{"id":3759,"date":"2014-10-07T09:43:54","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T14:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honorscollege\/?p=3759"},"modified":"2014-10-07T09:43:54","modified_gmt":"2014-10-07T14:43:54","slug":"the-oxford-experience-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honorscollege\/the-oxford-experience-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Oxford Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSCN6834\"I must first start this blog entry off with a disclaimer:\u00a0 I did not complete my undergraduate degree in English; I studied Music and Political Science.\u00a0 That being said, I had the time of my life studying abroad in Oxford with the English Department and learning all about Chaucer and his Canterbury Tales.\u00a0 <\/i>In fact, several people in our group came from disciplines other than English literature \u2013 we had students from Political Science, Computer Science, and Theology as well.\u00a0 If I could recommend one thing to future Study Abroad students, it would be to not be confined to the groups solely pertaining to your major.\u00a0 Go out and explore other disciplines and learn new things!<\/p>\n

Our Study Abroad group was led by Dr. Mikee Delony, a medieval scholar within the English department at ACU.\u00a0 I have known Dr. Delony since my freshman year and she has become one of my all-time favorite professors and mentors.\u00a0 When the opportunity came to study medieval literature with her in Oxford, it was too good to pass up.\u00a0 As soon as she knew she was teaching the course, I began figuring out how I would be able to go.\u00a0 The Honors travel grant that I received helped in many ways to make this trip possible.\u00a0 Through it, I was able to purchase a train pass that allowed me to travel anywhere within the UK during my time abroad (I highly recommend it if you\u2019re going to be traveling around a lot) as well as pay the fees for an academic conference on George MacDonald at Magdalen College on Oxford University\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n

I started my trip in Scotland a week before the class began.\u00a0 I come from Scottish ancestry and really wanted to see as much of the country as possible before my class started.\u00a0 Within that time, I visited Edinburgh, St. Andrews, Pitlochry, Inverness, Fort William, Oban, and Glasgow.\u00a0 Essentially, this was a tour around the entire country of Scotland.\u00a0 I saw all the different geographical regions of Scotland from the Highlands, to the east and west coasts, and the mountain range that includes Ben Nevis, the tallest peak in the UK.\u00a0 Along the way, I saw Loch Ness, the battlefields of Bannockburn (made famous by the movie Braveheart<\/i>) and Culloden, castles, cathedrals, ruins, \"DSCN5750\"and the throngs of people in Glasgow eagerly awaiting the start of the Commonwealth Games (it\u2019s basically a sort of UK Olympics and is a HUGE event).\u00a0 Scotland is an amazing country with a wealth of historical and cultural wonders.\u00a0 Its people are friendly and easy-going and always a delight to talk to (if for no other reason than to hear their wonderful Scottish accent).\u00a0 I had one of the most interesting conversations of my life at a bookstore in St. Andrews with a WWII vet and a man who had worked for the Foreign Ministry.\u00a0 The stories they told were incredible!<\/p>\n

My time in Great Britain was just as incredible.\u00a0 Every street we walked down had some historic significance.\u00a0 Everywhere we went in Oxford was another 300, 400, 500, or even 1,000 year old building or artifact.\u00a0 That kind of history is just staggering!\u00a0 I had the great fortune of attending some concerts in the Holywell Music Room in Oxford.\u00a0 This was the first purpose-built recital hall in Britain.\u00a0 The venue has hosted many famous musicians throughout the centuries, including Joseph Haydn!\u00a0 The age and historical significance of this building really struck me when I went for a performance of Bach\u2019s Goldberg Variations<\/i>.\u00a0 The Variations<\/i> had been composed in 1741; the Holywell Music Room was built in 1748.\u00a0 Even if we had stayed solely in Oxford the entire time, we couldn\u2019t have explored all of its rich history (some more recent than others \u2013 particularly, the Harry Potter tours that showed various filming sites within Oxford\u2019s immense campus).<\/p>\n

