I've finally moved into Holywell Manor, and started my life as a graduate student at Balliol. "Started", here, should strictly be taken to mean "vaguely acknowledged by the university", as I don't have access to my email account, wireless, the internet in my room, a supervisor or anything else bar the library (haven't tried to take any books out yet)... very helpful.
More than just being in academic limbo I've in personal limbo as well, since all my stuff only arrived today (4 days late) after arriving here a full week too early 1and being left in the Manor entrance for 3 days until %$&#ing UPS picked it up again, sent back up to St Andrews then back again, and finally arriving in a very battered state. I have yet to unpack, but I'm half-afraid to discover what state my printer, espresso machine and crockery will all be in.
But things are starting to fall in place. I've got my brand new bod-card (basically the university card), with a recent (unflatteringly stretched and low resolution) mug shot on it. I managed to score a free bike (yes, legally, I guess it was my lucky day), as well as figure out where I could get decent and cheap cooked food (namely down the road, in Linacre. And hopefully will all be unpacked, settled in, hooked up and ready to go.
That's all for now. I'll post some updates when I can. Remember: for a steady flow of vaguely coherent blogging on my part, don't forget to check out my twitter feed. Be seeing you!
Showing posts with label Academic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Academic. Show all posts
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Quick on the fly update
Haven't updated this blog in a while (7 months, to be precise). Loads of deadlines these days, and exams just around the corner, so while my usual self it urging me to procrastinate by doing activities such as this, my rational self knows a bit of self-moderation. In a stunning compromise, I'll settle for posting a quick and dirty update:
- Finishing up Philosophy MLitt. I've been working on mathematical logic and Gödel, and on anti-logicism in philosophy of mathematics. Have also been writing on Qualia (oh joy), which is destroying my mind (and wasting my time, as well as everyone else's, probably). I'll be writing my dissertation over the summer on the topic of revising Poincaré's petitio argument, and linking it to contemporary work in the "mathematics first" school of thought. How Quinean of me...
- I got accepted to Oxford next year, to read Computing at Balliol for at least a year (ending in a MSc). Quite excited about it, although it'll certainly be a different kind of work than what I'm doing now. I don't mind if there's more of it, as long as it's less taxing (and less frustrating, at least part of the time) than what I'm doing now. Also looking forward to being slightly more employable at the end of it.
- Going to the US for a a week, this summer, and also spending a combined total of two weeks in Paris (across two trips) and a week in Geneva for a Metaphysics conference (with, amongst the speakers, Crispin Wright, Kit Fine, Stephen Yablo). Will most definitely be fun, despite my slight aversion to metaphysics.
PS. Have updated my philosophy blog too, and plan on updating it a bit more over the summer. Keep checking it (or use RSS) if you're interested.
If you're stalking me, or simply are just that Web 2.0, I'm also posting on twitter now. Will be happy to follow your feed if I know you.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
On teaching English
I suppose it wouldn't be much a blog record of my time teaching in Japan if I didn't talk about the teaching a bit yet. In a nutshell, it's a fairly straightforward an easy job. I'm teaching Junior High, that's grades 7-8 (making the average age around 14-15ish, I guess). I teach five days a week, three 45 minute sessions a day (yeah, that's all) although I need to be at work from 9am (and start teaching at 9.30am) to roundabouts 3pm (although I typically get there around 8am-ish – don't ask why), and must eat lunch with the lovely bambinos. So all in all it breaks down to about 2h15 teaching, 2h30 break (including 1h30 where I don't need to supervise anyone or anything), and if you throw in the 15 minutes homeroom at the beginning and end of the day, and all the 5 minute breaks between classes, and the 30 minutes of prep and briefing at the beginning of the day, it all rounds up to a healthy 6 hours of "work". Effectively, preparing a day's worth of activities take 30 minutes, and out of the 135 minutes of teaching, I'm only talking for about 20-30 minutes and the rest is supervising assistants and group activities, so it's about an hour of what I'd actually call "work" per day. With a salary of ¥75,500 a week, that technically works out to the rate of a salary of ¥15,100 (about $150 or £75) per hour of honest work. If I wasn't such a nut for crazy academic topics, so bad at Japanese, and inapt (and rather unwilling) at fitting into a rigorous and formal society like that of Japan, I could totally see myself doing this sort of thing full time (that's a damn big 'if' though, so fat chance...).
The teaching itself is fun. The programme is more based on principles of encouraging English conversation and immersion into the language, rather than juku-like cramming for tests, so essentially I simply need to put the kids into a context where they can make conversation with one another (as well as with the assistants and me), and teach them some new vocabulary and sentence structures. Typically, this will involve demonstrating a model conversation or two between the assistants, then have the students ask each other questions based on the topic, and/or form original conversations of their own based on the vocabulary and sentence structure presented in the model conversation. Other activities include more action based activities (i.e. there's a cool sheet of weird challenges such as "Can you say 'thank you' in four languages?" or "Can you roll your tongue?", and the kids – having been introduced to the vocabulary, and well as expressions for asking someone to do something – must go around the school and harass the staff to have them perform the action for them and whatnot), a few short stories with question-and-answer sessions, and typically the day is wrapped up with a language-training board-game of sorts that either introduces some new vocabulary, or helps them revise the topical vocabulary covered during earlier sessions. To make all this even easier, I have an extremely small class (compared to previous years), with just eight kids for two assistants (and myself).
The true "challenge" is keeping everyone entertained and happy (I'm working for a commercial programme, after all – they want happy students, aka "potential future returnees"). It's always difficult to gauge how good some of the students are, since they're all fairly shy at first blush (pun intended) – a mix of being Japanese and, more importantly, being teenagers. Some of them have only been studying English at school for a few months, while others have either lived abroad, or been doing Eiken (this programme) for a few years, or had private English tuition or classes for few years. Fortunately, after a day or two (or, with this week's group, after about an hour), the ice is broken and (much) conversation ensues, making it easier to evaluate individual levels of comfort with the ol' English.
The kids also have 45 minutes of music class (in English), as well as sports (ditto). We have lunch with them, which is a great time for them to plague you with indiscreet questions about just about anything. Apparently, being French and American is sufficient for me to be qualified as a "hafu" (literally short for "half-breed"... ain't Japan great?). I thought the term was reserved for people that are genuinely of mixed ethnicity (I mean, you can't exactly call American a well-defined monolithic cultural heritage, being quite a melting-pot of ethnic groups). So far, I've managed to dodge the questions about my age, which may be the cause for some surprise for them. Some of the assistants thought I was in my mid-to-late 20s, which is a bit depressing (well, not that much, but ouch nonetheless).
Anyway, today (Tuesday) will be the 2nd day of my 2nd week of teaching. Still a bit under two weeks of teaching at ISSH to go, and then it's off to god-knows-where for a four-day summer-camp-type-thing, followed by a week of laid-back tourism around Tokyo. Maybe I'll finally get a chance to climb Mt. Fuji. Screw it... maybe I'll simply get a chance to finally see Mt. Fuji. Who knows?
