The year 2010 will soon end. Trapped in a quiet dark winter night, I was carried into a retrospect journey to the whole year. A crazy journey through thick and thin. It was a year of joy and a year of sorrow as well. There are things that I lost, but I gained things as well.
The first day of 2010 would never be forgotten in my whole life. The first day of the year, and I lost something that I doubt can ever be regained. It was the day when my dignity was stripped away by someone that was supposed to be very close to me. A person I am supposed to go when the whole world is against me. But this particular person even be the first one to deliver a death blow to me, degrading me in front of other people. That day, I really wished that God would just take my life in an instant, sparing me from the public humiliation.
However, during that darkest month (yes, it lasted for the whole January) I found precious friends. They walked along with me, helped me to regain my stand, and rejuvenated my power. Even better, they were still there when I could not even look at myself. They accepted me the way I am, even after all the humiliation in which turn some people against me.
The next loss was a dear friend. This was not related to the first tragedy. Heck, he even said, "I know you're strong enough, but in case you need to talk, I'll be there!" He was such a nice friend. It's too bad that through some accident, his wife asked him to back off from his friends.
I got rejected twice by the scholarship in NUS and Erasmus Mundus. With all the pressures all around from my family, I almost gave up finding the scholarship. But all of a sudden, I received the mail from Cambridge University. They gave me conditional offer of acceptance. Never really thought that Cambridge would give me that. I guess, my friends really helped me a lot. They realized that I need to get away from that environment, so some of them prayed really hard for me to get any kind of scholarship that I applied.
The journey for the scholarship was long and full of unpredicted obstacles. Thank God I got that. I had to prepare everything. Resigning from my current job and preparing farewell for everybody.
Voila, this is my third month in Cambridge already. Got a nice life here, new environment, new friends, even new family. Hope 2011 offers something better.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Oxford #4 : DUUUUUUUUUUUCKS!
Friday, 17/12/2010
The fourth day in Oxford was signified by the plan to visit Botanical Garden. My friend said that it was a nice place to contemplate and be in silence. Sounded like a good idea, eh?
Big mistake! The weather was freezing. It was minus two, and I left my hat in Cambridge. My whole body was warm, but my ears froze. Thankfully Botanical Garden was located in the other end of the town, so the walk there warmed me a little bit.
Right across the garden was Magdalen College. The door was opened. Yay! I peeked through it and found the board written “The college is open from 1 pm till dusk”. Darn! It was still 10.30. I'd better go to the garden.
The gate of the garden was nice, quite old and 'rusty' in a good sense. The garden itself was nice – if you visited during the springtime or summer. Almost nothing to see, except for the nice fountain in the middle of the garden. It was too bad that I did not have the DSLR camera. The fountain square was nice, even du
ring the winter. The benches all around it were providing romantic nuance. Springtime, flowers, benches, fountain, and a lover. Would be very nice! Ah, stop dreaming.
After spending quite some times around the park, I sat on the bench and opened the map. Trying to plan the next destination. All of a sudden, two ducks were standing near my feet. If I could scream, I would scream at that second. One of them was the green headed duck, the one that I feared the most. I know this might seem ridiculous, but I was afraid of ducks. They are disgusting and scary, let alone goose. Slowly I stood up and moved to different bench. As I put myself down, those two ducks started moving to my direction.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can you choose different person to stalk? I HATE DUCK, I HATE DUCK, I HATE DUCK!!!!!!!!!!!
Quickly I ran to the third bench. However, I observed their movement before I allowed myself to sit. They went to different direction. Fiuhhh! Next place was set, New College.
On my way to New College, I found a nice shop for pen and leatherbound journal. They sold nice quill pens. An exquisite piece of art and penmanship. I was enticed by them, but I could not allow myself to spend another 20 pounds. So, mental note was made. Have to come back to Oxford before coming back home. Buy at least one quill pen for beloved grandfather!
Finding New College was not a hard task at that time. I just needed to follow Longwalk Street and turned to Hollywell Street. Crap! The college was closed and will be opened at 2 pm. It was still 11.30. Having no more plan, I strayed around and found Harris and Manchester college. They had a nice chapel and garden, but it seemed that they were not even opened for visitors. So, another camera through the bar trick was played.
Next plan was finding Campion Hall and Pembroke College. It was easy. Those two were located in front of Christ Church. Pembroke was not interesting (or had I lost my interest in exploring Oxford colleges already?). Campion Hall was pretty tight. Remembering the suggestion of the lady in the church the previous day, I intended to just ring the bell. But what should I say to them? That I share the same namesake? That I came from a Jesuit university? Peeking through the glass door, I saw a similar arrangement to the novitiate in my hometown. Well, I did not go,
Considering the next destination was quite easy, as Museum of Oxford was pretty close. It was quite nice museum to learn about Oxford, from the Anglo Saxon era to the golden age of the university. The next floor exhibited the reformation era until the present one. A nice place indeed to study and to protect me from the snow shower. Hehehehe!
As the covered market was near, I went there and found it similar to Beringharjo Market back home. Not really interesting. The clock showed 14.15. I had two choices, coming back to Magdalen and New College or having lunch. Well, since I lost my interest in the colleges already (maybe next time), I headed to Cornmarket Street to grab something to eat.
The fourth day tour was finished. But that night was the chance to enjoy the Oxford nightlife. Jolly Farmers or Castle Taverns, eh?
The fourth day in Oxford was signified by the plan to visit Botanical Garden. My friend said that it was a nice place to contemplate and be in silence. Sounded like a good idea, eh?
Big mistake! The weather was freezing. It was minus two, and I left my hat in Cambridge. My whole body was warm, but my ears froze. Thankfully Botanical Garden was located in the other end of the town, so the walk there warmed me a little bit.
