On the tutorial system

"So, what would you like to do next?"

I feel like I came all the way to England just to be asked that question. Both of my tutors have completely set me free. I can ask whatever questions I want, pursue whatever topics I want, and do whatever I want with the results. I can do anything. It was such a crazy moment to be stunned with liberty. "What do I want to do next?" I thought, "Um, I have no idea. No one's asked me that one before."

Academics here is not about doing what you're told. It's about learning to ask good questions in your studies. I'm really excited because I came up with a good question to tackle next in my Shakespeare tutorial. The first meeting with my tutor was exactly what I hoped for. We got to dig into the text and look at the ambiguities from a bunch of different angles. I've been immersing myself in Shakespeare for so long that it was fantastic to finally have a conversation with someone else who saw the connections and the threads and the puzzles criss-crossed in his work.

Here's the thing---I think I'm happier working this way than I've ever been otherwise. School is not a drudgery. Everything I do here is significant---there is no assignment that just gets tossed in a trash bin somewhere because its only purpose was to prove I was alive in class and thinking something. I can put as much effort as I want into my essays and have my work actually be rewarded. Grades do not even come in the picture---they were never the point.

This is so cool! At this moment I am revelling in Oxford---everything about Oxford. The streets, the stones, the statues, the gardens, and the academia dripping off it all. I don't know how I'm going to be able to go back to the States....nope, no clue.