The teaching itself is fun. The programme is more based on principles of encouraging English conversation and immersion into the language, rather than juku-like cramming for tests, so essentially I simply need to put the kids into a context where they can make conversation with one another (as well as with the assistants and me), and teach them some new vocabulary and sentence structures. Typically, this will involve demonstrating a model conversation or two between the assistants, then have the students ask each other questions based on the topic, and/or form original conversations of their own based on the vocabulary and sentence structure presented in the model conversation. Other activities include more action based activities (i.e. there's a cool sheet of weird challenges such as "Can you say 'thank you' in four languages?" or "Can you roll your tongue?", and the kids – having been introduced to the vocabulary, and well as expressions for asking someone to do something – must go around the school and harass the staff to have them perform the action for them and whatnot), a few short stories with question-and-answer sessions, and typically the day is wrapped up with a language-training board-game of sorts that either introduces some new vocabulary, or helps them revise the topical vocabulary covered during earlier sessions. To make all this even easier, I have an extremely small class (compared to previous years), with just eight kids for two assistants (and myself).
The true "challenge" is keeping everyone entertained and happy (I'm working for a commercial programme, after all – they want happy students, aka "potential future returnees"). It's always difficult to gauge how good some of the students are, since they're all fairly shy at first blush (pun intended) – a mix of being Japanese and, more importantly, being teenagers. Some of them have only been studying English at school for a few months, while others have either lived abroad, or been doing Eiken (this programme) for a few years, or had private English tuition or classes for few years. Fortunately, after a day or two (or, with this week's group, after about an hour), the ice is broken and (much) conversation ensues, making it easier to evaluate individual levels of comfort with the ol' English.
The kids also have 45 minutes of music class (in English), as well as sports (ditto). We have lunch with them, which is a great time for them to plague you with indiscreet questions about just about anything. Apparently, being French and American is sufficient for me to be qualified as a "hafu" (literally short for "half-breed"... ain't Japan great?). I thought the term was reserved for people that are genuinely of mixed ethnicity (I mean, you can't exactly call American a well-defined monolithic cultural heritage, being quite a melting-pot of ethnic groups). So far, I've managed to dodge the questions about my age, which may be the cause for some surprise for them. Some of the assistants thought I was in my mid-to-late 20s, which is a bit depressing (well, not that much, but ouch nonetheless).
Anyway, today (Tuesday) will be the 2nd day of my 2nd week of teaching. Still a bit under two weeks of teaching at ISSH to go, and then it's off to god-knows-where for a four-day summer-camp-type-thing, followed by a week of laid-back tourism around Tokyo. Maybe I'll finally get a chance to climb Mt. Fuji. Screw it... maybe I'll simply get a chance to finally see Mt. Fuji. Who knows?
Friday, July 20, 2007
A quick write-up on graduation
Graduation, this past Tuesday, was an interesting experience. On one hand, the idea of having to come back to Sheffield in the middle of summer, to sit for two hours watching people go up and shake the vice-chancellor's hand, just to do it myself and be on stage for a few brief seconds, did not seem very appealing. On the other hand, the pleasure of seeing a few friends (perhaps for the last time), and of wearing a rather dashing outfit, did contribute to brightening up the day a little.
It was a rather uneventful (in a good way) day: I got up early, put on my suit, accompanied my father to a talk in Information Retrieval in the medical world, which was fairly interesting (since the publication process and information sharing infrastructure is similar in some ways to that present in philosophy, although far more formalised). After that, I went to get robed (well, essentially just get my hood and mortarboard, since I already had my gown), had a quick lunch, attended a short tea-party at the physics department (where the head of department repeated the same speech – nearly word-for-word – that he gave at the end-of-year tea party, with a bit added to congratulate the parents present for their support), and went on to the ceremony.
The graduation ceremony itself was quite agreeable. The hall was suitably air-conditioned (otherwise, it would have been simply unbearably for those of use wearing suits and gowns), and the event was very well organised and run (the marshals were especially efficient). It was amusing to see the bigwigs of the university dressed in colourful medieval wear, marching up the aisle to the tune of organ music. One by one, students were invited up to the platform, their name was read out, and they would cross shake the vice-chancellor's hand and collect their diploma/certificate. For those receiving awards and/or first-class degrees, the vice-chancellor would shake their hand a bit longer, and a few inaudible (from the audience's point of view) words would be exchanged. When my turn came, my name was called out, and I crossed the platform. The vice-chancellor shook my hand, and congratulated me for successfully achieving first-class honours on a bachelor of science in physics and philosophy, and asked me what I was going to do next. To this I replied that I was going to St Andrews to read towards a M.Litt in Philosophy, at which point he congratulated me once more, and wished me the best of luck. Following this, I collected my certificate, and enjoyed the rest of the ceremony. Horrendously exciting stuff, eh?
Anyway, it was quite the experience. The day was followed by an evening of poker, during which I managed to lose a measly five pounds. And the next day, it was off the Japan. Whew!
Below are a few photos of the day...
Here's me, looking suave in the gown (what a poser).
After being robed, outside the union.
Talking to Sarah and Will (perhaps for the last time, although hopefully not).
During the physics departmental tea party, in the first year lab. To think, only three years ago we were being greeted here.
And now, a short video segment of my time on stage...
That's it!
It was a rather uneventful (in a good way) day: I got up early, put on my suit, accompanied my father to a talk in Information Retrieval in the medical world, which was fairly interesting (since the publication process and information sharing infrastructure is similar in some ways to that present in philosophy, although far more formalised). After that, I went to get robed (well, essentially just get my hood and mortarboard, since I already had my gown), had a quick lunch, attended a short tea-party at the physics department (where the head of department repeated the same speech – nearly word-for-word – that he gave at the end-of-year tea party, with a bit added to congratulate the parents present for their support), and went on to the ceremony.
The graduation ceremony itself was quite agreeable. The hall was suitably air-conditioned (otherwise, it would have been simply unbearably for those of use wearing suits and gowns), and the event was very well organised and run (the marshals were especially efficient). It was amusing to see the bigwigs of the university dressed in colourful medieval wear, marching up the aisle to the tune of organ music. One by one, students were invited up to the platform, their name was read out, and they would cross shake the vice-chancellor's hand and collect their diploma/certificate. For those receiving awards and/or first-class degrees, the vice-chancellor would shake their hand a bit longer, and a few inaudible (from the audience's point of view) words would be exchanged. When my turn came, my name was called out, and I crossed the platform. The vice-chancellor shook my hand, and congratulated me for successfully achieving first-class honours on a bachelor of science in physics and philosophy, and asked me what I was going to do next. To this I replied that I was going to St Andrews to read towards a M.Litt in Philosophy, at which point he congratulated me once more, and wished me the best of luck. Following this, I collected my certificate, and enjoyed the rest of the ceremony. Horrendously exciting stuff, eh?
Anyway, it was quite the experience. The day was followed by an evening of poker, during which I managed to lose a measly five pounds. And the next day, it was off the Japan. Whew!
Below are a few photos of the day...
Here's me, looking suave in the gown (what a poser).
After being robed, outside the union.
Talking to Sarah and Will (perhaps for the last time, although hopefully not).
During the physics departmental tea party, in the first year lab. To think, only three years ago we were being greeted here.And now, a short video segment of my time on stage...
That's it!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Take that, Gauss!
I wrote the last few lines of physics equations of my life (presuming I don't go back into some scientific field after postgrad in philosophy), less than two hours ago. Weird...
A damn good last few lines, too! It was probably the best exam I've written in the past few years (or almost), which definitely makes up for the rubbish problem solving exam we had yesterday (then again, since everyone seems to have done rather poorly, hopefully they're moderate it up a bit). Now to finish my dissertation on quasi-realism, and revise a bit of logic, and I'm done with the undergrad life!
