There and Back Again...or Maybe Just 1/3 of the Way

Practically since we got to Oxford, Caitlin, Libby and I have talked about going to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey when it came out in December. We ended up buying tickets online about two weeks ago and last night was the night. Amy has never read or even seen The Lord of the Rings (we have promised her a marathon when we get back to the US), and did not really understand our excitement, but she was a good sport and went along anyway.

Our first Tolkien reference of the day came in the form of a link posted by Libby on Facebook, The 13 Dwarves of The Hobbit, Ranked by Hotness. I am not sure how you could even go about ranking them, you can barely their faces under all of that hair. Caitlin, Libby, Amy and I all agreed that Number 2, Kili, was the most attractive. I have a bit of a problem getting past Number 1, Fili's braided mustache. The whole idea behind the article was strange, but very amusing for us.

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We went to dinner at a pub called The Eagle and Child. We have been meaning to go there for some time but last night was the perfect time to go. Why? Because this particular pub was a regular haunt for J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and other writers of the time. The group called themselves the Inklings.

I was afraid that the pub would be very crowded with people who had the same idea as us: go to eat at Tolkien's hangout and then go to see The Hobbit, so we went early at 5:30pm. There ended up being many free tables and a very short line to put in orders at the bar.

The Eagle and Child, sometimes called The Bird and the Baby by locals, is long and narrow with many  sitting alcoves. The table were made of dark wood with half of the seating being squat wooden stools and the other half green padded benches. It was cozy and inviting. I can see why someone would want to spend a lot of time there.

Caitlin, Libby and I all ended up ordering the same meal of chicken and mushroom pie and a Rekorderlig cider. This was the first time I have ever ordered an alcoholic drink before. So far on this trip I have just tasted things the others have bought. I ended up getting the Strawberry and Lime flavor. These ciders are palatable to me because they barely taste like alcohol (only 4.0%), are fruit flavored, and fizzy.

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We got to the cinema about fifteen minutes early to collect our tickets and find our seats. I don't know if this the same in all British cinemas or just the one we went to, but we had assigned seats. That is just strange to me. In the US, it is generally "first come, first served" so you want to be there a little early. We were a bit annoyed to find that our spots were in the very top row of the stadium seating. I swear that the diagram online when we chose our seats showed at least two or three rows behind us.

I was amazed by how many seats, maybe about 1/3, were empty when the lights dimmed at 7:00pm. It was supposed to be a full theatre. And then a learned why so many people were not there yet...there are fifteen minutes of commercials before even the previews start. Obviously they all knew that and most all of the seats were filled by the time the previews started.

Most of the movie previews looked good (Les Miserables, Life of Pi) while others looked like they would probably be pretty bad (i.e. Pacific Rim which looks like an amalgamation of Clash of the Titans, Transformers and the trend for apocalypse movies).

The movie itself was very exciting with lots of humor, action, and a few very touching moments. I have read and seen all three of the Lord of the Rings, but I have never read The Hobbit, so the plot line was a surprise to me. All I knew about it was that the aim of the quest was to kill a dragon, and somehow Bilbo finds the ring of power somewhere along the way.

The picture quality was absolutely amazing and it did great credit to the expansive shots of beautiful scenery. I loved all the details of the costumes and hair ornaments (dwarves have a lot of hair to keep up with).

The movie was over at 10:15pm, just around the time we were expecting. We walked to the bus stop just in time to see the U1 pull away. The next bus would not come for another thirty minutes so we decided to walk. It was actually relatively nice outside. The day's constant deluge had finally stopped and it was slightly warmer than it had been lately (40s as opposed to 30s). Four months ago the thirty minute walk from the City Centre to our dorm would have killed me. Now, it is just a nice stroll.

On our walk back Caitlin and Libby (both have read The Hobbit) discussed what would be in the next movie since this first one ended about half-way through the book. It seemed like there should only be one more movie, but when we got back to the room and checked, there are actually three movies in the series. At this rate there will never be a new season of Sherlock with the main actors all busy with other projects (the actor who plays Bilbo also plays Dr. Watson, and the voice of the dragon is done by the actor who plays Sherlock). 

Out and About in Oxford-Town: Part II

Monday

For our last day without Amy and Libby, Caitlin and I tried to visit some Oxford University colleges that were open to visitors daily for free. Note the tried in that statement. Our plans did not go as well as we had hoped.

Our planned journey, based on opening times and the location of the colleges, was to go to:

1) St. Edmund's Hall

2) Harris Manchester College

3) Wadham College

4) Hertford College

5) Exeter College

6) Lincoln College

St. Edmund's Hall ended up being closed to visitors, according to the sign. We probably could have just walked in and pretended like we belonged their but I wasn't really brave enough to try. We walked down the winding Queen's Lane which is only wide enough for one car and surrounded by stone walls on either side. It is a very peaceful road as there are more direct roads to take and it probably isn't one most tourists notice.

The day was sunny with puffy white clouds. It was a bit warmer than on Sunday (about 44 degrees Fahrenheit), especially in the sun. The backdrop of blue sky allowed me to get some really great photographs during our walks from college to college.

Queen's Lane

Radcliffe Camera and University Church of St. Mary the Virgin

Both Harris Manchester College and Wadham College also had signs saying that they were closed to visitors. This was very frustrating since they were supposed to open at that time. At least Wadham College was closed for a "special event" so it actually had a good reason for not wanting visitors wandering around.

Since we were already at Wadham College on Parks Road, we decided to walk further down towards the Pitt Rivers Museum to see if Keble College was open. It was not on our original list of places to go but since we had plenty of time to spare before the other colleges opened at 2pm, we gave it a try. 

It ended up being a great decision. There was no sign out front saying that it was closed so Caitlin and I just walked in. We were trying to be incognito and look like we were supposed to be there, so when we walked by a group of students talking, I tried to start talking about exams. It was a nerve-wracking at first, but when no one demanded that we leave, I relaxed. We walked around the grassy inner courtyard to the side opposite the entrance and sat on a bench.

Keble College is absolutely beautiful. Architecturally, it is very different from the older colleges lining High Street. Built in 1870, the building is considered quite new by Oxford University standards. The neo-gothic structure features walls with designs formed from the arrangement of red and beige bricks. I think its architectural beauty is definitely in competition with Magdalen College for the top spot in my mind. 

  

By the time we left Keble College, it was only about 1:15pm and none of the other colleges we planned to visit opened until 2pm. So, we took the less populated streets than run roughly parallel to High Street to West Gate Shopping center for a snack. Caitlin and Amy have gone to Shakespeare's, a shop that sells only milkshakes, several times since it opened and told me how good it was. 

There are lots of flavors to choose from but I tried Bakewell Tart (Bakewell tarts are a pastry bowl filled with jam, sponge cake, almond icing and topped with a maraschino cherry). The milkshake was literally ice cream blended with an actual Bakewell Tart until it reached milkshake consistency. I found the texture a bit strange, a bit lumpy from the blended tart instead of smooth like a typical milkshake. It was still very good though, and I drank it way to fast.