Right across the garden was Magdalen College. The door was opened. Yay! I peeked through it and found the board written “The college is open from 1 pm till dusk”. Darn! It was still 10.30. I'd better go to the garden.
The gate of the garden was nice, quite old and 'rusty' in a good sense. The garden itself was nice – if you visited during the springtime or summer. Almost nothing to see, except for the nice fountain in the middle of the garden. It was too bad that I did not have the DSLR camera. The fountain square was nice, even du
ring the winter. The benches all around it were providing romantic nuance. Springtime, flowers, benches, fountain, and a lover. Would be very nice! Ah, stop dreaming.After spending quite some times around the park, I sat on the bench and opened the map. Trying to plan the next destination. All of a sudden, two ducks were standing near my feet. If I could scream, I would scream at that second. One of them was the green headed duck, the one that I feared the most. I know this might seem ridiculous, but I was afraid of ducks. They are disgusting and scary, let alone goose. Slowly I stood up and moved to different bench. As I put myself down, those two ducks started moving to my direction.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can you choose different person to stalk? I HATE DUCK, I HATE DUCK, I HATE DUCK!!!!!!!!!!!
Quickly I ran to the third bench. However, I observed their movement before I allowed myself to sit. They went to different direction. Fiuhhh! Next place was set, New College.
On my way to New College, I found a nice shop for pen and leatherbound journal. They sold nice quill pens. An exquisite piece of art and penmanship. I was enticed by them, but I could not allow myself to spend another 20 pounds. So, mental note was made. Have to come back to Oxford before coming back home. Buy at least one quill pen for beloved grandfather!
Finding New College was not a hard task at that time. I just needed to follow Longwalk Street and turned to Hollywell Street. Crap! The college was closed and will be opened at 2 pm. It was still 11.30. Having no more plan, I strayed around and found Harris and Manchester college. They had a nice chapel and garden, but it seemed that they were not even opened for visitors. So, another camera through the bar trick was played.
Next plan was finding Campion Hall and Pembroke College. It was easy. Those two were located in front of Christ Church. Pembroke was not interesting (or had I lost my interest in exploring Oxford colleges already?). Campion Hall was pretty tight. Remembering the suggestion of the lady in the church the previous day, I intended to just ring the bell. But what should I say to them? That I share the same namesake? That I came from a Jesuit university? Peeking through the glass door, I saw a similar arrangement to the novitiate in my hometown. Well, I did not go,Considering the next destination was quite easy, as Museum of Oxford was pretty close. It was quite nice museum to learn about Oxford, from the Anglo Saxon era to the golden age of the university. The next floor exhibited the reformation era until the present one. A nice place indeed to study and to protect me from the snow shower. Hehehehe!
As the covered market was near, I went there and found it similar to Beringharjo Market back home. Not really interesting. The clock showed 14.15. I had two choices, coming back to Magdalen and New College or having lunch. Well, since I lost my interest in the colleges already (maybe next time), I headed to Cornmarket Street to grab something to eat.
The fourth day tour was finished. But that night was the chance to enjoy the Oxford nightlife. Jolly Farmers or Castle Taverns, eh?
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Oxford #3: The Namesake
Thursday, 16/12/2010
Ah, I could not believe that I had been in Oxford for three days. Well, with most of the colleges were closed, the planned trip became more and more limited. As I set my foot off the house, I realized that the north western part of Oxford had not been explored yet, save for Green Templeton, where I had my lunch during the first day.
The first check in was Worcester College. Again, it was closed. I seriously thought that Christmas Break was not a perfect time for tour de college in Oxford. Having no other choices, I could only get two shots from the front. Well, it was better than nothing, wasn't it? I headed towards the direction of Ashmolean Museum. Right across Ashmolean was St. John College. A pretty big one, yet even all the gates were locked. Worse thing, the college was located near the big road. So, even my front shot was disturbed by parking and passing cars.
Following the Woodstock Road, I took a shot of The Eagle and The Child. Well, at least I wanted to have a memorial of that legendary pub. I was a big fan of Narnia and Lord of The Rings as well.
After that pub, I was tempted to enter St. Aloysius church. It was one of the surviving catholic church in Oxford. Well, the first reason was the three wishes that I told earlier in the previous post. BAM! I entered when they were still reciting rosary prayer. No other choice, I had to sit and join the prayer. Thankfully I still remember Hail Mary. Hehehe!
Right after the prayer was finished, I looked around and found a nice shrine for Mary, Our Lady of Oxford. There was also a place to kneel down. Without any hesitation, I grabbed a candle, lit it, put in on the chandelier, and started praying. Sounds crazy, eh? I am. Next to the Mary shrine, which was full of precious relics, I found a shrine dedicated to St. Philip Neri. Turned out he was the patron saint for the order of the parish. The main altar itself was decorated with many statues of the saints.
As I proceeded to the exit, the painting on the wall struck me. It was about St. Edmund Campion. He was once a fellow of St. John College, Oxford, but was hung till death for his faith. In short, he was pretty precious for Oxford people. The thing is, I sort of having a connection with him. When I received my sacrament of confirmation, I took his name as my patron saint, together with St. Chrysogonus. As I got the college of St. Edmund in Cambridge, I felt that it was also a divine intervention. The more impressive thing was the fact that most people used to mock me over my choice.
They knew nothing about this saint, and it was weird to put Campion on the name. “Why don't you just take Edmund instead of Edmund Campion?” But I insisted on choosing this specific Edmund Campion. The fact that I ended up in St. Edmund's College in Brittain was not a random thing for me.
