Off-Campus workspaces III

Last but not least of my reviews of local places in which I have spent work time, we have the Bayview location of Stone Creek Coffee.

 Coffee:The coffee (by which I mean espresso) here seems a little more acidic than other places, but in mocha application, there is a good balance between espresso and chocolate. They use powder here as well and not too much of it. The latte specials are more varied, which I like because this means that I can try out new flavor combinations, Currently, they have a honey-cranberry latte which interests me, and a lavender latte which scares me. I have yet to try either, but this will likely change in the not-too-distant future.

Space: This place is not set up for studying. It has a few smaller tables, but the rest is bar/counter space. If you can get a table, it's great, but those are not always easy to come by. This is a coffee place, and is set up to reflect emphasis on the coffee as opposed to food or atmosphere.

Internet and computer accessibility: The Wi-Fi here is unlimited, but the signal does not always work and can be slower. I have had trouble connecting to the Internet with a laptop in particular, but the computer works perfectly well at other coffee shops. Likewise, other devices have little trouble picking up and using the signal here. I'm not tech-savy enough to even speculate why this is. I can say though that because of the spatial set-up, there is limited access to plug-ins. I f you plan on settling in here for more than a few hours, you either need to be lucky in your seat, or have a really good battery at full charge.

Clientele:Because of the size, this shop tends to attract more people here by themselves or in smaller groups. People also seem more interested in the actual coffee than the hanging out. This isn't to say that book clubs or families don't come here; they do. However, when you come with a group of more than two, you have to get a little creative about seating, which can lead to customer interaction ('can we use this chair?' for example). This more interactive vibe is friendly and helps to counteract the more fragmented seating arrangements.

Off-Campus Workplaces continued

Places to Work Off-Campus (aka coffee shops) Review 2: Colectivo (formerly Alterra)

I did a lot of early reading, and some editing at the location on Prospect, and once the Bayview location opened, I spent time brainstorming, writing, and revising there. Unless otherwise specified, I will refer to collective attributes.

Coffee: As a reminder, I speak here exclusively of the espresso, particularly in mocha form. I believe that Colectivo also uses cocoa powder which is a plus, but they tend to use enough so that you can't taste the espresso. Their cup sizing takes a little getting used to as it is non-standard, but that's a minor point. As for the coffee itself, to me, it's better than Starbucks but it still has a more standardized taste to it than a small-batch roaster. This is likely because, although a local company, Colectivo has quite a few locations that depend on the same roasting center.

 Space: The Prospect location is smaller with a more intimate feel, and although it has a fair amount of seating, the location does tend to get busy and seats get filled. The Bayview location is much bigger but it has about the same number of tables (at least it seems this way). This spot also shares space with the baking operations for the company, so it adds both something to watch and a lot of extra noise. If you want to work in quiet, Prospect is a better bet. Both have windowed sections, but both locations also have dark little corners. It's much easier in Colectivo to hide in plain sight, or in other words to isolate yourself.

Internet and computer accessibility: When it comes to Wi-Fi both of these locations (as far as I know) do not restrict time online. One thing I have noticed is that if you aren't actively working online but rather streaming music or similar, the system drops you after about 20 minutes (I never actually timed this), and you have to re-establish the connection. This factor is a little bit of a hassle if you don't like the radio choice or the bakery noise as the Bayview location. The biggest problem though has to do with plugs. Given the size of both places, there are not as many places to plug in as you might think. This can be problematic if you happen to be unsure about duration of stay or starting charge of your device. Prospect has added plugs at the big common table, which is nice but requires that you don't need-want your own space. 

Clientele: The people who come to Colectivo seem to be mixed in that there is a range of ages and of student vs retirees vs business vs families. Colectivo does have an atmosphere of being hip, which is not exclusively the fault of the design of the locations or the coffee. The people often seem to exude a deliberate aura of 'coolness', although this may be due in part to the separations between tables, groups, and areas of the cafes. I think that this might also be related to the presence of branded merchandise beyond coffee. Other companies do this too, but it seems like Colectivo has a lot more of it.

Stay tuned for next time and a review of Stone Creek, Bayview.

The End part III, and Review of Off-Campus Workplaces 1

As it turns out, I did have to submit some slight formatting revisions. I missed the requirement for all headings to be triple spaced, and my cover page somehow got slightly misaligned. Those were fixed, and I got final approval within a few hours of resubmission. Official university work is now complete. I think/hope.

