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

June 4, 2016

On the second of June, I really cannot remember what I did. I had class in the morning. I had McDonalds for lunch and bought my books for class. I had HobNobs for the first time -- literally amazing. I had dinner with Dr. Snyder, because he is leaving Britain for the summer. We had authentic Chinese food, which included duck. I've never had duck before, but it was so so good. I really want to go back to that restaurant; it was so enjoyable. I also met MSU's Rhodes Scholar, Field Brown. We have very similar academic backgrounds at Mississippi State because we both study literature and have been in the same academic societies and clubs. It was a really relaxed evening and we got back quite late. Good thing I didn't have class the next day. 

On the third of June, I slept in and went out for a bit. It's been quite chilly here in Oxford so leaving the house requires bundling up. Then again, lounging at home requires sweat pants and multiple pairs of socks. I bought another of my books and then retreated back home. I've been trying to read my first Hemingway novel, A Farewell to Arms but I sadly didn't start it until the fourth of June. 

Today, the fourth of June, I went out to see the Jungle Book. It was a modern dance adaptation in which the jungle was the urban jungle. It was really neat, mainly an audience of children or elderly people. It was really good though; the dancers/actors were extremely impressive. I really enjoyed the show. Overall, it's been a pretty chilled last few days, as weekends usually are. Tomorrow, the sun is supposed to make a reappearance -- I pray it does -- and I want to go explore the university parks. Sorry I haven't done too much these past few days, but when you are living somewhere for a good bit, it's hard to do something everyday. Especially when you have school work breathing down your neck.

catch you later,

Karleigh

June 1, 2016

Hi again! Don't know if I can top the church robbery scene, but I'll give it a go:

Today, which for me is Tuesday that 31st of May, I met my tutor for the first time. The tutor system at Oxford works in a way that, in a one-on-one situation, a student and teacher meet each week to discuss the students essay on a particular topic, decided upon by the professor. It's only used at Cambridge and Oxford -- hence the name, Oxbridge Tutorial. Either way, I met my tutor today. I had to take a bus, which went fine except I got off the bus too early because I was scared of getting lost. Did you just laugh and go "That sounds like Karleigh" because you should have. Either way, I found it fine and my tutor has another student in the WISC program. I love her so I'm excited to have time to make better friends with her. She's doing play-writing. Aren't you jealous? I am. Anyway, I'm doing Hemingway which includes reading A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, "Men without Women" and A Moveable Feast. I'm really excited to get reading. Today was our first rainy day (read: regular day in England). It was kind of miserable, but still nice in some ways I guess. Dr. Snyder, the dean of MSU's honors college, gave a talk at Trinity College and that was really nice and I had my first actual class, which was really relaxed. It was a really nice day in Oxford; I really look forward to going to London tomorrow.

Today, actually because it is the first of June, was actually the coldest day I've experienced in the UK so far. It was a windy day near the River Thames in London, and the breeze was so harsh. I had on a t-shirt, a cardigan, a turtle-neck sweater and a jacket. I was so frozen. We had an early start for London; we left around eight this morning and got into London around ten. We started off with a walking tour with just our small group of eight in which we saw the Burghers of Calais, a statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, and Westminster Abbey. It was very pretty and very old. I cannot think of any other descriptions than those really. It's really gorgeous here. We ate a quick lunch and then walked along South Bank to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The Globe is not the same really as it was in Shakespeare's time, as it's burnt down a few times between then and now. However, it is just as awe-inspiring. We saw a (quite naughty) modernized version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was hilarious and very bold. I loved it, obviously, because I adore theater but I would not have been bringing my children to such a show. We got back quite late from that but it was a very eventful and fun day. Tomorrow, I'm off to buy my books for class and explore just a bit if it heats up some.

