Yesterday was a bit confusing, with all of the rushing around, a bit of losing my way, and some very sore footpads. But this morning Sydney and I both went off to class at 10:00, he to a lecture on Ockham, and me to a lecture on Modernism. I assumed that if I sat in the back of a large class no one would notice. I was right about not noticing, but I was not right about the class. Apparently “lecture room 2” and “lecture theatre 2” are not the same thing–oops! So I listened to a 50-minute lecture on Shakespeare’s Othello. It was really good! The professor had his material well in hand and made some really fascinating connections among the different elements of his argument. For the first five minutes I felt flustered and sopping wet (it was raining hard outside, and I hadn’t yet found an umbrella), but then after that five minutes, I realized that I was likely the only other person in the room who knew the material well (the rest of the crowd looked to be bewildered freshmen), and I had a good handle on everything he said while being pleasantly surprised by the turns in the lecture. I love being back in a classroom! It really cheered me up (I’ve felt a bit frazzled in the last day or so) and reminded me that home can be found everywhere, as long as you know what “home” really is.
Part of my frazzle in the last day has something to do with Oxford lacking the kind of easy access to reading rooms and other college nooks and crannies that I’ve come to expect whenever visiting a new university. I mean, this is the one place I’ve been where you can’t simply stroll into the library and plop down with a book when you need time to recuperate. But that morning lecture really set me at ease and helped me to enjoy all of the things I saw later in the day. Okay, okay, so my later enjoyment may also have been aided by my purchase of some great cheese, lovely scarves (Heidi, I found the shop in the Covered Market!), and two beautiful teacups!
Erin
Alan Schmierer