Go Places

I'm now back and snug in my safe European home in Bath. I loved the rest of our time in Oxford, but at the same time it's a little nice to be back in our home and not feel so rushed to see everything in Oxford. (Unfortunately, this also means I need to focus on all the homework I let slide whilst in Oxford, but that's just how it goes.)
Even with classes and whatnot during the week, I was still able to enjoy Oxford. Not too surprisingly, some of my favorite parts of the week were the eating bits. Since we were provided with breakfast and lunch every day (and got to eat in the gorgeous Great Hall), we all felt more inclined to splurge a little bit more with dinner. During the week, I ate at The Bear, which is the oldest pub in Oxford, and The Eagle and Child. At The Eagle and Child, I finally got a British pie, which was actually delicious! (And I don't think there were any extra unwanted toppings involved...) The Eagle and Child was extra exciting because that was the pub where the Inklings, a group of writers including J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, used to meet. So we got to pretend we were fancy and intelligent like they were. On Tuesday night, we had an ASE group dinner at an Indian restaurant. Now, as you know, I'm certainly not very adventurous when it comes to food. I like my mac and cheese and peanut butter, butter, and velveeta cheese sandwiches, thank you very much. But I figured that, since it was a group outing, it would definitely be an experience and this would probably be one of the best times to try Indian food, since the group would be a mix of knowledgeable Indian food lovers and others who had never tried it before. Surprisingly, I really loved it! Granted, I got the korma, which is the blandest curry option, but still. I felt very proud of my food adventures. Plus, we went out and got some ice cream after eating that night, so that made it even better.
Outside of food, there are a lot of other things that Oxford offers. One day I went out and explored Cowley Street, which is a long row of thrift shops, little boutiques, and the largest and most varied group of ethnic restaurants I have ever seen. It was like a little world market and was lots of fun to just explore. Then there was some more convential shopping. I meandered down one of the main roads, popping into boutiques that I knew I could never affoard. But I had more luck at Primark, which is kinda like a department store Forever 21. It was so huge and so cheap! There's also an Alice in Wonderland shop (across from Christ Church College, where Lewis Carroll used to teach) which had so many cool Alice merchandise and the cutest tea set I have ever seen in my life! (Unfortunately, buying the tea set is in no way remotely practical). My favorite store, though, had to be Blackwell's. Now Blackwell's is a book store with five floors. Not only that, but the bottom floor goes under the street as well because it holds so many books. My roommate and I agreed that we could just set up camp in the store forever and be perfectly happy.
I also went on a tour of Christ Church, which is one of the largest and most famous of the Oxford Colleges. (Extra special note - Harry Potter has been filmed here!! And they essentially replicated the college's Great Hall to create Hogwart's. The Hall at Christ Church didn't have an enchanted ceiling.) It was huge and really gorgeous. I also went to the Natural History Museum. They have like an additional museum inside called the Pitt Rivers Museum which is one man's collection of stuff that he's gathered from trips around the world. There were lots of old instruments, writing materials, and stuff, but my favorites were probably the shrunken heads (courtesy of Trader Sam maybe?). In the rest of the museum, they had your usual awesome dinosaur fossils and stuff, but the highlight was the remains of a dodo!!! That's right, a dodo.
On Thursday, our last night in Oxford, we had a classy, fancy dinner in the Great Hall of Univ. with our staff and a group of our professors. I love opportunities to get really dressed up and this was no exception. It was a great way to end our stay in Oxford. On the way back to Bath on Friday, we took a trip to Blenheim Palace, which belongs to the Duke of Something. (If I felt like pulling our the material we got about the palace I could tell you. But I'm lazy.) The point is, it was huge and gorgeous. And there were some fantastic gardens. There was even a garden maze, which was a lot of fun. (And thankfully, there was no portkey at the end.)
Now, as I said, I'm back to my books and homework and papers. But that's alright. I watched "Sense and Sensibility" with some girls from my house today (it actually was kinda homework - promise) and then we're going to visit Cardiff in Wales tomorrow. So I can't complain too much. Maybe on Monday I'll be back to work.