Final Moments

(Above: photo of my closest friends from the trip at our banquet night)

Today marks the finale to my Oxford adventures. My plane leaves tomorrow morning both to my dismay and excitement. I'm sad to leave but also ready to see my home again. Mostly, I'm reluctant to give up the great dynamic we've all shared as a group --one that I'm sure we cannot exactly recreate and which, for that, has more value.

The last activity of note in which I participated was a tour of the Bodleian Library. It dates to the 1400s and contains every book published in England since then. It houses dozens of reading rooms, and visitors cannot actually access the library. Those who can prove the legitimacy of their research may use its facilities, and it's meant as an Oxford University library. The Bodleian has several branches in Oxford, and a tunnel system connects them. In fact, the Radcliffe Square sits on top of a tunnel containing over one million books! I had never seen so many in one place, and the magnificence of their age and significance was breath taking. It was a perfect end to my trip and a culmination of why I study English: books are amazing worlds unto themselves.

Tomorrow I depart leaving behind some friends and taking with me memories I'll carry forever.

Frolicking

For our last full day of fun, we decided to (finally) go punting on the Isis. It has taken us long enough, and, although we meant to go countless times, something else always got in the way. The boys from our college agreed to take us, so we walked to the punts, split up into boats and began. A punt is basically a long, flat boat in which 5 people can sit and 1 person can punt (standing). Unlike a canoe, it's easier to balance upon, but we did see a couple of people fall in despite that. Anyway, in order to punt, the punter drops a really long (and heavy) metal pole down to the bottom of the river and then uses it to push off. That thrusts the punt forward in whichever direction it's facing. You can turn the punt by pushing off from the side of the boat, and you can steer the punt with the pole like a rudder once the boat is moving. I had seen it done many times before and watched it each time I ran along the river. It never seemed too difficult, but I was so wrong. It's difficult. The British boys punted us for the most part, but we did have turns trying to do it ourselves, and my turn proved disastrous. I ended up in a tree several times, and the only progress we made was to go in a circle. Most of us couldn't do it at all, but one of my friends ended up really getting the hang of it and becoming a true punter! We had a race between the punts (there were four of us) and my punter won! As we glided along, the ducks came up with in inches of the punts, which I really loved.

Immediately after punting, everyone headed over to the park for some football (translation: soccer). It would be the final game, and I believe it went well. We have some really good soccer players among us; many of the girls played in high school or on club teams, and the guys are from Europe so that pretty much means they've been playing since birth.

As our last group time, our college and professors hosted a banquet for us last night. We returned from soccer to shower quickly and get ready for the evening. It began with a group photo followed by champagne on the lawn. Everyone really looked nice, and we had a good time reminiscing about our time on the trip and our favorite things. It was relatively formal, and I loved seeing everyone looking fancy. We had dinner together, and the college really went all out in the presentation and the food. Yum! We had to clear out of the hall after dinner, however, because they needed to move the tables and chairs in order to make room for our Regency dancing lesson. Yes, that's right: Regency dancing as in the eighteenth century. My Jane Austen professor contacted a lady from a Regency dancing circle in Oxford which meets regularly and asked her to come teach us. She agreed, so we spent a few hours learning various country dances as they would have done in Jane Austen's time. It was really fun, and, even though I wasn't very good, I was really appreciative of the opportunity to learn something so locked in the past.

We all went out after the banquet and enjoyed one of our last nights together. I can't believe today is our last day, and tomorrow I'll be back in The States. It's bittersweet, really, because I'm sad about leaving but excited to see home again.

