Jan 30

Fast Forward

Hello everyone! How are you? It’s been a week since I last wrote here and I have to admit it feels like it was yesterday. Things here in Oxford happen in fast forward, we are in week 3 already!

Life in Fast Forward

Each week is so packed that goes by in the blink of an eye! It’s scary. Everything happens so fast, mistakes are easy to be made and hard to be undone. I feel like I am living inside a cyclone. I don’t like it really. I want to have the time to enjoy everything more. To experience in detail everything this year has to offer.

I have told you a thousand times but I will tell you again, this place is magical. Oxford. The city, the people, the images, the university. I feel blessed to be able to study in such a great place!

…I don’t know what else to say, forgive me for being brief. I will find the mood to write more soon.

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Jan 21

“Are schools killing creativity?”

Hello everyone and good afternoon! It’s Friday at last and today we had a wonderful weather here in Oxford. The sun was bright and warm and although it was a cold day it managed to make it feel warm and pleasant.

I was at the MCR earlier on, enjoying a good coffee in our common living room – have I told you how much I love the idea of a common room? I believe we should even use it on apartment blocks in cities! – and I was reading through some news and I read that the Greek Prime Minister showed his entire cabinet one of the most famous speeches of TED given by Sir Ken Robinson who, amongst others, was director of education of Tony Blair. I will not try to analyze the effect of the gesture, I really do not want to talk about politics. I will just stick to the talk, which I had never had the chance of watching before, and the importance of its meaning.

Sir Ken Robinson, argues on whether school and in general our education system is killing creativity. As he quoted from Pablo Picasso “We are all born artists, the difficulty is remain one as you grow up” and added “we are educating people out of their creative capacities.” If you ask me, I totally agree. I cannot speak for the educational system in the UK, but back home in Greece we certainly do that in every level of our academic education. It’s sad. Please, spend 20 minutes of your time on this talk, it is well worth it.

So, what do you think, are schools killing creativity?

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Jan 17

Week 1, day 1 of HT!

Chapter 4: Hilary Term (a.k.a. Second Term)

Good morning everyone! :) How are you today? My second term officially begins today with Week 1! So I woke up rejuvenated and ready for a great start, but… An unpleasant surprise awaited me, 8 in the morning and the Oxford sky was, as usual, covered in dark clouds but, unlike usual, it was also raining really hard! …I got wet… In fact I am still wet! :(

The dark skies of Oxford

So, nevertheless, I am still excited about today in spite of the weather who tries to ruin it for me! :P I mean, new term means new schedule and new courses! Hmm this term will probably be harder and more demanding than the previous one since I will be taking 4 courses instead of 3 but I now know how the system works! And as most of you know, if you now the system… You can crack the system! ;) Also, during this term I will have to start thinking of my dissertation theme. Finally, during this term I will probably get all my Ph.D application replies! I am thrilled! :D

Well that is it for now! Follow my example, if something tries to ruin your day, don’t let it! :) Have a great week everyone! Talk to you soon.

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Jan 14

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year 2011!

Hello everyone and Happy New Year! :) It’s been a while since I last wrote here, forgive me about that. I have been back in Oxford for a week now and I have yet to get back on track! Let me try and catch up with you!

The Christmas break was a joy! As I had told you, I returned to Athens for three whole weeks! Though I could not party for all three weeks since I had to finish my assignments! In any case, I had a great time with my family and my friends! Saw a lot of people I hadn’t seen in a while, went out and partied, and, of course, drove my car! :D Also, I stumbled upon a Greek friend of mine from Oxford in a New Year’s party in Athens! Talking about a small world no? The last days, prior to my return to Oxford, were really hectic as I was finishing my assignments and getting ready to sit for an exam shortly after the time I got back here. All in all, I had a better time than I thought.

My return to Oxford was accompanied by mixed feelings. I was happy to go back, get back on track, continue my “academic life”, as I like to call it, but on the other hand, I felt I was leaving stuff behind again but only this time it was more intense. After one week, most of these feelings have faded off. Oxford is a majestic place to be, it charms you with its atmosphere and washes away all the negativity if you just let yourself free. Now I am only looking forward to next week, week 1 of Hilary Term, to start my classes and my boxing practice! :)

Lately, the movie “Yes Man” comes to mind a lot – this movie had such a wonderful meaning. The first week I returned from Athens, I was having my blues, didn’t want to go out much or hang out with other people and that only made me feel even worse. Then, all of a sudden, I start saying yes to proposals from friends and colleagues and I start having a great time. The conclusion? Just say yes and let the flow take you wherever it wills. It will be different, it will be new and you will know you are moving – even if you did not pick the direction. Try it!

