so long Oxford

Last night the whole house smelled like smoke, oddly enough I was the first to pick up on this, despite being 3 floors above the guilty stove and everyone else. I asked my flatmate what was burning and only got a curious look and a “I think someone left the stove on.” Someone had indeed left the stove on, and also left the tray in the stove from whence they removed their dinner hours earlier. The said tray is now completely black and useless. I fell asleep dreaming that I was camping out next to a bonfire and woke up with the scent of smoke in my hair.
Anyway, I am almost completely packed, except for a few articles of clothing that are still drying. Although I am considering unpacking and repacking to see if I can create more space. I think I’ll be leaving my towels behind. Sorry mom.
By tonight I should have “Great Expectations” finished. It’s not as good as I thought, I actually didn’t really start reading it until yesterday, just because I knew I had to have it finished and back at the library before I left.
Well this is my last night in Oxford. Yesterday I took a final stroll through town, today I had a closing ramble through Port Meadows. I think I’ve exhausted this place, well no. No matter how long you stay in Oxford there will always be new things to do and see. Maybe this place has just exhausted me. Give me White Deer, a place I can conquer in a few hours and be done with it. Then give me an exciting new semester at Eastern with, especially after this term and this summer at Eastern, my very favorite roommate of all time- Andimal. But I will miss Oxford. I’ll miss midnight Co-op runs to see what’s on sale, I’ll miss easy access to “chips” at all hours, I’ll miss all this walking and good exercise, I’ll miss only having to go to class for an hour or two a week, being served at my college dining hall, all this tea and biscuits, hearing people say the more polite “emm” rather than the ignorant American “umm…” but I also will not miss some things. Like not having a dryer, or I won’t miss our cold flat, or having to pay twice as much for things, or not having a car or cell phone … But not so fast, I still have 10 days until I am reunited with all that. Tomorrow I leave for the Firth’s in Melksham, and then from there to the airport on the 20th. Change is a very exciting thing, especially at this stage in my life, and I’m really looking forward to spending the next week with the Firth’s and Weaver’s, in addition to warm housing and home cooked meals. And even more so I am looking forward to being home for the holidays, back in my own sweet room, and seeing all my friends and family.And so it is finally time for my goodbye- farewell Oxford, but not for forever …

time to say goodbye

I just said goodbye to Sally. She’s going to York for a few days and won’t get back until after I leave. It’s one thing to have a program end and everyone goes home at once, it’s another to have people leaving at all different times and dates. I think I’m next.
I’ve decided to boycott dish washing. It’s just not right. There are dishes in that sink from Sunday or Monday, Sally and I weren’t even around for two days so they’re not ours. I’ve already done some twice since I got back, none of which are mine. So from now on I have my own silverware, mug and plate and I’ll just keep using those until I leave. I probably sounds like the worst flatmate ever, but it’s different when your roommate says she’ll wash the dishes and two days later she still hasn’t. She said she would, so I’m going to let her. I’ve already cleaned everything of mine out of the house, and I’m almost done packing. I’m still not sure if I can fit it all in
Yesterday I went for a long walk out in the country, then into town to the market and to do some end of the term stuff at the office. Last night, Sarah made vegan dinner at Brandon and Ben’s house. There were quite a few people there, it’s the end of the year and I’m still meeting new people in the program. Anyway it was my first “official” vegan meal, and it wasn’t too bad. Noticed, for the first time, the Walton Well on our street that it’s named after. Makes sense.
Today went to New College to go up in the Bell Tower, which involves asking permission at the Porter’s, being sent to the Bursar’s to sign a waiver, saying that I am sober and not under the influence of drugs, and that I will not jump off or throw any thing off the top of the tower, then back to the Porter’s to get the key, then wondering around campus looking for the actual door to get in, one very dark, steep, winding, narrow staircase, and wa la- incredible views of all of Oxford. Check the Oxford folder for pictures. I also, by request from my Mom, took pictures along the walk I make every day into town or the college. Not exactly of historical quality, but at least you can get an idea of a day in my life.

