Hello all... once again I'm updating The Sparrow Diaries late at night. It's now less than two weeks until my fly-away date, and I'm surprisingly not stressed. Lots of things going on right now though - packing, reading, seeing friends and fam. I've been on one of my coffee kicks since January, but I made my first cup of tea in a long time the other night. It turned out weak. Tea fail.
Watching exchange rates...trying to finish The Chronicles of Narnia before I go...wishing there were a quicker way to read fifty books of film criticism. Finishing out the last few days at work...getting nostalgic about CSU...loving the slight chill in the air in the mornings. Setting up my Oxford email account...updating my Linked-In account like a grown up. Getting back into student mode...craving to wear sweaters and boots...already missing people here. Packing efficiently (or trying)...planning for next year...Getting sleepy now...
All I have time for is fragment sentences, so the above will have to do for an update! Goodnight.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
Three Year Plan
With my fly-away date just three and a half weeks around the corner, I've been tying up a lot of loose ends, like finishing projects and organizing things at home. I've also been doing some long-range planning for the next couple of years, since the coming year is going to find me crouched behind a bunker of books in a library, firing away dissertation drafts. So I thought I'd fill everyone in on what my plans are for the next few years in grad school, and how I arrived at that plan.
My goal since high school has been to earn my English degree and move on to film school for an MA. I wanted (and still want) to combine experience in writing with experience in film production to prepare me for my career. I had chosen Regent University's Film program, which is a Christian university with a strong and well-stablished directing program. The MA is open-enrollment, meaning that there's no cap on how many students can be admitted, and that I have a fairly good chance of getting in. Moving on to Regent after finishing CSU has been my plan for about three years now.
When I discovered, though, that Oxford had a Film Studies masters last year, and knowing how intense and valuable a graduate program would be there, I seriously considered it.
The programs are completely different: Oxford's degree is in Film Aesthetics, which is more about studying famous films and directors and writing about them, and it's one year. At Regent, I would be taking classes as well as making my owns films and working on other students' films, and it's two years. At one, more critical and academic, at the other, more hands-on and career focused. I never intended to do it instead of Regent (if I even got in, that is) rather, I would go to Regent afterwards. They are complementary to each other and there are things I can gain from one program that I couldn't gain from the other.
I asked God that if it was not His will for me to go to Oxford, that that door would be closed outside of my control - ie, that I just wouldn't get in. I knew it was a long shot anyway, and I was happy to go with my orginal plan. (But I still really wanted to go!) I also prayed that He would change my heart so that I would not be dissappointed if I didn't get into the program, bracing myself for that long shot.
This is why I cried, literally cried for joy, when I found out I had gotten accepted. But by the grace of God go I, is all I can say. Nothing is possible without Him.
The plan now is to go to Regent next year, and I'm working on the application now so I can sew up those plans and apply for scholarships/assistantships for next year. Regent has a tuition remission program, which means that if I work full time for the university, they will pay my tuition, leaving me with only the responsibility of living expenses. Sweet! It would be wonderful to teach freshman English as an adjuct or something while I'm there, if that opportunity were to present itself. Working full time, though, I'm wondering if it will take me longer to finish. I dunno... Will I ever finish school?! You know I love it though.
Right now I'm focusing on my prep film reading for the immediate future. At Oxford the year is divided into three terms: during the first two I will attend a class once a week and a film screening/lecture once a week. Each week I'll be given a mixture of critical and theoretical readings and must be ready to discuss them at the next class. I'll be in classes and lectures with the same group of film students throughout the year. We study a new film each week, and the films we'll be doing this term are In a Lonely Place, Letter from an Unknown Woman, Late Spring, Stella Dallas, Rear Window [my favorite Hitchcock!], Vertigo, The Birds, and Marnie. For the last four we''ll be focusing in on a single director, in this case Hitchcock. And I am alright with that.
The second term will be laid out similarly to this, but the third term is when I will write my dissertation. More on that later. During the first two terms I'll be doing preliminrary reading and research to prepare for it. Then, after it's turned in, I'll have to do exams in late June. I'm simultaneously terrified and excited about this. Mostly terrified. No, mostly excited.
