Plugging Through Hilary Term

Hello! So if you're wondering where I've been for the month, don't worry. I haven't written in a while because I don't have much interesting to write about. Everything is going well though.

In my Diplomatic Practice tutorial last week, Justin (one of the other American students) and I had a fun time explaining what role the American embassy in London plays in promoting American businesses in the UK. Neither of us are experts, but even an expert would probably have a difficult time explaining the hierarchy and responsibilities of the embassy and all the other government bodies involved: Department of Commerce, Trade Representative, International Trade Administration, etc. This week, the tutorial topic is Public Diplomacy. We are writing a mock report for the ambassador explaining how our embassy works with the British media (through press conferences, radio interviews, meetings with journalists, etc.) to promote our national interests and explain our policy towards the UK.

The professor for my NGO politics class has been in New Orleans for a social science conference the past week. When he comes back next week, we will be able to hear his impressions of the latest research and should have some interesting papers to talk about.

A few weeks ago, I was able to row with the men's first eight crew on the Thames in London. The stretch of river that we row on in Oxford (the Isis) is just under 2000 meters, so we need to stop and turn around several times during an outing. In London, however, we were able to row continuously and our outings consisted of rowing for 45 minutes in one direction before heading back to the landing. The other big difference is that waves from the wind and other boats are much larger and regularly came crashing over the boat. We started in Putney and almost made it down to the Houses of Parliament, but had to turn around one bend short of seeing them to beat the tide. I was pretty sore from rowing Saturday and Sunday, but it was fun and definitely an opportunity that doesn't come around very often. I'm racing in the men's second boat for the Torpids race in a few weeks. Oxford has a unique style of racing, 'bumps', where you try to crash into the boat in front of you (youTube it if you get a chance). It should be an experience to remember!

Our rugby team beat Trinity College 18-5 yesterday to advance to the semi-finals of the Cuppers tournament. Yesterday was especially rainy and the teams quickly exchanged their colorful jerseys for brown ones in the first few minutes. The slippery ball also made the game sloppier than usual--more drops and knock-ons-- but we played well given the conditions. I thought about mailing my kit back home to get washed, but given that we have another match Sunday and it would take a week in the mail, I came to the conclusion I was going to have to do it myself.

KEEN is great this term. We celebrated the Chinese New Year Monday and next week, we are going bowling. I am also working with an NGO this term in helping prepare a survey to learn more about a community just outside of Lima, Peru. The project is coordinated by a DPhil (PhD) student from Minnesota who set up the NGO with a partner at a university in California. After we complete the survey this summer, some students from the California school will take it down to Peru to administer it to the population. The goal is to know enough about the community to direct more focused development projects in the future.

As a major sport enthusiast, you would expect that I have been following the Olympics and indeed I have. Actually, I have been up until two or three every night the last week to watch the events (why can't they be in eastern Canada??). I am not sure if I have a favorite (maybe snowboard cross or speed skating), but I enjoy watching all of them. Regardless of favorites, last night I determined that skeleton is insane. One of my course mates is from the Netherlands, so we have had many discussions on the speed skating races. The Six Nations rugby tournament is also underway and England is 2-0. I have decided to cheer for them since I have no allegiances, but I may switch to France as they have looked dominant in the first two games. Without a doubt, the best performance was Wales' epic win over Scotland on Saturday. Scotland was winning 24-14 in the last seven minutes before Wales scored three times to win 31-24. We have been comforting Steve, our resident Scot, the entire week.

That's all for now! Take care until next time.