Skype me Wednesday....it may be the last time you see me

Mail from my sister!!
Also here's my address for anyone else who wants to write me *hint *hint

I got tired last night before I could post this, so I present to you for your reading pleasure--yesterday in Oxford. 

This morning I went to Old Testament, and then after class I went to On the Hoof where I ate a cajun chicken sandwich on a baguette. After lunch I had to go to core class, and then work on homework. We had 9@9 (our weekly worship service together as a group in the house), and they did a really good job with it. We went to stations around the houses and planted plants, took communion, and lit candles, and other stuff. My group of Paris traveling buddies all met afterwards and planned out what we want to do when we're there. Look up reviews for the Friends Hostel in Paris. Since we are only paying 20 bucks a night, we inadvertently booked the sketchiest hostel in continental Europe. I'd say that the chances of one of us waking up in a bathtub of ice missing a kidney is probably 68%. Again, let's all just plan on Skyping Wednesday because I may not make it back from the hostel in one piece. Fortunately, the Study Abroad office so nicely informed us that our travel insurance does cover the shipping back of our remains. How sweet! Regardless, Paris is going to be a wonderful trip, and my wonderful night was concluded by watching Good Will Hunting with the group and eating chips with chicken curry. Ooh baby!

Back to the present. Today I went up to Summertown, which is a part of town that has lots of cool charity and thrift stores. I found something pretty and breakable for Krista (I wonder if you can guess what that might be) and something musical and British for the Mickle. I also got a lovely postcard and letter from my beautiful sister. It made my day!

Quaker--not the Oaks

I can't say that I have a life changing day every day, but today I kinda did. I hope no one is sad or offended, but it turns out that I'm a Quaker. This morning, I went to the local Quaker church down the street, and it was great! The service is mostly silent, and the focus is on personal relationships with God while being in community with others. After the meeting, we stayed for over an hour to talk to a few people and ask them questions about being a Quaker and the religion. I learned that I align politically and spiritually very well with their religion; they put a lot of emphasis on love, peace, truth, integrity, and simplicity. Most Quakers are Christians and believe the same things I believe, but there are a few denominational differences. I can't exactly come home and be a full-blown Quaker though because the closest Quaker congregation is in Lubbock, so I'll have to come up with something Quaker-y that can supplement with going to Minter too. Who knows how long this will be my new life, but for now it feels right. After service today, we ate at The Royal Oak (fish and chips again!), and then I came home and napped for a little bit. Post-nap, I did the 45 minutes of prayer we are assigned to do each week for the worship class I'm taking, and then I finished up other homework to get prepared for class tomorrow. It's been a good day and end to the weekend!

Art, Movies, and Pie

The Ashmolean was the first museum open to the public in the whole world. When I headed out there, I thought it would be a nice, but small university sponsored museum--boy, was I wrong. The Ashmolean is 5 stories of art, and it's FREE! We saw Monet, Van Gogh, Rubens, and a mummified cat to give you a small taste of what's there. Kirsten and I went out to get dessert, which ended up consisting of pie with lots of good whipped cream. After we got back, we ate dinner and got everyone together to watch The Blair Witch Project in the common room. Yet another fun day in the UK!

It's important to begin a search on a full stomach--Henry Bromel

GIANT Pomegranates 

Consensus here is that we are always hungry! We eat all the time, but regardless of how much we eat, we are still hungry two hours later. I have three theories for why this may be. 1) The food here has fewer preservatives and is fresher, so it doesn't fill us with junk. 2) We are walking EVERYWHERE, so we burn a million calories a day. 3) It's also possible that the food is just so good that we can't get enough of it!!! The open market was yesterday, and I got lots of fresh potatoes, carrots, fruit, and cheese. I got groceries for a week there for less than 5 pounds I bet. Tonight, our friends Nicole and Julia made us yummy tacos to satisfy our mexican food cravings. Don't believe the myth that British food is gross and flavorless--it's a dream! I'm already looking forward to my next meal.

Poundland

It's like Candyland, and everything is one pound. Enough said.

What? You mean we have to go to classes too?

