Update/Transportation

I wanna hang a map of the world in my house. Then I'm gonna put ins into all the locations that I've traveled to. But first, I'm gonna  have to travel to the top two corners of the map so it won't fall down.

--Mitch Hedberg

Since today is Halloween (and more importantly Chrissy's birthday) I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to update you all on life in Oxford. To set the scene, I'm currently writing this from inside a Borders Starbucks. I just finished my tutorial meeting with Emma, my tutor, for Jane Austen (we discussed 'Mansfield Park'). I feel like I've just experienced the epitome of Oxford-- a meeting with a professor over coffee. To add to this description, I will let you know that I just saw a guy with a green painted face walk by. Halloween is interesting in England…to say the least.

 

Tutorials have been going well, although I'd be lying if I said it was easy. There is a lot of work and research to be done and it certainly keeps me on my toes. I have another tutorial in a few hours (Nobility and Gentry) and hopefully it will run smoothly. I feel like I have a good handle on the subject, which is more than I can say for the past two weeks. There is so much to know!!

 

Tonight my house is having a Halloween Party for all of the SCIO students. SCIO stands for 'Scholarship and Christianity in Oxford' and is the program I'm studying here with. I will be dressing up as Jane Austen, and I'm hoping to quip up with random quotes, although they will most likely be about 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Mansfield Park' which, I am sad to say, are so far the only books I've read in their entirety. I was going to be a mime, and had been practicing my miming skills (which are decent at best), but decided that I would wear the gorgeous dress that my mom had made. Plus, this is probably the best audience for subtle Austen allusions. Let's hope I can pull it off! I'll be sure to post pictures at a later date.

 

For those that are interested (which  I hope is all of you!), I'll explain a bit about transportation here in Oxford. Recently, Oxford was listed among the top cities for the longest commute. I believe it cited the Oxford commute as being around an average of 51 minutes, second to London and Birmingham (and maybe Liverpool?). Every day (or at least, almost every day) I take a short walk down the lane my house, The Vines, is on. It takes no more than five minutes on most days and the bus stop is close by. I've had very good luck with the bus system in Oxford. I ride with a company called Stagecoach and I bought a 13-week pass for a decent price, and with riding an average of twice a day, it costs little over 50p (pence) a ride. Usually the buses arrive every seven to eight minutes, however sometimes I'll have to wait up to 15 minutes. In rare cases I wait longer, but that is very rare indeed. To walk into the city center takes a good half hour, whereas the bus takes less than ten minutes to drive there (usually less, but it depends on traffic). It's been fairly easy getting busses back and forth, and they all have a ticker on the outside that says where they are going and via what roads. Since there is another University right near my house (Oxford Brookes, but this is not part of the Oxford University), there are also a lot of 'Uni' busses which I can ride with my Stagecoach bus pass. Very convenient.

To be honest, I didn't expect to like the bus system. Coming from a suburban area in New York and a very rural area in PA, I was a bit nervous. I'm not sure that I had ever ridden a public bus before. However, it's very safe and usually very clean; the bus stops are usually in very convenient places. I'm not sure how I will manage without the buses!

Yet, the state of public transportation in England says a lot more about feelings towards transportation in general. I speak on my feelings upon living here for a few months, and not with any inkling of how true Brits feel, but I imagine my thoughts are similar to those of many locals. Using public transportation is a great way to cut down on exhaust emissions from cars. Carpooling, or should I say, buspooling is very convenient, cuts down on traffic congestions (making the city center of Oxford very nice for pedestrians), and limits pollution. If I lived in Oxford full time, I more likely than not, just use public transportation rather than buy a car. There's no need! Having experienced the many benefits of using the buses and trains (another wonder, very reasonable costs as well) it makes me wonder if the U.S. will ever catch this craze? I certainly hope so! Think of the land that can be kept open, at least in part, if we just had reasonable trains instead of highways! I recently looked up an Amtrak fare from Schenectady to Harrisburg and it was very expensive, in fact, it was at least double what a similar distance would be in England (relative to the value of the currency for a native). Not to mention the fact that going to Harrisburg I would have to transfer in New York City or Philly, which I imagine are far less conducive to stress-less travel than the stations I've experienced here in England.

 

Well, I feel that I've gone on long enough about matters which probably don't matter. I must be back to our SCIO headquarters so I can prepare for my next tutorial in about two hours.

 

Feel free to post your responses to my public transportation rambling! I'm looking forward to hearing other's responses (*cough Elizabeth, Quinn, Dabney cough*).

 

Cheers <3