If I fail to return home next week, do not worry about me! I have probably taken up residence in Oxford. I absolutely love everything about the town and the college. I have always heard, read and thought about it, but none of the ideas that I had in my head about what the city would feel and look like came anywhere close to reality.
First…we arrived at a house that was built for the purpose of housing international students who study at Oxford. Fortunately, all of the students who normally live there have left for the summer, so we had a huge house to ourselves and all of us managed to get a good night’s sleep in, basically, private rooms. It was SO nice to sleep in a quiet room!
I had a wardrobe in my room...I did not find Narnia. (Lint yes)
The next morning, my group and I walked into the city center through a rainy path in the woods. This gave me the biggest C.S. Lewis vibe and I got pretty excited. It was beautiful, and SO English!
We then had the grand tour of the Oxford colleges. I was shocked by how big the college really is. It is made up of many individual colleges within the main college. There is something amazing about going through mile after mile of ancient buildings filled with quirky and delightful traditions. (My favorite is the inter-college tortoise race).
We did, of course, see Magnline college where C.S. Lewis taught, and were introduced to the many locations where the campus was used in the filming of Harry Potter (which is actually a lot of campus).
Next was a visit to The Eagle and the Child pub! It was amazing (Despite the fact that it they were out of all chicken and beef, and despite the fact that the man behind the counter accidentally dropped my change into my coffee).
It was so much smaller than I had guessed, but the Inklings really did meet there! I was pretty excited for the entire time that we were there (the men who were running the pun were even more thrilled when they managed to get the 18 SAU students out of their small pub!
After leaving the pub, we made our way to the Bodleian Library. It was amazing! The library has been around since the thirteenth century, and it has a copy of basically every book that has been published since then. It has received a free copy of every book that has been published in England (and later the UK). It grows by about five miles of shelves per year. This thing is huge and much of it is stored in a vault below the library (not to mention in an old salt factory off campus).
Also: FUN FACT: the Acronym for Oxford’s tec services is FRODO. Coincidence…I really doubt it!
Fun Fact #2 several Harry Potter Scenes were shot in the library too! I have now seen the room where the “Dance Lessons” scene from movie four was shot. It was filled with a lot of students sitting at computers.
After the library, we had a limited amount of time left, so we stopped at starbucks and a few shops.
That was the end of Oxford…for now!
The strangest of my trip to Oxford was the fact taht I really missed my family. It was wierd to see things that we have always talked about without them. it really was incredible though!
Now I am in the lovely city of Bath. It has been here for about a thousand years, and has housed almost as many famous writers as Oxford. Jane Austin and Charles Dickens for a start. This city also holds an authentic and nearly perfect Roman Bath. We get to see that soon!
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