matriculation

so matriculation is the 900 year old traditional ceremony that marks your official induction into oxford university - they also have the same thing at cambridge and trinity college, dublin. so here are some snapshots from the day - me in my "sub fusc" robes...you never wear the hat, you just carry it - it's traditionally the hard mortar board (like the one people wear at graduation ceremonies in the US), which i'm guessing doubled as a writing surface back in the day, that's why we carried it all day? i don't know - people don't really explain, and to be honest, no one really knows anything around here. haha! even the official date of the founding of oxford is still uncertain...sometime in the 1100s.

anyway, the next 2 shots are from the inside of the sheldonian theatre, during the ceremony. the guy standing with the official get-up on is reading off things in latin about how awesome we are now that we go to oxford.



(the last picture is where i live, my college's main site with fellow st. cross members gathering for a group photo. really, i live in the most beautiful place ever...) this was a classic oxford experience...one you don't get at too many other institutions. :)

(sorry no pictures)

so today i had my first official lectures, aka classes have begun.

yesterday was a gorgeous day - i took the train out to meet mom and dad for a day at buckland. i had yummy food, and walked for hours amidst the hills and villages of the cotswolds. so picturesque and relaxing. the past week exhausted me! every night out until the wee hours at pubs gets tiring. and meeting dozens and dozens of new people is wonderful, but i did want some peaceful moments of solitude at the end of it. plus i need to seriously think about certain things. the huge decision on my plate was whether i wanted to leave oxford the end of next summer to work, or stay for another 3 years to get a phd. i have to decide basically this month, and over the past few days think i'm leaning more towards leaving and working. that will most likely be my course of action. i want to have some practical effectiveness, rather than let academia completely swallow me. i will return to get a phd sometime, but not quite yet. i feel good about that decision at the moment, so we'll see where the year takes me.

i couldn't be happier with my situation here - everything is truly wonderful. life is moving very fast and i have no real idea of where it is going, but it'll all work out i'm sure. :)

i'll try to snap a photo or two sometime this week so i have something to post beyond boring text! love you all!

birthday wishes from oxford

happy birthday elliott and mimi!!!

oxford!!

hello all!!

sorry for not writing until now. i got to oxford and then almost immediately left on the chunnel over to paris. i just got back late last night. paris was beautiful, but i'm very happy to be back HOME. (and the fact that home means OXFORD is what makes me so happy). so upon returning from errands etc. this afternoon home to my college dorm here at st. cross, i decided to snap some photos of what i walk through multiple times each day as i enter/exit my room. so here's the tour....enjoy! (and more updates to come)

i live on st. giles street - here's the view of the street standing on my college stoop:

and here's the door to my college:


and you walk inside that door to the porter's lodge:

then on through to the first quadrangle:

and through some gorgeous archways to a second quadrangle:

and finally to a spiral staircase at the end of the courtyard:
to my humble (and not very gothic or glamorous) little room (and that's my official scholar's robe hanging up on my bulletin board. you'll get a full picture of me in them once mom and dad get here. haha! i look like such a dork):

let me roll it to ya'

countdown! dad drives me to LAX in less than 9 hours to begin my journey (en fin) to oxford. i just woke up from a nap, and am now finishing up packing/laundry etc. and listening to paul mccartney.

much love to everyone for all their well-wishes, support and love. . .this summer especially.

see you all in the UK.

love,
jooj.

summer take III

i went to new york city with friends to visit even more friends. the picture in the middle was taken at our 100 block mark - we attempted to walk the entire island of manhattan, and got 150 blocks into it. it was rad to walk way up from 215th street through inwood and the mini dominican republic up there. a manhattan very far from park avenue. . .the gorgeous women in these photos are: me (obviously), sara (going to lubbock, texas on a mission), molly (trying to figure out what she's doing with her life back home in portland), and ali (going back to BYU to graduate). in total there were 15 of us in new york that week, which was fabulous - one last great hurrah before we all go off to our separate lives. . .

summer take II

i went to DC to visit friends. . .




















and the national gallery.

summer take I

so first off, in july, i went to idaho for the first time, to be a bridesmaid, for the first time. and this is ali and me with our dresses. i think we both successfully performed the role of bridesmaids: to look duly inferior to the bride.

hello again

so i came back to my blog 2 weeks earlier than i said i would, mostly because leslie wants photos from this summer, and i don't mind obliging.

and i changed the look and title of my blog - though it still has the same html. ogaden is the region of ethiopia which i'm writing my masters thesis on whilst at oxford. the region is inhabited entirely by somalis - but was arbitrarily given to ethiopia in the 1940s when the country lines were drawn up. it's incredibly volatile and interesting.

anyway, more posting to come - here's a picture from my recent frolicking in new york city with some of my closest friends. this was from a photo booth on coney island. ya - how many people actually still go to coney island? oh man, it was probably the highlight of the trip though. hilarious ghetto fun.

holga

this past memorial day some friends and i pilgrimaged out to robert smithson's "spiral jetty" in the great salt lake. it was one of the most ethereal and transcendent places i've ever been to. next to the jetty were these random outcroppings of dilapidated wood pillars someone had erected - i have no idea who. but i actually found them more interesting than smithson's piece (which was still beautiful and powerful in and of itself). anyway, i took these shots with my holga camera. much love, jooj.