Category: Oxford

Posts about living and studying in Oxford, the Oxford system, etc

Everything must go

If you are in Oxford and you are interested in some cheap (possibly free) office and kitchen supplies, consider dropping by 2 Church Walk at some point today or tomorrow. I have a three hole punch, large clear plastic box for hanging files, binders, a stapler, frying pans, an electric kettle, a clock radio, and various other things of that sort. More information is on this page.

I should be around for the next few hours. If you are interested, send me an email, give me a call, or leave a comment here.

Exodus

Claire Leigh

Our evacuation from this flat is beginning to feel like a desperate retreat: unplanned, sudden, and highly wasteful. It feels as though many of the physical products of the last two years are being burned away or abandoned. Of course, things tend to unwind to a state of maximum disorder, then begin to progress towards comprehensibility again.

It is quite startling to think that I will be in Vancouver in two days.

M.Phil results

This afternoon, after my final meeting with Dr. Hurrell, I got back one copy of my thesis and my grades for the M.Phil:

To put those in perspective, have a look at the scale of marks. The thesis grade is a bit of a disappointment, especially considering how I expended well over one hundred times more effort on the thesis than on the exams. I only began serious exam revision after getting back from the Lake District on June 3rd. Based on the very crude method of taking the mean of the five grades, I got 70.2 overall.

Since the thesis is now publicly available in the Bodleian, it seems appropriate to make it publicly available online as well: Expertise and Legitimacy: The Role of Science in Global Environmental Policy-Making.This version has about two dozen minor errors corrected. If you find more, please let me know and I will make the appropriate changes in the electronic version.

A bit busy to write

Wadham College dining hall

I have been busy spending time with people in the UK who I will especially miss. I should also decide what, if anything, is to become of this site once I go to Ottawa. Obviously, there are some new confidentiality concerns.

In any case, my congratulations go out to Sarah and Peter Webster over the upcoming birth of their first child. I am sure they will be wonderful parents.

Film making around Oxford

All over central Oxford are vans, guards, and heaps of lighting equipment. They are working on the film adaptation of Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. As a great appreciator of the book, I am rather nervous about the film. So much of what makes the book special turns around how the characters are presented, and there is the danger that an actor’s interpretation will overwrite whatever conception you had developed on your own. That said, it will probably feature some stunning cinematography from around Oxford. They have been cutting bicycles off fences and railings in places like Radcliffe Square for several days now.

It’s weird how the film adaptation has Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel and Eva Green as Serafina Pekkala. People might find themselves making strange associations with Casino Royale.

Parting party

Barbecue lighting

Our post-exam party went very well. Many thanks to everyone who turned up, and particular thanks to those who brought food and drink. It’s a shame that I will probably not see many of the people at the party for many years, if ever again.

We should all get our thesis and exam results back within the next two weeks.

Turf celebrations, final Wadham dinner

Milan Ilnyckyj, Kai Hebel, Claire Leigh, and Alexander Stummvoll

My last high table dinner in Wadham went well, closely following the general pattern that had become established. Those are one aspect of Oxford I will definitely miss. The opportunity to have a conversation about physics with the person on your left, interspersed with a conversation about Ancient Greek with the person on your right, is a rather valuable one.

Barring a possible brief trip to Europe, I should be in Oxford, relatively unencumbered, for the next two weeks. If there are any things that should be on my list of ‘must see before departure’ places, please let me know.

PS. Wish Claire luck. She is off participating in University Challenge, on behalf of St. Cross.

Good news

During the past eight weeks:

  1. My thesis was submitted
  2. I found an excellent job for next year
  3. I finished my M.Phil exams

As of today, the college has also replaced our broken refrigerator. It will be good to be able to buy food for a period longer than a few days at a time.

I now have 33 days to arrange my departure from Oxford, return to Vancouver, move to Ottawa, and get to work. I might be able to wheedle in one more trip within Europe before I leave Oxford on July 2nd. I am also looking forward to the third incarnation of Tristan’s Cabin Fever event, to take place between July 6th and 8th.

Exams complete

The Developing World exam was not quite as difficult as I feared. While I didn’t refer to the readings as much as the instructors probably wanted, I do think I wrote solid and interesting answers. I wrote on:

  1. Does ‘dependency’ reduce the ways developing countries can benefit from globalization?
  2. ‘The moral case for aid is eroded by evidence that rich countries use aid to further their own geostrategic purposes. Discuss
  3. Have regional institutions helped improve security in developing countries?

And with that, my final exams are complete. By the end of the month, I will have my grades for them, as well as for my thesis. One enduring question is whether I should apply to graduate in absentia. That is the only way I am likely to graduate in the next year or so, but it would mean I could never attend a graduation ceremony. A complicating factor is that I will not technically have an M.Phil until I have formally received the degree.

In any case, I am going to try to get a bit healthier before tonight’s celebration once the last members of the program finish their exams. I also have my last high table dinner in Wadham tonight, as the term and my Senior Scholarship come to an end together.