It's been a while but...

Dear all

To those still reading, keeping a blog is harder than I thought – not out of a lack of discipline, but that it requires you to reflect and synthesise your experience whilst still experiencing it to the fullest. But I’ve finished a term at Oxford and I think I have the clarity and perspective to offer something to this journal. For ease I will break it down into a few themes (although there will be some inevitable crossover):

1. University
2. Rotary
3. Extra-curricular
4.  Life and thoughts generally

University

Well, this was the main reason I am here isn’t it. Oxford is both more or less than I thought it would be. More in the sense that my professors are amazing and inspiring. They encourage thinking at the highest level and treat us as intellectual equals (as much as that is possible, considering they are the big names in their areas). More in the sense that my fellow students are similarly amazing, intelligent and I am very lucky to be amongst like-minded company.

Less, in the sense that it is just a university. There is nothing particularly magic about it. To do well involves hard work. Plus, it has this attitude of ‘this is the way we do things around here’, even though some things do not make sense. For example, half my time is spent located resources, which is a lesson I do not believe needs learning. I am taking 4 subjects, that whilst fitting under a very broad umbrella, could not be more different in both substance and teaching style. The subjects are:

•       Jurisprudence and Political Theory
•       Comparative Human Rights
•       Comparative Public Law
•       Criminal Justice and Human Rights

At the moment I am considering further study (either a PhD or at least a research degree), so I am busy putting together a research proposal. Right now, I am considering a theory of legitimacy for international criminal law. It sounds like a mouthful, and I might have bitten off more than I chew, but fingers crossed that it all comes good.

Rotary

Wow – Rotary has been amazing adventure so far. Just a brief list of what has happened with Rotary so far:

·      The moment I arrived in the UK my host counsellor, Ade, was at the airport to collect me. You won’t believe how much of a relief it is to have someone their after an exhausting flight. When we arrived at my college, as there was no bedding he offered for me to stay at his and his wife’s house. Ade and I are (in my opinion) becoming good mates and I will be celebrating New Years Eve with his family and all the Zimbabweans in Oxfordshire!

·      Within 2 weeks of being in Oxford, Rotary had provided walking tours of both Oxford and London. Some pictures are below

·      We were hosts at a ‘meet the scholars’ dinner, where we ‘speed dated’ different clubs, for them to decide whether to speak at their clubs

·      I have spoken at 3 clubs now, and each time it is a wonderful opportunity to meet locals, and speak about what I am passionate about

·      We went on an extra special tour of Windsor Castle and Eton College. Normally, visitors aren’t allowed through Eton, but a Rotarian is head building manager and gave us a private tour. The place is obscenely amazing (fees are approx. £30,000 per year)

·      Random acts of kindness – Rotarians have shown incredible generosity to me, with invites to a Rugby match on Boxing Day and a post-Christmas dinner the day after. Some pictures are below:

Extra-curricular

Most of my time has been taken up studying and the like, but that’s not to say I don’t have time for some fun. Every week my college has a formal dinner, where you dress up in a suit for a great 3 course sit down dinner. Usually once a month I also attend a black-tie dinner – Oxford is a place where dinner suits are a necessity!

Whilst I was rowing for a couple of weeks, I eventually settled on riding with a club called ‘Zappi’s Cycling Club’. They are a local club not affiliated with the university, which is refreshing. Heading the club is a dude called Flavio Zappi, who is an ex-pro from the 1980s. Man, he still has legs and kicks everyone up any hill in sight! We usually do 100k rides every Saturday and it’s a great way to see the Oxfordshire district. Plus, as a cyclist, my coffee addiction can be indulged (as without the coffee a tthe end, I probably wouldn't ride!)

Life and thoughts generally

Life has been interesting for me over the past few months. Exactly as I suspected, grad school gives you an opportunity to reflect on your life; what is important and what you value. Ironically, Oxford is teaching me to chill out and run my own race, as there is ALWAYS someone smarter, or who has done more work than me.

I’ve already made some really good friends here, who are similarly as nerdy as me. Right now, Oxford feels like home, which is nice.

I hope everyone reading has a great New Year!

Toby

Arrived!

Dear all

I’m sorry it’s been a little while since I’ve blogged, but as you can imagine, I have been rather busy…

So, I’ve arrived in Oxford and have been here for about 2 weeks now.  What has been the biggest challenge for me as I arrived you may ask?

