June 7, 2016

On the fifth of June, I finished A Farewell to Arms quickly after waking up. The weather forecast said we would be in the upper 70s and sunny, so I knew I had to be outside some today. Oh my gosh. Today did not disappoint. Around two o'clock this afternoon, a few of the girls and I left to run some errands in town. I ordered a sweatshirt for my college at Oxford and my roommate picked up some of her books for her tutorial. After this, we considered going to the Oxford Botanical Gardens because it was so beautiful outside. The sun made everyone in Oxford so much cheerier; no more umbrellas or coats. Everyone was in shorts and t-shirts. It was amazing. 

 

                

Either way, we decided to go ahead to the botanical gardens because we knew they would be enjoyable. And they really didn't disappoint either. The gardens are beautiful, so green and right alongside the River Thames. The cool breeze off the river was so nice, not at all biting like it was in London. We wandered the gardens for a while, taking in the rooms dedicated to plants from places like South America and Texas -- yeah, they had a room for just Texas. The plants were very cool, but the most fun was when we noticed that people were punting down the river. Punting is a big thing in England; we've all been told that everyone at Oxford looks forward to punting throughout the school year. So obviously, we had to have a go. Punting actually is a lot like you'd imagine riding a gondola in Italy would be like. One of the girls rowed and the rest of us pushed the other boats away when we would inevitably bump into each other. Punting can also be called bumper boats -- get it, like bumper cars? Anyway, we did that for an hour or so. After the punting, we had dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant called Ask Italiatian. I had carbonara, which was amazing! Today was so, so nice. I dread having to get back into my essay tonight and tomorrow.

On June sixth, I went out quite early to check out some books from the library at Christ Church. It was so early that city centre was empty, which rarely happens here. I got my two books on Hemingway and hurried back because I had so much left to write on my paper. After my day off punting, I had plenty of stuff to do. It took me most of the day to finish my paper and I had to be mostly done because we were going to formal dinner. The formal dinners are basically an excuse to wear a robe over your clothes and call it fancy. Did we all wear heels there? Yes. Did anyone else? Well, yes and no! As it so happens, people wear whatever they want to these dinners. Formal just means the robe has to be worn. And the dinner is served to you by waiters. It's very posh, as the Brits would say. I didn't have any pictures to take at this as we were all sweaty and exhausted. We sat next to very local British people and they were vocal about some... subjects which aren't often discussed at the dinner table. Either way, the formal dinner was very fun. I really enjoyed it.

On June seventh, I finished my essay, went to the Ashmolean museum, turned in my essay and attended another formal dinner, this time at New College. We met for our class on travel at the Ashmolean Museum because it began as a collection of items found during travel. After we left, we had lunch at this place called the Greens Cafe. I had a full English breakfast which was very exciting. I've been wanting to try it for quite some time now. The full English is basically sausages, bacon, eggs, toast, mushrooms, tomatoes, and baked beans. Not Mississippi baked beans... These are different. The food was very good and I was very proud to try something traditionally British. After lunch, I edited my essay a bit and then had to walk to print it out and then I hopped on the bus to ride to the Summertown shops where I meet my tutor. Meeting with the tutor is odd; he reads my paper aloud, makes his comments and then gives me a grade at the end. It's very fast-paced. But, y'all. I cannot complain. I made an A- on my first paper at Oxford. Can you believe it? Me neither. I definitely didn't think the paper was very well written because I'd felt so rushed writing it. I was so so proud of myself. After I got back from my meeting, the girls and I departed for the formal dinner at New College. It was much nicer than at Christ Church and just as informal. We sat with some other WISC students and they were a big laugh. We had a really relaxed evening and the food was so good. I just had a really amazing day in Oxford today and then when we got back, we climbed on the roof and watched the rain roll in. Today was just full of the overall magic of Oxford. I'm so in love with this place. I cannot even begin to tell you.

catch you later,
Karleigh