Our studies in Chaucer led us to London where we attended a play at Shakespeare\u2019s Globe Theatre, the British Museum, the British Library, and Westminster Abbey where Chaucer is (supposedly) buried.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Throughout our class, we learned a lot about Chaucer\u2019s life, his works, and his mysterious death.\u00a0 Chaucer essentially just vanished from the pages of history around 1400 and no mention of him has been found except several eulogies dating from about 1410.\u00a0 The great thing about studying in the UK is that this <\/i>is where it all happened; the things we learn from our textbooks and study through literature happened <\/i>here!<\/p>\n

My favorite memory from the whole trip comes from Rochester as we were climbing up the ruins of Rochester Castle.\u00a0 We had earlier just finished touring the amazing \"DSCN6799\"Rochester Cathedral and speaking with one of the guides there and our group conversation was still centered on medieval life.\u00a0 As we began walking up the narrow steps of the winding staircase, Dr. Delony began pointing out where the great hall of the castle would have been, where the knights would have slept in relation to the nobles and the servants, who would have actually stayed at this castle, and how daily life would have looked.\u00a0\u00a0 All of this, she said without ever looking at a single placard or info brochure.\u00a0 As we came to the top of the castle, we were stunned by the breathtaking 360-degree view of Rochester from one of the highest points in town.\u00a0 We could see the cathedral we had just visited and the all over the countryside.\u00a0 No wonder this was the location for a defensive castle.\u00a0 Several of us and Dr. Delony stayed at the top of the castle and just began talking.\u00a0 We talked about the Norman architecture and purpose of this castle, we talked about the Saxons who once lived here and of the Romans who came before them, we talked about literature, about Tolkien, about Wagner and Norse mythology\u2026 It was possibly the best \u201cclass\u201d moment I have ever experienced.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a lecture; it was a real<\/i> conversation between people with a genuine interest and it was wonderful.<\/p>\n

My time in Oxford definitely had an impact on how I view the larger world, but also on how I view my immediate surroundings and reflect on my own views.\u00a0\u00a0 How could it\"DSCN7016\" not?\u00a0 Oxford is a life-changing place.\u00a0 The historical surroundings are so incredible and pertinent to who we are as people; as Americans; as English speakers; as lovers of literature, art, music, architecture, theatre, etc.; and as Christians.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just the place where C.S. Lewis and Tolkien met to discuss Naria and Middle Earth; it\u2019s the place where everyone <\/i>can come together and discuss life.\u00a0 It\u2019s like the motto of LIFE <\/i>magazine from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty<\/i>, \u201cTo see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.\u201d\u00a0 This is also the purpose of studying abroad \u2013 the find yourself in the midst of so many new and exciting experiences and to come back changed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I must first start this blog entry off with a disclaimer:\u00a0 I did not complete my undergraduate degree in English; I studied Music and Political Science.\u00a0 That being said, I had the time of my life studying abroad in Oxford with the English Department and learning all about Chaucer and his Canterbury Tales.\u00a0 In fact, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5120,"featured_media":3762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Oxford Experience - The Honors College<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honorscollege\/the-oxford-experience-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Oxford Experience - The Honors College\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I must first start this blog entry off with a disclaimer:\u00a0 I did not complete my undergraduate degree in English; I studied Music and Political Science.\u00a0 That being said, I had the time of my life studying abroad in Oxford with the English Department and learning all about Chaucer and his Canterbury Tales.\u00a0 In fact, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honorscollege\/the-oxford-experience-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Honors College\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-07T14:43:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/honorscollege\/files\/2014\/10\/DSCN6834-500x375.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Parker Gordon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Parker Gordon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.acu.edu\\\/honorscollege\\\/the-oxford-experience-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.acu.edu\\\/honorscollege\\\/the-oxford-experience-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Parker Gordon\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.acu.edu\\\/honorscollege\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b2e2cb5dc0c088dcd77ba3e054411e75\"},\"headline\":\"The Oxford Experience\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-07T14:43:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.acu.edu\\\/honorscollege\\\/the-oxford-experience-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1171,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.acu.edu\\\/honorscollege\\\/the-oxford-experience-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.acu.edu\\\/honorscollege\\\/files\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/DSCN6834.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Honors Abroad\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.acu.edu\\\/honorscollege\\\/the-oxford-experience-2\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.acu.edu\\\/honorscollege\\\/the-oxford-experience-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.acu.edu\\\/honorscollege\\\/the-oxford-experience-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Oxford Experience - 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