Time Flies!

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Wow, time really has flown by. It's been an eventful week (and a couple days). The Cambridge trip was a lot of fun! Before we got to the City, we stopped by a Memorial site that is maintained by the US for US soldiers who died in service while overseas, primarily in WWII. We arrived as bells were ringing a patriotic song that I recognized but couldn't name. It was similar to Arlington with crosses and stars of David in perfect rows. There was a wall for the lost soldiers whose remains either weren't found or who were otherwise unaccounted for. There was a museum on the premise which was powerful. This trip was well timed for Memorial Day weekend. We had lunch there and then moved on to Cambridge. Cambridge feels more like a town than a city with its winding, cobblestone streets and the river (with cows just there, not in pastures or anything!) It didn't rain so we got to go punting. It was hard at first, but after a little while you can get the hang of it. No one fell in, but a tree almost knocked me in while I was punting. We were told, if your pole gets stuck, you have to make a choice, you can stay with the boat, or you can stay with the pole. I chose the boat and we made our way back to the pole. The rest of the outing on the river was fairly uneventful and very beautiful. We returned the boats and walked around the city for a bit. We couldn't go into the colleges there without paying a fee so we looked in from the street. The architecture was fancy and detailed with cool towers and arches. A few of us went to an open air craft market and I got a couple key chains and a snack called "chimney bread" which is kind of like a mix between fried dough and toast. The bus ride back included sleep.

On Sunday, the local Bishop visited the church that I've been attending and he actually knew about St. Ambrose's young adult mass back in the States and had just been there visiting, which was interesting to hear. He told me to say hi to the priest in charge there... but I've only been to that church once in my life... whoops! Later, my housemates and our neighbors had a few British friends over in the afternoon to hang out, which was cool, I got to meet some full time Oxford students. We talked politics and philosophy, which can sound boring, but not to me!

Monday and Tuesday run together a bit because I spent a lot of my time reading what I needed to for the week. Definitely more interesting than the previous week! Wednesday was again, market day. It's very nice to have that as a break in the middle of the week, getting out and enjoying the day while still 'being productive.' I'm starting to recognize some of the salespeople and I have a little sense of which place has the best prices for which item (there's one place that charges about a pound less for a bigger loaf of bread than another place for example. It's still a little hectic there, but I've gotten pretty savvy.

Thursday was paper writing day, I finished it well before the debate, which was my goal. The topic of this debate was "technology companies should prevent governments accessing consumer data." I took issue with the word "prevent." I think tech companies have a duty to protect consumer data, but if the government has a lawfully obtained warrant, I think they should be allowed to access stored consumer data. I gave another floor speech, this was about hearsay, business records, and due process. I was much more comfortable with this topic and spoke more confidently. The side I spoke for lost, 60 noes to 90 ayes, but the pre-debate poll was around 87% ayes to 12% noes so the opposition (my side) made some serious headway. Afterwards, at the President's drinks I spoke to lawyers from both sides. The ayes lawyer critiqued my wording which is important for me to grow as a speaker and the noes lawyer told me that I brought up a good point. He used to work for the NSA which was pretty cool, and he'd heard of Iona (but not Dr. Lavery strangely enough...). I also had a chance to talk with some full time Oxford students who told me about their exam setup and talked about how they wished they could fit a study abroad into their program. Cost isn't necessarily the issue, but they are required to speak the language of the country they go to and the programs are fairly competitive. I could've stayed longer, there was still more to talk about, but I had to be responsible because I had a tutorial in the morning even so I was up later than intended.

Friday I had my third tutorial, I'm halfway done! I took the rest of the day to just hang out and relax. For brunch, MC made a variety of Greek food which tasted great! She is part Greek and really knows how to cook! Friday evening, I attempted to make lava cakes in the evening to share with my housemates still hard at work, but the pans were really shallow so it was just really moist cake on the inside. It still tasted fine! Saturday I tried to go to this music museum that I'd passed a few times, but by the time I got there it was closed. I will try some other time! So I took the time I was going to spend there and went for a bike ride around the city. I got a little turned around, had to carry the bike down some stairs, and wandered through an Oxford Pride concert/party thing which was cool. I also got some freshly made fudge. I made my way home and read a bit for fun. I made stuffed mushrooms for dinner which turned out ok... I would definitely make changes if I were to make them again. Sunday I went again to Mass, a woman helped me actually find the hymn that was being sung in Latin so I was a little less lost this time. I took some pictures of the inside of the church, the amount of natural light they have is wonderful. I want to ask them about their sound system because I can't see any microphones, but I have no problem hearing anyone. It's a nice church. I got back home and started my reading for this week, it's a busy week ahead of me! But I was invited fairly last minute to go to New College Dinner (New is the name of the college). I jumped at the chance and borrowed a housemate's robes (which are highly suggested/required for these dinners). A group of 8 of us went. The meal started with a salad with a veggie pancake, then pulled pork with potatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, and carrots, with a sorbet/meringue/jelly layered dessert. It was well worth the walk! Also, this college is where some scenes from Harry Potter were filmed, which is SO COOL! I took pictures and videos. I know quite a few people who will want to see them and geek out with me. The group split and went to different places after dinner, a couple of us went home. But on the way, we stopped by Jesus college and one of my housemates picked up a port from the college. Each college has its own collection of wines, a red, a white, and a port. THEN we went home. We tried the port and played the card game palace.

Today, I went to the Bod. That's short for the Bodleian Library. It's huge. I don't think I walked through the same room twice. I didn't find the books I was looking for, but I looked through a book on social justice, a book about Tesla's patents, and attempted to look through a book by William of Tyre (a crusades historian from the 1000-1100s) but it was in Latin and translated into French which was a little unfortunate, but still worth holding and flipping through! I did a little more exploring, wound up somewhere without signs back to the city center, but I only travelled in a straight line so I was not lost! Lastly, I renewed a couple books and went home to read outside on this beautiful day! Now I've written this post, and it's time to get back to work.

Till next time!

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