My House and Bedroom

The UGA house! I will take a picture when it is sunnier someday. 

Our bedroom-it looks like a boarding school room to us. There is no color in the room and no bulletin boards for us to hang things up as decoration.

My bed and area. I am keeping it very straight! And I found a pink hamper for 1 pound!

My half of the wardrobe. We also have chests under our beds for storage. I can barely get everything put away, but I manage somehow.

Stratford-upon-Avon

Today we traveled to Stratford-upon-Avon. We were able to visit Shakespeare's birthplace. Apparently his parents were very wealthy because they had so many rooms. They also had a guest bed that was kept on display in the parlor. Apparently that was so everyone could tell the Shakespeares were wealthy because people did not often receive guests. I think it was a waste of money because no one slept in it.

After Shakespeare's childhood home, we visited the home of his eldest daughter who married a doctor. They were also very wealthy because they had windows with glass. We ate lunch there too. I did not like it. We had jacket potatoes (baked potatoes) with various toppings. I had coronation chicken; it is like chicken salad heavily flavored with saffron and cumin. It is BRIGHT yellow and has raisins in it instead of celery. It would taste much better over rice.

After lunch we were able to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Romeo and Juliet. It was very well done. They had lots of light, smoke and fire effects which made everything more exciting (and Romeo and Juliet can always use some livening up). After the play was over we headed back to the coach for the hour ride home. Then two of my roommates and myself went out for a yummy italian dinner-lots of garlic! I finished up the day by preparing myself for all of my work I have to do tomorrow! School starts Monday (and I have a paper due first thing).

Walking Tour of Oxford

Today we went on a walking tour of Oxford for our first full day. Debbie was our tour guide and informed us that she was "a townie and not a gownie." She showed us the Bodelian library, took us into Exter College's Chapel (very pretty), and pointed us towards shops useful and cheap for necessities.

After Debbie was done we all grabbed a quick bite to eat, and prepared for our Bodelian introduction. At the Bodelian Library, a librarian told us the history of the library. It was founded by Thomas Bodely because the University did not have a library shared by each College (each College had its own library). What is really neat about the Bodelian Library is a deal that was made at the library's beginnings. Every book published in the United Kingdom has to be given to the library first; each Wednesday the library receives around 5000 books! Right now their collection holds about 10 million books. Some books are stored off location, so you have to wait 3 to 4 days for them. Other books that are stored underground, the librarians will find and send to you in 3 to 4 hours.

At the library we had to swear an oath in our "native tongue" that we would not take books from the library (it's not a lending library) or burn the library down. I  agreed to this and received a library card with my picture so I can now go in there whenever I want. The library is just for students and professors. Some areas people can pay to go in and look at (like where Harry Potter was filmed).

One more fact about the Bodelian- they have a letter from King Charles I asking for a book, and the head librarian refused the King. So not even the royal family gets to borrow books from the library. It truly is not a lending library!

UGA at Oxford

I made it to the house this morning, arrived (I was the first), and waited to meet everyone. I'm living in a four girl room; I've never had so many roommates. However, we do have our own bath; that is very nice. I barely have enough closet space, but I did manage to unpack everything. Luckily I am also on the first floor (really the second, but here ground floor is floor zero), so I did not have to lug my bags too far. I need to take some pictures of my room for y'all!

No Pictures

Uploading pictures is not working on here. I seemed to have messed up the html and cannot figure out how to aline captions with the pictures. Sorry! I will try to figure something out soon.

However, today was very relaxing after Mom left. I came back to the college and organized my stuff before heading back into town for lunch. After lunch I returned the one textbook and did some reading for a long while (King Lear). Then I bought food for dinner and wandering up Banbury Street to look at the UGA house. It looks smaller in person, but I will finally get to go inside tomorrow!

Tomorrow will be very exciting!

Bye Mom!

