anarchist_nomad (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
anarchist_nomad) wrote2007-01-31 11:59 pm
anarchist_nomad) wrote2007-01-31 11:59 pm
Entry tags:
- auger,
- bells,
- books,
- hampshire,
- oxford,
- paris,
- travel,
- vegetarian,
- video games
I See England, I See France...
In Paris now... which makes it pretty obvious that the last minute planning worked out.
Although there is a net connection at my hotel, I do not expect to spend a lot of time on-line in the three days that I am here. Thus, today's update will be at double-speed:
Bell ringing: Last night I rang bells at Mary Mag with the OUSCR. I have paid my dues for this term, so I am officially a member. I rang called changes twice. In between, Claire brought two of us beginners and a couple of experienced ringers downstairs to do an exercise with handbells. It was a very silly exercise which involved lining up in our initial order, then swapping places physically as the changes were called. It was exactly the sort of silly exercise that seems very basic, and you laugh at it... but it teaches you a lot. They also demonstrated Plain Hunt Doubles (five bells) in the same method, for us to watch. As they were putting away the handbells, I asked if us newbies could try. I'm a Hampshire College student -- I don't get along well with just sitting and watching. Besides, as Sophocles said: "One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try." Claire was a bit surprised by my request, since we are still learning called changes, but there was no harm in trying. And it went well.
University stuff: Went to lunch today at Linacre College with SS, who is a theoretical physics professor at Oxford. I met him when I worked on Auger, as he had come to Malargue once or twice. We commiserated on being vegetarians in Argentina. I have seen him a number of times since moving here, but he only just noticed me on Monday. And invited me to come to lunch at his college on Wednesday. Members of a college are entitled to free meals in the common room. Linacre is one of the newest colleges, founded only in 1962. It is also a graduate college -- no undergrad students. So the dining hall was very different than my experience eating in the dining hall of St. Johns College last March. St. Johns is a moderately old college (founded 1455) and the richest of the colleges in the UK. At Linacre, the dining hall looks just like what you would expect of a modern upscale college dining hall. At St. Johns, the dining hall looks like the stuff of legend, with enormous portraits of past masters on the exceedingly high walls. If any of you recall the Hogwarts dining hall from the Harry Potter movies, it looked a lot like that. But not quite... since those scenes were filmed down the road in the dining hall at Christ Church College, not St. Johns. As a post-doc, I do not have a college affiliation... but there are ways to get one. I need to investigate further, because I really would like to be a member of a college. Preferably one of the older ones (16th century or older).
Travel: Mostly uneventful. Beat world 5 on the New Super Mario Bros. Finished the introduction to the Arden Shakespeare's version of King Richard III and began reading the play proper. Ate a very tasty ploughman's sandwich. For some reason, passport control at Charles De Gaul doesn't ever stamp my passport. Weird. The only real excitement of the trip came at the train station, when some plainclothes French customs officials wanted to inspect my bags. They flashed their badges... but I have no idea what a French customs official's badge looks like. So I wasn't sure if it were legit, or if these were scam artists trying to make off with my stuff. Long story short: It was legit and everything turned out okay. Don't know why they targeted me, though, and in the train station, no less. Doesn't matter what country: I hate cops.
Okay, time to get some rest before the meeting begins tomorrow morning. If I am going to keep attending meetings here, which seems likely as the French IAP (Institut d'Astro-Physique) is based in Montparnasse, I am going to need to make a Paris icon. Maybe one of my photos of either the Eiffel Tower or the Arc du Triomphe will work...
