Last Day

Today was my last day in Oxford. And it was a good one.

Slept in a bit, and then got dressed and was ready to head out. It was the most perfect weather. Before leaving, I decided to bug Chrissy and ask her to go with me. She then proceeded to tell me about her fun drunken night last night while she got ready.

Once she was ready, we headed to the Ashmolean museum to see a few things. It is the oldest public museum in Britain (and maybe more?). Chrissy had seen almost every room already, but I hadn't been in yet. I wanted to see two things: the Alfred Jewel and Guy Fawke's lantern. Both were seen and both were as epic as I imagined.

Next we went to get something to eat. We went to this tiiiiiiny cafe on Broad Street that Chrissy had noticed was always PACKED. There is a reason: it was epically delicious. I got a turkey, ham, and cheese toasted sandwich. YUMMY.

Then I bought shirts for my godparents and tried to return another gift (because I had found a better one). Unfortunately, they wouldn't let me. It is alright though; it did not damper my day at all. After souvenir shopping, Chrissy needed to buy a turtleneck and I wanted a scarf and snacks for the trip. All things were acquired successfully.

After separating from Chrissy, I went to the 2 pound bookstore on my way home and got the PERFECT book for Case. Once I left the bookstore, there was a double-decker bus available to take me home from the bus stop. So, my last Oxford bus ride was on the top of the double-decker. Perfect. Also, as we began heading down the street, it began to rain, and hasn't stopped raining, making it even more perfect.

The night is one of those beautiful ones I love. It is perfect and serene.

See you soon Oxford....

Home awaits.

A story

While waiting for my update about Canterbury, enjoy this story:

I am at the Indian Guy Store (our local convenience store down the block) getting some Pringles and Coke (study essentials) when the guy who runs the store starts talking to me. Since one of our housemates goes to the store at least once a day, he has begun to recognize us.

Cashier: So, where are you from?

Me: Well, obviously from the States. Haha. I'm from Kansas City, Missouri. It is right in the middle of the country.

The cashier looks at me blankly, almost slightly confused and shocked

Cashier: Is...is that what it is called?

Me: Yup! There is a Kansas City, Missouri and I Kansas City, Kansas. They are right next to each other.

Cashier: So, like, the Tin Man, and all of them...?

Me: Yeah! They were in Kansas. I mean, they never say what part of Kansas, but Dorthy was from Kansas.

The cashier looks completely and utterly amazing/confused/dumbfounded

Cashier: I didn't know it actually existed....



Who knew Kansas was so exotic?

Happy Thanksgiving?

Is it still Thanksgiving if no one in the country is celebrating it? That's a question for all you philosophers.

Although I have no celebratory plans for this day (though I may do something on Saturday), it still has me thinking about what I am thankful for. In fact, being away from home today makes me MORE thankful for who I have in my life. Normally, family occasions can drive me a little batty. Cooking all the food is so much work, and then when people run late, other people get grumpy. Everyone in my family has their own idea of a schedule and what food should be cooked and who is responsible for what, etc. Therefore, stress always ensues.

However, now that I am not there, I even miss the stress. Instead of worrying about that stuff, I have to worry about a stupid paper and my stupid sprained ankle (a story for later). Plus, I don't even get the down time with family afterward. I get to sit here, by myself, and read about the dumb Middle Ages or play dumb computer games.

I know I can't complain too much. I'm in Oxford. It's wonderful. It's beautiful. It's amazing.

But, it would be a lot more amazing if I were surrounded by the people I love. I just got a phone call to go out to dinner with few students, but it won't be the same. It won't be THANKSGIVING dinner, and it won't be with my family. Even the Thanksgiving-esque dinner we might have on Saturday won't be the same. The food will make me happy (as it always does), but the company won't be perfect.

Last year I spent Thanksgiving at my aunt's house with all my crazy cousins, Josh and my mother. It's always an adventure over there, and last year was no exception. Back then I hadn't realized that this year my mom would be going over there alone, Josh would be with his family in Ava, and I would be here by myself. It's....odd.

Therefore, I am thankful for them the most. The two people that love me the most, and that I love the most. I know they both miss me and wish I was with them, and that helps. My mom called me and we talked for about an hour, because we missed each other. I don't know what I would do without her in my life. Josh and I had a great conversation last night, and it made me realize how long I have been gone. I'm thankful he is sticking by my side. Very thankful.

