First REAL day of Spring

As we were driving home from Oxford, something strange happened--It got warm in England.
upon arrival in Bath, I immediately put on my running clothes and went for a run in the sun.
That night, Kate's friends from home, who are studying in Rome, came to Bath, and we had a crazy night out.

The following day was even warmer, so we all went to the park to read (not very productive, but AMAZING). I think I actually got tan!

Then we went to a rugby game between Bath Uni and University of Exeter. I've decided that rugby is 1000 times cooler than football and much more entertaining. But also 1000 times more painful. I cringed alot and closed my eyes alot.

Day 7 in Oxford

Today we left Oxford bright and early and went down the road to Blenheim Palace, home to the 11th Duke of Marlborough (and all the other Dukes before him) and the biggest palace in England.

It was a beautiful day, although it started out foggy. The first really sunny spring day we've had so far. We had a tour of the inside of the palace (well, about a quarter of it). The Duke lives in the east wing of the palace, and when he's actually at his palace, his "personal flag" is displayed outside. Sadly the duke was not in today. The inside that we saw consisted of extravagant rooms with lots of gold and silver and tapestries. absolutely beautiful. There were many many paintings of past dukes and duchesses displayed, along with a phenomenal library and a huge organ. After the tour we got to explore the grounds on our own. with over 2000 acres, we could have been there all day. The duke has his own train that takes him around the grounds, a fish pond, a temple of Diana where Winston Churchill proposed to his wife, 2 huge lakes, sheep, a waterfall, pretty much anything you could ever imagine. I could've spend weeks there.

then we headed home to Bath! home sweet home.

Day 6 at Oxford

Today was packed with museums since I didn't have class. Thursday is normally my internship day.

First Emily and I went to the Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers museum of archaeology.

The museum of natural history was really cool and featured animals and minerals. very hands-on.

The pitt rivers museum was pretty much a museum stuck in the 90s, with everything they could possibly own on display. Very cluttered, and with hand-written notes on the displays. But still so cool! there were hundreds of glass boxes displaying everything from musical instruments to eskimo suits to boats.

In the afternoon Fiona and I went to Primark, this really cheap clothing store that has amazing deals like dresses for 5 pounds. Then we met up with the rest of the g irls and went to the Ashmolean museum of art and archaeology. With 4 floors, it was a huge museum that displayed art and artifacts from all cultures, dating from 1000BC to modern times.

After spending 3 hours in the museum, we went to this place called Shakespeare's, which is a milkshake shop that is Shakespeare themed, and all the milkshakes are named after his plays! So clever.

That night we had a formal dinner with our professors in Univ. dining hall, then went to Univ. bar, also with the professors.

Day 5 at Oxford

Wednesday I had class and then toured Christ Church, one of the colleges of Oxford, and where alot of Harry Potter was filmed!!

My poetry professor, Kieron Winn, was a student at Christ Church and gave us the tour.

                                                            HARRY POTTER WAS HERE

                                                  staircase where the first years stand

                                                            great hall!!

day 4 in Oxford

Today I woke up at  6am in order to do work before class, since I wasn't able to yesterday because of the power outage.

at 9 am, my friend Hilary and I went to buy tickets for a tour of the Bodlian library. We had some time to kill until the tour at 10:30, so we wondered around Oxford.

We stumbled upon (actually, broke into) Worcester college, part of Oxford University, and found the most GORGEOUS gardens and grounds.

didn't get to see anything about the actual college, but we strolled around the grounds for about an hour.

Then we went the Bodlian library, which is the really old huge library in the middle of Oxford. Now mostly used for graduate and fellow research.
The trinity school, one of the now un-used rooms in the library, is where.....the infirmary in HARRY POTTER was filmed!!

I kind of blanked on the rest of the tour because I was so focused on this amazing concept.

Afterwards, the library held a free exhibition on manuscripts of the Middle Ages, and on display were ORIGINAL manuscripts from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Morte d'Arture, On the History of Kings of Britain, The canterbury tales, and a first folio of Shakespeare's As You Like It. I was in heaven.

Then I had my Jane Austen class and spent the afternoon doing homework. Jenna and I had a cheap (Mcdonalds, hehe) dinner and watched a movie.

Day 3 in Oxford

Monday morning we got an introduction to the library at Univ, and then I had my Shakespeare class. Then I spent 3 hours working in Univ. library writing a poem (felt very intelligent sitting in that library...)

Then we went to this vegetarian restaurant called the nosebag.
I reverted back to my french ways for a night and ordered pate with bread and salad :)

The frenchness continued when we went to coffee after dinner and got a teeny tiny espresso and a truffle.

Then we had a talk by Leslie Mitchell, a graduate, professor, and expert on everything Oxford who gave us the history of the University and the different colleges, followed by a bit on the crisis that has been taking place between the "townies" (citizens of Oxford) and the "gownies" (professors).
Immediately after his presentation was over, the whole of Univ. lost power and we were in the dark until about 12:30am (I went to bed way before that). Oxford is quite scary in the dark.

Day 2 in Oxford

Day 2 brought on a rainy Sunday in which I explored Blackwells, a very large bookstore in central Oxford, with Cassie and Paulina.
Aaand then we went punting.

Punting is kind of like riding a gondola in Venice. There are four people sitting in a boat, 2 facing the other 2, and on the back of the boat there is 1 person standing on a platform balancing and holding a giant metal (and may I add heavy) pole. This pole is then used to steer and to move the boat forward. One needs great skill and strategy in order to successfully do this (I didn't have either of those). Emily was a champ and did the work most of the time while the rest of us sang songs from Pocahontas and "row your boat". Needless to say we were the loudest and most obnoxious boat, but probably had the best time.

Then we went BACK to Blackwell and had delicious hot chocolate to warm us up, followed by dinner at Chang Mai Kitchen, a delicious Tai restaurant that coincidentally was filled with a large group of Americans.
We finished the night by watching "Shadowlands", a movie about C.S Lewis and an American woman whom he marries named Joy Gresham.

Oxford Day 1

Saturday morning, St. Patty's day, we left bright and early for a week in Oxford!
Saying goodbye to a bright and sunny Bath, we drove 2 hours on a bus and were driven straight onto High Street, the center of town in Oxford. We arrived at University College, the oldest college in Oxford, founded in 1249.

After moving into our rooms (randomly, Kate was my roommate AGAIN. love her) We got a tour of the college and of the city where we would be living for the next few days.

                                             Great Hall? The first of many Harry Potter references.

                                                      Library at Univ.

                                         Crazy heads that noone really knows about on the History of Science museum

                                                 Bridge made to duplicate the bridge of sighs in Venice--the little alleyway next to the bridge has the pub where Clinton did not inhale.

                                                House where C.S Lewis's friend lived.

                                                Tolkien's house!
Later that night, we hung out with some staff and most of the students in the program and had some drinks. Then we went to a club where my friend Kelsey's cousin was DJ-ing. The club was very grungy; Oxfordians have a weird sense of clubbing.
And that's how I spent my first day in Oxford.

Foxy comes to Bath

Much delayed posts are finally being written.
Beginning with March 4th, when Foxy came to visit me!
I took a 3am bus to Heathrow where, after 2 hours of anxious waiting, he was here!!!
So we spent a week doing all the tourist-y things in Bath, went out to dinner, the theatre, the movies, etc.
had an AMURRICA party...

the visit was far too short and seemed to speed by, and before I knew it we were heading back to Heathrow. But it was an amazing week, and I'm so glad I got to see him :)