A damn good last few lines, too! It was probably the best exam I've written in the past few years (or almost), which definitely makes up for the rubbish problem solving exam we had yesterday (then again, since everyone seems to have done rather poorly, hopefully they're moderate it up a bit). Now to finish my dissertation on quasi-realism, and revise a bit of logic, and I'm done with the undergrad life!
Saturday, May 05, 2007
The ol' clock is ticking
Woah. There's a week of lectures left or rather, roughly two days of lectures left. Then it's over, finis, etc. The whole undergraduate life...
That's pretty messed up: I'm too young to be accountable! Oh wait... there's always postgrad. But christ, three years sure do fly. I'm struggling to remember what exactly I learned. It's a bit like a patchwork of physics and philosophy, with a vague thread making the two halves internally consistent, and an even vaguer (read: quasi-non-existent) one connecting them. There's a very tangible difference in skill and width of reading when I talk to my single-honours peers, with a few possible exceptions of dual-honours who are simply exceptionally smart hard-workers (you know who you are), so it's becoming quite clear that next year is going to be quite a mission. Fortunately, I have a "fairly" good handle (read: by local standards - I'm not sure that says much) on some of the more technical stuff, so I ought to be able to stay on top of things through specialisation. But gone are the days where I could freely read Nietzsche and Sartre and Machiavelli (well, I probably still would have time to do that, but I plan on doing something a bit more relaxing with my free time)...
Anyway, it's not quite over yet. Three exams and a dissertation deadline in the space of seven days (or a week and half, depending on when you start counting), in under three weeks time. Time to get to work!
That's pretty messed up: I'm too young to be accountable! Oh wait... there's always postgrad. But christ, three years sure do fly. I'm struggling to remember what exactly I learned. It's a bit like a patchwork of physics and philosophy, with a vague thread making the two halves internally consistent, and an even vaguer (read: quasi-non-existent) one connecting them. There's a very tangible difference in skill and width of reading when I talk to my single-honours peers, with a few possible exceptions of dual-honours who are simply exceptionally smart hard-workers (you know who you are), so it's becoming quite clear that next year is going to be quite a mission. Fortunately, I have a "fairly" good handle (read: by local standards - I'm not sure that says much) on some of the more technical stuff, so I ought to be able to stay on top of things through specialisation. But gone are the days where I could freely read Nietzsche and Sartre and Machiavelli (well, I probably still would have time to do that, but I plan on doing something a bit more relaxing with my free time)...
Anyway, it's not quite over yet. Three exams and a dissertation deadline in the space of seven days (or a week and half, depending on when you start counting), in under three weeks time. Time to get to work!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Attitude
After tomorrow, 5pm, if ANYONE ever mentions superstrings to me again (especially a non-physicist, but you crazy physicists take note as well) I swear I will beat the living daylight out of them.
*grmbl* Goddamn essay...
Goddamn word count...
Update: I've been in the library since 9 am. I've had a total of 90 minutes of breaks. Meaning I've spent 10 hours in the library. Now after loads of editing, rewriting, and chopping entire sections out of my paper, I now have about 500 words to cram in subsections about string theories and gravity, and some stuff about current research (maybe). Christ... I haven't even mentioned gauge-symmetry. This is such a crap essay...
Hours of reading, pages and pages of notes, and I still don't feel like I even vaguely understand what the hell this theory is about. The only reassuring thing is: neither do most of the people writing these papers, apparently.
I bet this essay topic was the lecturer's little sick joke to play on students.
*grmbl* Goddamn essay...
Goddamn word count...
Update: I've been in the library since 9 am. I've had a total of 90 minutes of breaks. Meaning I've spent 10 hours in the library. Now after loads of editing, rewriting, and chopping entire sections out of my paper, I now have about 500 words to cram in subsections about string theories and gravity, and some stuff about current research (maybe). Christ... I haven't even mentioned gauge-symmetry. This is such a crap essay...
Hours of reading, pages and pages of notes, and I still don't feel like I even vaguely understand what the hell this theory is about. The only reassuring thing is: neither do most of the people writing these papers, apparently.
I bet this essay topic was the lecturer's little sick joke to play on students.
Brrrrrrr....
I find myself in an interesting situation. I came down to university this morning when the sun was out and the weather warm, wearing only a shirt and my trusty shades (yes, and pants, shoes, etc...), not really thinking ahead. It is now nearing 1.30am, it is dark out, and it is considerably colder than when I walked down this morning. The prospect of a 30 minute uphill walk in the dark, in the cold, is therefore not a very pleasant one. To make things interesting, I'm also torn between being reasonable and going home to get some sleep (and perhaps even make it to my 10am problem solving class tomorrow morning), so I can do some solid work tomorrow and wrap up this goddamn physics essay, on one hand, and the temptation to continue my caffeine fuelled procrastination binge in the Information Commons on the other... (in the hope that I might scrape a few more relevant paragraphs in). Either way, making good progress... should be able to finish this up tomorrow evening, leaving Friday morning for proof-reading and whatnot (bonus... got me a few more items to stick on the ol' bibliography).
In other news, why the hell do they have showers in a library? Showers and comfy sofas... maybe I can sleep here.
EDIT: Solution... take a cab.
In other news, why the hell do they have showers in a library? Showers and comfy sofas... maybe I can sleep here.
EDIT: Solution... take a cab.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
You come to expect these things
It's funny how you're often less inclined to notice these little (and sometimes big) changes which make life different/easier/better, in some way or other, when they affect you, but cannot help but notice them when they are to be granted to others than you. In my case, the last few days are a double-whammy...
Beginning with the more recent event: during the departmental teaching committee today, the department announced the creation of third year project modules, which are research-only, starting next year (following the example of similar modules offered at the University of Birmingham). Some of the proposed topics are very interesting, and it's definitely the sort of stuff I would have been into. Then again, I'm not complaining about my current courses, which I'm very pleased with.
Further back, now (read: two or three days): the Information Commons (the new library/study centre for the University of Sheffield) opened recently, and I discovered it yesterday. It had been under construction for quite some time (read: a bit over one year), and as it began growing out of the grown like some postmodern concrete flower, over the past few months, I couldn't help but think it was going to end up being fairly rubbish (and to be frank, if you saw it from the outside now it's finished, you'd probably have the same intuition). However I was quite wrong. The interior simply rocks. It's luminous, spacious, well laid out. There are individual desk lamps and plugs on all the desks (which are quite large), there's a huge silent study room which is actually acoustically divided from the rest of the building (unlike the old library), and there are more digital screens and computers than you could shake a USB stick at. I've been using it for 72 hours, and I can't help but feeling (very slightly more) productive (than usual... which isn't much). So since I have a healthy amount of work to go through before the end of the semester (and indeed before friday... aaargh damn essay on superstrings), I have a feeling I'll like it here. Best of all, it's open 24/7, which is fantastic (what sort of library doesn't cater to the late-owl types who do their best work between midnight and 3am?).
Anywho, it's a bit of a shame to leave all this behind in September. Then again, I can't say I'll shed a tear for the rest of the city, and I presume St Andrews will be quite nice, both aesthetically and academically. So really, I can't complain (but I will anyway, being part french).
Beginning with the more recent event: during the departmental teaching committee today, the department announced the creation of third year project modules, which are research-only, starting next year (following the example of similar modules offered at the University of Birmingham). Some of the proposed topics are very interesting, and it's definitely the sort of stuff I would have been into. Then again, I'm not complaining about my current courses, which I'm very pleased with.
