Ah! I've had a full couple of days so this post has been delayed until just the moment when I don't know if I have enough time to finish it before I have to go to bed. We'll see. I'll type fast. First of all, in my last post, I know everyone was worried about how my hair would turn out the next day. It turned out great! So then I tried it the next night and it looked great again but the next day I put it up and then tonight I went for the three-peat and it WORKED! So I've found a fool proof way to blow dry my hair providing I've left enough time between my shower and the time my roommates are going to bed. Anyway, onto bigger and better things!
I bought a Bible. I went into this book store called Brookwells and it has four levels above ground and then it has a basement that spans almost two blocks and there are different levels in the basement and there are probably, no joke, a million books there. It was insane! And my Bible is really cool. It's a charcoal color with bright blue thread around the edge and the same color as the bookmark. It's kind of the same Bible I had before except the pages are thicker and the words are a little bigger. I LOVE IT! I haven't opened it yet...eh. It's on my to do list. Oh! Before I bought the Bible, I went on a tour with this class that goes on tours. We went to one of the colleges in Oxford: New college. It's the newest college built in Oxford and it dates back to the 1800's. It was so amazing. It had a beautiful courtyard and a great hall and amazing dorms and a chapel with a huge organ and those sideways desks/pews and there were gargoyles on the top of the walls. Unfortunately for me, my camera died halfway through the tour and I didn't get pictures of most of the rooms we saw. Even more unfortunate for me: I didn't remember to charge my camera before I went to Bath.
On Saturday morning, a group of nine of us got up at 7:30 and made it to the train station and went to Bath for the day. It was freezing! And it was Beautiful! We went to the Roman baths, of course. Everything was below ground and there were all these beautiful stone remnants with faces of gods on them and old tools and the bathing rooms were preserved and there were all these models of how the baths used to look next to the temples and with the surrounding buildings. Oh, it was gorgeous! And after that, we went and got some food at a pub called the Saracen's head. I feel like a broken record, but it was so good! After that is when the day got really interesting though...get ready. On the trip were 8 girls, including me, and one guy. The girls, not including me, wanted to go to the fashion museum and then walk over to Jane Austen's house and see that. Well, the guy didn't want to do any of that either, so he and I split from the rest of the group and walked around the city. First, we went into the Abby which was so beautiful on the inside I can't even begin to convey it. The ceilings were high and vaulted with waves in the stone to make it look like different layers made it up to the top and every few feet there was a different coat of arms on a shield. The sides were covered in stained glass windows that had a different picture in each frame and at the front of the building, the window rose all the way to the top with saints in every frame. There was an organ that took up 2/3 of on of the sections of wall and below it were 5 sets of angels holding instruments and 'playing' songs. The floors were covered in blessings of people who had passed and in one room there was a book with a list of names to be prayed over from WWI. It was so incredible.
Then, we bought a map and walked over to where the circus is. I don't really know what to call it, I guess neighborhood would be the closest thing. There is a circle of houses cut down the middle and then on one of the sides. The buildings are all curved and they're all four stories tall with basements as well. In the center, there's a huge grassy area with 3 gigantic trees that are crazy old. They were dead, since it's winter, but pictures of them in the summer look amazing. After that, it's a straight shot down one of the roads to the royal crescent which is basically exactly what it sounds like. More curved buildings but this time just in a large crescent shape with a huge grassy hill in front. It's pretty long though, so it took us a while to walk around it. After that, we walked around the back of the buildings and we thought we saw a castle. So we started making our way toward that. We turned onto this street and all of a sudden I felt like I would need gravity boots. The road was, I really want to say, like a 75% incline and it went on FOREVER! I actually thought I was going to die. Well, we finally got to flat ground and realized we were at a dead end! So we walked back down and I tried to persuade my friend to find another less hilly route to a church nearby but he looked right at the map and found another way up to the castle. So we went that way. He was so excited, I just couldn't tell him that he might have to carry my corpse back down the hill. So we walked, same incline, and it went on even longer this time! Finally we reached the tower and realized...it was a church! Not a castle! And it was locked! So, I'm feeling pretty upset right now, I just walked all this way for no reason! So I said, "Man, it's locked." and my friend says, "I know! Now I can't see what year it was built...we can still walk around the outside though." He was so excited that I just couldn't crush his spirit. So we walked in circles around this closed church building. Then we walked back down a different road than the one we came up, had to ask for directions, found a crazy stairway through a park and took that, then walked down a road for a while and found our way back to the main square and saw the famous bridge. That was amazing. Of course, I was just happy to be standing still for a second while we looked at the arches and the man-made waterfall things. After that it was just a lot of walking around until we caught the train back and headed straight to bed! I did the math today; turns out, on my travels, I walked out of the city of Bath and that combined with everything else added up to 12 miles that I walked yesterday. My feet still hurt at little.