In the exit door, I talked with a lady there about St. Edmund Campion and the status of the parish. I saw IHS as the emblem in the second shrine, and I thought that the church belonged to Jesuit. But it was not. It used to be, but not now. She wondered, how could I know about Edmund Campion and Jesuit? When I told her that I took his name and used to work in Jesuit university back home (added with the fact that I almost entered Jesuit novitiate), she immediately told me to go visit Campion Hall. Apparently, it was the only Jesuit college / hall in Oxford and dedicated completely to St. Edmund Campion. At that second, I knew that I was not far from home. My journey and study in UK had been laid down for me since long time ago. More about this later, guys.
Finishing my visit to the church, I decided to go to Museum of Natural History. The museum road was the shortest way to go, but my old syndrome came back again. Direction disorientation! So, I ended up walking down the Broad Street. To my surprise, Trinity college was opened! Without having any second thought, I directed myself to that place. In the porter's place, I secretly prayed that he would allow me to enter freely when finding out that I was a Cambridge student. “One pound please!” Duh! Bye bye my lovely coin!!!!!
Trinity was okay. The explored area was certainly bigger than Balliol, but something just did not carry the sense of antiquity. It felt cold. Even the chapel was very dark and not welcoming. But there was an interesting part, the back one. The one with student laundry and library. At least that part seemed alive and warm.
In the end of Broad Street, I turned left to Parks Road, wanting to reach the museum. On my right hand side, I found another closed college. Well, sneaking a little bit to get two shots, I found the name interesting. Wadham college. Instantly, my brain went into Indonesian mode. It means transsexual in Indonesia, so I laughed spontaneously.
Well, after a long walk, I finally reached the Museum of Natural History. The exhibition was nice. At least I could finally see some dinosaur bones (yeah, I don't need to go to Smithsonian!!). But the silly side of me took place and the statues of prominent scholars around the arcade were far more interesting. Duh! At least I got my interest back when visiting Pitt River museum, just in the back of Museum of Natural History.
Pitt River hosted various idols all around the world. Quite nice to see how the statue of Virgin Mary was put side by side with Guan Yin. Both with the same pose, carrying a baby. I love that idea! But the shrunken heads were pretty creepy. They reminded me of jenglot, Indonesian traditional ghoul which haunted me during my childhood.
In the upper floor, Pitt River hosted an exhibition of weapon. There were various weapons all around the world. Being a fan of J-RPG with various weapon, I was excited for finally seeing the real claymore and rapier. More than that, they even had Bagh Nakh and Katar. Those were the weapons seen only in the game, but was presented right in front of my eyes.
The museums were done. Next thing on my list was going to New College to see the Old Wall of Oxford. Again, I passed Queen's College (which was still closed. Shame!) and tried to find St. Edmund Hall on my way. Found it, but closed. I could only stole some shots of the chapel and the graveyard through the bars. Trying to follow the Queen's Lane, I got lost again and could not find New College. So I decided to head down Longwall Street and ended up in Magdalen College.
Strange thing happened. As I passed the college, I sniffed familiar scents. Incense and menyan. All of a sudden, I got goosebump. Those were smells of creepy atmosphere back home. Why did I had it there? Quickly I hastened my walk and ended up in Blackwell bookstore (had a quick stop to take picture of imitated Bridge of Sigh. The original Cambridge counterpart was way more beautiful).
Blackwell did ruin up my financial planning. I headed towards the Norrington room, the one having three miles of bookshelves and found MAAAANNNYY interesting books. Damn! Books are really my drugs! They are addictive!!!!
So, I ended up my day tour with several philosophers and lunch in McDonald. Done for the third day.
Ah, I could not believe that I had been in Oxford for three days. Well, with most of the colleges were closed, the planned trip became more and more limited. As I set my foot off the house, I realized that the north western part of Oxford had not been explored yet, save for Green Templeton, where I had my lunch during the first day.
The first check in was Worcester College. Again, it was closed. I seriously thought that Christmas Break was not a perfect time for tour de college in Oxford. Having no other choices, I could only get two shots from the front. Well, it was better than nothing, wasn't it? I headed towards the direction of Ashmolean Museum. Right across Ashmolean was St. John College. A pretty big one, yet even all the gates were locked. Worse thing, the college was located near the big road. So, even my front shot was disturbed by parking and passing cars.
Following the Woodstock Road, I took a shot of The Eagle and The Child. Well, at least I wanted to have a memorial of that legendary pub. I was a big fan of Narnia and Lord of The Rings as well.
After that pub, I was tempted to enter St. Aloysius church. It was one of the surviving catholic church in Oxford. Well, the first reason was the three wishes that I told earlier in the previous post. BAM! I entered when they were still reciting rosary prayer. No other choice, I had to sit and join the prayer. Thankfully I still remember Hail Mary. Hehehe!
Right after the prayer was finished, I looked around and found a nice shrine for Mary, Our Lady of Oxford. There was also a place to kneel down. Without any hesitation, I grabbed a candle, lit it, put in on the chandelier, and started praying. Sounds crazy, eh? I am. Next to the Mary shrine, which was full of precious relics, I found a shrine dedicated to St. Philip Neri. Turned out he was the patron saint for the order of the parish. The main altar itself was decorated with many statues of the saints.
As I proceeded to the exit, the painting on the wall struck me. It was about St. Edmund Campion. He was once a fellow of St. John College, Oxford, but was hung till death for his faith. In short, he was pretty precious for Oxford people. The thing is, I sort of having a connection with him. When I received my sacrament of confirmation, I took his name as my patron saint, together with St. Chrysogonus. As I got the college of St. Edmund in Cambridge, I felt that it was also a divine intervention. The more impressive thing was the fact that most people used to mock me over my choice.
They knew nothing about this saint, and it was weird to put Campion on the name. “Why don't you just take Edmund instead of Edmund Campion?” But I insisted on choosing this specific Edmund Campion. The fact that I ended up in St. Edmund's College in Brittain was not a random thing for me.
