Fifth Week-First Week of Tutorials

Wow! This week marks the end of my first week of tutorials! It was a long week because my one seminar class, Shakespeare for non-majors, ran over into this week too. I had a paper due on Macbeth on Monday and our portfolio for that class due on Monday too, but she extended them both to Thursday at midnight so we could correct more of our papers!

My first tutorial was on Friday and I had a paper due for it Thursday at midnight with a list of reading to do. So on Monday I found the Sackler Library and checked my books out. Most of the other libraries in Oxford do not allow readers (aka students) to borrow books, but Sackler, the classics library, does. I'm the only UGA student using that library so I try not to brag too much because everyone has to hole up in a library and read all day long, whereas I can read in my room, outside, in a pub or wherever. I finished my papers up after working all week on english and prehistoric Europe and turned everything in at midnight on Thursday.

My tutorial on Friday went really well. My tutor's name is Wendy Morrison (I just googled for that website for y'all. Enjoy creeping on my tutor) and she is really nice. She liked my first paper a lot, which is a relief because she said in her email to me that first papers are usually rough for American students because we write in a different style. Tutorials can be really awkward because your tutor will ask you a question, sit there in silence, and stare you down as you sweat, fidget and attempt to answer it. V

My second tutorial lady, for Roman Britain, finally contacted me and we had our meeting right after my tutorial with Wendy. She seems nice. Her name is Zena Kamash (She didn't have a nice website with a picture). I've have tutorials with her on Thursdays at noon in Magdalen (pronounce maudlin) College.

Busy week, but my weekend should be relaxing.

Macbeth

We went to the Globe Theatre to see Macbeth on Sunday for my english class, but everyone was required to go. Some people were not pleased because our tutorials were starting in the upcoming week and everyone had way too much work to do. And the weather was nasty. Not to mention that they didn't buy enough actual sitting seats for everyone and some us (myself included) had to stand up in the yard for the whole play. It was kinda neat to stand up the entire time because we had to stand under this black tarp and stick our heads through the holes. We were poor souls in the underworld. It was a very good production and I enjoyed it immensely.

We passed St. Peter's on the way.

I was really excited to walk across the Millennium Bridge. You should recognize as the bridge that the Death Eaters blow up in Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince movie.

We had to wait for the play to start.

Rachel and I were not excited about our seats.

The Globe

Inside of the Globe

Fourth Week

It was my last week of seminars. I had a paper on King Lear due on Wednesday and my final religion paper on the wisdom writings due on Thursday. The teachers here love back-to-back papers. Unfortunately my english teacher had a wonderful idea of one extra class, so my last english class will be next week when we discuss Macbeth. So now I get to work on my tutorials and a class that was supposed to end this week.

I met with one of my tutors today as a preliminary meeting. She seemed nice, but I've heard that all tutors all nice outside of class. :) She assigned me a lot of reading for next week. When I described to mom the amount of reading I am supposed to do, she thought it was for the entire semester. I'm think the tutors know that this amount of reading isn't possible. I mean she told me not to spend my weekend in the library and to "enjoy some pints," but to do that there is no way I could read everything. So we'll see how I do this upcoming week.

We are planning on going out tonight to celebrate the end of tutorials. And on Sunday we have to go to the Globe to see a performance of Macbeth.

Windsor Castle

On Saturday we (myself, Rachel, Sarah Smith, Jake, Ali and Zach) went to Windsor Castle. It is huge! I had no idea how big the Castle is. The Castle basically is the town of Windsor. We were not allowed to take pictures of the inside, but it is very lovely and I would recommend visiting it if you are in England. On the inside you can see Queen Mary's Doll House. It was given to her from her family and was a miniature replica of Buckingham place-complete with actual silver plates in the dining room and miniature crown jewels made from gemstones (makes your fisher price doll house look a little less awesome). After that you wander through the State rooms, but no pictures allowed still. A lot of these rooms burned in the late 90s due to faulty wiring and they had to be completely rebuilt. It must have been very expensive.

Rachel is ready to leave.

The train station at Windsor. It is very nice.

Here are some shots of the castle.

This is the keep. It has a pretty garden that surrounds it.

Knights of the Garter are based here. There are usually 21 knights plus the Queen and the Prince of Wales.

St. George's Cathedral. This is where the Knights are based. You aren't allowed to take pictures here either. They have service here everyday and anyone can attend.

