Freshers week

This week is Freshers (Freshmen) week here in Oxford, also known as 0th (pronounced "naught") week. The weeks of term are numbered sequentially, so next week will be 1st week, then 2nd, etc. Last week was -1st week. For my money, I'd prefer "the second week in October", but like a lot of things here this is the way things have been done for a while, and tradition trumps practicality. Anyway, the point of this being freshers week means that this is the week all the freshmen move into the dorms at Keble and there are a lot of social activities for them. Last night, for example, was freshers night at the Keble pub. We were able to talk the bartender into agreeing that we were essentially freshmen, this being our first semester at Oxford and all. Thursday is our first formal hall dinner (i.e. wearing our academic gowns), followed by a reception and then "freshers fair", where various student organizations try and recruit members for the term. I'm planning on talking to the Rowing team and maybe the Ultimate team as well.

I've done a little research, and Keble's first 8 has historically usually had an Olympian or, more impressively around here, a Blue in it. Blue means member of Oxford's crew in The Boat Race, for which an Olympic medal is essentially a prerequisite. Needless to say, I may go ahead and tell them I'm a novice and surprise them with my intuitive knowledge of erging technique. I am woefully, embarrassingly out of condition for rowing, but since I've at least done it before I hope I'll have a leg up on some of the freshers. As an added bonus, the lower boats sometimes race in themed costumes, so that might be fun. Ultimate is a good back-up plan, as it doesn't require quite as much pain as crew. I'm not the best frisbee player in the world (Adam can attest to this), but I can throw a little and I'm not sure how much the sport has caught on here. It might be fun, or it might be me scurrying around the ankles of giants. Lots of the guys here are pretty tall.

In academic news, I've finally heard from one of my tutorial dons. We're meeting Thursday to talk about objectives for the term. Actual classes start next week, also on Thursdays. The reading list he sent me is pretty intense, but at least I'll have an entire week between meetings. Still waiting to hear from my psych teacher. With any luck, he'll/she'll want to have tutorial on Wednesdays or Thursdays, which would leave 5 day weekends to travel on. That would be pretty lucky. I've been trying to get in touch with the advisers back at UGA to get cleared to register for classes next semester. After looking at my graduation requirements, I was surprised to discover that if everything goes according to plan I can finish my Poli Sci degree this spring and then I'll only have two Psych courses to take during all of senior year. Since I don't want to graduate early, that leaves 18 hours to fill (I have to take at least 12 a semester to get HOPE and, more importantly, football tickets). Perhaps I'll add a minor; history would do because I already have some upper division history classes and would only need 4 more for a minor. As you can see, I need to talk to an advisor.

For those of you interested in the weather, it's still raining.

Well it's time to get back to reading. If I finish this last paper before the end of this week, I'll be in good shape.