In the exit door, I talked with a lady there about St. Edmund Campion and the status of the parish. I saw IHS as the emblem in the second shrine, and I thought that the church belonged to Jesuit. But it was not. It used to be, but not now. She wondered, how could I know about Edmund Campion and Jesuit? When I told her that I took his name and used to work in Jesuit university back home (added with the fact that I almost entered Jesuit novitiate), she immediately told me to go visit Campion Hall. Apparently, it was the only Jesuit college / hall in Oxford and dedicated completely to St. Edmund Campion. At that second, I knew that I was not far from home. My journey and study in UK had been laid down for me since long time ago. More about this later, guys.
Finishing my visit to the church, I decided to go to Museum of Natural History. The museum road was the shortest way to go, but my old syndrome came back again. Direction disorientation! So, I ended up walking down the Broad Street. To my surprise, Trinity college was opened! Without having any second thought, I directed myself to that place. In the porter's place, I secretly prayed that he would allow me to enter freely when finding out that I was a Cambridge student. “One pound please!” Duh! Bye bye my lovely coin!!!!!
Trinity was okay. The explored area was certainly bigger than Balliol, but something just did not carry the sense of antiquity. It felt cold. Even the chapel was very dark and not welcoming. But there was an interesting part, the back one. The one with student laundry and library. At least that part seemed alive and warm.In the end of Broad Street, I turned left to Parks Road, wanting to reach the museum. On my right hand side, I found another closed college. Well, sneaking a little bit to get two shots, I found the name interesting. Wadham college. Instantly, my brain went into Indonesian mode. It means transsexual in Indonesia, so I laughed spontaneously.
Well, after a long walk, I finally reached the Museum of Natural History. The exhibition was nice. At least I could finally see some dinosaur bones (yeah, I don't need to go to Smithsonian!!). But the silly side of me took place and the statues of prominent scholars around the arcade were far more interesting. Duh! At least I got my interest back when visiting Pitt River museum, just in the back of Museum of Natural History.
Pitt River hosted various idols all around the world. Quite nice to see how the statue of Virgin Mary was put side by side with Guan Yin. Both with the same pose, carrying a baby. I love that idea! But the shrunken heads were pretty creepy. They reminded me of jenglot, Indonesian traditional ghoul which haunted me during my childhood.
In the upper floor, Pitt River hosted an exhibition of weapon. There were various weapons all around the world. Being a fan of J-RPG with various weapon, I was excited for finally seeing the real claymore and rapier. More than that, they even had Bagh Nakh and Katar. Those were the weapons seen only in the game, but was presented right in front of my eyes.
The museums were done. Next thing on my list was going to New College to see the Old Wall of Oxford. Again, I passed Queen's College (which was still closed. Shame!) and tried to find St. Edmund Hall on my way. Found it, but closed. I could only stole some shots of the chapel and the graveyard through the bars. Trying to follow the Queen's Lane, I got lost again and could not find New College. So I decided to head down Longwall Street and ended up in Magdalen College.
Strange thing happened. As I passed the college, I sniffed familiar scents. Incense and menyan. All of a sudden, I got goosebump. Those were smells of creepy atmosphere back home. Why did I had it there? Quickly I hastened my walk and ended up in Blackwell bookstore (had a quick stop to take picture of imitated Bridge of Sigh. The original Cambridge counterpart was way more beautiful).Blackwell did ruin up my financial planning. I headed towards the Norrington room, the one having three miles of bookshelves and found MAAAANNNYY interesting books. Damn! Books are really my drugs! They are addictive!!!!
So, I ended up my day tour with several philosophers and lunch in McDonald. Done for the third day.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Oxford #2: The All Souls Tragedy
Wednesday, 15/12/2010
This was my second day in Oxford. Even though I was endowed with the bicycle to assist the exploration, I felt that relying on my feet was better, since I could enjoy every scene without having to find a place to park the bike. Thus, equipped with my thick winter jacket, scarf, and gloves, I set my way unto the gloomy and foggy city.
As I was in Oxford, I did not want to miss any college. If I could, I would set my foot on all the colleges. Well, something quite impossible, especially without the Oxford University card. Quite fortunate, my friend's flat was located near Nuffeld College. In under than five minutes, I reached the LOCKED gate. Darn! Taking my chance, I put my camera behind the bar and started taking pictures that I could get. Just two shots and I decided to got around the college, hoping to find a door to enter. Bum! Nothing......
Luckily, near that college lied Oxford Castle. Castle, huh? I would like to try it, entering one of the castle and saw what was inside, after my disappointment with Buckingham palace (which was very plain in its outer architecture). Visitor attraction would cost me two pounds. Huh? I did not want to pay to explore the hill. In fact, the castle must be more interesting than that. But I was wrong. The castle was nothing other than food court. What?
Not wanting to waste more time there, I started walking again, trying to f
ind other fun colleges. Heading without any clear direction, I stumbled upon Christ Church. It was the biggest and most famous college in Oxford, for the first two Harry Potter movies were shot there. Well, now I am willing to pay for this, I said to myself. At least, I only needed to pay around two pounds. But again, I was wrong! The concession rate for student was 4.50 pounds. Darn! My calculative mind was furious with that. Fortunately, my 'civilized' and 'cultured' side were being more dominant. (But still, four and a half pounds? Puh-lease!)
The main quadrangle in the college was pretty big. Unfortunately, with my status as a visitor, my exploration area was limited. I could not step my foot on the Hermes fountain in the middle of the quadrangle. Or perhaps, it was still grass for fellows only? I always questioned that concept. A little ridiculous. Quite nice, but with limited area, I felt confined.
