Oxonians

Hello,

I'll be starting an MSt in English at Oxford this fall and am looking to rent a room in a shared student house. I'm an international student and won't be able to check any of the places I'm looking at out in person. I also know next to nothing about Oxford as a city. So my question: what are considered nice/desirable areas for postgrads to live? Any neighborhoods you'd recommend avoiding? Ideally I'd like to be within walking distance of the city center, but I'm open to anything!

Thanks in advance for any advice; I know this community isn't very active but thought I'd give it a try.

ETA: I'll be at Pembroke.

Hello! Wannabe-Oxonian (but who isn't one, really).

(I was recently directed here from a friend at college_help and I was just looking for some tips.)

I'm still a lowly high school student but have been dreaming of Oxford since I was an eight-year-old. Since it's now my time to start the college search crack down, I've begun to seriously look into it- and now I'm inundated with CONFUSION.  

I'm looking to work with young, special needs children- maybe in the educational sense, or in the medical field, somehow. Coming from the American system, I'm very confused as to how things work over there and what I should do- no one I know has been there, done that, so I'm just going into it totally blind (and I'll be there totally on my own, if I'm magically accepted)....

What should I be doing right now to get ready? What do I need to have prepared/done in order to apply? As experienced students, what kind of qualifications are we really talking about here? Is there anyone in particular I should be looking to talk to? What's it really like? How do I get off on the right foot (in any/all of the application, interview, academic, and social arenas)? Are there any Americans/other international students out there to give that particular perspective?

Y'all, I'm an American, never even been to England. Obviously, I'm totally lost. *Laughs*

If anyone could help, that'd be great. Thank you so much!

Ba-Laylah Productions is proud to present a new translation of Luigi Pirandello's As You Desire Me at the OFS Studio, showing Tuesday-Saturday, 7:30 pm with a 2:30 Saturday matinee. This play, described as a "a magnificent performance" "thoroughly good...engaging, atmosphere theatre," and "definitely a play to watch" by What's On Stage, is the story of a Berlin cabaret singer and prostitute living in 1920's Berlin who realizes she may or may not be an Italian countess in this Italian melodrama about life, art, and the illusory nature of identity. Starring Frances Rose as the Unknown Woman, who "slips seamlessly and seemingly effortlessly from the crude cabaret dancer/prostitute Elma to the dignified but utterly bewilder Lucia...with dynamism and depth," as well as a strong cast praised for "superb, vibrant" acting, As You Desire Me is filled with "flux and energy." Directed and translated by Tara Isabella Burton, the show "never provides a stale moment." Tickets can be bought through the OFS Studio site or at the box office at 10 George Street.

Starring Frances Rose, Joseph Robertson, Jonathan Sims, Julia Hartley, Laurence Ridgway, Florence Oakley, Gabor Fellner, Kassandra Jackson, Edmund Stewart, and Alexandra Blickhan.

Hi all,

I'm teaching a war studies course this summer and would love to have someone in to show my students some chainmail. Does anyone know anyone who makes chaimail for historical reenactment etc.? It would be great to have a demo. No significant cash incentive, probably just a tenner and our admiration. July 10 or 13 would be ideal. Thanks! Possible higher payment, but that depends on my budget getting approved...
Also, any historians around for the summer and keen on visiting a class of 16- to 18-year olds and talking about your favourite bits of military history? It will be fun and CV-enhancing.

I'm a Year 12 student, studying English Language and Literature (Combined course), French, Maths and Computing up in Lancashire. I'm thinking of applying to Balliol or possibly Magdalen College to study English; I was wondering if anyone studying the course could give me some information on it. I've looked at the course outline several times, but still feel none the wiser about whether the course is any good for me. I'm not the biggest fan of analysing texts, especially poetry and I really don't want to study another anthology of poems; also, I love creative writing (I've taken part in National Novel Writing Month, for the past two years) and was wondering if there any space at all to explore this side of English.

So, yes, any help would be much appreciated. Thanks again.

Any Oxford alumns here who live in the Seattle, WA area?

If so, you may be interested to know that we've got a fledgling Oxford University Society for WA now. (So fledgling that I attended the planning meeting last weekend.) For further bare-bones information, visit the Group on Facebook:
Oxford University Society - Seattle

If there are enough takers from LJ, I'll make an LJ comm too. Why not?

This is a shout out to anyone who applied for Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at Oxford this year and anyone currently enrolled there.

 Any advice on what they are looking for and a way to let them know just how badly I want to get in without seeming desperate or trite? Also Im an international student- how does that weigh in? Thanks in advance.

Hi,

Does anybody have a scholar's gown they'd like to sell on? Otherwise any tips on where to look for second hand gowns would be great. I don't really fancy paying forty quid to get a new one!

ETA: Slightly belated thanks to everyone for the useful advice!

I'm writing the literature review for my thesis, and I found an obscure little publication based on a conference paper that apparently deals with the history of history about my subject. Now, I've been given the runaround by the interlibrary loans people at my university for a while now, but I finally got an answer and it turns out they can't get it for me since Oxford and Cambridge won't lend to my little university in western Canada (those are the only two copies out there, it seems) and because it's classified as a book, not an article, they can't photocopy it for me. There's also one available to buy, but it's over $30 for a 32 page booklet, and has to ship from the UK.

Before I shell out the $30+, I was just wondering if there is anyone who could copy or even scan some of it. I would of course pay for shipping, copying fees, and your time (I could send a cheque or money order or something). I would ask on the list-serve I'm a member of, since this kind of request isn't exactly uncommon, but since it's "official" people might complain about the copyright issues. (Also, I'm too shy to send a request to the inboxes of hundreds of French historians around the world!)