My goal since high school has been to earn my English degree and move on to film school for an MA. I wanted (and still want) to combine experience in writing with experience in film production to prepare me for my career. I had chosen Regent University's Film program, which is a Christian university with a strong and well-stablished directing program. The MA is open-enrollment, meaning that there's no cap on how many students can be admitted, and that I have a fairly good chance of getting in. Moving on to Regent after finishing CSU has been my plan for about three years now.
When I discovered, though, that Oxford had a Film Studies masters last year, and knowing how intense and valuable a graduate program would be there, I seriously considered it.
The programs are completely different: Oxford's degree is in Film Aesthetics, which is more about studying famous films and directors and writing about them, and it's one year. At Regent, I would be taking classes as well as making my owns films and working on other students' films, and it's two years. At one, more critical and academic, at the other, more hands-on and career focused. I never intended to do it instead of Regent (if I even got in, that is) rather, I would go to Regent afterwards. They are complementary to each other and there are things I can gain from one program that I couldn't gain from the other.
I asked God that if it was not His will for me to go to Oxford, that that door would be closed outside of my control - ie, that I just wouldn't get in. I knew it was a long shot anyway, and I was happy to go with my orginal plan. (But I still really wanted to go!) I also prayed that He would change my heart so that I would not be dissappointed if I didn't get into the program, bracing myself for that long shot.
This is why I cried, literally cried for joy, when I found out I had gotten accepted. But by the grace of God go I, is all I can say. Nothing is possible without Him.
The plan now is to go to Regent next year, and I'm working on the application now so I can sew up those plans and apply for scholarships/assistantships for next year. Regent has a tuition remission program, which means that if I work full time for the university, they will pay my tuition, leaving me with only the responsibility of living expenses. Sweet! It would be wonderful to teach freshman English as an adjuct or something while I'm there, if that opportunity were to present itself. Working full time, though, I'm wondering if it will take me longer to finish. I dunno... Will I ever finish school?! You know I love it though.
Right now I'm focusing on my prep film reading for the immediate future. At Oxford the year is divided into three terms: during the first two I will attend a class once a week and a film screening/lecture once a week. Each week I'll be given a mixture of critical and theoretical readings and must be ready to discuss them at the next class. I'll be in classes and lectures with the same group of film students throughout the year. We study a new film each week, and the films we'll be doing this term are In a Lonely Place, Letter from an Unknown Woman, Late Spring, Stella Dallas, Rear Window [my favorite Hitchcock!], Vertigo, The Birds, and Marnie. For the last four we''ll be focusing in on a single director, in this case Hitchcock. And I am alright with that.
The second term will be laid out similarly to this, but the third term is when I will write my dissertation. More on that later. During the first two terms I'll be doing preliminrary reading and research to prepare for it. Then, after it's turned in, I'll have to do exams in late June. I'm simultaneously terrified and excited about this. Mostly terrified. No, mostly excited.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Kellogg... Like the Cereal
This post comes with exciting news: I have a place to live, I know which Oxford college I'll be attending, and I'll soon have a visa!
First bit of news: I'll be living in the Spencer House, along with some CSU and Regent's Park peeps! SO looking forward to this! Yet again, God made a way when there seemed to be no way (as described in an earlier post). It's a great place to live, affordable, in a safe area, and, most importantly, I don't have to pay for laundry facilities.
Housing was the first of the three big question marks this summer. The second was which college I would be a member of, and this had implications for a lot of other things, like my visa.
A mini-lesson... Oxford University is made up of about 40 colleges, which are self-governing "schools", if you will, within the university. Each college has its own traditions, culture, and members - faculty and students. When I was studying abroad at Oxford, I was at Regent's Park College (Regent's Warriors!) When you are accepted to Oxford at the university level, your application file is then passed around to the colleges until one chooses you. Every student is member of a college, and because each one is unique, the college you end up at can really have an impact on your experience.