In ten days, though, I'll be home. Ten long and wonderful days. But, as soon as I get home my life will be crazy for about three weeks, and then I will turn around and come right back here.
I'm thankful for this experience, however. No matter how much drama occurs, or how much I miss home, I'm still thankful I got this chance. I know I will remember it forever, and I know it has/will effect me forever. But some days I still wish I could go home at the end of the day.

A list of other things/people I am thankful for:

-Charli Anderson: my best friend forever, I have no doubt about that
-Karen Anderson: You are my partner in crime here in Oxford, and I don't know what I would do without you
-Oxford: God you are beautiful
-My grandpa: Stay stubborn and living, old man
-My godparents
-Being healthy (well, mostly lol)
-Being alive

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Sorry if this post was ridiculous.

Quickly, Quickly

Well, it has been almost two weeks since I last posted. I am sorry for all the delays, but since a lot of other bloggers have been behind, I don't feel as bad.

When I last left you, I was about to go to a Guy Fawkes Day celebration at South Parks, Oxford. They had a whole carnival set up, and it was quite lovely, and reminded me a lot of home. Joe and I did not ride any carnival rides (and neither should you), because carnival rides are scary and unsafe. We, instead, began following another part of the crowd towards a big...thing. It was a statue of a cross between a man and a tree, and looked to be made of cardboard. It took us about 15 minutes to realize this thing was probably Guy Fawkes, and that they were going to light it on fire.

And it indeed was lit on fire. After an impressive fireworks display (which was 30 minutes late), Guy Fawkes was burnt. The statue and a pile of cardboard behind it lit up in a giant mass of fire. It was rather epic.

Last weekend (it's almost the weekend again already, isn't it? Dear Lord), some of the Jewell kids studying at Cambridge came to Oxford to visit. Stephanie stayed at my house, and it was a lovely time. We booth had papers to write, so we did work in separate rooms. Even with us being in different rooms a lot of the time, her visit was quite refreshing. It was nice to see a fresh and loving face. It's what I have been missing most. It was fun to see everyone else too. I hadn't realized how long it had been since I had seen everyone.

Tutorials have been going alright. The papers have been kicking my butt, but my tutors seem to still like them, so I can't complain too heavily. My Medieval History tutorial is much more difficult than my music tutorial. I write the papers fine, but when Patrick begins asking me questions, I don't have the answers. I don't always look at the big picture, and sometimes I just missed researching a certain thing in-depth. I have been trying to step it up, but he always manages to find something I don't know...and ask me about it.

There isn't anything else major happening. Went to Stratford again to see another Shakespeare play. It was good, but I was very ill, so I zoned out a lot. Also went to Hertford College Formal Hall, but I will discuss this more in a separate post later.

On Saturday, Karen, her sister, and I are going to Canterbury!!! So, I will let you know how it is. It will be my first un-sponsored trip outside of Oxford, and I cannot wait. I am so very PUMPED. It is one of the places I have always wanted to go. I'll keep in touch!

Things I am currently missing/craving: A really good hug, a letter from home

Things that have been acquired: A fresh face, more kitty loving (my tutor has a cat), food like I have at home (Karen made chili that tasted almost just like my mom's)

One Month

It has been a tad too long since I have posted. However, today I have no urge to do work, and would rather drown myself in watching live videos of Evanescence's latest show and obsessing about their emergence once again. So why not blog as well?

Life the past few weeks has sped up to a rapid speed and only recently have I been able to sit down and soak it all in. I have had three tutorials, three papers, one and half holidays, lots of choir, a lecture and a theatre trip to London since I last posted. AH! Life has no intention of slowing down any time either. Next week shows another lecture, paper and tutorial, a theatre trip to Stratford and Formal Hall at Hertford. And then the Cambridge folk are coming. Then I might go to Brighton, as well as going to Canterbury on the 21st! Mixed in with all of that is more tutorials, random meetings, weekly Evensong, papers and day-to-day excitement! Ahhh!

