Classy Notes

Oxford makes me drink too much

06.21.06

It has been brought to my attention that we might be in fact living on an island…

Unfortunately, England lost last night… which I guess means more drinking! It was a wild night, but for some reason it was free drinks from friendly people everywhere I went… not bad. However, I definitely paid for it this morning… there was not enough coffee, water, or aspirin to cure what last night left me feeling like.

Dr. Bergstrom’s first lecture, on the Politics of Thailand was somewhat appealing, mostly because it is all news to me! Dr. Bergstrom is really visual, animated and descriptive. So when he was describing the current crown prince’s ridiculous and haphazard lifestyle, or when the king was mysteriously killed, I was extremely entertained. I did learn some things that pieced previous information I had known, together. For example, I did not know that Thailand’s old school name is “Siam”. Not as educational, but interesting, was the recollection of if someone of royalty, etc is caught being “naughty” (I’m still not 100% sure what his definition of that is) then they are placed in a velvet body bag and beaten to death. The fact that 75% of the country is one religion (Buddhism), is a big deal. It just merely means that there is less conflict since there is a significant majority. My favorite part of the lecture was when he was talking about Thailand’s current King and how lucky they are to have him as a ‘ruler’. Interestingly enough, the king’s parents were traveling/working in the States, so when the mother went into labor, the current United States’ President declared a whole floor of a hospital “Thai territory”, so that the king could be technically born in his own country.

Good news is that Dr. Bergstrom’s second lecture was on the Politics of India—something I was interested in hearing about. India is fascinating to me… India accounts for one-sixth of the world’s population (right behind China), and it is the fourth largest economy in the world; I think that is absolutely amazing! Unlike the United States, India’s history goes far back, almost 5,000 years. I love the United States more than anything, but I will say that for traveling sake, I find it so interesting when visiting Europe, and hopefully in the future, India and the Middle East—the amount of history that is behind these countries. The United States has under 300 years of history, which is nothing compared to India. Even here in Oxford, it is mind-boggling to walk around this city, or even sit in a classroom that is part of this 800+ year old, world-renowned university and imagine who was there before, what events it endured, etc.

While I thought Dr. Bergstrom’s talk on India was interesting, every day this week he has somehow mentioned his paper or thesis that was on an Indian Viceroy… and today he talked about it once again, and it was so redundant… oh well, you win some and you lose some.

Bob spoke on United States and British Foreign Policy. He basically said that they have somewhat similar foreign policies since the creation of the Monroe Doctrine. An interesting comparison he made about the countries is that while England is often viewed as an island, he said that the United States is ultimately one, too. Not geographically, because of Canada and Mexico, but geopolitically because Canada and Mexico are not a threat to us. I didn’t know where he was going with it at first, but after explaining it, I understood the concept that he was relaying to us.

After lectures, we went home to read and study. Not a lot of that happened. The weather was cold so we stayed in, even though Nick was trying to have a barbeque at 4 Kingston. So instead, we watched Mexico play Portugal (Mexico lost) in the world cup, it was a fun time, even though Nick and Gus were really upset at their people… haha. Way later, Matt and Jeff started prank calling our house. It was actually hysterical, and then they somehow managed to climb up the side of our house, and our roommate (Azusa Pacific), let’s call her Trumpet, totally freaked out. We apologized for our friends’ ridiculousness, which she was extremely accepting of, well so I thought, but then she went into the kitchen and came out with hot water that she boiled… and tried to pour it out the window onto them, then she ran outside and tried to chase them! I literally had no idea what to say, except for “Please don’t do that” and an inner note to self of her insanity. Needless to say, she really lost it and now I don’t think I’m going to be confronting her about her never doing her dishes…..

posted by CSP @ 11:56 PM