And it begins!

Days 2 and 3 have been just as blissful as Day 1--and our schedule is starting to pick up a lot. Last night was our first "High Table" (code for formal) where our featured guests (speakers and Oxford tutors (professors)) sit at a table that is slightly elevated over the rest of us. Seniors fill in the rest of the spots at the table on a rotational basis...and last night I was seated right next to my Shakespeare professor, Miriam Gilbert. Okay, Sara, gear up. She was FANTASTIC--warm, engaging, so clearly knowledgable, and clearly eager to get to know her 12 students this summer. Sharing Game Fowl with her and the others at the high table got me even more excited about our class and this summer. Watched a little Merchant of Venice (Al Pacino version--intriguing, but a little too explicit...I wish it were more subtle and ambiguous, especially considering MofV is such an ambiguous play), stopped by the pub, chatted with my amazing husband on Skype (Brittany, the web cams rock!), and then hit the bed hard.

This morning I went for a beautiful run along the Thames River. Keeping me company were several crew teams and rowers on the water. After breakfast, we were introduced to the Bodleian Library, which is stunningly impressive. It holds a copy of every single English text that was published after 1640--and many, many earlier texts, too. Each of us had to take the Bodleian oath saying that we would abide by the rules of the library (including swearing not to set the place on fire--I am for real) and then we were given a photo card that we had to swear we would not lose. Crazy, but it makes me think there might be something to spending some time in this famous, and famously guarded, place. That said, the "tutorial" we received about how to actually use the library was over an hour long and dizzying; the fact that anyone ever finds anything in this library is a miracle.

Just got back from my first class with Miriam. She was just as engaging today, and the 11 other women in my class (which isn't surprising considering there are maybe 10 guys here total out of 70 students) seemed sharp and thoughtful, too. No big talkers yet--let's hope that continues. BL has a tendency to encourage people to talk just to hear themselves talk, which isn't always an endearing quality to the rest of us :-). Anyways, we did a cool exercise that focused on analyzing various Shakespearean lines, many of which we did not recognize and had to interpret solely based on the words. Loved it--already marked it as a possible entry way into Shakespeare next year with my students at GPS. We primarily focused on the connotations and structure of the words themselves and then got into a discussion about how motion can affect interpretations. Perfect lead-in to an analysis of the scene in MofV when Bassanio asks Shylock for the loan. We watched four movie versions, each very different, and discussed the lighting, body language, accents, clothing choices, set designs, soundtracks, and use of emphasis in speech of each version. Two portrayed Shylock as menacing and foreign while the other two suggested he was thoughtful and approachable. I can't wait to see how the production at the Courtyard in Stratford tomorrow night chooses to portray Shylock--that one decision can so dramatically change our reading of the play.

This afternoon I meet with my professor individually for the first time, and then tonight we have our first senior meeting to learn more about graduation (!).

A quick shout out to Dad for winning the trial he has been working so hard on the past couple of weeks (and probably months)! Way to go!

p.s. It's raining here today; hence the Shakespeare quote :-)