The 1st Week of Hilary as a DPhil Biologist
15th– 21st January
Right, here goes blog attempt number two. I think in the past I’ve been too optimistic about how much time I would have to write, and wanting to write detailed, long posts about some of the cool things that are happening in Oxford. This time, my aim is to do one post a week, summarising what has happened which might be interesting.
Monday
Monday is a day where I try to be productive, setting a good tone for the week ahead. Some days are easier, like today, where I had three main tasks.
- Junior Dean Meeting
- Supervisors Meeting
- Gym Session
Tuesday
Tuesday is normally a language class day, but Greek doesn’t start until 2nd week. French, however, started this Wednesday, so I spent all of Tuesday morning and early afternoon finishing my homework and revising. Oh, I did pop in and see the Chaplain and her dog first thing in the morning! His name is Archie and he’s a Lurcher. I’ll see if I can get her permission to put a photo up next time I see him.
The afternoon was spent working in my flat, but the evening was very exciting. I had my first HEMA class! That stands for Historian European Martial Art, I think, but basically that means SWORDFIGHTING. I turned up, was given a padded sword, and taught ‘Dussack’ – which I think is a type of German short sword from the 16th century. I do know that it was the type of sword used by Meyer and discussed in his manual – which I really should get a copy of and read now that I’ve committed to swordfighting.
Wednesday
French day!
I spent most of the morning and early afternoon looking at Yellowstone. Flights, accommodation, transport, the cost of seats and luggage (I always forget the hidden costs), and I even looked at local restaurants near where I will be staying! I’m excited for my first bison burger!
French is a two hour class, and by the end of it I was mentally exhausted! But for me, it’s one of those things where its really rewarding once you’ve done it, and you’ve made it through the class without making a complete fool of yourself. We discussed our Christmas vacations, then the main topic was social media and the impact of phones on daily life. Had to learn quite a lot of new vocab for that.
Thursday
Today was another very productive day, simply because there was a bit more structure.
- Morning seminar on Saiga Antelope Conservation and Policy
- Afternoon Online Historian Resources Class
- Booking Flights and ESTA Application
I had completely forgotten about the morning Seminar, so I was quite lucky I woke up early and checked my calendar. This was part of the compulsory Training Seminar Series run by the department, so definitely not one to be missed! I will have to chase up some of the things the speaker mentioned, as she gave linked to many resources and websites for us to look into in our own time.
In the afternoon, I had an online class for historians, listing resources and archives we could use for our research. It was a pretty long class but full of really important websites I can access for future research.
And finally, I booked my flights! I also submitted my ESTA application. Almost immediately after completing that, I received an email from my supervisor about insurance, so there’s another job for the list. But, I am on my way to Yellowstone very soon!
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
I think I’ll lump these altogether as not much happened on Friday! I did have a morning lab meeting, but as it was an introduction session for us to get to know each other I won’t include much here. It was fascinating to hear more about other people’s research!
Saturday was exciting as I had a practice session with the Oxford University Clay Pigeon Shooting Society. It was useful to practice the harder stands, so my ‘score’ for the day was overall pretty poor but that was because I was targeting (haha pun) clays I knew I needed improvement on. It was a very still day as well, especially considering the storm that hit on Sunday!
Finally, Sunday – due to the storm – was an inside day. I spent the day rearranging the flat. I like moving the furniture around to give a new feel to the place.
So, there you have it!
A summary of what I got up to in the first week of Hilary term. Hopefully this time I’ll keep the blog going – though doing this has made me realise how little HTML I’ve remembered – and update the website as a whole. Next week should be a good one to write about – I’ve got two formal dinners, two language classes, a careers service event, and a karate session all in the calendar!