Needless to say this last month of term is sure to go by quickly. But, I am kind of excited to go home. I need to see the fresh, welcoming faces of the people I love. I love Oxford. Every day I do and see something totally beautiful and exciting. But I also my support structure. I miss being able to go “home.” I was talking to a friend of mine who is also abroad the other day. And he agreed that we wished being in another country was like summer camp. During the day and evening you get to go out and do and see crazy awesome things, but then you get to come home at night and sleep in your warm bed next to the person to love. But, that wouldn't be enjoying the abroad experience, now would it? Part of the experience is living it 24/7. What have I learned from that? I'm not sure yet, but I know I have got to learn something.

Now, about what I have been up to.

Tutorials: My tutorials have been going fairly well. My major tutor always seems to enjoy my papers, but as I don't ever get a grade, I have no idea how I am doing in that regard. He always calls them “good” or “excellent,” so I am hoping that means they are pretty good. My minor tutorial is a little more difficult, because I never seem to make the right connections. My essays are nice and they answer the questions, but the verbal questions I have a harder time with. It seems I need to improve my verbal discussions of things, as these last two years have developed my written discussion only.

Halloween: I didn't do a whole lot. I handed out candy to trick-or-treaters. Penelope told me that some years the Brits do not get very involved, so not to be too disappointed if no one shows up. Well, this year was not one of those years. I had about 40 children (I know because they took all my candy) come to the door in various different outfits. They were all your typical Halloween outfits: ghosts, witches, zombies (including one really cool girl), Star Wars characters, princesses, pirates, etc. The children were also all different ages, ranging from little blokes in toddlers to the ever-annoying middle schoolers (they are annoying in every country). After I ran out of candy, I went to Faulkner house. I made attempts to convince everyone to go out to a pub, but we never made it. Instead people were loud and drunken in the house, and I left after about two hours.

Guy Fawkes Day: This is what I am calling the “half” holiday. Yesterday was Guy Fawkes Day (Look up Guy Fawkes if you are confused), the British form of Independence Day. I did not do much for it yesterday, except watch fireworks from my garden. However, tomorrow I am planning on going to a fireworks display/mini-carnival in honor of the holiday, so I will let you know how it is later.

Choir: It's good.

Lecture/Theatre trip: We went to see An Inspector Calls on Wednesday, and it was FANTASTIC. The stage design and direction was epic, and it made me miss theatre. Nothing in high school was as epic as professional theatre, but it was epic at the time, and for the budget we had. The plot of the play really got me thinking, but mostly I was obsessed with the set. That is how it always is for me: I look at the technical stuff as opposed to obsessing over the acting.

I promise to update again soon with more information about my life and what I am thinking!

Things I am currently missing/craving: Xbox, letters from home

Things that have been acquired: Practice time, the most amazing BLT of my life, a breakfast sandwich from McDonalds

The Beginning of My Musical Journey in Oxford

I hope you all haven't given up on me quite yet! I am still out here in Oxford, alive and doing well. This past week has been very busy, and the two days I took off from homework to just do things myself did not include blog writing. I didn't have any inspiration, I suppose you could say.
Well now I have two forms of inspiration: the recent musical events in my life, and the mounting procrastination I am feeling as my paper is due in 18 hours and 25 minutes.

When I last left you, I had added a tagline about visiting Hertford College Chapel Choir in the hopes I would enjoy it and I would join. I certainly did enjoy it and I certainly have joined. The first rehearsal I attended was scary. Most of the people were knew, but the veterans had already been working on a piece, apparently, and so I felt slightly behind. It was almost entirely sight-reading and it all moved extremely fast. I did come to rehearsal equipped with skills I had learned from Dr. Epley, but I could definitely tell I was rather rusty. I hadn't been in a choir setting for 5 months, and that rust plus my nerves nearly got the better of me. After rehearsal was over, however, I talked with a few girls and realized they were just as intimidated as I was about the experience. We all felt equally ignorant and quickly bonded over it.

The following Sunday we sang the Evensong service. It went...alright. You could tell we were all nervous and had no idea what we were doing. Poor Grace seemed like she was going to cry (and she probably went and got really drunk after Formal Hall that night).

An extra rehearsal last Thursday, and the following rehearsals on Friday and yesterday before Evensong, have already improved our choir. We are all used to the way the hymns and psalms are written, and most are getting a bit quicker at sight-reading. I know that I have certainly improved at keeping and watching the beat.

