Last Day

So today is my last day in the UK.  Tomorrow I head back home.  I'm super excited to see my family and friends and I've missed them so much!  It still is sad to leave.  I hope I can come back and visit England again someday!  I've had so much fun and it feels like home away from home!  I'm so blessed to have been able to spend this time here!  I have grown so much as a person and this experience has been good for me!  And not to mention it's been a blast!

I've been so  blessed to get to know and live with my fellow study abroad students!  I knew a few before and it's been good to know them better as well as meet new people and grow close to them!  I'm not going to lie it's not always easy and there has been some tension, but it could have been a lot worse,  and I love all these people and I'm so glad that I've been able to know them and I'm excited to see them around junior year.

I've done so many cool things and have visited so many cool places.  I got to go to Norway which was such a blessing and a dream come true!  I still can't believe that I was able to do that and it was fantastic!  I got to go to Spain and practice my Spanish!  I also got to go all over Germany and France, and be in three countries in one day!  I just think of all the things I've done this semester.  I think it's easy to think about the things I didn't get to do.  But it's better to think about what I did get to do.  I didn't get to go to Scotland like I wanted to, but I got to go to Wales and absolutely loved it!  I didn't get to go to Prague, but I got to go to Berlin!  I didn't get to go to Seville or Grenada in Spain but I got to go to Madrid and Barcelona!  It's all been fantastic!  It's hard to chose a favourite city...people have asked me which city was my favourite and that's really hard.  I like them for different reasons.  I love London!  It's so iconic and it's just pretty awesome!  I loved Oslo and love Norway!  I loved Berlin because of the history.  I loved Madrid because of the architecture and the Spanish.  I loved Paris because I could relate it to what I was reading in Les Miserables.  I loved Brussels because of chocolate and waffles!  Ok not just that Brussels is just cool!  I loved Cardiff because it was so different than what I expected and the Welsh are pretty awesome! Etc. Etc. Etc.  So I don't have a favourite city that I visited.  Maybe Oxford.  But that's because I really got to know this city!

Tomorrow I head home!  This time has flown by but yet it seems like forever that we arrived in Oxford, went to Dorchester, and now it seems like it's been forever since I went to Norway.  Yeah I'm going to have to go back to Norway!  I've loved being here and it's been a great experience!  Now I go home for a month and then head off on my next adventure!  Montevideo!

England: "A Nation of Grumblers" and Other Observations

I wish I would have done more observations about life and my observations about the British here rather than what I was doing but alas I didn't do much of that.  But here is a bit about what I've noticed about the British so here goes it.

I love the Narnia books!  One of my favourites (though I'm really not sure why) was The Silver Chair. There was a character called Puddleglum.  He was rather a pessimistic character and gloomy.  Glum is a good word to describe him.  If someone would say something good or happy he would retort saying something bad was likely to happen.  I can't think of a decent example right now (it's been way too long since I read the book).  So that was Puddleglum, he was based on C.S. Lewis' gardener, but he is very much like a lot of British people.  For example if you mention that the weather is good today (because British talk about the weather a lot), some British people will say "Yes, but it'll likely rain later today."

When we were coming back from Cardiff this last weekend our train was delayed on the last leg of the journey.  We were cold, tired, and there were quite a few people at our platform who were also cold an tired, and complaining quite a bit.  One of them made the comment, "we are a nation of grumblers."  It reminded me of Puddleglum.

One of our first reading assignments in our INTS:Great Britain class was a chapter from a book about the English.  It was quite an interesting section at first but as it went on it was really rather depressing.  So hopefully without going into too much detail it basically talked about how Britain has some very distinct cultures and really the one mainly thought of is the English culture, being the largest and most populous.  Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland have their own very distinct cultures as well but this article focused on the English.  Why it was depressing is because it talked a lot about the lack of identity that the English have.  Wales and Scotland know who they are and have their very distinct identity.  They have national songs and are very prideful to be what they are, but the English don't have that.  Basically it made the English sound like lost, miserable people, who don't know what their identity is or what to align themselves with.  They don't know how to define themselves.  I read that at the beginning of my time here and have been living in England, and now spending some time here I'm not sure if I agree.  I don't really disagree because after going to Wales and talking to people in Scotland, I feel like maybe the Welsh and Scottish (sorry I don't have much experience with Northern Ireland) have a stronger feeling and are proud to be Welsh or Scottish or Northern Irish more so than the English.  Maybe because it was match day when I was in Wales, but people seemed really proud to be Welsh, and not just because of the match.  And the Scotland independence, push has been in the news a lot.  I'm not 100% sure where I'm going with that, but basically I feel like I've love being in England and I've had a great time living here and what not, but I'd like to see what it is like to live or at least spend more time in Wales and Scotland.  I love the English but I think I'd really like the Welsh and the Scottish too and would love to get to know them.

Americans in Oxford don't surprise people.  It is such an international town though.  People literally live here or study here from just about everywhere.  People were a bit more confused for there to be Americans visiting Cardiff.  Granted not a lot of Americans even know what Cardiff is.  I may have mentioned this is my last post but people were surprised when we started talking and we didn't sound Welsh, or British.  I guess some places it's more likely for Americans to be.  Like Oxford or London.  And there were a ton of American tourist in Paris.  But sometimes it's fun to go other places and not just do the touristy things.  So one piece of advice I'd give people studying abroad or travelling Europe is to go somewhere a bit more random.  In Norway we were just outside of Oslo so we did go see the touristy things in Oslo but we also got to see the more typical Norwegian life.  Which I loved.  In Spain we went to the big cities like Madrid and Barcelona, but we also went to Avila.  Though some people didn't like Avila because  there really wasn't much to do and we were there for quite a while, I though it was great!  It provided for me a real look into Spanish life and getting to see a smaller town and having to use Spanish and such.  Also in Spain we stayed in Santa Coloma (I believe) outside of Barcelona and on the way to the metro station to go into Barcelona someone heard us talking, asked if we were North Americans and wondered what we were doing there.  We went to Lille in France and it maybe was a bit boring and sure not as fun as Paris, but it was great to see that part of French culture and to get to see a quieter town which would be much nicer to live in.  Germany too we were in Wiesbaden and spent a day in Karlsruhe.  So that was long for what I have to say but I loved getting to see that.  That's one reason I'm glad I'm in Oxford rather than London.  It's still close enough to London though that it is easy to go in for a day trip (not that I really have much, but it's being able to say it).  Besides it's the people who make places like Asker, Avila, Lille, Wiesbaden, and Karlsruhe fun.  And even Oxford.  I would never really think of being a tourist in Oxford.  Maybe because I live here.  But I feel like all a tourist would need to do is see a couple of the colleges, C.S. Lewis' house, and The Eagle and Child.  Which I really haven't done since I live here.  I mean I've loved being in Oxford and taken advantage of my time here but if I were to visit Oxford again I wouldn't go to those places.  I'd go to Canterbury Road, On the Hoof, University Parks, Oxfam, G&D's, the Covered Market, places that are a part of my everyday life. They're places I frequent and that make Oxford home.

Well this time next week I'll be packed up and it'll be my last night here.  Which is quite sad.  But it's good to be going home to Texas!  This semester is about over as I knew it would but I'm going to miss these people so much.  I mean after next semester we will still be in Abilene together but it's just not the same.  I've made some great friends and have really been able to experience what it's like to live in community.  Though at times it can be tough it is great and I've been so blessed!