London: 8.14.2008

With a few things left to see in London, two friends and I decided to wade through the rain and take our last visit to that huge metropolis. First, we ate lunch. We left later than planned because we still had to attend class in the morning, and our stomachs demanded that we indulge them when our train came to a stop. Luckily, Amanda brought her guidebook and we found in it a reference to a middle eastern restaurant. It turned out to be very Mom & Pop, and the owners cooked everything right before our eyes. The portions were huge and inexpensive, and we were treated with the greatest amount of generosity and cordiality we've found in England so far. It was great and we left very full. Perhaps, too full.
The next stop was The British Museum where we saw some specific things of note: The Rosetta Stone, wall pieces and statues from the entrance of Palace of Tiglath-Pilser III at Numrud, Lely's Venus (Aphrodite), Parthenon Metopes, representations of spirits from various island nations, tombs for Egyptian kings, and a statue from Easter Island. I also enjoyed one more modern display called "Cradle to Grave Pharmacopeia", which followed two average British citizens throughout their entire lives (fictional citizens representative of the whole), and measured the medicinal intake of each. It was something like 14,000 doses of medicines of various kinds over the span of a lifetime, and the creators sewed into a thin cloth slots with pills in them to represent the amount.

After that, we went to The British Library, which we intended to go to first but weren't as close to. The guidebook we had said that it stayed open until 8, but it actually only stayed open until 5:30 or something, and we were too late to go in. Only special academics and librarians can go in after that time for the last few hours of the evening. So, that was a huge disappointment because it was one of the main things I wanted to see on this trip, but somehow it managed to slip between the cracks.

One of my friends hadn't been to Buckingham Palace, so we went by there for a quick picture and then left London for Oxford.

Botanic Gardens and St. Mary's Cathedral

Last weekend, I skipped writing about some more of my Oxford adventures. Many of my friends left the country (some went to Rome, and I wished a little bit that I had gone with them), but I was happy to stay in Oxford in order to see some of the things I had left until the end. My college almost abuts Radcliffe Camera, one of the libraries in the Bodelian Library network. Next to that, St. Mary's Cathedral towers over the square, and on Sunday we decided to climb it. No, it didn't involve repelling gear or harnesses, but the 160 steps to the top through a narrow winding staircase give an idea of how lofty it really is. The view, once you reach the highest part, is breathtaking. We walked all the way around the ledge and saw a 360 degree view of Oxford. I peered into my college and saw the staircase where I live; I soaked up the amazing view of the main road, High Street; I admired the spires seen on high; and I couldn't believe that I had come to know everything I could see in front of me. When we first arrived in Oxford, it felt comfortable and accessible almost immediately (as I've said), and looking down on it in our last weekend made me feel slightly nostalgic and sentimental about all that we've done here together.

I also visited the Botanic Gardens, which didn't meet my expectations, to be honest. I did, however, love the lily pads and lilies on the little fountain ponds. Those were my favorite, in addition to walking along the Isis and looking at the rows of punts (boats for punting). Because England has such vibrant gardens everywhere, it was hard to set this one apart as something unique. I know it had representations of plants from all over the world, but it looked familiar, and I was hoping it would be different. Still, I admired the beautiful layout and enjoyed a relaxing stroll through the paths there.

Lyme Regis: A Trans-England Adventure

For my very last trip outside of Oxford, I went with 17 other students and a few professors to Lyme Regis, a seaside town made popular by literature. Normally, it's the other way around, but Jane Austen and others wrote so fervently about Lyme that it acted as a self-fulfilling prophecy and became the place those authors imagined it could. It was incredibly windy and rainy, but truly beautiful and my only chance to see a British beach. We first drove up and I saw people in the water, and my thought was "they must have wet suits on". They did not. I saw children almost completely naked running around the rocky beach and my head spun. How they managed the cold, wind and rain, not to mention the icy water, is completely beyond me. I now have an entirely new appreciation for sea bathers in Jane Austen's lifetime. They bathed in the winter because, at the time doctors thought it was most beneficial at that time of year. Yowza!

Let me back-track some, though: our first stop was Chawton. We saw the grave sites of both Jane Austen's mother and sister Cassandra. She and Cassandra wrote letters to one another throughout Jane's life, and they were as close as can be. Austen lived at Chawton for a period of her life, and it was definitely the only home we've seen that I could even consider moving into next week. It felt safe, it's sizable enough while remaining quaint, and the property around it is gorgeous. Madison and I pet the horses as we walked down the main stretch from the road to the house. I can see how almost magical it would have been to ride your carriage through that row of trees where the church ahead stood out to you and called you home.