Today (Sunday) wasn't bad. I woke up too late for Church which was a bummer as I wanted to go. I decided to walk down to this French pastry shop and get some breakfast. I had a cinnamon danish. Oh my gosh, people. It was so good! We tried to go back at 4 and get some dessert for the dinner we were making, but they were closed! Everything closes so early on Sundays and even during the week, generally nothing but pubs are open past 7. Anyway, we made a big dinner and some of the guys that live upstairs in our house came. My roommate made some kind of pasta and one of the guys made bruschetta. I don't know if that's how you spell it but, I right clicked and it didn't give me any other options so...that's what I'm going with. Whew! That took about as long as I thought it would. And I was right, I should be sleeping right now because both of my roommates are and I feel like I'm being too loud! I think I've got an exciting week coming up. And I charged my camera! I mean, I probably still won't post pictures but at least you know I might be taking some!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Night seeing in Oxford.
Well I just had a lot written on here and then my mouse moved up to the close button and I lost it all! I guess it wasn't anything important; I just wrote something about my hair looking good and staying up late. Whatever. I'm just having a good hair time (it's not day anymore and who knows what it's gonna look like after I sleep on it) and I wanted people to know. Is that awful? Didn't think so. Anyway, my roommates and I have been told we need to stop being so loud because people are trying to sleep, but Erika 'electrified' herself (electrocuted) and so Mandy and I were laughing at her. A natural reaction! Oh well. Ok, I just caught a glimpse of my hair in my reflection in the window and it looks SO GOOD! Ah, sidetracked...really moving on!
Today marked one week since I arrived in Oxford which really shocked me because I thought it was Wednesday today. I can't tell if it feels like more or less time that I've been here but that may have a lot to do with the sun. It gets dark over here at about 5:00 PM and then by 8:00 I feel like I'm staying up so late into the night! I've started getting up early-ish though so maybe I have the right to go to bed super early. I won't though. I'm trying to hang out with people, so I tend to sit in our kitchen and laugh really loudly until someone comes in to talk to me. It's not really working. But I'm always in there with someone else already so I'm not just by myself laughing, don't you worry.
I had two classes today and then I forced myself to have a good attitude about shopping with Erika and Mandy (both my roommates. Just a recap) before we were supposed to go to a college group at a local church. We went into this store, I don't remember what it was called. It started with an M though. Anyway, Mandy needed to buy some shoes and a backpack and this camping store was recommended to us. So we go in, and the guy that's helping people comes over to us and starts asking what we need and all that, and then he realizes, after about two seconds mind you, that we're Americans! So he starts talking to us about that and he told us all about how he lived in America for 4 years and he's been to all 50 states and all this crazy stuff and so we asked him if he had any travel tips for us for England or Europe. He pulled out this map and a permanent marker and, let me tell you, homeboy filled that map UP with good places. He circled all these cities and told us what was there and told us where not to go and wrote down all these excellent travel sites where we could find cheap travel prices and everything. It was great. We ended up staying in there talking to him for the better part of an hour and we were actually there until after the store closed. It was great. Maybe I'll make friends with my map so I can stop laughing in the kitchen!