I hope the best for the next term. Even better grades, some good results for my applications and as much fun as I had in the first one! Stay tuned for Chapter 4! :)

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Dec 13

“Be careful what you wish for”

Hello everyone! How are you? It’s been a while since I last shared my thought or feelings with you. I guess it’s because I have been a bit empty inside and preoccupied with my studying lately. A saying comes to mind a lot these days maybe it’s because of the “wishing” Christmas spirit. “Be careful what you wish for”…

Be careful what you wish for

I would like to talk about wishing staff. Wish. What is a wish? I don’t know if you’ve ever courageously delved deep enough to see how we hide our insecurities in our wishes. I am not even sure if it’s just me, though looking around and discussing with people I get the feeling I am not alone. What am I trying to say? I guess nothing in particular.. Just a second thought each time you make a wish. Are you sure that each time you make a wish you make it because it is the wish you really want or because you want to wish of something, to expect something? Well, I am not. I guess, tis human nature to always set goals, it helps us feel we are “moving on”, it gives us the illusion of progress. At the same time though, it takes away all those small things, they fade away or get ignored in the bold anticipation of our wish coming true. Is that right? I don’t think so… I do feel I have, at times, heed my fears in a wish. Have you?

I cannot close my post this way, feels wrong! I should probably try to cheer up the mood! It’s almost Christmas after all! :) Are you excited about that? Are you preparing something unique for this holidays? If not you should! I will be heading back home in a couple of days! I was hoping for some warm weather to refill my batteries, but no! Greece had to have 0-5 degrees now that I am going! Pfff! :P Wish me a good journey! (No second thought on this wish! It’s not personal! ;) )

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Dec 4

Term 1: Officially over!

Hello everyone! I am officially through with the first term! Michaelmas has been one long transition for most of us here but it was also full of new experiences and acquaintances. From an academic point of view, I believe it was a really short and intense term. It reminded me of the terms I had in Greece when the students would occupy the University – an event that would take place for at least 3-5 weeks per average each year – turning 3-month terms to 2-month ones and sometimes even less than that!

What I keep from this term? Hmmm… Valuable knowledge and experience in my academic field, a whole new “world” that I can now call my home and a lot of really interesting people from all over the world, of different cultures, subjects and ages.

Am I looking forward to go back home? A lot! I am flying to Athens on the 15th! I have missed many things from Greece, a lot of people, a lot of places. But the thing I lust for the most is going back and relaxing! Just existing, without having something due in the next days! I have really missed that! The ability to relax and “waste” your day on something totally meaningless, relaxing and easy!

Of course, before I can go back and relax, I have to give it all and have a great finish in this marathon I started two months ago; i.e. finish my “exams”. As I have tried to explain in the past, the system here under which your final grade is calculated is kind of different from the Greek one. Here all courses, at the end of the term, either have an exam or a take-home assignment that evaluate the progress of the student. Now either of these examination ways count towards 100% of your final grade for the course. That means that irrelevantly to how good or bad you’ve been in the whole term, your final grade is only dependent from this final examination – more or less like the Greek system. For my 3 courses, I have 2 take-home assignments and 1 exam. The exam is taking place in the beginning of the next term, so that will be somewhere around the 11th of January. The two take-home assignments I’ve got already and I am currently working on them. You can think of them as big homework projects with harder problems and an expected solutions length of 10 pages.

As you understand my Christmas break, isn’t really going to be as long as I originally thought! I will have to study a lot during this time but it will definitely be more relaxed. I hope you are all having a good time, enjoying the Christmas spirit or the shopping for that matter! :P Have a wonderful Saturday evening, goodnight from Oxford.

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Dec 1

Week 8 and Christmas is just around the corner! :)

Hello everyone! How are you? Oxford has dressed up in white the two past days but now the snow is slowly melting. We hope to get some proper snow fall the coming days! I mean, if we are going to freeze our butts off, we might as well enjoy it with some snow! :D That being said, the temperature this week has been constantly below zero degrees and tomorrow it will hit -6 apparently! Ho ho ho! :P

As you can understand I am in a good mood! Well, why shouldn’t I be? I feel I am the king of the world! :P Well, seriously, why shouldn’t I be, the term is almost done!!! :D I have also received my two take home assignments and will start working on them from tomorrow. I am kind of stressed and a bit anxious for those assignments but I guess it is only natural as they consist of 100% of the final grade for each course. In the end, I believe that I am confident of my work so far and I feel I will be able to score some good grades. We’ll see, time will tell!

