Mixin It Up

Good day y'all!

Again, yes, yes, it's been much too long, especially considering I ended my last entry by saying something like "I'll have a new post up early next week." That was just about a month ago. So much has happened since then! Namely, I've finished my first term (called the Michaelmas Term) and the holiday has begun! I'm staying on this side of the pond for the holidays and plan to write a few essays, do a lot of reading, and get my notes from the term in order. That, of course, in addition to some travel with friends (both from back home and my course) and a mid-season rugby tour to Portugal! But I'll talk more on those as they come. For now, I'll try to keep it to the highlights of the past month: 1) climbing in the Lake District, 2) Thanksgiving, and 3) the Varsity Ski Trip. All were a welcome diversion from the usual reading and rugby!

Last time I wrote I was just heading off to go on a climbing trip with the Oxford University Mountaineering Club. The Lake District is in northern England and is BEAUTIFUL! The climbing was... exciting. For those of you familiar with the Diamond in the Snowy Range, picture that with more route finding, less protection, and more water (although less height and fewer pitches, to be fair.) I was in a slightly awkward position because I had enough lead-climbing experience to be put in charge of leading a group, but no familiarity with the area or type of climbing. So I'm afraid my routes were rather boring for those following me. We all had a great time, though, climbing all day and walking off the slopes in the dark to dine on classic pub fare at the picture-perfect pub in the valley.

Thanksgiving in the UK turned out to be great fun. Each year, the first-year Marshall Scholars at Oxford are expected to host all the other Marshalls for a big T-Day feast. The day starts with an American touch football game against the Rhodes Scholars (to show 'em their "athletics requirement" part of their scholarship is rubbish), move on to a cooking extravaganza proceeded by an eating extravaganza, and end with a night on the town. Everything went splendidly. We beat the Rhodies at football (I couldn't play because I was getting over a nasty stomach flu, but just wait till next year!) We also hired out the University Club and used their industrial kitchen to cook 6 turkeys and all sorts of sides. After feeding the 75-100 guests, we rallied the troops and stormed the pubs and clubs of Oxford. It was great to see my Marshall family again, and it felt really good to spend Thanksgiving among friends, even so far from home.


Yesterday, I returned from a week on the slopes of the French Alps with my friends on the Varsity Ski Trip! Students from Oxford and Cambridge (Ox-bridge) go on a ski trip together to learn to ski, rip up the slopes, and compete in several ski events. I went with Olly (the punting master) and a bunch of his friends from his course. We left the Friday evening of the last day of term -- 2000 Ox-bridge students on a gaggle of coaches for a 20-hour bus trip to Val Thorens, France. (Val Thorens is the highest resort in the French Alps, so it is all above the tree line. Rather than having runs cut into the slopes, pistes are marked out and groomed. Everything else is "off-piste" and not fully controled for avalanches. It's quite strange to be in a resort under a cable car assessing the avalanche potential of a slope.)

We arrived Saturday afternoon to three feet of snow that had been falling over the previous week. It snowed all night, but we woke up to a clear blue-sky day. Sick freshies all day, dudes! The lack of tele gear cramped my free-heelin' style, but I had a great time relearning my alpine technique. After 2.5 days of perfect weather, the slopes were feeling a bit icey, but Tuesday afternoon the clouds rolled in and the snow started falling again! We had a few days of zero-visibility weather which made the off-piste very... exciting. But it meant that when Thursday afternoon rolled around, I didn't mind taking a few hours out of the white-out ski day to watch the Oxford rugby lads crush Cambridge in the annual varsity match! The Varsity committee had set up three giant screens in a Val Thorens bowling alley, and tons of people (from both universities) crammed in to cheer for their boys. There was plenty of Oxford gloating at the apres ski that day (like us mocking the Cambridge "cat" below. A little, ahem, healthy competition never hurts!) Cambridge won the grand slolom ski event this year, but Oxford won the cuppers tournament and the rugby match, so I'd say we won the war! Then, we awoke Friday to one final blue-sky day with even more fresh snow! Even better, I finally managed to find some tele gear for the last days and showed those Brits and Frenchies how to free their minds! Absolutely awesome trip. I'm planning on doing a little movie of more of our pics and video clips -- I'll post it somewhere and let you know when it's done!



Well, I guess that should be all for now. I know I got a little carried away on the ski chat, but those freshies are still fresh in my mind! :-D Until next time, my friends, live long and prosper. Oh man, I am such a nerd...

Love,
Alyssa

Alyss from the Abyss!

