First Week at Oxford

Dear family and friends,

I've just completed my first week in Oxford. We landed in London on October 2. I entered a rare behemoth of constant fog and its accompanying parade of the jousting black umbrellas, crumpets, and the most magnificent and Divine-inspiring buildings.

I have spent the past week at Course Induction for my Master's program. I am amazed by the resources of the University and within my course of Development Studies. A library complete with no less than 8 million volumes and fully extractable World Bank data sets. My department has an annual grant budget of $10 million. Every day, there are approximately 3 lectures across the university that I would like to attend (in addition to my courses), spanning from "Sudan and the ICC," "Trade Regime: Which Way Forward?" and "The Political Economy of IT Growth & Development in India." In addition to my course, I am auditing Hindi classes. Pravin (one of the American Rhodies) and myself are teaching ourselves Farsi- we meet biweekly.

I am also fully enjoying my college, St. Antony's. For those who are as confused as I once was and am still to some extent, Oxford is subdivided into 38 colleges, each with different academic focuses and co-curricular interests. In addition to residential and dining facilities, the colleges provide social, cultural, and recreational activities for their members. St. Antony's is a graduate college consisting of 400 students all with international relations interest. We have spent the week at pub crawls, bops (British-costume-themed parties), and afternoon teas getting to know each other and our future PhD dissertation topics. Nightly conversations on Israel-Palestine or why Vladamir Putin is our favorite global leader easily last until 3 or 4 in the morning. And of course, I have joined the Rowing Club, Bhangra Union, and the debating society.

I live in the attic of an old Victorian manor at St. Antony's. My housemates (all graduate students at Oxford) are both wonderful and wonderfully entertaining. They include a Polish-Floridian, a German political philosopher, a Canadian student of the American Left and Just War Theory, a Thai chef and a South African artist, and of course, me!

I am enjoying becoming a member of at least five different communities: the American Rhodies in Oxford and other ex-pats, the international Rhodes community, the St. Antony's College folks, the thirty-students in my actual Masters Program and the wider Oxford community. To be a student at Oxford is remarkably humbling- everyone is fascinating, intelligent and has a great story to be shared over cider. With these newfound friends, I've baked scones, explored Eid celebrations in London, spent six hours analyzing bikes before purchasing, and commiserated over our lack of internet for our first six days in town (heaven forbid).

Other random observations:

As consequence of traveling and studying abroad often as an undergraduate, I underestimated the difficulty of moving to England. I soon realized that it is a widely different from travel with a set end date. As humans though, I believe we find security in our ability to change. The independence and confidence in oneself that one feels after surviving being thrust in a new environment is indistinguishable and unparalleled.

Despite sharing a common Anglo-Saxon heritage and some joint historical experiences in the late 1700s ;), England is a very foreign country. When exploring Oxford, I am sometimes surprised to realize that I can actually recognize the language spoken around me. Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore!

Classes begin tomorrow!

Happy October!

Ishanaa