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.