The bus ride was long -- several hours each way -- but I read and slept and it flew by. I'd definitely do it again, and hope to spend more time in Lyme than we were able to do today.

Lachoc Abbey

Today, I went to Lachoc Abbey in the county of Wiltshire only a little over an hour from Oxford. Lachoc, most importantly, hosted film crews for the "Harry Potter" series among other movies such as: "The Other Boelyn Girl", "Moll Flanders", "Emma", "Cranford", and "Pride and Prejudice". As it happens, Lachoc was once the home and property of the first photographer ever. Pretty amazing, actually. We hoped for beautiful weather, but the skies had another idea. Despite the incessant rain and cold, we had a lovely time.

We took a train at 9 AM and a taxi from the Chippenham train station into Lachoc. Once there, it was straight to the cloister for us where, and this is the best part, the courtyard and outdoor hallway in "Harry Potter" were filmed. It looked exactly like the movie because, well, it was. I didn't realize how completely ecstatic I would be to see the places where all of those great "witches" and "wizards" walked, but I really was; a "kid in a candy shop" doesn't even do my reaction justice. We documented this leg of the adventure amply -- let me just say that it included a duel involving some pens (translation: wands), and I'll leave it at that. Next, we wandered the perimeter a bit and the "Dark Forest" nearby. We even saw a shack with a moss covered roof that, we imagined, would house Hagrid quite nicely, even though it didn't.

Tea time was at a local bakery where our professor made friends with a former clergyman and resident of Lachoc. He told us where to eat and about the town a bit, including a great anecdote about watching Judi Dench stroll the street in front of that very shop during filming! After tea, we strolled the town some more and then proceeded to a pub where we had a deliciously warm vegetable soup and a spread of cheeses, onion, tomato, bread, and chutney. By this time my lips were purple, my hands numb, and my nose an ice cube, so the warmth and sustenance came just in time.

After lunch, other stops included: a woolen shop, which is exactly what it sounds like: a place where everything is made of wool, a soap shop with varieties of handmade soaps, a potter's shop with handmade pottery, jewelry stores, and also the Village Hall. The Village Hall was my favorite because the weavers, spinners and dyers had set up shop inside as a sort of guild meeting in hopes of selling their wares. I walked into the modest room thinking it would be a huge bust, but we ended up getting to learn how to spin and weave wool. It was SO much fun and thank God I didn't bring ample amounts of cash with me because, had I, I might have bought a "traveler" (traveling spinner) right then and there. I picked it up fairly easily and this very sweet elderly lady taught me how to press the pedals while feeding the wool through the machine. Weaving was also a lot of fun because we learned about making patterns and changing the knobs to reflect them. Entertainment and education in unexpected places, I suppose. My favorite quote of the day happened at the Village Hall, as well. Our professor asked about whether or not one can actually spin dog hair, since a friend of hers had allegedly done so, and the elderly lady said very seriously,"well if you spin a dog..." and went on to describe the technique of mixing dog hair with wool. Not what I expected.

I think we drank more tea and wandered through more random shops than I have so far on this trip, and I loved it. It was quaint and the time flew by. We were sloppy and soaking, but happy. At one point, Madison (9 years old) splashed me and said "oh I'm sorry. I just splashed you because I affectionate you". That made my day complete and will make me smile every time I think of it.

Thursday 8.7.08

Yesterday was a fairly lazy day around Oxford. I went to class, and then most of my friends left town or the country. A few of us remain here, but the group has dwindled to a small fraction of its original size. I had a play date with Madison, the sweetest little girl in this world, and I really enjoyed catching up with her. This past year we spent a lot of time together, since I was her regular babysitter, but it had been a few weeks since we got to play and talk one-on-one. It always amazes me how polite and considerate she is, and as I continue to watch her grow up she continues to impress me more and more.

I got tea with my friend Brittyne, went for a run, read some of my book, and at night I hung out with some friends from Texas and Oxford. I'm looking forward to a weekend of Oxford sites and relaxing afternoons. Today, I believe the Olympics begin, but I don't think I have access to a television. Also, today is 8.8.08 which is bound to be lucky.

