Volcano podcast!

One of my friends at Teddy Hall interviewed me for a podcast she produced about how the Icelandic volcano affected the Oxford University community. You can listen to me and others talk about how the volcano affected spring break travel plans, and what that means about technology and our world.

You can listen to it here: Cherwell - Podcasts - Stuff You've Wondered About, But Never Bothered to Ask: Episode 1 Enjoy!

Trinity Term

Trinity is the name for Oxford's third and final term of their academic year.  Matriculating Oxford students often don't have tutorials during Trinity Term. Theoretically, they should be spending the rest of the time studying for the exams, called "collections," that come in the second half of the term. (But we all know how creative students are at procrastinating studying... even Oxford students!)

Since I'm a visiting student, I don't sit for exams. I take two tutorial subjects, just like last term.  The subjects I'm studying are:

• 18th Century British History - This tutorial is the perfect history course to take while studying in the UK, because the 18th century was the period when the modern British state took shape.  It also saw the emergence of the modern form of Parliamentary government, the rise of the British Empire, and the "American War." (That's what scholars of British history call the American Revolution!)  Strangely enough, my tutor for this subject is an American.  He got his doctorate here a year or two ago and now is a tutor here.  In my time at Oxford, I was taught British history my an American and American history by Brits... go figure!
• Atlantic World History - This tutorial takes a trans-atlantic perspective to studying the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  Instead of just looking at the history of one country, when I study Puritanism, the slave trade, and revolutions from this period, I'll be studying how these phenomena affected the Americas, Europe, and Africa.  This tutorial only meets bi-weekly, but I'm really excited about it.  I'm working with one of my tutors from last term again in this subject.

This term, my goal is to spend a little bit less time in libraries and a little more time sight-seeing!  I've only got about six and a half weeks left at Oxford, so I'm making sure to take advantage of the rest of my time here.  My friends and I are planning several day-trips for the upcoming weekends and really trying to see all that we can in what time we have left.  It may not have all the excitement of D.C., but I'm going to miss Oxford!

May Day

Happy May Day! May Day is a very important holiday here in Oxford, and the town has its own unique ways to celebrate it.

Festivities begin at 6am on May 1, when the choristers from Magdalen College sing "Hymnus Eucharisticus" and "Now is the Month of Maying." Lots of students and Oxfordians come to High Street, just below Magdalen Tower, to listen.

The crowd on High Street, approx. 5:50am BST

A portion of "Hymnus Eucharisticus":

Where the choristers sang.

The past few years, however, some Oxfordians have adopted the peculiar habit of jumping off Magdalen Bridge into the River Isis to celebrate May Day.  As an attempt to stop this, the police closed off the bridge from 4:30-7:30am to pedestrians, but judging by the number of people that I saw who were soaking wet their efforts were in vain.

High Street closed for the festivities.

Because most of my friends and I live on the opposite side of Magdalen Bridge, we had to cross the bridge before it closed if we wanted to see the events.  Unless you take a very long detour, crossing the bridge is the only way to get into the city center from where we live.  So, our May Day started very early -- at about 4 am! (That's 11pm EST, East Coast readers!)

A pub open at 7am.

After the singing had ended, we walked around some of the streets of Oxford to watch the different groups of Morris Dancers.  Morris Dancing is a form of English folk dancing.  You can see some pictures and videos below:

An Irish band.

Some friends of mine joined in the dancing.

Morris Dancers.

Another group of Morris Dancers.

A third group - all of these groups of dancers were very near to each other.  All we had to do was simply turn a street corner and another group was performing.

Then after watching the dancing, we headed over to Wesley Memorial Methodist Church because they were serving a traditional English Breakfast (eggs, baked beans, bacon, tomatoes, tea) for free!  It was good to know that even across the pond Methodists still like to feed people -- just like the Methodists I know in the states!

A Roadmap to Kurt's European Odyssey

As you know by now, in the wake of the volcanic eruption I had to find an alternative way to get back to Oxford.  Well, I made it back yesterday morning, and now that I have the comforts of using my own laptop again,  I made a google map to show you what my trip looked like.  You can see how a trip that was supposed to visit two countries and three cities over ten days turned into one that saw five countries over a period of almost two weeks!

You can see view the map here.  By clicking that link you, too, can experience the chaos and confusion that can be known only as Kurt's European Odyssey!

My bed on the sleeper car from Rome to Milan.

Some views of the Swiss Alps on the way to Geneva.

Check-in at Eurolines, the international bus company that shuttles people from Paris to London and back.

The bus - it was a double decker one and every seat was full!

My apologies for the poor quality, but that is what the ferry I took looked like.  The buses park on one deck, the passengers get off and spend the ferry ride on another.