My dearest friends,

It’s true, three weeks have passed with no news, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been news to give! Quite the contrary – I’ve been too busy to post. So starting from… the start.
I spent Halloween in London at a Google-sponsored party for Rhodes and Marshall Scholars. Dinner was nice and rather posh, set in the London Banquet Hall (once the banquet hall of a palace that subsequently burned down). Everything was Googled out – theme colored lights (blue, yellow, red), light-up “ice cubes” in smoking glasses, and specialized Google logos. (You know how their search engine logo changes with the holiday? We had some specialty Halloween ones, NOT seen on your average Halloween Google page. Although I thought it would have been much more creative to have ones about African colonialism and post-war economic rebuilding… not to be biased har har). I made a few good connections, namely with the guy in charge of Google’s new “green initiative.”

Then (for contrast, I suppose) we went to a club down the street where we got to watch a live show of queens doing “the time warp agaaain…” Brought be back to the summer of ought-five, chasing the phantom Horror Show through the streets of Cheyenne with a couple of remarkably hairy, remarkably good-looking gals (you know who you are… ) Stayed the night with a few Londoner Marshalls and spent the next day lounging around watching movies because the weather was atrocious.

However, this is when the trouble began. First, I realized I’d lost my phone at the club the night before. Then, due to driver shortages, no trains went back to Oxford that evening, so after some adventures we chased down a bus (at midnight) and returned to a rainy freezing Oxford with no taxis running. The next morning I had rugby practice, during which my bike got nicked (another one to add to your dictionary). Next day my favorite jacket got nicked. And this on top of a whole range of other events I won’t go into now.


My friend Rose, also having run into hard times, luckily saved my sanity. She said, “You know, maybe we’re donating our good-luck energy to Obama!” And she must have been right! Election night was thrilling. WAY TO GO USA!!!!! Every television in Oxford was tuned into the election, and most colleges had set up big-screens connected into CNN or MSNBC. A big crew of us at Linacre made it through to Obama’s speech at 5am. We had eyes representing every curve of the globe in that room, and by the end not one was dry.


Since then, life has more or less returned to normal: reading, reading, reading, rugby, reading, reading, lecture, reading, rugby, lecture, reading, reading, and reading. This weekend will be a nice mix-up… I’m going on a climbing trip to the Lake District of England with some folks from the Oxford University Mountaineering Club! Should be smashing, even if weather prevents any serious climbing. I will do my best to report back early next week… hopefully with some more stimulating pictures and even stimulating-er conversation about European visions of “wilderness.”


Until then, tally-ho!
Alyssa



(and for your viewing pleasure, some pics from our last match. On the left, I am the leftish fleshy blur with taped legs... and check out this link! Some promo for the upcoming men's varsity match. Any Monty Python fans out there?! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJWV8RIlyEk)

Week One Down!

Ahoy!

Sorry I missed a post last week... first week of classes and I was just so busy! But week one of eight in the first term is over, and I think I will really enjoy my classes. There is a TON of reading, but I guess that's what being a grad student is all about. It's a new sensation here, being in a class of Hermione Grangers. Everyone always has something to say (usually too much of something). You know when a professor asks a question and there is that silence... and usually one person feels obligated to say something? That just doesn't happen with this group. Always an answer, even for the most rhetorical questions.

However, I adore my colleagues. Everyone works incredibly hard, but we have a great time, too. We all matriculated (were formally accepted into Oxford's stately ranks) yesterday. To do this, we all threw on our sub fusc (which I found out means sombre colours) and marched down to the exam halls for a lot of queuing and a little speech. We took some class pics (these are with our whole college, i.e. Linacre), then we got a formal lunch with bottomless wine glasses.

As per tradition, we went to "The Turf" pub (the same where Bill Clinton may or may not have inhaled). Then we experienced the first of Linacre's famous "bops." Theme -- sexy sub fusc. I may have gone a little overboard, but I wasn't the only one! (Most of the folks in the pics are in my course or are Marshall folk).

On another note, I have now played three rugby matches in 7 days in three different positions -- 8 man, flanker, and hooker. I played flanker for the Oxford Blues team and feel I did well enough to stay with the Blues at least for the time being! I never thought my Oxford experience would include playing for the university's top women's rugby team. Oh, and (I know you'd be proud, Grandpa) my nickname is "Wex." I didn't even tell them, it just developed on its own.

*Cultural note of the week: England-ish dictionary. "Pants" are underwear -- don't talk to openly about your pants. If one is "pissed" he or she is drunk. If you are "takin' a piss" you are teasing someone. Urinating is "takin' a wee." If you make out with someone, you are "pulling" or "snogging" them. "Cheers" means "thanks." This last one never fails to confound me. If I say, "thanks," I stand out, but there is nothing that makes one sound more American than saying "cheerrrs." So what should I say? Thanks, cheerrrs, or che-ahs? There is no good answer...

For more fun cultural notes (this time on Basketball), check out this link to an article that one of my fellow Marshalls, (Big) Steve Danley, just wrote for the New York Times.

Be well, and write me soon -- I love to hear what everyone is up to over there!

Che-ahs,

Wex

Ode to Wind, Rain, and Rugby

Friends and family, hello!