I never thought being in a choir in Oxford would be so much different, though. I figured music in the US was the same as all the other Western Music countries. Now, although that is true in the big picture, the smaller picture is much different. The terminology and the notation are the biggest differences. Hymn words are written to the side of the music, as opposed to under the music. This tripped me up for awhile, and is probably what hurt my audition for St. Michael's. The music I have sang for the few Jewell church services I have attended certainly babied and spoiled me. Also, psalms are written with the text below, and divided up by measure and by note with punctuation marks, to be matched with the bar lines of the musical score above. Soon, though, I am sure these things will become second nature. I will be able to multi-task easier, which will improve so many areas of my life.

Finally, I leave you with translations of musical terms in English and American:
Semibreve= whole note
Minim= half note
Crotchet= quarter note
Quaver= eighth note
Semiquaver= sixteenth note
Hairpins= crescendo/decrescendo markings



Things I am currently missing/craving: Taco Bell, QT breakfast sandwiches, QT doughtnuts, Xbox, nice hugs
Things that have been acquired: A musical outlet, a new TV show to pass the time/procrastinate with on occasion, a few alternative easy food dishes

Ding dong

Well, this morning our house (primarily the ladies) got a lovely surprise.

Chrissy and I were getting ready to leave at about 9:45. We were going to buy ink for our printer, and she wanted to exchange a notebook she bought. Then the door bell rang. We assumed it was David, because he had just left to go back to his house.

I open the door and standing there very cute, and somewhat tentatively, were a lovely young couple.

"Um. Hi! Hello. Are...are you with the Warner's?"

In a matter of one second, a whole list of crazy situations ran through my head. Why on Earth would the Warner's send a couple to our door? Are they selling us something? Are they here to fix something? Is this a survey? Did we do something wrong?

"Well, hi. We're on our honeymoon, and I did the OOSC program about three years ago. I was in this house!"

She then proceeded to tell me how she was a 2007 Oxbridge Music graduate from Jewell named Eryn Bates, and how she lived in the room upstairs (what is now Karen's room). As part of her honeymoon with her hubby, they came to Oxford so she could show him around. Well, of course I welcomed them right inside. Who could deny such fresh faces and such excitement?

We (Chrissy, Karen, the couple and I) toured the house and found out the guitar that was in our common room was bought by her. We also discovered that her instructions for receiving voice messages were still on a piece of paper on our bulletin board.

She told us a few stories of her time in the house and in Oxford (some of which ring oddly familiar in our year, especially the ones about an “interesting” housemate). She told us how amazing it was when she was here, and asked if certain things still exist. Karen, Eryn, and I discussed Jewell Music faculty. Apparently Eryn also studied with Kathy (small world, eh?). She was very excited to be back and to show her husband around. He was a great sport about the whole thing, and kept reminding her to take pictures of the place, because she was getting too distracted to remember.

All in all, they were here about 45 minutes. And in those 45 minutes, my day was refreshed. I had woken up in a funk, realizing how much I had to do and how much I did not want to do it. But Eryn refreshed me. When I see couples happy like that, it reminds me of where I want to be someday, and of the things I want to do. Part of me is very excited for my marital future (though not excited enough to get married, like, tomorrow), and of traveling with my significant other. I have dreams of bringing Josh back to Oxford some day on a similar trip, and I am glad to know I am not the only one who desires that. This year will be something I wish everyone I love could enjoy with me. I wish everyone I care about the most was here seeing the same things, smelling the same things, hearing the same things, but perhaps not tasting the same things. Haha.

As a result, the rest of my day will be lost in random moments of reflection (around my homework). My day began with one of those moments that makes you realize a) just how small the world is, and just how much of an impact we can make, b) recognize all those that came before you, and the traces they leave and c) what your real dreams are for your life, and that they aren't as insane as some would like you to believe.

My First Tutorial (and an update)

I know it has been customary to post at the end of the week, but with my tutorial schedule falling to place, Thursday is kind of like the weekend for me. I am currently posting during my usual Lady Gaga dance break in between sections of homework. I finished one of the books for my minor tutorial, so I am celebrating.

My first real tutorial was last night, and I think it went fabulously. It was just like the tutorials I had at Jewell, with a bit of lecture/commentary and discussion about my paper and its “quality.” David seemed quite shocked by my first paper, which made my head swell up to about the size of the room. While writing the first half of my paper, I was completely confused about everything. And then Karen and I had this sudden revelation where all the pieces fit into place. All in all, it was one of the hardest essays for me to write. I had trouble in the beginning with terms, and then it took me FOREVER to actually find a way to begin and end the paper.