The view from the top deck of the ferry.  Those lights are the coast of Calais, France.

Once Upon a Time a Volcano Ate My Homework...

Wow.
I never thought I would ever write that sentence, but in essence, that's the truth.

My flight from Rome to London was cancelled because of the volcanic ash over Europe.  I still can't believe it... the situation is too absurd to be true.  I'm not mad about it - when I think about it, it makes me laugh - but it does throw a rather large wrench into the conclusion of my Euro trip!

Instead of flying back, I'm taking the train.  That's right, travelling from Rome to London by train.  I leave Rome in about 2 hours and get to Milan, Italy at 7am in the morning over here.  From there, I take another train to Geneva, Switzwerland and another to Paris, getting into Paris around 4pm European time on Wednesday. That's three trains crossing three countries in over 20 hours - this will be quite the capstone to my Euro trip!

Then I'm stuck in Paris until Saturday, because that was the earliest day I could get to London.  Yes, it is stuck in Paris... Don't give me any of that mock sympathy saying how much you'd love to be "stuck" in Paris.  Though, I am glad I get to visit Paris again.  Earlier this semester I was lamenting about how I wasn't able to make it to Paris over spring break.... funny how things work out!

My tutors at Oxford have been extremely flexible about this whole fiasco, which is wonderful.  Had I been able to fly, I would have gotten back in just in time for 0th week (the week where we meet with tutors and arrange times for tutorials over the term) but now I get in just in time for the beginning of 1st week, the actual term.

I'll make it home in time for term... it's just going to cost me a small fortune to do it!

I'm Back... But Not for Long!

If you didn't read it on facebook, I'm back in the UK!  I arrived yesterday morning severely jet lagged. Despite many earnest attempts, I couldn't seem to fall asleep on the plane over here.  With only a short nap, I made it through the day and now I'm fully back on UK time.  Coming to the UK is much harder transitioning (time-wise) than flying to the US.

My visit to the US was wonderful.  It was great to see so many friends and family over such a brief visit - especially since a substantial number of my friends who are graduating will be living abroad for the next year or so!  (Congrats, guys!) It was also nice to once again eat spicy food, listen to NPR on the radio, and ride the DC Metro.

As  soon as I unpacked from the US, I packed up again for the last trip of my vacation. Starting tomorrow, and for the following week and a half, I'm visiting Berlin, Rome, and Florence.  After this trip, I'll have been to nearly every major country in Western Europe!

I'll be busy sight-seeing and soaking up the cultures, but every once in a while I'll resurface on Facebook and maybe blog, so check back here again soon.

Oh hey Chicago!

I never made it to Syracuse yesterday.  I'm still in Chicago's O'Hare Airport!

My flight to Syracuse last night was overbooked, so they needed a volunteer to be bumped.  Since I wasn't getting in until almost 10pm, I knew it wasn't a big deal to fly out the next morning instead.  Basically, all I lost was a few extra hours in town and a night in my own bed.  Now I'll be getting into Syracuse late morning today.  It's all good.

American Airlines treated me well for volunteering to be bumped, too!  They put me up in a Hyatt Regency hotel near the airport and gave me an executive-suite room.  How often does a poor college student get to stay in an executive room in a Hyatt and sleep in a King-size bed?? AA also gave me $250 in flight vouchers and credited an additional 1200 miles to my frequent flyer account. Not a bad deal at all!

Some pictures of the hotel from their website:

The 30-Hour Day

Hello from Chicago O'Hare International Airport!

As most of you know already, I'm spending the next leg of my spring vacation in the U.S. visiting friends and family.  I arrived at O'Hare around 12:30 CST, and am now just sitting in the airport killing time before my flight to Syracuse, NY.  Since that flight doesn't board till 6:30 CST, I thought I'd take this opportunity to blog.

Since I last blogged, I went to Madrid, Spain and Lisbon, Portugal.  After a long, jam-packed, nine day sight-seeing trip, this weary traveler returned to Oxford late on Wednesday night.  But - I saw lots of great sights and got some new stamps in my passport, so it was a success!

Here's some pictures from the trip:

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia,  a gorgeous, but unusual cathedral in Barcelona that's still under construction.

The facade of the entrance to the cathedral depicts the Passion of Jesus.  A rather timely sight to visit, given that this week is Holy Week for Christians.

Some other views of Sagrada Familia:

The wild, wacky, and wonderful Park Gueil, another of Gaudi's architectural masterpieces.

Gaudi also designed several Barcelona houses, including this one.

