London and a Bop!

Well, today was London day! I had a great time!!
Juliana and I woke up around 8am, got on a bus by 9, and around 10 we were in London, walking towards Victoria Station.

First stop: Buckingham Palace. So here we were--two unassuming, somewhat inconspicuous young American women walking down a perfectly normal street when BAM, right around the corner we are unexpectedly dodging our way through a very crowded mass of tourists in front of the Palace. After five minutes of searching the wandering eyes of our neighbors in the crowd, and following fingers pointing to various things around the square, we realized that most people, including us, had no idea why everyone was hanging out in front of the palace (see photos for our unrehearsed facial expressions).

But, being curious and stupid Americans, we stuck around for another half an hour, waiting to see a bearded lady or maybe the flying elephant. Just when we were running out of curious-juice, we heard the faint sound of drums and a flute. Yes, dear friends, 'twas exactly what you expected....the changing of the guard. It was pretty cool and somewhat parade-like. Maybe today was a special day. I still don't know. But yay for massive fuzzy hats.

After the Palace, we took a walk down to Westminster Abbey, which was overwhelmingly gaudy, to say the least. Thoroughly impressive, but my god they packed a lot of stuff in that place. I felt like I had wandered into Henry VIII's private attic, filled with statues, tombs, gold, and more tombs. That place is huge, by the way. Lots of the stained glass was shattered during WWII (very typical of Europe) so there were a lot of cool restoration things going on, which was totally my thing. A good time was had by all.

The rest of the day, we headed out to Oxford Street (haha...yes...still in London) to do a massive, though impromptu, shopping spree. We refueled on Subway sanwiches (ooooh by the way, there's no partially hydrogenated oil in England. Didya know? Yay chips), then kept shopping. I got a couple of shirts, Jules got a few scarves for her mom. We sat and had coffee and gabbed about boy drama for a while. It was girlie, it was great.

After massive amounts of public transportation, we were on our bus again, in heavy traffic, heading home...to the BOP. A "Bop" is a college party at Oxford. The bop this evening was a halloween bop, full of costumes and cobwebs. The English still can't dance, so it wasn't as fun as it is back at Stanford, but we made it work. The men's rugby team got kinda crazy for a while, but then again, meatheads are always pretty entertaining.

Well, I'm exhausted. The day trips I've been taking are definitely my favorite parts of being abroad thus far, so look out for more updates on those (and feel free to suggest places to go!).
Thanks to everyone who's been commenting, too--I love getting notes!

Cheers!

Opera, Bath and Beyond!

Well, I've officially been to an Opera. La Boheme was pretty cool. The singing was really amazing, but I was surprised by how short the four acts were. Our seats were about 20 rows from the pit, which was neato. I definitely want to see an opera in a bigger and grander theatre before I decide if I like it or not...

Bath was really, really nice. We got up around 7am, took a bus at 8, a train at 8:30, another train at 9:12, and arrived around 10 in Bath. First, a good bunch of the group walked all around Bath until we made it to the northern edge to see The Royal Crescent, a magnificent residential feat. It was drizzling a little bit, but still sunny, so we ended up seeing a double rainbow behind the building...really lovely. Jules and I then broke off from the group and decided to just do whatever we wanted for the rest of the day.


We started by walked back towards the city center by way of these really pretty gardens. (Bath is a very lush, green place). For a few hours, we just meandered around Bath, walking by the river Avon, and snapping some georgeous pictures of Bath Abbey from the riverbanks (see below).

After a few hours we were really hungry, and decided we wanted to try to find some Thai food, since Jules hadn't tried it before. Unfortunately the restaurants weren't really open yet, so we settled on a fish & chips hole-in-the-wall place I had read about last week, called, of all things, "Fish & Chips." DEE-LI-CIOUS. the most fat every consumed at one time, but, delicious. We got our food to go and went back to a square right outside of the Roman Baths, sat on a park bench, and ate our glorious mound of fat. There was a very scruffy man in the courtyard singing american classics like "Country Road" and "Brown Eyed Girl"...we were very fond of him.

Post heartattack-enducing-food-consumption, we decided to take a tour of the Roman Baths. These were pretty cool. So ancient, such a natural phenomenon (the water really WAS warm! I touched it!). Great architecture, cool history. Can't wait to see roman baths in ROME...not England....

Then, the shopping began. We bought shoes, pashminas, halloween masks, chocolates...all kinds of fun things. It rained on us a little, but we didn't mind--it forced us into a covered market for some more shopping!

