English tea, Gloucester cheese, Premier League. Such is my Sunday afternoon. The only unsatisfying thing is that Manchester Untied lost to Liverpool at Anfield. One of my next door neighbours is from Liverpool, and a hardcore fan of the team. I certainly had to admit to him that Liverpool played better than United today. I was watching football on my computer this afternoon, accompanied by Twinings black tea (in a Blackwell mug), Gloucester cheese, and the setting sun that leaned little by little towards the west, shining into my westward window. It reminds me of my first year at IWU when I lived in Munsell 412, with a westward window, through which I could always watch the sunset. I took many pictures of sunset in that year.
The past week has been the most stressful week ever in my college life so far. Two 1600-word essays in three nights, respectively on Fernand Braudel and Mahatma Gandhi. During the night of my Gandhi essay, I was really stressed out (although my tutorial next day turned out to be unexpectedly good), so I made phone calls and talked to Reggie for more than an hour (I'm glad that I purchased the unlimited international landline calls from Skype). Oxford is a great place, and the stress indeed helps give me a good academic training, but the best thing in life is definitely to have a good friend whom you can easily reach at any time.
So here my thoughts take me back to IWU again. During the summer break there was one day when I made plans about my course for senior year. I have the habit of planning, and actually it is pretty remarkable to see the changes that I make through a long term of time when I do my plannings. After this very rich summer when I finally think back of my classes in senior year, I suddenly discovered that I did not want to attend that many lectures any more. It was not that my intellectual curiosity had faded, but quite the opposite: I found that I can actually learn a lot on my own, rather than being shepherd-ed by professors in class. I used to be desperately trying to register for as many lecture courses as possible to expand my span of knowledge. But now, after this summer, and especially after two weeks of tutorials, I find that independent study is also a great way of achieving knowledge. This was a surprising change for me, especially when I first discovered it in the summer break. We'll see what I will be planning to do after this year of tutorials.
For some unknown reason I am often reminiscent of the year that we lived in Dodds. Probably it's the physical closeness of Dodds to the classroom buildings? My second year in college was really my most memorable one so far--I thought so much over the year (probably too much), and achieved great internal peace and serenity, which finally and completely rescued me out of the crisis of mind of 2007. I really miss those days when we were basking the late afternoon orange sunshine and debating about social and ethical issues in the lounge in Dodds 4D.
It is surprising how much college has changed us--not only me. Recently when I talked with students from other parts of the USA I found myself surprisingly buying into the values of the Midwest. I have to say that I LOVE the Midwestern spirit. It took me so long to come to this state of mind. Right before I left the US in early May, when I went through a pile of sketching paper that I used in my freshman year, I felt that I was already very far away from that "me" two years ago, so far that that "I" two years ago seemed a stranger to me. (But is it still the same me? John Locke would have a lot to say about that. "Damn Christ Church!") You never know how much college will surprise you, and you never realize how much college has changed you. As Student Senate Vice President Matthew T. Hastings proudly announced at the beginning of his welcome speech at the orientation convocation, "I love college."
I have been pouring a lot of words here without any attempted organization of words. I guess it is now time to go to bed and welcome a brand new week ahead. I will be meeting Megan and Brandon on Wednesday (in Blackwell!!!), and the IWU London Program group will be coming to visit Oxford on Friday as well. Lots of IWU connections next week. We dress blue, and bleed green.
P.S. Reggie, Matt(s), Kundan, and all my May Term friends: I made my epic qiezi/eggplant yesterday!!! It was the best qiezi I have ever cooked. I will definitely show my newly invented cooking when I get back to IWU.
P.S.S. This morning I witnessed the magical English weather: within one hour it turned from beautiful sunshine to clouds to rain and back to sunshine again. No wonder they talk about it all the time.
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Chao, all of last year I thought you were reading reading reading and writing writing writing. I'm surprised you had a moment to think otherwise. It's good to hear you talk about finding peace. Also that your summer was so fruitful! (any more thoughts about doing some independent work on Hume??)
ReplyDeleteI found myself the first three or four weeks of this semester always walking towards Dodds. It was so natural to go back there. I think you're right about it being a memorable year.
Good to hear you are doing well despite the stressful environment.