First few days in Oxford

A good Pub for dinner near our flat

Just a little update on our activities the past couple of days in Oxford.

I (Ken) started teaching on Tuesday, with three small classes--A couple of students weren't there on Tuesday, including a Russian student who was hung up in Russia due to a visa problem. However, today (Thursday), everyone was present except the Russian. I have 2 American students (from USD) in a class on personality theory, 2 different Americans (one from Chicago and one from the University of Rhode Island) in a course on abnormal psychology, and 4 students (one from France, one from the Netherlands, one from Qatar, and the Russian) in an introductory psychology course.

Although the numbers are small, the courses will be fairly intense, in view of the fact that we're doing it more or less in the Oxford tradition of tutorials--the students are expected to write and participate every day, and all grading is based on three papers, with no exams. So my role is not only to teach, but to be prepared to react to the students' discussion of their reading and their questions each time. Instead of a standard textbook, I gave the students a list of books that could provide reading material for each day's topic, and it's up to them to find these materials in the library and do the necessary reading. In addition to these courses, I have one additional student to supervise in independent study.

Last night we participated, along with much of the St. Clare's College community, in a welcome dinner. The dinner was held at St. Hugh's College, one of the University of Oxford colleges just a couple of blocks down the street from our apartment. St. Hugh's is one of the 'newer' of the Oxford University colleges--it was established in the 1800s (Oxford University itself was founded around 1200). We were all seated at three long tables in a huge dining room at St. Hughes--very much the way the traditional college meals are served at Oxford. In a brief program after dinner, we learned that St. Clare's has students in residence from 26 countries this semester. St. Clare's was established following World War II, with the original mission of bringing together students from Germany and Britain, as a way of contributing to peace between the traditional enemies. As the years passed, the mission was expanded to embrace the broader goal of world peace through international understanding. The countries represented this semester, in addition to the U.S., include France, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Korea, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Russia, Khazikstan (which I've probably misspelled), Indonesia, China, Norway, Holland, and of course several others. It's a rather remarkable assemblage.

St. Clare's, like many European colleges and universities, does not have a distinct campus in the American style. Instead, it has 27 buildings distributed throughout the Summertown neighborhood of Oxford. Most of the buildings seem to be traditional large Edwardian houses that have been renovated on the inside to accommodate educational and residential purposes, but still look, on the outside like huge old houses. It's a beautiful neighborhood, and our house looks very much like the college houses. In a conversation with an Oxford University faculty member (a Shakespeare scholar) who also teaches at St. Clare's I learned that (in his opinion) we're living in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the U.K. I'd have to say that, while our apartment is quite comfortable, it certainly isn't luxurious, but the neighborhood is beautiful, and the location is great.

The largest classes at St. Clare's have 12 students, and most are smaller. The scheduling is quite remarkable--They ask students to rank order the courses they most need in their own programs, and then accommodate nearly every request by assigning faculty to teach the courses, even when that means having only 2 or 3 people in the course (as in my case). It also means that faculty (also in my case) sometimes end up teaching things that are a bit out of their specialty. But I think the trade-off is worh it--The students get an extraordinarily personal experience. They also get most of their faculty from Oxford University, and a small number of students get scholarships to take a course at Blackfriars Hall, one of the Oxford University colleges; one of my students, whom I have had in class in London, San Diego, and now in Oxford, is one of the Blackfriars scholars this semester.

Connie went walking today, and took some pictures along the Oxford canal (including longboats--the long, narrow houseboats that people use for vacations, and sometimes as a home, on the canals of England). I don't teach again until Tuesday, but haven't exactly been on vacation--I've sent reviewers' comments to all the authors of my cross-cultural book (There are 26 chapters in addition to the 3 I wrote), asking them for final revisions before I send the last version to the publisher at the end of the month. The publisher, by the way, is Blackwell; I'm working with editors in the Boston area, but the Blackwell company originated here, and Blackwell still has publishing offices in Oxford. They also have a huge, very famous bookstore; Connie picked up a book for me yesterday at Blackwell's.

The weather has become a bit warmer the past day or two, so some of the ice and snow are melting, and the forecast is for temperatures maybe in the low 40s for the weekend, so we're hoping some of the ice will melt from the sidewalks. Right now, it's a bit of a chore to walk around because we have to slog through the slush and melting ice. We have no particular plans for this weekend, but may just explore the city centre some more. I also have the paperwork to get a reader's card at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, so we may go there tomorrow to sort that out.

We've talked with Mike and Joan by phone, but haven't seen them yet. Mike was planning to be in Oxford for a weekend class the week we arrived, but his course was cancelled due to the weather. But I expect we'll arrange to see them somehow before long. And we'll spend the last weekend of January with our friends Mike, Charlotte, and Molly at a house they've rented for a week in Devon.

We are learning our neighborhood, and we know now where the local supermarkets and such are located. Nearly everything we need on a day to day basis is available within easy walking distance--One of the pleasant things about the city and about our neighborhood is that it's easily possible to live without a car. The Summertown shopping area is like a sort of small town main street just 3 or 4 blocks away, and the bus service into the centre of Oxford is easy to use and just a block or two away.

I guess that's more or less all the news from here for now. Everything is fine with us, although we'll get out and about more when the weather improves.

Long Boats on the partially frozen Oxford Canal

Lower portion of this Edwardian house is where we are living