The things (we) do

I owe the new kids in the programme for reminding me about Christmas Light Night. I had completely forgotten about it. Actually, I only went to see the parade last year by pure luck. I just happened to go into town for dinner and there it was. I know, it's silly.

I'm really glad they reminded me of it as the Steampunk Exhibition at the Oxford Museum of the History of Science down in Broadstreet. It has the coolest sign outside for the exhibition and I want to steal it :D I've already been to it but tonight, there are going to be special activities and things so I'll be going again.

It just so happens that one of the artists in this exhibition is someone I know from Montreal. He makes really awesome Steampunk jewelery. I had no idea he was going to be exhibiting in this so I was really surprised when I saw his name on a plaque. It was pretty cool 'cause it was a surprise. That said, I do remember an MSN status message of his mentionning Steampunk jewelery at some point but we haven't talked in forever so, I forgot he did that. I guess he didn't know I was in Oxford or surely he would have told me ;) Well, I'm hardly ever on MSN anymore. Not really my cuppa.

Sequel

Another post! Aren't you surprised? :D Me too!

I got another email from the person who asked about interviews. She asked another question and I figured it wasn't a bad one for the blog. Hey, if you email me, chances are I'll post it up. It's a fair exchange, right ;) ?

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I know you are well traveled, so if you had the choice would you study in Oxford again? And having gone through most of the program, would you seriously recommend it to other people? The thing is, I'm trying to decide if it worth my time and money (I'm financing it myself). Your honesty would be truly appreciated. Also, do you feel like you have any time for travel? My travel outside the U.S. consists of one backpacking experience through Europe. I would love to see more of the UK.

Yes, I would totally redo the course if I had the option again. In all honesty, this is probably the happiest I've been in my entire life. Sure it's hard sometimes and there's a lot of work and pressure. There are people in the course I don't like to work with (although they are not bad people, just people I have no chemistry with) and I can't wait to be done with it and in the real world again. But that's true of every academic course :D
We have a lot of fun as a group and although we're hardly ever all together anymore, when there's a large group of us in one place, we have a blast and that's as important as the modules themselves in a way.

Oxford itself is a very nice town. It has a nice, village feel rather than being a stuffy "old university" town. It's very pleasant and although I sometimes miss having a wide range of options for things to do in the evening or on weekends (England will seem very slow and sleepy in comparison to the US - everything closes ridiculously early!) but it's probably just as well budget-wise :) And London's practically next door anyway.

There is some time to travel too, I haven't but that's mainly because I'm trying not to spend my parents' money. I like to eat out with my friends so I find myself going through money very fast and I'd rather eat out regularly than take a really cool trip and have to be tight with the cash later. I figure I can always travel more later when i have a regular paycheck, lol.
But yeah, a lot of people from the course are traveling regularly all over Europe, either to go visit their families or do some tourism. It's also easy to travel within the UK, plenty of airports that Ryanair goes to and also, buses. A bit expensive to my taste and the train aren't very reliable but it's doable. And again, with London next door, you can usually get just about anywhere in the country easily enough.

Life's a stage

I was out with boyfriend yesterday because it was such a beautiful day. The sun actually stayed out for more than an hour. I had some books to return to the county library down by Westgate Centre (Queen Street). It's a very good library by the way.

The sun was shining, the streets were lively with families out for a stroll and rowdy teenagers piling up on the statue in front of Westgate. I took the boy on a looooong stroll along the Thames. It was gorgeous! I'd been up there before, in september when the trees still had leaves, but this time it was both peaceful and dramatic. The light was a little strange later in the day and the trees were gold and a metallic sort of green.

We tried to walk back to the town centre down the other bank but somehow ended up in a wild bit of scrubland between two arms of the river with no bridges. We turned around and ended up walking down Iffley Road. From there, we went to the G&D's on Cowley Road, something of a regular haunt for us.

The Oxford Playhouse was holding a "show" called Etiquette. Boy and I were having coffee and ice-cream close to the two tables by the window which were covered in a black cloth and had props and headphones on them. Couples sat at the tables and listened to instructions. They were clearly playing out a scene. We were intrigued but didn't really think to participate in whatever this was. After the end of one performance though, the woman in charge of the thing came to ask us if we wanted to give it a try if the people who had reserved the next slot didn't show up. We said ok. So we did it.

