From: Scott Brown
Sent: Monday, 13 June 2005 12:24 AM
Hi everyone,
As I enter my eighth and final week here in Oxford I realised I haven't written back to you all, so here I am. I'll apologise now for the length of the email but I thought I'd write everything I can in one email rather than write lots of little ones.
I'll start with Oxford, the place itself. It's a beautiful city with so much history to it. There are so many old buildings like the Sheldonian Theatre (the first of Christopher Wren's many constructions), the Radcliffe Camera, Carfax Tower and the University Church of St Mary which have been standing for many hundreds of years. I'll send/show photos when I get back. And each college itself is a sight in itself - I've never seen lawns as luxurious as those at Trinity, a dining hall as huge as the one at Christchurch (which was a setting in Harry Potter) and Magdelan College is just amazing.
My college, The Queen's College, is also quite a spectacle. It was founded in 1341 by Philippa, the wife of Edward III but the building that stands now was rebuilt only about 250 years ago. There are a few quirky traditions that are abided by such as the trumpet gets sounded to signal the start of dinner in the hall, we have to wear a gown at dinner to look respectable for the fellows and you're not allowed to walk on the lawns in front quad - unless you're playing croquet that is. Famous people that have been to The Queen's College include Rowan Atkinson, Edmund Halley, Edwin Hubble and Henry V. And Lord Howard Florey (the Aussie guy who really discovered penecillan) was provost in the 1950s.
Speaking of famous people, Oxford has produced four British and more than five foreign Kings, 47 Nobel prize-winners, 25 British Prime Ministers, six saints, 86 Archbishops and 18 Cardinals... and me. But some of the other people you'd have heard of are Bill Clinton, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, Kim Beazley, Geoff Gallop, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, St Thomas More, Imran Khan, Roger Bannister, Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, JRR Tolkien, TS Eliot, CS Lewis Hugh Grant and Rupert Murdoch. In fact I live across the road from where Roger Bannister ran the first ever sub-4 minute mile and I've been to the pub where Lewis Carroll and JRR Tolkien regularly used to go to discuss their writings.
Ok, now what have I been doing? Well to the suprise of some of you, I have been working on my PhD but don't worry it hasn't been to the detriment of me having fun. We've got a few much needed results which is good and a couple of weeks ago I gave an hour long talk at a little conference here which went really well! So I'm happy with that.
I've been playing alot of cricket here. Most of it has been for college in two comps: league and cuppers (which is a prestigious knock-out comp). We made it to the semi of cuppers and will finish middle of the table in league (which is like the premier league of college competitions). I was pumped for the cuppers semi - apparently one of their batsmen came off after getting out saying "f**kin aussie wicket keeper, he just won't shut up" - my job here is done.
But the standard of this is not very high so I've been batting 3 and making quite a few runs. I've played a few games for the Oxford University 2nd XI too which is a better standard (but varies depending on our opposition). In one game we played APU (a uni in Cambridge) and they had "academy" batsmen playing who were genuinely good - they hit us for 360 in a one-dayer! But it's still a thrill/shock saying "carn oxford" on the field.
Now the topic that some of you wouldn't let me get away with not writing... the english women. Well I've picked up (or pulled as they say here) a fair bit - from the reception gal at the hotel I stayed at for a night in Sheffield, to just walking home through town here wearing my tux one night. And then there's the drunken nights out at pubs/clubs. But after all the (for lack of a better term) "taste testing" I've been spending alot of time with one lass who's pretty wicked. If she hadn't won me over before, she has now with a ticket to the Australia v Somerset game on wednesday!
That brings me to my English sports tour. It began after just one week here when I travelled up to Sheffield for the FINAL of the World Snooker Championships. There's such a tense atmosphere because nearly every shot is crucial so it was really good. My sports tour continues on tuesday when I go to Lords for one of those tsunami appeal matches, then on wednesday I go watch Australia play Somerset in a one-day tour match. On sunday I plan to watch Australia v Bangladesh in the first match of the NatWest Series then I'm gonna go catch the first few days of Wimbledon next week. The weekend of the British Open golf is on the schedule in July as is the 3rd Ashes test match at Old Trafford (but I don't know how I'm gonna do that one).
I've met a few people over here already - some of you will know them and some won't... Brad Daniels (ex-indoor cricketer) passed through Oxford a few weeks ago and we had a few beers one evening... Jake and Emma came through the weekend before last and we spent alot of the arvo at Summer 8s (the annual Oxford rowing day) drinking Pimms... last weekend Trish (from Tims wedding) came through and we did some sightseeing, including some stuff I hadn't seen yet... Britta, who won the same prize to get over here as me, ran into her on a college bar crawl... and on friday night I had a few drinks with Conny (gal from the NZ conference last year) which was great.
Anyway, I've been having a great time here. Everyone has been so friendly and welcoming - I've been out every night, in fact haven't had an alcohol free day since the first week I got here! Oh and for those of you who have been emailing me: thanks its great to hear from ya and feel free to continue to email me but just note that this oxford email account runs out next week so use my maths acct email (which I'll still check).
Hope all is well at home, take it easy,
Scott