Caitlin was going to try Yule Log, a special Christmas flavor, but they were out of the ingredients so she got chocolate brownie flavor...hot. Yes, Shakespeare's sells hot milkshakes. It sounds really strange, but according to the woman working there, it works really well depending on the flavor (aka, chocolate brownie flavor = good, skittles = really bad). She described the drink as similar to a really creamy, indulgent hot chocolate. Next time we go I think I might be adventurous and try a hot Mince Pie milkshake.

Our college visits after our milkshake break went no better than it did before. Both Hertford and Exeter were closed to visitors, and I completely forgot about looking for Lincoln College. Caitlin was really disappointed about Exeter being closed because that was were J.R.R. Tolkien studied. We have seen things relating to Doctor Who and Harry Potter now, so it is only right that we should do something to add Lord of the Rings to that list. We just satisfied ourselves by agreeing to go another day.

Before stopping off at the grocery store for dinner supplies, we chose to take a final walk, this time down St. Giles Street, past the Martyrs' Memorial (where we met for the ghost tour on Halloween). We were in search of a cemetery. That sounds really strange but we have been meaning to find one since we got to Oxford. Reading gravestones and trying to imagine the life of the person buried there is a lot of fun, though it could be considered morbid as well.

War Memorial

There is a small cemetery next to the Martyrs' Memorial at St. Mary Magdalen Church but there is a fence around it. We continued down St. Giles Street, going farther than we ever have before. Along the way we noticed an open door to what appeared to be an Oxford University college. It ended up being St. John's College. We went into the small, circular inner courtyard paved in grey stone, but there was not anything to see. There wasn't even a bench to sit on. 

This little journey allowed us to see the City War Memorial which is still encircled with wreaths of plastic poppies put there during Remembrance Day on November 11. Beyond the Memorial we found our graveyard.

The graveyard was attached to St. Giles' Church, nestled between to busy streets. We stayed on the pathway and tried to read the weather-worn stones. I felt it would be disrespectful to go walking in the grass over the graves. The stones I could read were more recent than I had expected. Most were for people who died in the 1800s. It could be that this particular graveyard was more recent, or it was older and we just could not read the words on the more aged markers.

   

We covered a lot of ground in one day, visiting parts of Oxford we had never been to before. As there is only about three weeks left in the semester, I feel like my time to see everything is running out. I want to imprint the sights of Oxford into my memory so I can look back on them when I am back in the United States.

First Snowfall

In North Carolina (where I am from and go to college) anytime it snows is very exciting, even if it is no more than a dusting that has melted by midday. It always annoyed me when some of the Northerners at my college were so determined to break our good moods due to the snow by saying that that was no reason to be so excited. Well, it might not be a big deal to someone who gets feet of snow each winter, but to the rest of us Southerners it was something to be super excited about.

That little rant was all the precursor to me saying that to day in Oxford it SNOWED! Of course it was only a dusting that did not even cover the grass, but waking up to it still made me giddy. At least there is a bit of a reward for most of our flat being freezing cold right now.

I think all of the students studying here from my American university were all hoping that we would be able to experience snow in England. It seemed a bit unlikely since in the United Kingdom gets more snow in January and February than in December.

Out and About in Oxford-Town: Part I

This weekend Amy and Libby ventured to Paris via a nine hour, overnight coach ride to, as we say jokingly, "repair their friendship." As a result, Caitlin and I decided we had to do something fun while they were gone.

Sunday

We chose to visit the Pitt Rivers Museum for the second time. The first time we went (read more about it here) we only managed to see the ground floor because there were so many displays. Our goal this time was to finish the top two floors before trying to get some Christmas shopping done.

The sky was a soft blue with wispy clouds that were a welcome sight after so many days of clouds and rain. The temperature has finally dipped low enough (under 40 degrees Fahrenheit) for me to really feel the cold when outside. The frosty air numbs the fingers and ears if they are not covered properly.

Beyop

The first floor (second floor in America) of the museum was dedicated to more daily-life type artifacts like bags, body ornaments, baby carriers, games, and art. I never realized just how many ways human beings adorn their bodies. Necklaces, bracelets, finger rings, toe rings, headdresses, anklets, and waist adornments were all there.

The female members of the Adi of northeast India wore metal disks attached to a string around their waists. This ornamentation, called a beyop, was worn daily from the time the girl could walk until the birth of her first child.

Bags from around the world

The most interesting exhibits were about important stages in a person's life: childhood, puberty, and marriage.

The display on body modification was also very informative, though I already knew most of the basics about scarification and tattooing. One body modification I had not heard of before was head shaping, a practice normally found in African cultures. Mothers would use cloth or a specially made apparatus to gradually make their newborn baby's head more elongated. The reshaping process took several weeks of application for about fifteen minutes a day during the child's nap. Surprisingly, the information plaque said that the process is not harmful.

There were also several brightly colored silk shoes worn by Chinese women who had their feet bound on display in this section. I knew that their feet were small, but not that they were that small. The shoes looked like they would only fit the feet of little babies. I cannot imagine how painful it must have been for the women.

Further along the room were decorated eggs, and not just chicken eggs. There was a painted ostrich egg and some were very small and probably came from some kind of songbird. Each one was hand painted with incredible detail.

In this same section were paintings from different cultures. My eye was drawn to two African paintings done in purples, greens, and browns on a background of black paper. They depicted antelopes, warriors, and birds in a slightly abstract tribal style. I really like the thin, angular quality of the images where you can tell what they are without it being strictly accurate to porportions. The bright colors and spindly trees with poofs of leaves remind me of the book The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.
   

The top floor did not have nearly as many artifacts as the two floors below. Its displays focused mainly on weaponry, armor, and fishing. There were bunches of guns, but I did not spend very long looking at them. All of the swords and daggers were much prettier and interesting, though I did make myself a little queasy imagining what being stabbed by one would feel like. I had two favorites among the swords and daggers. The first was a plain sword from Asia with a slightly curved blade, about three feet long, with a hilt made of beige twine. It's simplicity was very appealing to the eye. My other favorite was a dagger with a hilt made of a pale, milky blue stone.

As we were heading out of the museum past the national history section, I saw this guy gazing out of a glass display case.

Yeah, I know, super creepy, right? He looks like he should be the mischievous minion of some evil villain...or he could be just contemplating when to lunge forward and bite you on the nose.

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We (meaning mostly me) tried to do some Christmas shopping after the museum, but I just wasn't feeling it. There were just too many people everywhere and I did not know exactly what I was looking for. We mostly just ended up wandering around Primark, Apricot, and Miss Selfridge (all clothing stores) without buying anything.

When we got hungry, it was off to the Covered Market for sandwiches at a French deli. We ate there our first week in Oxford and thought it was good then. I had a panini with sundried tomato chicken, mozzarella and basil. It was a very good combination of flavors, filling but inexpensive.  