Then we headed into Bath Abbey, which was really stunning. There were so many windows, so much light. Just look at these photos--really amazing. We took a few minutes to just sit in the pews and people watch. Very pleasant.

After the Abbey, we decided to get some tea at "Sally Lunn's Bun shop" the oldest tea house in Bath. It was great! The cream tea was marvelous and I had a cinnamon bun that was the size of my face...so much for not getting fat while I study abroad....

And, surprisingly, we did all these things by about 3:30pm. Since our day had been so packed, we decided to call it quits and head home on the 4:40 train. Got back to Oxford around 7pm. Fun, relaxing, neat...I'm definitely going to visit other cities around England while I'm here.

Next weekend...London!

Tutorials and Magdalen Slop

Well it's been a little while since I updated everyone on my oh-so-interesting life here in England, but that's not without good reason because I have started the ominous and dreadful.... TUTORIAL.

A tutorial is basically a one-on-one method of learning where I meet once a week with a professor and discuss the reading and writing I have been preparing. "Reading" means at least 5 books (books, not articles), and "writing" is generally 8 pages of report/argument. It's intense, to say the least. But what's great about the tutorial is that instead of putting all my research off until the last minute to frantically write a long paper, as I normally would at Stanford, I have opted to just work a couple of hours every day. Doing this gives me a chance to enjoy the reading I'm doing, process it and then write a coherent paper. It sounds reasonable until I realize that next 50 days or so will be continuous work. Not so fun.

My tutor is the lovely Ms. Helena Chance (if you google her, you will find a pretty picture). She has a great sense of humor and is really knowledgeable about the Architecture of Oxford. I think she gives tours around the city and also teaches classes on Architecture in the "Continuing Studies" department of the University. We meet on Thursday afternoons in an old History Faculty lounge, drink tea, and talk about old stuff. It's very English and very fun. I'm so excited that I get the opportunity to learn like this, even though it is really time consuming.

I've written two papers so far, one of which I completed a few hours ago. I might post one later after Helena has given it a good thrashing and found my inevitable mistakes. They aren't fancy, but they'll give you an idea of what I've been stuffing my brain with.

Don't be fooled, however, for there is more to life in Oxford than a tutorial! In fact, I am heading to the Opera on Friday night to see La Boheme (Arianne just squealed, I know it) and on Saturday I'm going on a day trip to Bath with a gaggle of housemates. Expect pictures. Of Baths.

Besides that, I visited a kind of disappointing Picture Gallery in Dulwich, London (Even though I was about 3" from a Rembrandt portrait--Art History majors everywhere are jealous). I've also taken a few meals at the Magdalen Dining Hall, which is oober Harry Potter and filled with the kind of "slop" meals you would expect from an ancient kitchen (the boys there are cute to look at though--there may be a 'Nigel' for me after all Chrys and Cheryl). Anyone craving overcooked pasta with a mystery fish? Perhaps and hunk of dry duck meat as big as my head? Lamb and gravy?? Their menus inspire me to eat with my hands a grunt medieval-style. I've signed up for "Formal Hall" dinner on Sunday where they bring you courses and you have to look pretty to get in the door. I'll let you know how that goes.

Well that's the news from lake Oxford, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.

A visit from Daddy....

This past weekend was FABULOUS becuase I was blessed with a visit from my wonderful father. Dad was on a business trip to Paris last week, and he decided to take a train (which broke down!!) and another train, and a taxi ride to come see me for, well, about 24 hours. I couldn't be more thankful that he made the trip.

So on Saturday, around noon, I anxiously sat in the lobby of the Eastgate hotel, attempting to do some reading, but mostly just pining for a familiar face to arrive. Now what's great about the Eastgate hotel, is that it is a perfect, reasonable place that's literally a stones throw from my bedroom. I could see the building out my hall window. The location let us hang out with each other for absolutely as much time as possible, which was great. Anyways, back to the lobby. Daddy arrived and we decided to stop by my room in the ka-razay bustle of stairs and rooms that is the Stanford House. Dad got a kick out of the rat-maze that is my home here...I'm just glad I have a witness!!

Next, we went to lunch at a cafe that I've been eyeing just a few shops down the street from our house, call "The Grand Cafe," which, it turns out, is one of the oldest coffee shops in England. It's a small place, but there are lots of mirrors to give you the illusion of it actually being "grand." The sandwiches were awesome, we found out that a "rocket" in britain is a kind of green veggie they put on things to make them taste good, and daddy got to say he ate "crisps" in England (which we call chips, but here chips are french fries...ahhh they make life confusing).