I have started on my pile of recreational reading, but it will take some time, especially since I keep finding new things to add (for this, let us blame-praise/blame Boswell Books). Goodreads is fun too, but in a way I'm glad I'm not reading quite the same things as most everyone I know, because this would only result in a maddening number of additional things that I would want to read. With all this stuff to read, my Netflix streaming cue, which has been neglected, may continue to see little attention. Then again, little is better than none.

Job hunting continues. In addition to the previously noted job board,  MilwaukeeJobs.com and JobsInMinneapolis.com have a good set of listings. LinkedIn has not been as helpful as I would like so far, but we'll see. Over the past two weeks, I have sent out nearly 20 applications.No news other than submissions continue. We'll see. I hate this part (mostly the waiting).

Places to Work Off-Campus (aka coffee shops) Review 1: Anodyne

I'm pretty sure that I did between a third to half of my actual dissertation writing at the original Bayview location. I have never tried working at the new location, so comments here will be restricted to the Bayview cafe. I will say though that I miss having the roaster around.

I have decided to divide discussions into 4 categories: space, Internet and computer accessibility, coffee, and clientele.

Coffee: Over the years I have devised a theory/test. If one plans on frequenting the same sort of establishment (such as a coffee shop) but not necessarily the same place, there should be a standard order that one uses to judge the place upon first visiting. For me at coffee shops, this is a medium skim mocha. Anodyne's is the best espresso and, and best mocha of the three places (the other two being Stone Creek and Colectivo which will forever be known as Alterra-no-wait-not-anymore-now-its-Colectivo) in my head). I think the espresso win has to do with the advantage of having a very local roaster that operates for only one (now towo) shops. The mocha here also uses powdered cocoa, which I think pairs better with the taste of coffee; using chocolate syrup of bits of chocolate only covers up the espresso.

Space: Anodyne falls in the middle in terms of space size. I think it's the best in terms of tables since it has many small ones and two long ones, and lots of natural light. Combine these two elements, and you get a friendly but still semi-private area to work.

Internet-computer accessibility. Anodyne is the only place to place a wi-fi restriction on users in terms of time. You have to make a purchase for every two hours of internet use. This was never a problem for me, but if you wanted to do some serious web-based research or read web-based texts it could prove problematic. Being able to plug in a laptop is also important, since I don't always keep track of where the charge level on mine is. Although it's best if you can get a seat right next to a plug, all seats in the main area can be reached with a standard cord. The newer seating area (left by the removal of hte roasting equipment) has less access to plugs.

Clientele: Anodyne has the least pretentious atmosphere and clientele. There is a pretty good mix of families, students, business, and regulars (those who come to hang out; often retirees). There is a buzz of conversation but most people appear mindful that they are in a public place and do their best to keep the sound of conversations, electronics, and children under a reasonable degree of control. Sadly the buzz of the roaster is no more, but the radio background is also pretty decent background stuff, although depending on the station, sometimes you do have to pause and listen.

The End, Part II

I have now managed to submit my dissertation to the university. The instructions for this are not at all straightforward, but I haven't heard that I need to fix anything yet, and it's been 24 hours. We'll have to wait and see.

The 'now what am I going to do with myself' part of the semester has started.

Priority 1: Job hunting. HigherEdJobs.com seems promising.Applications have been and will continue to be submitted.

Priority 2: Making a dent in the pile of 'fun reading' books that has piled up (literally). I intend to document this via Goodreads. I put off signing up because I knew that I would not be posting anything for some time. Now, it is time to start. 

Priority 3: Catching up on domestic chores like house cleaning that have been sorely neglected until now. This weekend there will be cleaning off of the desk and table surfaces and vacuuming. This has not been done in an embarrassingly long time. I wait until this weekend because it will take me that long to return all of the library books that have been decorating my floor.

Stay tuned for coffee shop reviews and other final notes about this past year.

The End Part I

I've decided to finish this year-long blog with a multi-part conclusion. Today's will cover what happens just before and after the defense. Next, there will be the submission to the university process (I still have to do that). Lastly, will be 'What's Next' (which I'm still working on).

Before the defense: Once I had the paperwork all submitted to the university, and a 'defense draft' to the committee, I spent the next six weeks reviewing and revising the entire 300-page dissertation. If anyone's wondering, yes, that's long for a dissertation in the MU English department. Looking up some other recent ones for formatting, I noticed that they were under 200 pages. Oh well.

