Cleaning off the cobwebs

I had an epiphany as I was walking home along the plant-bordered dirt path that winds through University parks. I have found my Mecca. Apologies if that is politically incorrect or culturally insensitive. The truth is, I have been in this city for over one month and never have I felt so attached to a new city so quickly. I feel like a kid in a candy shop, or even better, a nerd in a library. I can count on one hand the days that I have not felt mentally stimulated, and those were largely due to over-socializing the night before. I never want to leave. It’s Oxford that makes me realize the beauty of staying in academia and devoting my life to learning. This may well be the most densely overachiever-brainiac populated place in the world. I think that if I stay quiet and throw out a few smart sounding words every once in a while, I won’t be discovered.

Through the door

It has been a challenge to rewire my brain so that it can sit still for extended amounts of time and focus. In fact, this is something that I am still struggling with and I am already halfway through my first of two terms. At this rate, by the time classes are finished in March, I’ll be ready to sit through two hour lectures. I must admit that as I write this, I am sitting in a café where I had intended to finish a fascinating book about water privatization that I need to finish by Thursday. It’s not like I have had all summer to read it… Oh wait… I did.

The main adjustment here, other than the strange way these people speak, is the evaluation system. We aren’t evaluated until May on anything except for one elective class essay due after our 6-week winter break. The final exams are what nightmares are made of. We have three 3-hour exams, during which we have 3 essays to write that each evaluate one of the core subjects we learned throughout the year. If that isn’t scary enough, we are required to wear the full academic garb of subfusc (white collared shirt, black skirt or trousers with black tights or shoes) and gown with cap. How am I expected to concentrate when I’m surrounded by wizards taking muggle exams?

The classes themselves are fascinating on a bad day and mind blowing on a good day. This program is perfectly designed to churn out generalists about every aspect of water. I wrestle with trying to find something to specialize on for my dissertation. I currently have just under thirty separate ideas of research projects that I would like to undertake that range from the extremely technical to the very political. 

My 28 classmates represent 17 countries from around the world with a wide variety of experience and backgrounds. All in all, not a bad first month of school. 

England's South Coast. The line of rock in the water represents several million years worth of geological formation that fell from the cliffs. You can walk by million years of ancient life in several yards.