Hamlet and Kenilworth Castle

The last few days in Oxford have been spent playing football (soccer), editing the last paper for my course, and recuperating after Dublin. Yesterday, however, we packed in several activities starting with Kenilworth Castle. It's located on the edge of Warwickshire almost in the West Midlands, and Robert Dudley gave it to Queen Elizabeth I during her reign. She lived there and much of it still stands, although it was partially destroyed during a political and religious struggle after her time. Kenilworth sits inside of the wall that surrounds it on all sides. It once had a moat and, beyond that, a lake into the countryside. I suppose this would have made it difficult for invaders to enter, but now the water has all dried up and farmlands have taken its place. I really enjoyed this castle more than the others because, somehow, it seemed cozier. I could imagine a small community subsisting in that area, and jester entertaining the Queen at the Inner Court. I enjoyed the view from the top and the kitchen area the most.

After Kenilworth, we climbed back onto our bus and headed to Anne Hathaway's cottage in Stratford. It was the family home of William Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway and, when he "courted" her, she lived there. It was in the Hathaway family for 300 years until The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust bought it in 1892. The cottage was everything one might expect from a tiny English home. It even had a roof with the appearance of having been made of thick straw! I think I liked that best because it looked like something out of a fairy tale like Hansel and Gretel or Little Red Riding Hood. Her cottage garden was the most exquisite that I've ever seen. I didn't even know so many flowers could grow like that, and I'm realizing how much water matters in lush gardening. It would never be possible in Texas, and that may be why it seems so novel to me. My pamphlet on the garden brags 4000 Geraniums, 2000 Fuchsias, 1500 hanging baskets, 30,000 wall flowers, 800 Polyanthus, 2000 Pansies, 500 Violas, 1000 Bellies Daises, 10,000 bedding plants and 5000 bulbs planted per year!

We finished the tour of Anne Hathaway's cottage and grounds and then went further into Stratford for dinner and 'the Shakespeare stuff'. I had already seen the museum and his birthplace, which I enjoyed a second time with a friend of mine who had not seen it, but other than that we just ate dinner before heading to the play the Royal Shakespeare Company. Hamlet was my favorite of the four we saw for a few reasons: I knew it the best before walking in to view it, Patrick Stewart and David Tennant both acted in it and were amazing, and it held my attention for the full 3 and a half hours despite my weariness from the day. The actors spoke clearly, the scene transitions were seamless, and it was funny. They couldn't have chosen better actors for the roles, and it was really cool to sit so close to some huge names even in Hollywood. For those who are unfamiliar: Patrick Stewart lead in movies such as XMen, Star Trek, Animal Farm, etc, and has acted in a total of 102 films. He was nominated for three Emmy's and two Golden Globes for his roles in "Extras", "The Lion in Winter", and "Moby Dick". David Tennett is primarily famous for his acting in "Doctor Who" as well as, more recently, his role as Barty Crouch Junior in "Harry Potter".

We finished the night and, with it, our last group outing before heading back to The States. It was sad that the plays are over, but what a great note to end on!

Dublin

My new favorite Irish song, "Galway Girl", was the first song I heard in Dublin. It was just after we arrived when we stopped into a local pub called O'Shea's and heard it:

"Well, I took a stroll on the old long walk
Of a day -I-ay-I-ay
I met a little girl and we stopped to talk
Of a fine soft day -I-ay-I-ay
And I ask you, friend, what's a fella to do
'Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue
And I knew right then I'd be takin' a whirl
'Round the Salthill Prom with a Galway girl

We were halfway there when the rain came down
Of a day -I-ay-I-ay
And she asked me up to her flat downtown
Of a fine soft day -I-ay-I-ay
And I ask you, friend, what's a fella to do
'Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue
So I took her hand and I gave her a twirl
And I lost my heart to a Galway girl

When I woke up I was all alone
With a broken heart and a ticket home
And I ask you now, tell me what would you do
If her hair was black and her eyes were blue
I've traveled around I've been all over this world
Boys I ain't never seen nothin' like a Galway girl"

Dublin was a whirlwind. It took four trains, one ferry and over seven hours to get from Oxford to Dublin, but once we were there we instantly fell in love with it. Of everywhere I've been, never have I met a kinder people. All of the locals we encountered wanted to help us and went out of their way to do so. Everyone in Dublin has a smile for you and, when we told our Irish taxi driver how friendly we thought they were, he said, "it costs nothing to give a smile".

