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.

-------- 0 --------

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.        

Turkey, Gravy, Pumpkin Pie

When we went to our four hour long study abroad orientation meeting way back in April, we were warned that about three weeks in the novelty would wear off and we would begin to feel homesick. Well, that never really happened to me. Some of the sights of Oxford lose a bit of their astonishment factor after you see them every day, but I haven't had any problems with homesickness, at least until today.

As you probably already know, at least if you are an American, today is Thanksgiving, a day dedicated to food and family. At this very moment, if I was in the United States I would be having an untraditional Thanksgiving dinner of fried fish at our neighbors house at the beach. I would be surrounded by my parents, two younger sisters, and an assortment of friends (though they are almost all my parents' age) I made over the summer. It would be sunny outside instead of dark, rainy, and super windy. I admit that I am feeling a little left out, but studying abroad does require some sacrifices.

It wasn't until today that I actually felt homesick. It is definitely hard being half a world away from your family on a day dedicated to being together. Then, to make matters worse, Thursdays are my really long class days where I have to be on a bus at 8am and I don't get back until 4:45pm. On a side note, it was night-time dark by 3:45pm today. There is just not enough hours of sunlight here.

-------- 0 --------

We did get to have Thanksgiving dinner with all of the 24 people from my American university along with a few of their parents. It was very delicious, in my opinion. There was turkey, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, vegetables (brussels sprouts, green beans and broccoli), cranberry sauce, stuffing, and gravy. The sweet potatoes were really good, especially when mixed with a bit of the cranberry sauce. I was also really fancy and drank apple juice out of a wine glass. Everything just seems to taste better out of a nice cup.

I was surprised when I had to explain to two people at my table what a brussels sprout is. We eat so many different fruits and vegetables in my family that I forget that what is common knowledge to me is completely foreign to others.

We had a really good time just eating a bunch, hanging out and talking. Our group of 24 were hardly separated the first few weeks we arrived in the UK, but now we rarely see each other. A lot of catching up was done about classes and trips everyone has taken recently.

Next, came dessert with a choice of apple pie or pumpkin pie. Caitlin got apple and I got pumpkin so we could share and have both kinds. I think the pumpkin pie was made with real pumpkin, but it tasted a bit more like pecan pie than pumpkin pie to me, though there was no nuts in it. It might just have had different spices than I am used to. The apple pie was good, with tart apples to balance out the sweetness of the crust. The crust to filling ratio was off, with much more crust than filling, but it was still good. Vanilla ice cream probably would have made it perfect to balance out the dryness of the crust.

Even though the food was traditional for a Thanksgiving meal, it just felt more like a catered dinner with friends than actual Thanksgiving. I guess the only way the holiday can really feel right is to be with your family (who I am hoping will Skype me within the next little bit). 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day, also known as Poppy Day or Armistice Day, is observed on November 11 in the United Kingdom and several former British colonies. It is a holiday in honor of the cessation of fighting in World War I at "the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month" in 1918. Today, it is a day to honor all members of the armed forces who have ever died serving their country. The United States similarly observes Veterans Day on November 11 which honors all veterans of the American armed forces.

The red poppy flower is the symbol of the blood spilt during the violence of WWI. These flowers bloomed on the battlefields of Flanders, Belgium where some of the highest casualties of the war were sustained.

Since the end of October, poppies made of paper and plastic have been available in stores around Oxford and the rest of the UK. You make a donation which will go to the UK armed forces and then take a poppy. Many people pin the poppies to their coats as November 11 approaches.

I got my poppy while we were in Cardiff at the Doctor Who Experience. For some reason mine is all curled up while everyone else's seem to lie flat. I'll just blame it's less than perfect appearance on the rain.

Caitlin, Amy, Libby and I happened to be on a train at 11:11 a.m. on November 11. I was expecting someone to come on to the train's intercom and announce a moment of silence. I sat with only one headphone in so I would listen for the announcement. I kept checking the time, but 11:11 a.m. came and went. There was no collective moment of silence on the train at all.

This was really unexpected to me as we had been led to believe that Remembrance Day is an extremely important holiday that is observed by most English people. I had expected almost everyone I saw today to have a poppy but there was probably only one out of every thirteen people actually wearing one. It almost seemed like us, the Americans, were trying harder to respectfully observe the holiday than the British citizens were. However, they probably do more for Remembrance Day than we do for Veterans Day in the United States.

While in Bournville visiting Cadbury World, we did see a memorial to soldiers of WWII outside of the Bournville Baths. Six wreaths of plastic poppies were displayed in honor of those who died serving their country.  

WWII Memorial in Bournville

More information about Remembrance Day can be found here.

Presidential Election Day 2012

From the time we are young, American citizens are taught about the Constitution and their rights. One of those is the right to vote for the leaders of our country. This year, 2012, is the first time that I am eligible to vote for the President of the United States. I was only 16 years old at the last election but I did help to run a Kid's Voting booth at my local polling station.

It is strange being in another country when such an important political event is occurring, especially since the race between candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney is to be very close. The various polls seem to be having an equal number of results with each candidate winning. I feel a little left out being here in the United Kingdom, like I am not there to fully experience the event that only happens every four years.