Well, it’s probably what you expect – the toilets. So, coming from Thailand which variously differs between a bog-standard squat (aren’t all toilets ‘bog-standard’?) and a western toilet that cannot handle western toilet paper I thought the UK would be a no brainer. Oh how I was wrong! There are websites (not many mind you, and yes I have searched them) on the correct hand pressure on the flush and other such complexities of british lavoratory engineering. Supposedly, to master the British toilet is a citizenship requirement.

But, anyways, I’ll set out the major things that have happened in the last week or so.

On the first weekend I arrived I travelled up by train to a place called Stafford, which is close to Birmingham. There was what is called the Rotary Link Weekend, which was an opportunity for all the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars from UK and Ireland (there are about 80 of us) meet up for a weekend. I was picked up by a lovely couple who had been married and lived in the same house for 47 years!!! I think I met my match for encyclopaedic knowledge as my host had a story for every single brick in the Staffordshire region. He also was a beer afficiando and wanted to stop for a sneaky pint at 1130 at night – so I was the grandpa who told hime I wanted to go home!

 But you probably want to know more about Oxford. Well, it is a magical place. It’s funny though, the immersion in history becomes normalized in about a day and you just accept it as fact that buildings are all at least 500 years old. My college is called St Hugh’s and it is absolutely stunning. Here is a picture of my college house:

This is my main college hall and college grounds:

When I get a chance I'll put up some photos of the city.

I’m a member of the MCR (middle common room), which is a collective for graduates at St Hugh’s. We’ve done some awesome social activities and I’ve met some awesome people. Right now we are in ‘freshers’ week, which is an orientation week for students. Seriously, name your interest and they have an Oxford society for it!

I’ve had a few rides around the Oxford region. Within 5 minutes you are out in the countryside riding past wheat fields, along narrow roads and quaint little country towns. Unfortunately, Oxford is flat as a pancake, so the local cycling clubs go on tours to get some hills. I’ve been convinced to join the St Hugh’s rowing club, so I’m getting back in a boat. I’m also going to sing in the chapel choir, which will be an experience. My first practice is tonight. Oxford is a place where it’s really easy to overcommit to stuff, or over-study so the advice we get is to try and best achieve balance. And as best as I can I hope to have a ‘balanced’ year.

When I first arrived the UK was experiencing a heatwave – everyone was complaining about the temperature being in the mid-twenties. Now it is ‘normal’ drizzly English weather they are complaining about the cold! It’s true what they say about the English being obsessed about the weather.

I haven’t started my classes yet, and will so next week. However, I’ve had a look at the reading list and it is scary! Each subject has nearly an A4 page of things to read per week. And there is no ‘reader’ book – you must read the book in the library and you cannot borrow. It appears that there is this philosophy in Oxford that they don’t want to make life easy for you, it being a test of character. Personally, I think it is a massive waste of time. But when in Rome…

Next post I will be busy studying…

Toby

Singapore - Asia lite. Thailand - Asia plus!

Hello everybody!

So, flight to Singapore was awesome. Although I was carrying 41kg (including my bike), I managed to only have to pay for 6kg for extra bags and managed to score the emergency aisle seats. Hells yes! (as my sister constantly says). So Massimo, the Singa air manager, you are a legend!

All I wanted to say about it was this – my father went on for about 5 minutes about Singapore Airline’s peanuts – that they were amazingly fresh and crunchy. Dad – the peanuts were good, but not enough  to mention in this blog.

Got to Singa. Singapore is Asia lite. You almost feel guilty, in that Asia is meant to be a challenge, where crucial things are lost in translation, where you are bamboozled by crazy traffic and persistent touts. Singapore is just like Sydney CBD. It's so easy, everyone follows the rules, the traffic is predictable. But in Singapore if you ever want a service that is slightly different to that described (for example, we wanted to purchase one avocado, and not the four pack), it blows their mind! They cannot deal with unconformity and the whole shop goes to a hushed silence as they have to deal with the troublesome expats. 

Now the fun bit – Chiang Mai in Thailand was Asia plus, just how I remembered it and how I like it. Tuk tuks everywhere, dank guesthouses but the friendliest people you’ve ever met. The highlight was definitely the elephant trainer course. These beasts are absolutely beautiful, but massive! We learnt a few commands for the elephants and the different ways to mount the elephant. We then walked them into the bush for their feeding. The really fun part was when they had to take a bath. Unfortunately, we were still on top of them! A picture tells a thousand words, so just check out some of the shots below.