Another week gone by already, and so much more to talk about! My time has been full of rugby training camp and introductory events for my program.

The camp was intense, but incredibly satisfying. We worked for (often) 12 hours each day with at least 6 hours of rugby and a smattering of stretching, pilates, weights, food, and beer. By the end, I couldn't walk and had accrued some impressive bruises (namely this one, which I have already shown off to many of you). The team is really fun, open, and dedicated (but not to the point of distraction). Although we ran each other into the mud, we also had a great time doing freshers' initiation during which I got to experience my first British club and my first run-in with the British police. I claim innocence (mostly) but am actually writing this from a British prison where we have a lovely tea every afternoon but otherwise subsist on porridge and mushy peas.

Friday I left camp for my course's induction field trip. There are 36 grads in my program representing 13 countries, all of them (the students) very bright. We travelled down to the incredibly beautiful Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site in Dorset where we visited the picturesque Corfe Castle (above), the abandoned village of Tynham (below top), and oil-shale cliffs of Kimmeridge Bay (below bottom). We also, in a large-group discussion, managed to define nature, wilderness, environment, theory, policy, society, and landscape and come to a consensus on how they all interact. We also achieved world peace.

























The past two days we were back in Oxford going over the less-pleasant aspects of study here; namely exams, time-tables, and applying separately to the more than 100 individual libraries in the university. Oxford is different (and difficult) in the sense that every college, department, library, or other university entity is self-managed and independent, and thus has its own system and bureaucracy. Some of the other traditions, however, have been much more pleasant. The science library has cozy fourth-floor nooks that I shall claim as my own for my reading purposes (which will take up every minute from 9-5pm that I am not in lecture or at tea). And this evening I stepped up my Harry Potter experience at our first formal dinner. Four-course meal, Latin opening and closing "prayer," and all of it in our formal robes. Our robes have wings. Hee hee.



Unfortunately our unusual Indian summer has ended, and winter may be upon us in the way winter goes in England -- freezing rain and wind all weekend for our field trip (although it made for spectacular waves along the coast). Looking out across the hedgerowed fields and rolling downs, I felt I'd stepped out of Hogwarts and into the Shire, onto the Netherfield estate, into the landscape of the Romantics...





...O Wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being...




Aly

Oxford-ho!

Hello Friends,


First things first. My new contact info is:


Alyssa Wechsler
Linacre College
St. Cross Road
Oxford, UK
OX1 3JA
(mobile): (011) 44-7531-971160
Skype name: alyssa.wechsler


I would appreciate any care packages for I am a lonely starving student. Especially if said packages include hot chocolate (which is ridiculously expensive here).


On to the juicy bits. I now live in Harry Potter land. The top of every building, be it pub or Oxford library on bottom, has spires, towers, gargoyles, you name it! The first time I saw a schoolboy run by, like the ignorant American I can be, I thought, "Hey, that kid's dressed up to be Harry Potter! Halloween isn't for another month!" I've now come to the conclusion that either every day here is Halloween, or they all dress like that.



Overall, my introduction to the university and the city has been fantastic. I got a room on site at my college (Linacre be its name.) I've managed to make it pretty cozy (above) and the best part is its right above the college commons room/bar! Not too noisy, and much cheaper rent. Not to mention that I now live above a bar, hee hee. My department is only a block away (which is impressive in a university that spans the entire city). The university parks (below) are literally in my back yard. There is a 1.5 mile running path, a duck pond, rugby pitches, the works.


My lectures don't start for two weeks (other than the introductory field trip I have this weekend), but I've already been working very hard. Namely punting, pubbing, and sight-seeing. Punting pics top right: (from left) Olly the token Brit friend and punt master, Steve the giant basketball Marshall, Rose the Marshall. Bottom right: (from left) Marshalls Rose, Megan, giant Steve, Emma, and me. Puntmaster Olly on far right. Tourist pics top left (Marshalls Ben, Grant, Zane, Emma, Rose, me) and bottom left from Blenheim Palace, Winston Churchill's family "abode."

The newest addition to my Oxford repertoire is RUGBY! I started a pre-season training camp today and got worked. But I don't feel out of my league, and I love the team! Plus, if I stick with it I can play in a true, original "varsity" match this spring (i.e. Cambridge vs. Oxford). Here, what we would call varsity teams are called "the Blues." So I doubt I'll play with the Blues, but I'll still get to play a varsity match.

Some final random pictures: Linacre College, Linacre College from the University Parks, the tattoo picture as promised (did I mention I got a tattoo? It's an arrowleaf balsamroot. Nice story, I'll tell you if you ask hehe).

Well, I suppose that should be all for now. You can comment on these posts and/or become "followers" of my blog. This will help keep you up to date on my recent posts.Tune in later this week for my first installment of "Cultural Observations," and make sure to check out my new post next Sunday! I look forward to hearing from you all.

Cheers,

Aly