I also would need to know my college in order to apply for a visa, finalize housing decisions, and make travel/arrival plans.
I found out a few weeks ago (on a 6am phone call to my department) that I will be a member of Kellogg College (yes, like the cereal). It's Oxford's newest college, at only 1 year younger than me. It's also Oxford's most international college, with members from over 70 countries. It's a grads-only college that promotes a lifelong learning ethos. It specializes in creative writing, film, education, and history, from what I can glean from the website. The director of the Creative Writing program is a professor there, as well as the chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. English geek WIN!
And yes, it is named after the W.K. Kellogg of cereal fame, due to hefty support from the Kellogg Foundation during the 80s and 90s. It's crest (each college has a unique crest) - get this - has a book on one side and a stylized wheat grain on the other. (See below.) Does wheat come in 'grains'? I don't know...
Once I knew my college and once Oxford finalized all their paperwork, I immediately applied for my visa. Usually you should allow about 2-3 months for the application process so you get the visa back in time, but because this final paperwork didn't come until August 12th, this wasn't really possible! This is why I had been so freaked out before about not having heard from a college. So I sent off the visa app a couple of days ago, and I'm trusting that it will get back in plenty of time.
The point of all this is that I had been so worried about all three of these things - housing, college, visa - and was in the dark for so long about each one. There was nothing I could do to make the process go any faster. I think God was really using this to test my faith, to show me that everything, indeed, will work out in due time, and work out for the absolute best.
And I'm totally excited that I get to go to the Special K college! What's that you say, cereal for dinner? Yes please!
First bit of news: I'll be living in the Spencer House, along with some CSU and Regent's Park peeps! SO looking forward to this! Yet again, God made a way when there seemed to be no way (as described in an earlier post). It's a great place to live, affordable, in a safe area, and, most importantly, I don't have to pay for laundry facilities.
Housing was the first of the three big question marks this summer. The second was which college I would be a member of, and this had implications for a lot of other things, like my visa.
A mini-lesson... Oxford University is made up of about 40 colleges, which are self-governing "schools", if you will, within the university. Each college has its own traditions, culture, and members - faculty and students. When I was studying abroad at Oxford, I was at Regent's Park College (Regent's Warriors!) When you are accepted to Oxford at the university level, your application file is then passed around to the colleges until one chooses you. Every student is member of a college, and because each one is unique, the college you end up at can really have an impact on your experience.
I also would need to know my college in order to apply for a visa, finalize housing decisions, and make travel/arrival plans.
I found out a few weeks ago (on a 6am phone call to my department) that I will be a member of Kellogg College (yes, like the cereal). It's Oxford's newest college, at only 1 year younger than me. It's also Oxford's most international college, with members from over 70 countries. It's a grads-only college that promotes a lifelong learning ethos. It specializes in creative writing, film, education, and history, from what I can glean from the website. The director of the Creative Writing program is a professor there, as well as the chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. English geek WIN!
And yes, it is named after the W.K. Kellogg of cereal fame, due to hefty support from the Kellogg Foundation during the 80s and 90s. It's crest (each college has a unique crest) - get this - has a book on one side and a stylized wheat grain on the other. (See below.) Does wheat come in 'grains'? I don't know...
Once I knew my college and once Oxford finalized all their paperwork, I immediately applied for my visa. Usually you should allow about 2-3 months for the application process so you get the visa back in time, but because this final paperwork didn't come until August 12th, this wasn't really possible! This is why I had been so freaked out before about not having heard from a college. So I sent off the visa app a couple of days ago, and I'm trusting that it will get back in plenty of time.
The point of all this is that I had been so worried about all three of these things - housing, college, visa - and was in the dark for so long about each one. There was nothing I could do to make the process go any faster. I think God was really using this to test my faith, to show me that everything, indeed, will work out in due time, and work out for the absolute best.
And I'm totally excited that I get to go to the Special K college! What's that you say, cereal for dinner? Yes please!
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| The crest for Kellogg College. |
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| Fun with photo editing. |
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