Oxford Adventure

So it's been nearly a week since I've posted anything here, and there is one reason for that:

MATLAB.

MATLAB is short for Matrix Laboratory, a computer programming language that is used mostly by mathematicians and engineers, but is sometimes used in psychology to create visual computer tasks. Such as the task I will be using in my experiment.

Do I have to learn MATLAB? No.

Do I want to learn MATLAB? Yes, for 2 reasons: 1) it looks good on a CV, and, more importantly, 2) I want to be less dependent on my adviser in designing the different experiments for my thesis project.

After a week of intense study from a MATLAB book written specifically for psychologists, I have learned very few things. I know the basics: the ideas behind matrixes, contingencies, indices, vectorizing, "for" and "while" loops,"if" and "switch" statements, and input-output. The most complicated thing I can do now is write code to password-protect something. But can I create my own code out of thin air? Not a chance.

My biggest problem, is that I don't have the ability to parse things into tiny, simple steps. So, for example, if someone asked me: "How do you walk up a flight of stairs?" I might answer, "Well, you put one foot in front of the other and go up until you reach the top". My answer was made up of 2 directions: 1) put one foot in front of the other, and 2) go up until you reach the top.

Really, a complicated task like going up a flight of stairs is more accurately described by a lot more directions: 1) pick one foot up, 2) move foot above the first step, 3) place foot on first step, 4) pull rest of body up to first step, etc. etc.

This, I cannot do! Not for experimental tasks, anyway, and not in programming code. I always skip steps, and I always find ways to mess up the loops/statements/etc. You must have great precision and patience in writing code, and I have neither, naturally. I'm a hit-or-miss type person. I blunder through things. Here's a cooking example: I cut apples like a ninja on crack, and I can never figure out how to time the use of the kettle, microwave, and oven to systematically have all parts of dinner ready at once. So, my explosive style is what hinders my programming ability. If I could only learn how to leave out unnecessary items, and put all the necessary items into a perfectly logical order, I can master MATLAB. And also cook better.

My adviser wants me to have a visual task programmed in MATLAB by the end of this week. So I have five days to translate my task design (which I wrote out in great detail in English this morning) into MATLAB language. My adviser gave me a few bits of code to start with, and everything else I have to come up with out of my meager store of programming knowledge. I will make a most valiant effort, but if I do not succeed, I am wholly prepared to let my adviser write the program for me. I've resigned myself to knowing that I at least came up with the English version all on my own, if nothing else.

So! Now that I've got you all up to date on my academic ventures, let's relax a little and move on to my "Funday" of the week. This Funday happened yesterday, and yesterday I went to Oxford with Jana and Sonja. Remember how I told you we were having trouble finding direct routes/cheap tickets to Oxford? Well, Jana solved that problem for us, when she learned that her Museum Studies program had booked a personal coach to Oxford for students and their friends. Well, actually, I believe the coach was just for the students, but friends (such as myself and Sonja) bought seats before all the Museum Studies students could dredge up the 10 quid fee, and we successfully infiltrated an exclusive field trip.

Oxford is the most unique city in England, and you can see some great photos from my previous Oxford aventure, here. I felt it was unnecessary to take more pics since I took so many good ones last time, and everything was in bloom then, so the gardens were prettier, anyway-- but, as Oxford is so rightly named "The City of Dreaming Spires", those mighty old spires are awe-inspiring at all times of the year, and I must say my memories could never be more wondrous than the actual thing. Here is a city out of a fairy tale-- which actually gave birth to several fairy tales, in fact, among them His Dark Materials, Alice in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Lord of the Ring.

The coach took us right outside the Pitt Rivers museum, which is this excellently decorated natural history museum, with real dinosaur footprints stamping the front lawn of the building. We broke off from the group here, and made our way to the Botanic Gardens where we found Lyra's bench for reals this time. Jana had written out detailed directions from The Amber Spyglass, and we followed them until we reached a bench in the newer section of the garden, close to a small bridge, and sitting under a young tree.

Let me explain, for those of you who haven't read the books: at the most heart-wrenching part of the final novel, the main character, Lyra, vows to sit on a bench in Oxford's Botanic Gardens-- for a reason I will not divulge here, in case you would like to read the series sometime. Anyway, the last time we were here, we picked a random bench we thought was most likely the one which Lyra would have picked; against the wall, in front of this huge, awesome "Whomping Willow"-esque pine tree. But upon re-reading the books, we found we were much mistaken in our location of the bench, and we decided to follow the directions this time around. But we still have beaming pictures of ourselves sitting on this random bench that is not Lyra's, which I still think should have been Lyra's, because it's in a much cooler place.

After the Botanic Gardens, we went to a bumbling cafe for an overpriced and mediocre meal-- not to mention they got Jana's drink order wrong three times-- but this actually did NOT foreshadow the rest of the day-- which was simply amazing! We went to Alice's Shop, and looked at all the Alice in Wonderland -themed goodies. These included Cheshire Cat pillows, Queen of Hearts clocks, teacups and tea sets, every edition of the book you could imagine, an assortment of jewelry, and barley sugar candies (the real Alice's favorite snack from that very shop, before it was called Alice's Shop, of course). I got myself a pair of silver Alice earrings, to complement the march hares I'd purchased on another visit.

We explored Christchurch Meadow, where cows grazed with their young, and I saw some shaggy bulls for the first time, with their long, twisted, menacing horns. After that, we walked all along the main streets, popping in and out of festive shops, already decked out for Christmas, selling ornaments, wool blankets, advent calendars, and many trinkety gifts. We passed several bakeries with their pastries displayed beautifully in the windows, and clothes shops where all the dummies were wrapped in warm sweaters and scarves. There was a shop that sold quills and stuffed owls, there was a toyshop that sold murder mysteries and gadgets.

We walked by a fudge shop, and the rich, sweet aromas wafted toward us from a block away-- but we didn't stop, because we were headed for the famous Blackwell's Bookshop, which has a unique collection of new and used books, cheap paperbacks on tables and rare first editions behind glass, bestsellers and classics, on any subject you can think of. We found a poster in Blackwell's advertising a "Rupert Bear" exhibit at the Bodleian Library, so of course, Jana and I being faithful Rupert fans, had to check it out.

Afterwards, we went to my very favorite tea shop in the whole world (so far) called The Rose and had a perfectly wonderful tea party, with scones and the most delicious tea you will ever drink. This time I made sure to ask where they get their tea, and they told me it was at the covered market right up the street at a shop called Cardew's, and I found it so quickly it must have been kismet. The shop was small and busy, and huge containers of tea leaves lined the back wall. There was not one inch to spare, as the whole rest of the place was taken up with different kinds of pots and trays and strainers and spoons and all other tea-related things. I got myself a hefty and excellently-priced bag of vanilla tea, and a nifty little strainer to go along with it.

To top off a brilliant day, we ended at the Ashmolean Museum, another natural history museum-- smaller than any national museum, but its structure, style, and richness of artefacts were on par with any of the giants. Of course, we had to make a stop at the Near East exhibit, as my dad has instilled in me a wondrous curiosity for ancient Mesopotamia. And that, my friends, is Oxford.... The City of Dreaming Spires... a city out of a fairy tale!