We made it to the Church event though. It was 3 pounds for a great dinner and dessert and then worship with a bunch of college, or University as they call it, kids in a gorgeous building. Loads of fun. The main lesson was about Isiah which they pronounce, "I-zy-ah" and it was really good! I guess that makes up for sleeping during the sermon on Sunday. Then after, a bunch of us were going to go to a pub but then the group left 4 of us behind and by the time we finally found the place they'd told us they were going to, they were nowhere to be found. So we just walked back through the town. I think I finally found someone who hates crossing streets nearly as much as I do, though, he's not as dramatic about it. Though, he's not really dramatic about anything. It was really cold outside as we were walking back so we were all walking pretty fast to get back here to the warmth. Then I took a shower and blow dried my hair...which still looks great by the way...and now I'm the only one awake in my room! But I'm the only one that doesn't have class tomorrow so I guess that's alright.
I think tomorrow I'm going to try and find a good bookstore and get a Bible. I have a tiny one but...I just wanna see if they've got a cooler one here. Because, I'm not gonna lie, if my Bible looks boring, I'm less inclined to read it! We'll see. I was talking to some girls today and they were saying how they've already spent about 200 Pounds since they've been here so I got nervous and pulled my money out and realized that I've only spent about 40 pounds. So I feel like I need to get spending! Maybe I'll buy a hoodie tomorrow as well. We'll see. I don't remember where most of the shops are and it's supposed to be cold! My tie-dye hoodie does seem to be getting a lot of attention though: perhaps I'll wear that and just ask people for directions as they're staring at me! Ah, the silver-lining of tourism. Gotta love it!
Today marked one week since I arrived in Oxford which really shocked me because I thought it was Wednesday today. I can't tell if it feels like more or less time that I've been here but that may have a lot to do with the sun. It gets dark over here at about 5:00 PM and then by 8:00 I feel like I'm staying up so late into the night! I've started getting up early-ish though so maybe I have the right to go to bed super early. I won't though. I'm trying to hang out with people, so I tend to sit in our kitchen and laugh really loudly until someone comes in to talk to me. It's not really working. But I'm always in there with someone else already so I'm not just by myself laughing, don't you worry.
I had two classes today and then I forced myself to have a good attitude about shopping with Erika and Mandy (both my roommates. Just a recap) before we were supposed to go to a college group at a local church. We went into this store, I don't remember what it was called. It started with an M though. Anyway, Mandy needed to buy some shoes and a backpack and this camping store was recommended to us. So we go in, and the guy that's helping people comes over to us and starts asking what we need and all that, and then he realizes, after about two seconds mind you, that we're Americans! So he starts talking to us about that and he told us all about how he lived in America for 4 years and he's been to all 50 states and all this crazy stuff and so we asked him if he had any travel tips for us for England or Europe. He pulled out this map and a permanent marker and, let me tell you, homeboy filled that map UP with good places. He circled all these cities and told us what was there and told us where not to go and wrote down all these excellent travel sites where we could find cheap travel prices and everything. It was great. We ended up staying in there talking to him for the better part of an hour and we were actually there until after the store closed. It was great. Maybe I'll make friends with my map so I can stop laughing in the kitchen!
We made it to the Church event though. It was 3 pounds for a great dinner and dessert and then worship with a bunch of college, or University as they call it, kids in a gorgeous building. Loads of fun. The main lesson was about Isiah which they pronounce, "I-zy-ah" and it was really good! I guess that makes up for sleeping during the sermon on Sunday. Then after, a bunch of us were going to go to a pub but then the group left 4 of us behind and by the time we finally found the place they'd told us they were going to, they were nowhere to be found. So we just walked back through the town. I think I finally found someone who hates crossing streets nearly as much as I do, though, he's not as dramatic about it. Though, he's not really dramatic about anything. It was really cold outside as we were walking back so we were all walking pretty fast to get back here to the warmth. Then I took a shower and blow dried my hair...which still looks great by the way...and now I'm the only one awake in my room! But I'm the only one that doesn't have class tomorrow so I guess that's alright.