All of this was accomplished before 4pm. We spent the rest of the day sitting at our kitchen table writing blog posts and doing homework while having tea and cookies.   

Imagine Dragons Concert

I can now say that I have been to three music concerts in my life (not counting those put on my school). The first two were the rapper B.o.B. and the Fray, at my American school. The B.o.B. concert was really not any fun, partially because rap is not my kin of music. We had to wait over an hour and a half before he came on, and then he only sang for about thirty minutes. He did not sound very good, on top of the fact that he was very rude to the crowd.

The Fray was a much better show as they sound great in concert and engaged the audience to clap and sing along. The problem with that concert was the crowd who were shouting at inappropriate times and many of them were drunk.

My third concert was to see Imagine Dragons, an alternative rock band from Utah. It took place at a club called the O2 Academy in Oxford, so I can also say that I have been to a club, though not for the purpose of clubbing. The club was smaller than I expected with black walls, a bar, and a stage. There was even a smoke machine that emitted clouds of white even before the performance started.

As more people piled into the room the air became sweltering. At the beginning the room smelt strangely like sawdust or wood chips but gradually changed to the smell of sweaty people too close together.

The pre-band that performed was called The Escapists. They were more of a typical rock band with a leader singer playing guitar, two more guitarists and a drummer. I thought that the drummer looked a little like Neil Patrick Harris from How I Met Your Mother but with black, thick-framed glasses. 

Most of their songs were a few shouted lyrics followed by long guitar and drum rifts. The little bits of the lyrics that I could understand sounded descent, but their music was just too loud and angry for me. They played for about twenty minutes and all of the songs sounded basically the same with little variety.

When Imagine Dragons came on stage and performed, they were amazing. The lead singer was very into his music, dancing around and gesturing. You could tell he loved what he was doing and was having a great time. He engaged the audience, encouraging us to sing along and clap.

Photo by Libby

The lead singer was adorable (despite the fact that his haircut featured a rat tail). He told us about how they had dreamed about coming to the UK to perform but they feared that they were going to show up to the club and there only be five people there. I think he was tearing up a little as he said that and I am sure all of the girls were thinking, "Awww. How sweet."

I ended up recognizing a number of the songs played just from hearing Amy, Caitlin and Libby listen to them on their computers. Some of them included "Radioactive," "On Top of the World," and "Demons." They were a good mix of tempos and song subjects. Some of the songs even sounded a bit more folky mixed with rock which kept the performance from being boring. It was a lot of fun singing, dancing, and watching the singer bounce around the stage.

There was even an encore that ended with probably thirty seconds of flashing strobe lights. I had to close my eyes, but it did not block the lights at all. I was relieved when they stopped because the flashing combined with the heat was starting to make me feel lightheaded.

We stand for a little while after the performance so Amy and Libby could buy posters. They did manage to get the autograph of one of the guitarists but none of the other members came out to sign things.

Everything seemed very quite when we got outside. I am sure I was talking quite loudly as my hearing gradually adjusted to not being overloaded with a constant flow of loud noise. It was a great night and it taught me that concerts can be of lots fun when the performers and the crowd are respectful of each other and work towards having a good time.

Christmas Markets and a Round Table

Considering the fact that Christmas lights have been up in Oxford since before Halloween, you would think that the holiday season in England would be magical, but so far I have just been a little disappointed and confused.

Friday night was a Christmas parade and festival in Oxford City Centre. We were planning on going to see a male a capella group at 6pm and then watch the parade. With Thanksgiving over, we were all excited to get in the Christmas spirit.

Our bus was supposed to get us into the city centre with just enough time to walk to the stage. Unfortunately, the bus was fifteen minutes late due to traffic and it was nearly 6:30pm by the time we made it even half way down the festival street because of the crowds.

We ended up pausing on a sidewalk to watch the parade. The parade was not very exciting, just grade school children holding paper mache lanterns following a small band that was playing carols. Some of the paper mache creatures were cool including a large polar bear, emperor penguins, and two birds that were rigged up to flap their wings when the person carrying it pulled on a string.

I understand that there were no floats since the streets are so narrow, but no one was even dressed up in silly things like reindeer antlers. There was also a disappointing lack of carol singing. I am wondering if that is they only Christmas parade they have or if there is a bigger one closer to Christmas.

Once the little parade of children passed us we followed behind them looking for the stage, even though the a capella group would have finished a while earlier. We had to avoid a carousel and a ferris wheel that rotated way to fast in my opinion, all while pushing through the tons of people squeezed together between two rows of tents. Some tents sold food like Spanish paella, roasted meat, brautwursts, and olives in bulk. There were also craft booths with jewelry, ornaments, and scarves.

I really dislike large crowds because I feel like I can't move freely. The fact that it was dark outside made it even more difficult to maneuver, forcing Caitlin, Amy and I to hold hands to avoid losing each other. By the time we forced our way to the stage we were ready to go home, but then a rock version of "What a Wonderful World" started playing as a giant paper mache sun attached to window cleaner machine rose up into the air. When the song was finished, flashing sparks shot out from behind the sun, illuminating much of the street.

This made no sense to any of us. Wasn't this supposed to be a Christmas festival? What does rock music and a giant sun have to do with a winter holiday? It was just really strange all around.

I don't feel like this festival and parade could be classified as Christmas themed, maybe just winter themed. Perhaps it is because people are not as religious here, plus there are many more people of different religions here who probably do not celebrate the Christian holiday. The only really exciting part about the night was seeing the lights strung up over the streets finally turned on. Some of them have been hanging up since before Halloween. I like the ones shaped like chandeliers best, but the one in the shape of a tandem bicycle is also pretty cute.

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Then on Saturday we went to the Winchester Christmas Market. Winchester is known as the "Christmas Capital of England," so we had pretty high expectations of it being a Christmas wonderland decked out in lights and garland.

The weather was absolutely miserable. It had been raining almost constantly for several days with flooding causing delays for the transportation systems. This wasn't just a sprinkling like usual. It was a steady rain that would get you soaked without an umbrella or rain jacket.

On our way from the rail station to the Christmas Market we stopped at the Great Hall of Winchester Castle to see King Arthur's Round table. I was surprised to find that the table was mounted on a wall. The 18 foot in diameter, 2,645 pound circle of oak has actually been hanging from the wall for at least 400 years. Around its outer edge are the names of Arthur's twenty-four knights.

I loved the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table as a child. Though there is of course a lot of debate on whether or not he actually existed, to see what could have been the actual Round Table was amazing. Seeing places and things from stories makes them seem so much more real and vivid.      

Next we made our way through the rain to Winchester Cathedral where the booths for the Christmas Market were set up. Since the market lasts for over a month, the booths are not in tents, but instead in small wooden buildings about the size of a storage shed. They were decorated in green garland and lights. One stand near the entrance sold garlands made from dried citrus fruit and cinnamon sticks. It smelled delicious, like cookies and other goodies. There were candles, soaps, ornaments, clothing, and other items being sold. One section featured just food stalls selling hot chocolate, roasted peanuts and chestnuts, meat sandwiches and bratwurst.