As I reviewed and edited the actual text, I added a lot of commentary with notes, extra information, extended references and quotations, and possible defense questions in the margins. I think adding and considering possible questions was really helpful. To those who have yet to defend, pay attention to questions and comments on previous drafts as these can (and will) come up in your defense.

The actual defense was not as stressful as I would have guessed. As one of the readers pointed out to the audience (and to me in an email a few days beforehand), these things are designed to make the 'defendant' look good and show what they have learned. I think what really nailed it for me was when I answered a committee member with (this is a paraphrase) "I think I was not quite right in the original proposal. As the project progressed, I realized that a better way to frame the entire project was not as a 'definition' but as a 'framework for discussion'. " Those present will remember that this reader did not have too many questions after that. My point here is that admitting that something in the original proposal may have changed is a good thing.

Lesson: You are not defending your DQE proposal again. You are defending something entirely new.

Immediately after the defense: I spent the rest of the week checking a few final details and one reader's notes (mostly grammar related). On Monday, I will review the formatting and attempt to submit the final document to the university. We shall see how that goes.

It probably goes without saying that some immediate celebration would be in order. I took the rest of the day after the defense off. I went to yoga, and then to dinner. Group celebrating will come later this coming week (coinciding with my birthday, which times out well). Today, in honor of planning to submit the final dissertation,  I finally signed up for Goodreads. I also started reading a novel that I purchased some time ago. The stack of 'things to read once I'm done' stands at around 10 novels, and a few manga volumes. I have tried to keep the pile of novels roughly in order of when purchased. On the top is Nick Harkman's "Angelmaker". I'm about 25 pages in, and I'm really enjoying it. Stay tuned to Goodreads for an eventual review :)

That's it for now. Stay tuned for some commentary on the submission process, the state of my Netflix cue, and reviews of the local Milwaukee coffee shops. Since I did the majority of my writing and reading in them, and I did the same for their UK counterparts, I figure this is a necessary thing to include in a chronicle of the final dissertation year.

PS- Who wants to guess how many times I misspelled 'defence' and had to go back and fix it in this post?

The End in Nigh

Defense is complete. What's Next is unknown.  Stay tuned for a final post with some comments regarding the process overall, and probably some reviews of the best places to work.

State of the Diss for 2014

The conclusion/introduction is the hardest part to write? We'll see. First draft of Chapter 5 is away, including the rather ingenious reference to Shel Silverstein's "The Little Boy and Old Man". I hope I can keep that bit. Chapters 1-3 need minor revisions, and Chapter 4 probably needs one more overhaul. I'm hoping one last bootcamp in the library will take care of most everything here. Once that's all done, then I just need to compile some appendices and submit the whole thing one (I hope) last time. Fingers crossed....

Hard Lesson and a Rant

I think one of the hardest lessons there is to learn as a student is that sometimes it is good-necessary to make major cuts in a paper. As I continue to revise (Chapter 1 down, 2-4 to go), I am reminded of how hard this really is. I think that this lesson didn't really hit home until graduate school, and several years into it at that (I'm currently in year 8-wince). With Chapter 1, there was a lot of cutting this time around, but I had plenty to fill it in with. The chapter is now more focused and hopefully sets up the rest of the dissertation much better. Starting with Chapter 2, I am faced with the possibility of cutting out 5 pages with several possibilities for replacement. The problem is that the best of these options would need to be researched and drafted from scratch. We shall see what happens with that.

This morning I was reminded of that someone needs to write a handbook of coffee shop etiquette which would become required reading for anyone who wishes to bring a laptop with them and work on it. A project for after the dissertation is completed perhaps. In my considerable experience in Milwaukee coffee shops, Anodyne is one of the best places to go for just about any reason (caffeine, write-read, hanging out...). One major reason for this preference is that the people who tend to patronize this place understand the as of yet unwritten rules of decent coffee shop behaviour. That said, the jerk who blasted loud music without headphones for almost five minutes while apologizing but doing nothing to lower the volume was an unpleasant reminder that a lot of people lack manners and-or common sense in public situations. If he was going to do that, he should have known he'd be less annoying at the Colectivo down the road (it's a much bigger establishment, so it wouldn't have been so obvious). I know that sometimes the sound comes on louder than anticipated, but what's the point in apologizing for an extended period of time while doing nothing to correct the problem

Aftermath of Chapter 4 1st draft

You'd think that it would be a relief that I got a rough draft of the final full chapter done. But all I can do now is try to work out how long it's going to take me to revise chapter 1 (answer: quite a while), outline the conclusion (aka Chapter 5), and revise chapter 4 when I get it back from readers.  Will this never end?

