High Table

Class are officially in full swing- which included an 8-page paper on the British Constitution due Wednesday. Funny thing is.... Britain doesn't really haaaave a Constitution.... so writing 8 pages on a non-existent Constitution to appease my very English tutorial professor was pretty difficult. So I decided to wing it by turning in 4 pages instead of 8 raving about the benefits of this "constitution" and ended up doing pretty well! It also helped that instead of having the hour and a half discussion about this fascinating topic- my tutorial professor had to leave early to go to London to receive an O.B.E. award from the queen. And her own crest. NBD.

We also had our first high table this week. High table includes getting all dolled up, a 45 minute reception before dinner- basically 45 minutes of throwing back glasses of champagne with the professors, a three course meal in the Alington dining room, and a speech from a distinguished guest during after dinner coffee (at which point everyone has really had so much champagne and wine that they are giggling and not really paying any attention). Actually, the speaker this week, Robin Darwall, was really interesting. He was a archivist/historian who knew absolutely everything about University ("Univ") College and presented his speech by introducing 5 objects that could give you a taste of the college's vast history. Oh, and theres a beer reception at the campus pub afterwards. Basically the whole night is a fancy boozefest. The only real problem with this is that most everyone has papers due the next day but that didn't really seem to slow very many people down! Well, one other problem is that they served mullet with lobster innards this week. Hmm... no wonder they didn't set out a menu and decided to tell us this after-the-fact.

We are making plans to go to Edinburgh and the British Open this weekend which should be really fun!!