On the 9th day of Michaelmas, my true love gave to me...

Wednesday, 2nd Week of Michaelmas Term
Current conditions: 2 degrees C, lightly overcast, moderate wind

I've recently come to find out that there is a strange condition that hovers around Oxford every year known as 'Freshers Flu.' As you can guess, freshers flu is the strange sickness (not necessarily an actual flu) that is a result of gathering people from around the world while the climate heads south for the winter. Thankfully, I have avoided said terrible beast as it scuttled from one person to the next... until today. Sure enough, I woke up this morning with the tell-tale stuffy nose. I'm hoping it's not going to be very bad, but nonetheless, I need to take an early bed time. I happen to also be long overdue for a blog post, so here I am responding to duty. I think I'll "try" to keep it short, but we'll see what happens.

I suppose the question everyone most wants to hear about is research. After all, that is supposedly what I came to Oxford to do. Having met with my supervisors a couple times, I am now heading down the road en route to defining my research topic. Broadly speaking, my research will concern the study of pedestrian footbridges and understanding the cause and effects of significant, synchronized crowd movement. Essentially, that means I will be seeking to (1) understand why crowds of people seem to lock step with each other, (2) determine if such behavior affects bridge displacement, and (3) learn about how bridges can be constructed to minimize such effects. As my preliminary study progresses, I will certainly be limiting the scope of this project, but it seems to be a very interesting and exciting structural dynamics problem. The topic came about largely as a result of the London Millennium Bridge (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAXVa__XWZ8), though such behavior has been observed on other footbridges as well.

Ok moving along here... The past week has been full of many enjoyable social events as well. Our MCR evidently has a reputation as being great for social interaction, and I definitely understand why. On most nights, some event has been available for everyone to come socialize and hear about each others research. From movie nights to wine & cheese with the Warden to gathering around a chocolate fountain, the events have been varied and fun. On Saturday, we all dressed up in our fancy 'sub fusc' (gown, black suit, white bow tie) for matriculation. This university-wide ceremony was our official induction into Oxford. The Vice Chancellor read a script in Latin which essentially boiled down to, "The academic dean has asked that you [the students] be accepted into Oxford by your meeting the entry level qualifications of the university. I now hereby admit you as a student of Oxford University." We then paraded out of the Sheldonian Theatre (more on the theatre in a later post) and headed back to Keble for lots of pictures and lunch. It was a bright, beautiful day, and we were quite happy to be officially inducted.

Another particularly notable event has transpired since my last post. At the freshers fair (where all the university clubs and societies vie for innocent students' time), I found the Keble rowing club. Excited, I inquired... dejected, I learned that practice was essentially every evening and every weekend day. Not wishing to lose my entire social life, I moved on from rowing to dancesport. What's that? Basically, it's Oxford's ballroom/latin dance team. Since the freshers fair, I attended a couple free sessions and decided that it would be fantastic to try out for the beginners team... which was the best overall team in the UK last year. Typically, they accept about 100 new beginners each year since many drop out. Optimistic of my chances, I showed up at the trials and got on the team! Ok... so they actually admitted every male who tried out (40) in a feeble attempt to offset the many ladies who showed up (70 admitted, many others rejected). So what does that mean? For 150 pounds for the year, I get 10 hours of dance training per week(!), the chance to compete in six competitions, I meet lots of people, I learn a great skill, and I get my weekly exercise in! First team practice is tomorrow and I'm psyched!

So the last major topic for today is food related! Having been formally educated on English biscuits (what we would call sandwich cookies) and tea (I'm a huge fan), I decided to treat 15 of my many new MCR friends to American cooking tonight.... a southern fried chicken dinner! I found recipes online for fried chicken and homemade (American) biscuits and executed them to perfection. Everyone was quite thrilled. The most interesting I found, however, is that buttermilk and shortening are foreign concepts here! As I ran from store to store today, desperately trying to find ingredients, I found exactly one brand of lard, which I had to substitute for the Crisco, and no buttermilk at all. Thankfully, it all worked out well using the lard and regular milk, and everyone was quite happy. Thus, I think I might start cooking on a weekly or fortnightly basis... woo hoo!

CULTURAL CORNER:
Since I need to get to bed, the cultural corner is going to be limited to the word of the day.  Next time, it will be better...

WORD OF THE DAY:  dodgy. adj. Something that is of questionable quality or origin. Also, an area or place that may not be safe or clean. Syn: Sketchy (US), Scuzzy. Example: "The common kitchen is due to be cleaned out. After weeks of use, it has become a bit dodgy looking."