I remember being told as an undergrad (or maybe was it high school?) that writing the introduction to a paper was the hard part. Not so with Chapter 4. The conclusion was the trouble spot. I think part of the problem is that I was getting tired and I didn't want to just cut-paste-and-thesuarus the introductory paragraphs of the chapter. I justified walking away from it by telling myself that the arguments might change a little bit in editing and revising, so it's ok to leave it for now.

I was reminded how dreadful it can be to go back and look at something that I wrote but haven't looked at in almost a year. Chapter 1 = ouch. I knew it was going to change significantly once 2-4 were mostly done, but still. I should have known from the scare I seem to have given my final reader with the amount of summarizing and periodic sentences used. I'll be happy if I get that all fixed up by Christmas.

With a Chapter 1 rewrite and the likely 2+ rounds of revision on Chapter 4 looming, my holiday season is once again going to be spent behind a computer and/or buried behind piles of library books. And this is the shortest holiday season that's possible. I'm defining 'holiday season' as Thanksgiving week-New Year's. As has been pointed out by newspeople, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas aka holiday shopping season is as short as it can be this year. At least most of my shopping was done by Oct.8, my last day in the UK.

Now to figure out when to draft and-or cut-paste that cofnerence paper together...

Back Home

Most people know this, but I've finally made it back to Milwaukee. Today and tomorrow will be spent getting myself back in order, and on Monday it'll be back to Marquette to continue getting myself back together. One of the major things I need to do is re-gather my library books. This time though I'm going to try to stick to only the ones I'm currently working with. We shall see how that goes.

It's hard to believe that I've been gone nearly half of the semester. It feels like I've missed out on so many things going on on campus, and around town in general.  For example, I walked into Anodyne this morning (one of my favorite places to read-write) and it looks half empty because they have moved the roaster and equipment over to the new store already. I knew this was going on, but it looks so different. Likewise, when I got back to my apartment yesterday, I discovered that the management had redecorated the entryway with new carpet and a new color on the walls. It took me a minute to realize why things looked different. This I did not know was going to be done while I was away.

Don't get me wrong, I had a great time in the UK, and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to spend that time in the manuscript libraries. However, back in the real world, I'm going to have to spend time doing paperwork, catching up on meetings, putting together a conference paper, going back to the gym (any bets on if I can still walk on Tuesday?), and finding out what everyone's been up to in my absence. Then there's the real work of trying to come up with an argument out of the 100s of photos and entire notebooks of notes, not to mention researching any ideas that come from said notes and pictures. 

Now for a few random observations generally regarding culture shock:

1) I have no idea when the last time was that I have gone 5 weeks without tv. There was a physical tv in my London studio, but as previously mentioned the only station it got was "security camera in stairwell and hallway". I have missed several episodes of shows that I like, and now I have to figure out how to catch up. On the other hand, I might still have to follow the YouTube channel I discovered staring Sylvester the Talking Cat.  I recommend it (not for kids though, since the kitty likes to curse). A time or two on the drive home yesterday, when about to be stuck in traffic or behind stupid drivers, I caught myself thinking in Sylvester's voice "Fuuuu**!". And yes, I do tend to curse in my head, a lot more than I do out loud.

2) Food. I had none in the fridge. This was intentional; I cleaned out the fridge before I left. Now though, I have to restock, and the realization that I now have access to some things I missed (most anything by Morning Star Farms for example), and I will be missing things that I could get there (Irn-Bru for example).

3) Computer stuff. I used Mom's computer while in London (Thanks Mom!). It had a European keyboard, so now I have to re-remember where the @ is, and that spell-check now needs to be payed slightly more attention. On the other hand, I no longer have to deal with Windows 8. That revision of the Windows platform is extremely irritating for a non-mobile device user. I have a smart-phone, but even so, I do not like Windows 8 on a computer, and I bet I wouldn't like it on its intended devices either.

This post is getting long, so I will conclude for now with this final note: I will  continue to chronicle scholarly and other endeavours here.  So once again, to be continued....