The market was smaller than we were anticipating with only about thirty little booths arranged in a circle around the small ice skating rink. It was difficult to even see the items for sale because of the need to avoid hitting other people or their umbrellas with our own umbrellas. Our look around yielded nothing tempting enough to buy so we decided to wander down the main road until we found the River Itchen which was rushing swiftly, swollen with rainwater until it almost reached the path.

We took a stroll along the river looking for Wolvesey Castle which is really ruins. The walk was nice and we pause often to take pictures. When we found the entrance to the castle grounds the gate was closed, probably due to the rain. We settled for reading the sign outside the entrance telling use a bit about the castle's history. There is a house on the grounds where someone still lives.

We eat lunch at a small cafe, taking the time for our clothes and umbrellas to dry while sitting on a cozy couch which served as the chairs for a small table. Some more wandering yielded nothing more of interested so we headed to the rail station at about 4pm.

We were all ready to make our way back to Oxford and our warm flat but the train we were planning on taking was canceled due to "a shortage of train crew." We asked the man at the ticket window how we could get back to Oxford, the next train we had written down to take would not come for another hour, and we told use quickly to "take the 4:16pm, get off at Basingstoke and Reading."

Now, this was confusing to us so Amy asked him if he could repeat himself, and when he did, Amy repeated it back to him for clarification. He just said rudely, "That's what I just said," but the way he gave the directions was confusing. We just hoped we were correct in think that he meant take the 4:16 train to Basingstoke, get off and board another train to Reading, and then in Reading switch to a train headed for Oxford.

Our journey which would have been simple and straight to Oxford became one with three trains and two changes. Each of the legs of the trip were just long enough for you to finally relax when you would have to get off again. We ended up having to literally run to catch the train from Basingstoke to Reading and then wait half an hour for the train to Oxford to arrive. Then, of course, because this always seems to happen, the bus that would take to our flat arrived at the same time our train did. That was 30 more minutes of waiting in the Oxford train station for us.

I guess it was bound to happen some time since we have been so lucky with our transportation so far on our trips. The annoyance of it was just magnified by the fact that Winchester was a bit of a disappointment in the Christmas department and the three of use were a bit irritable from being wet and cold.        

Cultural History and Scones

On Friday the 9th, we decided to explore more of the attractions Oxford has to offer. The four of us met Beth and rode into downtown Oxford, walking down Cornmarket Street to the Ashmolean. The Ashmolean is a museum filled with ancient artifacts like pottery, weaponry, and coinage, as well as several art and sculpture galleries.

Most of the rooms focused on either British, Roman or Chinese history. I most enjoyed looking at the currency exhibition and the pieces of jewelry scattered throughout the various rooms. They had bills displayed from all over the world, including money printed by the Confederacy during the American Civil War. There were thousands of coins in a range of sizes marked with the ruler of the time. The biggest ones were about 1 1/2 inches in diameter with the smallest about 1/4 inches in diameter. If coins today were that small I think I would be loosing them all of the time. Historians use coins to determine who were the rulers of Ancient Rome as each emperor had their likeness stamped on coins during their reign.

We moved on to the art galleries which were decorated with jewel toned wallpaper to fit the time periods of the paintings in their gilt frames. I perused most of the paintings quickly, pausing to read the plaques describing the artist and painting when one caught my interest. I can appreciate art and fairly intelligently discuss the symbolism and possible meaning the artist was trying to convey, as well as art techniques used, but I am very picky about what art I really enjoy.

At one point we all got a little separated as the rooms all seem interconnected, creating the feeling of a maze where you don't know where each turn and new doorway will take you. I managed to find Caitlin and we sat on a bench waiting for the others. To pass the time we discussed the painting directly in front of the bench. The focus of the painting was a sitting figure with shoulder-length blond hair, robes of pale pink and cobalt, and a light shining around the head. My guess was that the person might be the Virgin Mary since I believe she is often pictured in pink and blue robes with a halo. Seated around the figure were older men with greying hair and thick beards. To the far right were two more people, a man and a woman, with golden halo hovering over their heads.

The halos suggested a biblical scene but I did not know which one. Caitlin and I tried to make up stories about what was going on, and why all of these men were surrounding this feminine figure. Giving up the guessing, I rose from the comfortably padded bench and read the information plaque. We were pretty far off the mark. The central figure, which we thought was a woman due to the longer hair, fair face, and pink robes, was actually Jesus as a child when he first preached to the learned men of his village.

By this time we had managed to find each other. Only one floor was left for us to see and we moved through even more art galleries fairly quickly. The final room was smaller than the previous ones and decorated with emerald green wallpaper. Looking in the first alcove, I found that all of the paintings were appealing to me, and I spent several minutes reading their information cards. It was only when I was moving to another section to the room that I saw it was dedicated to artists of the Pre-Raphaelite art form which happens to be by favorite style.

The Pre-Raphaelite style is highly detailed with an emphasis on Nature. The paintings often depict characters from literature and myth. Scenes deriving from the Arthurian legends, Greek mythology, and the Shakespearean plays were all popular with the artists of the style.

William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Rossetti are often considered the founders of the art movement, though I am most familiar with the works of John William Waterhouse.

The gallery featured several paintings by William Holman Hunt which I found breathtaking with their emphasis on detail and the use of vibrant colors. I particularly liked The Afterglow in Egypt. According to the information plaque, Hunt had a very hard time getting the Egyptian girl in the painting to stand still long enough to sketch her properly.

Afterglow in Egypt
by William Holman Hunt

In the opposite alcove, there was a Waterhouse painting, and I had a bit of an "Oh my goodness, this is an actual painting by John William Waterhouse" moment. The Internet is so useful to learn about art, but it can not compare to actually standing before a famous painting in real life.

Ariadne by John William Waterhouse

The Waterhouse painting in the Ashmolean was Ariadne. It depicts Ariadne, the princess who gave a ball of string to Theseus to guide hime in the Minator's labyrinth. The two fell in love and eloped together but the goddess Athena demanded that Theseus leave Ariadne on a beach. The painting depicts the young woman, two leopards at her feet, reclining as Theseus' ship sails away.

We left the museum after I finished looking at the Pre-Raphaelite room and made our way down High Street to the Vaults and Garden Cafe for afternoon tea. The Vaults and Garden is in a beautiful rectangular room with vaulted ceilings that is attached to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin. The rustic tables and chairs were made from dark wood, and the dim lighting gave the cafe a very cozy feel.

I ordered English Breakfast tea and a scone. The tea came in a small green teapot to keep it warm. There were steel creamers, only two inches high, for holding the milk and sugar cubes. The large, golden brown, freshly made scone was served with clotted cream and raspberry jam. The scone was crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. I cut small pieces from the bread, spreading it with clotted cream then jam. I ate very slowly to appreciate how delicious all of the food tasted. I absolutely love the idea of having tea and a small snack in the afternoon to hold you over until dinner.

