Oxford 2011 Freshers Chat Thread

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Oh, okay, thank you! I'll hopefully be a half-blood historian. :cool:

I have a question for English but I suppose it applies to History too - on my reading lists it says it's usual (but not mandatory) for HENGers to take Old English Module, as opposed to Victorian for the first year. But I've been given a reading list for both, and the Victorian list is rather extensive! Do you know if I choose now, or try to read half from each?... When you choose modules, do you get 'tasters' of both or simply go straight into one, forgoing another?

Erm, I don't know exactly about English but in History you pick your modules before the term in which you do them, without any 'taster' stuff. Because you're a joint school you might have to pick all your modules now, as opposed to one at a time - I know the Hist&Pol lot do - but either way you need to choose. There's only 8 weeks in a term, you need all the time you can get just to learn them on their own! Wait until you get your results/freshers pack, that should tell you more about the structure of the course than I can, it'll tell you when you need to choose by too. But I should start thinking about it, there must be one you prefer more than another? If you do Old English you aren't going to 'remain monolingual' - you need to translate the stuff :wink:

To me it looks horrendous, but each to their own...

I'm very jealous - I was thinking about applying for History & English, but was put off by the 12% aceptance rate. Nowadays I think any joint subject is a waste of good history, but that's because I've fallen in love with my work :smile:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2501

thurin

Original post by dbmag9

Anything you'd recommend once I get through CP? I feel I ought to devote some time to the classics since I'm not really doing anything in Berlin.

In terms of Dostoyevsky the only other books I've read are The Double (a very... reflective piece in terms of identity and position in society, very enjoyable), Notes from the Underground (more dense and serious), and The Idiot (just as good as C&P). Other good Russian ones to think about are Gogol's Dead Souls and Tolstoy's short stories, all in a similar vein to C&P. They're the main Russian books I've read - I haven't read too many 'classics' either :tongue:

Original post by micky022

I'm using this. It's gone up 11p since I bought it though...

Thanks for all your help! Are the CDs useful?

Original post by Incarnadine91

If you do Old English you aren't going to 'remain monolingual' - you need to translate the stuff :wink:

Not too many native/living speakers though!
I don't even know if I will take (or have to take) Anglo-Saxon modules so it's a teensy predicament!
Other than the workload that's also a fear of mine, that either I'll prefer one side (probably History) or I'll feel like I've missed out. I should stop anticipating regrets already!

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2502

micky022

Original post by JAR12

Thanks for all your help! Are the CDs useful?

Not too many native/living speakers though!
I don't even know if I will take (or have to take) Anglo-Saxon modules so it's a teensy predicament!
Other than the workload that's also a fear of mine, that either I'll prefer one side (probably History) or I'll feel like I've missed out. I should stop anticipating regrets already!

I'd say so, especially for the pronunciation and getting to grips with some of the words. So far all i can say is, "Your passport, please!"

Reply 2503

Incarnadine91

Original post by JAR12

You don't have to take them, no - joint schools don't even have the "one medieval, one early modern, one modern" restriction that we do - but you might consider it just because it links in so well with your Old English stuff. But then again you could just as easily do 19th century British history and your Victorian novels... It's your choice, in the end, colleges can only advise what they think you should take.

The workload will be fine,as far as I know joint schools aren't measurably harder than single honours in that regard - you might have to do one or two more essays over the course of the term, but overall the two half-degrees add up to the same amount of work as the rest of us. I think - most of my experience with joint schools comes from a friend who does Hist&Pol, but it should be the same I imagine. They're not trying to kill you or anything!!! Just relax, and enjoy the fact you're doing a combination of degrees most people don't get the chance to :wink:

Reply 2504

Lac.

Original post by micky022

What subject are you doing?

German is a horrid-sounding language, you could be calling someone beautiful and it sounds like you're threatening to torture them...

I prescribe intensive listening of the St Matthew Passion on a loop, all three hours of it. There is no one on this planet who could emerge from that and still think German is an unpleasant language.

Reply 2505

shinobi93

Original post by JAR12

What book are you using?
I've found Oxford Take Off in Russian for a quarter of the price on another site, and it's in my library. The New Penguin Russian Course is the cheapest of this version but it looks good, but it's not available in my library. (Sorry for plaguing you with questions! :wink:

Out of interest, why did you choose to learn Russian?)
My reasons for wanting to learn aren't even any good - I'd like to read some of the books (19th/20th Century) in their original! Same with German... and that might be more 'useful'? Talk about tenuous :smile:

I'm (hopefully) doing History & English so maybe trying to learn a language will stretch me even thinner! Still I don't like the idea of remaining monolingual, but I never liked French.

Oh, okay, thank you! I'll hopefully be a half-blood historian. :cool:

I don't actually have an answer to your question, but as a straight English applicant who has to do both Old English and Victorian, I'd suggest to focus on Old English if that's what you are likely to choose (my reading list for that is much shorter) and maybe just try to read some of the Victorian stuff? Just a guess :s-smilie:

if your Victorian list is anything like mine/other people I've heard of, it would probably take ages to try and do both!

Oh, and on the languages note, I started learning Italian because I wanted to understand bits of Dante! And I can't decide whether to continue teaching myself or to do a course.

Reply 2506

dbmag9

Original post by JAR12

Thanks, I'll come back to this post once I get through CP. :smile:

Original post by shinobi93

Oh, and on the languages note, I started learning Italian because I wanted to understand bits of Dante! And I can't decide whether to continue teaching myself or to do a course.

Italian is so beautiful, though it's below French, Russian and Spanish on my 'languages I want to learn' list. I started reading Inferno (in translation) ages ago but never finished it. I can still remember "lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'intrante", although there are probably some mistakes there.