Further back, now (read: two or three days): the Information Commons (the new library/study centre for the University of Sheffield) opened recently, and I discovered it yesterday. It had been under construction for quite some time (read: a bit over one year), and as it began growing out of the grown like some postmodern concrete flower, over the past few months, I couldn't help but think it was going to end up being fairly rubbish (and to be frank, if you saw it from the outside now it's finished, you'd probably have the same intuition). However I was quite wrong. The interior simply rocks. It's luminous, spacious, well laid out. There are individual desk lamps and plugs on all the desks (which are quite large), there's a huge silent study room which is actually acoustically divided from the rest of the building (unlike the old library), and there are more digital screens and computers than you could shake a USB stick at. I've been using it for 72 hours, and I can't help but feeling (very slightly more) productive (than usual... which isn't much). So since I have a healthy amount of work to go through before the end of the semester (and indeed before friday... aaargh damn essay on superstrings), I have a feeling I'll like it here. Best of all, it's open 24/7, which is fantastic (what sort of library doesn't cater to the late-owl types who do their best work between midnight and 3am?).
Anywho, it's a bit of a shame to leave all this behind in September. Then again, I can't say I'll shed a tear for the rest of the city, and I presume St Andrews will be quite nice, both aesthetically and academically. So really, I can't complain (but I will anyway, being part french).
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Conferences, Journals and Whatnot
The upcoming BUPS conference I'm organising (thanks to a very helpful committee) won't be our biggest one yet, but it should be fun nonetheless. It was perhaps one of the more stressful ones to run, as it involves more personal preparation than the past ones since I'm writing the part of the skills talks (something I don't really feel qualified for, which is why they'll be more about general methodological concerns, which I hope will be helpful), and because this time of year is historically (i.e. from experience of the past years) a very busy time of year, and therefore not the best time to attract loads of people. It's also a time of year where I have a lot on my plate as well... Therefore I'm really looking forward to the conference itself (and the organisational break afterwards). Nothing quite beats seeing effort pay off (let's hope it does).
It's also an important turning point, as it's the last 'big' conference I'll be organising. All that's left after this is a summer conference, which will be a day conference, and an essay competition to run, followed by the annual conference, the preparation of which will be the job of the next chair (and for which I will offer my help, but only as a 'consultant'). This means that my job as chair after this will principally involve preparing BUPS for the shift in management, and ensure that it will thrive next year (and the years to come – touch wood).
It's crazy how quickly this year (and all of university, as a matter of fact) has gone by, but it's nice to note that the optimism that I held about the now-over-two-years-old project that is the British Undergraduate Philosophy Society hasn't proved to be too naive. We've done some good, solid work this year, thanks to the toil of the committee, and ran an increased number of conferences, expanded membership, built the foundations for next year's committee, and several other things... The realisation that it's almost all over, along with undergraduate life as a whole, is a fairly strange feeling. I suppose all one can do at this point is hope that both the society and my academic life fare well in the coming year(s), and reflect back upon what I've gained from it.
These past seven months have been a bumpy ride, with moments of doubt, a few sleepless nights, and some really good times to balance things out. I don't think I would have expected things to get so complicated so quickly, a few years back. On the other hand, I'd be hard pressed to claim I regretted any of it: the organisational stress applied by the running of this society and its events, in conjunction with the workload of a third year, have been higher than what I've experienced in my life, but there is no doubt that the skills I've acquired along the way (in keeping track of so many factors, so many deadlines, and so much correspondence), and the mere fact that I've survived it all with my sanity and nerves left (mostly) untouched, are all in all quite a reward, and will come in useful during the next few years as I face increasingly higher workloads and pressure from the academic environment.
But more than all that, I now know that I can safely face the next person to tell me that philosophy is all about dawdling about, smoking joints, and asking "Why?", and kick him in the face.
Peace out.
It's also an important turning point, as it's the last 'big' conference I'll be organising. All that's left after this is a summer conference, which will be a day conference, and an essay competition to run, followed by the annual conference, the preparation of which will be the job of the next chair (and for which I will offer my help, but only as a 'consultant'). This means that my job as chair after this will principally involve preparing BUPS for the shift in management, and ensure that it will thrive next year (and the years to come – touch wood).
It's crazy how quickly this year (and all of university, as a matter of fact) has gone by, but it's nice to note that the optimism that I held about the now-over-two-years-old project that is the British Undergraduate Philosophy Society hasn't proved to be too naive. We've done some good, solid work this year, thanks to the toil of the committee, and ran an increased number of conferences, expanded membership, built the foundations for next year's committee, and several other things... The realisation that it's almost all over, along with undergraduate life as a whole, is a fairly strange feeling. I suppose all one can do at this point is hope that both the society and my academic life fare well in the coming year(s), and reflect back upon what I've gained from it.
These past seven months have been a bumpy ride, with moments of doubt, a few sleepless nights, and some really good times to balance things out. I don't think I would have expected things to get so complicated so quickly, a few years back. On the other hand, I'd be hard pressed to claim I regretted any of it: the organisational stress applied by the running of this society and its events, in conjunction with the workload of a third year, have been higher than what I've experienced in my life, but there is no doubt that the skills I've acquired along the way (in keeping track of so many factors, so many deadlines, and so much correspondence), and the mere fact that I've survived it all with my sanity and nerves left (mostly) untouched, are all in all quite a reward, and will come in useful during the next few years as I face increasingly higher workloads and pressure from the academic environment.
But more than all that, I now know that I can safely face the next person to tell me that philosophy is all about dawdling about, smoking joints, and asking "Why?", and kick him in the face.
Peace out.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
You wouldn't expect it...
I more or less recently ran into a charming display of 'absentmindedness' on the part of the type of person you'd least expect to write something so trivially wrong, or at least you'd think that he would ask someone to double-check the work in question before tagging his name on it.
Consider the following article: Writing Descartes: I Am, and I Can Think, Therefore ... by one Professor Paul Grobstein, Harvard grad, Harvard PhD, and impressive academic record in the field of biology. The man is clearly an intelligent fellow, and thus possibly the last person you'd expect to produce the following pearl of wisdom as an argument against Cartesian Skepticism (emphasis mine):
He then goes on to make some potentially interesting comments about scepticism, which unfortunately here stem from this initial assumption that 'Descartes got it wrong' (I don't argue that he didn't, but certainly not on these grounds). And while these comments are not necessarily without merit or value (were they to be made independently of talk about what Professor Grobstein thinks is Descartes' position), his initial critique of Descartes' cogito is horrendously wrong.
Consider the general form of a syllogism:
Premise 1: If P, then Q
Premise 2: P
Conclusion: Q
Now here's basically what Professor Grobstein believes Descartes' cogito to entail (and what he criticises):
Premise 1: If P, then Q
Premise 2: Not P
Conclusion: Not Q
Now, any ol' undergraduate having done a very basic introduction to logic will tell you that the logical statement 'P therefore Q' is false if and only if P is true while Q is false. This is to say that 'P therefore Q' is perfectly true if P is false, but Q is true. Professor Grobstein is thus committing a basic non-sequitur in claiming that 'P therefore Q' entails '(Not P) therefore (Not Q)'. It would be a valid entailment if Descartes had said something mapping to the logical statement 'P if and only if Q', but as Descartes did not in any way say "I think if and only if I am" (or vice-versa... it doesn't really matter), Professor Grobstein doesn't really have a leg to stand on for his argument.
It just goes to show: when shopping around for academic wisdom, caveat emptor.
