Starting today, I'm going to have a sort of special section of my web site. Periodically, I will write entries about different aspects of living in Oxford from my point of view. When I do this, the title of the entry will be "The Oxford Outsider's Guide to ___" or something like that. If I do it the way I plan to, you will also be able to search and read just the Outsider's Guide entries if you like.
My hope is that these entries may be entertaining, but also useful and informative to those of you wanting to know what it's "really like" to be here. Hopefully, they'll paint a pretty realistic picture if you plan to come here on holiday or to study.
Now, keep in mind, I've been here for less than three weeks myself. I am far from a seasoned resident of the UK! But I think that sometimes a newcomer to a community can see things that long-time residents have "tuned out." Again, I'm not an expert, but I know there are many things you may be interested in knowing about - stereotypes of England and the English, for example - and may not know where to go to find out the truth. With the Outsider's Guide I hope to give you a pretty realistic picture. And, if you're English and reading it and I have completely missed the mark on something, I hope you'll have a good laugh and post a corrective comment on the site.
Additionally, if there's something you're wondering about, drop me an email or comment and I'll do my best to address it.
All that having been said, I won't actually tackle any topics today, but I will list a few upcoming topic ideas you can expect to see:
- student elitism/town vs. gown
- Oxford's homeless population
- profanity in Oxford and English slang (are you tantalized yet??)
- boobs and bums (scandalous!)
- tourism and tourists
- eating and drinking in Oxford
- Shopping and stores
- English teeth and grooming habits
- The BBC - English radio and television
Yes, some of these topics may contain adult subject matter and may be objectionable to some, so I'll post a warning ahead of those entries.
Posted by Erin at October 12, 2002 06:47 AM