First stop: Paris

Merry Christmas!

I have been traveling in Spain and France for the past three weeks or so, and I thought I’d make a few posts about traveling, since Eurotrip is an essential experience for anyone who is studying abroad in Europe!

My first stop after Oxford was Paris, France.

A Moveable Feast, a set of Hemingway’s memoirs on his years as a young writer in Paris, begins with the following quote: "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast." Despite having spent five delightful days in Paris, I would like to somberly point out that Paris during these days is a feast only if you are prepared to shell out exorbitant sums of money on foods and drinks of miniscule portion. While walking along Boulevard Saint-Germain on the way of Eiffel Tower, my friend and I walked into an innocuous looking café and ordered cappuccinos to warm ourselves up— one cup of cappuccino cost 7.50 euros, which felt out of this world, and I’ve lived at Georgetown! Such financial woes aside, however, Paris truly is a gastronomic delight! My vice, above all, was pan au chocolat, a cuboid-shaped puff pastry with chocolate pieces in the middle. I ended up having at least two pan au chocolat each day because 1) Paris has so many bakeries 2) they all display the baked goods by their windows so I would see them as I walked by and feel compelled to walk in(which must be their intention).

I also went a little crazy with crêpes—I’ve had crêpes before, but the difference was that the ones in Paris were much lighter and almost wafer-thin. My favorite flavor, hands-down, would be nutella and banana—which probably is not traditional, but they were a heavenly combination.

Check out some pictures and you may see why I sound obsessed.

Oh, and just in case anyone was wondering, I did go to the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, and many other things that did not involve eating pastries or crêpes.

On my third day, Paris got five inches of real, fluffy snow! My friends and I got freshly made tapenade at an open-air food market on Boulevard Raspail and climbed up to the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, which is the highest point in Paris. Paris was covered all in white and looked magical! At a bakery called Coquelicot at the foot of the Sacre-Coeur area, we bought an enormous loaf of plain bread just as it was coming out of the oven, and ate it with the tapenade we bought. It was heavenly. Ah, I find myself going on and on about food again, but I think anyone who’s been to Paris would sympathize with me!

Below are pictures of Paris in snow:

Three great friends that made the trip so much fun!

Sacre-Coeur!

End of Michaelmas

Part of the reason I’ve been so MIA (my procrastination aside), is that I have been on Christmas break for the past three weeks and have been traveling the entire time! I have three more weeks to go until collections (Oxford terminology for final exams) and will continue to travel throughout France and Spain. So yes, just to rub it in, I have six weeks off between my eight week-long terms.

But here’s a funny thing about the Oxford academic year. I will not be tested on what I’ve learned the previous term until after I return from a long break, so I can’t just slack off the entire time. I’m also assigned quite a lot of “vac-work” (vacation work) to keep me busy. So contrary to what it sounds like, it’s rather a cruel system designed to induce students to work!

At the end of the day, however, I can’t really complain about having to do some homework during vacation as I travel through gorgeous Spanish and French cities—please look forward to some my travel stories that will be posted soon!

The Oxford Union

My dear friend at Pembroke, who is also studying abroad from Georgetown, has forwarded me an email from his mother, who apparently follows my posts and has lamented that I only have two posts so far. Sorry I’ve been rather negligent—but I swear, the Michaelmas term just went by in a flash!

I’d like to give you a brief introduction on the Oxford Union, which has been another regular feature in my life at Oxford. The Oxford Union, a debating society founded in 1823, is Britain’s second-oldest university union (The Cambridge Union Society is the oldest). While lifetime membership is only available to full-time undergraduate or graduate students, visiting students are invited to join the Union for the duration of their studies, at a heft but not unreasonable membership fee.

The Union hosts renowned speakers from various fields and hosts debates of high caliber every week. Topics for the weekly debates during the past term have included banning of burqa, rise of China, and cuts in Britain’s military budget. Members are invited to watch the debates and even participate by contesting debaters’ points or giving short speeches.

The Union building also has a beautifully furnished bar and library which members can freely use. The Union bar, with its wide selection of wine at cheaper prices, has actually been one of my favorite places for study breaks during the past term.