Drinks with Friends

I have never been out to drinks before considering that I am not yet at the American legal drinking age of 21. The practice also seems more common in the UK, where in the US I feel it would be more likely to hang out with friends at home than at a bar.

Tonight, our British friend Beth invited the four of us out for drinks. We first went to the White Horse, a family-friendly pub chain that we have gone to several times for dinner because it is within walking distance of our flat. The pub has a bar of pale wood and many tables in varying shapes. When we arrived there were several families with children eating dinner.  

I am still not comfortable enough with drinking alcohol to order something for myself, but Libby, Amy, Caitlin and Beth all got drinks. Caitlin and Libby had the winter version of Rekorderlig cider, a blend of apple, cinnamon, and vanilla flavors. I tried the cider and it tasted close to American apple cider with only a hint of alcohol coming through.

We sat and talked for over an hour about topics ranging from the Presidential Election to our trip to Beth's house in two weeks. Flipping through the drink menu to see the Christmas drink specials caused Beth to ask if we had ever tried the glittery version of J2O, a popular fruit drink originally designed to target people at clubs and pubs who were not drinking. None of us had ever tried any of the J2O flavors, nor drank anything with a shimmer before.

Beth kindly offered to buy one for us to taste. The drink comes in a bottle the same size as a beer bottle. The liquid inside was a cranberry or wine shade of red, and it shimmered. It was so pretty, reminding me of some types of nail polish. It tasted very good as well, like cranberries and grapes (I am not sure what flavor it actually was).

At 8:30 pm we rode the bus to the St. Clements Street stop to visit the Half Moon Pub where it was supposedly karaoke night. The pub was small, arranged in an "L" shape with a stage with a young man playing guitar. The lights were dimmed and all of the tables occupied.

Instead of standing waiting awkwardly for a table, we chose to walk up the street to the Angel and Greyhound Pub. Caitlin, Amy and I went there on Tuesday night for dinner and found it to be a slightly higher tier of pub. By this I mean that it did not smell strange, there was enough light to see comfortably, and a majority of the customers were older than university age. I felt much more comfortable here than in the dim confines of the Half Moon.

Beth got a small bowl of marinated olives and garlic while Libby, Caitlin and Amy got glasses of warm Winter Rekorderlig. All the tables here were full as well (I did not expect it to be so busy on a Thursday night) so we sat at a table on the back porch. The porch was actually really nice with round wooden tables and planters that would hold flowers in the summer. I was comfortable in my jacket and scarf even though the temperature was in the high 40s Fahrenheit. I guess I am just adjusted to the cold now and I do not feel it like I did when I arrived in September.

Glass of warm cider

The warm cider tasted just like apple juice, the alcohol taste even more faint than we drunk cold. I did enjoy the sips I had and I might order some for myself next time we go out for drinks.

At about 11:00 pm we decided to call it a night and head back to our warm flats. There were few people on the bus that late so we got seats in the very front on the top floor. It always feels a little like you are on a roller-coaster from that vantage point. We of course had to take pictures acting silly, pretending to actually be riding on the theme park ride.

Now I am off to bed, but I will leave you with the best quote of the day:

"I look like a horse in headlights" - Amy

My Bonfire is Bigger than Yours

Saturday, November 3

Today was a lazy, lie-in kind of day. I did not get up until 10 am when I decided to make pancakes. They turned out much better than the ones I made last week, probably because I had milk to use this time instead of water.

It was 5:30 pm before I even left our flat. By that time it was completely dark outside and Amy, Caitlin and I were headed to South Park for the Guy Fawkes Day festivities (Libby went to the Isis Farmhouse Tavern with some other people). The air already smelt like burning wood from the bonfires.

Guy Fawkes Day, also called Bonfire Night, is a remembrance of the Gunpowder Plot. In 1604, Guy Fawkes and several other Catholic conspirators plotted to assassinate King James I, allowing Spain to seize control of England and return it to being a Catholic country. On November 5, barrels full of gunpowder were piled under the Parliament building to cause a massive explosion that would kill the king wile performing the opening ceremonies for Parliament.

The plot was discovered and the conspirators arrested. Guy Fawkes was hung for his crimes a year later, but he will always be remembered since he now has a holiday named after him.

The main festivities for the night were held at South Park, a huge grassy area at the base of Headington Hill and about a fifteen minute walk from our flat. It was incredibly lucky that it was not raining, however the ground in the park was pretty much a giant mud pit. The ground squished underfoot and we had to walk very careful or risk falling into all of the mud. I definitely did not want to ruin my new coat...or the embarrassment of landing in the dirt soup.

The park was set up in three sections: one with all of the fair rides, one with a stage with live music, and the other with the food stalls and bonfire. There was a Scrambler, tiny ladybug ride, swings, carousel and a Back to the Future motion theatre. This area of bouncy music and rainbow lights was dominated by children and their parents.

There were probably at least twenty different food stalls but they all sold the same basic things: mulled wine, hot tea, burgers, hot dogs, doughnuts and sausages.  One stall was even called A Taste of America. They sold bratwurst, not really the first thing I would have though of, but OK. Sadly, there was no funnel cake, the best of American fair foods, in my opinion.

We ate dinner before we left so none of us partook in the main course fair foods. Amy did buy a bag of pink strawberry cotton candy, reminding herself when ordering that in the UK it is called candy floss. Cotton candy seems like a much more appropriate name to me. The delicate sweet has a much greater resemblance to fluffy cotton than it does to stringy floss.  

The stage was cool because the back wall was lit with a kaleidoscope of colors that changed with the music. The first man singing was decent, though he could not do his Ed Sheeran cover justice. The next man and then a woman were not anything more than alright. They both sang, at different times, "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz. One of the lines of the song is "I throw my hands up in the air sometimes. Saying AYO! Gotta let go!" and their singing definitely did not make me want to throw my hands in the air. Later, the girl sang "Wonderwall" by Oasis, a power ballad by Amy's estimation which means that it is normally sung very powerfully with emotion. In my opinion, she sang it too slow without the strength of the original version.

We wandered around the festivities until 6:45pm when the fireworks were supposed to go off near the bonfire. Now, this was no ordinary bonfire. It was absolutely massive, a two-story high pile of wood pallets. It seemed almost the size of a small apartment building. For a country that seems so fixated on fire safety (there are two fire extinguishers, a fire blanket, a numerous fire safety signs in our kitchen), they definitely go all out for this holiday where fire is the main attraction.

Thousands of people crowded around the second barrier surrounding the bonfire, but instead of starting the fireworks, some people began to do fire dancing. Neither Amy or I could see over people since we are so short, so Caitlin would tell us what was going on. At one point the dancers spun their fire, which I believe was on a long rope, in a large circle, throwing sparks high into the air. I bet it would have been amazing to see from the very front of the crowd.