I think tomorrow I'm going to try and find a good bookstore and get a Bible. I have a tiny one but...I just wanna see if they've got a cooler one here. Because, I'm not gonna lie, if my Bible looks boring, I'm less inclined to read it! We'll see. I was talking to some girls today and they were saying how they've already spent about 200 Pounds since they've been here so I got nervous and pulled my money out and realized that I've only spent about 40 pounds. So I feel like I need to get spending! Maybe I'll buy a hoodie tomorrow as well. We'll see. I don't remember where most of the shops are and it's supposed to be cold! My tie-dye hoodie does seem to be getting a lot of attention though: perhaps I'll wear that and just ask people for directions as they're staring at me! Ah, the silver-lining of tourism. Gotta love it!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Well, I'm an American...
So I dropped the ball on the second day...my bad! Nothing exciting happened really though, so I can just type it now! Hoorah! Now, where to begin...
My alarm went off at 8:00. I had to get up early because our classes for the morning were in a local church building that I had to locate on a map and then walk to. It was alright though, because I ended up leaving the house the same time as one of the guys and we found the class with no problem. Also, he was wearing a kilt. So that was fun. Then, as a break between our social studies class and our Bible class, we walked to a house just down the road where J.R.R. Tolkien lived and we took pictures and then when we got back we had tea and then class. While I'm on the subject of tea, it's amazing how much of that stuff people drink over here! I think I heard one girl saying that she'd had about 8 cups in one day because she was 'enjoying that part of the culture'. Well, that made me feel bad and like I wasn't doing enough to be cultured so I asked for a cup when someone made a pot and they handed it to me without cream or sugar and I drank it and, first I burned my tongue, and then I almost gagged because it just tastes so weird! I have had several cups of Hot Chocolate though. Which could be mistaken for tea when you just look at the mug, providing I've already had enough that you can't tell what's inside. Maybe I can fool the whole country into thinking I'm as nuts about bland, colored water (tea) as they are!
While I'm here, I'm taking 6 classes but one of them is just online, kind of. Walking for Fitness. The class of speed walking champions across the globe! The only thing I know about this class is that I have to log at least 200 miles of (brisk) walking by the end of the semester. Yesterday, I logged three. Look out! I went with a couple of girls and we walked down by Thames river and it was gorgeous! We passed a small village down a dirt road and a GORGEOUS little restaurant with a lighted walkway and then there was a pasture with horses and boat houses and a tree with crazy carvings. I didn't take any pictures because I was really focused on my walking...for fitness. I'll go back for a pleasure stroll sometime and take pics and try to put them up. It's worth seeing! After I got back, Erika (my roommate) and I procrastinated for a while by finding songs online that we wanted to learn and sing together. We're basically starting a universal cover band. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your taste) I'm the boy of the band so I've gotta learn some LOW notes. That's alright, I'm gonna rock it with gravel-y elegance unmatched heretofore by any other girl! Except for maybe Mariah Carey. Anyway, after our fake rehearsal, we went to a pub called "Gardener's arms" and it was good! After we were done, we were the last ones there and the people working at the counter came over and talked to us. It was so fantastic! One would tell us something and the other would argue with them and then they would talk really fast in different dialects and then reach a conclusion and say something like, "I wouldn't push him down a slide" or "don't show him where a bird's nest is" which mean, 'I don't like him' and 'I don't trust him' respectively.
Then today, Wednesday, I went to the open market with some people. It was so cool. There were tables everywhere with crazy things on them. One of the girls I was with ended up buying a pound of Lychee which is a Japanese fruit that's spiky on the outside, but when you peel it it looks like an eyeball but tastes like a grape! The sales lady let us try one before we bought them and there was a guy in line standing next to me, laughing at me the whole time and he was very cheerful when I said I liked it. At another table, I ate a sample olive marinated in something that was really good. And then for dinner, one of the girls in the house made spaghetti with a homemade sauce that was brilliant and for dessert she made brownie covered oreos covered in white chocolate and that was heavenly! And there's a 'for fun' water polo match that we were going to go to but it's a 30 minute walk and it's really cold outside, so we're not doing that anymore...but I had a lot of fun washing the dishes! Actually, I dried, Erika washed, apparently that's important. And I guess that's it for today. I'm gonna shower and then do a massive amount of reading before I go to bed but I don't have class until 1:00 tomorrow afternoon so maybe I'll put some of it off. I can probably convince Erika to have a jam session instead. Holla!