After a three days in Barcelona, we moved on to Madrid.  I decided that Madrid compares to Barcelona much like Washington, D.C. compares to New York City.  There was still plenty to see and do in Madrid, but it wasn't the lively, artsy city that Barcelona was!

Puerta del Sol, the center of Madrid where all the main streets converge.  In the middle of this lively public square is this statue:

Supposedly the bear and the tree is Madrid's symbol, though I never could figure out the significance behind it.

Perhaps the most exciting thing we did when visiting Madrid was see a bull fight at Placa de Toros.

Here's one picture from the bull fights.  I have a lot of decent pictures, but the wifi here at O'Hare isn't great and I don't have the patience to upload more.

None of us realized, however, that bull fights are fights to the death.  One of my friends with whom I was watching the bull fight was so disturbed that they left and another refused to look.  I watched for the duration, and after the first fight (there were six) you become desensitized to it and look at it more as a sport.  Still, it raises issues about animal rights and humane treatment.  But as an outside observer from another culture, I don't think it's my place to judge.

After Madrid, we spent a few days in Lisbon, Portugal! Though the pictures speak for themselves, Lisbon  is a beautiful city with a quaint, old feel to it.

The streets of Lisbon, or Lisboa, as the Portugese call it.

Lisboa is a very hilly city, so locals and tourists alike still use these old-style trams to get around town.  Tram 28 is the one all the guidebooks recommend - it gives you one of the most scenic tours of the city! 

And I'll leave you with one of my favorite pictures from the trip!

"Hola!" from Barcelona!

I'm writing this blog in the lobby of my hostel in Barcelona.  Some friends from Oxford and I just finished our third day on our trip to Spain and Portugal, concluding our time in Barcelona.  Tomorrow morning we'll fly to Madrid, the capital of Spain.

Our visit to Barcelona has been great! In the short two and a half days here, we've really seen a lot.  We spent some time on La Rambla, a pedestrian street full of street performers, vendors, and artists.  It's quite popular with tourists. (And pickpockets, too!) 

We also visited all of the sites designed by the architect Antoni Gaudi.  His buildings are wild and wacky, but I loved them!  His most famous structure is the Sagrada Familia, a rather unorthodox cathedral that is still under construction.  Below is a picture of it I found online.  When I upload the pictures I've taken, I'll be sure to post them.  It's really an impressive structure, even if it is incomplete.

I think what I love about Barcelona is that it has a little bit of everything.  It's got the hustle and bustle of a city and it's got the serenity of nature with the beach and mountains nearby.  It's both classic and modern, both traditional and bohemian.  Barcelona is definitely a place worth visiting... and worth returning to again and again!

Of Robes, Methodism, and Such...

A few weeks ago, during the seventh week of term, I went to an event called "formal hall."  This is a formal dinner at your college where everyone wears academic robes and is served a nicer meal than the usual dining hall food.  I hate to say it, but the best analogy I can give is a scene in the Great Hall from a Harry Potter film.  Formal hall dinners at Oxford look a lot like that, except for the floating candles, the magical ceiling, and all the other non-muggle happenings at a Hogwarts dinner!

Academic robes, by the way, are not worn every day.  You don't wear them to class or tutorials, although full-time Oxford University students do need to wear them when they sit for exams! Also, each level of student wears a different type of robe.  Below I'm wearing the typical undergraduate robe.  You can see that it's short and doesn't cover much. Robes tell a lot about a person at Oxford - robes associated with higher degrees are progressively longer and cover more of the person.  Here's a picture of me wearing a standard undergrad robe for formal hall dinner:

Last week I went back to London for a bit and this time, I nourished the religious historian and nerdy Methodist side of me by visiting some of the John Wesley/Methodist sites in the city!  Across the street from Westminster Abbey is a place called Methodist Central Hall.  In their lobby they have a life-size statue of John Wesley, so I had to pose with him for a picture!

Look at that: I'm a little bit taller than John Wesley was.  Just shows that short people can do good things!

Then, I headed over to Wesley Memorial Chapel for a visit to a church that both John and Charles Wesley preached at. The marble columns lining the sides of the church were donated by several different sects of Methodism from across the world, including the American denominations of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

In the back of the churchyard, they have John Wesley's grave. Joe Eldridge, my boss at the Kay Center at AU, told me I needed to see his grave while I was in London.  Joe, these pictures are for you!

A view from the front of the church... I wish I had gotten a picture of myself in front with the statue! (I guess that means I'll have to go back!)

I didn't just see Methodist sites on my second visit to London, but I'll post more later.  Right now I need to get some sleep because tomorrow some friends and I are taking our first major trip of spring break: we're going to Barcelona, Madrid, and Lisbon!  Nine days on the warm Iberian Peninsula... a nice break from cold and rainy England!