One term down...

Strange as it feels to be saying this, Hilary term is essentially done for me. I finished my last essay for Homer on the 22nd and just had my last tutorial in Latin yesterday. Maarit said her report on me was going to be "great," so I'm not too worried about that, although I am a little curious to see what great will translate to in letter-grade form (Oxford doesn't give out grades in the form of A's-F's, so our tutors write reports and give them to our academic advisor here who translates them into American system). So I suppose for the foreseeable future, I've got a lot more time on my hands. This may be slightly deceptive however, as, for me, an empty schedule looks something like this:

• Get started reading a couple dozen Greek Tragedies for next term.
• Begin doing research for my senior thesis next year (and quickly! my Bodleian Library card expires on the 13th).
• Revise 2 of the 5 essays I wrote for Homer, as Maarit was kind enough to let me fine tune some of the less-perfect ones.
• Read Adrienne Mayor's The Poison King.
• Continue reading Sallust - and perhaps some Ovid - in Latin.
  
• Attend lectures - tutorials may be over, but they aren't.
• If possible, see "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." I never read the book, but given my major, I think it's kind of obligatory for me to see any movie that prominently features the Olympian gods. And hey, it looks like it could be fun.
• Attend a trip to Bath this Saturday.
• Start planning where I'm going to be traveling over Spring Break.
  

So, needless to say, I'm rather busy. Nevertheless, my schedule is a lot less full than it was at the height of the semester, when during the middle of the week I would spend the entire day (after lectures) at the Library, and late in the week and on weekends I would write essays. Despite my griping, however, I really like the tutorial system. The tutorials themselves were always fascinating, as we were able to get really indepth with the material, and it's nice to have someone with whom to discuss Classics (I generally liked to avoid inflicting a conversation about Greece and Rome on my friends who have other interests). Furthermore, now that I've finally read Homer, I feel I have a stronger foundation in Greek literature than I would otherwise. So on the whole, I think I learned a lot this term, and am very glad that I'm going to be here for the next one.