Soldiers. We had to get out of the way of a group of them because they did not look like they were moving. Sarah and I were sure they would just run us over or yell at us.

Front entrance where there is a large park with a looong driveway.

Eton College is across the river there. The Princes didn't have far to go home for vacation.

Shortest street in England. I walked it.

Sir Christopher Wren

Third Week

This week was LONG, but in a short amount of time! I had 3 papers due this week back-to-back-to-back.
First up was Hamlet on Monday. The topic was words in Hamlet; that was not too bad because Hamlet talks a lot.
And then my religion paper on Amos and Isaiah was due on Tuesday.
And to close it out I had a paper on As You Like It due Wednesday. For that play we wrote about boys playing girls playing boys playing girls.
The amount of sleep I got in those three days was minimal. Not to mention I called Mom at 1AM her time to ask her a question about the paper she edited for me. It's a good thing I'm her favorite daughter. ;)

Wednesday afternoon my friends and I went out for tea to celebrate making it through those first few days. After that I crashed for the rest of the night.

Luckily after that was all done I could bum around Thursday and Friday (no classes!). And by bum around I mean frantically catching up on reading for next week.

On Saturday we are going to Windsor Castle for the day. It's only about a little over an hour away by train. I'm looking forward to the break.

Bath, part 3: Park and Fashion Museum

To end our trip in Bath we walked up the street (Bath is built on a hill) to see the Circus and Royal Crescent. The Circus and The Royal Crescent were built by John Wood the Elder and finished by his son, John Wood the Younger in the 1700s. They are supposed to be excellent examples of Georgian architecture. They are really beautiful. The Circus is a circle of townhouses that surround a small center green. The Royal Crescent is in front of a gorgeous park. We took a nap there in the afternoon before heading to the fashion museum. I could definitely live in one of those mansions.

The fashion museum has the Upper Assembly rooms where Jane Austen (and later her characters) attended balls and parties. They are very lovely. In the basement of the Assembly rooms is where the fashion museum is located. We got to try on some corsets and hoop skirts. It was too fun!

After the fashion museum, we had tea at the Jane Austen center and then wandered around Bath for about 2 more hours before grabbing a quick bite to eat and catching the train back. We got to the train station about 60 minutes early where a police man decided to talk to us for a good 45 minutes. He was very nice but odd. He definitely used first conversations no-no's-he talked to us about religion, politics, and school shootings in America. Oh, and the "trots" that the Bath water can give you.

I added a couple more pictures to Bath, part 2. I had to get them from my friend. Here are the rest of my pictures!

Here's a place where Jane Austen stayed in Bath. 25 Gay Street

Here is the Circus

And the Royal Crescent

The Park

Sedan Chair. People would ride around in these to come to the Assembly Room or to visit people. It required two servants. You could also rent one like a taxi today.

A Push Chair. This require only one servant and the rider could "drive."

The Ballroom at the Upper Assembly rooms

The Octantal Room at the Upper Assembly rooms

Another Pig Statue at the Assembly Rooms

Fashion Museum fun

Tea Time

End of the day

Bath, part 2: Roman Baths and Lunch

Today I'm posting pictures from the Roman Baths tour. I did this tour in 8th grade with Aunt Bubble, Aunt Kit, Mom and Jessica, but it was really neat going back to see it again. The audio guide is very informative as well. My first pictures are of the outside square.

This is the Pump Room- very important in Jane Austen literature. Everyone goes to the Pump Room to see who's in town. You can eat tea there, but we had tea at the Jane Austen Center later.

Inside of the Baths.

First view of the main pool. Can you imagine that this was lying buried under all of the stuff they built up around it? Amazing!

Statues lining the pool

Archway connecting buildings

Pretty mosaic floor they put back together

Tombstone. All of the tombstones showed in the museum are huge!

Me in front the Bath. I have this same photo from 7 years ago!

Creepy re-enactors. I didn't go talk to them.

A neat coincidence was where we ate lunch. We actually ate in the same restaurant that I ate at 7 years ago! Aunt Bubble, the bread was still delicious! The archway into the restaurant is very short; however, I fit perfectly under it.

River Avon-view from our restaurant. Avon means river, thus the name of this river is River River. Very redundant.

Old Post Office. The first piece of mail in England was sent from Bath