Michaelmas Week 9

All of the undergrads were gone by week 9, as it is not a part of term time. I started the week with a final and spent the rest of the week getting in the Christmas spirit, attending a rugby match, and doing touristy things around Oxford.


Exams:
I had my 3-hour statistics exam on Monday morning at the Examinations School. We received a formal letter in our "pidge" (pigeon-hole/mailbox) with the time of our exam and all the rules. We had to wear sub-fusc for the exam but were allowed to remove pieces during the exam (e.g. a guy must walk in and out with his suit coat on but can take it off while writing the exam). Jackets and bags must be left in the lobby of the building, everything you need for the exam must be in your hands or in a clear plastic bag, and water bottles must have sport caps. We are required to walk into and out of the room in silence, and we can't leave the room during the first half hour (so you don't look at the test, freak out, then leave) and the last half hour (so you won't disrupt people finishing up). We must have our Oxford ID (Bod Card) on our desk throughout the exam. The (really pretty) room we took our exam in also had undergraduates taking some sort of art history exam.

After our exam, we all went for lunch at a pub in the city centre and received funny looks from tourists. After lunch, some of us went to check out the Oxford Christmas Market. We were still in our sub-fusc, so a lady in one of the stalls asked us if we were celebrating. We told her we had exams and she told us how bad she felt that we had to take a maths (yes, mathS), exam.


Christmas Activities:
Christmas parties, dinners, and carols services were held during week 9, and Oxford had great Christmas decorations. I also went to see a panto, a traditional English Christmas play. I'll discuss this all in a post of its own.


Markets:

There is a farmers market every Wednesday in Gloucester Green, an open space in the city centre. My Wednesdays during term time consisted of exercising before my 11:00 class, then going right to lunch and statistics lab. As a result, I never got a chance to go to the Wednesday market until Week 9.

want to eat a pig's heart?

The market has a variety of items, ranging from fresh fruits and vegetables to pastries, clothing, snacks, books, jewelry, and even lightbulbs. One vendor was even selling mini Christmas trees.


Rugby:
The Varsity Match is the annual (since 1872) Oxford-Cambridge rugby match. It was held at Twickenham Stadium on Thursday. Twickenham is in outer London and is the largest rugby stadium in the world.
I went with two of my course-mates, and one is on the women's rugby varsity team. She also brought a Welsh undergrad friend from the team along. We were able to take a train right to Twickenham, and we ran into two of our professors in the Oxford train station. They were headed to Downing St. to give a presentation (no big deal). During the train ride and upon our arrival, it was raining. Luckily the rain stopped by the time the game got started and didn't start again until we were on the train back to Oxford.

outside the stadium

The under-21 match was held in the morning, but we got there in time for the 21+ match (though we missed the kick-off). Navy blue is the color of Oxford, and Cambridge is light blue (but it's actually more of a seafoam color). Students who compete in the highest level of their sport (representing their university in a varsity match against Cambridge) receive a "blue." This is kind of like getting a varsity jacket. Athletics aren't as big at the university level, and schools don't have the same recruiting culture as American universities. There are, however, many people who play sports at the college level (Oxford colleges competing against other Oxford colleges).
We had great seats in what I guess you can call the Oxford student section. The atmosphere was nowhere near as fun or exciting as the student section at an American college sports game. There were some failed stadium-wide attempts to do the wave, and the rare OX-FORD cheer from the student section was pretty pathetic (and add to that: the non-existent "r" sound doesn't make the cheer sound very aggressive). This was the most well-dressed sporting match I have ever attended, mostly because the under-21 team was walking around in cream cable-knit sweaters with the Oxford Rugby Football Club logo embroidered on it.

Sitting in between two rugby players was definitely helpful, but I still didn't know what was going on for most of the game. Oxford ended up winning 28-10. Instead of having the MVP, the English have the 'man of the match.' After the game, the two rugby girls stood outside the stadium flyering for the women's varsity match in the spring. In the tradition of people not caring much about women's sports, most people did not want their flyers. And in another sporting tradition, there were drunk middle-aged men singing (rugby? drinking?) songs on the streets on the way to the subway and train stations.


Cycling Piano Man:

Cornmarket, a busy, wide open street, is home to many street musicians. Most entertain people as they pass by, and some even draw in crowds. This guy, however, was a totally new type of street musician.

Being a Tourist:
I finally got around to going to the Divinity School, a room that is part of the Bodleian Library and was built in 1488 as a theology classroom. Harry Potter fans will recognize it as the Hogwarts infirmary. I don't know if it used for anything else besides the occasional private affair.

view of Rad Cam and St. Mary's church

I also stopped by the Treasures of the Bodleian exhibit. A handful of treasured pieces from the Bod collection were on public display in a small room, including a copy of the Magna Carta, the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, and illustrated early copies of the Bible and Quran.

I noticed some writing on a wall on Broad Street that may have been from the public sector strike on November 30th about pension issues.

The Bullingdon Club is a bit like Skull and Bones without all the secrecy. It is basically an exclusive drinking club for Oxford boys from extremely wealthy and powerful families and a breeding ground for the ruling class (David Cameron was a member). They are known for causing extensive damage at the restaurants they dine in (though apparently they pay for the damages), so many restaurants won't let them make reservations if they are aware it is for the club. They also must pay for the custom uniforms they have made by the Oxford branch of the company that provides robes to the Royal Family. 

I spent Sunday afternoon at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford's anthropology/archaeology museum. I think most museums in Oxford are free.

The architecture of the museum is beautiful, and it contains so many items -- it is hard to see some of them because they are in displays on the ground or up against the ceiling. I found the instrument, jewelry, and gemstone collections to be the most interesting. The trees in front of the museum are part of a temporary exhibit called the Ghost Forest, which highlights the effects of deforestation.

I also saw an hour-long concert with 3 traditional japanese instruments (a zither, lute, and bamboo flute). Two of the performers were giving concerts around the UK before returning to Japan. The audience consisted of me and a couple other young people, some tourists, and a lot of old people (I'm pretty sure that will be me if I'm living in a city during retirement).

I didn't realize the front room depended on natural lighting, so I was surprised how dark it was when I came back to it after the sun had set.