I don't know what to make of the experience. It was intriguing... There we were, playing out a scene at a cafe in Paris between a prostitute and an old man. Then we were actors in a play about a woman leaving her husband. Then there was something about a murder. All this using the props and language (we had to repeat certain lines, at times it worked really well as he was replying to the questions I asked and vice-versa at the proper speed). It was a little unsettling. At times it was very hard to hear what boy was saying so I missed part of the experience very likely. Still, it's pretty cool and I recommend the experience. The whole audience becomes actors becomes characters. The use of little white figures and chalk on the black board works really well. I completely forgot the other people in the cafe for a while. But I still don't know what to make of the play itself.

On living in Oxford

Here's a sequel to my previous post :D

Oh, Julie, it definitely is possible to lose weight while in England. For one thing the food is pretty expensive. Also, it's not very good. If you want yummy food, you have to eat out which brings us to point number 1 :D I've lost 20 kg in a matter of months :) Then again, I'm on Atkins-lite (which really means I cheat too much to say I'm really trying >_< ) so that helps.

I'm going with a different color scheme this time around.

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Hi Chantal,

I really can't thank you enough for that reply! It really helped me! I've also been looking through your blog and its really nice to read what you have done in your classes. I have spoken to someone from UCL and Stirling too and I think the Brookes course sounds much better and flexible, the others are too rigid! I'm hoping I get in, my applications go in next week or so. The maths bit scares me a little as it was my worst subject :(
Are you an international student? How is the accommodation at the uni? And I've been to Oxford when I was on holiday once, and I loved the place, but what is it like to live there?

Thank you :)

Yeah, I'm an international student. I'm staying in Cheney Student Village which offers a 50 week contract. The other halls are 30 weeks.
Cheney is also ensuite which means I have my own bathroom (which also means I have to clean it myself *sigh*).

The rooms are quite nice, airy and bright and quite spacious for university accommodations. They're fairly new too, the ikea furniture still nice :D There's 6 people in our flat and we share a kitchen. It's not as nice as an actual house but it's enough for now. The postgraduate blocks (P,R,S,T and U) are fairly quiet. I had to sent the Residence officer quiet down the people upstairs only once (hey, they were playing really bad techno, screaming and jumping around at 3 am on a weekday!)

I've been inside Crescent as well which is the cheapest of the halls and it's quite nice too. Very cramped but it had a nice atmosphere. They also have shared kitchens but they're a lot smaller. Also, it's quite far from the Headington campus.

The university also owns some houses in the area and if you apply for a shared house, you could end up in an actual house to share with other Brookes students. My boyfriend is in one of these and they're ok. His house is a bit worn down and the heating doesn't work well but they have a kitchen and a little living room and their own washer and drier which is great because going up and down the stairs and out in the cold to do laundry (and pay a whole 3 pounds for one load!) sucks. They also have a garden.

Personally, I like living in Oxford. It's not a big city which sometimes annoys me but I got used to having a ridiculous amount of possibilities (even though, in all fairness, I only ever did the same things over and over again anyway). It's cheerful and small and I can go everywhere on foot. There are paths along the rivers and before long, it feels like you're outside of town, walking through the countryside.

The supermarkets are fairly limited and the choice is small for my international tastes but they have the staples and some places have decent prices and decent quality (oh, Peru! How I miss thee!). The weather is much nicer than I expected. I've never experienced such a mild winter. Maybe it was a fluke this year but it's been pleasant. There are a lot of students but it doesn't get too crazy expect on some streets during the night. There are a lot of student nights in the local clubs that attract either more Oxford students or Brookes students. There's a strong sense of partying at night, every night. I'm not much of a club goer myself but I've heard good reviews of places like Lava, The Purple Turtle, Clem's and The Carling Academy.

There are lots of restaurants offering different cuisines. Jamie Oliver has an Italian restaurant on St. George street that is wonderful apparently. I'm saving it for a special occasion because it's also pricey. Quod is good, also elegant and one of my friends met Emma Watson there and got an autograph! There are several Indian restaurants that are very good. I lived 4 years in India and sometimes, I need some good Indian food. I'm pleased with the offerings generally although I wish there was more than curries, Indian food is so varied and interesting it's a shame they don't offer more different dishes.
My favorite places to eat are Nando's (mmmh, spicy chicken!), Gourmet Burger Kitchen ('nuff said) and the Brittania pub up in Headington (it's close, cheap and the food is very good).

