Comments | navillusarat: Stopped on a Dime

navillusarat

Stopped on a Dime

May 19, 2008 10:56

What's this? A new post? It's all for you, canyoncat... all for you. (I'm not sure if I did that HTML right, geez... it's been awhile ( Read more... )

oxford, school, updates, bsc, friends

Comments 11

alicated May 19 2008, 17:59:07 UTC

Oxford is amazing! You're going to love it! I would love to see you, if that's a possibility. Do let me know, and I'll happily pop down South for a couple of days or a long weekend. To be a true Oxfordonian, you have to get 'special' chips from the kebab van. That is, fries covered in garlic sauce, cheese and mushrooms. It's a student specialty. :P

navillusarat May 21 2008, 13:13:03 UTC

I would love to see you! I'll be there from July 5th until the 28th. When I have a better idea what the itinerary is I'll let you know.

Those chips sound strangely delicious. I just might have to seek them out while I'm there.

alicated May 21 2008, 17:53:03 UTC

I think the kebab van in question is called Ahmed's, if that helps. Oooh, it's been a few years since I've been to Oxford. Any excuse to go back and wander those cobbled streets. :)

hottxlikexwhoa May 21 2008, 23:13:13 UTC

If you are out on any night of the week, past 10pm or so, you will see it. The dinners at the college often leave much to be desired(small meals, not bad ones), so a second dinner at the chip cart is sometimes exactly what you need.

hottxlikexwhoa May 19 2008, 22:21:41 UTC

Oxford Fantasists is a great course and Oxford is a great place! I have a few pieces of advice for you:
-Bring clothes for ALL types of weather. When I went, it was the hottest summer they had had in a long, long time, and I was unprepared since I left my tank tops at home. But their weather is usually a lot milder than ours, so you never know.
-Don't spend all your nights at the Kings Arms or the JCR (you'll quickly learn what those places are). There are TONS of fun pubs. The Purple Turtle being one of them (it's on Cornmarket street in a side alley).
-Do as many things as possible while you're in Oxford. I still feel like I only saw a tiny portion of the city while I was there.
-Have fun! It's impossible not to.

I'm excited that you're going, if you can't tell.

navillusarat May 21 2008, 13:27:30 UTC

Thanks for the advice! I'm really excited. I'll probably be e-mailing you with panicky questions as July approaches. I'm curious what the class was like-- I heard that it's about five students and the fellow. Is it pretty much the same as a literature class here? I'm bringing all my books with me, but at orientation I heard someone say that she didn't think she would need to bring the books on the trip with her because she would read them ahead of time. That made no sense to me. I know they have to be read by the time I leave, but wouldn't we need them to reference during class (and for a paper I'm sure we'll be writing)? Also, how much money would you suggest having on hand? Dr. Smith suggested bringing an ATM card and not bringing any cash at all, but that wasn't exactly what I was asking. I meant how much should we expect to spend. Do you remember? Well, anyway, I hope all is well with you... you left your job at the bank, right? I think I rememeber reading that at some point. I hope you got out of that place-- it ( ... )

hottxlikexwhoa May 21 2008, 23:30:35 UTC

Yes, bring all of your books. You will need them in class and in order to write your papers. My instructor (Emma Plaskitt is fantastic if she's your instructor) had us write 2 papers, each was about 5-6 pages. We also had the option to write one 10-12 page paper at the end if we wanted to go that route. And also yes to the classes being very similar. It's heavily discussion based ( ... )

alicated May 21 2008, 17:54:46 UTC

Oh yes, do bring layers. Our summer days can be any temperature from the low 50s to the high 90s. And sensible shoes, for all those cobbled streets.

Most of the fun, studenty shops are on the Cowley Road area, which I'm sure you'll quickly become familar with.

cmg724 May 21 2008, 02:48:38 UTC

I'd love to read what you have been writing! And I am so excited for you to go to Oxford! UNH has a program that goes there and I have heard nothing but good things, plus you are reading some of my favorite authors! Hope all is well and enjoy the free time that you have!

ps. If you want to send me what you've been writing you can email it to me @ cmg724@gmail.com :)

navillusarat May 21 2008, 13:42:31 UTC

Cool... I'll send my work to your e-mail. I'd love to hear what you think about it, but feel free to take your time. I'll send you a few stories including "I'm Sorry, I'm Lost" and "Haunted," which, in my opinion, is some of the best work I've ever done. There are more stories, but they're not quite as polished as I'd like yet. I'll keep you posted if you want to read more.

I'm looking into UNH for grad school, by the way... it's on the list. Word around the campfire is that they have a good MFA program in creative writing up there. You graduate in spring of '09, right?

cmg724 May 22 2008, 00:55:22 UTC

UNH does have a really good MFA program in creative writing! Most of the professors in the English Department are amazing too which is definitely helpful! I'm actually graduating Saturday lol. I don't know where the time went, but I moved back home today and its very strange.

I'm going to read your stories tonight so I'll get back to you about them soon!

Hope you enjoy reading for Oxford! :)