Throwback Thursday: Oxford 2007 Part III

Here is my final post on my two week study abroad to Oxford, UK.  You can find the other posts here.

Jul 30, 2007

Day 10 -- Oxford

Hello!

Well, I have been somewhat busy the last few days.  Saturday I mainly stayed in and read my book for class.  I did go shopping at the Gap when we went out for lunch since it's been a lot colder than I anticipated and I wanted some more long sleeved shirts.  They had a bunch of stuff on clearance so it wasn't too expensive.  I just wanted a white long sleeved shirt and everything here is so expensive.  This is after we ate at KFC -- I'm getting real tired of English food, but I was dissappointed that they didn't have the mashed potatoes like they do in the States. 

On Sunday I went to church.  I was really proud of myself because I actually found it okay.  I took a different bus from the one that Jenny had recommended and I still made it there okay. It was really nice to go.  I kinda miss hanging out with Mormons sometimes.  I'm known as the good church going girl who will be offended by crass things and is the reminder to not be too extreme. 

After church I came home and worked on my paper until 1 AM.  I'm so glad that's over.  I was really tired yesterday because I didn't get too much sleep.

Monday we had a lecture by a lobbyist for the UK government and then after lunch we had a talk by a professor at Oxford about UK politics. 

After class I went with Hallie and Bobby to St. Mary's College and we went up in the tower and took tons of pictures of the city.  We had to clime a very tall spiral staircase that went up forever.  It reminded me of the staircase inside the dome of the Vatican and I was feeling a little claustrophobic.  

Afterwards we went inside of Christ's Church College which is what they modeled Harry Potter after.  They were going to shoot there, but the college couldn't do without its facilities for so long so they had to make a replica.  They did do other filming here in Oxford.  It was pretty cool.  It's really touristy though and you have to pay to get in. 

I went shopping until 5:30 when all the shops close.  I found a store that doesn't cost so much so I bought a jacket and a purse.  I came home and talked to Albert for a little bit and then I ate the pasta I bought at the grocery store outside with some guys who had kebabs that looked pretty tasty.

There was a big group of peeps who went and saw "The Simpsons."  Bobby and I went to the theatre but it was sold out.  They said it was okay, not great.  I hung out with some peeps at the pub close to our house for a bit but I was super tired so Bobby said he had to go back to get something so he could walk me home. 

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Aug 2, 2007

Oxford -- Day 13

Hello!

Well, yesterday after class Hallie and I went to Magdelene College, which is really beautiful. Part of it is a forest and some American guy who is doing a doctorate dissertation on CS Lewis told us that the path that goes through the park is where he and the guy who wrote "Lord of the Rings" had theological discussions.  There was also a heard of deer in the park and we ran into a couple of the actors from "Mid Summer's Night Dream" that we went to the day before on the sidewalk.   It was really nice weather too, I could have definitely gotten away with wearing short sleeves and it didn't rain at all.

I then went into the cheap store in the mall and I ran into a guy I met at church (this town in really crazy, I'm always running into people here and I don't even know that many people).  I told him I was looking for a place to stay in London on Saturday night and he said that his brother lives there and he might be able to hook me up.  So I'm waiting to hear back from him.  If not it seems like there are lots of hostels open still so it shouldn't be a problem.  If I don't hear from him by tonight I'll just reserve myself a spot at another hostel.  Everyone from my group is going home on Saturday so I can't stay with them like I'm doing Friday night.

I also grabbed a great crepe at a little vendor for dinner.  That's the best food I've eaten since I got here.  Even American and Italian and I hear even Indian food is really lacking here.  Maybe we'll have better luck in London with the cuisine.

I took another cold shower and I even tried to shower earlier than usual.  I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and having a nice hot shower.  At night I watched "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe" with Bobby on his computer.  It was pretty good. 

Today we just talked about the book reports that we handed in and about the paper we will have to hand in by Sept. 15.  I think I'm going to do mine on the economic and political developement of Bulgaria (or Romania) in joining the EU. 

We had a break so Hallie and I went around to the Oxford Univ. stores and now we're just chillin' until we have to meet our group at 12:15 PM to go to the pub for lunch.  Then we'll be going to the palace where Winston Churchill grew up.  It's too bad that it's all cold and rainy today.  I thought it was going to be nice.

At 7:00 PM we are having a garden reception and then we'll have our award ceremony and dinner at 7:30 PM.  We'll get our group picture and our certificates.  It's the only study abroad program in the School of Public Policy at GMU I know of that you get a certificate so that's pretty cool -- it'll look good on the resume.

I'll be going with David to London tomorrow in the mid morning when we have to check out and we'll hang out there and stay in a hostel.  We'll probably hang out with Bobby and Ryan and maybe some others who are also going to be in London Friday night.  David flies out Saturday evening so I'll hang out with him on Saturday until he goes and then I'll stay the night and fly out Sunday at 11:00 AM.  I'm flying into BWI around 4:00 PM so I figure it'll take me a couple hours to get home. 

Anyway, should be fun.  Hopefully the weather will be good.