After lunch, we decided to take a walk towards Oxford University's gym, which I've been trying to find, but on our way we got sidetracked (read: lost) and ended up walking around Christ Church Meadow, in the trees, past the boating dock for rowing teams, until we ended back up in the heart of the city. It was a great time to just stroll around on a beautiful English day and catch up. The scenery was pretty magical.

The walk around Christ Church Meadow dropped us near an ice cream shop that is famous in Oxford called "G&D's" so we each got loaded up on sugar in a cone and headed towards Cornmarket street, where we needed to stop and pick up a new cellphone for me. We sorted out the technicial cell problems and such, and kept walking around the city-- this time near Blackwells, Oxford's oldest and famous bookstore. Dad was patient and helped me pick up some much-needed art supplies (I've already used them dad! The money and time was well spent!!) before we started to head back towards the hotel/Stanford house [of course, taking the route past the Bod Library and the Radcliffe Camera]. But my extreme walking tour was far from over. (Dad should have hit me over the head and let me give him a second to rest--I'm sure he was just a walking zombie with tired feet at this point, but alas, I had nervous energy and needed to talk my heart out so he bore with my neurotics and exertions.) We ended up walking a ways down High street to finally check out those gym facilities at Iffley field, which is also the location where the first "four minute mile" took place. Cool. The gym was ratty and old, but had a nice feel to it. If only Oxford had an Arillaga like Stanford does...

Finally, after all this walking, we headed back to the Eastgate, where cell phones were plugged in, I made some tea and scones for us, and we rested for a bit. But then, around 6pm, we decided to attend an "Evensong" at Christ Church, which is an almost daily traditional service with singing by choir boys held in the many Cathedrals around Oxford. It was a neat service, although there was less singing than we expected.

After the service, we started looking for a place to grab dinner, when we came across "Chutneys"....an INDIAN FOOD restaurant in ENGLAND...a.k.a. not to be missed (I'm still digesting it two days later). It was a great meal in a cute little place that was oober busy. There was a constant string of Oxford students dressed in costumes coming in and out. Thank god I was aware that basically the whole student body would be attending "bops" that evening (themed parties) otherwise their weird way of dressing could have given a completely different impression. Not to say that the English don't already dress funny. Have you seen the angst-ridden punks lately? eek.

We finished up the day by just hanging out in Dad's hotel room, watching "A Knights Tale" on TV, laughing at the odd European commercials. Our favorite by far was the Virigin Train commercial. Check it out here: http://richmedia.virgintrains.co.uk/virgintrainsapache.mpg

The next morning, we had breakfast at my favorite coffee shop (thus far) called Queens Lane, walked around the city a bit more (and acutally stumbled across a fitness center which I have now joined, and really enjoy...thanks Dad) and just talked as much as possible. I thought that having Dad around would make me miss home more, but it didn't. Instead of focusing on how great it was that we were seeing each other face to face, Dad made an effort to focus on what was great around us, and how exciting it is to be in Oxford. He instilled confidence and security in me and focused on beefing up my sense of independence instead of discussing on the great stuff and people I have back at home. What a smart parent, what a great guy, what a fabulous spirit. I feel truly and completely happy for the first time here, and can't wait to make myself and my Dad proud of what I do with the rest of my time here. Thanks for stopping by, Dad. love you.

The Globe!

So my classes have officially started. So far I've had two sessions of "Social Realism in British Films" and have my first meeting with my tutor (Helena Chance) this afternoon. The class load is going to be realatively easy for at least my two classes other than the tutorial....we'll see. Give me two weeks and I could be complaining.

Last night was really fun, becuase we had the opportunity to see "The Comedy of Errors" (a Shakespeare comedy) at the globe theatre--the theatre where it would have been shown back when Shakespeare was alive. Having never read this particular play and being only familiar with his tragedies and histories, I thought I would just glaze over and not really understand what was going on. Needless to say my expectations were very low in terms of enjoying the actual plot of his twisted tale.

Once we got to the theatre, I started getting shuffled around and directed by the million-year-old ushers until I made it to the very top of the theatre. I, along with some other students from Stanford, were squeezed into the front row of a tiny box about 50 feet up from the stage. We were sitting so close to the edge of the box (my knees were pressed against the rail that was keeping me from dropping to my death) that my depth-perception was very messed up and I kept getting waves of vertigo. But once the show started, I soon realized (granted it took me a few scenes) that I would not only be able to understand most of this play, but that I would really enjoy myself, too. The actors had fabulous comedic timing and did physical comedy exceptionally well. I caught myself awkwardly laughing out loud. In the end I had a great time, and am so happy that I went. It was great to see a bit of London too (especially since this trip only cost me 3 pounds!!) and I can't wait to go back and visit the Tate Modern, the British Museum...and just walk around the great city!!

