I simply cannot believe how remarkable this entire town is. The amount of history and tradition behind every building and institution is just jaw dropping. As an example, take our library orientation today. The room we sat in as the library's admissions officer spoke serves as the meeting place of the University's Parliment, but has on several occasions (both more than 300 years ago) served as the meeting place for the National Parliment. The room next door was where the poet Shelley was expelled from the University for writing a seditious pamphlet. The other room next door was where the infirmary scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed. As for the library orientation itself, it of course involved a history of the Bodleian library, which goes all the way back to 1602. It is the University's central library, which means that members of all 39 constituent colleges (and, fortunately for us, visiting scholars)have access to it's contents. But it's unlike the libraries we're use to in that it doesn't lend books. Books can be read in one of about a half dozen reading rooms, but only after a somewhat Byzantine process.
Because the Bod is legally entitled to every book published in the country, somewhat like the Library of Congress, it receives thousands of new books every week. To be able to fit this massive collection, only 5% of books are actually on shelves in the various reading rooms. Most of the rest are stored in a system of tunnels beneath the streets of downtown Oxford (during the later tour we saw skylights embedded in the streets that light the stacks underneath). To get one of the books stored in the tunnels, you must request it several hours in advance. The book is then conveyed by a system of belts and elevators to one of the reading rooms, where you actually read it. Even the tunnels don't provide enough space, and some books are actually stored in a retired salt mine outside of town. To get a hold of one of these takes almost a week. Fortunately for me, most of the books required for my Political Science and Psych classes are in the Law and Science Libraries, which have open stacks like the libraries back home. I assume this is going to make me somewhat spoiled compared to my fellow students taking English or philosophy classes, but it's alright by me.
After a brief history and orientation about the Library we got our actual library card, which will serve as our ID for the duration of our stay. I'm learning that there is tradition associated with almost everything here, including the oath that we had to swear before Library officials that we would not take or damage any books, bring anything harmful into the library, or (my personal favorite) "kindle no flame or fire therein". Having so sworn, we were issued our cards. Mine features my passport style photo taken in Tate last spring in which I'm wearing a white shirt against a white background, creating the somewhat unnerving illusion that I'm a floating disembodied head. After that was taken care of, we were scheduled for a walking tour of the city.
The tour took us in a large circle around the city. My favorite part was in the beginning where we got to see the grounds of Trinity college, Oxford's oldest existing college. Like all the colleges here, Trinity features a Chapel, dining hall, resident housing, and instructional space. Dr. Trevedi, a Trinity alum, seemed to know everyone by name, and as a result we got to see several rooms that aren't on the regular tour, including the dining hall and Old Bursar's room. The Bursar's room is one of the oldest parts of the campus and is now used as a dining room for the college's fellows, although our guide opened a panel on the wall to reveal an assortment of ancient deeds to the college's various properties and prayers that used to be read before meals. Outside, we were reminded not to walk on the lawn, under penalty of a choice of punishments: beheading, electrocution, or a 35 pound fine. Only advanced degree holders get to walk on the grass at any of the colleges here. The rest of the tour was a walk through town, with the guide helpfully pointing out several stores that we can buy necessities such as towels, books, and hair straighteners in. The funniest item I found in the store was a long handled spider catcher. While one of those may seem like a must have, I settled for a towel.
While we were downtown, a couple of us had lunch at The White Horse pub. We selected it because that was the name of the beer some of us happened to drink the night before and so we were sure it was a quality establishment. It advertised itself as having the best fish and chips in Oxford, and after a plate and another pint of White Horse I will say that I'm disinclined to contradict that statement. We walked back to the house in a light rain, taking a inadvertent detour down the wrong street. I took another rather long nap, ate two PB&J sandwiches and leftover pizza for dinner (trying to compensate for the approximately $17 I spent on lunch) and then it was time to go out again. Most of the people here went downtown to check out a new club that's opening, but instead a small group of us headed to a pub nearby called the Rose and Crown. I really liked it. The patrons seemed generally older than us, but it wasn't crowded and featured lots of plants growing indoors. After reading the comments from last night, I'm proud to say that I was fortunate enough to enjoy a pint of the Old Hooky. We came home fairly early, and here I am. The entire group is taking a trip to Salisbury and Stonehenge tomorrow, and that probably will be the last time we do something touristy. While I'm not incredibly enthused about Stonehenge (I would be ashamed to come here and not see it, but I've heard at the end of the day it's just old rocks in the ground), I'm excited about Salisbury Cathedral, apparently one of the best in Western Europe. The bus leaves at 8:45, and so that means it's bedtime for me.
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