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Published: December 20th 2008
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The Parents Invasion of Oxford
The last few weeks of our lives have been utter chaos between school, travel, and the parents invasion of Oxford. Mitch and I have been cramming everything in order to make time for the parents and also to not fail out of school. My mom came first, she arrived the morning we got back fro Scotland. It was so awesome to see her, we met her in the famous Eagle and Child pub for a beer and some fish and chips. She is so adorable in her little hiking shoes and my dad’s REI jacket. Such a Mainer. I love it. My mom was with us for about 8 days which flew by. The first few days she just explored Oxford by herself because Mitch and I had school and we couldn’t afford to miss any of it. We did meet her every night for a great pub dinner and beer. It was so awesome being able to experience Oxford and all its glory with my mom. It’s little things like that you never forget. We went to some of the most famous pubs in all of Oxford and a had a beer (or two) every
night. 4 days into her visit, we rented a car and went to the Lake District. The 5 hour car ride was hilarious as my mom was a total freak on the road and was sketching out every two minutes. Mitch is in the backseat announcing out loud the GPS directions and I’m in the front seat yelling at my mom to go this way and that and my poor mom is freaking out driving on the wrong side of the road. It was quite the site, but nevertheless, we made it to the Lake District. When we got there it was cold and rainy and disappointment was in the air. We thought about heading back to Oxford that night, but we found such a cute B&B that we decided to stick it out till the morning. Thank goodness we did. The Lake District is one of Mitch and I’s all time favorite place in Europe. It is beyond what we thought was beautiful. All of the best parts of England combined into one: the lakes, the rolling hills, snowy mountains, the white sheep, the stone cottages, the farmhouses, the quaint, bustling towns, the pubs, the early morning fog, the
sunsets….it just blew our mind. My mom is a gem for taking us there. It was incredible. After we got back from the Lake District, we headed to the Cotswolds for a day. The towns were unbelievably rural and so many times we thought we were lost but really weren’t. It was just that small! Tiny single lane roads that are meant for two cars which made my mommy really nervous. We had a great lunch at this local pub and spent the rest of the day exploring all the different Cotswoldsian towns. It was great. By the time Monday rolled around we were in London doing a little shopping( and visiting my mom’s ultimate favorite place in the world: Charles Dickens House) until we met Mitch’s parents at their hotel for a little late night dinner adventure.
Mitch was overjoyed to see his parents as it has been the longest he has ever been away from home. You don’t realize how much you really miss someone until you see them again. We were both so lucky to get to see our parents while we were abroad. We all went to a great dinner at Sale and Pepe and then
dropped my mom off at her hotel because she had an early morning flight. It was so great to see her and I didn’t want to let her go, but it was time….over the next few days, Mitch and I busted it in school and his parents came down to Oxford to stay for a few days. We had such a great time with them going to the pubs and they took us to Stratford upon Avon as well. It was an awesome little town, but not quite as cool as Oxford. We saw Shakespeare’s birth site and the house in which he grew up in…we also learned a lot of funny weird meanings behind sayings like “the upper crust” and “across the threshold”….Oh and I forgot to mention this but while we were in Oxford, Mitch’s parents got to witness first hand his addiction to Primark. If you go back in one of my old blogs, I forewarned everyone about Mitch and his new girlfriend, Primark. The kid literally bought the whole store out and his dad was worried that customs was going to stop them in the airport and accuse them of trying ot start a sweatshop in
Newport beach. It was great, finally someone besides myself gave him some grief over his 17 shirts and 12 ties to name a few…Anyway, the time we all had together was priceless. So many great meals, delicious beers, and precious conversations. It was a blessing to have our parents visit, as both Mitch and I feel at home regardless which set we are with…It will be great to see them when our journey is finished.
The Train Diaries
Warning:
I am attempting to do the impossible, documenting each and every day of our 32 24 hour periods of European exploration. On our journey we intend to conquer: France, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain. We are spending the most time in France and Italy and a few days in Switzerland and Spain. Christmas will be in Paris, and New Years in Rome. We are going to attempt to snow board in the Swiss Alps as well. We have lots of planned and high expectations so this trip should be incredible…We will see how true I stay in my attempt to record an account each and everyday. I can’t guarantee that this stuff will be G rated as our
expeditions sometimes turn out a bit on the PG-13 side…I’ll try to keep it clean for Dakota, I know he is just a little guy. Bon Voyage.
Pre-Departure:
We all went to the pub for one last celebration and goodbye, we all had been dreading the time when we had to leave this little wonderland of Oxford. It has been such an incredible journey, way way beyond both Mitch and I’s expectations. I wouldn’t have wanted to spend the last 3 months of my life anywhere else in the world…and that’s not even because Mitch is there!! We have met so many unique and wonderful people from all corners of the globe and have made some lasting and real friendships. Mitch and I are really going to miss little Jakob, he was the cutest and sweetest guy ever. It was hard not to tear up saying goodbye to him because you never know when we will see him again. The majority of our States friends left the same day as us and it wasn’t too sad because we will see them again in about a month at USD anyway. The hardest part was definitely leaving Oxford and Jakob…Oxford is my favorite place in the world, hands down. It would be so strange to return to it later in life though because we had made a home and a life for ourselves there. WE had routines and “our pubs” and just so many special moments in that place…it’s hard to accept the fact that those are just sweet memories now. Luckily for Mitch and I, we have a whole month of traveling ahead of us, plenty of distraction.
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AnnaAdventuring
Anna Louise
Great to hear about England from a visitors point of view! I really enjoyed reading your blog and your photographs are simply beautiful.