Well, it's getting pretty long so I'll sumarise, I like it very much here. I wouldn't mind staying on after I finish the M.A. except the local publishers don't really do trade publishing and I'm not interested in Academic or Educational publishing. London is conveniently close but still, 2 hours commutes one-way is a bit much for me.

Answering Questions

I'm posting here a conversation I had through Facebook (oh, how I love thee Fb!) with Julie (check out her very informative comment on Books Don't Need to be Perfect, btw). She's currently an editor in South America considering coming to Oxford Brookes. Welcome to the blog Julie, hope you stay, I'd love your insight into the realities of working in publishing, in South America or elsewhere :D

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Hi Chantal. It's nice to hear from another south american young publisher :P ((Chantal: I am half Uruguayan))

I have lots, and lots, and lots of questions, the first one (two in fact) would be the obvious one(s): why did you go to Brookes? Why an MA in Publishing?
Oh, I am not sure if you want to write in spanish or english, so I just did in english, but whichever one is ok for me.

Thank you for your kind answer :)

Julia

To answer your questions, I've been meaning to go into publishing for at least the past five years (that's why I did my B.A. in English). [...] I figured with an M.A. I'd probably get interviews fairly automatically, not to mention better paid. The M.A. shows commitment and it counts as serious work experience too.

I looked up other places like City University London. I got interviewed as well. In the end though, Brookes won out because the lecturer who interviewed me was very informative, the program sounded great (they help you get work experience, seriously, within the first 2 weeks I was working at a local small publisher!), the lecturers are all currently working in the industry, they have guests over all the time and it's in Oxford ;) I found out when I got here that Brookes' is pretty much the best publishing program in the country and one of the best in the world too. Some of my coursemates are working for HarperCollins, Oxford University Press and other big names. The classes are very practical with one half being theory and the other all practice.

The price is steep for sure especially if you don't have a student loan (I don't) but I definitely don't regret it. Everything about England is expensive but I'm finding once you get into the rhythm of things, you can manage.

From a more human side of things, I've never been as happy as I am here. Yeah, there's some downsides (like costs and being away from family and friends) but the people in my course are so much fun. Everyone is very nice and although there's starting to be a couple of conflicts between some people (sometimes it's a downright "telenovela"), we go out together a lot, we can talk comfortably, we even help each other out when someone has financial problems. It's like nothing I'd ever gone through before. The lecturers are very friendly and available and hilarious (some of them make us laugh all through class). They're a little quirky sometimes (if you come and meet Leander you'll see what I mean :D) I honestly think OBU is the best choice when it comes to publishing programs.

From what you say I guess in South America is easier to get a job in publishing than in Europe (that kind of scares me, hehe). I got my current job without even meaning to, without even knowing what I was getting myself into. However, there are indeed fewer publishing houses. But there are also a lot of different kinds of always-available freelance jobs (translations, proofreading, evaluation of new material), and if you know the right people you'll almost always be required as a freelancer. Anyway, I am on the "lucky" side of the permanent staff of a publishing house, so I don't have to worry if there's job available or not :)

Which leads me to ask: what kind of work experience (what kind of tasks) have you had in Brookes? For how long? Are they paid? Are they compulsory for the masters?

Also, which of the masters are you taking? Why? I see at the website that there are different paths, like European Master in Publishing, Publishing and Language, International Publishing, etc, etc. It's kind of confusing to tell which one would be suitable for me (something related to language sounds perfect, but all of them are soooo appealing :P).

I started at the end of september at a small academic publisher. I'm doing mostly marketing there, every monday 9-5. What you'll be asked to do depends on the where you're working but everyone's been talking about lately about how they give us an aweful lot of responsibility for interns and they ask for and trust our judgement.

Work experience isn't paid but most of them will reinburse any traveling fees (bus etc) to and from work. Mine even pays for my lunch :) They're not compulsory and I know plenty of people aren't doing any but they are highly recommended. Of course, since you already work at a publisher, you don't really need more experience.

I'm doing the simple "M.A. in Publishing". The others are interesting but I plan on staying in the UK or go to North-America afterwards anyway. They're all good and really, mostly the same. Right now, semester 1, we're all doing our classes together. In semester 2, those in European etc have 1 module that's compulsory to them that my group doesn't have. It's really the only difference.

One last question that I thought of today: what about entrepreneurs? are there any students whishing to stablish their own publishing houses? Any special approach that you've seen?

Oh, there are quite a few who would like to start their own publishing house someday. Not right at the end of the M.A. I think but after they have some experience.