Stratford-Upon-Avon

Today we went to Stratford, which ended up being rather anti-climatic. The most looked-forward to trip of the term, and it was probably the most disappointing. We got there around 3:30pm and went to the Shakespeare Musuem and toured Shakespeare's Birthplace. Afterwards everyone compared dumb facts acquired from the museum, such as "Shakespeare left his sword to his neighbor in his will" or "Shakespeare may have passed through Buckingham on his way to London" or "milk maid- a maid who milks cows" or "this lock may have been in Shakespeare's house, although it post-dates his time there." (These are all "true" facts that were mentioned at some point during our touring.) It didn't take us more than an hour to get through everything, but by then it was dark. And according to our itinerary the next 3 hours were for us to explore the town. We tried to see Shakespeare's grave, but the church closes at 4. In fact, like every other English town all of Stratford shuts down by 5, so we pretty much walked around in the dark and ate dinner until it was time to see the play. We had tickets for Julius Caesar, which turned out to be a modern version. In other words, same play, same script, but the guys wore suits and leather. The acting was good, but I didn't like the play. I wanted to see Shakespeare the real way. Plus there's something weird about seeing scrawny, pale British men play these great Roman characters. The worst part of all was this random singing/dancing number with these two girls. Definitely was not in the original script. They also did a lot with video and sound effects that sounded like a skillet being dropped or even better this techno-cricket noise they kept interjecting. I was starting to get annoyed. But I really liked how the theater was set up, there's only two rows of chairs, and it goes up 3 floors, so everyone can sit pretty close. Stratford looked like a really neat town, lots of tudor style buildings, so hopefully I can come back sometime when it's not dark.

better than Bristol

Before expounding on the specifics of today’s journey, please allow me to explain the circumstances leading up to this last adventure. The original plan was to spend Sunday and Monday in Bristol. Due to financial constraints, some of the members of our group decided it would be better to just do one day, so we settled on Monday. On Sunday night we were informed by a fellow WISC member that Bristol was nothing but industry and factory buildings. A little research on the Internet turned up one historical site of interest in Bristol, the suspension bridge. So last night we began our search for a new destination. We needed a location that satisfied three criteria: a town with a train station, a distance of no more than 2 hours by train, and something of interest besides factory buildings. We decided to take a gander at Winchester. For some reason I had trouble falling asleep last night, so I was up before the sun with only 4 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, not everyone on our trip was as quick as Sally, Marty and I, so we missed our first train and ended up taking the next one, which only set us back an hour and ended up making no difference. We arrived in Winchester and were a little discouraged. It didn’t look like the pictures we had seen. But we comforted ourselves with the knowledge that no matter what we did it would be “better than Bristol.” We found some random castle ruins in the middle of town, part of an old gate with a passageway that was blocked off just when it looked like it could get exciting. Then we happened upon the Great Hall where King Arthur met with his court, and saw the round table. Strangely enough it hangs on a wall rather than standing on the floor like any other table would. From there we saw the King’s House which are some big brick buildings used more or less for military stuff, but got some cool pictures. Then we saw the Winchester Cathedral. Spent lots of time here, not only is it huge and amazing (the architecture is unbelieveable), but there are a lot of cool people buried in the church, such as William of Wyckeham who founded New College and Winchester College. And also *gasp* Jane Austen. There were bones of people from before 1000 AD in there. Anyway, after lots of graves, coffins, statues and frescoes we had our own personal tour of the crypts beneath that cathedral. There weren’t enough spaces on the last tour, so the guy offered to take just us if we came back in half an hour. So here’s the story with the crypts. Apparently, the cathedral is built on peat, and the water table rises every winter, causing the crypts to flood. Back in the day of monks they used to just throw soil down there every time there was water, to the point where there were several feet of dirt in the crypts. Anyway, because the foundation was sinking part of the cathedral was caving in, and in a few years the whole thing would have collapsed were it not for one man, a deep sea diver, who actually went underwater below the cathedral and (by feeling only since it was dark and the water was murky) cut through the lumber base, dug out the peat, pumped out the water, and laid bags of concrete. In 6 years one man saved the whole cathedral by his own hands. The crypts are kind of creepy, there’s not dead people down there, but there are gravestones on the floor, which they apparently stole out of the local graveyard for stone to make the floor. They believe it’s where the monks used to go to pray. There’s some old statues down there too, of Saint Stucken (actually I’m not really sure what his name is but it’s something like that). When the statue of him out front would start to get a little worn down they’d replace it and put the old ones down in the crypt. There were also some coffins. The most interesting part was the Roman well, which was there before the cathedral was built. For some reason they built the cathedral over the well, keeping it intact. Actually the high altar is directly above the well, on the floor above. The tour guide felt there was a lot of symbolism in that but wouldn’t say anything further. Oddly enough, some modern sculptor has a few of his art pieces down there. It just didn’t seem right to see modern art alongside of 10th century artifacts. So we shut the place down, they even shut all the gates on us, we had to find our own way out. We came back later that night for Evensong which was good, but the choir was lacking the little boy’s voices that you hear at New College. Not to mention the cathedral is a very eerie at night. We grabbed a quick lunch from the local bakery and ate it out in the middle of town. Only in England can you eat your sandwich on the steps of the local monument. From there we took a walk along the river then up the hill where you can get an amazing view of all of the town. We tried to get in to Wolvesly’s castle but it was closed. We saw the house where Jane Austen spent her last 6 weeks and died in. But just the outside, it’s a private residence. I think it’d be weird to have people come taking pictures of your house all the time. We also took a tour of Winchester College which in England is a public school for boys, and by public school they mean private. 70 students go for free on scholarships and have to wear the black robes, the other 700 pay £22,000 a year to go there- for high school!! Since the founder of Winchester is the same as New College, a lot of the boys from this school end up going to New, we even have the same crest. Since we were all New College students they let us take the tour for free. The school was a lot like New, only there were little boys running around everywhere. Unfortunately, due to the geographical location of this wonderful island, it began to get too dark before we could see much outside of the buildings. So it ended up being a very exciting day, and although none of us can prove it, we all agree that Winchester is definitely better than Bristol.

