Leaving on a Jet Plane

July 12, 2008

Lindsey and I at the bus stop before coming home...

Last day in Oxford :(

July 11, 2008

I woke up early this morning and Emily, Sarah, and I went to breakfast in Gloucester Green.  We had Belgian waffles and then we went shopping! We had to be back at Wycliffe Hall at 11:00am to have a debrief of the trip (we all called it the "disorientation"). We filled out an evaluation form for the program and then we did an activity where we talked about how we changed during the program.  When the session was over, Lindsey, Katie, and I walked into City Centre and shopped.  It started raining so we had lunch at "The Mission", a Mexican grill.  Katie and I bought silk scarves.  We walked to the Ashmolean gift shop and then back to Wycliffe.  Then we walked to Crick to rest.  When I woke up from my nap, I started packing and then a few of us had spaghetti again.  Everyone gathered downstairs in the living room and Evelyn played the violin for us.  Then a few of us jammed on the guitar and sang songs together.  We ended with "Leaving on a Jet Plane."  Then we set out to do our chores.  I had to vacuum the downstairs living room.  I finished up my laundry and said goodbye to people who were not getting up in the morning.  Tomorrow I will be leaving Oxford and it will be bittersweet. I will miss these people and being here, but I am excited to see my family!

Tolkien's house/grave...Tea with Professors...playing Sardines

July 10, 2008

I woke up this morning and found people still up downstairs working on their papers. I was so thankful to have mine finished. I packed a little and then Emily, Sarah, and I set out to find Tolkien's grave and house. We gave in our papers first at Frewin Court and then caught a bus to the Wolvercote Cemetery. We found his grave and people had left all kinds of little things: a lantern, flowers, a candle, and funniest of all, an orc figurine to commemorate Lord of the Rings. We took pictures and Emily and I left 2 pence. We hopped back on the bus and visited the house where Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings. We walked back to Crick and put on our garden attire for the closing event at the Vaults. Some of our professors came and then Chris handed out our superlatives. I am "most likely to befriend a statue of Jane Austen." We all left and some of us went to take a nap and then met up in the living room. We fixed spaghetti and watched "Ferris Buellar's Day Off." Then we all changed into black clothes and headed out to play a game of Sardines. We played until 2:30am and then headed back to Crick. We made some tea and sat out in the backyard for a while talking about books and then finally headed to bed. Tomorrow's our last day :(

Finishing papers...

July 9, 2008

It rained all day today so I stayed in and wrote on my papers.  I camped out in the common room all day with several other Crickers.  Lindsey and I cooked lunch and then went back to working.  We cooked dinner and everyone sat around the table and talked about their progress on their papers.  I finished my papers around 9:00pm and I was surprised to find that some people had not even started on their second paper.  We hand them in tomorrow and then have tea with our professors.  Emily and I are also planning on going to see Tolkien's house and grave.  It feels so good to be done with my papers but I will greatly miss being here.  This program has really fulfilled my yearning to learn and made me realize that I have much more knowledge to acquire.  I have been thinking while I've been here about staying in undergrad one more year rather than graduating early.  There's a lot I still want to learn and I have even thought about coming back for the semester-long program.  I will just have to see where I think God is leading me...

Real Da Vinci and Raphael Prints at the Ashmolean!!

July 8, 2008

Today I walked into City Centre and went into a few shops to buy some souvenirs.  I made my way to Waterstone's (a bookstore) and bought a cold drink and found a place by the window to work.  Leslie came by after about 2 hours and we walked together to Ben's Cookies for a snack.  Then we joined some of our group at the Ashmolean Art Museum.  We got to look around for an hour and I really enjoyed the Pre-Raphealite exhibit.  We met back up with the group and they took us down to the print room.  We sat at a table and they brought out prints by Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, Turner, Rosetti, and several others.  It was so neat to be up that close to them! I left the museum after that and walked back to Crick with Emily.  We had a family dinner of taco salad and then spent the rest of the night trying to work on our papers.

Working on papers and Movie Night!

July 7, 2008

Today I got up and headed to the Bodleian to work in the Radcliffe Camera with Chad, Emily, and Leslie.  I stayed and worked on my paper there for 2 hours and then walked down the street to Blackwells.  I got a coffee and found a seat to work for another hour and a half.  I walked to the local Sainsbury's and bought some more cereal, milk, and fruit and the headed home. We had a family meal of pancakes, fruit, and juice! Then a group of us decided to go to the University Parks and play a game of ultimate frisbee.  It lasted 2 and a half hours and then we walked back to the house for the night. Lindsey and I decided to have a movie night and we watched "Love Actually" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's"...

Rainy Days and Out on the Town...

July 6, 2008

We woke up this morning to rain and headed out with our umbrellas to church.  Lindsey, Emily, Sarah, and attended the morning service at University Church where C.S. Lewis preached his first sermon. I really enjoyed the liturgy and I'm becoming quite accustomed to the High Church.  After the service, we walked to Blackwells and had coffee. Then we headed back to the house and had a family lunch of tacos.  Lindsey, Howard, and I decided to play around on the guitar and sing together.  We all looked in the cupboards and decided to go "out on the [rainy] town!" A few of us got dressed up and walked to City Centre to eat at a place called Geno's.  It was a small Italian place and some of us split delicious pizza.  We had a great time talking and then decided to walk to "The Eagle and Child" pub.  I had a half pint of Old Rosie cider.  We walked back to the Crick house under our umbrellas...