Hello to friends, family, and strangers that happen on to my ACU Study Abroad blog, Thamesriverrambler.com! This Fall my wife and I are going to be living in Oxford, England with a group of 24 Abilene Christian University Study Abroad students. We are thrilled about the opportunities that our Study Abroad semester will offer us to live in community with students. I am excited to teach! There is nothing like teaching in a Study Abroad setting where the lived experience of an unfamiliar setting provokes students to see things in new ways.
So what is this blog, exactly, and what do I hope to accomplish with it? In preparation for the summer, I’ve put together the following FAQ, which I hope will answer questions you may have about my blog I hope that you see something here that will inspire you to follow the blog this Fall!
So who are you?
My name is Dr. Vic McCracken. My professional bio: I am Professor of Ethics and Theology at Abilene Christian University, where I have served on faculty since 2008. As a Professor of Ethics, I spend a lot of time teaching students how to think critically about morality. Central to my own vocation, I am a Christian ethicist who spends time thinking and writing about how Christian faith informs the way Christians answer weighty moral questions. I’ve published articles on the morality of peace and war, the concept of public reason in liberal democratic politics, and in 2015 I edited and co-authored the book Christian Faith and Social Justice: Five Views. More recently I have published articles on the topic of xenotransplantation and Christian libertarianism.
Beyond my professional work, I have numerous passions. My wife and I love spending time together traveling, especially with Study Abroad students. The Fall will be our third Study Abroad semester at ACU, our second in Oxford. I love reading. I love International Football, with special affection for Manchester United and Red Bull Leipzig. I love board games of all sorts, but especially chess.
Who is travelling with you?
In addition to the 24 ACU students who are in our group, this summer I have the pleasure of traveling with my wife, Tara. In past Study Abroad semesters she has been an integral part of the student experience, working with me to help build community among our students. She’s my partner and best friend. This semester will be our first to lead a Study Abroad group without having to worry about our own kids, who have all graduated from high school and are learning to be adults. In 2012 during our first semester in Oxford our three kids were 14, 10, and 8. I said frequently to my wife, “I can’t wait until we can do this without our kids.” These days I say to Tara, “I really wish our kids could come with us.” Our oldest, Theo, will be joining us for two weeks during the semester. Our other two kids, Naomi and Gabe, will be pursuing their own university experiences on campus. Gabe is a freshman this year; Naomi is a junior. It’s really hard to believe. The picture to the right is one of our favorites, from our first day in Oxford. The jet lag was real…
So why are you creating this blog?
In Spring 2015 I led a group of 15 ACU students during a Study Abroad semester in Leipzig, Germany. During that semester I published a “Word of the Day” blog chronicling our semester adventures and reflecting on the unexpected experiences that occur naturally when living abroad. I had a lot of fun writing the blog. It is a good read! Some of the more memorable posts from that semester:
The day I got bamboozled by a Turkish rug dealer
The day my ACU colleague, Wendell Willis, got arrested by the German train police
They day I learned about the true joy of a study abroad semester
My Word of the Day blog is a continuous source of pleasure for me, even these many years later. As for the Thames River Rambler, I have three primary goals in creating this blog:
(1) I want to create something tangible for myself and my family so that we can appreciate the experience of the semester in the future.
(2) I want to provide family and friends a window into our journey so that they can keep up with our adventure.
(3) I want to offer prospective study abroad students a chronicle that will help them see why participating in a study abroad semester, at ACU or elsewhere, is a good decision to make.
Why the strange blog title, “Thames River Rambler”?
Glad you asked! Back in 2012 during my family’s first stint in Oxford, I spent one morning hiking the Thames River Path from Oxford to Abingdon. It’s just an 8.5 mile walk, but I was absolutely invigorated by the experience. When I got back to our family flat that evening I said to my wife, “Tara, if we ever come back to Oxford I want you to let me hike the Thames River Path from Oxford to London. It’s now a bucket-list item for me.” Fast forward to 2022: returning to Oxford this semester I am planning to tick this item off my bucket list, hiking the entire 184-mile Thames River Path in day trips over the course of the semester. I envision these hikes as an extension of the study abroad experience, providing opportunities to explore small towns, to meet new people, and to learn more about the communities that I encounter. Thus, this blog will have a strange structure, with two “spines,” so to speak, interwoven over the months that I’m writing: (1) the semester schedule itself, which includes both the daily experiences of teaching American students living in Oxford and the travel excursions that the group experiences together, and (2) my personal “ramble” up and down the Thames River from Oxford to the Source and from Oxford to London. In a sense, this blog itself will be something of a “ramble.” I plan to write regularly, and I have no idea where my words will take me. I hope to make the blog interesting to anyone curious about what a Study Abroad semester looks like for ACU students.
Anyway, that’s the brief introduction! If any of this sounds interesting, keep reading! I look forward to sharing the adventure…
Looking forward to your blog, Vic! Word of the day was so fun.
The link to the story of your miscreant colleague Wendell Willis goes to bamboozled. So for those looking for the arrest story, here it is: https://releasethemccrackeninleipzig.wordpress.com/2015/03/29/word-of-the-day-verhaftet/
Thanks for catching the faulty link. I’ve corrected this.
Am looking forward to this once again, Vic. Thanks for doing it, and for taking us along on the journey.
Can’t wait to read this!