One of the girls in the course runs her own charity in Africa and is doing the course so she can use it to support it. Oh, now that I think about it there is one person who's studying so she can open her own company in Macedonia but she's been working in publishing for a long time.

Honestly, we learn so much, we could probably handle a small publishing house on our own but experience is really important so I don't think we'd do it so well. Better to work for someone else for a while.

Julie has a blog (in Spanish) at http://juliejolie.net in which she sometimes posts the funny things that happen to her as an editor.
I know I haven't posted about the paper issue. Sorry! In my defense though, I found a chapter of a book that ties in really well with that lecture. I'll read it through and come up with a decent post that's extra informative to make up for it.

Induction week starts tomorrow

This is going to be my last night at the hostel. I admit I've rather liked the hostel experience but I'm definitely feeling the need to not share my room with 11 people. On the other hand, I won't have Sky TV in halls so no more TV series for me. My computer doesn't play sounds anymore (but I defy you to find a laptop that's lived to be 5 years old with the care I give mine) so no DVDs either. Unless I buy a DVD player, we'll see if I manage to get a job.

Apparently, the cost of internet isn't included in the rent for the halls. I hadn't realized that until today when I was rereading the info on the website. That seriously sucks. I basically live on the internet and I don't want to pay extra. Cheney's already the most expensive of the halls.

But that's all boring stuff anyway. Let's talk about more fun things. Like me getting lost, repeatedly. Without an umbrella.

Pretty much the first thing I did on getting here was to get myself a library card. It's awesome, they don't ask for proof of address or anything! I've been going to the library fairly regularly and managed to get my hands on Inside Book Publishing by Giles Clark and Angus Phillips (one of my profs, btw *brags for lame reasons*). It's pretty much a must read for anyone interested in working in the industry and writers. I admit I haven't read anything non-fictional in a while so my brain is a little slow to keep up. I just need to get it warmed up and running again. It's very interesting. I think I'll read some more and maybe write a little essay about it for the blog.

Anyway, after these outings, I like to take a different way back to the hostel. It gets claustrophobic in here quickly so I need to take at least one long walk everyday. And it keeps me in shape *cough*. On the latest of these, I thought "hey! Why don't I just follow the Thames? That should leave me right at the little bridge next to the hostel!"

Now, Oxford is fairly small. So small in fact, that you can probably cross it on foot without getting tired. At least, I could. But 2 hours later, I was still walking. It was a pretty walk and there was even a little sun but I had no clue where I was and I had forgotten my umbrella. It's a given that it will rain every day at least a little and I could see those clouds coming and nothing but green fields and woods around me. Of course, I was too proud to just turn around and follow the way back to where I had started. After a while, I managed to find my way into a nice residential neighborhood through common sense (this is why men should never go exploring without a woman - we can find our way even if there is no one around to ask). I just followed the distant sound of cars.

And I ended up...back at the library. I just got back to the hostel the boring way after that.

Sun! Rain! Sun! No definitely rain...

I have now spent a couple of days in Oxford. I had meant to go house hunting a bit but I don't really know how to go about it, I have very little money and I don't know how to use English buses yet so I have not moved beyond the city center.

Also, I know I have a room in Cheney so it's not like it's a life or homelessness situation for me. I'm going to walk all the way to Headington on Monday and go talk to people, make sure there won't be any nasty surprises on D-day though.

I've also sort of started looking for a job and, it sounds incredibly stupid but, I don't really know how to do it. Give me a break! I've never had a job before! I have some old CVs I have to fix or make a new one that's more exciting or something since the few times I sent out CVs it came to nothing.

I have been visiting some. The city center is nice, very lively with lots of people and activity every day. There are some gorgeous old buildings, pretty much all belonging to Oxford U. which apparently is called "the one down there" while Brookes is "the one up there" (Cambridge is "the other one"). There's also a nice long walk along the Oxford canal that is lovely, especially when it's sunny (just about once this week really). I've been spending most of my afternoons out and enjoying myself at a very tight budget of close to nothing.

The hostel has been a good experience up to now. I see people come and go and although this is my first hostel experience, I am now the senior inhabitant of my room. I chat with everyone, often in their own languages (helps to be trilingual). I've made friends with a girl from Germany who's a lot of fun. We took a tour of the center and colleges together which was nice and stopped at Aziz to have some excellent curry. And I know curry, I lived in India for 4 years. It was affordable splurging too. She leaves tomorrow though so I'll have to find someone else to hang out with.