However, I at the end, I realized it was one of the better papers I had written, and I was quite glad when David said it made sense and that he could tell I knew what I was talking about. At the end of my paper he wrote a little commentary and the sentence “A great start – well done!” with an underline (and in an oddly similar handwriting to Dr. Coleman. Perhaps all British music professors have the same handwriting?).

But now that that paper is out of the way, the next five days will be hell. My first minor tutorial paper is due at 10am on Monday, and my next major one is due at 5pm on Monday. So, this weekend will be spent reading, writing, and drinking lots of tea. No partying for me (not that I ever go and party...um...ever).

For an update on things in my last post, I did not get into the St. Micheal's at the Northgate choir. I bombed a lot of my sightreading. I was not used to the British hymn notation, and although Tom understood that, it still hurt my chances. Also, I broke the number one rule of sightreading about three times: Keep going. Don't stop. And DO NOT START OVER. My nerves got the better of me, what can I say? All in all, though, I think it is for the best. St. Micheal's was going to be a bit too intense for me, I feel. The choir search is continuing. I am just waiting for emails back before it can move into phase two.

Besides paper-writing, I'm not up to much of anything else. It is pretty much how I was at Jewell: confined to my bedroom and my computer. Though, I do find time to get out every morning and run various errands, like the grocery store, etc. It is nice to walk around for a bit. You see something new every time. Today, however, I have made the decision to stay in the house all day. I have been out every single day I have been here, and I want a little relaxation. Though, my form of relaxation means reading books, books, and more books for my tutorial essays. But, at least I can do it in pajamas today.

Things I am currently missing: Taco Bell, Getting random text messages

Things that have been acquired: Animal contact. David Stuart had a cat, and the pub last night had a dog. I petted both.

Naught Week

Another week has gone by, and what a busy one it was. Monday I met with both of my tutors for this term. My minor tutorial meeting was at 11am, at a coffee shop in a wonderful bookstore. Patrick Wadden is my tutor for Medieval History, and I can tell it is going to be wonderful. He's a hilarious Irishman who really knows his stuff. It's exciting, and very intimidating. He wants me to read my papers out loud to him, which is frightening. It means my paper quality has to be turned up an even bigger notch. To make it worse, tutorials are every other Monday at 10am. Baaaah.

That evening Karen and I met with our major tutor, David Stuart. We're taking the same tutorial (Medieval to Baroque Music), but we have different meeting times. David was also charming, and is a professional singer. He is in Hong Kong this weekend performing with one of the groups he is in. It sounds wonderful. I realize he will be a tremendous resource for me: informing me of performances, performance opportunities, and possible jobs for my later life. He, luckily, does not want us to read our papers aloud. It is the same system I am used to, only sped up. Instead of an 8 page paper due every other week, there is one every week. But it should not be so bad. I'm actually kind of excited about the first paper. It is about the beginning of notation, so the reading is dry, but it is overall very interesting. I've probably used the word “interesting” a bit too much, but it is the only word I think suffices, no matter what Dr. Horne would think.
My first real tutorial is next Wednesday night, making my paper due at noon on Tuesday. If this trend continues, it means the beginning of my weeks will be crazy, but the ends will be calm. Wednesday will probably become my ultimate goof-off day, where I go shopping or just lay around and do nothing. It is good to have at least one day like that a week.

Once a real trend emerges, I will probably travel a bit, which gets me really excited. Next month sometime Karen, her sister, probably Meghan and I are making a journey to Canterbury. It is one of the places I am most excited for. There isn't much in Canterbury (except for the kick-ass Evensong), but I want to go just for the allure of the name. It is one of the quint-essential Medieval towns (and the town that the Kansas City Renaissance Festival is based in), and I could not be more excited. Some time this term, though it might get pushed to the next one, I'd like to go to the Netherlands to visit my friend Eva. She was a German foreign exchange student when I was in high school, and we have still remained friends, though the contact has slowed through the years.

