GDBM

Crew is something I have always wanted to try, and I figured that Oxford was the perfect place for me to test out my rowing abilities. So, for better or for worse, I have decided to take on rowing and have joined the New College Boat Club (NCBC).

The NCBC has a long, prestigious history at Oxford. It is one of the few colleges at Oxford that has ever won an Olympic Medal. NCBC represented the United Kingdom at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. At the end of the competition, it came down to New College and Magdalen College, both from Oxford, vying for the Gold medal. A coin was tossed to determine which crew would race in which spot. New College won the coin toss, but in a gesture of true sportsmanship offered the choice to Magdalen. In a not so gentlemanly manner, Magdalen chose the easier spot and went on to win Gold, leaving New College with the Silver Medal. Because of the grand display of sportsmanship demonstrated by New College, the King of Sweden bestowed upon NCBC the royal colors of Sweden, purple and gold. And to this day, all correspondence by the NCBC is signed off "GDBM," meaning "God Damn Bloody Magdalen." (For a more thorough description of this event, see this Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_College_Boat_Club.)

So far, I have been out on the water three times with NCBC. For each of my first two outings the weather was absolutely amazing; so beautiful in fact that I thought it was some strange calling from above telling me that I needed to do this (we're talking beautiful blue skies, calm waters, and 70 degree temperatures - conditions that are absolutely unheard of in October in Oxford). Today mother nature initiated me.

I arrived at the New College Porter's Lodge at 4pm to walk to the boat house with the rest of the girls for our outing. It was about 45 degrees outside and had just started raining. Even though it rained during the entirety of our 15 minute walk to the boat house, the sky miraculously cleared up as we put the boat out into the water. This gave us a false sense of security, which became apparent when most of us (including myself) took off our rain coats, and left on our heavy sweat pants to keep warm (even though many of us wore shorts underneath that would dry much more quickly should we be faced with more rain). As soon as we paddled out into the middle of the river and away from the boathouse, the sky began to look more ominous than it has during the month and a half that I've been here. Not long after we got into the rhythm of full extensions, the sky opened up. Not only were we being drenched by cold pounding rain, we were being pelted by little balls of ice. We were getting hailed on and our cox (the person guiding our boat) seemed to have no desire to return to shore. We rowed up and down the river in the freezing rain (literally) for nearly 45 more minutes. We were all relieved to return to the dock, at least until we realized that we had to lift the boat and dump the puddles of accumulated water over our heads to get the boat back into the boathouse. If we weren't drenched before, we certainly were after taking the boat inside. I won't say it was comfortable, but it was pretty fun. Now I truly feel like I have been initiated into the sport of rowing, and that I'm becoming a legitimate member of the New College Boat Club. GDBM.

Irony

During our first month in Oxford, we were required to participate in a lecture series presented by varying Oxford professors. The lecture series covered all sorts of issues relating to Britain's history and culture. Each day we had up to three lectures on a different topic. The topics ranged from the National Health Service (NHS), Shakespeare, the Tudor and Stuart Eras, to the British system of government. The biggest lesson I've taken from these lectures is that truth really is stranger than fiction.

The most interesting bit of information I learned is in regard to the NHS. The NHS was established through three funding sources: a £3.75 billion loan from the U.S.A. initiated the program in the 1940s, proceeds from decolonization in the 1950s and 60s, and increased taxation. I find it incredibly ironic that the NHS got its start from a nearly £4 billion loan from the United States in the 1940s. This is equivalent to approximately £60 billion today (around $96 billion after converting with a rough exchange rate of $1.60/pound). It is odd to me that America's government was so willing to pay to establish a socialized health care system in a foreign country, but the US government and the American populace offer so much resistance when anyone tries to propose a similar system in America. The NHS is an incredibly popular program in Britain, and the mention of changing it, or limiting access, is political suicide to any politicians (even those who are fiscally conservative) that suggest modifying the current system. Even though it goes against most of what I've been taught in economics and through forums/seminars in DC (e.g., government intervention = bad! market = good!) there is a sense of peace here knowing that if I need to see the doctor, or if I have an emergency, I'll be able to afford it. I'll be the first to admit I'm not entirely sure the details of Obama's new plan, but knowing this makes me want to do a bit more homework about what could be in the U.S.

Time for an update

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post! It's hard to believe I've been in Oxford for just about a month and a half. Time is flying by way too quickly. This past month has been a busy one. We finished our lecture series on British history and culture, my mom came for a visit, I have begun my two tutorial courses, and I've started crew! The next few posts should get you caught up!