6th Week

“Those first three weeks at Redmond had seemed long; but the rest of the term flew by on wings of wind.”

-Anne of the Island

     It’s hard to believe that it is already March! Today marks the last official day of 6^th week, and it was another busy fast week. I had my primary and secondary tutorials this week.

     I would describe my secondary tutorial as not bad, and not good. It wasn’t bad, as this time I wasn’t accused of plagiarism (it’s the simple things in life now, that bring joy to my life). This essay was on Funerary Art (and if you don’t know what that is, I don’t really either, and I studied it for 2 weeks). Specifically my essay question I was supposed to answer was, “Does Roman burial and funerary evidence reveal more about the concerns of the living than the lives of the dead?” She didn’t like my perspective throughout the essay as it was a “21st century perspective” as well as “Anthropological”. Which I contend that as I am from the 21^st century I tend to have that perspective as well as an Anthropology major (insert British sarcasm). She did give me what I would consider a back-handed compliment, despite what she wrote in her comments. As it was on Roman burial methods I cited Jesus’s burial in my footnotes, and she said she “has never had a student use that as an example. And while it was unnecessary, it does show how one cannot generalize Roman burial methods.” So yes, I would consider this tutorial a success, at least compared to my last!

     Likewise, my tutorial with Dr. Kershaw this previous Thursday was a success as well! I didn’t actually have to write a traditional essay- I did a case study of ethnicity and identity (though I would like to note that I still ended up with 1,200 some words written!). It was a very fun and fascinating tutorial! Throughout my case study I asked the question “Do we identify ourselves ethnically, or culturally?” And my belief is that we identify ourselves primarily culturally. While I am here, I don’t identify myself as ethnically Indian, I identify myself as American. The same goes for my friend from Australia, he is of Japanese descent, but identifies himself as Australian. Just something fun I realized this week!

     As for the rest of my week. I was able to got Evensong at New College this week! It was absolutely gorgeous, the choir was amazing. We went to Portsmouth today for our last paid excursion from our programme. It was really neat! I explored 2 ships as well as took a tour of the harbor. Though, the one boat and its history was very gruesome and gore filled, and I saw displays I never want to see again….there is a difference between how Americans and Britain's filter their displays. And we managed to get back to Oxford before Storm Jorge hits.

     This next week looks busy...we are entering 7^th week. Which seems absolutely mental (notice my britishism?), we finally were able to book Formal Hall, so next week you can look forward to pictures of us dressed to the nines (or theoretically dressed up, we’ll see if any practicality wins out). We also may go to a dance on Wednesday, not sure yet. Plus, I have my tutorial this Tuesday with Dr. Kershaw instead of Thursday, because of his travel schedule. So it’s going to be a busy week!

    I also have been asked to lead worship at the church I went to in July on the 15th of March. Which while it will be fun to see some friends, I am very nervous as I have been asked to have 8 songs ready, and it's just me playing! I also haven't played guitar for 3 months, let alone the fact I haven't ever led by myself before. I also don't have access to a guitar to practice on, until probably the morning of? Yikes! Nevertheless, I don't have to technically think about that until after term ends😬

Per usual, here’s some pictures from week.

Cheers!

(Pictures from Portsmouth)

 (HMS Victory)

 (HMS Warrior)

 (Kaitlyn doesn't think she wants 

to sleep as a sailor)

(Ate Fish and Chips for lunch at the 

docks)

 (Grocery store run- orange juice

is weird here. Pulp is called

"bits" here, which sounds

horrible!)

(I made a fancy breakfast for us on

Saturday, I managed to make

a gluten and egg free breakfast

casserole, which means it was 

Avrie friendly!)

(Video from Evensong

hopefully it works!)