Beginning With Questions

One of the first lessons I learned during orientation was to ask questions. And then ask more questions. And then ask more. Because if you are not asking questions, then you are not really analyzing. And of you've come here to read my blog, then you are either very kind or you are passing me under some sort of test of scrutiny. The latter is most likely driven by your curiosity. Which leads me to my first question:

What has been my opinion of my first week at Oxford?

Which leads me to my second question:

Wait, its only been a week?

Time has passed so quickly and yet so slowly. So much has happened in the week and a half that I have been here, that I barely know where to start. I don't like starting at beginnings, and this is a blog, so I'm going to just record what comes to me and edit out that which is not as intriguing. Remember, you're either here because you're nice and like me or you want to know how Oxford is. Hopefully I can give you a little bit of both.

First off, I am researching the topic of medieval cartography, in terms of the following question: "What can maps tell us of the medieval conception of time OR space OR science OR religion OR paradise OR Britain? Discuss with reference to British maps." Many options as you can see. I'm going to go with space. 2,000 - 2,250 word essay, due Monday. Youch. And tomorrow I'm visiting Hampton Court, palace of King Henry VIII, William III and Mary II. Thankfully I've already seen them, so now I can go there and review the sights.

1) I love walking here.
2) I hate the exchange rate.
3) Really? Only a week? It feels like I've been here for months!

Haha, where's the fourth?
Also, the international students from Biola University have once again outnumbered the kids from any other attending university. We have 10 students!

On some more serious matters, or at least philosophical ones, I have been addressed with the following questions (either directly or through a train of thought):

- How will you take your understanding of history back with you?
- How does one become hesitant with his/her judgments, remaining cynical, and yet without losing the ability to trust?
- How does one correctly research and develop a point of view, especially with concern to the Bible?
- What is a "fact"? (Harder than it seems, people.)
- How does a historian solve the problem of induction? Or do we need to do so as a historian?
- What does it mean to be in communion with the saints? What does it mean to be in the City of God?
- What does it mean to love God? I'm thinking practically, not abstractly. Idealism and abstraction interest me, but I am trying to work with some concrete understandings, without just applying readily available Christian-ese phrases or terms.
- In fourteen weeks, what will you be able to tell others of your attitude?

I have also been thinking on the subject of grace. Due to numerous discussions with a friend on dispensations, grace, sin, blamelessness, and forgiveness, I am truly grasping the underlying truth of the cross. The cross brought us to a state of grace, absolving the debt we owe under the law, fulfilling its promise. The correct response to the cross then is gratefulness. The meaning of gratitude will be prevalent on my mind and heart and soul this semester.

As my boyfriend told me, "You're the stereotypical exchange student, you know that? 'I'm going to England to find myself!' You are." And he's right. I realized that I will be doing plenty of determining me over here, and I've already learned plenty. You know, for me, going to Biola was not such a big jump. I live an hour away, my dad's an alum, I'd visited multiple times and watched him graduate, I knew where everything was. Coming to England, to Oxford? There's a jump. Here I will be out of my skin. Oh, I am still handling it well. I love new adventures, and I am loving the 11 million book-lined Bodleian Library, with 60% of its storage space underground. (I am going to be so spoiled with research when I come home.) But this experience will test me. And I'm joyful for it.

I am so grateful for this experience, to be here, studying In Oxford, as a Student, with access to all the libraries and the like. God has surely blessed me.

And one last thing, before I continue my research, I love the walking. It takes between thirty and forty minutes to get from the city center to the Vines, the Victorian house where I am staying. I have the option of getting a bus pass, and I have the opportunities to but a bike. I might, depending on time constraints and the weather. But I just love having the liberty to go for a walk, and I feel so joyful and refreshed after strolling through the meadows where the cows are eating, or watching dogs run free in the parks. When I walk through the trees I can almost see the lampost in the Western Woods; I walk through the forest as it appears in Eriador and other parts of Middle Earth. O, and what tranquility. Stillness. Refreshment. Life. More than the house, the people, the Nutella, and the books, I will miss the walks. And so those I hold in the highest esteem. I'll take the long road home if for naught but to walk along those paths of peace once more.

Be seeing you. - Rebecca