In the thick of things..

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August 7th 2008

Published: August 7th 2008

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TravelForAChange

We played this game..

called Aunt Sally at this pub. Can you find my name??

Hot, Cold, Hot, Rainy, Cold
One thing I noticed in England, is that the "hot" water is on the right side, as opposed to the left side in North America. Just like the driving situation.

Anyway - we're pretty much in the thick of things as far as the course goes - we had a test last monday, we have a response paper due on Monday, and then a term paper and the final exam on the last day of class .. =T

Been out and about as well:

Last night a group of us went to this pub called "The Eagle & Child" - apparently JRR Tolkien (author of Lord of the Rings Trilogy) and CS Lewis (author of the Chronicles of Narnia) were patrons there in the early-mid 20th century - pretty cool!

Before that, we went on a guided tour of Oxford, visited Christ Church College the largest college @ Oxford University and probably the most beautiful. It was founded by King Henry VIII and more importantly, their "Great Hall" is the GREAT HALL that is shown in Harry Potter movies!

Furthermore, the college was the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland - he was a math

DSCN0128

professor at Christ Church.

So much history!

Yesterday we visited Blenheim Palace the birthplace of Winston Churchill. All of you who have received an email from me in the last few years probably noticed that my email signature is a quote from Winston Churchill himself, "Never, Never, Never Give up". So you can just imagine my geeky excitement as we walked through the gigantic staterooms, adorned with handwritten letters from Winston to his "loving Papa", and the room where he was born, which contained 3 locks of his hair, cut from his head, when he was only 5 years old!

Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside, but I am telling you - it's amazing. There's at least 5 20 ft by 20 ft cabinets with china displayed from the 16th century, tapestry taller than my house at home, solid marble staircases, and theres a pipe organ right in the middle of one of the rooms. Winston Churchill's paintings were also throughout the house (it's technically a house, it's the only house allowed to be called a PALACE).

England has so much history - I'd need to live here for several years to take