Where in the world is Kelly?

Yesterday was a most exciting day: I was inducted into the Bodleian library! Now I have access to the online system, the physical library (which is enormous), and today I gained access to Christ Church’s library as well. This evening I have been locating all of my assigned readings and tomorrow morning I will check out whatever I can from Christ Church. (The Bodleian is reference-only, meaning you cannot check out books. They tell a story of how one king tried to check out a book and was refused by the librarian. They mean business!)

Along with the reading lists, my tutors have given me the title/topic for my first essays: “What do ethnomusicologists study?” and “What is driving international migration?” are the topics for my major and minor, respectively. I won’t be posting my essays online for obvious reasons, though if I find something worth sharing I will be sure to do so.

Two or three days ago the freshers moved in, so there have been a lot more student-age people in town. Last night my flatmate Deeya, who is also in Christ Church, and I went on a pub crawl organized just for Christ Church freshers. At the first pub it was nearly impossible to break into a group .(Think groups at a high school dance — they form a circle and if you are outside that is where you stay.) But as the night progressed people loosened up and we were able to talk to some of the freshers. Most of them live in the college itself and most of them are from London, or have at least been in London for their equivalent of high school. Later in the evening the pub crawl ended at a dance club, where I was fondly reminded of Ybor City. Work hard, play hard. Right?

On another note, I seem to be succumbing to the sore throat that has been doing the rounds with the OSAP students. I am trying everything: hot showers, naps, cough syrup, orange juice, soup, gargling salt water, Tiger Balm on my outrageously swollen lymph nodes, tea. All with the hope that I will be well enough to concentrate while hitting the books from here on out.