The dinning hall, on the other hand, was very much IMPRESSIVE! No wonder it was used as the Hogwarts' dinning hall. The arrangement looked very exquisite and expensive. All the pictures of notable alumni were hanging on the wall, covering most of it. And it even had a real fireplace, not an electric one. I wish I had a friend from Christchurch who can take me into the formal hall there. Hehehehe!
Move on to the cathedral, the decoration and room division were sophisticated and elegant. The seating arrangement was similar to other chapels, the altar was very detailed in the carving of crucifixion. The mosaics depicting several saints were also there. St. John the Baptise, St. Caecilia (I'm sure that my mum would be very flattered knowing this), and some other saint which I could not decipher from the latin writing. I sat down and prayed (yeah, I prayed after such a long time) in the right hand side of the cathedral, the private chamber.
After finishing Christ Church, I saw several colleges. Most of them were closed for public. Darn. But learning from experience, I decided to sneak in, only to take some shots. And the first one was Oriel College, one of the oldest colleges in Oxford. Next victim was Corpus Christi. Only two shots for this relatively small college. But at least, I got the shot of the special sundial in the middle of the first quadrangle.
Merton and University College were both closed by the bar. I could only sneak my camera behind the bar and got limited view of the college. As I continued the tour, I saw a very big and nice college. The gate tower was very classic, but not as rigid and conventional as the other colleges. It was Queen's College. Quite big, and it would be unfair to compare it to Queen's College in Cambridge. But again, it was closed! Daaaaaaaaarn!!! Not even any opening in bar, thus I could not steal some shots.
Next to Queen's, I saw All Souls College. Yes, said I in mind. I had been wanting to enter this college. One of the oldest, classic. The gate was opened but there was the announcement that the college was closed. Remembering the suggestion from several people, I put my poker face. When nobody was around, I stepped confidently into the first quadrangle. To my surprise, the porter stopped me. I never thought that he recognized every face of college residents. As I said that I was looking for my friend, he asked me the name. Spontaneously, I mentioned any common western name. Yet again, he frowned and said that there was nobody with that name in the college. Damn! I had to get out of here. There was no way I would be arrested for trespassing. I said that I would call my friend outside and quickly ran to the nearby University Church.
After calming myself, I continued walking to Exeter College. It was a college inspiring Philip Pullman for Jordan College in His Dark Material trilogy. As a scholar of children's literature, there's no way for me to miss that. But again, it was closed! Shoot! That time, I decided not to sneak in. Did not want to repeat the All Souls tragedy.
I decided to continue the walk and cross Broad Street. There were Trinity College and Balliol College. Trinity was closed, so it was not an option. But Balliol was opened. I stepped on and went to the Porter's Lodge. The admission fee was cheap, only a pound for students. But when he found out I was a Cambridge student, he allowed me to enter for free.
Balliol was not that big. But it certainly lived up its name as the oldest college in Oxford. The wooden floor to the chapel was creaking. The chapel itself was quite nice and warm. The light entered nicely and created yellow nuance on the brownish chairs. The garden was also quite nice and big. It was too bad that I could not enter the hall. But hey, this was not Christ Church......
The colleges were done for that day. But since the sun was still shinning, I did not want to get back home early. So, I saw a unique building near Trinity and decided to go there. It was the Bodleian Library. The History of Science museum was there. Interestingly, this building was actually the Old Ashmolean. So, my tour on that day was ended by the visit to the museum and the Shelley Ghost exhibition. A special exhibition of Shelley's family's writing. Well, who does not know him? At least people would recognize his famous wife, Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. But his poems were also equally beautiful. Ozymandias would be forever linger in my head.
The rest of the day was not very exciting. So, that was all for the second day in Oxford.
This was my second day in Oxford. Even though I was endowed with the bicycle to assist the exploration, I felt that relying on my feet was better, since I could enjoy every scene without having to find a place to park the bike. Thus, equipped with my thick winter jacket, scarf, and gloves, I set my way unto the gloomy and foggy city.
As I was in Oxford, I did not want to miss any college. If I could, I would set my foot on all the colleges. Well, something quite impossible, especially without the Oxford University card. Quite fortunate, my friend's flat was located near Nuffeld College. In under than five minutes, I reached the LOCKED gate. Darn! Taking my chance, I put my camera behind the bar and started taking pictures that I could get. Just two shots and I decided to got around the college, hoping to find a door to enter. Bum! Nothing......
Luckily, near that college lied Oxford Castle. Castle, huh? I would like to try it, entering one of the castle and saw what was inside, after my disappointment with Buckingham palace (which was very plain in its outer architecture). Visitor attraction would cost me two pounds. Huh? I did not want to pay to explore the hill. In fact, the castle must be more interesting than that. But I was wrong. The castle was nothing other than food court. What?
Not wanting to waste more time there, I started walking again, trying to f
ind other fun colleges. Heading without any clear direction, I stumbled upon Christ Church. It was the biggest and most famous college in Oxford, for the first two Harry Potter movies were shot there. Well, now I am willing to pay for this, I said to myself. At least, I only needed to pay around two pounds. But again, I was wrong! The concession rate for student was 4.50 pounds. Darn! My calculative mind was furious with that. Fortunately, my 'civilized' and 'cultured' side were being more dominant. (But still, four and a half pounds? Puh-lease!)The main quadrangle in the college was pretty big. Unfortunately, with my status as a visitor, my exploration area was limited. I could not step my foot on the Hermes fountain in the middle of the quadrangle. Or perhaps, it was still grass for fellows only? I always questioned that concept. A little ridiculous. Quite nice, but with limited area, I felt confined.
The dinning hall, on the other hand, was very much IMPRESSIVE! No wonder it was used as the Hogwarts' dinning hall. The arrangement looked very exquisite and expensive. All the pictures of notable alumni were hanging on the wall, covering most of it. And it even had a real fireplace, not an electric one. I wish I had a friend from Christchurch who can take me into the formal hall there. Hehehehe!