Cymru: Caerdydd

I love England and it's been great to live here for the last few months.  But the United Kingdom isn't just England and before I left I wanted to see a part of the United Kingdom that wasn't England and experience that.  I really wanted to go to Scotland, but that is quite a long ways away so I went to Wales!  Cardiff to be exact!  It was fantastic!  I loved Wales!  One thing about Wales is that they love Rugby!  It was match day in Cardiff and the Welsh team was playing Australia.  There were a lot of people out for the match and it was really cool to see everyone all dressed in dragon hats, their rugby gear, and wearing flags.  Unfortunately we couldn't get tickets early enough to get the cheap ones so we had to skip out on the match.  In Cardiff we walked along the streets a bit seeing the shops, and people in the streets selling goods for the match later that day.  We went to the Cardiff Castle!  It was really cool!  The castle is pretty cool but one of the parts I really liked was seeing the tunnels that they used in WW2.  The castle wasn't really anything extraordinary in itself though.  It was cool to look at and had a good view of the city.  It is really old though and some of the walls are from the Roman era. After that we went and explored a bit more of the city.  We ate Welsh cakes and they were fantastic!!!  They're kinda like English scones, but better!  We were going to buy a bunch to take home but unfortunately the shop closed before we could get to it.  There was a Christmas market going on that day too!  After we had lunch we walked down to the bay.  We saw the Millennium Centre which was cool!  The bay was really pretty and it would have been cool to stay longer but we wanted to walk back before it got dark.  There is also a Norwegian Church down at the bay.  But kinda the real reason that we went there was to go to the Doctor Who Experience!  I'm a bit of a fan so I kinda had to go while in Cardiff!  It was so cool!!! The beginning was a walk through experience and you could walk into the TARDIS and then walk though some other scenes.  The second part had some stuff from the show and they have a lot of the stuff that was actually used in the show.  They have the outfits for each of the doctors and a couple of the TARDISs and an old TARDIS set, and David Tennant's TARDIS set!  They also had a lot of the sonic screwdrivers, several Daleks, weeping angels, cybermen, the Face of Boe, the companion's costumes, and a ton of stuff!  It was really cool!  We went back into the city centre after we had gone through the exhibit.  The match was over and unfortunately it wasn't good news for the Welsh...they had lost 12-14 in the last two minutes.  Back in the city centre we ate dinner, looked around a bit more, and then headed back to Oxford.

It was such a fun day!  I loved Wales!  The people are very different than the English, which I had heard but it's interesting to see.  I would love to go back and see some more of Wales and Cardiff, and go to a rugby match!  It was cool to see everything written in both Welsh and English and hear people (though not many) speaking Welsh.  I wish more did, it is a really cool language!  The girl I travelled with said that she felt like Cardiff wasn't very British.  I mean it's certainly different than London or other English cities, but it did feel more European.  I loved it though!  People sure weren't expecting American accents when we talked though.   That may have been because I was wearing a Welsh team scarf...You hear a lot of people saying that Cardiff is boring or what not but I liked it a lot!

(P.S. Recently I haven't been posting pictures here on the blog.  I just want to clarify that it isn't because I'm lazy, it's because it's a pain to put them up with the WiFi as it is and all.  No promises but maybe I'll post a bunch of pictures on here when I'm back home in the States. )

Backpacking Across Germany, Belgium, and France

Ok the term "backpacking" sounds a bit more intense than what it actually was but none the less I just got back from a 10ish day excursion with everything packed in a backpack...so yeah that's what I've been up to. So with my program we had some long weekend travel breaks. well this was our big break so we got a whole week off of classes to go travel!  And here is a hopefully not too long description of what all we did.

Germany
We started by flying into Germany, outside the Frankfurt area.  We spent the weekend in Wiesbaden and spent some time in Mainz too.  It may sound random but we stayed with one of my friend's family. They showed us around a bit and we spent time hanging out with them.  Her uncle doesn't speak English but he still tried to talk to use and he was very funny! They were all so sweet!  It was a lot of fun! In Mainz we went to the Gutenberg Museum which is there because Johannes Gutenberg was from there.  We also went to the castle one day too! It was a lot of fun to stay with them and get to talk to people and learn a bit about Germany by that, getting to know people, seeing smaller towns, and not just the tourist stuff.  So we all really enjoyed that.  They showed us around the area and we saw a monument, a castle, a monastery and took a ferry across the Rhine.  After the weekend we went to Karlsruhe.  When we told her family we were going there they couldn't figure out why.  The reason we chose that place is because it is by the Black Forest, but unfortunately we didn't get to see it.  But hey we still had a good afternoon there.  We visited the zoo which was a bit sketch but fun none the less!  We also went to the Karlsruhe palace! The next day we headed to Berlin and kinda got their late so we didn't go out just ate dinner at the hostel and went to bed.  The next morning we went around Berlin.  Berlin is really cool!  I love the history and how some of it is so recent with the Berlin wall and all that.  First that day we went to the Reichstag and there is a dome that you can visit and get pretty cool views of the city.  We also saw a meeting gathering and I'm pretty sure I saw Angela Merkel.  Since that would be really cool to say I'm just going to go with it! So I saw Angela Merkel at the Reichstag!  We then saw some other sights, some memorials, the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, etc.  That day we spent some time at the Jewish Museum which was really cool!  It was very interesting.  They had a lot of symbolic stuff so that was interesting but it was really cool!  We ended up being able to stay a few hours longer in Berlin than we first though so we attended a church service which was pretty cool!  I really liked Berlin for the history and I really liked Germany.  I wasn't expecting to really like it but I did.  We spent a lot of time there in Germany though.  From Thursday night to the next Thursday morning.

Thanksgiving!
This Thanksgiving was quite the crazy day! We took an over night train from Berlin to Brussels.  I don't do the night train thing so well and may have only gotten 45 minutes of sleep...Yes I have already been to Brussels but it was quite alright to go back.  We saw some different things and it was with different people and all. So you know how the last trip was just a day trip so we just spent several hours there...well this time we spent even less time.  We spent about 6 hours getting lost, seeing a few things, getting waffles and chocolate, etc.  Luckily it was a sunny day and the weather was beautiful!  It was nice to see the blue sky! Then we headed to Paris that afternoon.  We got there that evening and after getting into our hostel and all settled we set out!  We went to the Eiffel Tower that night and the view was fantastic from the top.  It was so cold though!  It was windy and we were there freezing the whole time! But the view was great!  It was cool to see the city at night too! But if I go to the Eiffel Tower again I'd like to go up in the day.  But night is pretty cool to see from the top!  It is probably a bit colder though.  After that we walked around a bit and saw the Arc de Triomphe before going back to the hostel for the night.  So basically I spent Thanksgiving in 3 different countries! Which is quite exhausting without only getting 45 minutes of sleep I bet.

Paris!
Last time I went to France we stayed in Lille so I didn't get to see Paris, so I was excited to get out and explore the city I'd been reading about in Les Miserables.  The next day we got up and went to the Musée d'Orsay, which was really cool!  We took a tour and then went and looked around on our own for a bit.  After that we went to the Louvre. So that day we spent a lot of time at the museums.  Paris does have great art museums though!  So we did that for basically all of that day with seeing a few sights here and there.  I have to say I liked the Musée d'Orsay better.  Probably because it was less crowded, and not as enormous. The Louvre is just huge!!!  There are the busy parts and then there are sections of the museum that are basically deserted!  Our last day in Paris we went and saw the Sacré Cœur Basilica and the Notre Dame.  We tried to go see Oscar Wilde's grave but due to some circumstances and the enormous nature of the cemetery we didn't make it.  That night we travelled from Paris to Marseille.

Marseille
After a week of walking all bundled up in the cold it was nice to get a warm day.  For our last day we went to Marseille in the south of France.  We spent the day walking around, enjoying the great weather, and the beach even though we didn't have our swimsuits.  It was a really cool place!