Please, say a prayer for me. I've seemed to have hurt my knee, and it's slowing me down on the long walks which are required over here in England. Also, pray for my homesickness, which hit today, a bit late but still a feeling that I really don't want to be bothered with whilst here. Obviously, homesickness is a part of traveling but I don't want it to linger.

catch you later,
Karleigh

May 30, 2016

a view of Windsor castle

Saturday, we traveled to Windsor to see Windsor Castle. It's an odd place to visit, full of tourists. The Queen sadly was not there. When she is there, her personal flag flies from the tower; when she's not, the Union Jack flies instead. Also, when she is there, the planes are not allowed to fly over to get to Heathrow airport. According to the tour guide, she's still out and about celebrating her birthday which was in April. You aren't allowed to take pictures inside of the castle, but there are plenty of professional photos on the internet. We were all so tired yesterday. The jet lag still hasn't quite warn off yet, I'm afraid. I finally heard from my tutor, and I will be studying Hemingway while I'm over here, which is quite exciting.

Sunday, we just lazed around for most of the day. After all the walking and running from event to event, we all needed a day to be lazy. I was really happy to sleep past seven thirty am. We all chilled around the house today, and then a few of us decided to go to church. The church we chose was St. Giles, an Anglican church. As a Baptist, I'm pretty unfamiliar with any other religious practice. Especially when it involves a robbery. Yes, a robbery. During the service, between kneeling, singing psalms, and praying along with the priest, a man was attempting to rob the church. During our final hymn, he jumped from the balcony and the music came to a sudden halt as the organist ran after him. It was probably one of the craziest and scariest moments of my life. Also hilarious. It was so crazy. 

Today, I explored Oxford a bit on my own and then ate an amazing chicken sandwich from Nando's. Literally, the best I've ever had. Sorry, Chick-Fil-A.

Tomorrow starts the exciting stuff: my first class and my first meeting with my tutor. Pray I find his office, because I think I have to use the Oxford bus system. Oh my...

catch you later,
Karleigh

May 27, 2016

Hello, again!

a panorama I took after our tour of Christ Church

So, today I was inducted into Christ Church college. The colleges here, unlike the College of Arts and Science at MSU, is not specialized. People apply to individual colleges and then are later accepted into the University of Oxford itself. It's a completely different process than in America. We have these library cards that we have to show to the guards around campus; these distinguish us from the French tour groups. Christ Church is home to the steps where Harry Potter first met Professor McGonagall and to the inspiration for the Great Hall in Harry Potter. It's honestly astounding. We have to wear robes to the formal dinners, which all begin with a Latin prayer. We have to have fob cards to get in the campus after it closes at night. And Christ Church is the only Oxford college which has a cathedral -- in fact, it used to be called Cathedral Christ Church College. Quite a long name, but when you're established in 1546, I guess you can do whatever you like.

This morning we ate at a little cafe called Off the Hoof where the construction workers -- here, the builders -- frequent. It was run by two women, one British and the other foreign and the coffees were free. When the jetlag is this crazy, free coffee is a must. I had a sausage, egg and mushroom bap (basically a British sandwich). It was so tasty. Really though, everything here is tasty. Except curry. I had curry tonight, and it was not my thing. We had Wagamamas; it's Asian or Oriental food. I don't really know. It wasn't amazing. The bolognese that I had at Jamie Oliver's restaurant the night before was much more satisfying. Today was a rather long day but things just took up more time. Tomorrow is a free day and I'm hoping to explore the part of town called Summery. A girl at the WISC office said that the atmosphere was phenomenal, unlike anything else. Everything is so new and exciting. I honestly cannot even believe I'm here. It's such a blessing. 

So, today -- which is Friday -- was our first free day in the city, which means that we got to sleep in. Just kidding. I got up bright and early because the sun was out and shining happily into our window. The day before I searched up some random cafe for our breakfast, so I did the same today. A few girls from my group and I went to a cafe called St. Giles, which is on St. Giles Road in Oxford. I went with the intent to get a fry-up which is the traditional English breakfast with mushroom, tomatoes, sausage, black pudding, eggs and more. It's a serious meal. However, when the rest of the girls ordered smaller

breakfasts I settled with the eggs royale, which was a poached egg on an English muffin and salmon with hollandaise poured over it. It was very good but fishier than I thought so I stole a girl's sausage and ate it with the other stuff. The latte I had was honestly amazing, probably the best I've had so far.

