Well hello there. Some of you are wondering who I even am? Due to my absence from this space
for some time, I give you permission to blast a Justin Bieber song (oh dear)…
Anyway, apart from sleeping on buses every morning due to
late nights, it’s been a fairly positive November.
One topic I’ve been studying in my History lessons is the
August Decrees. Just some quick background info: before 1789, France was ruled
by an absolutist monarchy. The rich (the nobles and the clergy) widely practiced
tax evasion, placing burden the poor – a segment most of the population were
classified under. The monarchy increasingly became very anti-French (weird
huh?) and disillusionment grew amongst laymen so they decided to revolt. Many
exciting events took place (apart from people dying which obviously isn’t
great), and one of them was the August Decrees. This marked a significant end
to the ancien regime and paved way for a more democratic France that lifted the
burden from the poor and nationalised the Churches. If you look at it as a short
term occurrence, it was very very successful. The ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen’ followed, but of course, conspiracy theories came along.
Alongside academic work, I’m participating in some national
competitions which I’m pretty excited about! First up is the British Biology Olympiad which is open to all post 16 students who have a particular
interest in biological sciences. After some persuasion from my Biology teacher,
I’ve decided to give it a go. Second comp I’m taking part is The Julia Wood Prize, a history essay writing competition held by St Hugh’s College,
Oxford. For my dissertation, I’ve decided to focus on a period of British
history I haven’t studied before. I’m going to be writing about Oliver Cromwell
but I haven’t yet concluded on a specific aspect of his time in power to focus
on.
To make my study breaks more productive, I’ve decided to
listen to some debates held at the Oxford Union by subscribing to their YouTube
channel. The best thing...it’s free! No actually, the best thing is listening
to intellectuals who know a heck amount about their field, and in the end, you
completely change your perspective of that particular topic. Quite fascinating
really.
That’s it for November, strikingly hard to believe that
there’s only one month left till the end of the year. Where did all the time
go?!
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I always read comments and I'll get back to them all soon enough, so thank you! x