Classes:
Topics: mixed method research: points of summary and conclusion // the changing nature of politics - the end of the nation state? // from databases to statistics // analysing and communicating the findings from multiple data sources
I had my summative assignment for Methods 2 due on Friday. I wrote about methods for ethnographies of online communities. The summative had to be handed in at the Exam Schools by noon, but I had to get them in before my class at 10. After going to the OII in the morning to get an envelope (had to hand in 2 copies with a cover sheet in an envelope addressed to the examiner at the Exam Schools) and experience some technical difficulties with printing, I successfully handed in my second essay.
Formal Hall/Birthday:
The theme for week 8 hall at St. Cross was Greek. Since the menu looked good for the formal hall on my birthday, I got the other St. Cross OIIers to agree to organizing a big group dinner for that night. When I went to go check into hall with my guests, the person at the door knew it was my birthday and that we had a big group. She told me they reserved a large section of the table for us. I was so confused when I heard this, as I had no idea who let them know about my birthday plans.
Entree: grilled aubergine with spicy chickpea (non-veg was beef stifado, rosemary potato and green beans)
Dessert: karythopitta (Greek walnut cake soaked in lemon and brandy syrup)
While it was still my birthday back in America, I got woken up by a fire alarm. At some point between 2 and 2:30, all of main site got to enjoy some fresh air in the quad in the middle of the night (well, almost all of us -- it's a mystery how one person slept through it). My friend who lives next to the upstairs kitchen smelled something burning, and right after he turned off the stove, the alarm went off. Turns out a girl forgot she was cooking pasta to have ready for the next day. So we all got to wait outside until the fire department came to make sure everything was okay and to turn the alarm off.
Activities:
I went into London on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons for interviews. Nothing fun, just in and out so I could get back to Oxford and work on my methods summative.
On Friday, we celebrated handing in our Methods summative by going out to lunch at the Eagle and Child after class. I had dinner that night at Turl Street Kitchen, and then we all headed to the Royal Oak to join in on Friday OII pub night.
I went to Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Avebury on Saturday. I'll write another post about that.
On Saturday evening, I once again had to escape the main site and the noise of the end-of-term bop, which was a karaoke event being held in the bar. Just like during the previous St. Cross bop, I escaped to Liz's room in Balliol to make dinner and work on our summative essays for Advanced Qualitative Analysis.
I had to go into London on Sunday morning for a meeting about my trip to Poland for March of the Living. The meeting was held at the JCC up in North London. The area had a suburbany-city Woodley Park type feel (to the point that it also had a big hill on a main road). The meeting involved lectures from Holocaust educators, watching short documentaries, and learning about the logistics of the trip. The girls I sat with during lunch all seemed very nice. One girl even goes to Oxford and went to high school with one of my OII classmates who I will be travelling with before going to Poland. This good first impression was definitely a step up from when I was sitting on the plane to Israel texting my friend across the plane worrying about what we had just gotten ourselves into. I must have just missed a train when I got back to Paddington Station, and since trains aren't as frequent on Sundays, I had about 45 minutes to kill and find some food. This was actually the first time that I ended up walking outside the station to check out the neighborhood.
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