Mom left this morning. She and I took a taxi at 7:30 to the bus depot, grabbed a bite to eat (a chocolate croissant-yum!), and then I put her on the bus. After that I walked back to Lady Margaret Hall.  Now I am all alone! I have to return one textbook today and then I'll probably find a nice place to read downtown. Oh, and I need to teach myself to sew on a button because I ran out of time to have Mom do it.

Yesterday was very pleasant. We missed all of the hard rain; we had a fine mist sometimes. We ate breakfast at the college and then headed downtown. We wandered around Oxford for a while and ended up at Oxford Castle around 11:30. Oxford Castle was built in 1070s and was a jail up until the 1990s. We climbed the Saxon tower and then went toured different sections of the Castle. After the Castle we grabbed a sandwich at the restaurant there and walked around more of Oxford. We made a detour so I could buy some of the textbooks I needed (I also got an Oxford sweatshirt). We then found a place to have a scone and clotted cream. After tea we went back to the college for a rest before dinner. We grabbed a light dinner back in town and went home for the night so Mom could pack. We were able to skype with David, Sharon and Carly! Carly is already bigger than the last time I saw her.

I will be posting pictures today, so look for them tomorrow.

Oxford!

We made it Oxford! After running to American Express so Mom could pick up a temporary card, we headed back to Paddington Station to catch a train to Oxford. The train ride was very nice, only about 50 minutes. We checked in at Lady Margaret Hall College (where the Porters keep teasing me because I am "from Keble College"). After settling in we tried to walk through the park into town. After a while of wandering, someone informed us that we were heading to the town next to Oxford. We did a quick about face and actually headed into Oxford. We did some shopping (towels, toiletries for me) and grabbed an early dinner around 3. We did stop in the Church of the Virgin Mary which is the church of Oxford University. It is around 1000 years old. Tomorrow we are planning on doing the major site seeing.

Sunday in London

Julia and I had breakfast this morning in the hotel (we missed yesterday's breakfast) and then walked to the Marble Arch and caught the Big Bus tour of London.  It included most of the famous London sites as well as a short cruise on the River Thames (from Parliament to the Tower of London).  It was very nice weather today--no rain and even some sun.  After the tour, we walked from Trafalgar Square to Covent Gardens and then found the Lyceum Theater where we had tickets for a matinee performance of the Lion King.  We stopped for a bite to eat in a nice sandwich shop just across from the theater.

Unfortunately for us, we found out about crime in the city.  While we were eating a man distracted us on one side while his compatriot removed my pocketbook from the counter.  So no theater tickets, no credit cards, no tube tickets, and no driver's license.  Thank goodness, I had left my passport in the hotel room.  We had already purchased a cell phone for Julia with international dialing set-up, so I called Ed and he was able to get a hold placed on my cards.  I'll be able to get a replacement AMEX card tomorrow morning and then we'll head for Oxford.  It was an unfortunate event but other than that we've had a great time.  We ate dinner tonight in a nice Greek restaurant close to the hotel.

We're Here!

We are here! It's very gray and rainy. I will post some pictures later!

We've visited Selfridges.  Saw the Rosetta Stone, an Easter Island monument, the Lindow Man, lots of mummies and sarcophagi, and lots of gold, carnelian and lapis lazuli jewelry from Mesopotamia in the British Museum.  We just returned from a wonderful dinner in a little Italian restaurant one block from the hotel.   Tomorrow we're taking a bus tour and seeing a matinee performance of the Lion King.

Gertrude

Gertrude is not ready for me to leave. She keeps breaking into my room early in the morning to bother me and get up on my bed.

She has really gotten into the Oxford spirit though!

Done Packing!!

So I finally finished packing!

All of my luggage (under the weight restriction of 50 lbs)!

It seems like for my 8 week trip 3 years ago I had a lot more luggage. I wish I could have that much!

Ode to Aunt Bubble

I've packed up my jewelry that I am taking. I labeled the box; Aunt Bubble should be proud.

Packing for Oxford

Mom and I are getting ready for England. So therefore I annexed David's old room as my staging room.