Next came some sort of acting troupe. Caitlin said that they were wearing hats with either blue or white lights and dancing around with flags. We think that the flags said "East" and "West." When they started I thought that they might be acting out the Gunpowder Plot and the eventual capture of Guy Fawkes, but I really do not know what they were doing.

Finally, at 7:20pm after standing in one spot for nearly 40 minutes, the fireworks began. It was incredibly strange to be watching fireworks while bundled up in a long coat, gloves, scarf, two pairs of socks. In the United States, you normally watch fireworks on July 4th when it is very warm outside.

The fireworks were shot off much lower than I have ever seen. I was worried that a tree would catch fire, but I guess it would not bother the British as much since everything is wet most of the time. I also found it to be more repetitious than firework displays I have seen in America. Several of the same type of firework would be shot off in a row, causing them to loose a bit of the awe. One of my favorites looked like giant sparklers, but after the sixth one in a row I was ready to see something new.

The explosive display lasted about fifteen minutes and then it was ready for the moment everyone was waiting for, the lighting of the bonfire. A man shoved a lit torch in among the pallets on the left side of the structure and the flames licked upward immediately. The entire left side was alight in less than a minute, and I am guessing that a lot of gasoline had been used to make it burn so quickly.

The sight was breathtaking and hypnotic. I found myself entranced with the orange flames for long stretches of time, just watching the colors change from oranges to yellows with streaks of black smoke. The flames almost looked like a painting. The barrier was set up several hundred feet from the bonfire but we could still feel its heat on our faces. The warmth felt heavenly on my numb nose and ears. We stayed until all of the tall stacks of pallets had toppled into a formless, burning mass. Leaving the warmth of the fire was difficult and made the walk back to the flat far from enjoyable.

Halloween Across the Pond

Halloween is  the first major holiday we have been in the UK to celebrate. I loved Halloween as a child for the opportunity to dress up and wear grown-up makeup. Now, I do not care for it as much because I always wait until the last minute to try to think of a costume. I am sure I would feel more festive if I actually took the time to make a very good costume.

Halloween is not a very big holiday here. A few stores, mostly charity shops, decorated their store windows with cobwebs and pumpkins. There was some Halloween candy at the grocery store, but not much. It had to compete for shelf space with the Christmas candy which is already out. I have no idea if children go out trick-or-treating. I did see a few running around in costumes though.

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On the morning of October 31, I honestly forgot that it was Halloween. I normally wear an orange shirt to be festive I but that did not happen (though Amy did remember to wear orange). It was not until I went to meet Amy at the bus stop to go into the City Centre that I remembered that it was a holiday.

Amy and I were going to the City Centre with one goal: check out the pilot episode to Lewis, a detective show filmed and set in Oxford. For some reason, all of the television episodes are available on Netflix, except for the first one. Amy looked for it online for forever, willing to even pay a few dollars to buy it but all the websites she found required a UK credit card. As a last ditch effort, she checked the Oxford Central Library, knowing that I had recently received by library card and found that it was in stock, hence, our trip into town.

The Oxford Central Library is in downtown Oxford, sandwiched between a bank and a shopping center. There is nothing on the ground floor but a desk for inquiries, all of the library materials are up the stairs.

On a side note, there were signs on the stairs that said "Keep Left." We have been wondering forever what side of the street and stairs you should climbs to stay out of the way of other people. In the United States you are supposed to try to stay to the right, probably in imitation of the side of the road that we drive on. We assumed it was the left in the UK, but no one ever seems to follow that rule, making walking on crowded sidewalks into an incredibly difficult game of, "Dodge the oncoming person."

Back to the library where we have reached the second level and passed by the bestseller book sections, looking for the DVDs. I really liked how the books were arranged by genre like mystery, travel, fiction, etc. like a book store. My library at home sorts mainly by hardback or paperback. It is so much easier to find something to read by choosing a topic or genre instead of having to sift through racks of books.

The DVDs ended up being located just a little ways inside the doors of the first floor on the right-hand side. We noticed that all of the DVDs had different colored dots on them in relation to how much you have to pay to rent them. Lewis had a yellow dot so it was cheapest at GBP 1.25. I just seems strange to me to have to pay to check out anything at a library. The books all had yellow dots to, but Amy and I do not think that they could charge to check out books. That would kind of defeat the purpose of a library, to lend out books and encourage reading.

I gave Amy my library card to use and she checked out with no problems. I was not sure if I would have to show ID or something to prove that the library card was actually mine. Even with the packet of leaflets that came with my library card, I am still not sure about how all of the library works.

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Before I knew it, 5:30 pm had come and it was time to go to class. Walking outside, it was completely dark with the orangey glow of streetlight illuminating our way. Sunday was Daylight Savings (one week earlier than in the USA) so now it get dark super early.

This session on British Heritage and Culture focused on religion. We basically just talked about all of the churches and cathedrals everyone in our group has visited so far, and then were told about the history of Guy Fawkes Day, again.

Amy, Caitlin, Libby and I got to leave class ten minutes early to catch the bus into the City Centre for our haunted ghost tour. We thought it would be a good way to celebrate Halloween, plus it was free. 

Our bus was running late so we walked very briskly from the bus stop, down Cornmarket Street (one of the main shopping roads) to the Martyrs' Memorial. We had never ventured that far down Cornmarket Street before so we got to see the exteriors of some new buildings, including the Ashmolean Museum. 

All of that speed walking turned out to be unnecessary as a lot of other people were late. We ended up waiting an extra ten minutes until the tour group swelled to about fifteen people. While we were waiting we spoke to two girls, one from Japan and one from Bulgaria. The Bulgarian girl told us about how much she wants to visit New York City, the place all Europeans I have met seem to want to go.

The first story on the tour was about the three martyrs honored on the Martyrs' Memorial. Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were followers of the Protestant Church of England who were burnt at the stake by order of the Catholic queen, Bloody Mary. Latimer and Ridley were killed together with Cranmer following a year later. 

Martyrs' Memorial

The tour guide named Rob moved us throughout the oldest parts of Oxford, telling stories along the way. There were the students studying religion who died in collapsed tunnels where they hid when teachers came into the pubs where they had been drinking, and could be heard scratching the ground trying to unbury themselves. One man was sentenced to have his ear nailed to a post so he cursed the courtroom and nearly of its occupants died within a week of typhus, or jailhouse fever.

My favorite story occurred at Brasenose College of Oxford University. In the 1800s, a man known as a drunk was walking down a dark street next to the college when he saw a black robed figure trying to pull something out of a window. Now, this window was small, only about a foot wide by three feet tall, and it had metal bars over it. The man, who taught in the college, was frightened and ran passed, entering Brasenose. 

Inside, he learned that a student in his 20s has just collapsed on the stairs and died. This student was rumored to be president of the Hellfire Club, a club that got together to drink and cause mischief. However, legend has it that the members of the club worshiped the Devil and offered him their souls. 

