Lol ok ok. Fair. I still think the term is gross tho :/ I also don't like that the Brits call arugula "rocket"... that was the example I had in the first several drafts and I probably should have kept it lol
Fair enough! I've always been slightly offput by Americans use of 'eggplant', but then I've never really liked the vegetable itself. Rocket on the other hand, delicious!
I’m typing this from County Derry… or is it Londonderry? Perfect illustration of how contentious ‘Britishness’ still is in the North of Ireland. Some villages you go through the kerbstones are painted red, white, and blue. But everyone we’ve met is lovely.
But I would also argue that even ‘English’ isn’t a unitary identity. I’m from Lancashire and we’re much nicer.
I think part of the problem was picking Oxbridge. They are not what University life is in the rest of the UK. But yes, at anything beyond first year undergrad, I would expect students to navigate books for themselves once given some kind of starter. It’s too late to offer the idea of getting Viva examiners to talk about their specialties - once they are comfortably mounted on their hobby horses, you canter home very easily.
It’s real. Suffered it myself, badly. Drove me back to Sydney where it’s ON at sunup and the whole place is out and about, unlike England where the Sun would creep in about 4pm by which time we’d all made others plans
Okay, so are we the same person because I also went to Oxford for grad school (English lit 1700-1830), got a confusingly worded acceptance letter, started with good marks and got progressively worse grades, realized I didn’t miss my bf, took up an obsessive hobby (rowing, what an Oxford cliche) to cope, and returned home to Canada, confused and disoriented about the experience I’d just been through. Or is this just the quintessential North American girl goes to Oxford story? 😅
Love this. We’re sold this idea that our 20’s are this fabulous, carefree time with endless possibilities when in reality it can be really painful and awkward.
Thank you for the comment about what people mean when they say they are "humbled". I think it's not just grateful, but proud: i.e., the exact opposite.
Oh gosh, this really took me back, the tutorial system can be so brutal! (I only did undergrad so I’m sure it got worse). I do need to point out though that orange juice and orange squash are emphatically not the same thing!
A nice memoir. Now I’m tempted to write my own reminiscences of grad school, which also included senior faculty informing me—very courteously—that I am an idiot.
I also moved to Britain in my 20s and subsequently had a mental breakdown. In my case, however, I decided it was caused by job, which I promptly quit to work on the railway, and discovered that I actually like Britain very much. This piece made me oddly very grateful I’m going to turn 30 this summer.
I’m starting grad this fall and now I’m scared, ha. This was a great read.
Have you read david lodge’s campus trilogy? It’s silly, but two English professors, one from England, one from a fictionalized Berkeley, switch places on an exchange program and the Californian endures similar angst about the gloom etc.
However bleak your time at Oxford seemed then, this was a total delight to read!! I did my master's at St Andrews and I feel grateful that despite the Oxbridge-caliber intensity of the education, I had a wonderful year and was the furthest thing from depressed (at least until it came time to write my dissertation). So many of your observations about British culture are spot on & now I am longing for an anti-dark academia novel!!
Hey Catherine, this piece made me laugh out loud more than once, and then something else happened that is even rarer than that: I read a piece I have just finished again. Thank you :)
American here who did an MA in England last year and is currently staying on a graduate visa. This is all so accurate, especially the Pret in the trash and the embroidery madness-and then looking back fondly. Definitely saving this to read it again, thank you for writing it!
For a portrait of academic cruelty even worse than this, see the chapter about Joseph Strayer in Norman Cantor's Inventing the Middle Ages. Strayer had a certain number of graduate students under supervision. There were more students than there were mail slots. Strayer decided which students got a slot, the favored ones, and which ones had their mail thrown in a pile on the floor. An excellent book which among other things makes me glad I did not go to graduate school.
Brilliant essay! But orange squash and orange juice are different things! We definitely don't call orange juice, orange squash!
Lol ok ok. Fair. I still think the term is gross tho :/ I also don't like that the Brits call arugula "rocket"... that was the example I had in the first several drafts and I probably should have kept it lol
Fair enough! I've always been slightly offput by Americans use of 'eggplant', but then I've never really liked the vegetable itself. Rocket on the other hand, delicious!
Eggplant is insane, I agree.
The French call it roquette
Don't bring the French into this lol
"Arugula" is itself a froufrou European import word. Americans who grew rocket in home gardens before 1970 called it "rocket." Hillbillies still do.
Just like some call it eggplant and others aubergine. Who cares? At least you didn’t moan about them driving on the “wrong” side.