We headed back to Oxford Sunday night and now wrapping up this semester with papers and finals and all that not-so-fun end of the term stuff...Saturday I'm going to Cardiff but that is looking like it'll be my last major trip...hopefully I can go once more into London but probably not unfortunately.  But I've had a great semester here, this was a great trip with a great group of people!  It was good to get to know them better.  I had so much fun on this trip and wish it didn't have to end. But now on to finishing up this semester and enjoying my last two weeks living here in England.

Nottinghamshire

Living in England is cool!  Because it's just a cool place.  There are also a lot of places that you've heard about your whole life that are all the sudden just a bus ride away.  Like Nottingham.  Yes! The home of Robin Hood!  And then you decided two hours before you leave that you're going to hop on a bus to Nottingham.  It happens.  

This weekend I was going to go to Cardiff.  Then that fell though and then I was going to just stay home, have a weekend to rest, and work on my paper like a good student. :) But...my roommate and a couple other people had planed a trip to Nottingham...and I wanted to go.  And someone dropped out a few hours before.  And since they already had tickets and a hostel, I got to go!  

My sister is a big fan of the BBC series Robin Hood!  It's a really good show!  My roommate is also a fan and that's why she wanted to go.  Robin Hood is just a cool story/legend.  I love the British legends like Robin Hood and King Arthur and Merlin (that have both become BBC series).  It kinda makes you wonder how much of it is just stories and how much is real.  Robin Hood seems like it could have actually happened and it was cool to see some of the sights that connect with the legend even if it may not be actual history.  And there was some opportunity for Robin Hood quotes. 

Friday night we left for Nottingham, and spent the night in a hostel (which ended up being really, really nice, and having memory foam mattresses).  Saturday morning we went around Nottingham for a bit and got to see "Nottingham Castle" which actually isn't there anymore.  But there was also a statue of Robin Hood there.  Then we caught a bus to Sherwood forest which is actually closer to Edwinstowe, which is a little town right next to the forest.  So that was about a 40 minute bus ride.  We got to the forest and walked around a bit.  It was so pretty!  We went to the Major Oak where according to the legends Robin Hood and his Merry Men use to meet.  It's over 1000 years old so they've blocked it off so people can't climb it and such to preserve it.  It can't really support itself now so they've built things to help its limbs.  After walking around a bit and climbing some other trees (getting funny looks from British people and such) We went and checked out a few other things at the sight before catching out bus back to Nottingham.  Unfortunately we got a bit distracted so we watched the bus drive away...and the next one wasn't for 2 hours.  Luckily that didn't mess up our plans for getting back to Oxford but we also had two hours to wait around...so we went into Edwinstowe.  There wasn't much but it looked like a nice little down.  There was an arts and crafts centre with some cool stuff to look at.  We ended up just walking around town.  Also in Edwinstowe there is the church where Robin Hood and Maid Marion were said to be married in.  We just walked around the outside because it wasn't open.  We caught the next bus, which was also the last bus, and we headed back to Nottingham.  Though we didn't have much time there so basically just went from one bus station to the next to head back to Oxford.  

It was a really fun trip but you need more time in Nottingham that I though.  To be honest I was wonder what on earth are we actually going to do in Nottingham, but I wish we would have had more time.  The castle isn't really worth going inside unless you want to go see the museum.  It's not even the real castle, just the grounds so if you ever go just walk around the outside and that's fine.  There are also caves that we missed out on (since we missed the bus).  Sherwood forest is fantastic!  It is fun to walk around and a lot of the locals so to bike there are to take nice walks.  I would if I was a local.  How cool would that be to just go on a walk in Sherwood forest on a regular basis!!! I felt rushed the whole trip so if I go again (and I'll tell this to my sister if she ever gets to go) I will spend some more time there.  But sometimes you just don't have to option to spend a lot of time somewhere.  

I'm running out of time here.  Thursday I leave for Germany, Belgium, and France (yes I've already been to Belgium and France but that's just how it works out sometimes) and then I'll be there for over a week, then the first weekend in December I'm going to Cardiff, and then I have one more weekend here!!!  I hope I get to go to London one more time!!!  It's one of my favourite cities! 

Lille/Brussels

This weekend I went with my French class to Lille, France and Brussels, Belgium.  I have been taking French this semester and it has been quite interesting.  Sometimes I love it, sometimes I think it's okay, but probably more often than not it's just stressful.  I have learned a lot of French but most of the time I want to give up.  I say that I can't wait to get back to studying Spanish.  Probably one of the reason's that it frustrates me is because it's not Spanish and I keep wanting to mix Spanish into my French.  I catch myself saying "por favor" instead of "s'il vous plaît" etc.  I almost said "l'addition, por favor" when asking for the check at a restaurant.  Well anyway despite being frustrated with French most of the time, going to a place that spoke it made me want to learn it and motivated me a bit.  I had gone to Quebec over the summer and hadn't taking French before and even though we could get along fine and I was able to figure out some French because of my Spanish, going to France and Belgium after some experience with the French language was a neat experience.  It was cool to see how much I had really learned and to compare my French level in Quebec from it now.  I mean I can hardly understand anything and have a long, long way to go if I ever do decided to continue studying French.  But it was encouraging.  One problem is that I can never remember what to say when I have to for one but that will go away with some more experience and a better command of the language.

Well anyway on to what I did this weekend!  My French teacher is from France and went to University in Lille.  It's not a very touristy city but in a way that's nice.  It gives one a chance to experience a less touristy view of a culture and for a language learner it's easier to get practice because not everyone knows English.  If you go to a big city the moment they realise you don't speak the language they start talking to you in English.  A lot of people did know English in Lille but there was still more chance to use French (if my French was a bit better) than in Brussels and probably Paris (I haven't been there yet so I don't know).  We took the train from London to Lille.  Meaning we went through the Chunnel.  We stayed at a brand new hostel in Lille.  And when I say new I mean you could smell paint and we were the first people to check in.  That new.  But it was great!  The staff was really friendly and helpful.  That first night we went out to a nice restaurant and ate good that night.

The next day was a free day and we went around Lille. There wasn't a lot to do and the museums didn't really interest us so we mostly shopped that day.  A lot of the shops were really posh though so we did a lot of looking.  We did make some purchases though and had a good day.  We also saw the Cathedral.  And of course went to a bakery and got some good pastries.

Saturday we took a train to Brussels.  One of the first things we did in Brussels was find Belgian waffles.  And that we did.  I got waffles with hot chocolate on top.  It was so good!!!  Basically that day we had a lot of chocolate.  We went to a chocolate museum and got a lot of free samples of different types there and learned how to make pralines.  Brussels is a really cool city.  Unfortunately I didn't get to go to the EU centre and Little Europe so maybe next time.  The Grand Place is really pretty and cool and there was a cool market.  Some of the big things in Belgium are chocolate and lace so there were a lot of chocolate shops and lace shops.  And waffles everywhere.  We also saw a famous statue called the Manneken-Pis.  yeah... not sure how that got to be famous but dignitaries bring clothes for it when they go to Brussels and there is a museum with all the outfits, but we didn't go.  I also experienced Ethiopian food, which was interesting.  Good, but interesting none the less.  My favourite thing to get though was a simple waffle with hot chocolate on top.  It is fantastic!!!  Unfortunately it was just a day trip and with not being in a city for long you don't get to see everything but it was still really cool.  I really liked that city and I'm excited to go back!  And eat more chocolate!  And more waffles!  

Sunday in Lille we didn't do much.  It was rainy and cold and we had done everything we had wanted to do so we just went to a market and to get coffee/hot chocolate.  The rest of the time we hung out in the hostel with each other.