Reply 2507

laura_bird88

Original post by micky022

German is a horrid-sounding language, you could be calling someone beautiful and it sounds like you're threatening to torture them...

I personally think German's a bit like playing the violin... beginners sound awful, but after that it's rather nice actually :tongue:

Reply 2508

micky022

Original post by laura_bird88

I personally think German's a bit like playing the violin... beginners sound awful, but after that it's rather nice actually :tongue:

I think I was tainted by being in a class of beginners a few years ago :tongue:

I can say kugelschreiber though!

What subject is your offer for?

Reply 2509

shinobi93

Original post by dbmag9

Its beauty is the other reason I chose it. Just reading Inferno aloud, even without knowing what you're saying, sounds wonderful.

I'd love to learn Russian, but that's mainly because I love Russian literature.

Reply 2510

dbmag9

Original post by laura_bird88

I personally think German's a bit like playing the violin... beginners sound awful, but after that it's rather nice actually :tongue:

That's true of any language I can think of though; people attempting French with a really English accent is just as horrible.

Reply 2511

thurin

Original post by Incarnadine91

Just relax, and enjoy the fact you're doing a combination of degrees most people don't get the chance to :wink:

I count my blessings :wink:

Original post by shinobi93

You're quite right. I'll have to choose then. I can always read Victorian in my own time!

I'd love to learn Russian, but that's mainly because I love Russian literature

Reply 2512

laura_bird88

Original post by micky022

I think I was tainted by being in a class of beginners a few years ago :tongue:

I can say kugelschreiber though!

What subject is your offer for?

History

I already know yours is law from my extensive stalking of this thread :colondollar:

Reply 2513

laura_bird88

Original post by dbmag9

Oh yeah, to add to what I mentioned earlier to whoever, the bookshop also had Carmina Burana in side-by-side original (Latin and old German) and German. Mediaeval Latin drinking songs are pretty epic. Reclam (the publishing house) is completely amazing.

That's true of any language I can think of though; people attempting French with a really English accent is just as horrible.

I think that leans more towards humorous though, German and violin can have the same grating quality to begin with. Pretty much why I gave up both quickly to spare those around me...

Edit: I will try to remember to multi-quote in future :/

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2514

dbmag9

Original post by Incarnadine91

I think Latin translations are easier for me, even though I've never studied it in my life, because as you read it it sounds so awesome - like a magic spell :wink:

Quoting this again because I looked up some of Carmina Burana and couldn't resist. You want stuff that sounds like a spell? Have a go at this, and pretend it's not actually a drinking song.

Reply 2515

micky022

Original post by laura_bird88

History

I already know yours is law from my extensive stalking of this thread :colondollar:

Haha as long as it remains thread stalking and not mysterious strangers in my garden at 3AM :tongue:

Have you got a reading list yet? I haven't, I feel purposeless :frown:

Reply 2516

laura_bird88

Original post by micky022

Haha as long as it remains thread stalking and not mysterious strangers in my garden at 3AM :tongue:

Have you got a reading list yet? I haven't, I feel purposeless :frown:

Teaching yourself Russian seems a good enough task!

I do indeed, though I got it the day before a 2 week holiday, so spent the whole time anxious to come home to the books I'd hastily ordered. I did, however, use the time to read the stack of novels I want to read before Oxford, I think I'll stick to plays and poems once there.

As for actual History reading, I chose a period of History I knew next to nothing about (1685-1830), so have had to do a lot of basics before really delving into the books properly. Should begin to make headway tomorrow...

Reply 2517

micky022

Original post by laura_bird88

Hopefully I'll be reasonable at it by October haha. Ah, I only took one book on holiday last year. I generally dislike holiday books, they're usually trashy. Right now I'm reading Clausewitz's On War, Plato's The Republic, and I tried some Nietzsche but the man's style is like porridge. I'm unsure of the benefits of a reading list for Law; if it's all primer/background stuff I should be ok without it, having done Law at A-Level.

What happens from 1685 to 1830? Is that like the Jacobite times?

Reply 2518

ThatOtherGuy

Original post by jenny18

I'm the only one from my school who got an offer, so it's all down to me. Well, i look forward to (hopefully) meeting you in October. Just as a matter of interest, how many medical students will ther be in our year at Lincoln? There's meant to be 12 English people, but i've heard somewhere that there's only 8.

Throwing a similar question out to everyone, what class sizes are you expecting? How different is that from what you're used to. I went to a private school where my biggest class was 10 and my smallest 3. Are people looking forward to the small classes? Or is that a lot of individual pressure??

I'm not too sure how many there are in a year, but I know that we get most of our teaching as a whole year. As for class sizes though, I know that we do some stuff in our college groups, tutorials and stuff; I guess that those classes would probably be about the same as what I'm used to at my secondary school, which wasn't private but was scottish (and therefore pretty good). A lot of my classes were ones with few candidates doing them anyway - there were only about half a dozen in three of my four Advanced Highers, and the other maybe had about 18 folks in. (The higher I was doing had maybe two dozen people in though). I'm kind of looking forward to the small class sizes, it means that you get more time to discuss things and ask questions and stuff :smile:

Reply 2519

laura_bird88

Original post by micky022

You don't have to read trashy 'holiday' books on holiday you know, they don't confiscate the rest at security. I managed to smuggle some Forster and Lawrence out the country with me :tongue:

I want to read more philosophy but never get round to it, I suppose I don't know where to start.

The course features the Glorious Revolution, Whigs and Tories, Walpole, Pitt, the emerging of the industrial revolution... all sorts, including Jacobitism.