Move on to the cathedral, the decoration and room division were sophisticated and elegant. The seating arrangement was similar to other chapels, the altar was very detailed in the carving of crucifixion. The mosaics depicting several saints were also there. St. John the Baptise, St. Caecilia (I'm sure that my mum would be very flattered knowing this), and some other saint which I could not decipher from the latin writing. I sat down and prayed (yeah, I prayed after such a long time) in the right hand side of the cathedral, the private chamber.
After finishing Christ Church, I saw several colleges. Most of them were closed for public. Darn. But learning from experience, I decided to sneak in, only to take some shots. And the first one was Oriel College, one of the oldest colleges in Oxford. Next victim was Corpus Christi. Only two shots for this relatively small college. But at least, I got the shot of the special sundial in the middle of the first quadrangle.
Merton and University College were both closed by the bar. I could only sneak my camera behind the bar and got limited view of the college. As I continued the tour, I saw a very big and nice college. The gate tower was very classic, but not as rigid and conventional as the other colleges. It was Queen's College. Quite big, and it would be unfair to compare it to Queen's College in Cambridge. But again, it was closed! Daaaaaaaaarn!!! Not even any opening in bar, thus I could not steal some shots.Next to Queen's, I saw All Souls College. Yes, said I in mind. I had been wanting to enter this college. One of the oldest, classic. The gate was opened but there was the announcement that the college was closed. Remembering the suggestion from several people, I put my poker face. When nobody was around, I stepped confidently into the first quadrangle. To my surprise, the porter stopped me. I never thought that he recognized every face of college residents. As I said that I was looking for my friend, he asked me the name. Spontaneously, I mentioned any common western name. Yet again, he frowned and said that there was nobody with that name in the college. Damn! I had to get out of here. There was no way I would be arrested for trespassing. I said that I would call my friend outside and quickly ran to the nearby University Church.
After calming myself, I continued walking to Exeter College. It was a college inspiring Philip Pullman for Jordan College in His Dark Material trilogy. As a scholar of children's literature, there's no way for me to miss that. But again, it was closed! Shoot! That time, I decided not to sneak in. Did not want to repeat the All Souls tragedy.
I decided to continue the walk and cross Broad Street. There were Trinity College and Balliol College. Trinity was closed, so it was not an option. But Balliol was opened. I stepped on and went to the Porter's Lodge. The admission fee was cheap, only a pound for students. But when he found out I was a Cambridge student, he allowed me to enter for free.
Balliol was not that big. But it certainly lived up its name as the oldest college in Oxford. The wooden floor to the chapel was creaking. The chapel itself was quite nice and warm. The light entered nicely and created yellow nuance on the brownish chairs. The garden was also quite nice and big. It was too bad that I could not enter the hall. But hey, this was not Christ Church......The colleges were done for that day. But since the sun was still shinning, I did not want to get back home early. So, I saw a unique building near Trinity and decided to go there. It was the Bodleian Library. The History of Science museum was there. Interestingly, this building was actually the Old Ashmolean. So, my tour on that day was ended by the visit to the museum and the Shelley Ghost exhibition. A special exhibition of Shelley's family's writing. Well, who does not know him? At least people would recognize his famous wife, Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. But his poems were also equally beautiful. Ozymandias would be forever linger in my head.
The rest of the day was not very exciting. So, that was all for the second day in Oxford.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Oxford #1 : Green Templeton College
Tuesday, 14/12/10
I arrived in Oxford 20 minutes later than the expected schedule. Cold and hungry, as no breakfast touched my hand that morning. The cold breeze grasped every inches of my skin, though a thick layer of winter jacket was put over them. The fog was everywhere, giving this city a nuance of late 18th century. The buildings were old but big, unlike the old and small buildings in Cambridge. If Cambridge took me back to 15th - 16th century, Oxford and its crowd only took me two centuries backward. It was gloomy, I recalled what Jody said about The Oxford Murder.
The city was quite big. For a person coming from Cambridge, Oxford is comparable to London. More and more people were walking on the street. Following the direction from my friend, I went down the Hythe Bridge Street, crossing the Oxford Canal. The wind blew fiercer, penetrating every possible pore on my fabric. So, I tightened up my scarf and continued walking. 'Twas in five minutes that I reached the flat. I was in time for lunch.
As my friend was a member of Green Templeton College, she took me there to have lunch. Along the way, she showed the The Eagle and The Child, a famous pub where J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis gave birth to their masterpiece, The Lord of The Ring and The Chronicles of Narnia. A small and usual British pub. As we walked along the Woodstock Road, I saw St. Aloysius Catholic Church on my left hand side. I should pay a visit here, I thought. The thing is, my great grandaunt, who was a nun, told me that I am eligible to have three wishes everytime I visited a new church. And this time, I already knew what I have to ask.
We reached Green Templeton College in the end of the road.
It happened to be a sister college to my Cambridge college. As mine was small yet cozy, I was not expecting a big college with several quadrangles. Well, at least my prejudice was true. Green Templeton was similar to St. Edmund, with an inside garden. In the centre of the garden, there was a nice tower hosting the dinning hall and Common Room. Interestingly, there were eight graving of Greek gods and goddesses on the top of the tower. I was told that they represented eight direction.
