This is the point in the semester during which students at Oxford crack under the pressure of five weeks of even harder work, with the only break (that is to say, the end) being three long weeks away.
This. Is. Exhausting. To be honest, I haven't slept more than seven hours in a night in the entire time I've been here (except when I had the flu a few weeks ago). It averages out, I'd say, to about 4 hours per night. Granted, this is largely due to my own procrastination, but still. It's exhausting.
And here I am, procrastinating again, while 1500 more words of my essay are clamoring to be written, due in about 9 hours or so. I'm not sure how much more a person can take of this.
I have to say, I am genuinely amazed at the students here - that they can handle this workload and not ... cave. Perhaps this is why they drink so much and so often: they are so exhausted and overwhelmed by the workload that they cram in "fun" whenever and wherever possible. I wonder what the retention rate is. Likely very high, something else that amazes me. I wonder if that is due to the students themselves, or due to the structures in place. Something to think about.
Several happier notes:
My stepsister came to visit me! It was a lovely (though extremely brief) visit, the gaiety of which I am clinging to for dear life at this moment in time. We wandered around "downtown" Oxford, made dinner, watched a movie, got up early, meandered through the Covered Market (a place you MUST visit if you are ever in Oxford, whoever you are), went through the Oxford Castle, grabbed a baguette on the way to my tutorial, visited numerous libraries in the pursuit of books which currently are sprawled around my room, came back to the flat, made dinner, and went out to my favorite pub for the evening with several of my friends. She left bright and early the next morning to visit her friends in Exeter, where she spent a year in undergraduate education when she was around my age, ten years or so ago. I miss her already.
We visited Cambridge (excuse me, "the other place") yesterday. THAT was beautiful (pictures on Facebook). We took a walking tour of the University, ate lunch at the Eagle (where Watson and Crick realized the secret to DNA), walked around to the various colleges, went to a museum, went up St. Mary's tower to take some gorgeous photographs of the town, and climbed on a bus to go back home. I shall have to post pictures on here at some point, I suppose.
Last weekend (last Saturday, to be more specific) was perhaps one of my favorite days thus far in the semester. The day was extremely productive academically, followed by a fabulous dinner party (homemade macaroni and cheese with green beans sauteed in garlic, followed by brownies topped with ice cream and smothered in melted chocolate), and a themed party (favorite [or objection to the least favorite] stereotype), at one of our friends' flats. Several people from Magdalen attended. I was happy about that, since I got to meet LOTS of people on "my turf," and with the assurance that other people that I knew liked me were loitering about should a conversation become awkward. Very lovely evening. Very lovely, indeed.
Now, off to write that paper. Wish me luck. I pray I won't fall asleep while writing it. That is highly possible.
Topic: "Discuss the interface between detection and imperialism in The Moonstone." 2000 words. Go.
You can do it! It's not easy, but it's fun :-). Of course, I say this after I'm done with it lol. But you'll pull it off :-)
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