how we spend our new-found free time

Now that everyone is done with their work, our habits have become much more pronounced. Karen spends all her free time, of course, on the internet. Which is why I am posting this in the computer lab right now. She had been on for a while before we left last night, immediately got back on upon our return, I had to wait over an hour just to check my email, and as soon I was done she resumed her post. It’s enough to make one nervous.
Naturally, Amanda uses her free time to sleep. She doesn’t leave the house much, but she can never start her papers until the night before they are due. She has pulled all-nighters for every paper this term, and I think she enjoys it. But then she sleeps all the next day. Yesterday she slept until almost 9pm, she missed Evensong with me and Karen. I couldn’t do anything in the bedroom, Karen was in the computer room all day, so I was confined to the TV room, i.e. the room with no heat. I wore my coat and gloves the other day while watching my TV show. Anyway, Amanda was getting up last night as I was getting ready for bed. She came back into the room a little after 10 and got into bed. I was like “Amanda you are not going back to bed!” So we both read until midnight, then she went downstairs for a little. When I got back from running this morning, close to noon, she was just getting up, and it will be a few hours before she changes out of her pajamas.
Besides playing her music loudly and jumping in her room, making the whole house shake and everyone else in it wondering what’s going on upstairs, I’m not sure how Marie has been spending her free time. She’s never home, goes out every night, and doesn’t get in until the very early morning. But I can tell when she is home because half my food is gone. Marie never has food in her cupboard, so she just eats everyone else’s, more specifically mine. I had a loaf of bread that I was hoping would last until I left, now there’s only two pieces left.
Sally just finished her work yesterday afternoon. She, too, only got 2 hours of sleep the night before. I came into the room while she was watching a movie/sleeping, she was so out of it. She doesn’t even remember talking to me, which is good because whatever she was saying didn’t make any sense. But now that she is done with all her work she will probably spend all her time with Marty. She has plans to travel around England. Today they went to Canterbury, tomorrow a few of us are going to Bristol. We don’t see much of Sally, she knows how to make the most of her time.
Even Sophie is enjoying the benefits of no work. Although none of us our sure why, either her classes have ended strangely early, or she has just stopped going, but she’s around the house more during the day now. When Karen isn’t on the computer, Sophie is, usually browsing “The Darkness’s” webpage (the band she met a few weeks ago) trying to figure out where they’re on tour next. Which is exactly where she’s at now, in Wales to visit her Grandpa. Ironically, he lives in the same town that The Darkness is playing at tonight.
As for me, I’ve been reading. I should have the New Testament finished soon. I read all of Jane Eyre in less than 3 days. Today I start “Great Expectations.” If I had known I’d be reading this much I would’ve brought along “War and Peace.” I started packing. Once I know I’m going somewhere it’s hard for me to contain myself. I’ve also been running, which if you noticed Elaine’s comment, is quite a shock to a few of you. But don’t worry Elaine, I can assure you that the habits I’ve picked up here are not likely to come across the ocean with me. Last night Karen and I went to Evensong. The boys choir is soo cute, and very talented. The whole thing is a good experience, but I’m very glad that church isn’t always like that. It was so dark and cold in there, and so much kneeling and standing … Today is somewhat mild, and I’m going to take advantage of this “fine” weather by laying aside my book and doing a little shopping. And by shopping I mean walking in and out of stores, picking out things that I would like to buy once I get back to the States. Abominable exchange rate! It really starts to hit you when you realize that you’ve just spent almost $6 on a Starbucks Gingerbread Latte, or $8 on Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. What bliss it will be when I return to American malls and won’t have to double the price tag in my head, of course by then I won’t have any money to spend anyway. Until then I’m off to find new and exciting ways to spend my time.