My alarm went off at 8:00. I had to get up early because our classes for the morning were in a local church building that I had to locate on a map and then walk to. It was alright though, because I ended up leaving the house the same time as one of the guys and we found the class with no problem. Also, he was wearing a kilt. So that was fun. Then, as a break between our social studies class and our Bible class, we walked to a house just down the road where J.R.R. Tolkien lived and we took pictures and then when we got back we had tea and then class. While I'm on the subject of tea, it's amazing how much of that stuff people drink over here! I think I heard one girl saying that she'd had about 8 cups in one day because she was 'enjoying that part of the culture'. Well, that made me feel bad and like I wasn't doing enough to be cultured so I asked for a cup when someone made a pot and they handed it to me without cream or sugar and I drank it and, first I burned my tongue, and then I almost gagged because it just tastes so weird! I have had several cups of Hot Chocolate though. Which could be mistaken for tea when you just look at the mug, providing I've already had enough that you can't tell what's inside. Maybe I can fool the whole country into thinking I'm as nuts about bland, colored water (tea) as they are!
While I'm here, I'm taking 6 classes but one of them is just online, kind of. Walking for Fitness. The class of speed walking champions across the globe! The only thing I know about this class is that I have to log at least 200 miles of (brisk) walking by the end of the semester. Yesterday, I logged three. Look out! I went with a couple of girls and we walked down by Thames river and it was gorgeous! We passed a small village down a dirt road and a GORGEOUS little restaurant with a lighted walkway and then there was a pasture with horses and boat houses and a tree with crazy carvings. I didn't take any pictures because I was really focused on my walking...for fitness. I'll go back for a pleasure stroll sometime and take pics and try to put them up. It's worth seeing! After I got back, Erika (my roommate) and I procrastinated for a while by finding songs online that we wanted to learn and sing together. We're basically starting a universal cover band. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your taste) I'm the boy of the band so I've gotta learn some LOW notes. That's alright, I'm gonna rock it with gravel-y elegance unmatched heretofore by any other girl! Except for maybe Mariah Carey. Anyway, after our fake rehearsal, we went to a pub called "Gardener's arms" and it was good! After we were done, we were the last ones there and the people working at the counter came over and talked to us. It was so fantastic! One would tell us something and the other would argue with them and then they would talk really fast in different dialects and then reach a conclusion and say something like, "I wouldn't push him down a slide" or "don't show him where a bird's nest is" which mean, 'I don't like him' and 'I don't trust him' respectively.
Then today, Wednesday, I went to the open market with some people. It was so cool. There were tables everywhere with crazy things on them. One of the girls I was with ended up buying a pound of Lychee which is a Japanese fruit that's spiky on the outside, but when you peel it it looks like an eyeball but tastes like a grape! The sales lady let us try one before we bought them and there was a guy in line standing next to me, laughing at me the whole time and he was very cheerful when I said I liked it. At another table, I ate a sample olive marinated in something that was really good. And then for dinner, one of the girls in the house made spaghetti with a homemade sauce that was brilliant and for dessert she made brownie covered oreos covered in white chocolate and that was heavenly! And there's a 'for fun' water polo match that we were going to go to but it's a 30 minute walk and it's really cold outside, so we're not doing that anymore...but I had a lot of fun washing the dishes! Actually, I dried, Erika washed, apparently that's important. And I guess that's it for today. I'm gonna shower and then do a massive amount of reading before I go to bed but I don't have class until 1:00 tomorrow afternoon so maybe I'll put some of it off. I can probably convince Erika to have a jam session instead. Holla!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Beginning-ish.