The student was determined to have died from natural causes but it is said that on his face there were straight red marks, two vertical and one horizontal, matching the pattern of the window's bars. It is said that the drunken man had seen Satan in the dark street, trying to take the soul that the student had offered him.   

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We were invited to a Halloween party thrown by some of the people from our American university. Partying is definitely not my sense but I thought I would make a short appearance and then leave. Libby dressed as a zebra with her knitted zebra hat and stripped shirt while Caitlin, Amy and I just wore our normal clothes. Caitlin just said she was a Muggle and, if needed, I could pretend I was a cowgirl since I was wearing boots and a flannel shirt.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time, considering the small space we were in. I was really impressed with people's costumes. There were several Captain Knickers (a version of Captain Underpants they thought the British would understand better), Oompa Loompas from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Harley Quinn. One British guy named Simon, dressed in an orange tiger onesie was friendly.

I was uncomfortable after about ten minutes so Caitlin and I slipped out of the door and across the small courtyard to our own flat. That was the extent of my celebrations on Halloween. Not very exciting, but perfectly acceptable for me, especially since I had to be up at 7am the next morning to get to class. 

Thrifting in Headington

Caitlin and I spent a few hours earlier today looking through all of the thrift stores, known as charity shops in the UK, in the Headington neighborhood of Oxford. Charity shops here are different from the thrift stores I have visited in the United States. Each charity shop, which is only about the size of a small boutique, benefits a different charity. Some of the things the shops are dedicated to are cancer research, hospices, elderly people, children's diseases and the elimination of poverty. There are chain charity shops like Oxfam and Age UK, but they are smaller than the Goodwills in America.

All of the shops carry the same basic things like clothing, some housewares and knick-knacks, shoes, books and greeting cards. A few of them sell candy, CDs and DVDs.

Caitlin and I were looking for possible Halloween outfits since the holiday is later this week and we do not have costumes yet. I am not even sure if I want to dress up this year since it has gotten so cold and I do not know how many people really celebrate Halloween here. We have signed up to go on a ghost tour through Oxford on Halloween evening, so hopefully that will be fun.

The only fully formed costume idea I have is to try and dress like a female version of the 11th Doctor from the television show, Doctor Who. It would be relatively simple since all I would really need would be a black skirt, white blouse, tweed jacket, suspenders, a bow tie, and possibly a red hat. My flatmates and fellow Whovians also have thought about being Doctor Who characters. Amy might dress as Amelia Pond, the 11th Doctor's traveling companion, and Caitlin is considering being a Weeping Angel, one of the villains of the series.

Neither of us found anything to purchase in all of the shops when looked at. We might go look at Primark on Monday since our Headington trip was so unfruitful.

I did not mind walking back to the dorm from Headington when we just missed the bus. The weather seems to have rushed passed Autumn and into Winter this week, but it is beautiful out today. The sun is blue after days of clouds and it makes the 45 degree Fahrenheit temperature more bearable. My hands were cold and I could feel my nose and ears turning numbing and turning pink, from the brisk wind. The walk gave me a chance to appreciate the sunny skies and the leaves that are finally being to turn colors, though not nearly as vibrant as the colors at home in the Appalachian Mountains.

As time creeps further into Autumn I keep finding things that I feel like I missing out on, not being at home. Just little things like watching the leaves change color, carving pumpkins, and smelling wood smoke as people start using their fireplaces. I think the beauty of Western North Carolina in the Autumn beats Oxford. I'll have to wait and see, but the score might even out closer to Christmas when Oxford is bathed in fairy lights and evergreen wreaths for the winter holiday.

Natural History and Brownies

Today I woke up and things were quite different from usual, not bad, just different. I got up at 9 am, took a shower, ate breakfast and just puttered around. At 11 am I went to see if my flatmates were awake. Caitlin opened her door and said that she was just getting up. It was only then that I remembered that Amy had gone to London yesterday to meet up with her parents and Libby had left early this morning to go to Scotland with her parents. So, it is just Caitlin and me in the flat this weekend. It is strange because the four of us have been almost constant companions for the past (almost) two months.

Earlier in the week Caitlin and I had already planned to do some exploring in Oxford over the weekend since it would just be the two of us. Our choices were the Botanic Gardens and/or the Pitt Rivers Museum. We did not decide where we were going until this morning when we checked the weather and it was only supposed to be a high of 48 degrees Fahrenheit. That is almost a 10 degree drop from yesterday and it is supposed to continue to be that cold for at least the next week. The weather here is finally turning frigid, and I am very glad I bought a coat at Primark on Wednesday (it is wine colored with scalloped detail and I absolutley love it).

The Pitt Rivers Museum is in a part of Oxford north of High Street where we had not yet explored. We walked along a two lane road that had a lot of cars, since I guess that area is not considered the City Centre (only buses, bikes and taxis are allowed in the City Centre during the day). The sidewalk was incredibly crowded, mostly with university students who were probably head to or from class as most of the buildings lining the road appeared to be more colleges of Oxford University.

After a bit of confusion about the signs to Pitt Rivers (one sign pointed left but I was positive it was supposed to be on the right. The first sign ended up being for parking for the museum), we made it to the museum. You walk in through a heavy wooden door and the first things you see are giant dinosaur skeletons. I was surrounded by bones and fossils and rocks. If I could have visited this museum at around age 7-11 I would have been in absolute heaven. During that time I changed back and forth from wanted to be an Egyptologist, archeologist, paleontologist and geologist. I collected fossils and rocks and they were my prized possessions.

Even at my current age I was positively giddy. A lot of the displays were designed to be touched. There were stuffed animals like a fox, pheasant, badger, and cheetah that visitors can pet. One adorable little girl with blond curls ran up to the stuffed Shetland pony saying in her British accent, "Look, Mummy, a Shetland pony. It's a Shetland pony." Little children with British accents just make me "Awww" in my head because they are so cute.

Caitlin and I slowly made our way around the room looking at all of the displays about rocks, dinosaurs, modern animals, and insects. I also took some time to appreciate the architecture. The glass ceiling stretched overhead, two stories up. It is all held up by carved granite columns and a diamond shaped weaving of metal supports.

The Pitt Rivers Museum is actually where Lewis Carroll, who lived in Oxford and lectured at Christ Church, got a lot of ideas for Alice in Wonderland. The museum has an entire display case with all of the animals featured in the stories, birds, lizards, and even a white rabbit. The Dodo bird has its own case with a skeleton of a Dodo and a model of what it would have looked like. I learned that Dodo birds are not naturally the large, round and clumsy animals that they are normally thought of as. In reality, the Dodos that were kept in captivity were given the wrong food so they grew obese.

In a separate room there is the collection of cultural artifacts. The room is three stories tall and filled to the brim with all manner of things from cultures around the world. There is pottery, clothing, model ships, musical instruments, models of traditional homes, woven baskets, oil lamps and much more. Caitlin and I played a little game of trying to guess what country, or at least what continent, the various pieces came from. There is so much to see that it would take days, if not weeks, to see it all.

