From brunch to matriculation via the union.

At weekends here, breakfast and lunch are combined into a brunch that is capable of causing a heart attack just by being looked at. It's very popular though. So today I've had brunch. And I've fought through the crowds at Sainsbury's. And I've started writing an essay on "how nociceptive sensation is processed in the CNS" and drawn a diagram of physiological responses to exercize. I've also finished writing up some notes. Then this evening I went to evensong at Keble chapel because my friend's school choir were singing there and she wanted to see them and some of her old teachers.

I'm probably going to go to the Oxford Union bar tonight. The Oxford Union is different to the Student Union here - it's where members can go to watch debates and hear speakers or go to balls and other events, and there's also a bar and a club. This term the speakers include Hans Blix, Greg Dyke, Philip Pullman and Richard Dawkins. Last night dissection drinks was held there for the fresher medics. This annual medsoc event was traditionally held the night before the first dissection so that hangovers could be used as an excuse for feeling unwell during the dissection. But since dissection isn't done here any more, it's just an excuse to go out.

The fresher's had to be awake and alert today, however, because they had matriculation. In this ceremony you become an official member of the university and it involves wearing sub fusc (white tie for boys, white shirts and dark skirts/trousers and a silly little ribbon round your neck for girls, and a gown), listening to a sentence of Latin, and then having your photo taken. Most people have a good day walking round the town in their outfits - not realising that the next time they will wear them is in exams!