Fashion Fast Forward

Something that I am easily slipping into is the tutorial system. My tutors are both very kind and easy going, which has come as a nice surprise since I was expecting them to be complete ogres, more or less. I have loved reading and writing about subjects that fascinate me. I just recently turned in my first few papers with great enthusiasm. It is refreshing to feel passionately about a subject and have the resources to develop that passion into a respectable thesis. The pieces I have been studying so far include: A Tale of Two Cities, Wuthering Heights, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. All excellent!

 We have a lot of free time to use we see fit. So some days I sleep in until 10 a.m. and then spend 7 hours in the library, and other days I wake up at 8 a.m. and walk around the city. It’s potentially a dangerous set up, but very freeing! No matter what schedule I set up for the day, I try and walk a different way through the city as often as possible. This often leads through quaint markets, where families run stands that peddle fruits and vegetables, or through cobblestone alleyways marked by ancient archways. I think I am beginning to perfect, as it’s called, the Oxford march. Which basically is just walking with extreme purpose at super human speed. It’s getting a lot colder, so this functions as a way to keep the blood from freezing in your veins, as well as a way to cross the city more quickly and get where your going. I am discovering quickly that I am most definitely a city girl.

Since being here brushing elbows with the locals, I have been impressed by the fierce fashion sense of the majority of people here. Most people my age adhere to a hipster-esque look, with a good dose of androgyny thrown in…something that is growing on my style at an almost alarming rate…meaning I really dig it. Although, most of the guys here look as though they put as much time into piecing an outfit together and mussing their hair as any girl, so maybe that’s not such a bad thing? Either way, the weather means that a plain t-shirt and jeans outfit is never an option. Inevitably keeping warm involves piling on coats, scarves, hats, and boots of various colors and textures, which is fashionable by default, lucky for them! Anyone who knows me could guess my deep appreciation and belief of fashion as a form of artistic expression. So all of that to say, just another element of this place that speaks to my heart!