Discover Top Posts Tagged with #cmrs

Some Oxford college cats for International Cat Day!

I'd also like to include Signor Uccello of the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Library Protection and Student Welfare Officer:

#It's been a while but he may still be around #his human sadly isn't :(#rip Dr. Feneley of the Feneley Library #CMRS #oxford #cats #on this day

Oxford College Spotlight: Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies

My alma mater, CMRS was founded in 1975, primarily as a place for foreign students to spend a semester abroad, a new idea for Oxford at the time. It is associated with Keble College, and CMRS students are considered part of the Keble community. Its home of St. Michael’s Hall lives tucked away behind the bustle of Oxford’s Broad Street, with a hole-in-the-wall entrance in Shoe Lane. St. Michael’s Hall expands behind and above the shops of Broad Street, and is an elaborate miscellany of corridors, hidden rooms, and walls of books. Students are free to roam the halls at every time of day or night, and thus many of the pictures are enhanced with googly eyes.

The fall semester is focused on the medieval period, while the spring semester focuses on the Renaissance, but there are tutorials and seminars year round for a whole host of subjects, taught one-on-one by professors from all over Oxford. My tutorials were Paintings in 16th and 17th century Britain (the microcosm) and Philosophy of Religion (the macrocosm) while my seminar was on Chivalry (somewhere in between). Other topics ranged from The Inklings (the writing society formed by Tolkein and C.S. Lewis) to the art of British landscaping. I wrote my final papers on the development of the character of Lancelot throughout Arthurian literature, and the history, translation, and construction of the King James Bible. I’ve never worked so hard before or since, nor been so rewarded in my experience.

Also, that guy in the last photo is Magnus, an armour and weapons specialist who wears steampunk goggles on his head and is amazing. He comes once a semester to give a hands-on demonstration in which everybody gets to swing massive swords.

#oxford college spotlight #oxford #cmrs #the big window was made by the founder Dr. Feneley #who also gave his name to the Feneley Library #incredibly that photo of the common room is not an IKEA catalogue #I took it admittedly on my first day there #but we never trashed it too heavily #well there was this one time #okay we're far enough down in the tags that i'm gonna tell you a secret #seriously I have told no one and neither can you #if you were ever at cmrs or are going to be stop reading now #okay #so the common room adjoined the kitchen and the drunk and sleep-deprived would wander in and out #people pulled all-nighters there especially me #and one night someone came in and wanted tea #so they put the kettle on and went back to what they were doing #but by put the kettle on they'd actually put the electric kettle on the stove #and by and by it melted #and no one ever knew who did it #but #it #was #me #it was me motherfuckas #king midas has ass's ears

Went on a nostalgia trip after I made that post about CMRS, so here I am at Keble College holding a massive sword and grinning like an idiot about it.

#also this is my face #oxford #keble #cmrs #Weaponry

On the subject of Magnus, the antique weaponry expert who comes to the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies twice a year for demonstrations, this cannon (hopefully) taught some random tourists that if you see a big open space surrounded by people taking video, they didn’t clear out of the way just so you can pass.

#oxford #keble #cmrs #Best with sound #But the sound is loud #Because the sound is screaming and a cannon

I realized I’ve never shown off my Oxford CMRS mug! CMRS (Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies) is an institution set up primarily for students on study-abroad programs (although it has seen all types). I was privileged enough to go there some years back, and it remains one of the greatest experiences of my life. My prized memento is this little mug, which features a hand-drawn map of Oxford with a nice big arrow indicating CMRS’s home in St. Michael’s Hall, Shoe Lane, which is very useful because it seldom makes it onto any other maps.

I’ve also thrown in the first pictures I took when I got there of the views of Oxford out the two sides of the common room. In the first one you can see the Oxford Castle Mound, site of the castle where the Empress Matilda was imprisoned and then escaped, as well as the spire of the Nuffield College chapel. The second one is the belltower of Christchurch College, known as Tom Tower for its bell (sorry about the very dirty window; pigeons are referred to by the establishment as “the enemy.”)

#oxford #cmrs #man I haven't done any cmrs posting #I will have to give it a spotlight