Although there is a net connection at my hotel, I do not expect to spend a lot of time on-line in the three days that I am here. Thus, today's update will be at double-speed:
Bell ringing: Last night I rang bells at Mary Mag with the OUSCR. I have paid my dues for this term, so I am officially a member. I rang called changes twice. In between, Claire brought two of us beginners and a couple of experienced ringers downstairs to do an exercise with handbells. It was a very silly exercise which involved lining up in our initial order, then swapping places physically as the changes were called. It was exactly the sort of silly exercise that seems very basic, and you laugh at it... but it teaches you a lot. They also demonstrated Plain Hunt Doubles (five bells) in the same method, for us to watch. As they were putting away the handbells, I asked if us newbies could try. I'm a Hampshire College student -- I don't get along well with just sitting and watching. Besides, as Sophocles said: "One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try." Claire was a bit surprised by my request, since we are still learning called changes, but there was no harm in trying. And it went well.
University stuff: Went to lunch today at Linacre College with SS, who is a theoretical physics professor at Oxford. I met him when I worked on Auger, as he had come to Malargue once or twice. We commiserated on being vegetarians in Argentina. I have seen him a number of times since moving here, but he only just noticed me on Monday. And invited me to come to lunch at his college on Wednesday. Members of a college are entitled to free meals in the common room. Linacre is one of the newest colleges, founded only in 1962. It is also a graduate college -- no undergrad students. So the dining hall was very different than my experience eating in the dining hall of St. Johns College last March. St. Johns is a moderately old college (founded 1455) and the richest of the colleges in the UK. At Linacre, the dining hall looks just like what you would expect of a modern upscale college dining hall. At St. Johns, the dining hall looks like the stuff of legend, with enormous portraits of past masters on the exceedingly high walls. If any of you recall the Hogwarts dining hall from the Harry Potter movies, it looked a lot like that. But not quite... since those scenes were filmed down the road in the dining hall at Christ Church College, not St. Johns. As a post-doc, I do not have a college affiliation... but there are ways to get one. I need to investigate further, because I really would like to be a member of a college. Preferably one of the older ones (16th century or older).
Travel: Mostly uneventful. Beat world 5 on the New Super Mario Bros. Finished the introduction to the Arden Shakespeare's version of King Richard III and began reading the play proper. Ate a very tasty ploughman's sandwich. For some reason, passport control at Charles De Gaul doesn't ever stamp my passport. Weird. The only real excitement of the trip came at the train station, when some plainclothes French customs officials wanted to inspect my bags. They flashed their badges... but I have no idea what a French customs official's badge looks like. So I wasn't sure if it were legit, or if these were scam artists trying to make off with my stuff. Long story short: It was legit and everything turned out okay. Don't know why they targeted me, though, and in the train station, no less. Doesn't matter what country: I hate cops.
Okay, time to get some rest before the meeting begins tomorrow morning. If I am going to keep attending meetings here, which seems likely as the French IAP (Institut d'Astro-Physique) is based in Montparnasse, I am going to need to make a Paris icon. Maybe one of my photos of either the Eiffel Tower or the Arc du Triomphe will work...
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Or is all that over with?
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(Actually, keep in mind that the University's colleges have been around for several centuries longer than C. of E.)
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They sell lingerie.
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I was nervous and unhappy during my encounter last night... but at least I didn't get beaten up (or dragged off).
Gah -- I really miss the days when I was part of a Copwatch team. Maybe I should learn French and stick around here to form a Paris Copwatch. Feh.
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Although I do understand your wanting to use something less cliched and more cryptic as a symbol of the city. Maybe something food- or wine-related?
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When you finish reading the play, I recommend seeing the film version of it with Sir Ian McKellan in the title role -- it's absolutely marvelous.
Persephone
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Persephone
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I'm sooooooooo jealous you get to see him do theater live -- he's been one of my favorite actors since the very early 80s. He's the reason I started to like Shakespeare in fact. I saw a show he did on PBS called "Ian McKellan: Acting Shakespeare" and have been smitten with him and the Bard ever since.
Persephone
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I'd love to come visit, but I have some other stuff mucking up the works for now that's making my going anywhere not possible.
~~ sigh ~~
Persephone
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Anyway, you are always welcome here... so good luck getting your other stuff sorted, and let me know if it becomes possible! *hugs*