reading at oxford

So the first time I met students in Oxford, i noticed that they always asked "so what are you reading?"

I, the stupid american, always replied, "oh, this is the economist".

no! you stupid dolt...is what they should have said.

When you're in oxford or cambridge, you don't "study" you "read". So I'm "reading" chemistry and history, instead of "studying" chemistry and history.

Funny enough, i found out why.

Now here is my comparison of the differences between American uni and Oxbridge uni-es.

1) when you're learning under the tutorial system, you meet once a week with you're tutor so they know that you're not drinking every night...well you might be but you've just spent the entire morning "reading"

2) the reason it's called reading is b/c...wait for it... you read.

a LOT! so today i spent 6 hours reading about napoleon. now normally that's a lot. but i'm doing that same thing for the next 3 days.

3) you read at the libraries b/c you generally don't bring books home. it's uncool, and instead of going to classes you read during the day.

4) you can't bring back books from the bodlein b/c it's a copyright library. so you think the library of congress is big? ha! no chance, b/c this baby's got more books than our old congress. so when you try to get out of one of the bodlein reading rooms (which there are many), they check your bags so they know you're not filching any of their precious books. also, we get to read in this dome-shaped building called the "radcliffe camera" which is effing amazing. it reminds one of the St. Paul's cathedral dome, only it has much more 18th century influence...ah, i don't know anything about architecture...it's pretty. end of story.

5) everyone is reading at their own colleges so a great place to acquaint yourself with faces is to read at your own library. only problem is, my library is freezin' cold. and i literally want to curl up into a ball and fall asleep. not good.

6) everyone uses pen and paper here. laptops are stored away at home and used for typing up papers, but even then, some students write their papers. it's a wonderful difference between the states and here. i like it better here.

7) reading in oxford is just better. when you get to read under the same ceilings that great people like lewis, tolkien, and tony blair (cough) got to read in, it's exciting and stimulating.

8) for some reason reading books in a oxford library setting makes me concentrate better than i do at WashU. of course, there isn't someone greeting me every 5 minutes b/c i'm relatively unknown, but also b/c british people have better manners.

okay. so i think that wraps up my initial impressions of "reading" at oxford.

posted by chungy @ 2:19 PM