Fashioning a Life Part Deux

So this should be the completion of this epic saga. I promise, life here is not so exciting that I really need to drag it out over two blog postings. I just love attention and am really long-winded. But you already knew that.
So you now have an understanding of the classes I'm taking here, all of which comprise approximately six hours out of my week, as said before. What do I do with the other, well, however many other hours? Good question. The answer isn't necessarily the most thrilling. I'll admit that a vast majority of my time here is spent reading and writing. On my "days off," Thursday and Friday, on which I have no class to attend, I spend at least eight, often up to twelve hours reading and writing. No better way to spend time, right? The studies certainly do keep us on our toes. But my schedule is all designed to hopefully allow me maximum time for studying and availing myself of the various opportunities around Oxford, some of which I've already begun.
A huge part of my life here already, as many of you already know, is choir. I auditioned for the St. Peter's College Chapel Choir (perfect name, right?) my first week here. It was easily one of the worst auditions I've ever had. He made me sightread Bach's St. Matthew's Passion, which we'll be performing in March. It doesn't help that the entire work is in German. He seemed rather reluctant to let me in, telling me repeatedly that I'd have to practice a lot on my own, but he eventually agreed. Woohoo! You see, one of the drawbacks to the CMRS program is that it's composed of all American students. So it falls upon our shoulders to really integrate ourselves into the Oxford community. This was my ticket in. The choir is far different than anything back at Olaf. First off, the group is twenty five strong, and often less than that. I'm generally one of eight men singing at any given service. The principal responsibility of the group is to sing at the Anglican evensong services held in the St. Peter's chapel every Sunday and Thursday night. We meet two hours before the service to run through the music, which is consistently (with a few exceptions, such as this evening, which was the Candlemas service) a magnificat and nunc dimittis, a series of responses that take the place of normal liturgy, and an anthem. Aside from that, we have fortnightly practices to prepare us for the St. Matthew's Passion concert at the end of the term. That's a total of four rehearsals for a work that will last over two hours. No big. The choir itself is great though, lots of very strong personalities. And, just as I had hoped, I'm making friends with some British students. I've been to a couple of their dorm rooms, and they're so incredible! Almost all of them are singles, and are at least the size of Kildahl rooms, if not bigger! A couple of them even have two rooms to themselves: one as a sort of reception room, with several chairs and a piano (all of the choir kids are music scholars), and the other smaller chamber for their bed and dresser. I was gazing around in awe the entire time I was in there.
Another perk to being in the choir is being allowed to participate in some of their traditions. Rehearsal usually lasts about an hour and half, which gives us a half hour between rehearsal and the evensong service itself. This half hour is cleverly used for the consumption of tea. What else would we do with spare time in Britain? I'll admit that I've become quite the tea aficionado these days. Two cups every morning to jumpstart the day. The same goes for scones and biscuits, traditional British delights. I found a smashing deal on scones at Sainsbury's, the local grocer, and I think I'm addicted. But it really is wonderful. St. Peter's provides us with all the makings. Tea, milk, sugar, sandwiches, biscuits galore, quite the spread. The best part of the whole experience thus far, though, has been the Formal Hall dinners. These are an ancient tradition at both Cambridge and Oxford. Every Thursday night, after the service, we head up to the dining hall, dressed in our suits and gowns (the traditional Oxford robe that looks a lot like a graduation gown), and are served a four-course meal (generally rather questionable fare) by the dining hall staff. This past Thursday was a particularly special evening, which will necessitate a separate posting. Stay tuned!
Another part of my life here is the Bible study that I've joined. One of my friends here, Lauren, found a poster advertising a group meeting on Monday nights, and we decided to try it out our first week here. Having only been in the city of Oxford for four days at the time, we easily got lost on our way to St. Columba's Church, but managed to find the little back-alley church eventually. The doors were locked, and so we had to violently ring a bell at the sidedoor to summon the study group leader. Mathias came and greeted us at the door. He is a German native, possibly one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, but incredibly awkward. Thus we met our group. Lauren and I were the only Americans present in the group of ten or so. And there aren't any British students. Germany, Syria, Taiwan, Nigeria, and Australia were all represented though. It's quite the international gathering! The group is incredible in its own way. Lots of quirky personalities, but Monday nights have become something to look forward to in the routine of the week.
As far as athletics go, I can't say I've committed to anything at this point. I continue to run around Oxford daily, and take in all the sites that I can. I'm ever expanding my mental map of the region, and always looking for new places to explore. In terms of organized sports, there are a wide variety of possibilities. I was looking into trying something entirely new, and have contacted the captain of the water polo team in that vein. It's possible I could be starting that up in mid-February. Another possibility is ultimate frisbee. The difficult part of working this all out is that we are only here for one official school term, meaning we can't really participate in the spring sports. I discovered with great excitement that they have a croquet team during trinity term, but it starts up the last week we're here. Maybe I'll still be able to squeeze in a game or two before my departure.
Not a whole lot else to occupy my time around here. I'm a frequenter of various libraries around town, a connoisseur of sorts. Word has it there's one around here that's straight out of Beauty and the Beast. I'm hoping to hit that up sometime this week. As always, I love to hear from any of you, so send a message my way if you have a spare second!