Bardon My Absence

The adventure continues. I'm sorry my writing has been so irregular and inconsistent recently. Fortunately for me though I have just returned from about 5 straight weeks of traveling Europe. I have seen many places, created many stories, and counted my lucky stars frequently (currently at 20,000). Instead of trying to get five weeks of stories into one blog post I am going to pace the separate countries I visited out over a few weeks. My first country will be Italy.

Places visited in Italy:
1) Rome
2) Florence
3) Turin


Let the Journey Begin

Video of the ball

Anyone curious about the ball I went to? Probably not but here is a video of the highlights. Absolutely epic night. I am bringing it back to the US.

http://vimeo.com/20893739

I'm sorry for my delay

My fellow readers,

I am dearly sorry for my absence. It has come to my attention through my reading that I have not mentioned the academic side of things here at OX in a while. I shall address this. I am studying British Media and Society this term and loving it. The thing about Oxford is, that it leaves you with more questions than answers. For this reason I will leave you with some questions to debate among your respective groups.

1) Who makes news? If we allow the newscaster to update us on what is "news" isn't that just agenda setting by the networks on the issues they deem important? What are the dangers of being passive instead of active watchers?

 2) Why does the average watcher focus more on a newscast that agrees with their political ideology than other countries? In Britain the BBC is a juggernaut and for the most part fairly impartial. In the US, Fox News crushes ratings while CNN, our closest BBC, is constantly slipping. Why do we gravitate toward our believes and what are the consequences of this? I think a great example is the increased negative rhetoric going on between our government officials today. It's politics, not policies in the US and this will be the downfall of us if we don't change our politicians attitude.

The next tutorial I have is History of the EU with a British twist. The British have also had the small end of the deal in this community and are struggling to believe that it is a good idea. The fact is that trying to blend unique countries, cultures, and languages into a supra-nationalistic government is extremely difficult. Think for example of mixing Canada, the US, and Mexico into one common community. Decisions would have the same bearing on all the members and decisions would have to be fair for everyone. This would obviously be disastrous to US power and the British feel the same. Unlike the US though the British have very little power left. There is a common phrase here, but don't say it aloud, that the British have lost an empire, but not yet found a role. The US is on this path though and we need to stop this cycle now.

Well that is my academic side. Hopefully through these questions you can have one more thing to talk about at the dinner table as you all slam down buffalo wings. Lucky. Everything else is going well and starting next week I believe my blog will be linked to the school newspaper. A friend gave it to them and they liked it and want to feature it. I'm really excited about this and I will update more frequently from there. This is not a blank promise for I will be under contract to do so... Until then have a great week my fellow Americans and god bless.

Shout out to my mom she wins first care package award!

Hertford Formal Hall

My wine tasting crew and France travel buddies

One More Picture

This post is short and sweet, just the way some of you wish my other posts would be. Here is another picture of me at the ball with my friend Phoebe. Probably one of my best pictures ever taken so please use this printout for any visual prove needed that I am better looking than my dad. Have a Happy Valentine's Day to anyone reading this.

A Ball of a Circus

Last night (Feb. 12) was a night among nights. Last night at St. Catz was my first Oxford college ball and it was a great experience. My whole entire college was turned into a giant circus and it was to an elaborate masterpiece filled with dancers, jugglers, and more. The decorations were prom amplified by about 153. There was unlimited drinks, food, and activities. It is weird though when you have unlimited of something though you never really take advantage of that. Psychology study????  I enjoyed lasertag with my new friend Josh from Newcastle. Then I proceeded to silent disco for hours which is honestly one of the greatest ideas ever made.

The rest of my week was pretty easy and nothing really to report. My tutorials are going well and are steadily improving. I enjoy my learning and I found an American Institute Library which is a modern library in Oxford strictly devoted to the US. It is really cool to see British people studying us and showing us some of the lessons they have. Im reading a book that I would suggest to any history buffs called Losing an Empire Finding a Role. It is good history of British and US relations since 1945 and really has some good perspective into the times.

Adios my friends and good living.

A wasted ego

This week has been a good week and my tutorials have gone well. I am still making mistakes with my writing that need improving, but I am heading in the right direction. It has also been a very humbling week. I think one of my biggest issues is my ego. It has grown and continued to grow as things started going my way. However, Oxford is a perfect place for an ego deflation. I am surrounded by some people that are more committed, more educated, and as hard as it to say more intelligent. Now don't take this decrease in ego as a decreased in confidence. I work hard here and I can clearly see the benefits of hard work. I am glad I have this chance to grow and I hope that in six months I can conquer more than I ever have before. On another note it blows my mind about the happiness simple pleasures can bring. I found a website in London that will send American coke, made with corn syrup instead of sugar, sour patch kids, Frank's hot sauce, and ranch dressing for 4 pounds. I had such a smile. The simple thought of having a good ole American coke makes me happier than any depressing British weather could.