Yeah, in spite of all the raining, I'm really enjoying this city and it's hard to remind myself that I LIVE HERE. Yes, this is my hometown now.

Are we there yet? YES, we are! (Now stop hitting your sister)

Guess what? I'm in Oxford. That's right, the city of dreaming spires. I'm writing from the computer room at Central Backpackers where I'll be staying for the next 10 days or so (the hostel, not the computer room).

I left my aunt's husband's house yesterday, inhumanly early in the morning I might add. Aunt refuses to drive into Paris because it's easy to get lost, hard to park and the traffic is very bad. I don't know how true it might be at the time we decided to set out.

Instead, we took the train which conveniently left us right at the international station, Paris Gare du Nord. Just imagine, an older woman and chubby little me pulling on The Monster (a.k.a. My Suitcase) while being crushed by a computer bag and a "handbag" that weighed a ton each. We manage to make a few guys pity us so at least someone else handled the stairs for us. I had put on my nicest top which brings out my bosom rather well. Alas, it also brings out my love handles but I was counting on the bosom part getting and keeping the attention anyway. Not to say it wasn't hard work anyway.

Still, we got to Gare du Nord at least an hour early. It was lucky we did, you need all the extra time you can get in order to check in with Eurostar. There were a lot of people inside the station and it's not like at the airport where checking in takes forever but you do need to be in the line at least an hour early instead of the 30mins they say. I had just the time to go to the rest room, which were really clean btw, I was surprised, and have a coffee before I had to queue for the check in.

I had to get my bags all the way to the train on my own. This was the hard part because everyone was busy finding their wagons and relatives who aren't travelling can't accompany you to the train. I accidentally climbed into the wrong wagon. There was a nice Dutch man who helped me lift the suitcase in then out again. He was also in the wrong wagon. I hurried to the right one and for some reason he didn't offer to help me again. So, I pulled it up half way before another guy figured I had blocked the entrance long enough. I was all red and sweaty and so not sexy anymore. Also, stinky.

The woman next to me was a professor of history of dance in the U.S. She wasn't very friendly actually. She made it pretty clear that she was very annoyed at not having both seats to herself.

The trip itself went smoothly. It's an incredibly fast train and the view is fairly decent the whole way but then, the French countryside is always gorgeous. There was no warning when we got to the tunnel so for five minutes I thought "Is this it? Or are we just going under some city incoveniently on our way?". After a while I figured we had to be in the tunnel because it was taking forever. I know, I'm a little slow on the uptake. It was dark for a very long time. Not as exciting as expected but then, it never is, is it?

And just like that I was in England.

I got down in London and oh disapointment! the door I took to go get a taxi didn't lead the front way where the pretty Harry Potter facade is. I couldn't take any pictures of it. Still, the taxi ride to Victoria Coach Station was exciting in itself. I couldn't look fast enough! I'll go back and visit as soon as I can.

Things were just as easy at the coach station. Got my ticket at student price, boarded 5 mins after and rode in a very comfy bus all the way to Gloucester Green station right here in Oxford. It was a bit of a hassle pulling The Monster to the hostel. The afternoon was fairly hot as I was walking and I had my jean jacket so more huffing and puffing and then... it hailed! I kid you not! One moment I'm sweating and the next I have mini-ice cubes falling on my head.
A second later, it was done.
English weather is really fucked up.

T- 24h

Yes! Finally! I'm leaving for Oxford tomorrow morning!

I'm more than a little nervous to be honest. I'll take the 11h13 Eurostar train at Paris Gare du Nord and arrive at London St. Pancras at 12h28. Very fast trip! It's very geeky of me but I can't wait to take pictures of the Harry Potter train station. I think I've said it before but it bears repeating.

From there, I'll take a taxi to Victoria Coach Station because I'm not going into the underground with all I have to carry. I'm leaving one suitcase at my aunt's which I'll come back to pick up at some indeterminate time in the future.

You know when they tell you to pack light to go study abroad? They are not kidding. Listen to them the way I seem incapable to do. Remember that you will be travelling a long way, on your own and will most likely arrive in London. Travelling by plane with a suitcase is fairly easy. It's a little harder to do when you have to carry it around.

I'm emptying my camera today so I can go photo crazy. I'll put them up tomorrow evening if I can. I'm staying at Central Backpackers and I think they have wifi access.