Entering the first room within the tower, the jade-coloured wall emanated warmth, contrary to the bluish sky of winter outside. The dinning hall itself was a small room. The tables were not arranged traditionally. Not something that you would expect out of common Oxbridge colleges. Even St. Ed still arranged the table traditionally (without the high table, of course). Further comparison with St. Ed came when I took the meal. There were only two meals! One meat and one vegetarian. Only one side dish, since the plate was quite small. I saw a pile of fried chicken, but my friend said that the pile was for salad. We went to the cashier and had to pay 4.80 for two persons! Yay! I loved that! Very cheaaaap! St. Ed, you have to go that way. Hehehe! It was just too bad that we had to pay in cash, even for the member of the college. How I miss card swiping in Eddies' dinning hall. :(
After finishing the lunch, we headed toward Common Room (as I typed this, I always wrote combination room first before common room. Cambridge had influenced me this far...). A nice one. The room was very cozy with couches everywhere. Pretty classy, I supposed. The ceiling was quite high, decorated with tall windows on the wall. You could see some part of Oxford since it was located on the second floor of the tower. With a sip of warm coffee, I lounged myself, accompanied by my friend and some other people she introduced me to. Again, the jade-coloured wall and thick curtain created a warm feeling inside. Later, I found out that the college atmosphere was actually pretty snob, since most of the residents were studying medical and business. Well, that might be the reason why their common room was executive-like. Ah, well, for once in a lifetime, let me be snobbish. ^_^
The tea break was done. It was time to explore the city on my own. Yet, as winter only allowed short exploration time, Ashmolean Museum was the only place I could go. But, that's a completely different story that I will not tell here. Not many people are into museum as I am.........
I arrived in Oxford 20 minutes later than the expected schedule. Cold and hungry, as no breakfast touched my hand that morning. The cold breeze grasped every inches of my skin, though a thick layer of winter jacket was put over them. The fog was everywhere, giving this city a nuance of late 18th century. The buildings were old but big, unlike the old and small buildings in Cambridge. If Cambridge took me back to 15th - 16th century, Oxford and its crowd only took me two centuries backward. It was gloomy, I recalled what Jody said about The Oxford Murder.
The city was quite big. For a person coming from Cambridge, Oxford is comparable to London. More and more people were walking on the street. Following the direction from my friend, I went down the Hythe Bridge Street, crossing the Oxford Canal. The wind blew fiercer, penetrating every possible pore on my fabric. So, I tightened up my scarf and continued walking. 'Twas in five minutes that I reached the flat. I was in time for lunch.
As my friend was a member of Green Templeton College, she took me there to have lunch. Along the way, she showed the The Eagle and The Child, a famous pub where J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis gave birth to their masterpiece, The Lord of The Ring and The Chronicles of Narnia. A small and usual British pub. As we walked along the Woodstock Road, I saw St. Aloysius Catholic Church on my left hand side. I should pay a visit here, I thought. The thing is, my great grandaunt, who was a nun, told me that I am eligible to have three wishes everytime I visited a new church. And this time, I already knew what I have to ask.
We reached Green Templeton College in the end of the road.
It happened to be a sister college to my Cambridge college. As mine was small yet cozy, I was not expecting a big college with several quadrangles. Well, at least my prejudice was true. Green Templeton was similar to St. Edmund, with an inside garden. In the centre of the garden, there was a nice tower hosting the dinning hall and Common Room. Interestingly, there were eight graving of Greek gods and goddesses on the top of the tower. I was told that they represented eight direction.Entering the first room within the tower, the jade-coloured wall emanated warmth, contrary to the bluish sky of winter outside. The dinning hall itself was a small room. The tables were not arranged traditionally. Not something that you would expect out of common Oxbridge colleges. Even St. Ed still arranged the table traditionally (without the high table, of course). Further comparison with St. Ed came when I took the meal. There were only two meals! One meat and one vegetarian. Only one side dish, since the plate was quite small. I saw a pile of fried chicken, but my friend said that the pile was for salad. We went to the cashier and had to pay 4.80 for two persons! Yay! I loved that! Very cheaaaap! St. Ed, you have to go that way. Hehehe! It was just too bad that we had to pay in cash, even for the member of the college. How I miss card swiping in Eddies' dinning hall. :(
After finishing the lunch, we headed toward Common Room (as I typed this, I always wrote combination room first before common room. Cambridge had influenced me this far...). A nice one. The room was very cozy with couches everywhere. Pretty classy, I supposed. The ceiling was quite high, decorated with tall windows on the wall. You could see some part of Oxford since it was located on the second floor of the tower. With a sip of warm coffee, I lounged myself, accompanied by my friend and some other people she introduced me to. Again, the jade-coloured wall and thick curtain created a warm feeling inside. Later, I found out that the college atmosphere was actually pretty snob, since most of the residents were studying medical and business. Well, that might be the reason why their common room was executive-like. Ah, well, for once in a lifetime, let me be snobbish. ^_^
The tea break was done. It was time to explore the city on my own. Yet, as winter only allowed short exploration time, Ashmolean Museum was the only place I could go. But, that's a completely different story that I will not tell here. Not many people are into museum as I am.........
My Narnia
Watching the third instalment in Narnia franchise, The Voyage of Dawn Treader, my fingers were itched to write something. Well, this is the first movie ever that I watched in UK. It did not fulfil my expectation about how it should be. I don't know, whether it's related to the backing off of Disney from the franchise or the story factor that did not support the flashiness as the two previous prequels. It lacked of grandeur from the very first beginning.
However, I realized something that watching Narnia made me go into deep thought about myself. Lucy and Edmund always dream about Narnia, for the adventure and grandeur awaits them there. Whenever the real world sucks, they keep thinking about Narnia, and how that world would offer something different to them. Thus, when they enter Narnia, they completely become other people, showing their other qualities and sort of running away from their real world.
A lot of people must also dream about going to their own Narnia. And what about myself? Of course I wanted to have my own Narnia, a place where I can explore myself and be someone else. And in this matter, I think I am quite lucky. Going away from home and stepping my foot to Cambridge was the wardrobe to my own Narnia. The scholarship that I received acted as my dimensional ring to access “the pool in the magic wood”. In short, Cambridge and UK are my Narnia.