Love you all and miss you all.

pictures

My friends have recently shared some photos they took of me in York and Durham and I thought I might post them too...I suppose they are some form of validation that I actually was there!!

Dinner in our hotel restaurant

Standing on that wall across York with my new bud Shana.

Talking to a duck. The animals were very friendly at Castle Howard.

This was pre-formal dinner last Thursday. Sorry to be out of order.

Shana started calling me "Miss Great Britain" becuase of this classy coat.

Hall Dinner, York, Durham

So a lot has happened over the past weekend-and-a-bit. So forgive the long post.


To start, Thursday night the house attended a "Formal Hall Dinner" at Corpus Christi College. Everyone was asked to dress "smart," which basically means there were a lot of girls stumbling around in high heels along the cobblestone streets (I wouldn't reccommend it). It was a dinner for just the Stanford students, although formal dinners in the future will be with Oxford kids. We started out mingling in one room, then moved into the gigantic Harry-Potter like dining hall, complete with long benches, four tables, and place cards.

Friday morning, around 8am, we began our "Bing Trip" (a traditional first weekend trip sponsered by the Bing family at Stanford) to northern England, starting with the town of York. When we arrived we were immediately taken on a walking tour of the city. I opted to follow the lead of Geoffery Tyack, the extremely quirky director of our program here since he was going to focus on the architectural aspects of the city more than the other tour guides. He ended up being a rather horrible guide, since he could barely put two words together without saying "um" thirteen times, would constantly cross the street without even hesitating for traffic and walked as fast as he possibly could the entire time. But he's English, so we give him wiggle room to be odd and love him anyways. My favorite part of the tour by far was walking along the ancient city-wall, which is open to the public, becuase we got a phenomenal view of the city. This wall basically cut across town and was a good 20 or 30 feet above the busy streets. I've never seen anything like it.
The city (town?) of York is best known for its cathedral, as well as its timber buildings from medieval times. The upper floors of these timber buildings kept getting pushed out further and further from the buildings original foundation, so much so that one top appartment nearly touches another from a building across the street. Apparently you can stick your hand out the window and shake hands with your neighbor.


The Cathedral of York was really neat too. I've never been to a building of this magnitude that is smack in the middle of the city, not more than 20 feet from a very urban shopping district. The stained glass inside was beautiful, the ceiling was really interested becuase it was made of timber, and had a pattern of "Keys" which look like gold baubles all over the place. Apparently half of the original stained glass in all of England can be found in the town of York. It was inspiring and interesting and definitely my favorite of the two cathedrals we saw on this trip.
That evening, I went out to dinner with an ecclectic bunch of residents at a pizza place, and spent the evening wandering around York, in the rain, exploring (aka getting lost) then went back to our hotel with very fluffy beds and gossiped and bonded with my roommate until we fell asleep.

The next day, we made an early start towards Durham, starting with a stop by one of the most spectacular and lovely houses I've ever seen, called "Castle Howard." It was early morning when we arrived, so there was a mysterious mist around all the gardens. The basic layout of the property reminded me of Versailles--complete with beautiful views of lakes, fountains, rose gardens, and a few masoleums and small buildings. The gardens were great, quiet and gave everyone a much-appreciated sense of calm. The interior of the house was spectacular as well.


This castle was one of the first to have a dome placed on top, since it was compelted in the 18th century. It took over 100 years to build, and the dome wasn't even in the original plans! The full height of the room with the dome was somewhere near 70 feet. Apparently this castle was the place where they filmed the movie "Brideshead," which I've never seen--a film about Oxford, apparently. Oh the logic of movie making....
After the castle, we went to Durham and did another walking tour of the city, then visited the Cathedral there, which boasted the first "ribbed vaulting" ever. I actually didn't enjoy Durham as much, just becuase our activities were very touristy. We didn't really have a moment to enjoy the city on our own. That's ok though, becuase sometimes you have to endure the crowds to say that you've done or seen something historical. The castle in Durham (right next to the Cathedral) was actually turned into a college waaaaay back in the day, and students of "Durham University" actually live in the castle now. It was really interesting to walk by these ruins and see signs saying "Welcome Home" pasted all along the walls. Only in Britain....



By the end of the weekend, we were exhausted and ready to come "home" to Oxford. What was great about the trip was the fact that I now have a substantial basis of comparison between other cities the size of Oxford, and I'm definitely glad that I'm here.