It was amazing to see how similar items were that were from cultures on the other side of the world from each other. Many cultures use horns to communicate and create music. Many ended up with the same style of oil lamp, probably because the shape was the most efficient. It was like this one room showed how interconnected all people of the world are. All human beings are the same regardless of skin color or ethnicity.  In that room I felt, not like an American or a caucasian female, but simply a member off the human race, connect to everyone else in some way, past and present.

Before even finishing the ground floor, Caitlin and I both started to get hungry so we decided to visit the museum again another day (entry is free). We ended up at the Covered Market on High Street and chose to eat baguettes at Morton. The goat cheese on Caitlin's baguette reminded me of our four hour long study abroad orientation in May. That orientation was so long ago now, and the most memorable part was the snacks. Those snacks included goat cheese, crackers, fruit and brownies. One thought led to another, and suddenly I was craving brownies.

I knew that we had all of the ingredients to make brownies except for cocoa powder so I thought this would be a good opportunity for Caitlin to show me the Tesco she had found a ways down Cornmarket Street when she explored Oxford by herself the other day. The Cornmarket Tesco is not as spread out as the one on Cowley Road, instead it has two floors. We had to look in several places before we found the cocoa powder in the section with the coffee, tea and hot cocoa. With our last ingredient in hand, we headed back to the dorm.

The walk back was uneventful. The narrow trail from Pullen's Lane to our dorm, passes by the nursery, an area of land where people can plant gardens and vegetables. Today, someone was burning wood or leaves in a bonfire and the air held its earthy, burning smell. I knew that if I stopped and closed my eyes I would be able to perfectly picture myself standing outside my home in North Carolina, surrounded by tree draped in fiery hues. The brisk wind of Autumn and the smell of wood fires are two things that go perfectly together in my memories.

Back at the dorm we started baking our brownies. It was not difficult at all, just mixing a few ingredients together then pouring it into a pan. I waited the required time, 25-30 minutes, but the bottom was still gooey while the top seemed cooked. This seems to happen every time I have tried to bake here. The oven, which is super tiny, doesn't seem to cook the bottoms of things properly. We ended up cooking the brownies for an extra 15 minutes and I think they ended up a bit over cooked. However, they were still delicious and satisfied my brownie craving. We probably will get used to how the oven just in time for us to leave, but that is just the way things go sometimes.

Quest for the Golden Post Box

Our journey began with a challenge; a challenge uttered by our liaison at Oxford-Brookes, Peter Forsaith. While in London we passed a post box painted gold and he said, "There is one of these in Oxford. If you can find it I will get you a Mars bar."

Challenge accepted.

I am sure you are wondering, what exactly is a gold post box and why would we want to find one? Since the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics were held in London, the British government decided that every time a British athlete won a gold medal, they would paint one of the Royal Post Boxes in their hometown gold (they are normally red). The one in Oxford is in honor of paralympian Lily van den Broecke who was on the winning coed rowing team.

Now, I will admit that we did not just wander around Oxford looking for the box. That would have taken forever and we never would have found it since it is located in a neighborhood and not in the city center. Amy found its location online. There is actually a website devoted to documenting the locations of the gold post boxes. The site can be found here.

We decided to look for it on Thursday, September 20. After a slow, relaxing morning we departed for the U1 bus and rode it to the Glebe Street stop. Three very cute German boys got off as well and we walked down Morrell Avenue behind them. I knew that we needed to turn right at some point and go over several blocks so we chose randomly what street to go down. Well, it wasn't completely random because we chose not to turn right when the German boys did. We did not want to seem like we were creepily following them.

Turning right, we strolled passed more homes and a daycare center. It was interesting to see how different each of the houses looked, even though they are the same architecturally. Some have beautifully cultivated flowers in the front yard and others are just growing weeds. One even had several junky cars crammed in the minuscule front yard. It reminded me of a house on my street at home that constantly has broken down cars scattered out front.

We kept walking and ended up on Cowley Road which meant we had turned off of Morrell Avenue too early. However, this wrong turn was fortuitous because we discovered the Tesco. Tesco is a cheap, chain grocery store in the United Kingdom. The branch on Cowley Road is the largest in Oxford.

Divinity Street

Retracing our steps back to Morrell Avenue, we continued onward deeper into a residential district looking for Divinity Road. One house we passed was surrounded by a stone wall but and apple tree, branches laden with small fruits, peeked over the top. It may seem strange, but seeing that apple tree made me incredibly happy. I think it is because that tree reminded me of home. At my house we have two apple trees, two pear trees, and a cherry tree. It was my job to harvest the vegetable from the garden and pick the fruit trees. None of the apples at home ever got very big but my mom has made delicious apple butter from them. I was definitely not expecting it to be a tree that would trigger my first bout of homesickness since arriving in England.

We finally found the street that the post box was on, and of course we had to walk straight up hill to get to it. The street it is one actually brought to mind neighborhoods in San Francisco because of the similarly styled houses situated close together on a steep hill.

Success, our quest was completed as the gold box came into view. Now, had to go into super tourist mode to take pictures with it. We did not trek all that way just to go home without photographic evidence of our success. I personally felt really awkward taking pictures. People kept driving by and staring at us. I am sure we looked funny posing with and inanimate object that only has one purpose, holding letters and other written correspondence. One man even drove up and asked us to deposit his mail for him. Unfortunately, we did not think to take a picture of ourselves inserting the mail in order to have a more realistic photograph.

 All this picture taking took less than five minutes. Yes, of course we are the kind of people to ride a bus and then walk for over twenty minutes one way simply to take touristy photographs.

On our way back we decided to go back to Tesco and do some grocery shopping. Everything I got was pretty random since we are still trying to stock the kitchen with basics. I did finally find some baking soda and baking powder. That was a quest all of its own. I had been looking for those things every time we went shopping but I never could find them, even when I systematically looked at every item in the Home Baking section of the Co-operative Grocery Store. Things were hard to find in Tesco as well. The layout was inefficient and confusing in my opinion. In the one store there were three different baking sections, each holding their own different products. I have no idea how people can find things using just the aisle headings for guides.

Since we felt we had not met our daily walking allowance for the day (that is sarcasm if you couldn't tell, since for days before we had done nothing but walk) and it was a ling time until the next bus, we chose to walk back to Clive Booth Student Village via Marston Road. This route would allows us to avoid walking all of the way up Headington Hill, only to have to walk down another incline to get to the flat. I thought that the flats were not that far down the road, but it turns out it was more like a fifteen minute walk. However, it might also have seemed longer because there was nothing interesting to look at, just the new Centre for Islamic Studies which is a construction site. Other than that it was mostly just trees and bushes on either side of the road.

Our adventure for the day came to a close with our arrival back at our flat. The rest of the night was spent relaxing and resting out tired feet.