Last Post from the UK

Tomorrow morning I will be heading to the airport, and I should be back in the US mid-afternoon (local time). Yesterday (Tuesday) was the last day of research. I was back at the British Library Monday and yesterday to recheck a few things for some ideas I came up with. It's interesting that I was able to see everything on my list the first time I was at the library, but now one of them has a super special permission tag on it. It's possible that this particular book is undergoing repair or is being put into a display, but I wonder...

There was one time early on when I went to the desk to get a book, and the person who handed it over to me looked at the request slip and said that it was a little strange that the real book was out when there was a microfilm, but then they looked at the slip again and apparently the microfilm had gone missing. If someone found that microfilm, then I must have gotten really lucky because being able to see a manuscript that's been reproduced is far more difficult than getting to see one that hasn't, and microfilm is no fun to work with. This is especially true when the manuscript in question has unique qualities which this one does. It has some large and really creepy-interesting illustrations, and all the texts seem to concentrate on death.

Today I did some last touristy things. I went to the National Portrait Gallery to which I have never been, found the main BBC building (they have a life-sized TARDIS in there- pictures were taken), went to my favorite bubble tea place one last time, agonized over the weight of my suitcase and trying to get things to fit into my carry on (I really hope the cute felt hat I got doesn't get too squished), and of course one last dinner traditional British dinner at the local Kebabish. Fried food at its best-worst, depending on how you look at it. 

 

Short random thoughts that have little to do with scholarship

I saw these in a coffee shop in London:

I don't know about the 'new big thing' part. I would have tried them too, except that I am unwilling to pay approximately $7 for glorified pastry.

Instead, I ended up going to this place:

Random observation 1: I remember not liking Wine Gums candy last time I tried it. I must have been around 14 or so. I remember thinking they had a weird bitter aftertaste. I decided to try them again last week. They are in fact quite tasty, although they do not taste, as the name might suggest, like wine.

Random observation 2: Grown-up scholars are every bit as bad as students when it comes to habitual seats. In the reading rooms I was in multiple times, everyone seemed to take the same locker (mine were BL 575 and Oxford 10) and sit in roughly the place.

Cambridge and more

Today marked the last new library of the trip, Trinity College Library, Cambridge.

Cambridge in general is not particularly easy to navigate. It feels more canyon/maze-like than Oxford. I think the problem for me was that a lot of streets were only labeled on one end, and usually not the end which was where I was needing to access them.

I ended up going the wrong way a lot, and retracing steps a lot. If I hadn't been trying to make an appointment, it wouldn't have been too bad. For example, I went by here by mistake:

King's College

Finding the college library was harder than finding the university one though.

Here's the Cambridge University Library:

This is the path that leads to the CUL. Note that there is no signage. It is pretty though.

Also on the way to the CUL, and also not labeled.

I must have gone through and around the Trinity College area twice before a helpful stray kitty showed me that there was in fact a second square of the college, which was where the entrance to the library is. It was a very friendly kitty, possibly Siamese if there's a variety of the breed with all dark fur(?). Then I had to ask a person which of the various unlabeled doors was the library, since the sign that said 'Library' and pointed did not say which door, just which general direction to to head around the square. I finally made it half an hour after the library opened. The cool thing about the Wren Library (that's the Trinity College library) is that it still uses the classic old reading room for manuscript study. If I did have a picture of this, I wouldn't post it because it would have been illictly obtained. You can photograph manuscripts with permission, but there are signs outside the room saying 'No Photography'. It's possible this refers to tourists and not scholars, but still...

A final observation about Cambridge. This place has much more of a large town feel with a university off to one side, as opposed to Oxford which feels like it was a university first, then the town was built around it. For example, I never saw anything like this kind of vandalism at Oxford:

  

It's hard to tell in the photo, but the road sign says "Bat  man Road". If you look closely at the sign you can see that there was an 'e' that someone decided was not required.

Also present at Cambridge was a main street that did not run through the university. I think this most of all made Cambridge feel like less of a medieval university town, for which I forgive it exclusively on the basis of that main street containing:

That is not a coffee shop. Instead, it is the Ooshi Bubble Tea shop. One of the best so far in fact. It might even have an edge on Up...T in London because Ooshi had little bowls of flavored mochi on the tables (yes, this one actually has seating unlike many of the other bubble tea places).

Cambridge also has coffee shops. Here is the best one I tried:

It should not be overlooked simply because it shares a building with the Tourist Info office. It it actually quite good.

Tomorrow it will be back to an old haunt, the British Library, where I will review some things that I wasn't able to get to before. It's hard to believe there's less than a week left before I'll be home.