Well, after hearing for a week that I should start a blog, I decided to do it! I'll just start by saying, it took me about an hour to figure out what I should call it and all the colors involved and a screen name and a web address and all the ins and outs that no one really knows about a blog before they try to start one themselves. I can't decide yet if I like any of the settings I've chosen so they may all change, but right now I'm putting off the mound of homework waiting for me and this was all I had time for. It's actually a lot of work if you can't really make decisions. Which I can't. On that note, I can't promise pictures because I can never decide what is picture worthy so of the few I take, an even smaller percentage is actually good and after that, only one or two are upload worthy and so I just never get around to that. However, maybe we'll be lucky on here and I'll find some actual motivation for a picture display or two. Also, I'm going to try very hard to post something on here everyday or at least most days. Travelling is going to make it hard sometimes but then I'll have really good stuff to write about and it'll be worth it. Maybe. So, I guess, without further ado, here's the blog...my blog, I guess.
So, I'm in Oxford. I'm studying abroad with a group from my school in Texas and we've been here for almost a week now. Hence the title of this post. I woke up early (9:00 AM) on Wednesday, January 19th 2011 and then got on a bus at 10:00, boarded a plane at 5:00 and then de-boarded (right?) the plane at about 7:30 England's time which means at my house in Colorado, it was 12:30 that night. I was starting to get tired. We got onto another bus from the airport in London and then arrived at our houses at 9:00 on Thursday the 20th of January. Then came the tricky part, staying awake. We were strongly advised not to sleep until at least 8:00 that night. The people living at the houses already, two couples that turned out to be our teachers for the semester, took us on tours of the city and showed us where to get money and buy groceries and where all the best pubs are, though they made it very clear, NO DRINKING! Though, unless they're going to watch each of the thirty students all day everyday, then let's be honest...people are going to take advantage of that lower drinking age. Whatever.
Anyway, after my tour of the city we had free time and I didn't know what to do so I just started walking back to the house and ended up running into my roommates and they had a plan of action so I just went along with that. We walked into this HUGE bookstore that's three stories tall and takes up about four stores worth of space. On the second floor there's a coffee shop, costa coffee, and we sat in there and had warm drinks to counteract the cold weather outside. I think it feels really nice outside because it's the same weather as Colorado right now, but these Texans I'm with are all dying of hypothermia (self diagnosed of course). After coffee we went to a pizza place for dinner, imaginative, I know. We really wanted to dig our heels into this new culture...*eyeroll*. It was really delicious though and they had a lot of weird options for toppings. I don't remember them, at that point I was literally falling asleep on my menu. My roommates had to keep shaking me and speaking loudly to me so that I wouldn't fall into my food, which I almost did. After that it was just back to the houses and then off to bed, I managed to stay up until 10:00 which was a miracle.
Then the next few days are kind of a blur, I don't really remember doing much of anything. I kept waking up late and then people were either already gone or getting ready to leave to go sight seeing or to a pub for lunch. One night I had dinner at the Eagle and Child which is the pub made famous by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien for their meetings/arguments in the back room. It was really good, my meal came with a side of chips and salsa but when I ordered it, I completely forgot that here, chips are actually french fries. I think in the future, I'm gonna stick to tortilla chips with my salsa, but it was an interesting taste. One of the days I walked with some people to the Natural History Museum and that was really awesome. There were three floors jam packed with all sorts of things from all over the world. One floor was devoted to guns and swords/knives which actually encompassed the 'boomerang' displays as well; apparently those are more dangerous than I thought. One floor housed actual shrunken heads in a display case, complete with instructions! There was so much to see that we may be going back again just to have a chance to take everything in. Then one meal I went to this sandwich shop called 'On The Hoof' and I have no idea the ethnicity of the people who run it but the sandwiches they make are fantastic. Of course, I have a hard time saying no to sales people so when asked if I wanted to upgrade my plain chicken and cheese sandwich for an Indian chicken and different sauces...I said yes. It turned out to be pretty good! I couldn't eat all of it so I saved it for dinner that night but then heated in the microwave it didn't taste as good so I didn't end up finishing it...so that was a bummer. I'm definitely gonna go back though and get a different kind of sandwich.