It was a fun trip and it was good to practice my French, even though I didn't know much to begin with. It was always neat though when I did recognise something in French.  I didn't get to go to Paris this weekend but I have plans to go before I leave.  But one of the girls on the trip who had been to Paris before said that she like Lille as a city better.  I mean there are awesome things to do and see in Paris but it is nice to see smaller, lesser known cities and to see a bit of the culture of Northern France.  Brussels was great though and probably one of my favourite cites so far.  But I probably say that about a lot of cities.  But I can't wait to go back to Brussels!

Skyfall/Top Gear Live

This weekend in Oxford was a lot of fun!  Friday night I went with some of my friends to see Skyfall!  It was really interesting seeing a James Bond movie in England.  It was cool to watch with a British audience to their reactions and it also tied in with a lot that we've been learning in class about Britishness.  I won't give anything away but I really enjoyed it!

But the main thing that happened this weekend was Top Gear Live.  A small group of us heading to Birmingham yesterday to see a Top Gear Arena Show.  If you don't know what Top Gear is, you should.  It is fantastic!  It's a show about cars, but I watch it because the host are really great and funny! It's really interesting and entertaining. Well anyway they do live arena shows with stunts and stuff and we found out about the one in Birmingham and went!  It was fantastic!  We got to see Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May goof off and there were cool cars and stunts and stuff.  There were pogo sticks jumping over cars and flipping over cars too!  That was really cool!  They played some games with cars.  One where they fling a car (with a host inside) into some other cars.  And another one was sidecar polo which was like polo on motor bikes.  It was great!  The show was fantastic and it was cool to get to see the guys and the Stig.  Yes! I got to see the Stig race!  Who woulda thunk I'd get excited about going to a car show...but it was great!  Top Gear is one of my favourites so...

Well that's about it.  Thursday I leave for France and Belgium!  I'll write about that later.  Bye!

Life in Oxford

So I've talked a lot about excursions I've gone out on and things I've seen as a tourist.  Which is fun and all but I was thinking it might be cool to talk about my everyday life is in Oxford.  I do live here for now so it's not all fun.  I get annoyed by tourist and go grocery shopping, have classes, and normal things.

I go to church at St. Aldates.  It's of the Church of England.  But that could be a variety of things.  There are some that are really traditional Anglican.  This one isn't very traditional.  They have a good student group and I've met a few of the students as well as other American students studying abroad in Oxford.  I've really liked it!  There are a lot of really nice people.  I also volunteer there on Mondays.  I help out with English classes for the internationals in the city.  Many attend church at St. Aldates, others have heard about it from different means. That has been really fun to help out at.

Through the week I have classes.  So that's not so fun.  But I guess that's the "study" part of study abroad.  It's kinda necessary.  I'm taking Core, Ethics, Bible, Great Britain, and French.  It's getting to about that time when I really need to get working to get everything done.  The end of the semester is really not all that far away if you think about it.

There are a lot of things we do for fun in Oxford.  On the nice days we sometimes go to University Parks.  There we will walk, read, or play frisbee or ultimate frisbee.  There is also a place over by Christchurch that is nice for walking but it's a bit further way so I've only been once.  Sometimes we go get ice cream at G&D at night.  Other times in the day we may go a bit further to the covered market and get cookies at Ben's cookies.  We also like getting sandwiches at On the Hoof, which is our favorite sandwich shop that's nearby.  It is very good too!  I had heard it was good by people who had studied abroad before, but it is really good!  We also cook together a lot.  And we eat together which is really fun.  This week has been good for eating as a group because Monday after we got back from Spain we had a "family dinner" and tonight we had a potluck.  It was really good!

Because eating out is expensive we do cook a lot because it really is a whole lot cheaper.  And we have to go grocery shopping, and usually a lot since we don't have a lot of storage space for food for one and have to carry everything we get home...it's quite a walk with a lot of groceries.  We go for our main shopping at Tesco.  We go for things we need really quick to a closer but a tiny little grocery store called 9 to 9.  It makes the grocery store I worked at look big.  But it does have a lot in it.  The basics at least.  Wednesdays are great days because it's market day.  That's usually when we go to get our fresh fruits and veggies.  I usually have to go early before French class so I don't make it every week...but there is a lot of good, and kinda cheap (or was at the beginning of the semester) produce.  I love my fruit!  I usually buy a ton every week and it's gone by Saturday...Then we get our food and make meals for each other, either in small groups or big groups.  Someday I'm going to make enchiladas.  I just need to finally get around to doing it... It is a bit interesting at times shopping because they don't always have what we need to cook.  And when they do the portions are different so we're always having to convert oz to grams, etc.  We have to make do every once in a while.  But there are some things I like better here.

Some of the things I like better are well food.  I do miss my proper Mexican food and sometimes I wish food was more flavourful but there are some really good aspects of British food.  I'm not a tea person and I just kind of blew it off saying that I just don't like hot drinks since I don't really like anything hot.  But I take that back...squash (which really has nothing to do with..squash) is a type of hot drink (but can be served cold) and it's kinda like hot kool-aid.  It's really sweet.  My favourite flavour is apple and black current.) Which brings me to another favourite.  Black current.  I like it.  Especially with apple.  I have juice boxes as well that are apple and black current juice.  You just don't get it in the States.  Another thing I like, and I'm not sure if people do this but my family just didn't or what I've just never seen it in the states, but people butter their sandwiches.  Which really isn't healthy, but it's kinda good! It gives it a bit more flavour and keeps it from being as dry.  I even started doing it on my own sandwiches.  Coca-cola is better here.  It really does taste better and do you know why...it has real sugar!!!  No high-fructos junk.  It just has a better taste here.  And I like to think it's probably a bit healthier... I like going to markets, which I know people do that in the states but I don't back home.  Things that aren't food that I like better are mostly television.  I mean there are some excellent British shows.  But I do watch them in the States still.  The British Netflix selection is different so that's a bit strange but there are some really good stuff that the US doesn't have but also they don't have everything that the US has, including Merlin...(which is British so you'd think.)  I love BBC.  I also love the fact that I can go onto the BBC's website and watch tv shows without being told that I can't watch it in my country. Well the point is that there is a lot I like, not to bash anything but just saying.

Primark...is basically our favorite place.  At least a lot of people's favorite place.  It basically is like the Walmart clothing section with a lot of cheap clothes...It's one of the places to go.  It's a lot of fun to go to because they do have some really cute clothes.  It is kinda awesome!  Nearby is Poundland is also a good store.  Basically everything's a pound (which is good for us)

Weekend's are pretty busy.  I'm really not sure if I'm going to have another free weekend until we leave (and don't think I've had one since we've been here...at least not one that is completely free.  We will travel or make plans doing something.  This weekend in fact I'm going with a couple girls to Birmingham for a Top Gear arena show (which isn't a monster truck rally).  And London makes a great day trip so some time I'll have to go back one last weekend at least.

I can't think of anything else that's just a part of everyday life here...there is probably something else though.  But yeah that's a bit of my "normal" life here.

Espanya: Catalunya

We left Zaragoza and spent the rest of the trip in Catalonia. Spain has regions that are a bit like U.S. states.  But at the same time some are very different from the rest of Spain.  Franco tried to get rid of these differences during his regime.  Fortunately he didn’t and as a result we have areas of Spain that aren’t Spanish. It provides a beautiful diversity in a country.  Just as Quebec in Canada is a French speaking province, the region of Catalonia speaks Catalan.  There are also other regions like the Basque region and Galicia that have a different national identity and language.  I’m not sure how they compare to Catalonia since we didn’t get the chance to visit them but as soon as you enter Catalonia it is obvious that you’re in a very different region from Castilla y Leon and Aragon, the other areas we had already visited.  As we were driving I noticed that the signs weren’t in Spanish.  Luckily Catalonian isn’t like Basque and is similar enough to Spanish that I can make sense of some of it.  Catalonia doesn’t feel a connection to Spain anymore, perhaps partially because of linguistic difference, but there are a lot of contributing factors to Catalonians having their own identity and wanting their independence.  Yes, it’s in the air and talk is all over.  Catalonians are inspired by Scotland’s press for independence and they want their freedom, legal or not.  Which it isn’t.  But it’s really interesting to see their strides toward independence.  One thing that I noticed what the lack of Spanish flags and the abundance of Catalonian flags, as well as signs saying “Catalonia, a new European state” in both Catalan and English.  That was especially evident in Gerona. 