Of course, this isn't exactly a published paper, just an open letter on his website. Still, it does not excuse the need for a bit of peer-review (I'm sure he could have nabbed a first year computer scientist, or a philosophy student), so as to avoid slightly embarrassing, simple mistakes such as this one.
To conclude, I do not wish to give the impression that I claim non-philosophers (and specifically scientists) should stay away from philosophy. If anything, one should encourage them to practise it. Nonetheless, if you're going to go up against a central, well-known position of philosophy (and by all means, please do!), at least make sure your argument doesn't fall apart because of some trivial misunderstanding of logic.
Consider the following article: Writing Descartes: I Am, and I Can Think, Therefore ... by one Professor Paul Grobstein, Harvard grad, Harvard PhD, and impressive academic record in the field of biology. The man is clearly an intelligent fellow, and thus possibly the last person you'd expect to produce the following pearl of wisdom as an argument against Cartesian Skepticism (emphasis mine):
Your phrase "I think, therefore I am" needs some correcting. I think I understand what you had in mind: the need to find a solid footing for ongoing inquiry. And I very much admire your posture of profound skepticism, with its associated reluctance to take not only "revealed truth" and authority but also logic and sense data as an assured starting point. It does seem to me though that you (or, more likely, others since you) took a good idea too far (as happened with your mind/body distinction, see Descartes' Error). Or, maybe, it wasn't taken far enough.
Here's the thing. Trees are. And they don't "think". So you can't have meant to say that things in general have to think in order to be. That would be contradicted by trees and other things (rocks, desks, etc) that you certainly knew about.
He then goes on to make some potentially interesting comments about scepticism, which unfortunately here stem from this initial assumption that 'Descartes got it wrong' (I don't argue that he didn't, but certainly not on these grounds). And while these comments are not necessarily without merit or value (were they to be made independently of talk about what Professor Grobstein thinks is Descartes' position), his initial critique of Descartes' cogito is horrendously wrong.
Consider the general form of a syllogism:
Premise 1: If P, then Q
Premise 2: P
Conclusion: Q
Now here's basically what Professor Grobstein believes Descartes' cogito to entail (and what he criticises):
Premise 1: If P, then Q
Premise 2: Not P
Conclusion: Not Q
Now, any ol' undergraduate having done a very basic introduction to logic will tell you that the logical statement 'P therefore Q' is false if and only if P is true while Q is false. This is to say that 'P therefore Q' is perfectly true if P is false, but Q is true. Professor Grobstein is thus committing a basic non-sequitur in claiming that 'P therefore Q' entails '(Not P) therefore (Not Q)'. It would be a valid entailment if Descartes had said something mapping to the logical statement 'P if and only if Q', but as Descartes did not in any way say "I think if and only if I am" (or vice-versa... it doesn't really matter), Professor Grobstein doesn't really have a leg to stand on for his argument.
It just goes to show: when shopping around for academic wisdom, caveat emptor.
Of course, this isn't exactly a published paper, just an open letter on his website. Still, it does not excuse the need for a bit of peer-review (I'm sure he could have nabbed a first year computer scientist, or a philosophy student), so as to avoid slightly embarrassing, simple mistakes such as this one.
To conclude, I do not wish to give the impression that I claim non-philosophers (and specifically scientists) should stay away from philosophy. If anything, one should encourage them to practise it. Nonetheless, if you're going to go up against a central, well-known position of philosophy (and by all means, please do!), at least make sure your argument doesn't fall apart because of some trivial misunderstanding of logic.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
My Bonnie lies over the ocean
I got my offer from St Andrews today, to study for a M.Litt in philosophy. Had some champagne to celebrate the fact that I'm moving to the middle of nowhere, where it'll surely be even rainier and colder than it is here...
... but somehow I'm very happy about it.
... but somehow I'm very happy about it.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
A matter of qualification
I believe a defining characteristic one must possess to enter the academic world is a certain type of organisational insanity. It's not the sort that's necessarily socially noticeable (although in some cases, like maths professors walking around with a trout tied to their hats, it definitely is hard to miss), but rather of the sort that pops up in conversation. To word it more precisely, I believe it is the ability to be lost in a tangent, be it conversational or conceptual (as applied to vestimentary taste, in the case of the fish-donning mathematician), and to actually forget how one got there in the first place.
I'd like to clarify that I am not just positing this for kicks: it is a thesis derived from empirical observation (try it yourself: you just need to have a 40+ minute conversation with a professor). Furthermore, it seems to increase with age (I assume this is because it is a decay which begins the day one gets one's PhD/DPhil, and things go downhill from there).
Perhaps there is some evolutionary justification for the maintenance society provides for this ever-continuing loop of folly, from thesis to teaching to training the tangential tricksters of tomorrow (couldn't resist)... Perhaps there is something you can only find, you can only discover while on a tangent...
This may seem a spurious claim to you, but if so: you obviously haven't had the (dis)pleasure of going through Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. A word of warning if you do decide to walk down this path, though: Remember to change the trout ever so often.
I'd like to clarify that I am not just positing this for kicks: it is a thesis derived from empirical observation (try it yourself: you just need to have a 40+ minute conversation with a professor). Furthermore, it seems to increase with age (I assume this is because it is a decay which begins the day one gets one's PhD/DPhil, and things go downhill from there).
Perhaps there is some evolutionary justification for the maintenance society provides for this ever-continuing loop of folly, from thesis to teaching to training the tangential tricksters of tomorrow (couldn't resist)... Perhaps there is something you can only find, you can only discover while on a tangent...
This may seem a spurious claim to you, but if so: you obviously haven't had the (dis)pleasure of going through Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. A word of warning if you do decide to walk down this path, though: Remember to change the trout ever so often.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Christmas (philosophical) jam in St Catz!
If you read this blog, are into philosophy and have some free time on the weekend of friday 15th to sunday 17th december, and of course live (or can travel to) the UK, I strongly recommend that you come down to the British Undergraduate Philosophy Society's 2006 Winter Conference, which will be held at the gorgeous St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and the the keynote speaker will be Cambridge's own Professor Simon Blackburn.
The amazing part is that this conference will cost the delegate approximately the same price the BUPC registration costs, despite the fact that most Oxbridge colleges were asking for at least the double. This is thanks to the generosity of St Catz (and the fantastic cooperation of its Junior Bursar, Stuart McLellan). So hopefully we'll manage to find enough delegates and authors across the UK to make this conference worth the place it's being held in (although I have little doubt it will be).
Anywhooo, if you're interested, check out the Call for papers. Don't hesitate to pass it along to your friends/colleagues/faculty. Hopefully, you'll consider registering for the event, and perhaps even submit a paper yourself. In any case, get in touch if you have any questions. Hope to see some of you there!
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Back on the internets!
Man oh man, it's good to be back on the 'net at home. Lemme just get this out of the way then: if you're in the UK, don't go with BT. Broadband being set up should not involve 10+ phone calls and a two-week delay...
Anyway, moving on. So much has been done in the past few weeks, so I'll stick to the really recent stuff. It's term time again! After the summer I've had (especially the last two/three weeks), it's a welcome change. Of course, it means I have added constraints on my timetable and have to get up early (occasionally), but I can live with that. My new courses are quite groovy as well, and a rather heteroclite bunch that range from the really easy, such as programming (managed to finish the first 5/6 weeks of lab work the day before the first lab, which frees up my thursday afternoons for a while), to the really hard, such as nuclear physics (which is expectable, I suppose), to the really interesting, such as philosophy of maths (Bob Hale has a hypnotic voice, too). Plus, if I play my cards right (and am prepared to write a dissertation of Xmas), I can get away with having only two 10-credit exams this semester, which would be quite a treat. In other (academic) news, I've just been assigned my physics project today, which will be to design a 10 lecture course for 3rd years on a general physics topic. Whoop-dee-doo... At least it's theoretical (in that it will involve no labs... will it?).