Well it's been fun--too bad classes started today (and they've already given us gobs of homework to do). I really enjoy the classes themselves, but after class, I want to go out and explore the city--not type papers in a little room. Ahh well that's life. In the break we had between classes, I went out with Kait and Audrey to go shopping at Primemark (AKA a better version of Forever 21). We also ate at On the Hoof for the first time, which is a great little sandwich shop right down the block from us run by a Brazilian family. I had a spicy chicken, pesto, and mozzarella sandwich that was toasted on a baguette. Great food for pretty cheap! I'll be going back there for sure. Tonight after dinner, I stood outside the church where C.S. Lewis attended, and I found out something very cool. Right outside the door where he would have exited each week is another door with the engraving of a lion on it (where he got the idea for Aslan), there are two fawns on the left and right sides of the door (Mr. Tumnus), and to the right of the door is the lamppost from the book. Yeah, that was awesome to see. Sadly, the quality of the photo is bad because it was dark when we went by, but I'll get a better picture next time to post. Hopefully, you can still get the main idea from it. Such great history in this city!

My Royal Wedding

This morning I woke up and went to the Sunday wedding fair. About 6 girls and I showed up at the Randolph Hotel where we showed up just in time for the wedding dress fashion show. It was all very posh and fancy, and we felt super cool just being there and being waited on. After the fashion show, there were booths and booths of wedding venues, wedding cake makers, photographers, designers, and florists. Everyone pretended that it was me getting married (because I put my puzzle ring on my ring finger), and they were all my bridesmaids. We went around and sampled cakes, got free flowers, planned my honeymoon, and got lots of free goodies. June 6th is the big day just in case you were wondering . It was an awesome afternoon with the girls! After we played wedding, we went to the covered market where we got what are known as the best milkshakes in town--and it turns out that they are! They're pretty fabulous. We then headed back home, finished up homework, and got ready for church. Church was at St. Aldates (a very evangelical Catholic church). Now I'm eating brie on a baguette for dinner! I can be French AND British.

I love the choices

When I was signing up for a library card here in Oxford, I had to fill out a small questionnaire with my name, address, etc., but I was surprised by how many choices for title pop up (regularly) for people here in the UK. I guess the old Mr. Mrs. Miss. Ms. thing just doesn't cut it here.

The Life of Requirement

Port Meadow at Sunset

St. Peters Church and the adjoining cemetery 

Overlooking Port Meadow from the bridge

Written on the inside of my closet is Room of Requirement and was left for me by study abroad alumni. The thing is, it's totally true! I have everything I need here (besides all of y'all of course)! Take today for example--today I woke up, got some homework done, ate a bagel, and got dressed. After that I went for a walk up to Port Meadow in Wolvercote (6 miles), and I saw beautiful bridges, churches, homes, inns, and landscapes. So much of Oxford was built in the 12th or 14th centuries, which means that everything looks rustic and old because it actually is. I ate at the Trout Inn overlooking the Themes (a meal of swordfish, salmon, and broccoli in a light chili sauce)! WOW it was amazing!! The fish just melted in my mouth. I also drank something called Elderflower Presse; the Elderflower is native to England, and the drink is mixed up with a soda. Sweet and delicious! It was nice to get out of the city and be able to see what it's like out in the countryside where the sheep are grazing and little British kids are playing outside. Life is good in the UK.

Great first day

Great weather here! It's cold, but the sun is out and everything is GREEN! I have been trying so hard to stay wake tonight, even though I already LITERALLY (and I'm using it correctly) fell asleep standing up today. Whew....it's only 6 p.m. here, and we all want to go to sleep already. About 20 of us are watching a movie together trying to stay awake, and earlier we went to a cute pub where we ate fish and chips, which are delicious by the way! I have nothing bad to say about food in the UK so far. Updates to follow.

Greetings from the flip side....of the Atlantic!

Soooo I'm never coming home!!! I'm living in a house that was built in 1880, and our room overlooks old house after old house after gothic cathedral. That deserves a WOW! 

We had a little blip this morning when a woman in terminal D (same as ours) got through security and onto the plane with a gun. Whoopssss! I wasn't able to sleep on the plane either--I was just too uncomfortable :( On the other hand, when the plane landed, I was in London, so who cares at that point, right? Long story short, I love it here. More pictures to follow, but the snap shot on the right is the view I have from my desk. The picture on the left is my roommate Courtney in front of house 10! We are off to go on a city tour next, so I'll update when I can. <3