1914-1918, and I can almost see those Brits walking about Oxford, albeit a much slower paced Oxford. Men in academic dress, small motorcars occasionally passing, and the whistle of a train in the distance. A sign hangs asking, "Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?" The sign is a bit wasted here. Enlistment rates were good at Oxford, and most students instantly became officers, experienced or not. (It was said that the life of football, ruby, and rowing had prepared the young elite men perfectly for war. That kicking around a football ball could be transferred to the battlefield, and indeed, one officer tried to kick a football to the German trenches to inspire his troops. He was killed instantly. The football in question is in the Imperial War Museum. I'm not quite sure whether to feel anger or pity at the young officer's stupidly brave and entirely unnecessary last kick.) Unfortunately for them, officers had the highest death rate. It gives me pause to remember how many died, and how that world changed so drastically. Its quite sad, even for someone as far removed as me.But I don't think we can ever be removed from human suffering. Its something we all know to varying degrees, and sympathy seems to be an involuntary reaction to the suffering of others, whether it be a crisis occurring ten years ago or two thousand years ago. Its when we don't feel sympathy that something has gone wrong.
At this point, perhaps I should try to escape my musings and actually try to tell you about my week. Lets see. I did a lot of writing and reading. I know. Super interesting to the outside observer. Perhaps instead of going in a day by day scenario, I'll just give you a stream of consciousness post.
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