I will post some new pictures, hopefully with more snow, the coming days! Apparently Greece is too hot, from what I hear, so I will try and chill you up a bit! :) That’s it from me more or less! Stay tuned as we move on to the 3rd Chapter of “theGreek”‘s journeys in Oxford life!

P.S: Have a good last month of 2010 everyone! Remember smile! It’s good for you!

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Nov 27

Freezing in Oxford

Hello everyone! How are you? How was your week? Mine was long and tiresome. Oxford temperature has started diving beneath 0 degrees Celsius and I am freezing even inside my room as I am typing this.

So, during the past week I studied, finished some PhD applications, got sick and hurt my knees! Remarkable no? Well, studying is normal, nothing to say about it really, I believe that the term is going well and that it will finish smoothly. Also, I managed to complete and submit some of the PhD applications, which is a bliss because they take too much time and they always keep me from being relaxed, like having a thorn in your head and every time you think of something, it pins your thoughts! Oh, yeah, I am sick also! :( I don’t know what other people say but I am positive that I got sick by studying in our College Library. Last week everyone was coughing and sneezing and stuff and it’s not like you can open the windows to recycle the air and let some germs out! Anyway, I am not down nor will I stay in bed! A couple thousand germs are not enough to get me down! Ha! On the other hand, hurt knees can! :( I have managed to hurt my knees. How? By running around in Converse’s All Stars shoes! Hahaha! Yeah yeah I can hear you, I don’t know why I did that. I didn’t think it would be so important or that it could cause problems! But with time it did, so I am trying to relax them now and get better fast.

Oxford view from the 6th floor of Thom Building

Other than all that, this week was good but this weekend will be studying studying studying to finish all the projects for last week of lectures and then start the take home assignments!!! I am kind of looking forward to that to be honest!

That’s about it from me, I will try to stay in contact more, pardon me for that! Have a nice weekend everyone!!!

Oxford view from the 6th floor of Thom Building

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Nov 22

Week 7!

Hello everyone! How are you doing? Here in Oxford “Week 7″ has started! Time flies by so damn fast! I can’t believe that it’s been 6 weeks already! On the other hand, in two weeks Michaelmas Term ends and we get Christmas vacations! Which is not so bad! :)

So, the end of the term is near and I am excited about it. I believe I have done good during the term and I will do good in my finals, which, by the way, are not all exams. Out of the three courses I am taking this term, only one has an actual final exam. The other two have “take-home assignments”, as we call them here. These assignments are worked by the student on his own time and then are handed in and graded. Sounds easy eh? Well guess again! The mere fact that you are given the chance to work with open books and lecture notes actually represents the level of “hardness” they will have. Anyway, it’s too soon to talk about that and too late to talk about Michaelmas! So, enjoy and I’ll talk to you soon!

Oxford at dusk!

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Nov 19

Oxford life… A unique experience!

Hello everyone! How are you? I am good! Kind of tired but good! This week started out good! Oh yeah, when I say “this week started” I actually mean it from Wednesday! See, my weeks rotate with my coursework. So, I get the feeling a week is over, only after Wednesday! :P

Oxford is one majestic place; a crossroads of sciences and cultures under a protective veil that shelters us all from racism and discrimination. Oxford is indeed a place like no other. Most of the things you find here, you may claim, can be found in every other big university around the world that is not the case though. This place is Magic! The atmosphere of the city as you walk in its alleys, with centuries-old buildings towering over you watching your every step. The cloudy weather and the tall buildings that make you keep your eyes low and your spirit in modesty. When I am walking around the city, I feel that this whole place has been inside a time stop for centuries. If you have a strong imagination like me, you might even feel like a knight… walking around in monasteries, surrounded by nobles, monks and commoners…

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a Greek in Oxford

Hello everyone and welcome! My name is Konstantinos and my journey began in Athens, Greece when I graduated from the National Technical University of Athens and was awarded with the Diploma of Applied Mathematics. As of this year, I will be a grad student of Oxford University and I will be using this blog to share with you what studying in Oxford looks like through a Greek-reality imbued lens!

Oxford Facts

Fact #8 - Potato Peels - yuck!
At the bottom of the stairs in the Great Hall at Christ Church College, there are the words 'no peel' burned into a door. This 'graffiti' dates back to the 17th century when the college doctor prescribed potato peels as a means of warding off the Black Death. After many breakfasts and dinners of plates of potato peels, the students finally protested, and the dreaded diet was dropped.

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