Michaelmas and holidays

As I typed that title, I realized that I may not have mentioned Michaelmas before. Oxford has three terms instead of two semesters, and the terms have names. First term is Michaelmas, second term is Hilary, and third term is Trinity. Michaelmas and Hilary are named because of saint feast days, and Trinity is named because...well, just because. If you go to the Other Place (that's what we call Cambridge), they call them Michaelmas, Lent, and Easter, named after holy holidays (is that redundant?).

Michaelmas is very nearly over! As far as I'm concerned, Michaelmas is over. My last paper was due Tuesday night, and my last tutorial was yesterday. I have totally checked out of academic life.

Actually, I sort of checked out of academic life over a week ago, which made writing those last two papers a little difficult. (Let's take a moment to talk about those last two papers. At Oxford, they technically give grades on a scale to 100. However, if you get an 85, that's publishable. Students realistically get grades on a scale to 70. 70 is a I, 65-69 is an Upper 2.1, 60-64 is a Lower 2.1, etc, etc, etc. My first two papers for my two tutorials were a 64 and a 63, which was acceptable. My last two papers were a 69 and a 70, which was exciting. Clearly, I should check out of academic life more often.) Why did I check out so early? The holidays came!

Last Wednesday was the JWS's (a church group I've joined) Advent Dinner. It was very good food (although I did not like Christmas pudding; Kermit clearly has no idea what he's talking about in Muppet Christmas Carol when he says Christmas pudding is magnificent), and there was a pantomime!

Pantomimes are a very big deal here. They are not silent with gestures, like you might think. Instead, they're long skits (or short plays?), usually about a well-known story. There's always a man dressed as a woman, usually a woman dressed as a man, and frequently bad jokes. The JWS did "Alice in Wonderland":

What you're seeing here is the Rev. Martin as the Rabbit, Jonathan as the Mad Hatter (which was so typecasting), Mark as Tweedledum (or maybe Tweedledee), James as Alice, and Gemma as Tweedledee (or maybe Tweedledum). Also a bunch of bottles of fizzy water, which is gross.

The next day was Thanksgiving! My first Thanksgiving dinner was at Spencer House, where a bunch of our American friends live. Brandon was our amazing cook:

This was the "family" of Thanksgiving dinner #1:

Mrs. Ross, Ryan, Erin, Brandon, Stacy, Kristin, Phil, Sabrina, Dr. Ross, me, Erin, Dr. Robson.

When we get bored, we take pictures of ourselves (I think this is some kind of commentary on my generation and its narcissism/obsession with photos, but whatever). I'm posting these because I think Reid would be proud of me and my sneakiness:

After Thanksgiving dinner #1, we went to the Regent's Park pantomime! It was "Cinderella":

Salmonella the Ugly Stepsister, the Ugly Stepmother, and Rubella the Ugly Stepsister.

Saturday we had another Thanksgiving dinner at Stanley Road, where more Americans live! It was also delicious, but I did not take a picture of the food. But here I am with Erin!

And finally, last night was the Christmas Carol Sing-Along at the Sheldonian Theatre. The Sheldonian Theatre is huge, and it was packed with students, and we all sang along to a brass band. It was amazing! I am so ready for Christmas carols now that it's past Thanksgiving.

So, Michaelmas term is essentially over. I have:

--read a lot

--written a lot

--not 'rithmaticked a lot

--walked a lot

--watched House a lot

--blogged a lot

--eaten cookies a lot

--been wet a lot

--been confused a lot (seriously, sometimes it's like another country over here or something)

--taken pictures a lot

--taken naps a lot

--learned a lot

I don't think I'm going to post over Christmas break. Reid and I are flying back with several of my Jewell friends on Dec. 29, so stayed tuned then for our adventures!

Merry Christmas!