I already tried to do laundry and I felt like an idiot. I put the money in the machine and I put my clothes in there and then I spent about 15 minutes looking for the tray to put the detergent. There was a sticker of instructions that said there was a tray and I looked and pulled on different things and nothing was ever the right thing so I just ended up putting the detergent straight onto my laundry and starting the machine. Then the dryer was more than I thought and I didn't have the right coins for it so I couldn't dry any of my stuff and I had to bring all of it back to my room and hang it up all over the place so it could dry. So far...most everything has dried except my jeans, which I guess I figured would happen. Um...I'm trying to think of what else I did. OH! I went to Church yesterday. That was good, but for some reason, I got really really hot and I almost threw up (on an American...so don't worry) so I sat down. Then I almost fell asleep while the guy was talking which was disappointing because I really thought Church here would be different than back home. Just kidding. Kind of. Sunday nights we have something called 9@9 and we meet in one of the houses we're staying in and have a group devo and take communion and all that and I was awake for that, so I did get some Jesus time in. I've watched a couple movies in the common room with some people. First I watched one of the Austin Powers movies. I've never seen them before so I was told it was necessary and I've gotta say...I really don't think it was. Oh well, I guess I had to see it someday. The next night we watched the movie "Snatch" which I had heard of before but never really thought about seeing. IT WAS SO GOOD! I mean, Brad Pitt kicks butt. And it was way funny!
We started class today and I've got class on Monday from 1:00-5:30 with little 15 minute breaks here and there but I didn't eat so I was really hungry after and I went to this pub called 'three goat's head' and it was really good. I had bangers and mash which is just sausage and mashed potatoes. I did get lost on the way there though, everything looks so different at night and when it gets dark at about 5:00 in the evening it's hard to go anywhere during the day...since I sleep till about 12:00. I'll just have to stop doing that and start doing homework. Yikes! I've got six classes and so far I've got to read for 4 of them. And that's what I should be doing right now!!!!! I know, excessive exclamation marks...bit literary no-no, but that's how I feel. So, with all that said, I think this is the end of this post. I think I've given whoever is going to read this enough to last them until I can post again. Just for kicks and giggles, I'm going to try to have something exciting happen to me everyday...hah, good luck, Hannah.
So, I'm in Oxford. I'm studying abroad with a group from my school in Texas and we've been here for almost a week now. Hence the title of this post. I woke up early (9:00 AM) on Wednesday, January 19th 2011 and then got on a bus at 10:00, boarded a plane at 5:00 and then de-boarded (right?) the plane at about 7:30 England's time which means at my house in Colorado, it was 12:30 that night. I was starting to get tired. We got onto another bus from the airport in London and then arrived at our houses at 9:00 on Thursday the 20th of January. Then came the tricky part, staying awake. We were strongly advised not to sleep until at least 8:00 that night. The people living at the houses already, two couples that turned out to be our teachers for the semester, took us on tours of the city and showed us where to get money and buy groceries and where all the best pubs are, though they made it very clear, NO DRINKING! Though, unless they're going to watch each of the thirty students all day everyday, then let's be honest...people are going to take advantage of that lower drinking age. Whatever.
Anyway, after my tour of the city we had free time and I didn't know what to do so I just started walking back to the house and ended up running into my roommates and they had a plan of action so I just went along with that. We walked into this HUGE bookstore that's three stories tall and takes up about four stores worth of space. On the second floor there's a coffee shop, costa coffee, and we sat in there and had warm drinks to counteract the cold weather outside. I think it feels really nice outside because it's the same weather as Colorado right now, but these Texans I'm with are all dying of hypothermia (self diagnosed of course). After coffee we went to a pizza place for dinner, imaginative, I know. We really wanted to dig our heels into this new culture...*eyeroll*. It was really delicious though and they had a lot of weird options for toppings. I don't remember them, at that point I was literally falling asleep on my menu. My roommates had to keep shaking me and speaking loudly to me so that I wouldn't fall into my food, which I almost did. After that it was just back to the houses and then off to bed, I managed to stay up until 10:00 which was a miracle.
