The lack of blog posts is a pretty good indication that I've been to busy to create any thus far in my adventures abroad. I arrived in Oxford on Sunday 25 September, along with my Mom who came with me for a brief visit. Here is a short recap of my time here so far; we're gonna do this recap fast, kind of stream of consciousness. It helps to imagine this song in the background while you read about my whirlwind first week:
Sunday. Landed, bus to Oxford, hot weather, too hot; unpacked; took a trip to Primark [the Walmart of England] to buy towels; got groceries, sustenance. Sleep.
Monday. Went to my college - Kellogg College, Cornish Pasties for lunch [yummy]; did other stuff I can't remember.
Tuesday. Day trip to Woodstock, just north of Oxford, toured Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, pretty, opulent, sheep on the grounds. Saw Chaucer's brother's house.
Wednesday. Visited New College [a really old Oxford college], visited St. Edmund's Hall [another college], had drink at the White Horse pub, found the closest thing to an American-style grocery store; went to a concert at the Sheldonian Theatre.
Thursday. london, London, LONDON; Buckingham Palace, Westminster Cathedral [not the Abbey], heard Westminster Abbey chimes, Downing Street, gaurds, gaurds with guns. No time for Harrods. Home instead.
Friday. Laundry, laundry, catch up & rest.
Saturday. Bodleian tour, "Treasures of the Bodleian" exhibit, with Shakespeare's first folio and Mary Shelley's handwritten revisions of Frankenstein [English major pilgrimage], lunch in Botanical Gardens, another Cornish Pasty [still yummy second time around].
Sunday. Church service at St. Mary the Virgin [ye olde university church], champagne reception for a retiring priest after the service, visit to Eagle & Child, bought my subfusc [that outfit with the funny name that makes me look like Hermione Granger].
Monday. Don't remember much about Monday, too tired after the previous week. Sleep.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Update
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.
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.
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.
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