Our first stop in Dublin was dinner, O'Shea's and then the hostel where we crashed after so much travel. To give an idea, we could almost have gone all the way to the US if we had been on a plane! The next morning, we woke up bright and early, had breakfast at the hostel, and headed out to tour the city. We saw City Hall, open street markets, Temple Bar (not a bar but an area of town where there are lots of bars and shops and culture), St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Guinness Storehouse, and the Dublin Castle.

I bought a photo of the James Joyce statue. He wrote during his lifetime: "I want to give a picture of Dublin so complete that if the city suddenly disappeared from the earth it could be reconstructed out of my book," and it's kind of cool to have seen his city. He lived from 1882 until 1941 and wrote, famously, "Ulysses", "The Dubliners" (a collection of short stories) and "Finnegans Wake" among others.

St. Patrick's Cathedral was beautiful despite the renovations underway on its steeple. St. Patrick baptized converts to Christianity at a well that once existed in the park alongside the Cathedral, and because of this association with St. Patrick, the church has stood since the fifth century!! In 1191, the Normans built a church in stone on the site, which was rebuilt to its present condition in the thirteenth century. A spire was added in 1749. I still can't believe how old it is and that I walked on the ground where actual Normans walked. Incredible. It's still in use today as a place of worship, actually.

My other favorite trip was the one we took to the Guinness Storehouse. We arrived and actually kind of snuck into a tour... bad, I know, but there you have it. You start out with a view of the contract for the property, which says that Guinness can operate on that property for 9,000 years. I don't think their time is running out any time soon. Next, we walked through rooms with the various ingredients and learned about all of those. We saw some of the old machines used for making the beer, and tasted Guinness made right there. It was really good, and I don't even like beer all that much. My friends and I finally arrived at the very top of the Storehouse, and the locals were right: it's the best view of Dublin. It's almost a 360 degree view (with the exception of the stairwell, which has a solid wall behind it), and they serve complimentary Guinness up there. It reminded me of a posh loft party. Some of the window panes had information about the city below on them, which I really enjoyed. Dublin is really beautiful, and I love looking at metropolitan areas from on high. It's amazing how much fits in such a small space and how intricately everything winds and opens and closes around everything else.

On Saturday night, Vannessa, Amanda, Nina and I went to the Temple Bar area to see what the nightlife was like. We had a blast and, although we only got a couple of hours of sleep, it was well worth it. I was surprised to see middle aged men and women out at all hours of the morning partying it up. Friday night we had noticed that, too. It was 1 AM and they were still singing along to the traditional Irish musicians in the bar. On Saturday, we met some local Irishmen and some Scots. One man I met was a diver. He goes to the bottom of fish farms and collects the dead fish. Kind of gross, but interesting and unique to be sure. Sometimes the music was traditional and sometimes it wasn't, but it was always fun.

The real complexities came on Sunday when we tried to get home. Let me back track: two of my friends forgot their passports, but when we got to the ferry, the Irish government let them through anyway. So, we worried that they wouldn't get back through. This plunged us all into a great deal of consternation out of which we emerged with a copy of one of their passports, a sweet smile for the immigration patrol, and high hopes. My friends were really worried, especially after a few more hours of travel to get to that point. Funnily, after all of that and getting someone from a hotel involved (we love Kathy!) because of our need of a fax machine, no one checked anything at immigration. In fact, no one was there at all.
After the passport scenarios, we rode our trains until the second one, which was behind schedule and consequently pushed us back far enough to miss our next train. So, we ended up getting re-routed through two different cities, finally ending up in some tiny town where we took station-provided taxis back to Oxford. It was insane, but we made it at 1 AM. What a trip!

Today I'm recovering from the lack of sleep and preparing for a busy week ahead.