The good, the bad, and everything inbetween

It has been an eternity since I sat in my room and tried to update my blog and for my small group of followers I am sorry. Oxford has a sneaky way of stealing your time without the faintest idea of where it escaped. So much has happened in the last week it is hard to talk about, but it would be a pretty awful blog if I didn't try. First the bad. I spent my first Friday night in a library and I must say that is a bad idea. I spent about four hours until about ten thirty reading a book discussioning British integration into the EEC, today's EU, and taking brillant notes. Then as I was sending it to myself the computer crashed and erased ALL of my work. The library closed ten minutes later and I lost everything I had done that night. Since being here I have really grown an understanding of why American colleges are so expensive. For all my older audience let me assure you your money is not being wasted. The buildings and history at Oxford is incredible but US colleges facilities are untouchable compared to Oxford.  So next time you write that check for thousand of dollars and countless amount of tears just remember because of that money I can now go to a dining hall with unlimited custom made pasta.   Now let us get to the good. I went to my first wine tasting meeting which was incredible. I met three other great Americans and we had a blast. I learned a tremendous amount about Chilean wine but more than anything I enjoyed the company of my fellow American peers. I was surrounded by ivy league students but it seemed like all of us had a maturity level of a 15 year old with everything the wine "master" was teaching us. We were laughing at all the innuendo and defiantly sticking out but for once I didn't care. Sometimes when people sigh and say "Ah Americans" we should smile and say "YES SIR ". We might be loud sometimes, but we know how to have fun and not take everything so seriously and that was great to see. I also joined a drinking society with a friend and that is a blast. We just get together drink  and talk about politics. It is great because people don't abuse the alcohol like you do sometimes in the states. Now for those, my parents, that worry I am drinking myself fat don't worry. I have been going to rowing practice about four to five times a week and am really getting into it. Well there is more for me to say but I will not make this any longer that it is. I will post something more academic soon. Have a great week my fellow Americans.


P.S. I visited the actor's castle that played Voldemort in Harry Potter. It was pretty awesome and I got to try and play get stabbed by armor used in the British civil war. I plan on adding pictures in the next couple of days so check back.

A rollercoaster named Oxford

These past 36 hours have been a range of emotions and activities.  On Thursday night I went to a debate at the Oxford Union. It was absolutely incredible experience in and of itself. You go into a room and hear debating from an opposition and proposition of a proposal. In the case of Thursday's debate it was "This coalition believes we have strengthened the British University system by the increase of fees." There is name calling random yelling and pretty much everything we would consider unacceptable debate behavior. Imagine Joe Wilson at last years state of the union about every ten seconds. It was an amazing experience and a lot of fun and something you can never see in the US of A. However after that I had my first tutorial. It was quite informative but quite disappointing in all honesty. This had nothing to do with tutor but more of the lack of quality work that I created for her judgment. We spent an hour going through every syllable and it was a surreal feeling. My self-esteem took a beating but I learned an incredible amount and I know more about the creation of the BBC than I could ever imagine. Then on Friday night I had my first school entze (party) and it was wonderful. The theme was london underground so I went as King's Cross which was quite a hit. I had a blast and met a lot of great people. The rest of the weekend was fun but nothing worry of your time. That is all and now the week starts again. I've had my cider and off to bed. Goodnight everyone and a special shout out to Chris H. and Chris C.

bent= gay

Walking into an ambush

Today was the realization of the fact I came here to work. I have been spending more time in the library in the past week than I probably did in the last semester at JMU. It is so much work. My first tutorial is tomorrow and I am very scared. I feel like I am going to a slaughterhouse. I feel like I am trying to argue with the President of PETA while eating a double cheeseburger at Five Guys. Its nearly impossible to win at points.  I will take what I can get, but everyone that reads this please think of me in t-minus 21 hours.

Beginning of first week

And so it begins. I have my first week of tutorials and it is certainly going to be a good one. I have all of my ten books and this is a light week. I am excited for this adventure to begin. When you are here you really understand the opportunities that are shown before you and how I have a responsibility to myself and my family to make the most of them. As my tutor said "Unlike the US system we are not here to teach you what to think, but instead on how to think". I am ready for this and feel like a sponge just purchased about to be used for the first time. I know that certain weeks more elbow grease will have to be applied than I am used to but that is test for me that I must get through.

Today also served as a big day because I officially joined the Oxford rowing team and am now on the novice team. It was so hard. I took the 2000 meter test and averaged about a 2:05 average split, i believe this is proper lingo.While this is fairly good I got a long way to go. However, this opportunity serves as a quintessentially Oxfordian sport and I have never been more excited. Who needs a gym when you can row on a beautiful river surrounding by buildings and castles that are easily 600 years old? These next six months are only a small glimpse of what is next in life, but I have never looked at anything with some excitement and bewilderment.