It’s 8:29 AM and I’m sitting in the classroom before my first class at Oxford. I did a bunch of reading yesterday and the day before, and I’m more or less ready for day 1. Idon’t know exactly what to expect, but I had a fun time reading about economics (for the first time) and strategy (also for the first time) over the last few days. People are filing in slowly, but class doesn’t start for another 16 minutes. Gerard, the south african accountant from my study group and I are just realizing that the economics professor both reccomended a £40 book and provided the relevant chapters in a course photocopy book.
– – – – – More Later! – – – – – –
Ok, it’s 17:11 now, and two classes later, the day is done. It turns out that the first professor doesn’t like it when people use their computers for note taking, which really SUCKS, because that’s how I take notes. The second prof doesn’t care, but apparently the Dean (?) has mandated that students not use laptops for note taking during class, because of the tendency to surf the internet, IM people, and etc.
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However, I accept that I’m here on Oxford’s terms, not mine, so I will have to adapt. For now, I’ll be printing out my reading notes before the lecture, taking written notes during lecture, and then typing them in later.
aaarrrrrgghhhhh.
4 comments:
Ean
Seems like you are NOT having a good time at oxford so far. Well the only good time seems to be drinking till 2AM
So, Whats your take on Career Services at SBS?
I wouldn't agree with you at all. I've met a ton of cool people, made some new friends that I'm getting close to, joined an amazing ancient college, settled into a beautiful and interesting city, and begun reading about subjects that I actually find interesting. The first two classes were pretty darn good too, note taking restrictions aside. Regarding the Career Services dept, I must admit to having a few doubts based on the tone of initial interactions with their staff. To be fair, I have also had some perfectly reasonable interactions with their staff. I have a meeting with Simon from CS in a few weeks which will probably be instructive... a big concern of theirs is that people don't waste their time, and I've laid out to him what I want to talk about, while also giving him the option of cancelling the meeting if he feels that I'm not ready to meet. If doesn't take my offer to cancel (or doesn't bother to read my mail) and then chews me out for not being "ready" for the meeting, I will probably not come away with a very good opinion. However, I'm reserving judgement in fairness to the CS folks.
As a reminder, October 9 is a bank holiday in the good ol' usa and any good banker was out hiking in some of the best weather of the summer. Sure beats sitting in a classroom not taking notes on a laptop.
-ABu
Ean, don't sweat the note taking. Turns out, in addition to reading and homework, note taking is also optional in grad school. Just ask your profs.
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