Gerona, Girona in Catalan, was the first city we visited in Catalonia.  It was a nice little city but was quite touristy.  We stayed in the Old Jewish quarter of the city.  The first day we just took off exploring.  We went across the river to the newer part of town and there were a lot of nicer shops.  So they were out of our price range.  We mostly explored that day.  There was a gorgeous area with old walls and towers with great views of the city.  It was fantastic!  The next day we went to the cathedral which has the second widest nave, of a Gothic style church at least.  It also had a tapestry which was from the 12th century and supposedly the oldest one still in existence.  After we returned to the walls and actually walked them this time.  We did a bit more exploring and saw the Arab baths, which weren't really Arab.  The Moors weren't actually in Gerona for long so little of their influence exist today. These baths were from the 12th century I believe.  They really weren't that impressive, maybe because I saw the Roman Baths in Bath but still.  In Gerona people were a bit more traditional and even though it was touristy the stores still had a siesta time.  Gerona wasn't my favorite place.  The walls were cool and the cathedral was alright.  But other than that there was nothing much else but shops and a few museums but those can get expensive.  We did hang out a bit but there wasn't a really good gathering spot like there was in Avila where we had more free time.  We only spent one and a half days in Gerona, which I think is fine.  I probably could have gotten everything I wanted to do in an afternoon.  But it was still fun.  

Gerona 

But then we went to Barcelona! I've heard a lot of people say that Barcelona is their favorite city in Spain, if not one of their favorite cities ever.  So I had pretty high expectations for it.  And I have to say they were met.  It really was a fantastic city!  The first day we went out and walked around a bit (I love walking around cities and just exploring)  We stayed outside of Barcelona in a city called Santa Coloma and while walking to the train we were stopped by a local who asked what we were doing there and why some North Americans would be in Santa Coloma.  He was a bit confused and a bit annoyed.  But in Barcelona we roamed around a bit, saw some markets and then went to the Olympic venue from the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.  There was a kids event going on that day so it was quite festive.  We saw the Olympic tower, the baseball field (and surprisingly they keep it up so it doesn't look too bad like I expected) and got to go into the stadium!  That part was so cool.  I don't know if it's normally free but we got in for free.  No we didn't sneak it, it was open for the event.  So we sat a bit there and it was really cool.  We saw the olympic torch from those games too since it's at the stadium.  We also saw the diving venue.  So after walking around that for a while we took a cable car over the city.  The view could have been better since it was rather cloudy.  The cable car dropped us off near the beach so we went for a moment but it was getting dark so we went to go find a place to eat.  We found this place (maybe some people had heard of it before because they were pretty set on eating that this one place) and ate some tapas for dinner.  Which was plenty.  They were good.  They had a variety of tapas and you just grabbed what you wanted and paid per item.  At first I wasn't very excited because it was all sea food, which I don't like.  But then they started bringing out other things like Spanish Omelette and guacamole.  It was good!  And then we went and got Gelato and that was day one in Barcelona.  It was so much fun!  The next day was probably just as fun if not more fun.  That morning I went to the Sagrada Familia which was just fantastic!  I've gone to a lot of cathedrals and I love going, but there is a point where they start kinda looking the same so then you just go to the free ones.  But this isn't like that all.  This one is different and the only thing I can think to describe it is unique.  It is unlike other cathedrals that I've been to and any others in the world, which is one reason it's so famous.  They're still building it after over a hundred years of construction work.  It's incredible.  It's just breathtaking to look at inside and out.  Outside of the basilica there were people forming a human tower like I'd seen on tv before.  The first one fell as they were coming down which scared me a bit, but they were fine.  It was cool to see life!  There was quite a crowd around and music playing and people just climbing on top of each other to make a tower and then go send a kid to climb to the top of it.  We spent quite a while at the Sagrada Familia then after lunch I met the rest of the group to go to a football match.  I had been to one in Reading but it was cool to see one in Spain and see how the football culture is different.  I think the people were a bit rowdier at this match and they would yell at and boo their own team if someone did something that they didn't like... but it was cool!  I don't know a lot about football, but I love watching it!  That night I went to a market for tapas but we were a bit disappointed at the lack of tapas so we found a random restaurant, which was very good!  Then we went to a chocolate place that someone had remembered from a previous trip to Spain and that was quite good.  Don't get me wrong, I loved Barcelona, but I have to say that there were some things that I didn't like.  One major one is that people would speak to me in English when I went to a restaurant or store or something.  Yes it is a correct assumption that I speak English and don't speak Catalan and don't speak Spanish so well.  But one thing I liked about other places in Spain is that I got to practice my Spanish and talk to people even if I embarrassed myself.  I guess being a red head in Barcelona makes it seem like you don't belong...and most people knew English in the touristy parts.  So I was saying at dinner that I didn't like not being able to practice my Spanish and force myself to learn and struggle.  Weird that I missed the hard, embarrassing part of being in Spain.  I did get to use my Spanish at the chocolate place though.  There was a guy working there didn't speak English and he talked to us for a bit in Spanish.  And he was from Ecuador (I think...) so I could understand him better.  For someone who doesn't know Spanish very well Spain Spanish can be hard to understand... So that made me happy that I got one last chance to practice my Spanish.  

I really loved Spain.  I'm back in Oxford now and back to the usual routine.  I have homework and stuff (which really isn't as fun)  But if one thing Spain made me excited to go to Uruguay next semester and practice my Spanish seriously.  I enjoyed being a translator, even if I wasn't much help.  It was a lot of fun, even if I did embarrass myself a lot either because I said something wrong because I didn't know better or was tongue tied.  I would love to go back to Spain.  It is one of those countries that for one really interest me but it has a lot of great places to visit.  I'd love to visit the Basque country and Galicia to see the regional differences and the linguist aspects of those regions compared to Catalonia.  I would also like to go to the south of Spain one day and visit Sevilla and Grenada and see those places and then return to Madrid and spend more time there.  It was a great trip and though it was pretty long, it was great!  I loved it!  I'm going to be really interested to see how the Catalonia thing works out and if it spreads to other regions.  I think talk of independence might be brewing in the Basque country too.  But I love Spain!  Here are some pictures. 

Olympic Stands with torch

Beach in Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia 

Human Tower

España: Madrid, Ávila, y Zaragoza

I'm in Spain and we're going to visit 5 cities during this trip (which is about a 10 day trip so not bad) and we have so far been to Madrid, Avila and Zaragoza, but we will also Girona and Barcelona.