The whole process of voting from overseas was a pain, and I probably should have tried to request one before I left the United States in September. First I had to find the Absentee Ballot Request Form on the Internet. I printed and filled it out to mail when my mother told me that since I was a close relative, she could go to the county election office and request a ballot for me. This was great news to me because I could get my ballot sooner without having to pay for international postage.

I waited several days (by this time it was mid-October) and the lady from the election office emailed me...the same form that I already had. So, my mom's help did not save me any time. Instead it put me even closer to the deadline of Election Day without a ballot.

There was an option to send the request form via email, but the documents would first have be printed, filled out and signed, and then scanned back into the computer. I had no idea if I would be able to accomplish this, but it turns out the university's library as a scanner for students to use. The reason this was such a pain is that we have to pay for printing (it is free at my school in America) and the library is a fifteen minute walk from my dorm in cold, possibly rainy weather.

The scanner room in the library had full instructions for using the scanner so that part of the processes went smoothly. All I had to do was wait for my ballot to arrive in my email inbox. I admit that I was expecting it too take at least a week, but most likely longer to receive the ballot, but to my surprise, it came in only three days.

The following Thursday I took advantage of the hour between by classes to print it out at the library on the business school campus. It was strange to hold that piece of paper in my hands and know that I was about to do one of my rights and duties as an American citizen, except I was doing it an ocean away. I found a table to sit and fill it out, purposefully leaving all parts uncovered. I just had a silly desire for people to see that I was voting, and then maybe ask me about it so I could tell someone about my excitement. No one did of course, but it was fun to imagine what I would say if asked.

I was super busy after this doing homework and traveling so it was several days before I found the time or inclination to walk fifteen minutes to the library. Twenty minutes of scanning and email attachment issues later, I submitted my ballot. Hitting the "send" button in the basement room of a library just is not exciting as submitting your ballot in the polling station on election day.

After writing all of this post out, voting by absentee ballot really was not that difficult for me and I was just lazy about having to walk to the library. I think I am really just complaining because I feel cheated out of my "I Voted" sticker.

UPDATE, Nov. 7: Tonight I met my teacher Dr. Schweitzer's father who is visiting from the United States. I noticed that he was wearing an "I Voted" sticker and I remarked that I had just written a blog post about the election and not getting a sticker. Then he just took off his sticker and gave it to me. It was super sweet of him and I am very thankful for this gesture. So, due to the kindness of another, I did end up with a sticker after all.

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.

Expectations: Cardiff, Guy Fawkes Day and Chislehurst Caves

Cardiff, Wales

On Friday November 2, Caitlin, Libby, Amy and I are taking a day trip to Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. I know practically nothing about Cardiff or Wales. The little bit I do know comes from watching television shows like Doctor Who and Torchwood, and from talking to our British friend, Beth.

The Doctor Who Experience is the reason that we are going to Cardiff. I am really excited about it, probably more than I was about going to see the Harry Potter Studio. I am expecting the tour to be like the Harry Potter one, just on a smaller scale, and about Doctor Who, of course. It will probably be focused more on the most recent television episodes and the 11th Doctor, though there should be props and displays about all of the Doctors throughout the years.

Beth went to Cardiff for the first time last weekend to see the premier of Skyfall, the new James Bond movie. She described the city as a mixture of old classic buildings and ultra-modern ones. It will probably be really busy since it is the capital city and we are going on a Friday. I hope that the streets will be in better condition than those in Dublin, and the people more careful when crossing the roads.

It looks like the weather is going to be pretty bad. The high is in the low 40s Fahrenheit with a 70% chance of rain stretching throughout the day. The dampness from rain always makes it seem colder and I am not looking forward to having to walk around outside most of the day.

Guy Fawkes Day

Guy Fawkes Day, also known as Bonfire Night, is a UK holiday celebrated on November 5 every year. The holiday is in celebration of the capture of the Catholic terrorist, Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up Parliament in the 1600s.

There are parties and fireworks like Independence Day in the United States. The biggest part of the night are the large bonfires. Into the fire, people throw effigies that they have made themselves. These effigies are usually made by taking old clothing and stuffing them with newspaper, similar to a scarecrow. Beth has told us that sometimes you make the faux-person with a theme in mind. Last year her friends dressed their effigy as a gangster.

I am expecting it to be pretty similar to the 4th of July mixed with the county fair, except that it will be freezing outside. We are planning on going to see the fireworks in a nearby park where they have been setting up fair rides for the past week. There will probably be a lot of children out with their parents, along with the inevitable person who has had a little too much to drink. The big events will probably be over relatively early since they start before 7pm. Since the time change, the sun has been setting around 5pm so at 7 pm it will be plenty dark enough to start the fireworks.

Chislehurst Caves

Tomorrow, Sunday November 3, Caitlin, Amy and I are going to Chislehurst Caves. They are located in Kent, outside of London. All I know about them is that they are caves and I am not going to read anything on the website so that there is a little element of surprise about it.

I am expecting the tour to be about 45 minutes to an hour long. The caves will be dark and spooky but relatively safe since it is a tourist destination. I am hoping that the tour guide will tells us stories about people who lived or hid in the caves and its historical significance instead of a lecture on how the caves were formed. I've always found history to be more interesting than science. 

We are going by train via London so the trip should be relatively relaxing because we are now familiar with using the railway system. Some of the day will probably be spent in London, perhaps at Piccadilly Circus. 

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.

-------- 0 --------

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.

-------- 0 --------

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.   

-------- 0 --------  

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.