St. Antony’s Library

The college library at St. Antony’s used to be a chapel. It is now a beautiful library – the frescoes have been preserved, though, which makes for some very distracting reading, while you focus on the beautiful artwork on the walls.There is something socialist about turning a chapel into a library, and it goes well with the history of the College as a popular spot for those who wanted to study Rusology during the Cold War. While in other colleges, chapels are used to attract tourists and are therefore restored to their original shape, ours is quite utilitarian in nature and quite exclusive on top of all that.

The odd thing about the library, and St. Antony’s Library is no exception to the other 38 college libraries in Oxford, is that you need to swipe your student card to be able to enter. I think I blogged about this before – How strange it felt to have exclusive access to a building that should normally accomodate everyone. Everyone, that is, who has been granted access to use the facilities, and everyone who is a member of St. Antony’s College.

The other strange thing about the Library is that it contains, in the collection, donated books from the personal libraries of some of the most well-known international relations thinkers, Hedley Bull being one example. It’s a little breathtaking to randomly find books signed by Bull, especially since he is put on a pedestal in the English school of IR. I feel as if these should be put in a glass case somewhere, so the ink and notes on the inside don’t fade away.

I do like the chapel-turned-into-a-library idea, even if I’m constantly distracted by Biblical scenes on the wall that I hadn’t noticed before.

Renting in Oxford

As is probably obvious, renting in Oxford is a bit of a problem. Rent is sky-high, if you’re lucky to find a nice place that you can afford.

When I got here in October, I was guaranteed College housing at St. Antony’s, since I was a first-year student. Since I will finish my first year in a couple of months’ time, I will no longer be eligible for College housing. So. in the last three weeks, Muneera, Tania, a friend of Tania’s and myself decided we would look for a place to rent in the fall.

Summertown and Jericho, Oxford’s posh neighbourhoods, have been the neighbourhoods we looked at the most. This is the safe, quiet, green part of Oxford, where cute independent fashion stores and small candy shops adorn both sides of the streetwalks.

So far, the places we’ve looked at are all 1900 pounds and more…Shared between us, the rent is about 475 pounds, plus the bills. That’s about CAD$1000/month for a room.

We’re going to see three houses on Monday. I’ll post an update if we decide to go for one of them.

Brief pre-exam update – End of Hilary Term

Right…I write this while preparing for a ludicrous Statistics exam I have on Tuesday. I am confident I will pass and all will be well, but thinking about it stresses me out, on top of the thesis topic planning I’ve had to do this term, as well as learn about the groundbreaking IR theories that I’d never come across during my BA. I’m sure I’ll be grateful for it all soon, but right now, I just want to have enough time to explore my thesis topic.

For readers from home, you’ll be pleased to know that next Saturday night, we’re having the first Newfie night of the year – we’re being exclusive this time, so only the small circle of four Newfoundlanders and one Labradorian (of 8 normally in Oxford – the other 3 are off in Nigeria, Ottawa, and some other exciting place) will be there…We’re celebrating Oxford/Newfie style – going to a pub for a meal, and the hardcore ones will go for pints and pints of beer.

Hilary term has probably been the busiest one yet – IR theory took some time to grasp. In fact, I am still working on some of the concepts and paradigms.

I joined a number of volunteer positions, and that in itself has been keeping me busy, but for friends and family who know me, you knew this would happen eventually. I took your warnings to heart, but I couldn’t resist getting involved with things that inspire me to feel like I’m doing something other than studying, reading, and writing:

1. I became the JCR (Junior Common Room – similar to Student Union for MUN, but at the college level) Social Action Coordinator for St. Antony’s College, which was delightful, in that I now have the freedom to organize and coordinate any social justice-related events that I want. Yes, I take pleasure in doing small things. We had a great March 8th social action day, where we invited a guest speaker to come and talk about women’s rights groups in Zimbabwe, we fundraised for a hospital treating women survivors of rape in DRC, and then spent the afternoon writing letters on behalf of detained, abused, arrested female activists around the world.
2. Following point 1 above, I started an Amnesty group at St. Antony’s College. I am excited about our own letter-writing and action-taking group meeting (every Wednesday night after dinner!).
3. I joined the Rhodes Ball Committee. The Committee organizes the Rhodes Ball, which is on May 16th, and is one of the most exclusive balls in Oxford, since only Rhodes House staff and Rhodes scholars and their dates are allowed to buy tickets. Since I was the last to join the Committee, I was given the “amazing” task of decorating Rhodes House for one of the flashiest, most elegant, and most exclusive balls in Oxford. I feel a little unskilled for this task, and am slightly nervous, but I have a few ideas that I suggested to the group, and so far they liked it. The perks of being in the Committee include a “sampling dinner”, where I get to have a full meal and decide if the guests would like it. For those who drink, a “sample drinking” night is also organized. The group is made up of some great people, including a fellow Canadian from Winnipeg.
4. I became the co-editor of the May 2010 issue of St. Antony’s International Review journal. The issue will focus on secessionist movements and the politics, legality, history, sociology and philosophy of the concept. This one will require a lot of work later this year, and I am actually looking forward to the abstracts and the papers we’ll receive. It’s exciting to co-edit a journal issue on one of my favourite IR topics.

I also recently started going to gym every day. The routine has actually made me appreciate the re-energizing effect of an hour of physical fitness… I need to change my ipod playlist, though – you can only listen to the same music so many times.

St. Antony’s College – Party Central!

The last term started with a “Welcome” Bop in the first week…and the partying hasn’t stopped since. We’ve had 3761863 bops [aka parties] since last October, including a cross-dressing, ultra-popular bop where people showed up 30 minutes before the party was about to start.

The interesting thing is that St. Antony’s is known for two things – the amazing intellectuals who frequent the college and come to speak from around the world to the students in the college, and of course, the bops the college organizes. There are three social secretaries who come up with the most creative ideas on how to get people to the Late Night Bar to buy as many drinks as they can drink.

In November, the Turkish Society organized a Turkish night with free munchies, belly dancers, and great DJ music. In January, as we all just got back, sad that the break was over, parties awaited us – Bollywood Night, 80s Night, and most recently, the Aussie Bop, where Australians and New Zealanders joined forces to organize one of the biggest bops in the University. Last week was the Hip Hop Night, which Avi Shlaim addressed as the “Flip Flop Night” [the Warden and he dropped by on their way home from their High Dinner]. I have started to avoid the bops a bit and being slightly selective in deciding which one I attend.

Next week is the Toga Night, which makes me think of undergrad days. I will, of course, go, but there’s something in me saying  “you’ve outgrown this.” Maybe I have. But I still intend on going.