Last Thursday we left very early to catch a flight to Madrid. After only getting a few hours of sleep (because the night before it sounded like much more fun to go get ice cream at G&D's at 11 instead of packing. But despite being tired I was so excited to be in Spain that I didn't care. Our hotel was a bit outside of Madrid so we just went and caught the train to Madrid. That day we explored the city a bit, saw the Prado museum, and ate a fairly nice dinner in town. The next day we went out again into Madrid. It was the Spanish National Holiday and there was a military procession so we watched that for a while. The king and queen were watching nearby but I didn't get to see them. I saw where they had been after they left. We kinda got stuck in that area a bit after the parade but whenever we could we headed down to the park. The park was so much fun. There were puppet shows and vendors selling crafts and it was a lot of fun to walk around. In the middle of the park there is a lake and there were people in row boats. We really wanted to do it so after finding out that it was €4.60 per boat/4 to a boat for 45 minutes we had to do it. So that was the best euro I've spent. If i ever go back to Madrid I want to do that again. After it started raining so we tried to find shelter in the park hoping to ride it out. When it became apparent it wasn't going to stop soon we decided to go get some food. We found this place and I got patatas bravas. It was really good! After that we took pictures with a fat and crazy spiderman. I didn't want to but he chased us down. Then we went to a tapas market. After walking around a bit more we went to the Museo de Reina Sofia which is the modern art museum. (the Prado is the classical art). I had been to the Tate Modern in London and there discovered that I'm not a big fan of modern art. But I liked the Reina Sofia. It had a lot of stuff from the 1930s. It also had Picasso so that was really cool. I didn't really know what all he had done so it was cool to see some of his art. It can be quite weird though. But the main Picasso painting at the Reina Sofia is the Guernaca (not sure how it's spelt). But it was a really interesting painting. The next day I could have gone to Madrid in the morning but I felt like I needed to rest for one and I also needed to work on a project. That afternoon we headed to Avila.

I really wasn't quite sure what to think of Avila at first. It wasn't a city I had heard of and I didn't really want to go. But it was great. In the city center there is kinda a separate city and there is a wall around it and I think it's from the 12th century. It's old that's for sure. We stayed in a monastery. We explored a bit that afternoon and night. The good think about staying at the monastery is that all the meals were taken care of. But we had to get use to the Spanish style of eating. Breakfast was at a fairly normal time, lunch was at 2, and dinner at 9. So we would go get tapas sometimes before dinner.
Sunday went to Mass. It was a really neat experience. I don't think I had ever been to a Catholic service before so it was really neat to see. It was in Spanish so I had a bit of trouble keeping up with what was being said but it was still a really neat experience. After the service we went to a milk machine. Some people had found it the day before and it is pretty fantastic. Basically you go up, and buy a bottle if you don't have one and then fill it with milk and then it makes it cold and it's great! That afternoon we went to go see a bit of Spanish culture, specifically went to a bull fight. It was more disturbing than I thought it would be. Mean I knew that they killed the bull but still. They would just stab it over and over again and then put hooks in it and it was just very disturbing. Every time it would get stabbed the audience would cheer. The poor thing was bleeding terribly and finally I just had to leave. A group had just left so I went to go catch up with them. We headed to the city center and saw a procession. They were carrying an effigy of Saint Teresa into the cathedral because the next day would be her feast day. We followed a bit and it was really cool! After it was inside the church we decided to go find a bite to eat and something hot to drink be because it was a bit cold and rainy. I got churros con chocolate! It was good! I'm going to have to get it again before we leave Spain.
The next day was the feast day of Saint Teresa. She was born in Avila in the 1500s and after a bit of a crazy youth, her father sent her to a convent, she became a nun, and lived like a normal nun for a while. Later in her life she started having visions and people were thinking that she was a bit crazy. Someone said that it was crazy that she became a saint because she might have been burnt at the stake for her beliefs. She reformed the way things worked in convents and did a lot for the catholic church. She really is pretty interesting. She is the patron saint of Avila and was made a doctor of the catholic church. For the festivities there was a mass that morning that I went to and there were a lot of people and I think there were probably people from out of town (other than us) because at the beginning when they were welcoming everyone they mentioned a special welcome to those coming from out of town. After the mass there was a procession so people lined the streets and bands marched as they carried the effigy of her to the church dedicated to her, which is built on the sight that she was supposedly born. A bit late we walked around the city again and went to that church and saw some relics of St. Teresa including her finger...which was interesting. That night there was a firework show and it was pretty awesome!
Tuesday we had class in the morning but still went to walk around the city a bit for fun. We went and saw some views and wanted to walk the walls of the city but they were closed. That was sad because it was our last full day in Avila and we were a bit disappointed that we couldn't do that. But we still had fun in the city that day.
We were going to leave too early this morning to go out and do anything but the bus called and said they couldn't come until noon so we were able to go again to the city and walk the walls so I got to do it after all. We went up to the city and went up the walls and walked where we could. It was a really neat view and a lot of fun.

Today we got to Zaragoza a bit late so we just went to dinner and walked around a bit. We are leaving tomorrow morning so it's sad that we don't have a lot of time here. It is a really cool city and super pretty! The buildings are fantastic! I really wish we had at least a full day here. A few hours are not enough. Also the cathedral was closed and I wanted to go see the inside because the outside was just fantastic!!!

I have loved being in Spain so far. I have had a blast being here with this group and it has been nice to get to know people better and to grow as a family. I have also enjoyed the chance to practice my Spanish a bit. It has reminded me how much I need to work at it and that I have a lot to do to achieve my goal of being fluent in Spanish. But at the same time I'm also motivated to do so being here. It has made me excited about going to Uruguay and spending a lot of time in a Spanish speaking country. I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to get around how I wished I were able to while here. Spain Spanish is a bit different but I feel like I've been able to get around surprisingly well and understand more than I expected. I can read most signs I see so I have been fairly confident. I have ordering food at restaurants down pretty well too. I do occasionally get looks like "what did you just say?" But it is good. I'm looking forward to these next few days here. Tomorrow we go to Girona for two nights and then we have the rest of our time in Barcelona. I'll post about that later.

So this as quite the long post but I didn't want to leave anything out! Spain is great and I highly recommend it!

London Again and Les Misérables

So one of the good things about living so close to London is that you can decide the day before to go on a day trip to London and then go buy a train ticket in the morning and just go.  So yesterday I went to London for a second time!  This time was to do more of the touristy stuff.  We saw some of the stuff we saw the other day, Big Ben, The London Eye, and other stuff.  We also went into Westminster Abbey!  It was fantastic! It is so big and beautiful and so many famous people are entombed there.  Which does make it a bit creepy but really cool at the same time to see where Chaucer and Handel and other people, including monarchs, are buried.  It's just overall really cool!  After that we spent forever trying to find something to eat and after walking along the Thames for a while we decided to eat at some food stands by the river. After we walked a bit further and went to the Tate Modern, which is a modern art museum.  It was really interesting but I'm not a huge modern art fan.  After that we headed back to pick up tickets for Les Mis!  Which was fantastic! (but we'll get to that later) Well there really isn't much else.  We found a random restaurant to eat then went to the theatre and Christen and I went to the show and everyone else went home soon later.

Les Mis was fantastic!!! I have wanted to see it for years.  I've listened to the music, started the book, restarted the book, read the abridged, restarted the book again, watched the movie but it's nice to actually get to see it.  The story is fantastic and the music is amazing!!!  I could go on and on.  It was beautiful.  I still love Eponine even though she is a very depressing character (granted the musical is called "the miserable ones").  Marius was fantastic too!  I basically just loved it!  I think I'll just have to go see it again.  And I can't wait for the movie.  (though i doubt it will be as good as it is live)

After we kinda had to run out of the theatre, to the underground, and get to the train station so we could catch the 11:15 train home.  And we made it with time to spare!  Oh the fun of day trips to London!

It doesn't feel like I did a ton on this trip but it was a great one.  I really did do and see a lot.  I saw Big Ben, The London Eye, Westminster Abbey, the Shard, Buckingham Palace, a bridge that we recognized from harry potter, tower bridge (from a distance) and really a lot.  And Les Mis!  It was great!

It was a great trip!  I've got a few days back here in Oxford and Thursday I leave for Spain!  I'm so excited!!!

