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.
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