 

The non-academic side of Oxford week

 A week ago Thursday, the building handy guy came in to check on the freezer, which has not been functional since I got here. He fixed that. Celebratory purchase was as follows:

Seriously, these are possibly one of the best things sold in the UK and Ireland.

Anyways, back to the handy guy. One of the other people in the building was having trouble with her heat, so he 'fixed' ours too. Meaning that he turned it on high, and left, saying he'd be back tomorrow. He did not return (to my knowledge) until this past Wednesday. In the intervening week, the heat was on full blast, and it was in the upper 60s and lower 70s most of time. This was not pleasant. At all.

Moving on, today (Saturday) was another 'requisite tourist stuff day'.

A big museum. The British Museum, which contains (among other things),

this really big rock with writing on it.  AKA the Rosetta Stone.

 

and this Egyptian statue of a kitty. Because there had to be a kitty picture.

Next,

 This is a large clock, and to prove I was there as well, me with said big clock.

Nearby, there is a large wheel:

I'm pretty sure there's some kind of unwritten law that when you come to London, you must take a picture of-with this big statue:

Trafalgar

This next one I didn't plan on, but since I passed it:

This next series I also did not plan. I will preface it by saying that what follows did clear up my confusion as to why a group of people around the corner from this 'street festival' were wearing MN Viking apparel:

Interestingly, I saw no Steelers apparel until I found this main area. Vikings fans however seemed to have found some of the local pubs.

And here I though I was only going to get (American) football stuff on Facebook. Silly me.

End of week at Oxford

Things I learned while working with the Oxford Bodleian collection:

1) Temporary locations are not fun. The basement of the science library was freezing as one might expect from a science building and a basement. I fought it for 4 days, but I finally caught a cold. I blame the temporary reading room for this.
I did get to go to the old Duke Humphries Special Collections Reading Room, at least to look inside.It's a good thing this had to wait until Friday. This place is so cool looking, but of course they don't allow photography in there. Knowing that not too long ago, I could have actually worked in there would have really put me off researching in the basement of the science library (which I should mention is actually called the 'Radcliffe' not 'Ratcliff' as I may have called it previously).

If you want to know what this incredible library looks like, go watch (or rewatch) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and pay attention to the scene in which Harry and co. invade the Hogwarts library 'Restricted Section' with the Invisibility cloak. Guess where that was filmed.

2) Being able to use a camera really changes the way you work with the manuscripts. My notes aren't nearly as extensive as the ones for the British Library. The possible problem (which I dearly hope I have avoided) would then be that you can't figure out which picture refers to which part of the notes. Every evening I went through the pictures from the day and labeled them by manuscript and page reference.

3) Technology will always be problematic. Case in point: my camera decided that it felt its battery was dead, when in fact it was at approximately 45%. I had just finished photographing the last set of pages, but still had some of other parts of the last manuscript I wanted to record when the camera shut down on me. I took more notes anyways, and when I got home to charge it, discovered that the camera still had charge. Maybe it was sick of taking pictures of old books. I maintain that technology is developing some degree of sentience.

While in Oxford, I made sure to explore a little.

Part 1: The coffee shops. I like to work in coffee shops. As such I wanted to try as many of the local ones as I could.

The best coffee shop in Oxford:

Not 'probably', 'really'.

The second best:

The third best is a little cart near one of the really old little buildings near the end of Broad Street. I didn't get a picture, and I don't remember the name. My bad,

The fourth best:

Wishful thinking.

And the last (in part due to the higher price and later opening time, neither of which please me):

As these last two places might suggest, Oxford is quite proud of its history. I should have expected this but towards the end of the week, there were people running around in academic robes as everyday-wear. Just for reference, the official Oxford term doesn't start for another two weeks, so I'm guessing these people are post-graduates (ie- graduate) students back early to get a  start on their own stuff.

I also saw a couple of little kids (maybe around 10 or so) running down the street just outside of the university wearing similar robes. They appeared to be trying to avoid being tardy to their school, and I really wish I hadn't been on a bus going in the opposite direction at the time, because that would have made an adorable picture.

And now, because I could (and clearly did):

In case you can't read the building's name, this is the Oxford University Press building (part of it anyways, the complex actually takes up most of the block).

And last but not least, some obligatory tourist photography:

Next week, it's on to Cambridge. But before that, two final pictures. One a bookstore, and two one of the more awesome things it sells.