 (note he is passing up my drink bottle, as I dropped it!)

After Chiang Mai, I visited my sister at Universal Studios theme park. This place is amazing- due to all the concrete it manages to be about 10 degrees hotter than the rest of Singapore, so it’s an absolute swelterbox. The whole point of the theme park was that it was a condition of the company opening a casino on the island. Because I was with my sister, who is mates with all the other characters, I got some great shots – check them out below (she is Marylin Monroe).

It was awesome to spend time with my sister and see her crazy life in Singapore. I really don’t know how she does it, but the place must grow on you.

Next post – Oxford!

Toby 

Five days to go...

Hello friends and family,

First things first - I'm going to put it out there - I'm not a very funny guy. So, if you are expecting this blog to be a laugh-a-minute, you may be disappointed. But I will try to make reading this as little excruciating as possible.

Secondly, this is my first blog. So, I might just make a few blog faux pas. But be gentle and patient with me, as I'm sure (hope) this will get interesting.

Thirdly, I am a lawyer. I believe there are two types of lawyers. One's who have had their personalities removed (and make great lawyers) and one's who have not (who are writers, actors, philosophers, poets etc in denial). I fall into the former category (although I cannot say that I am a great lawyer). So, if I lapse into legalese, become verbose, or use, too, many, commas then have pity on me, for I do not know better.

So, in five days I'm leaving the country to begin my adventure at the University of Oxford in the UK. But first, I am going to spend a week with this chick:

Seeing as Marilyn is long dead, that's my sis doing a pretty good job of 'being' Marilyn at Universal Studios, Singapore as a character actor. I think as she  has been in the job she is channelling Marilyn more and more (just kidding sis). So, we will 'do' Singa for a day or so and then head over to Chiang Mai, Thailand. 

Why Chiang Mai, you may ask? Because it does not have full moon parties and it (hopefully) is not full of Aussie bogans, the combination of which looks like this:

But, more positively, in Chaing Mai we can become FREAKING ELEPHANT TRAINERS! So, as awesome as that sounds my mate helpfully pointed out that we are essentially paying to pick up elephant dung. But meh to that, I think it will be a barrel of fun. 

After that, off to the UK. So, what am I doing over in the UK, you may ask? Why am I missing summer? And why am I asking all these questions? Good question.

(me in the UK)

About this time a year ago I was grilled for about an hour in front of about 8 senior members of my Rotary District in interview for the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship. That night, I received an awesome phone call, which said that I had been selected!!! The scholarship funds me for a one-year post-graduate degree abroad as well as embeds me in a local Rotary community abroad. Again, fortunately, I was granted my first preference at the University of Oxford. This was such an honour for me, and one that I did not, do not, and will not take lightly. 

So fast forward a few months and I was selected by Oxford to attend their one-year postgraduate course, the Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL). Essentially, it is Oxford's version of a Master in Laws where I will take 4 courses over the year in various subjects. At this point, I definitely want to study comparative human rights, jurisprudence and comparative public law (the fourth is still TBD). To those who don't know, I'm a slightly obsessed cyclist, so I intend on joining the Oxford University Cycling Club. I am also really passionate about access to justice and public interest law, so I intend on applying to Oxford Pro Bono Publico, Oxford's public interest legal group. As a former rower, I may (or may not) dabble in a bit of rowing. 

People always ask, "Are you excited about going?" Until recently, my stock standard reply was "I will be excited when I am on the plane." But just recently, after a really nice farewell dinner with a few of my colleagues, I feel ready to go and am getting super excited. I think your subconscious has an uncanny ability to prepare you emotionally at just the right time. It's the same as when you are about to come home after a long trip, it doesn't matter how long you are going for, you will feel ready to go a few days before you leave. So, I'm really looking forward to a few things:

• Seeing my sis;
• Re-engaging my brain on an academic level and conceptually locking horns with other postgraduates; and
• Throwing myself into everything Oxford has to offer extra-curricularly.

Anyways, I've probably broken a blog rule by making this too long. So, I'll sign off for now. Stay tuned for my next instalment.

Toby