A Day in the Park...

Today we all got to sleep in later because we didn't have morning lectures.  Lindsey and I went to the University parks down the street and read our books for classes.  It was such a pleasant day and the weather was great for a day in the park.  We watched people practicing Cricket and playing soccer.  We had our literature class and then we came back to Crick for dinner.  We went out again to the park to read and then headed back for the night...

Church Services, Delicious Cake, & British Horses

Happy Birthday Mum!! Well today was the first day I did not carry my camera around with me everywhere so my descriptions will just have to do! This morning a group of us made the early trek to Christ Church but when we arrived we found out that they were having ordinations for priests and visitors were not allowed.  We walked across the street to St. Aldates (which is a pentecostal church) so we went from one extreme to another! After a pleasant service of praise and worship, we headed down the street to the Alice Shop (from Alice in Wonderland) where the "real Alice" went to buy sweets. I really enjoyed looking at all the Alice gifts.  I bought a new journal and some notecards with the characters from the book on it. We headed to the mall next to pick up groceries and such and then back to Crick for a nap.  Really, everyone was passed out around the house! It was a good day for a nap though and much needed for our walking! We headed to Christ Church for the Evensong service which was really beautiful! We then had dinner at Pizza Hut and made our way to The Vines for birthday cake.  I found a guitar in the corner of the living room and a few of us jammed for a little while, which was so much fun! On our way back from the Vines a few of us saw horses and we went under the fence to pet them.  It was so peaceful! Well this week we only have seminars and no morning lectures or dinners that we have to attend.  We will all have to start our two big papers due at the end of the program.  We are all excited for some free time though! 

*P.S. I know some of you have been trying to make comments and haven't been able to...I changed the settings and you can now post without an account! Feel free to leave comments...I really enjoy them!

Trip to Bath!

We took the train to Bath today and it was such a pleasant day! We had wonderful weather to explore a great city.  We first had lunch upon arrival and then bought our tickets to see the Roman Baths.  We tried the "healing water" in the Pump Rooms and then walked around the city.  We saw the Circus (see the video) and the Royal Crescent (see the pic where we are jumping off the wall).  I then got to visit the Jane Austen Center where I got to see costumes and dresses from many of the Jane Austen movies! That was really exciting! I met back up with the group at Sally Lunn's House (the oldest house in Bath) and we had Sally Lunn buns and tea/coffee.  It was a great end to an enjoyable day! We took the train back to Oxford and ended the night watching "Sense and Sensibility" to keep to the Austen theme.        

Glastonbury and Wells

 Today we took a field trip to Glastonbury and Wells.  We got to visit the Glastonbury Abbey ruins where the first Christian church was established. It is also the site where King Arthur is buried.  We then went to Wells (not Wales, the country) and on our way there we saw all the people at the Glastonbury Music Festival camping out.  We went to the Wells Cathedral after having tea and coffee in a quaint little tea house in Wells.  The Cathedral was really beautiful and we learned a lot about its history in the tour. The Cathedral used to be painted in all kinds of elaborate colors but during the Reformation it was white-washed; there are still traces of the colors on certain walls and statues. It was neat to go around and find the small traces of color! We then took the bus back and made our way through the rain to Wycliffe for dinner.  Tomorrow a group of us are going to Bath and I am so excited!!

Stewards of God's Creation

Today our morning lectures dealt with the Biblical responsibility that Christians have of being stewards of God's creation.  Mr. and Mrs. Hodson took us to Port Meadows where we saw a vast landscape of wildlife right outside the city of Oxford.  There were wild horses, cows, geese, and ducks all living just a few blocks away from Oxford.  We walked along the Thames and had a picnic lunch together of sandwiches, fruit, ginger snaps, and juice.  We all commented that we felt like little children opening our lunches to see what our mothers had packed for us.  We also saw river boats docked on the Thames which reminded me of the movie, "Chocolat."  We all walked back for our evening seminars, aware of the weight lifted from our papers being turned in this morning.  

Oxford Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum

 
This morning our lecturer was Revd. Dr. Michael Ward, writer of "Planet Narnia." I was really excited to hear him because I read a book review of his book before I left. I now have a signed copy of it! During my break after lunch I walked to the Oxford Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum which is just down the street from Wycliffe Hall.  I got to see the remains of the Dodo that influenced Lewis Carroll's Dodo in "Alice's Adventures in Wondland." There was also an exhibit about the "real Alice" and remains of Dinosaur bones.  It was a pleasant break from writing the papers that are due tomorrow.  I then went to the University Parks and read some of Emma for my Jane Austen class.

Summer Solstice at Stonehenge

 

I got the opportunity to go to the summer solstice celebration at Stonehenge! It was an amazing experience! It is the only time in the year when they take the fences down and you get to walk up close to the stones...you can tell from the pictures that people are really up close! There were reported to be around 20,000 people so there was just so much energy.  I went with Kathleen, Leslie, and Lindsey and we stayed on the grounds from 11:30 to 5:30 the next morning.  We stayed to watch the sun come up, although it was very cloudy so we didn't get to see the sun come through the stones.  It was still worth the rain, mud, and cold! 

*The video is of a man playing the bagpipes at the celebration. There was all kinds of different music! You can't see much in the video but you can get a feel for the energy!

My Fellow Crickers and Vineys...

As I said earlier, there are 19 of us in the Crick Road House and 5 other students in the Vines House, which is across town.  I've uploaded some pictures of all of us out and about in Oxford.  It is great to get to know everyone since we all come from such different backgrounds, but we all have the eagerness to learn in common. Since this is a Christian program, most everyone else is from a Christian college! We are all having a great time discovering Oxford and furthering our walks with God :)

Walking through Oxford...

Winchester Field Trip

Our first Friday field trip was to the town of Winchester and the Winchester Cathedral. I got to see where Jane Austen was buried (see picture) and the house where she lived the last days of her life! It was very exciting to me.  We also climbed over 200 tiny stairs up to the Cathedral's tower to view Winchester from the roof.  We all received certificates afterwards saying that we succeeded in climbing all the stairs!

Crick Road

The students and I are staying in a house on Crick Road in Oxford.  There are 19 of us in this house so, needless to say, it is very lively; but it is great to have a community of people here! Here is a picture of me in front of our Crick Road House!

Pictures say a 1,000 words!!!

I would really love to keep a blog of my trip so that all could read of my adventures but since I am keeping a written journal, I feel that it would be a bit overwhelming.  So I thought I would post pictures on here so everyone can see what I am seeing and so you can walk the cobblestone streets of Oxford with me! I will post highlights of my days and hopefully get to post my events later from my journal.  Until then, enjoy the pictures that I post on here!!

First Post...

My friend Katie suggested blogging my adventures in Oxford so I thought this would be a great way to let everyone at home see what I see!