10 Weeks & 1 Term Down

That's right, the first term is over and survived, and Monday marks 10 weeks abroad.  The time has flown by, largely due to how busy I am.  Between school and 15 miles of cycle commuting daily, I barely have enough time for grocery shopping and feeding myself 1,000,000 calories a day to fuel my commute, let alone much time to relax and explore.  But overall, I'm still really enjoying things -- classes are challenging but interesting, my research (what little time for it between course assignments) is also fun, and the people in my department and college are great.

During what little time I do have for exploring and wandering, I'm still enjoying the great access to really picturesque farm and pasture land scenery.  Also an unexpected thrill each time I hear them are the church bells that echo across the countryside.  Downtown Oxford, of course, is full of them Sunday mornings, but I also occasionally hear them from Eynsham and Church Hanbrough as I'm out riding my bike or taking a short walk, seemingly quite a distance from the churches....

Birdlife
I realized after my last post that I've been enjoying watching the birds outside the patio windows of the Lambing Pen, and hadn't yet commented on it.  My identification of US bird species is mediocre at best, and the species are, generally, totally different here, so I can't give as much info as I'd like, but I have spotted and identified a few interesting varieties.  About a month back, riding home unusually early in the day, two or three 'common pheasants' darted across the road and into the hedge surrounding our yard.

I've also seen common quail in the yard (which don't resemble the American variety at all, except for the shape of the beak, and are much smaller).

I also spotted a grey partridge in the yard one day.

In the field across the highway from where we live, for about a week there were several swans hanging out, I presume in the middle of a migration, though I'm not positive about that....  No picture because I didn't get close enough to identify the specific type of white water-bird....

The last species I've identified in the area are magpies, conjuring up not-so-fond memories of the magpies that attacked me during nesting season in Australia a few years ago....

In case you were wondering, none of those photos are mine -- thanks Wikipedia....

Lots of other colorful varieties of birds have been in the yard, but I'm slower at identifying them since there are so many online photos of flying birds to wade through to make IDs....

Kebab Vans
Not many restaurants remain open too late here -- the British evening meal comes significantly earlier than several other European cultures, and after the evening rush, the restaurants all close, especially during the week.  At this time, your only options are the pubs, but many of them have pretty limited selections of (probably microwaved) meat pies and various deep fried snacks.  Enter the kebab van.  Starting at about 6:00 pm and remaining open well past midnight, the city center becomes dotted with Kebab Vans, which are basically the equivalent to the Mexican taco trucks that can be found in Southern California.  I've tried the fare twice now.  On the first occasion, I learned that one should NEVER purchase a burger from a kebab van.  The lettuce / tomato were American fast food quality, and bun was tasteless, and even more concerning was the tasteless, undercooked meat patty that didn't seem much like beef.  I've not thought too much about what it might have been, but hope that none of you will make the same mistake that I made.

My second experience was much better.  This time, my local friends had alerted me to the rule that you only buy kebabs from kebab vans (duh!) and so this was the course I took.  For a mere 6 or 7 dollars, I purchased a lamb kebab that was meal enough for two.  Great naan bread stuffed with peppers, really tasty lamb kebab, and lots of other tasty spices and veggies made for a wonderful and cheap late-night snack.  The degree of difference between the burger and the kebab was shocking.

MCR Dinners
Speaking of food, I've tested out several college-offered options this term.  I eat two or three times a week in the college "Hall" where the college-subsidised food is good quality and very economical compared with pubs and restaurants in town.  The meals are fairly standard and not noteworthy, but as I said, a cheap, quick, and easy option for midday meals (or dinners).

I have treated two friends to lunches at Lincoln in exchange for a day out at their respective colleges.  So I've also sampled fare at lunchtime at Trinity College and Lady Margaret Hall, two other Oxford colleges.  The food, again, was not particularly noteworthy, but it was great to get an insider's view of those two colleges.  I plan to continue this tradition as often as possible, mainly for the opportunity to get a member's only tour of some of the other Oxford colleges.

Once or twice a week the graduate student body (Middle Common Room) offers up a special MCR Lunch or MCR dinner that is open to the first MCR members who reply to the frequent signup emails.
I tried an MCR lunch early in the term, and the food was basically the same as standard lunch food, but served rather than buffet style, and eaten not just in Hall, but at "High Table," the table equivalent to where the teachers sit in the Harry Potter movies and reserved only for college fellows and graduate students.  That was nifty.

I also signed up for one of the terms' "MCR Exchange Dinners" where a small contingent from the MCR head over to dine with another college in Hall one night, and return the favor in our own Hall.  The Exchange I did was with Brasenose college, our friendly rival that shares a back-wall with our college....  Again, not particularly noteworthy food, but fun to experience another college's Hall and dining experience.

But the culinary highlight of my time in England thus far has definitely been the two special MCR Dinners I've signed up for.  I was totally expecting another standard meal in Hall, with the extra money shelled over funding the pre-dinner sherrry, the white and red wines during the meal, and the after-dessert port, all of which I really wouldn't be consuming much of.  To my pleasant surprise, these meals were the best I've had in England, including several quite nice restaurants I've been out to when Ariana has been in town.

At the first meal, which I went to with a college friend, we had a delicious fish appetizer, an amazingly prepared pheasant for the entree, and creme brulee for dessert.  It was at this meal that I discovered that not only do you pay extra for alcohol, tablecloths, and a service staff rather than a rushed buffet, you also are paying for a substantial hike in the quality of the food.  That meal was, at the time, the best I'd had in Oxford.  And pheasant, tasting somewhere between dark meat turkey and duck, was not a type of meat I would have enjoyed particularly had it not been so well-prepared.

On a recent visit into town, the MCR had their annual "Christmas Dinner" which actually occurs during the 8th week of the term before many of the students leave town for the holidays.  As it fell this year, that happened to be the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.  Ariana and I had tried to find a Sunday night turkey roast for our makeshift Thanksgiving meal (still don't have the kitchen equipment to have even attempted cooking ourselves, and I had a nasty problem set due the day after Thanksgiving which precluded much celebration Thursday night).  We ended up at a pub in Witney, an Oxford-sized town just west of Eynsham.  The food was good, and the turkey was nice, but certainly not up to the home-cooked standards by which we've both become spoiled.

We were just able to get our names added to the Christmas dinner list at the last minute, and were delighted to see that we'd get a second shot at a good Thanksgiving meal, as the main course was turkey.  Again, the meal was fantastic -- and perhaps the reason that Lincoln seems to have a reputation for some of the best food in Oxford.  As usual, the black-tie meal was accompanied with sherry before hand and wines during the meal.  The appetizer was a really nice potato soup, which was followed by turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, carrots and brussel sprouts that were all amazing.  Not my favorite, familystuffing recipe, but the rest was just as good, and the turkey was close....  After the meal we had mince pies and Christmas pudding, retreated to another room to sing 30 minutes of carols (all the men actually willingly sing in this country) and then a return to the Hall, where a fire had been lit and mulled wine was served.  All-in-all, a really nice evening, and amazing food.

Vocab Primer
Another couple words for your consideration:

Magdalen - the name of a college both at Oxford and Cambridge.  Pronounced as it looks if you're at Cambridge, but pronounced 'mod-lin' if you're at Oxford.  Make sense?  No, not really.

Duff - a great word meaning broken or defective.  I like this one....

Geordie - slang term for somebody from the northern English region around Newcastle, or alternately for the slang dialect or accent that with which they speak.