In terms of extracurricular work, I'll probably have enough to keep busy as well. Asvictim chair of the British Undergraduate Philosophy Society (Facebook link), I'll be spending the next few weeks trying to set a date and venue for our next conference, and get the ball rolling... As well as checking in on some other projects (all currently in the expert hands of people who know what they're doing).
I've also founded a local Wittgenstein Reading Group (Facebook link), to read through the Philosophical Investigations (which we could have done as a module, but the professor teaching it retired), based on recommendations by my pal Robbie (props).
Finally, I can imagine the usual SSC stuff will take a bit of my time. Aaaah it's nice to feel active again.
On the personal front, all is well (I believe). I've actually gotten off m'lazy arse and joined the gym (hell, might even go today). The house is nice, too. I have the smallest room, but it has the biggest storage space (which in the end works out for the best) as well as the most pimpin' skylight (I can't say that with a straight face), and unlike last year, a really great wireless signal (which, knowing me, is a necessity). Now the internet is working reasonably well, let's hope it stays like this.
Righto, enough dilly-dallying about. It's nearly 10:30 am, and that means it's time for sweet sweet espresso (of which I need to order more) + breakfast.
Anyway, moving on. So much has been done in the past few weeks, so I'll stick to the really recent stuff. It's term time again! After the summer I've had (especially the last two/three weeks), it's a welcome change. Of course, it means I have added constraints on my timetable and have to get up early (occasionally), but I can live with that. My new courses are quite groovy as well, and a rather heteroclite bunch that range from the really easy, such as programming (managed to finish the first 5/6 weeks of lab work the day before the first lab, which frees up my thursday afternoons for a while), to the really hard, such as nuclear physics (which is expectable, I suppose), to the really interesting, such as philosophy of maths (Bob Hale has a hypnotic voice, too). Plus, if I play my cards right (and am prepared to write a dissertation of Xmas), I can get away with having only two 10-credit exams this semester, which would be quite a treat. In other (academic) news, I've just been assigned my physics project today, which will be to design a 10 lecture course for 3rd years on a general physics topic. Whoop-dee-doo... At least it's theoretical (in that it will involve no labs... will it?).
In terms of extracurricular work, I'll probably have enough to keep busy as well. As
I've also founded a local Wittgenstein Reading Group (Facebook link), to read through the Philosophical Investigations (which we could have done as a module, but the professor teaching it retired), based on recommendations by my pal Robbie (props).
Finally, I can imagine the usual SSC stuff will take a bit of my time. Aaaah it's nice to feel active again.
On the personal front, all is well (I believe). I've actually gotten off m'lazy arse and joined the gym (hell, might even go today). The house is nice, too. I have the smallest room, but it has the biggest storage space (which in the end works out for the best) as well as the most pimpin' skylight (I can't say that with a straight face), and unlike last year, a really great wireless signal (which, knowing me, is a necessity). Now the internet is working reasonably well, let's hope it stays like this.
Righto, enough dilly-dallying about. It's nearly 10:30 am, and that means it's time for sweet sweet espresso (of which I need to order more) + breakfast.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Paris vaut bien une messe...
I thought Easton, Pittsburgh and DC were bad enough, but it's actually just as hot here in Paris. You'd think that thick stone walls and leafy shade would prevent that, but in fact... not really.
My parents and sister are down in the south of France, or were, as they are now on the atlantic coast for my grandmothers' errrr... 72nd birthday? Anywhooo, I would have sort of liked to go down to our summer house in Cozes as well, but I didn't want to spend three hours in the train for just a weekend. Plus, my friend Liam from Sheffield is in town, so I might hang out with him a bit (as my friend Eduardo is at his girlfriend's all weekend), but so far no luck: he's not answering his cell phone, and I'm rather bad at answering my landline. It's sort of sad when a man becomes more reliably reachable by IM or email than by phone.
But back to the heat. It really takes the energy straight out of you. I have loads I want to do, including getting a hair cut, but the prospect of sitting 45 minutes in a non-air conditioned commuter train to go to Paris and get a haircut in a decent place is a bit daunting. It's a bit funny that, being rather fond of having my hair long and slightly ruffled (blatant understatement), I'm still so picky when it comes to haircuts. The reason, I guess, is that when your hair is long there's a rather large gray area when it comes to how it looks. I mean, either you don't look good at all with long hair, or you look okay-ish to good. Whereas for short hair a bad haircut is instantly noticeable. Less artistic license, har har. Nonetheless, I'll try to brave the heat and go into town one of these days, if anything, to have lunch/dinner with my grandmother (when she comes back up) or with Jim & Millie (my godfather and his spouse). Or maybe with my grandfather. We'll see.
Other than that, I have loads to do here. The first step towards actually doing some of that load is bit difficult though, and involves resisting the temptation to play DoD all afternoon. My friend Eduardo brough his (quite powerful) PC up to Paris with him, and it now resides in my room. After two years of having a Mac (G*d bless it) which not only helps me work efficiently, but also prevents me from feeding my gaming addiction, I now realize that playing a few rounds is probably equivalent to sticking a needle back into your arm after two years off smack (previous statement not from personal experience).
I had to get off m'arse on thursday to revise/edit a paper I wrote on qualia and epiphenomenalism, which I have been informed would be published in the next edition of the British Journal of Undergraduate Philosophy (finally... got something published other than a philosophical book review). Aside from that, I've got loads of papers (quite a few courtesy of Yorick Wilks) to read and/or re-read, as well as some books on Linguistics, and K&R's White Book on C, all of which I hope to get through before the summers' over. Over a month left. I think it'll be fine.
That's about all there is to say for now. Time for a cold bath, a book, and a beer. Even with work to do and humid heatwaves, life is pretty damn good.
Peace.
My parents and sister are down in the south of France, or were, as they are now on the atlantic coast for my grandmothers' errrr... 72nd birthday? Anywhooo, I would have sort of liked to go down to our summer house in Cozes as well, but I didn't want to spend three hours in the train for just a weekend. Plus, my friend Liam from Sheffield is in town, so I might hang out with him a bit (as my friend Eduardo is at his girlfriend's all weekend), but so far no luck: he's not answering his cell phone, and I'm rather bad at answering my landline. It's sort of sad when a man becomes more reliably reachable by IM or email than by phone.
But back to the heat. It really takes the energy straight out of you. I have loads I want to do, including getting a hair cut, but the prospect of sitting 45 minutes in a non-air conditioned commuter train to go to Paris and get a haircut in a decent place is a bit daunting. It's a bit funny that, being rather fond of having my hair long and slightly ruffled (blatant understatement), I'm still so picky when it comes to haircuts. The reason, I guess, is that when your hair is long there's a rather large gray area when it comes to how it looks. I mean, either you don't look good at all with long hair, or you look okay-ish to good. Whereas for short hair a bad haircut is instantly noticeable. Less artistic license, har har. Nonetheless, I'll try to brave the heat and go into town one of these days, if anything, to have lunch/dinner with my grandmother (when she comes back up) or with Jim & Millie (my godfather and his spouse). Or maybe with my grandfather. We'll see.