zero degrees

It has been officially 0 degrees here, but that's in Celsius. There was frost on the ground and in the trees when I went running this morning. The sun was melting it in the branches, so it felt like it was raining every time I ran under a tree. I wish my flatmates would realize that the house would stay a lot warmer if they'd keep the doors shut. Anytime I get all warm and cuddly under my duvet with a book, someone comes in to the room and leaves again without shutting the door. ALL THE TIME! Oh how I miss central heating! Last night we went to Christmas dinner at the college. The entire dining hall was filled, I've never seen it like that. It was a good experience, we got these plastic crowns and "crackers" which are like tubes that you pull apart and they "crack" open and there's cheap gifts inside. But the meal left something to be desired. Then at the end they bring out dessert. I got very excited for what I thought was chocolate brownie, much to my dismay it turned out to be warm raisin cake. Pleh! I've decided to catch up on some reading with all this free time I have. I've almost finished Jane Eyre, although I've read it twice before. I just printed out a list of the 100 best novels, and now I'm going to start on that. Home in 17 days!!

John McCain comes to town

So last night we waited in line one and half hours in the dark and cold to see Senator John McCain speak at the Union. It was worth it. We had second row seats, right behind all the important people who sit in the reserved row. McCain's a decent chap. He spoke for half on hour on transatlanticism then answered questions for over an hour, and would've kept going but they had to stop him. There was a little hostility in some of the questions, but he's a witty guy, and his answers were usually followed by a roaring applause from the crowd. It was good to hear from a reputable American while over here, and it was really nice to hear someone stand up for our president and our country- so refreshing! All of us girls agreed that we were very disappointed with the President of the Oxford Union. All the important people walk in at once, and they're all wearing suits and ties, the ladies are dressed smart and respectably. Then this president girl trods in wearing a hot melon, flouncy tool job reminiscent of one of my Barbie's prom dresses. The whole time McCain was speaking she was either rolling her eyes, trying to sign to someone up in the balcony, picking at her nails or sitting slouched over the table with her chin in her hands. Hello!! You are president of the Oxford Union, why not look it!! Aren't they supposed to be like the future prime ministers or something? Well, I hope not! Oh yeah, yesterday was my last tutorial. It's nice to be done, but it doesn't compare with home college- That amazing feeling you get when you have just finished your last final and are heading home. Oxford hasn't been stressful enough for that, and I'm not going home for another three weeks. You can tell we're nearing the end, everyone's getting sentimental ... a lot more perturbed. There is tension in the house, and one of the flatmates has resorted to *gasp* note-leaving. As in a note by the stove- "Please remember to turn the hob off." or one by the phone this morning "Return the phone when you're done using it." They haven't been very effective, people still forget to turn the stove off (I'm really not sure how) and the phone has been missing for over 14 hours now. I know who's room it's in, but there's no way I'm going in there to get it. Since we all know we're only here for "a few more days" we feel less motivated to keep up the house. (And by "we" I do not mean myself or one or two of my flatmates, but I'll use it to avoid pointing fingers.) There are never any clean dishes, you have to wash a plate before you can eat. And if you're like me there's something disturbing about eating off of dishes you know were dirty just a few seconds before. Oddly enough, this has been the healthiest fall of my life. Well, I must get back to reading for fun. I just updated a ton of pictures on my website, if you register with ofoto and sign in everytime you look at my pictures I get credit from them. And by registering you'll also get access to loads of exciting features that Ofoto has to offer. Don't hesitate, register now!