Two of the other girls in our group from Mississippi State are in New College and they wanted to show us the parts of their college where Harry Potter was filmed. It's got the tree in its courtyard where Mad-Eye turns Draco Malfoy into a ferret. It also holds one of the oldest walls in Oxford. But before we got there, we decided to climb the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin's tower. It's around five American dollars (3 pounds) to climb the tower and it lets you look all over Oxford. The stairs were so tiny; our feet did not even fit on them and it was a never-ending concrete spiral staircase. It was an insane climb but the view was worth it. This church has been open from 1400, and probably before, and has been renovated naturally with the times throughout history. Actually, the regular members of the parish are buried beneath the tile so we were essentially also at a graveyard today. It was so beautiful inside though; we all had a sit down to just soak in the beauty.

At New College, we stopped in the church part, where we could hear the boy's choir practicing. It was honestly gorgeous. The evensong at New College is apparently world renown so I look forward to going. The courtyard at New College also has the halls that Harry Potter walks through -- obviously I got a picture. We also went about the Summer Eights today, which is the rowing sport show down here. It was interesting but quite confusing. We weren't seated close enough to the action, which was at front but it was neat to see so many people get so into a boating competition that they couldn't actually see happening in front of them. Soon after we left that, we had to do some little admin things to be able to access our college and eat in the dining halls. And then we picked up little dinners from the shops and watched bad British television.

Tomorrow we are headed to Windsor Castle, and I'm super excited!

catch you later,
Karleigh

May 25, 2016

Hello!

So, hopefully I'll get on a post every two day system but no promises. My flight into Oxford was very nice! I sat next to a British man on the plane which was neat -- he never said a word, which I thought was kinda odd cause I'm a little chatterbox. Anywho, my flight had a ton of old movies, like Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire. It was overall a really relaxed flight, but I was super happy when I landed.

I honestly don't even think I know that I'm in England right now. It's much different adjusting to an English speaking nation than a non-English speaking nation. When I went to Spain, it was like culture shock. In England, not so much. Everything is honestly so cute. The people, the shops, the food. Everything. I'm in love with it all. I've been taking pictures of some stuff but mostly we've been inside at orientations and little talks. We did a walking tour today and we got our cards to the Bodleian Libraries. These libraries have over 12 million books because Sir Thomas Bodley wanted to give something back to Oxford, which was his school, so he convinced the publishers to give the library a copy of every book from the year 1600 onward. So there are a ton of books here and I have access to all of them... Though I did have to swear an oath not to take out, bring in, or set fire to any books while I'm here --- which is a change, because at one time, you had to swear not to bring in goats. 

I did see where Bill Clinton did not inhale the illegal substances at Turk Tavern. I also saw most of the colleges, which were built AGES ago. Everything is so old. It's insane. Like... if you think something is old in America, please rethink. My college, Christ Church, was established in 1546. That's recent here. It's insane. 

So far, I'm in love. I'll let you know what it's like in the next two days.

catch you later,

Karleigh

May 23, 2016

Well, I bet you didn't think you'd be seeing me back here so soon. I have to be honest; I've missed this blog a lot. But now I'm back and I'm ready to bring you along on my study abroad trip. I know that if you read my blog throughout 2015, you know quite a bit about what I think and how I feel about pretty much everything under the sun. However, I don't know if I ever mentioned certain things. If you know me, you need to know these things: I love old movies, I dress in monochrome, and I live to travel.

Ever since I knew England existed -- probably about the time I watched the first Harry Potter with my grandmother -- I knew I needed to go. That was the place for me. I've always loved to travel; I've been to Europe before, to Spain. And it was so amazing, but England is where I've dreamed of going forever. I'm so thrilled.

I'm studying at the University of Oxford and taking two courses. I'm looking forward to seeing the Roman baths in Bath and Hampton Court Palace where Henry VIII lived. I'm excited for every part of it really. And I'm even more excited that you get to go along with me.

So grab your passport. Let's go.

catch you later,
Karleigh