On a side note, I am auditioning for a church choir tomorrow: St. Michael's at the Northgate. The church is housed in the Saxon tower in Oxford (the oldest building of over 1000 years of age!), and the choir was fantastic. I'm really hoping to get in, even though finding a replacement for term breaks could be stressful. But, I can worry about that when term comes to a close. First, I have to worry about singing two songs, and sight-reading four others. Ahhhh! Crazy! If I don't make it in, I have no idea what I will do, but I will find something. I really need to join a choir, because it forces me to practice my voice. I cannot always trust myself to go practice solo work, but I can promise myself to sing in choir. And that will do for now.

PS: I got a package from my mom. Mountain Dew and sugary cereal have been acquired.

An Old Castle on an Unsatisfied Stomach

Well, it's been another week in Oxford. The introductory course is over, and the real work is about to begin. On Tuesday we went to Warwick Castle and Stratford-Upon-Avon. It was amazing. Warwick Castle was built in 1068, with many modifications and additions through the centuries, including major ones in the 16th and 18th centuries. I was ecstatic to be there. I mean, it's old. It's a castle. What more could I want? It was absolutely beautiful, and it was an amazing way to start the day.

Stratford-Upon-Avon was nice as well, of course. We had cheap pub food, looked at both Anne Hathaway's and Shakespeare's birthplaces, and say The Winter's Tale as performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It was a fun time, but I enjoyed the castle more. It's just what I'm more into.

The rest of the week last week was filled with lectures. Oh, and that essay whose deadline is slowly and surely creeping towards us all.

Yesterday my house had a little family dinner. Chrissy and I made spaghetti and brownies (with a little help, of course). We made some meatless sauce for Adam and some gluten-free pasta for Karen (because our house has all the food issues, haha). It was a wonderful night, and a fabulous way to eat up the entire day and procrastinate!

This meal leads me to move onto the main part of this post. I'm going to discuss my major complaint about Britain: it's food. Food is the most important thing in my life. It dictates my mood and it is the center of my day. Thankfully enough, I'm young and must have good metabolism, because I can eat a lot when I want to. I'm one of those people that eats when they are bored, or when everyone else is, or just because the craving strikes. Someday I will probably have to control my food intake a lot more, but I'm glad that day is not today.
However, Britain's food has severely disappointed me. I do not know what I was expecting upon arrival, but it certainly was not this. My first British meal was bangers and mash, which I had at our local pub. The sausage was local and it just did not sit well with me. Though, the mashed potatoes were delightful.


As the days went on and I went out shopping for my usual food items, I realized I had entered a version of hell. The country was lacking two things I loved: sugar and Mountain Dew. No places serve Mountain Dew, and no store I have been to sells it (and believe me, I've been checking every little sketchy place). Mountain Dew makes up about 50% of my liquid consumption. Though not a healthy amount, it became a vital amount. I used it to survive late nights at school, and to survive working with idiots and QT. Thankfully, Britain does have Pepsi and Dr. Pepper, which have almost stopped my Mountain Dew cravings, though, I'm not sure for how much longer.

As for the other part of my unhealthy diet, I realized Britain's drastically low sugar amount when I bought my first box of cereal. First of all, to find a box of cereal that even remotely looked appetizing and sugary was difficult. There were no marshmallow cereals, or fruity pebbles. I managed to find two boxes of "chocolatey" cereal, and for fairly cheap. The next morning I woke to a shock: the cereal tasted wretched. It was not until I dumped about four spoonfuls of sugar on it that it began to taste a bit better. Things were not looking good.
Since then, I have been experimenting with what should be sugary and delicious things, but are not. If I bake my own things, they taste great, but pre-made doughnuts, brownies and cakes have so far been disappointing. Therefore Britain has made me resort to things I never thought I would to get that sugary fix: fruit. I have bought more fruit (of my own accord) in the past two weeks than I think I have in the past year. The fruit here, thank goodness, is just as good as in the US. It may even be better.

So, as the days progress I will continue to fight British food until I win. I will continue experimenting with different places, brands, and combinations until I find stuff I like. And, thankfully enough, Britain does love their salt, or I would be in a even bigger world of hurt. Soon though, I will have sugary cereal and Mountain Dew in a package from my mom. You cannot beat me yet Great Britain!