London/Football

So I'm just finally getting around to posting about this last weekend.  I've been pretty busy.  So here goes.  Last Friday we took a train into London for a project.  In groups we chose an area of London to be participant observers in.  I went to Brick Lane in the borough Tower Hamlets.  Brick Lane is a road that on (and in the surrounding area is a Bangladeshi population.  The street signs are written in both English and Bengali.  It was really interesting.  We also had curry because there is quite a lot in Brick Lane.  It was quite good.  After the project we went around London a bit (since it was my first official time to go since I don't count the airport) We road the underground a lot, went to herrods, and then on the way to chipotle (we needed mexican food) we saw some of the sights in passing like Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, The London Eye, Downing Street, Trafalgar street and other stuff.  But really just in passing.  And then we went to see Wicked and had to run to catch the last train that day back to Oxford so we didn't have to pay for a ticket back.

We had gotten back to Oxford pretty late Friday night/early Saturday morning and so I was pretty tired.  But in the morning I got an email saying that there was an extra ticket to a football match in Reading.  And so I went!  And it was fantastic!  We were on the second row and it was great!  The match was Reading and Newcastle and they tied but it was still a great match.  So that took up a considerable part of the day Saturday so I spent Sunday doing a lot of homework.

I know that wasn't very informational but I have a lot of homework tonight.  So here are some pictures.

Platform 9 3/4

 Brick Lane

 The Underground

 Big Ben

Wicked!

So there it is.  My first trip to London.  I'm planning on going again to spend some more time in London because it's really fun and awesome! 

Norge!!!

So this last weekend was probably one of the best!  I fulfilled a dream I've had for years and had a great time doing it!  First off Norway is fantastic!  It is beautiful!

So Thursday we had a long day!!!  My roommate Jessica and I woke up and went to the bus station at 6 in the morning, went to the airport, flew to Norway, and then took a bus to Asker.  When we got to Asker we met my friend Gustav at the bus station and he took us to Jenny's place since that is where we were going to be staying for the weekend.  When we got there Jenny was making a traditional Norwegian meal, kjøttkaker (which so happens to be my favourite).  That night we didn't go out but it was still great.  It was a long day anyway so we were perfectly content with staying and getting a good nights sleep.  That night Jenny and Gustav were telling us how since Norway is a pretty small country it's not uncommon to see Norwegian celebrities.  So I kept a look out for anyone I recognized, but no luck...

Kjøttkaker-norwegian meatballs 

(also potatoes, cabbage and carrots) 

The next day Gustav took Jessica and I into Oslo.  It was a beautiful day so we spent most of the day outdoors exploring the city.  We first went and saw Oslo from above, near Holmenkollen.  It was a great view.  

We spent a bit of time in that area and saw a Stave church and Holmenkollen. We also watched people ski jumping.  And skiing.  I think the ski jumpers were on a type of plastic but there were also people skiing with roller skis.  Which is pretty fantastic (but quite the workout) 

That was all in the same area.  After we saw that we went to the Vigeland park, which is basically a park full of naked statues...it's interesting... After we did that we decided to go into the city centre because I really wanted to see some stuff in there.  We got to see the castle where the king lives, the parliament building, where the nobel peace prize is given out, and the University of Oslo (well kinda...it was covered in plastic, i guess for repairs). 

Then we went to Aker Brygge, the picture above.  It is the main pier in Oslo with a lot of shops and restaurants.  It's a nice place to walk around.  We walked there a bit and got a snack (it was really good but I can't remember what it was called, but it was a type of bun) It was pretty close to Akershus, a fortress so after a bit we went there and walked around a bit.  There are a couple museums there.  I kinda wanted to go to the Norwegian Resistance Museum, but we were too late.  It was fine just walking around, besides walking around is free... There were some memorials outside the Norwegian Resistance Museum from WWII because outside was where many Norwegians who participated in the Resistance movement were executed.  If I go back that museum will probably be on the top of my list of things to do.  

Here's Akershus fortress 

After that we went to the Oslo Cathedral.  It's not a super magnificent cathedral compared to others but it was still pretty.  The roof was covered with colorful artworks.  We also saw the box where the king sits.  There was a small communion service going on so we watched.  Outside the cathedral there was a small memorial for the victims of the 22nd of July last year.  After the bombing and shooting last year the cathedral was covered with flowers and candles to honour the victims.  Now there was just a little spot but there may be plans for a more permanent memorial.  We also saw where the bombing happened.  They are working to repair the damaged buildings.  

Oslo Cathedral

After Jenny got off work we went to Grunerløkka and went to a park until she could meet us for dinner.  We just found a random restaurant but it was good.  After we ate we took the Tram down to the Oslo Opera House.  You can go walk on the roof of the opera house.  We went after dark so there weren't many people there.  We just walked on the roof for a bit.  It was really neat.  We also got to go inside. 

We went home that night and watched some TV.  That first day was the day when we did most of the tourist stuff.  The next morning we slept in a bit later.  It was rainy that day.  We decided to go to a movie because there was one I wanted to see.  It was Kon Tiki.  The Kon Tiki museum is in Oslo and I didn't go in but I saw the outside of the museum... Basically the movie is based on a guy who sailed from Peru to Polynesia to prove that the islanders came from Peru and not Asia.  It was made by the same people who made another movie (Max Manus) that I had really liked so I was very interested in seeing it.  And it had English subtitles (until the end when it said what had happened to the men who were in the movie after they sailed the pacific, then I just had to guess) It was a good movie!  I really enjoyed it.  After the movie we went a grabbed a bite to eat, saw a famous Norwegian actor who I didn't know) and also saw a lot of tired looking people who had just run in the Oslo Marathon.  We went to see the Munch part.  Basically the reason I wanted to go is because I wanted to see "The Scream" and I didn't really care about anything else.  But the rest was really cool.  There was this Norwegian artist who had a lot of his works of landscapes around Norway there and those were my favourite!  I can't remember his name though...Johan something...When it was about to close we thought, "Oh we better go see Munch before it closes.  But it was too late, they started kicking us out about 5 minutes before closing time...I did get to see it at a glance.  It was still a really great museum with beautiful art and I enjoyed it very much. After the National Gallery most things had closed or were about to close and besides we were going somewhere in an hour.  We didn't have enough time to go to Jenny's flat except to just walk in and back out so we drove around a bit.  We went to a peninsula called Bygdøy.  We saw some of the king's farm.  There are other museums at Bygdøy, (like the Kon-Tiki Museum, Maritime Museum, the Folk Museum, the Viking Ship Museum and Fram) but of course they were closed so we just walked around a bit by the water and got to see a different view of Oslo.  

After we spent a few minutes at Bygdøy, we went to Gustav's brother's place and had another traditional Norwegian food.  This one is a type of stew with lamb and cabbage.  It is the national dish of Norway! It was good! Well that night we just hung out there.  We got to talk to several people.  On TV that night there was this show where Norwegian singers would compete each week singing a certain style of music, that probably wasn't their own.  I'm sure it would have been a bit more entertaining if I would have understood Norwegian, or known most of the artist before.  I only knew Alejandro Fuentes and he did a good job!  I also tested out my Norwegian that night, which was interesting...I mean fun but I do tend to embarrass myself when I try to speak Norwegian...I still really want to learn it!  It's a beautiful language and it was really neat to hear it spoken more naturally and not just in movies and songs.  I would listen to see if there were any words or phrases I could pick out, most of the time without luck.  That night was probably one of my favourite parts of that trip.  It was nice to have a trip where I didn't just experience the tourism and tourist stuff and instead got to talk with people and experience Norway in a way that I wanted to.  I mean the things to see are great but the people are even better! 