Then the next few days are kind of a blur, I don't really remember doing much of anything. I kept waking up late and then people were either already gone or getting ready to leave to go sight seeing or to a pub for lunch. One night I had dinner at the Eagle and Child which is the pub made famous by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien for their meetings/arguments in the back room. It was really good, my meal came with a side of chips and salsa but when I ordered it, I completely forgot that here, chips are actually french fries. I think in the future, I'm gonna stick to tortilla chips with my salsa, but it was an interesting taste. One of the days I walked with some people to the Natural History Museum and that was really awesome. There were three floors jam packed with all sorts of things from all over the world. One floor was devoted to guns and swords/knives which actually encompassed the 'boomerang' displays as well; apparently those are more dangerous than I thought. One floor housed actual shrunken heads in a display case, complete with instructions! There was so much to see that we may be going back again just to have a chance to take everything in. Then one meal I went to this sandwich shop called 'On The Hoof' and I have no idea the ethnicity of the people who run it but the sandwiches they make are fantastic. Of course, I have a hard time saying no to sales people so when asked if I wanted to upgrade my plain chicken and cheese sandwich for an Indian chicken and different sauces...I said yes. It turned out to be pretty good! I couldn't eat all of it so I saved it for dinner that night but then heated in the microwave it didn't taste as good so I didn't end up finishing it...so that was a bummer. I'm definitely gonna go back though and get a different kind of sandwich.
I already tried to do laundry and I felt like an idiot. I put the money in the machine and I put my clothes in there and then I spent about 15 minutes looking for the tray to put the detergent. There was a sticker of instructions that said there was a tray and I looked and pulled on different things and nothing was ever the right thing so I just ended up putting the detergent straight onto my laundry and starting the machine. Then the dryer was more than I thought and I didn't have the right coins for it so I couldn't dry any of my stuff and I had to bring all of it back to my room and hang it up all over the place so it could dry. So far...most everything has dried except my jeans, which I guess I figured would happen. Um...I'm trying to think of what else I did. OH! I went to Church yesterday. That was good, but for some reason, I got really really hot and I almost threw up (on an American...so don't worry) so I sat down. Then I almost fell asleep while the guy was talking which was disappointing because I really thought Church here would be different than back home. Just kidding. Kind of. Sunday nights we have something called 9@9 and we meet in one of the houses we're staying in and have a group devo and take communion and all that and I was awake for that, so I did get some Jesus time in. I've watched a couple movies in the common room with some people. First I watched one of the Austin Powers movies. I've never seen them before so I was told it was necessary and I've gotta say...I really don't think it was. Oh well, I guess I had to see it someday. The next night we watched the movie "Snatch" which I had heard of before but never really thought about seeing. IT WAS SO GOOD! I mean, Brad Pitt kicks butt. And it was way funny!
We started class today and I've got class on Monday from 1:00-5:30 with little 15 minute breaks here and there but I didn't eat so I was really hungry after and I went to this pub called 'three goat's head' and it was really good. I had bangers and mash which is just sausage and mashed potatoes. I did get lost on the way there though, everything looks so different at night and when it gets dark at about 5:00 in the evening it's hard to go anywhere during the day...since I sleep till about 12:00. I'll just have to stop doing that and start doing homework. Yikes! I've got six classes and so far I've got to read for 4 of them. And that's what I should be doing right now!!!!! I know, excessive exclamation marks...bit literary no-no, but that's how I feel. So, with all that said, I think this is the end of this post. I think I've given whoever is going to read this enough to last them until I can post again. Just for kicks and giggles, I'm going to try to have something exciting happen to me everyday...hah, good luck, Hannah.
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