Welsh = British. Some Irish too. Nice piece though…
Different vibe though
Welsh=fun
I’m typing this from County Derry… or is it Londonderry? Perfect illustration of how contentious ‘Britishness’ still is in the North of Ireland. Some villages you go through the kerbstones are painted red, white, and blue. But everyone we’ve met is lovely.
But I would also argue that even ‘English’ isn’t a unitary identity. I’m from Lancashire and we’re much nicer.
It absolutely isn’t, but what is?
I think part of the problem was picking Oxbridge. They are not what University life is in the rest of the UK. But yes, at anything beyond first year undergrad, I would expect students to navigate books for themselves once given some kind of starter. It’s too late to offer the idea of getting Viva examiners to talk about their specialties - once they are comfortably mounted on their hobby horses, you canter home very easily.
I‘d guess they came up with SAD, then found 3 words that worked
It’s real. Suffered it myself, badly. Drove me back to Sydney where it’s ON at sunup and the whole place is out and about, unlike England where the Sun would creep in about 4pm by which time we’d all made others plans
To be fair, May through to July in Scotland you have daylight from 4am until 11am. It’s not a perpetual state, it just requires more seasonal living.
And yes, light if you have SAD
Starting graduate school this Fall (in sunny California) and this piece thoroughly entertained/inspired me. Thank you, Catherine!
The sun will help for sure <3
Okay, so are we the same person because I also went to Oxford for grad school (English lit 1700-1830), got a confusingly worded acceptance letter, started with good marks and got progressively worse grades, realized I didn’t miss my bf, took up an obsessive hobby (rowing, what an Oxford cliche) to cope, and returned home to Canada, confused and disoriented about the experience I’d just been through. Or is this just the quintessential North American girl goes to Oxford story? 😅
Quintessential, haha.
Great piece but slightly disappointed that you think of Marxist as an insult.
Love this. We’re sold this idea that our 20’s are this fabulous, carefree time with endless possibilities when in reality it can be really painful and awkward.
Absolutely. I was completely lost, but probably looked like I had my life together from the outside.
Wait but why does the guy toast his bread the night before?
He told us it was to "save time" in the morning.
Stop! I can’t. I hope you ridiculed him mercilessly.
Thank you for the comment about what people mean when they say they are "humbled". I think it's not just grateful, but proud: i.e., the exact opposite.
Exactly. Annoys me to no end. It's not a crime to say you're proud.
Oh gosh, this really took me back, the tutorial system can be so brutal! (I only did undergrad so I’m sure it got worse). I do need to point out though that orange juice and orange squash are emphatically not the same thing!
It really is! Understood, but the phrase irks me the all the same lol.
Haha, fair enough, I was trying to describe squash to an American colleague only this week and it did strike me as odd as I did it!
A nice memoir. Now I’m tempted to write my own reminiscences of grad school, which also included senior faculty informing me—very courteously—that I am an idiot.
I also moved to Britain in my 20s and subsequently had a mental breakdown. In my case, however, I decided it was caused by job, which I promptly quit to work on the railway, and discovered that I actually like Britain very much. This piece made me oddly very grateful I’m going to turn 30 this summer.
I’m starting grad this fall and now I’m scared, ha. This was a great read.
Have you read david lodge’s campus trilogy? It’s silly, but two English professors, one from England, one from a fictionalized Berkeley, switch places on an exchange program and the Californian endures similar angst about the gloom etc.
I have never heard of this, but now I have to check it out!
However bleak your time at Oxford seemed then, this was a total delight to read!! I did my master's at St Andrews and I feel grateful that despite the Oxbridge-caliber intensity of the education, I had a wonderful year and was the furthest thing from depressed (at least until it came time to write my dissertation). So many of your observations about British culture are spot on & now I am longing for an anti-dark academia novel!!
Hey Catherine, this piece made me laugh out loud more than once, and then something else happened that is even rarer than that: I read a piece I have just finished again. Thank you :)
Alex!!! I'm so flattered. Thank you <3
<3
Same
American here who did an MA in England last year and is currently staying on a graduate visa. This is all so accurate, especially the Pret in the trash and the embroidery madness-and then looking back fondly. Definitely saving this to read it again, thank you for writing it!
such a good storyteller! I really enjoyed this Catherine!
<3 thank you
“Alright. Off you go!”
Perfect.
For a portrait of academic cruelty even worse than this, see the chapter about Joseph Strayer in Norman Cantor's Inventing the Middle Ages. Strayer had a certain number of graduate students under supervision. There were more students than there were mail slots. Strayer decided which students got a slot, the favored ones, and which ones had their mail thrown in a pile on the floor. An excellent book which among other things makes me glad I did not go to graduate school.
I can picture it so easily, haha.