Why I love Oxford

Ok, so, of course the actual University is exciting and fun in many ways. Still, to be absolutely honest, I love Oxford because sometimes I can get completely overwhelmed by a feeling of intellectual inspiration. I'm sure intellectual inspiration could happen to me at most universities, but I doubt it could happen with the intensity it does here. As inspiring as the institution of Oxford can be, what leaves me feeling all tingly, excited, and like I could eat, sleep, and breathe early modern poverty every day for the next, well, forever, is not the institution, but the people who are here. In particular, I'm extremely fortunate that another DPhil student is currently studying early modern English poverty. Consequently, any time he and I have a chat, I walk away from it energized and nearly bursting with thoughts of enquiry and analysis on my topic. Brainstorming is always beneficial and happens in every university around the world, but I've never been in a position to talk about my topic with someone who is working in the same specifically-general (what a term! ;)) area. The results can be astounding sometimes, and it makes me realize why Oxford really is one of the best places I could be for the research I am doing.

On another interesting note, I went to the 18th century English history seminar tonight and the speaker never showed up. I hope the person is alright, but can you imagine not showing up for a presentation at Oxford? Yikes! After waiting for 15 minutes or so, one of the conveners decided to have each of us share what new or existing themes in history we thought should be the focus of future work. Sort of a "where should the future of history go?" round-robin discussion. It was quite interesting. Some of the varied answers included more research on aging, international studies, inter-disciplinary research, and broadening our concept of what "sources" can be used for historical research. Of course, I suggested more internal study and comparison within generalized social groups. The seminar only lasted for about 40 minutes, but it was very intriguing to hear what everyone had to say. Definitely a nice change of pace.