Numerous politicians and other prominent figures in Britain have honed their public speaking skills at the Union. According to Wikipedia, previous presidents of the Union include Benazir Bhutto, William Hague, and Boris Johnson!

It’s those little fun facts that imbue the Union with so much sense of history and makes its most mundane events so exciting! When I return for the Hilary term, I promise to upload a short video of its weekly debates.

Observations from Madrid, Spain

Several observations that occurred to me today.

- Paris metro is disgusting.
- U.S. Senate is useless: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/09/senate-vote-under-way-on-dont-ask-dont-tell/?hp
- British students need to calm down; why should British taxpayers pay so they could eff around in college?; also, in sage words of Brittany S. Pierce, "stop the violence."

Pembroke College Boat Club

My second post was inspired by my friend Liz, who was unfortunate enough to stumble upon my blog and mused that it had only one entry.

It’s 8 am here on a Friday morning and I’ve already been up for two hours, thanks to an early erging session at the Pembroke College Boat Club. Yes, I took up rowing at Oxford. Anyone who knows me well enough may picture me awkwardly perched up on an erg and may have a delightful laugh—but hey, I’m dutifully expanding my boundaries as any study abroad experience requires.

Just in case anyone may get the wrong idea, there’s the Oxford University Boat Club, known as the Oxford Blues, that competes against Cambridge at “The Boat Race” which takes place every spring; this is also the team that the Twinklevoss twins row for (I keep hoping to catch a glimpse of them training or walking down to the boathouse, but no luck so far).

Aside from the Blues, each college has a rowing club that competes against each other at various intercollegiate rowing events throughout the year. Pembroke College in particular has a stellar rowing program—both our men’s and women’s first boats came in first at the 2003 Oxford Summer Eights, the main intercollegiate competition. I’m currently on the novice crew of the PCBC.

Rowing is a fascinating sport (*Note: people here almost never refer to it as ‘crew.’). Workouts at the crack of dawn, skintight clothing, rowing jargons—it almost seems like a cult sometimes. Practices are getting more intense now. And every outing, as I struggle to keep my oar from getting sucked into the current, I find myself wondering, “Why did I get myself into this in the first place?” But then I’d catch a stunning sunrise cross the Thames after another early morning erging session, and all my doubts would melt away.

Anyway, I shall keep posting on my progress (or lack thereof ;) ).

Here are a few pictures!

Our boathouse: where the erging sessions happen

College boathouses along the river

Keep calm and row on

Finally.... Liz, my inspiration!

First of (Hopefully) Many Posts to Come

After a blissfully long break from school, I finally settled into Pembroke College, one of the colleges at University of Oxford. The University is a federation of 38 colleges, each with its separate campus, student body, and administration. Pembroke is tucked away at the end of an alleyway across from Christ Church College, famed for its dining hall where Harry P

otter movies were filmed.

Oxford school year is incredibly short; it consists of three eight-week long trimesters called Michaelmas, Hilary, and Trinity, with six weeks of vacation in between. Due to my awful procrastination and delayed recovery from Fresher’s Week(think NSO with college-sponsored club nights), I’m writing my first post in the beginning of the third week.

The difference between learning in Oxford and Georgetown (or liberal art colleges in the U.S. in general) is striking. Instead of five or six standard class loads at Georgetown, I “read” two “tutorials” each term. For each tutorial, I attend a lecture once a week and meet with my tutor once a week to discuss the readings, lecture, and an essay I prepare each week on a relevant topic. Aside from these set commitments, I spend the rest of the we

ek working through a length list of readings on labor economics, teaching myself multi-variable econometric analysis, and preparing essays that will be thoroughly dissected and analyzed

during my tutorials. Consequently, learning here is absolutely contingent upon I push myself and budget my free time. I’m still trying to finding the right balance between imposing self-discipline and having fun, but I do like the freedom and independence I can afford in this system.

And now I’m going back to econometrics for a little bit—I will soon post an update about the social scene at Oxford!