I did it! I'm finally in Oxford! After a real of adventure of a journey I made it to our house. My housemates welcomed me with open arms and non-functional wifi. The houses are great, but there is definitely an element of student housing to it all. There have been a couple of issues with some of the bedding and small appliances, but the professors and landlord have been amazing about all of it. To top of my ridiculous journey, my key to the house doesn't work. Its not a huge deal because we never go anywhere without each other, but it will be getting figured out soon.
Friday was my first full day and it was lovely! We took a walking tour of Oxford focused on the colleges right in City Center. We learned so much stuff, but due to jet lag I'm bound to forget most of it soon. The parts I liked the most focused on the literary aspects of the tour. We saw the doorway that supposedly inspired C.S. Lewis to write The Chronicles of Narnia (they immortalize it with some grotesques of Mr. Tumnus and a lamppost. We also toured the outside of Christ Church College where Lewis Carroll was working when he wrote Alice in Wonderland).It was really exciting to see the more academic part of Oxford. I still have absolutely no idea where I am in the city at any given point, but the tour helped give me a better sense of what's going on.
Here is a group photo outside the Bridge of Sighs
Christ Church College (one of the many colleges we saw on the Oxford tour)
After the tour Dr. Shah took us to a cafe in the covered market. It was really good, and then we went to Ben's cookies (a famous experience in Oxford). I had to go into Blackwell's to order my textbooks, and it was amazing! It's the second largest bookstore in the world, and it is just phenomenal. We also had our first official class today. It was very short, but gave a great taste for what is to come. Dr. Allinson asked us all to speak about our travels and we discussed why we travel. I think this class is going to be fascinating, especially the discussions.
After class we went to Westgate to pick up some essentials and then all journeyed to the Tesco near our house for dinner supplies. We are taking turns cooking for the house and we all chip in for groceries and cleaning. Its a great way to get along with all the housemates (and also save some money). We've already kind of broken up into house groups in terms of hanging out.
Saturday saw most of the group on a walk around University Parks with Dr. Shah and her daughter Asha. Asha is quite young, and I can't imagine how odd it must have been to have 7 college students following her around. The park was really beautiful and I'm looking forward to going again when it is a little bit warmer.
University Parks
My housemates and I went on Bill Spectre's Oxford Ghost Tour Saturday night. I was initially pretty hesitant about it, but it wasn't scary at all. In fact, it was more theatrical than anything else. After the tour we went to the Turf Tavern to warm up before our walk home. The Turf Tavern used to be a secret spot only Oxford locals knew, but now its much more well known. It was the first night out we had with the whole house, and it was really nice.
Sunday was a very relaxed day; most of us didn't even leave the house. We spent all day reading for our class on Monday and completing our daily journaling. We ended the night with Indian food takeaway and chatting.
I'm excited to see what this next week has in store for us!
Madeline
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