First Week

Well, it has been a week in Oxford, and already it has started to feel a bit like home. My housemates and I have settled into a rhythm, and I am starting to get myself aquainted with the city. I know how to get to the most important places (class, the Warner's house, the grocery store), and I am becoming quite good at finding other places either through my map or the internet. Having a bus pass helps a lot as well. Haha.

This past week has been filled with lectures, excursions and many tours. Every single morning we've had two lectures, with a coffee break in between (Francis is quite dedicated to his 10:30 coffee and tea). Then the afternoons have been filled with some sort of exciting outing. Monday was our free afternoon, so Karen and I ran errands. On Tuesday my house and another house took a tour of Shakespeare's places in Oxford. Wednesday we all went to London to see As You Like It at the Globe theatre. Francis took us on a tour of Pre-Raphaelite art in Oxford on Thursday (as well as getting very distracted and showing us other random things). Then on Friday we went to Kelmscott Manor to see the house where William Morris and his family lived in the 1800s. Morris was a famous Pre-Raphaelite textile artist, as well as an all-around renaissance man.

As you can tell, it has been quite busy. And the busyness is not over. There was tea a few hours ago, as well as an Evensong at St. Michael's church. It was beautiful, but I can gab about that later. And next week is even busier than the last. But, I cannot complain too much. :)

After a week in England, I feel one word sums up the country quite nicely: cute. All of Oxford is just very very adorable. The houses are small and smashed together. The text on street signs is cute. The stores are cute. Everything is much smaller and much more adorable. I don't know how many times I have said "That's so cute!" in the past week. And I imagine I will continue to say it until I leave many months from now.

Along with being absolutely adorable, Oxford is beautiful. And old. I have an obsession with old things, especially old buildings. Now, my definition of "old" is something that is the 17th century or before. My main tiff with America is that it is too young for my taste. It doesn't have the deep history that many Eurpoean countries have, and that is something I crave. Finally, I am surrounded by buildings that were built in the Medieval and Renaissance eras, and it makes me ecstatic (so ecstatic that I have an obsession with touching all old buildings I can find). Now, of course, my love of the old might stem from my American heritage. If I grew up in Oxford, I might not get excited by older buildings. It would become old hat. Perhaps if it were switched, I would get sick of old things and be obsessed with the new. But, one can never really know.

The Journey to Oxford

Well, here is the start of my England blog. I decided to join the club and start a blog about all my adventures so people can read it if they'd really like to.

I have been in Oxford for close to 36 hours, and so far it has been wonderful. The road here has been very long, however. I was supposed to leave a week ago. However, my visa was delivered late. Therefore, I had to leave last Friday instead of last Sunday. It was a very annoying process.

My journey to England (besides being delayed by five days) was very, VERY long. I left at 6:30am on Friday from Kansas City and arrived in New York at around 10:30am (local time). Once off the plane, I went to retrive my baggage. Unfortunately, one of my bags had been sent to Cincinatti instead of New York and would arrive at 1:15. Awesome. Well, I had 8 hours to kill in NYC, so I decided to stick around and wait for it. While waiting, I took the airport bus to the central terminal where I ate some delicious New York pizza and spied on New Yorkers. All the rumors are true: New Yorkers are impatient and loud. Also, I bought my mom and I "I heart NYC" shirts. What else would one get in NYC?

After retrieving my luggage, I took the bus from La Guardia airport to JFK (Yes, I had to change airports and manage my own luggage...boo). Once at JFK, I really just wanted to leave. However, I had four more hours to kill. So, after waiting in a really long line to check my bags and another really long line through Security I just sat at my gate playing Solitaire. I was ready to get on the plane and GO.

Finally, at 6:50pm, I got onto my plane (with free pillows and blankets...Huzzah!). I sat next to a cute old British lady who was headed to see her mother. Most of the ride over the ocean, I slept (though not deeply). Then, the sun began to rise as we flew over Ireland. It was gorgeous. Around 6:50 we had made it to Heathrow airport.

After getting off the plane, I made it through Immigration just fine. That is what I was most worried about. I worried I would screw something up, but it was cake. I talked to this cute Russian girl in the long line to the border. She offered to share a taxi with me, but unfortunately I had to decline. Instead, I needed to take a bus to Oxford City.

The bus ride was pretty, but also long. I fell asleep. I woke once we got to Oxford, and got off at the final stop. I drug my weight in luggage to the Warner's house and had finally arrived.