Other than that, I have loads to do here. The first step towards actually doing some of that load is bit difficult though, and involves resisting the temptation to play DoD all afternoon. My friend Eduardo brough his (quite powerful) PC up to Paris with him, and it now resides in my room. After two years of having a Mac (G*d bless it) which not only helps me work efficiently, but also prevents me from feeding my gaming addiction, I now realize that playing a few rounds is probably equivalent to sticking a needle back into your arm after two years off smack (previous statement not from personal experience).
I had to get off m'arse on thursday to revise/edit a paper I wrote on qualia and epiphenomenalism, which I have been informed would be published in the next edition of the British Journal of Undergraduate Philosophy (finally... got something published other than a philosophical book review). Aside from that, I've got loads of papers (quite a few courtesy of Yorick Wilks) to read and/or re-read, as well as some books on Linguistics, and K&R's White Book on C, all of which I hope to get through before the summers' over. Over a month left. I think it'll be fine.
That's about all there is to say for now. Time for a cold bath, a book, and a beer. Even with work to do and humid heatwaves, life is pretty damn good.
Peace.
Where geeks congregate
Whew. Got some catching up to do on this whole blogging thing. Quick summary of the past two weeks:
On the weekend on the 8th (of July) I went up to Boston to visit MIT, where I'd like to do some [post]grad research. I was shown around by a friendly local postdoc, Hugo Liu, who was kind enough spare some time and give me an eccentric tour of campus (Hugo: "So... this is the green building. A few people kill themselves here every year". Me: "That's... nice"), including the media labs, and answer my boring ol' questions. We had lunch and a chat. He's a truly fascinating guy. Consider yourselves lucky if you know him. Peace out, Hugo.
But let's get back to the Media Lab part. As a potential philosophy postgrad, I'd have nothing to do there (or would I... I mean if I could justify my presence there, well... score.) but as a self-confessed geek, it's probably the closest thing to heaven you can get (in life or death). Being quite a tech-blog aficionado (or at least very keen for them), it was a treat to be able to see all the crazy-cool inventions you'd read about just lying around, semi-finished, on tables with notes and leaflets and whatnot. It was quite the experience...
Following a brief return to DC, I went up to Pittsburgh for a week, spending time with my Grandparents, my Aunt Mary Jane, and my cousin Conor. It was nice to see Pittsburgh again (after what... two years almost?). I even got to visit my former neighbour (and babysitter) Erica, and dine at Ol' Max & Erma's, for old times' sake. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I would have gotten no work done there... not that I'm doing that much now, either. But more about that in my next post...
Word up.
On the weekend on the 8th (of July) I went up to Boston to visit MIT, where I'd like to do some [post]grad research. I was shown around by a friendly local postdoc, Hugo Liu, who was kind enough spare some time and give me an eccentric tour of campus (Hugo: "So... this is the green building. A few people kill themselves here every year". Me: "That's... nice"), including the media labs, and answer my boring ol' questions. We had lunch and a chat. He's a truly fascinating guy. Consider yourselves lucky if you know him. Peace out, Hugo.
But let's get back to the Media Lab part. As a potential philosophy postgrad, I'd have nothing to do there (or would I... I mean if I could justify my presence there, well... score.) but as a self-confessed geek, it's probably the closest thing to heaven you can get (in life or death). Being quite a tech-blog aficionado (or at least very keen for them), it was a treat to be able to see all the crazy-cool inventions you'd read about just lying around, semi-finished, on tables with notes and leaflets and whatnot. It was quite the experience...
Following a brief return to DC, I went up to Pittsburgh for a week, spending time with my Grandparents, my Aunt Mary Jane, and my cousin Conor. It was nice to see Pittsburgh again (after what... two years almost?). I even got to visit my former neighbour (and babysitter) Erica, and dine at Ol' Max & Erma's, for old times' sake. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I would have gotten no work done there... not that I'm doing that much now, either. But more about that in my next post...
Word up.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Socks on the Windowsill
Not wanting to break the established paradigm set by weeks of whining about exams, I feel it is my duty to do likewise about the current task at hand. If there's one thing I hate more than administrative work, and bit less than exams, it's moving/packing. I've had to do it quite a few times, but the last few times were particularly annoying/stressful (mainly because I had to actually do some work, instead of watching my parents pack up the house while I put a few belongings and my teddy bear into my little backpack).
I always feel it is more difficult for me than it is for my housemates and friends. Their parents come along with their big cars, and they literally stuff their things straight from their room into the boot and drive off to their homes where they can stockpile it for the summer until they move back. I, on the other hand, have to play an intricate game of three dimensional tetris, in that I must tightly pack all my belongings into a few boxes and suitcases. Furthermore, I also have to find a place to stash all this rubbish. Last year I somehow managed to bring part of my belongings home, and put the rest into boxes in the cellar of my former hall of residence. Alas that is no longer an option, and I have had to come up with an alternate solution, which was to stash all my belonging in the cellar of next year's house (with the permission of the current outgoing tenants and that of the landlord). However, next year's house is about a mile away, up very very steep hills all the way (think San Francisco). Considering that, and the fact I have more stuff this year than the last, and that I can't actually carry some of the boxes I packed, a car is very much needed. To not help things, I can't rent one here, and none of my friends have one available. I reckon it would require about 4 taxi rides, so forth and back, that would add up to a cost of about £40 ($80... ouch). I'll work something out, I think. But this is by all means not a very pleasant time.
And as the little added extra, I have to clean my room and part of the house, and it's bloody hot and humid.
Bugger.
I always feel it is more difficult for me than it is for my housemates and friends. Their parents come along with their big cars, and they literally stuff their things straight from their room into the boot and drive off to their homes where they can stockpile it for the summer until they move back. I, on the other hand, have to play an intricate game of three dimensional tetris, in that I must tightly pack all my belongings into a few boxes and suitcases. Furthermore, I also have to find a place to stash all this rubbish. Last year I somehow managed to bring part of my belongings home, and put the rest into boxes in the cellar of my former hall of residence. Alas that is no longer an option, and I have had to come up with an alternate solution, which was to stash all my belonging in the cellar of next year's house (with the permission of the current outgoing tenants and that of the landlord). However, next year's house is about a mile away, up very very steep hills all the way (think San Francisco). Considering that, and the fact I have more stuff this year than the last, and that I can't actually carry some of the boxes I packed, a car is very much needed. To not help things, I can't rent one here, and none of my friends have one available. I reckon it would require about 4 taxi rides, so forth and back, that would add up to a cost of about £40 ($80... ouch). I'll work something out, I think. But this is by all means not a very pleasant time.
And as the little added extra, I have to clean my room and part of the house, and it's bloody hot and humid.
Bugger.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Football and more Colleges
I watched the England match in a proper pub today, and got a first-hand taste of the traditionally english yobbery. People got seriously worked up when England wasn't scoring, and when England snatched a last-minute 2-0, many nearly burst into tears of joy, then prompty either vomited or broke out into fights due to the considerably amount of alcohol ingested. The match itself was not exceptional, nor was my enthusiasm for it in the first place, but despite being glad to leave, I considered it all to be a rather spiffing experience... one that I shan't commit to again, I think.
After the match, I was supposed to go have dinner with Yorick at the Fellows' Dinner at Balliol College. Unfortunately, he was feeling ill this morning, and we had to cancel. Not that I really mind... I mean, this was really la cerise sur le gateau for this visit (plus, I didn't expect it either), and he's already treated me to two college lunches, and I managed to accomplish what I came to Oxford for (visiting colleges), so no worries. Maybe next time...
