My week starts on Monday and, as you would guess, it starts in my bedroom. My room is a nice place it has a single bed, external closet, restroom (called a toilet over here), two large windows, and a study area. There is no central heating and we use this built in heater (which you can adjust) to heat each room (it does the job). There is one kitchen on each floor. I try to avoid the kitchen because college students can be pretty dirty. I instead hang my needed groceries outside my window (My peers find this pretty funny). My room is on the 3rd floor (they call it 2nd floor, the first is called the ground) and it is always cold so this works well. Of all the places, my room is where I’m at most. The tutorials are very much self-study and I only need to leave for a school related reason about 2-3 times a week. Edit: I have adventured out and found some really neat study places. I plan to study outside my room next week. Here are some photos of my room:
Although a good portion of my time is spent in my room studying (especially on weekdays), I do get out and do lots of things. For example, on Monday afternoon I go to the weight room (See pictures below!) and lift with the powerlifting team. For those who do not know, I did powerlifting in High School. In fact, I am now on the university varsity powerlifting team and am actually the second strongest here (I am supper excited about this!). We lift four times a week for a good 1-2 hours. This has been such a good experience for me and has lead to some of my best friends. I usually walk to the gym which takes a dreadful 45 minutes (one-way). [Edit: I have posted pictures of this long journey below. It started to snow (for the second time this week!) on my way back]. I mostly finish my Monday by going to the campus pub from about 9-11pm before going to bed.
During the week I eat mostly at the cafeteria. The cafeteria is a very formal place. It looks like a place out of the movie Harry Potter (although not as much so as other colleges, I will post pictures to compare soon!). We do not have to dress up to eat except for Formal Hall which is held every Friday. The food is not bad! I try to sit with random people but mostly end up next to someone I know. We can only eat at certain times and the cafeteria is closed over the weekend. The first picture below is a picture of the dinning room. I am having a difficult time getting pictures of our hall because they are very strict about being formal when eating. However, I did take this picture from a friend and it is taken around Christmas. The 2nd picture is a picture of another colleges hall (which I thought was much better).
Monday is a typical weekday for me. I have started limiting myself to not studying past 8pm three times a week and going out somewhere (many times the campus pub). This has been a great choice because it has really allowed me to get to know people. The campus pub is nothing special. It is sort of like your buddies garage with a bar in it. It has a pool table, TV, a few arcade games, and a small bar that serves basic drinks. Here are some pictures (note, the bar is closed in the pictures):
This routine is broken, of course, when deadlines for assignments start coming close. This is not near as often as in the US. For example, I have problem sets due every two week (with no quizzes, tests, or extras in-between). It takes an incredible amount of self-drive to not put the assignments off to the end. I don’t think it would work very well if students here where not such good students. Here is a few photos of the physics building:
I will be posting later about the weekend! I hope this really helps to show what my week is like! I do find that I am not good at taking enough pictures. I just never remember to bring my camera! This blog has been a great thing for me because it has forced me to go back and take pictures. I hope to be improving on this. Oxford is a very safe place. However, a major problem here is bike thieves. I have included as the last picture, a wheel which remains after a bike was stolen. As they say over here: CHEERS!