After setting my foot in Cambridge and live far from my comfort home, I started exploring myself. I live as myself, out of anybody's expectation. Out of people's expectation (since nobody know me here), out of my parents' expectation, and even living beyond my own expectation. I sort of tapped into a different personality within myself. Just as Pevensie siblings re-don their mantle as High King and Queens as they got into Narnia, I tapped into a hidden personality in me. Well, it's not a completely hidden one like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde though.
Talking about this topic, I started remembering Brad Paisley's song, Find Yourself. It is said that we can really discover who we are when we are far from home, when we are in a new area, surrounded by complete strangers. That's when we found ourselves. So, my Narnia, I will explore you more as I will also explore the dark wood of myself. Beware and anticipate the coming of your king!
Monday, December 06, 2010
Dante's (Fairy Tales) Inferno
I finally tasted the adaptation of the famous Dante's Inferno. I was always amazed by the historical facts and how Dante wove them into nice tortures and torments (Gee, I might be crazy and psycho for saying this out loud). Divine Comedy is the book that made me spend lots of money only to copy it from the library.When I found that EA Games decided to make a game adaptation of this classic, I was so hyped. 'Twas not until the release that I was disappointed. They chose PS3 and X360, which means I could not play it. I already gave up when I found the trailer of Dante's Inferno : An Animated Epic. Looking from the artwork, I knew that it is a cinematic alternation of the game. At least, Inferno came alive in an accessible media.
After spending some minutes of downloading the rip (yeah, thanks to the high speed internet!!), I began to watch it. The animation was crisp, bleak coloured, somber and grim. The first scene when Dante was wandering in a dark forest with the appearance of panther and wolf resonated with the first part of the composition. But it was an extended prologue of the original. Right after the dark wood, Dante found Beatrice lying with her last breath. Okay, this might be an introduction for people who are not familiar with the epoch. But something went wrong. As Beatrice breathed her last and turned into a spirit, Lucifer came and hold unto her soul.
My memory was hazy for a moment. Is there a scene of this? And it went clearer, that the producer did something in the adaptation effort. They put a fairy-tale like background, fitting everything into stereotype. Dante himself is portrayed as a knight coming from the Holy War. Well, he is a Templar. Meanwhile, Beatrice was changed into a Damsel in Distress, a princess waiting to be saved by the handsome prince.
It's weird, isn't it? In the original plot, Beatrice is the one who saves Dante from the darkness of his soul. Even more, she helps Dante getting through the journey. Is this a market demand to fit this philosophical tale into a fairy tale framework? Into the hegemony of a man, where woman is perceived as weak character to be saved? Interesting case, for in the 21st century like this, hegemonic masculinity still exist within the media and culture, in its subtlest possible way.
Dante himself is not a pure translation of the original Dante Alighieri. Even the fact that he had a pre-marital intercourse with Beatrice, a pure soul, reminded me of Faust. This resemblance is clearly nailed with the scene in which Dante found his unborn son in Limbo, the first circle of hell. Pre-marital intercourse with a pure soul, unborn child from the flawless virgin, this is clearly a mixture of two different classics. The producer might add this fact to spice up the plot, but it resulted in a different Inferno.
The distinction of good and evil is also very clear here. All demons in hell are evil, thus they have to be killed. Therefore, there are scenes in which Dante slain Charon and Minos. He even slaughtered the demon. Well, it is an important point in the game, but do they have to include the slaying here? They must be boss characters in the game...
The modification of the original also ignored the mythological references to certain characters. When Dante and Virgil have to mount Nessus to cross the river, I was very shocked. Nessus is portrayed as a sexualized female centaur with a bare chest and boobs. WHA? Nessus is supposed to be a male and lustful centaur who kidnapped Deianera in Heracles opus. If Nessus is a female, then she would never kidnap Deianera, thus never give Deianera the poisonous robe that killed Heracles.
Geee, I mumbled too much about this. This movie is not that bad, anyway. If you know nothing about Divine Comedy, this is a nice one (but you have to ignore different styles of animation throughout the movies, which can be pretty annoying). But for people who understand Divine Comedy, this is a completely new story. They only have the same name and concept. This is, once again, a fairy tale version of Divine Comedy.
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Cambridge #2 : Christmas
Christmas is drawing near. And having been living in European, I finally feel the celebration. Unlike in Indonesia, people are very eager to take part in the party. It is really a family time, in which every family has their own tradition. Everybody wanted to go back to their home as soon as possible.
That leaves me alone in Cambridge. A small city
in the middle of the bleak winter surrounded by antiquity. Living in college meaning staying alone with less people with silence all around. With a short winter day and bleak sky, the white Christmas will not be white.
I am supposed to be homesick, like my other friends. But the truth is, I don't miss my home very much. Some friends asked me, "How do you feel of spending christmas without your family?" I could not think about any answer rather than happy. Yes, I am looking forward to it.
My Christas was never full with tradition. It was never memorable. So, a bleak christmas here is even better than christmas at home.
PS : What the hell is this writing? I must be at the bottom, for this is very baad!
That leaves me alone in Cambridge. A small city
in the middle of the bleak winter surrounded by antiquity. Living in college meaning staying alone with less people with silence all around. With a short winter day and bleak sky, the white Christmas will not be white.I am supposed to be homesick, like my other friends. But the truth is, I don't miss my home very much. Some friends asked me, "How do you feel of spending christmas without your family?" I could not think about any answer rather than happy. Yes, I am looking forward to it.
My Christas was never full with tradition. It was never memorable. So, a bleak christmas here is even better than christmas at home.
PS : What the hell is this writing? I must be at the bottom, for this is very baad!
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