Speaking of colleges, I visited a few more colleges today, including Christ Church (for the third time, now). Christ Church is truly lovely, and leaves me hesitating which ones to ask for in my application. Naturally my first concern should be actually getting into Oxford, but as far as that goes, it's all pretty much alea jacta est for me. I might re-write and expand some past papers to submit as writing samples, and I'll have some time to beef up my CV a bit, but as far as exams go, all I can do is pray that the most recent ones went well 'cause I'll have had all my marks (seeing as I won't have received next term's exam marks by the time my application is processed). After that, should I be accepted, all further marks will only go towards getting a scholarship and/or AHRB funding.
But back to colleges. So few choices, so many to choose. I think I'll apply for University College as first choice, followed by Christ Church as second, although I might go for Balliol as second. They're all really nice, and offer interesting scholarships. University College, though, offers more for my profile, and usually offers two years of in college accomodation, at least. Tempting, tempting... I bet there's a hell of a lot of competition for it, though. Although at least one of the college fellows specialises in my area of interest, so maybe that will help. Wait and see, I guess. I'll be well chuffed if I get accepted by the university at all, so I can't really be picky (although I would "loathe", well not really, but "like a bit less" to be stuck in a modern graduate only college... a bit less fun, isn't it).
Oh well, back to Sheffield tomorrow. Gotta pack up over the weekend, and get my boxes to my new house. Ugh, I really hate moving and packing up. Gotta be done. And then, it's off to Paris, then off to Grenoble, then off to Paris, then off to the US, and then off to Paris again for a summer of cramming, working, writing, applying, reading, and lazing about...
After the match, I was supposed to go have dinner with Yorick at the Fellows' Dinner at Balliol College. Unfortunately, he was feeling ill this morning, and we had to cancel. Not that I really mind... I mean, this was really la cerise sur le gateau for this visit (plus, I didn't expect it either), and he's already treated me to two college lunches, and I managed to accomplish what I came to Oxford for (visiting colleges), so no worries. Maybe next time...
Speaking of colleges, I visited a few more colleges today, including Christ Church (for the third time, now). Christ Church is truly lovely, and leaves me hesitating which ones to ask for in my application. Naturally my first concern should be actually getting into Oxford, but as far as that goes, it's all pretty much alea jacta est for me. I might re-write and expand some past papers to submit as writing samples, and I'll have some time to beef up my CV a bit, but as far as exams go, all I can do is pray that the most recent ones went well 'cause I'll have had all my marks (seeing as I won't have received next term's exam marks by the time my application is processed). After that, should I be accepted, all further marks will only go towards getting a scholarship and/or AHRB funding.
But back to colleges. So few choices, so many to choose. I think I'll apply for University College as first choice, followed by Christ Church as second, although I might go for Balliol as second. They're all really nice, and offer interesting scholarships. University College, though, offers more for my profile, and usually offers two years of in college accomodation, at least. Tempting, tempting... I bet there's a hell of a lot of competition for it, though. Although at least one of the college fellows specialises in my area of interest, so maybe that will help. Wait and see, I guess. I'll be well chuffed if I get accepted by the university at all, so I can't really be picky (although I would "loathe", well not really, but "like a bit less" to be stuck in a modern graduate only college... a bit less fun, isn't it).
Oh well, back to Sheffield tomorrow. Gotta pack up over the weekend, and get my boxes to my new house. Ugh, I really hate moving and packing up. Gotta be done. And then, it's off to Paris, then off to Grenoble, then off to Paris, then off to the US, and then off to Paris again for a summer of cramming, working, writing, applying, reading, and lazing about...
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Freedom and Colleges
Finally free from the culling crush of exams, I've been spending the last few days sleeping in and being fairly useless. I somehow managed to forgo the completion of any non-BUPC-related to-dos (namely preparing to move), and am probably going to be looking forward to a pretty stressful week starting friday. Yay.
But until then, it's relaxation time. I took a train to Oxford yesterday (monday), where I will be spending a few days relaxing and enjoying the company of people smarter than I. So far it's been a nice change of pace from exams: last night, I went out for drinks with a few students from Magdalen College School, and greatly enjoyed the impressive knowledge of all subjects (including my own) they had to display. Then today I took a stroll around Jericho (not the one on the West Bank), had lunch with Yorick at Balliol College, where I am considering applying for postgraduate studies (well technically one really only applies to the department, and college applications are a pastoral matter). It was a bit more "modern" than I expected, having been considerably rebuilt at the end of the 19th, and during the 20th centuries (think Princeton-type architecture... it's not bad), but still quite pleasing (although not as quaint as some other genuinely older buildings, like those of Christ Church or Magdalen, which are absolutely gorgeous). I also got a quick-ish visit of the Oxford Internet Institute, which served as a convenient backdoor into Balliol.
On top of that, there was must discussion on Language and potential PhD (or hopefully DPhil) topics going around. I got to read through a rather quirky yet not uninteresting draft of a paper discussing (or perhaps just postulating) philosophical musings on matters of computational linguistics. Just two days ago, I doubt I would have ever predicted I would be keen on doing so so soon after the exams, but I admit it was quite an enjoyable experience.
Oxford is indeed a beautiful place, perhaps the most beautiful city I've visited anywhere. This statement could, of course, be linked to the good company and glorious weather (perhaps a bit hot on monday, but brief rainshowers today really brought it back down to a tolerable level). But then again, old buildings, canals, people in weird robes, loads of pedestrian streets, good schools, good colleges, bizarre shops, loads of public lectures and concerts, and all this only 45 minutes away from London... I think such statements are not entirely unfounded. I truly hope I get a place here for postgraduate studies. Time to start bribi...errr preparing applications.
But until then, it's relaxation time. I took a train to Oxford yesterday (monday), where I will be spending a few days relaxing and enjoying the company of people smarter than I. So far it's been a nice change of pace from exams: last night, I went out for drinks with a few students from Magdalen College School, and greatly enjoyed the impressive knowledge of all subjects (including my own) they had to display. Then today I took a stroll around Jericho (not the one on the West Bank), had lunch with Yorick at Balliol College, where I am considering applying for postgraduate studies (well technically one really only applies to the department, and college applications are a pastoral matter). It was a bit more "modern" than I expected, having been considerably rebuilt at the end of the 19th, and during the 20th centuries (think Princeton-type architecture... it's not bad), but still quite pleasing (although not as quaint as some other genuinely older buildings, like those of Christ Church or Magdalen, which are absolutely gorgeous). I also got a quick-ish visit of the Oxford Internet Institute, which served as a convenient backdoor into Balliol.
On top of that, there was must discussion on Language and potential PhD (or hopefully DPhil) topics going around. I got to read through a rather quirky yet not uninteresting draft of a paper discussing (or perhaps just postulating) philosophical musings on matters of computational linguistics. Just two days ago, I doubt I would have ever predicted I would be keen on doing so so soon after the exams, but I admit it was quite an enjoyable experience.
Oxford is indeed a beautiful place, perhaps the most beautiful city I've visited anywhere. This statement could, of course, be linked to the good company and glorious weather (perhaps a bit hot on monday, but brief rainshowers today really brought it back down to a tolerable level). But then again, old buildings, canals, people in weird robes, loads of pedestrian streets, good schools, good colleges, bizarre shops, loads of public lectures and concerts, and all this only 45 minutes away from London... I think such statements are not entirely unfounded. I truly hope I get a place here for postgraduate studies. Time to start bribi...errr preparing applications.
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