Sunday Morning we didn't go into Oslo.  We had a bus to catch at 2 to get back to the airport.  That morning we went to church.  I always love going to church in other countries because I love having the opportunity to worship with brothers and sisters from around the world and it's very cool to experience that.  I mean there was a bit of a language barrier but the sermon was translated into English and some of the songs are in English.  I was hoping they would sing a worship song in Norwegian that I knew, since I do know a few, but I didn't recognize any of them.  After the service, we had lunch at the church and then headed to the bus station and said goodbye to Gustav and Jenny!  It was a great trip and I was sad to leave.  I think I'm just going to have to go back.  I had high expectations since I have dreamed of going to Norway for years and my expectations were definitely met.  Hopefully I'll get to go back soon. 

  One of the guards

I'm back in Oxford now and back to class and homework.  I'm excited for the rest of my time here and my other trips but Norway will always have a special place in my heart and I'm so blessed to have had the opportunity to go! 

Tomorrow!!!

So after years of wishing and dreaming, I finally get to go to Norway!  And better yet I leave tomorrow.  I've been obsessed with Norway since I was 14.  To be honest one of the major reasons I wanted to study abroad in Oxford is so I could go to Norway.  I was really afraid at the beginning of my time here that I wouldn't be able to go but luckily I found someone to go with me.  Many people are leaving today after class but there wasn't a good flight available so tomorrow we're going to wake up early, take a bus to one of the London airports, and then fly to Norway!  I'll be there at about 4 (norway time) tomorrow! We're just going to spend a couple days there exploring Oslo and visiting a friend!  I can't wait!

A Beautiful Day in Bath

Yesterday was fantastic!  A group of 12 of us went to Bath for the day.  We had to wake up early to catch a train so we could get to Bath around 8.  As we pulled in I could tell that the city was going to be fantastic.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Seeing as we got to the city at 8 in the morning, nothing was open.  So we split up into smaller groups to find places to eat breakfast since we were getting pretty hungry.  After breakfast the group I was with went into Bath Abbey!  It was absolutely beautiful!  The inside was breathtaking as well as the outside!  After we spent some time in the Abbey we met back up to go to the Roman Baths.  I wasn't sure what to expect and what all was there.  I expected to just see the baths and that would be it.  But the museum is really cool there.  It had the baths, (of course) but it also had a lot of remains from the temple that had been destroyed and it talked a lot about life when the Romans were there.  We also got to see the source of the spring, which is the only hot spring in Britain.  It was pretty amazing how they did that.  One thing that was crazy is how old it is.  It's from the 1st century!  The water in the pool was really disgusting and greenish brown....hopefully it was a bit cleaner when the Romans used it but I kinda doubt it.  After the Baths we separated into smaller groups again and some people went to the fashion museum and some went to the Jane Austen museum.  Since I wasn't really wanting to go to another museum I went with another group and we went exploring.  Someone found a walking path that went up to a great view of the city so we set off.  We stopped at a couple parks along the way and then went to hike the city.  It is pretty steep in many parts but we wanted to see a good view.  We may have made a wrong turn somewhere so we didn't quite find the spot we were looking for and the view of the city was mostly covered by trees but it was still pretty cool.  We had to meet everyone else pretty soon so we went back down.

So I was just thinking we would spend the whole day in Bath.  I wasn't sure what all we could do for a day but I just kinda assumed we would do that.  But someone had a better idea so yesterday morning I found out that I was going to go to Stonehenge!  So after the walk around town we all met up to take a bus to Stonehenge!  I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it to Stonehenge because I just didn't know a good time to go but it is only about an hour away from Bath so we went.  The whole tour was about 3 hours so that took up a good chunk of our day.  On the way we past a white horse on the side of a hill which is pretty famous but I don't know the name and there are a lot of white horses on the side of hills in that area and I don't know which one it is.  It is from the 1700s though.  My expectation of Stonehenge is that it was going to be a short walk away from the road and pretty isolated.  I was wrong...it was very close to the road and there was a road on the other side.  Which was quite surprising.  But it was still fantastic!  I was so glad that I got to see it!  We spent a while there taking pictures, some funny pictures, and then road the bus back.

When we got back to Bath we ate dinner and then went to a park like thing and played Ninja.  And I have to say it was one of the most entertaining games of Ninja I have ever seen.  It was pretty intense. After that we took the train, went back to Oxford, stopped and got ice cream at G&D's on the way back to our houses, and then we went to bed after a long, exhausting day.  But it was a great day!  It was so much fun and I got to spend some time with my new friends.  The group we went to Bath with was great!  We all had a blast.  I like how we were big enough to split into groups and do separate things when people wanted to do different things, but how we were still small enough that we could do things together and have fun as a whole group.  I love all the people who are studying abroad here with me and am very thankful that I get to know them and grow closer to them.

I'm sorry there are no pictures but the internet is really bad and I'm having problems downloading them but hopefully I can put pictures up on here soon!

Update

It has been a few days since I updated the blog so here's what has been going on. Not much out of the ordinary. Just class and stuff. Classes have been going pretty good! I like how my classes tie into things we're experiencing here in England.

The history of the UK is so fascinating! We talked a bit about it in class earlier today. It's crazy to think how much history is all around. Oxford is pretty old and it has been a pretty major city in British history. Even little things have historical significants! I've always loved history and am looking forward to learning more British history and European history too! It's also really cool to be at places where history happened instead of simply hearing or reading about them! This Saturday I will be going to Bath and we will be exploring around and going to the Roman baths! I'm really excited! There is a lot to do in the city so we will see what all we do! There is a good sized group going on we will have fun!

Oxford Open Doors

So instead of traveling this weekend I decided to stay in Oxford and explore! This weekend was the time to do it too!  Many colleges that are normally closed to the public were open during this weekend as a part of Oxford Open Doors.  Many colleges and churches took part in the weekend and let people see the inside.  Saturday after lunch some of us headed out in search of open doors.  We started down Woodstock Road which is a path that we often take to get into the city centre.  We got to see inside many places we had just normally walked on by.  We saw a couple colleges down that road as well as the St. Giles Church and St. Aloysius.

This is the outside of St. Aloysius.  One of the churches we visited Saturday.  It was really pretty.  We only did that for a bit when we decided to go see the Shrunken Heads at the Museum of Natural History.  We didn't just see that but that's basically the reason we went there in the first place.  It is a really neat museum and free all the time which is even better.  

Sunday after church I went out again to see what else was open this weekend.  First we went to Magdalen College, which was beautiful.  It was one of the ones I really wanted to see this weekend so I'm glad I got to.  C.S. Lewis was a fellow here at this college and it is said that the animal statues were his inspiration for the animals of Narnia... While at Magdalen we also went to a garden area and watched people punting on the river.  We also went to Queen's College which was really pretty as well!

 But I have to say my favourite was probably Christ Church!  That is the one that most people come in visit.  It's the most well known and it is also where they filmed some scenes of Harry Potter.  They filmed on a staircase and the Great Hall here is the inspiration for the Great Hall in the movie.  It is gorgeous.  The whole college is just beautiful.  I had been to evensong there before but had only gotten to see the cathedral which is gorgeous.  There is also a famous door at this college.  

The story of the "no peel" door is that those two words were put there in 1829, in protest of a man, named Sir Robert Peel, who was in favour of greater freedom for catholics.  There are a lot of examples all around of the problems that protestants and catholics faced in the UK and the feuding against each other.  

I had a lot of fun around Oxford this weekend!  It was definitely a good weekend to be in town and I won't be in town too many weekends.  It was a lot of fun, the weather was great (it just has been great this whole time, maybe a little too hot).  But overall this has been a great experience and I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester!