America, Here I Come

11:25 AM

I am currently sitting in the Heathrow Airport with two friends from my program awaiting our flight to SFO with a short layover in Seattle. I didn’t know anyone else was on my flight so it was pretty cool to be walking through the shops for food and see two people waving me down.

It still hasn’t hit me that I’m leaving the UK. I’ve gotten to see and do so much; way more than most people get in a month. It’s crazy to think I was in this airport a month ago exhausted and ready to be somewhere and I’m in the exact same position now.

I had to say goodbye to a lot of friends last night and this morning and, although, a good amount go to Davis and I will get to see them soon, some don’t and it was hard to say goodbye (for now). Our program already has reunions planned and everyone can’t believe we have to leave our home, Oxford. So many amazing memories were made here and I feel so completely honored to have been able to experience this country and these friendships in the way I did and for as long as I did.

I will admit: Oxford became a home to me and it’s going to be weird to get used to America and Davis again. I can’t wait to see my family and friends and cat, but I’m going to miss this place like crazy.

Please forgive me if I talk too much about Oxford. I’ll try my best to only talk about it incessantly when asked. No promises, but I’ll try.

Okay, time to board my plane soon. See you all soon(ish)!

America here I come!

Why Must the Good End So Soon?

4:56 PM

So, it’s my last week here and tomorrow is my last full day. This is going to be a short post since I’m trying to soak in as much Oxford as possible before Saturday.

Tuesday was a day of studying since I had my final yesterday (Wednesday). Wednesday was the final, a trip to Christ Church College (where some Harry Potter scenes were filmed), group project work time, and the last movie night.

Today was presentations of group projects where we got a Mad Hatter tea party while we watched videos, saw guidebooks, looked at drawings, and witnessed a live action play all created by students in the program based on the books we’ve read.

My group did a guide book to our college, Jesus College. We called it “Getting to Know Jesus – Finding Salvation in Oxford.” Through the program, all of my friends and fellow classmates have made numerous puns related to Jesus and so the guide book we made features a ton of Jesus puns and book related features.

If you want to check it out, click here. It’s also a way to see more about my college if you’re interested.

Tonight is the end of term feast where we’re all dressing up and eating at, coincidentally, the first pub I ate at in Oxford on my very first night. It’s a good way to wrap things up I think.

There’s going to be lots of crying and story telling and pleading for the night to never end. Afterwards, we have the pub on our campus reserved for just our program so we’re going to get to crank the jukebox and play games all together in one place one last time.

I’ve been dreading these last few days since the program started and I can’t believe the end is already here. I’m most likely not going to post again while I’m here since my time is short and packed full. I’ll definitely post pictures in the next post once I’m back and talk more in depth about my last activities here.

Thanks to everyone who’s been following along since the beginning. I can’t wait to share all of this in person when I’m back. But until then…

Oxford here I am (2 days left)!

The (actual) Amazing Things I’ve Seen from Stories in Real Life

9:25 PM

So, I just realized that I completely skipped blogging about the Harry Potter Studios Tour because I thought I already had before I left for Scotland. Here we go.

Inside the entrance lobby

The actual cupboard under the stairs!

The actual Great Hall!

The actual Leaky Cauldron

The actual Mirror of Erised

Gryffindor Common Room!

Cloak of Invisibility!

Actual broom simulator used

The Burrow!

Actual Horcruxes!

Hogwarts Express!

I got to go INSIDE the ACTUALLY USED IN FILM PRODUCTION train…twice!

Train carriage set up for movie scene

Drank Butterbeer and saw the Knight Bus!

Harry’s parent’s house

I walked across the actual Hogwarts bridge!

Chess pieces from the first movie!

Dead basilisk

Buckbeak that moves when you bow to it, just like in the movie!

Diagon Alley!

Scale model of Hogwarts used for aerial shots in the movie!! Literally, the actual Hogwarts!

Half-built structures for an “undisclosed project,” aka the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie sets (Harry Potter spin-off movie)

There are seriously hundreds of photos I took from the tour that I will show everyone when I’m back, but this has been a taste. I basically saw every prop and costume, and stood in multiple sets and rooms. It was the coolest thing. Ever. Ever ever ever.

—

Back to today.

I had class in the morning and we discussed my favorite childhood book series, His Dark Material by Philip Pullman.

After class I worked with my group for a bit on our group project that I will share once it is completed later this week. It should be pretty cool.

I then went to the Botanic Gardens.

Speaking of His Dark Materials, in the Botanic Gardens is a bench which two characters of the series share a massively important moment together and I got to see it and sit on it.

The bench is super cool to fans of the series and people have even carved the names of the characters into the bench.

What the coolest thing about it is that it isn’t a prop or a supposed inspiration, it is literally THE ACTUAL bench from the Botanic Gardens in Oxford, England in the book that Philip Pullman probably sat on and purposefully chose as the bench he wanted in the story. Let’s just say, it was pretty rad to see it.

After that, I went to a couple shops and bought books and souvenirs before relaxing, getting food, and going to movie night with my class.

That’s all for now.

Oxford here I am (5 days left)!

Just a Wee Bit of Fun

11:10 PM

It’s getting late but I wanted to post an update about the last few days.

Wednesday night (15th):

A small group of us bussed from Oxford at 8:30 PM to London to catch a different bus at 10:30 PM to Edinburgh, Scotland.

Maddie and I trying to sleep on the 10 hour bus ride to Scotland

Thursday (16th):

We arrived in Edinburgh at about 7:45 AM and walked from the coach station to our hostel to drop off luggage before getting breakfast at The Elephant House cafe, the place J.K. Rowling spent much of her time writing the first few Harry Potter books before she became too famous to be in public writing.

Scottish pancakes are yummy

I still can’t believe I sat in the same place she wrote one of the greatest series ever in

After eating, we fought through tiredness and did a two hour walking tour of the city with our hilariously dramatic and possibly, slightly high tour guide Dave.

Dave in front of St. Giles Cathedral

During the tour we got awesome historical stories and learned some pretty neat things about Edinburgh.

St. Giles Cathedral which has a chapel that holds the only known angel representation playing bagpipes

The first ever skyscrapers, invented in the 1600s

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Edinburgh Castle with a giant concert stadium on the grounds

Edinburgh Castle, on top of volcanic rock

The cemetery (right next to my hostel) where J.K. Rowling walked around and got inspired by names for characters in the Harry Potter series

After the tour, we checked into our hostel.

Hostel entrance (with view of castle from the front door)

VW-Bus-turned-cafe inside the hostel

That night, after dinner, we went on a ghost tour that took us to the underground vaults of Edinburgh and also the cemetery I previously mentioned. We heard a ton of tales about the haunted vaults and the violent ghosts of the cemetery, and even ended up getting a terribly good scare at the end of the tour when they had a guy jump out at us during at the end while we were all standing inside a small tomb.

Friday (17th) ((Happy Birthday Dad!))

We went to the National Museum of Scotland where we saw lots of cool things, my favorite being the butt-eyed frog.

Then we got delicious pies and mash for lunch

After that, we went to The Scotch Whisky Experience where we took a literal whisky barrel ride through the building to see how whisky is made before getting to smell and taste whisky after learning all the techniques to figure out what kind of whisky you are drinking.

Amanda and I in a barrel

Learning about whisky

Back of one of the barrels

We were the only people in our group who were not 30-50 year old males

We then went back to the cemetery (again) to find the tombstones with Harry Potter names.

Thomas Riddell
(Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort)

That night I got to take everyone to an awesome traditional Scottish ceilidh where we got to learn and do traditional Scottish dances to a traditional Scottish live band.

I took a video but it won’t let me post it here. The dancing was super fun and it was cool doing something so cultural to the place.

Saturday (18th):

We went to the National Library of Scotland where we saw some weird exhibits on Scottish writers before heading to Edinburgh University to check out the campus for some friends who are looking into grad school there.

The campus has a library bar which I find super cool

Then we went to the Holyrood Palace, the place where the Queen stays when she goes to Scotland.

We got to do an audio tour of the whole place, which was really pretty

Next was Arthur’s Seat, a hike right next to the palace.

We climbed up this rockwall-esque hillside

We climbed multiple miles up rock steps and dirt paths in 20 mph wind before reaching the top (28 mph winds). But it was worth it.

Castle side (with the castle in the far distance)

Ocean side

Chapel ruins

Hilltop chilling

For dinner, I had haggis which is SO FREAKING GOOD NO JOKE. I loved it.

We also saw the castle with the torches lit

Sunday (today):

We got up at 4 AM to catch a 5:45 AM bus back to London

We then took a bus from London to Oxford where traffic was delayed to a carriage accident and loose horses. Then, on the detour route, a car in front of us caught fire and we had to sit, parked, on the freeway for a bit.

When we finally got back to Oxford, it was super cool to come “home” to my own room and my small, but better than the hostel’s, shower where I could relax after the long weekend. I got some food with friends, did my homework, and am now writing this.

It’s time for bed and I have lots more Scotland photos to share once I’m back, so don’t fret if this wasn’t enough. There is a lot more to share later.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and Happy Happy Birthday to my dad. This was only the second year in my life where I didn’t see my dad on his birthday but I hope he had a great day and I can’t wait to celebrate with everyone when I’m back.

Goodnight!

Oxford here I am (6 days left)!

Thank You J.K. Rowling, For Everything

11:17 PM

I apologize for the sporadic and unedited nature of this post, but I just went with it and couldn’t stop.

Yesterday was a class day and a major study day before today which was a class day and midterm day. In class today, before the midterm, we discussed Harry Potter and the effect, influence, and connections it has to all of our own lives. There were lots of tears shed as people shared heart-wrenching stories about what Harry Potter means to them, and it was also hard for a lot of people, including myself, to truly put into words what it means to us. Harry Potter’s characters and story are immensely important in my life and I know the phenomenon and the lessons I’ve learned through the books and movies will stay with me forever.

The character Luna Lovegood is an extremely important character for me, as she was someone I immediately latched onto as someone I could connect with and feel accepted by after some hard stuff in middle school. She taught me that being different is OK and people may not understand you but if you always stick to who you are and fight for what is right, not what is easy or cool, you will find happiness, success, and love.

I’m tearing up a bit just writing this because the books and movies have had such a huge impact on my life as well as my family’s, my friends, and my new friends here in Oxford. We all bonded even more today through tears, laughs, smiles, and stories. Harry Potter has literally saved so many lives, including people in my program, and I am constantly in awe of how one book series can transform an entire generation, and even generations that didn’t grow up with it. I know there are people out there who can’t get into it or have never really liked it, but, whether you think it is good writing or not, you can never doubt the massively amazing force of goodness it has brought into the world.

I feel incredibly honored and privileged to have grown up in the Harry Potter generation and to witness and be a part of the continual efforts on changing the world in honor of the books. So many organizations have been created to help others and create a better world because of one woman’s story about a lost little boy, his friends and family, and their constant fights for what is right. I know J.K. Rowling could never have imagined the aftermath of her writing, and neither could the publishers that denied publishing her book at first.

J.K. Rowling is such an inspiration to me as a writer and human. She was the first writer to ever become a billionaire from writing books, and also the first to lose her billionaire status because of donating too much money to charity. Honestly, she amazes me. I wish I could hug her and tell her how much she has literally changed this world, but it makes me happy to know that I’m pretty sure she already knows that.

We talked a good deal about fandom in class today, as well, and how Harry Potter has taken over the world in every way, shape, and form from videos to fan fiction to charities to clubs, etc. It is a world-wide fandom that started communities of openness and acceptance to so many people, young and old. It’s a connection between any and all people with any relationship to the story.

Rowling created a home for all of us at Hogwarts. Anyone can be a wizard and everyone can always go back to Hogwarts when they need comfort, adventure, happiness, and love. You don’t have to look very hard for proof that magic represents love in this series, and it’s so amazing to know that this story has created solace and safety and love in many love-less places throughout the world.

To be here in Oxford, adventuring, learning, growing, and making friends, all while getting to study the stories that made me who I am is something I could never fully explain to anyone and nothing like how I could have ever imagined. I wish everyone could do something like this while focusing on something as important to them as I am, because it’s truly beyond words incredible.

Tomorrow my program is going to the Harry Potter Studios to see the sets, costumes, props, etc. from the movies and I know I am going to cry. A lot. I am so beyond excited to be immersed in the Harry Potter world.

I thank J.K. Rowling for providing me and so many others with a home, and for enforcing in my mind and in my life that “happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light” (or open a Harry Potter book).

Because of Harry Potter I will always believe in Hogwarts, in magic, and in myself.

Long live the magic of Harry Potter.

Oxford here I am (11 days left)!

Definitely Half Full

8:45 PM

Let’s just get right into this because this post will have A LOT. (Let me just put it out there that I just transferred 210 photos to my computer from the last four days.)

Thursday (9th) was the most hodgepodge amazing day ever, and to explain it I will post a photo montage.

What the street of my college looks like at 4:13 AM if anyone wanted to know because I know because I woke up about 45 minutes before this and then left school at this time

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Good morning England, from my bus

What’s that I see from the freeway?

What could it be?

Wait, is that…

STONEHENGE

I like Katy’s sunglasses

We got to go INSIDE THE INNER CIRCLE

There are seriously dozens of other photos from this trip of my friends and I, but they’re on other people’s phones so I can’t post them right now since I don’t have them. But I think you get the idea.

After this, it was only 7:30 AM. Yeah.

So we went to breakfast at a Holiday Inn buffet.

After that, we went to the Wilton House, which is an absolutely gorgeous house still lived in by the current Earl and Countess of Pembroke, their two kids, and their dog.

We ended up petting and loving on this dog before the Countess called it away and then we realized it was her dog and that she was right there and that we had witnessed royalty in her errand-running clothes and touched a royal pooch

Front of the “house”

Side

The grounds

And then the BEST part…

THE ENORMOUS AND INCREDIBLE PLAYGROUND

The playground is much bigger than this with an additional smaller playground for ages 0-5 and a trampoline, zip-lines, swings, tire climbs, and more slides behind what can be seen in that picture.

Zip-line courtesy of Katy

Walkways

It was so much fun. Katy and I skipped tea time to play on everything for as long as possible, and then our other friends joined after a bit.

We then got back on our bus back to campus. At that point a few of us got food and ate on the steps on campus (which I should really take a picture of since I spend so much time there eating with friends).

After some more relaxing time, our program went to a local pub to play a game called Aunt Sally. In the game, you stand a good distance away from a ball on top of a stand and throw a large stick, trying to knock the ball off the stick by only hitting the ball and nothing else.

I didn’t take many photos that night since it got darker, but this is an idea of what it looks like

Look up Aunt Sally videos on youtube if you want to see people in action.

We were supposed to play against Florida Tech, who is also staying at our college, but they never showed up so for the first time in the 5 years of the program UC Davis won Aunt Sally! We then played against ourselves and had way more fun than we would have against anyone else.

My friends and I then got pizza from a pizza food truck in front of Christ Church College that has an oven inside the truck.

It was hard to take a good photo with bad lighting

We ate, hung out, and then slept before the weekend officially started.

—

The next day, Friday, the 10th, Katy, Maddy, Amanda, and I woke up, ate breakfast, and bussed two hours to London. We then took the Underground (subway system) to go to the Tower of London where we walked along the outer walls of the former castle, learned about English history, and saw the amazing Crown Jewels.

Tower of London

London Tower Bridge from the Tower of London

London Financial District from the Tower of London

A, literally for no reason, dragon art piece inside the tower

It was made of guns, scrolls, telescopes, chain mail, shields, helmets, etc. and was SO COOL

After the tower, we took the underground to central London where we unexpectedly came out of the station directly in front of Big Ben.

We then went across the River Thames to the South Bank (boardwalk-esque). There we bought tickets for the London Eye and also got a free 4-D show of London.

Inside the room for the show

It was pretty cool to see over London from the perspective of a Seagull in 3D and then feel wind, water mist, snow, confetti, and fog in 4D.

And then came the Eye ride!

Panoramic view from inside our bubble

I really like Katy’s sunglasses

We then walked quite a distance to West Minister to get Chipotle. Yes, Chipotle. When you have been deprived of any and all Mexican food, you resort to any option you can get to have a taste of something semi-Mexican food-like.

We walked around the area after that with my friend (and future housemate) from Davis who met us there since she is studying abroad in London right now. We saw Oxford Circus and Picadilly Square, which are both just like New York’s Central Park (kind of).

I then said goodbye to my Oxford friends and stayed the night with my Davis friend, Diana, in her dorm at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

—

On Saturday the 11th, Diana and I woke up, ate breakfast at her dining hall, and then met my Oxford friends in central London to take a Duck Tour. A Duck Tour is a tour of the city in a bus that is also a boat, so you drive around the city and then also go on the water of the River Thames!

Going from land to water

Katy, me, Maddy, and Diana inside the duck

There are some ducks in this water!

We had the funniest tour guide with the best facial expressions and stories, and it was only her 6th tour!

While walking along South Bank afterwards, I saw a really awesome book fair thing.

And a bagpiper on the beach.

And a floating Yoda.

And Milenium Bridge, which you may recognize from the sixth Harry Potter movie.

Diana and I walked across it and saw the London Tower Bridge down the river

And also Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (the white building)

Across the bridge, we saw the school where Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter actor) went.

After dinner at Porky’s BBQ, we actually went to see the opening night of Richard II at the Globe theatre!

Inside the Globe

We got to be right at the end of the stage, meaning we got to lean against it and on top of it while standing for almost 3 hours for the show. I had never read, seen, or even heard of Richard II the play but it was aboslutely amazing. It was wonderfully cast, beautifully set, hilariously scripted, and way better than I ever imagined it to be.

During the show, Diana and I made two friends (neither of whom knew each other or us).

Jackie, Diana, Becky, me

After the awesome show, we all went to the Old Thameside Pub along the river where we all exchanged travel and study stories from our individual trips and experiences. It was such a random, amazing night that we could never have planned on happening. As we left the pub and walked together to the underground, it started raining. None of us were prepared for rain; Diana and I were both in shorts and had no jackets. It was so perfectly London and we walked across the River Thames looking at the lit up city of London as the sprinkle of rain only made it better.

—

Today, I woke up, got breakfast with Diana, and took the underground to the bus station to take the bus back to Oxford.

Oxfordshire countryside on the bus ride back

I got back, took a shower, did some laundry, finished my homework, and am now typing this.

The last four days were truly incredible, tiring, breathtaking, spectacular, and magical. I, as I figured, still love Oxford much more than London (I’m not much of a city girl). Oxford is the perfect mix of touristy stuff, history, and small town charm. If I lived in England, I would definitely want to live in a countryside somewhere, but Oxford is perfect for my month and coming back to it made it feel a little like coming home to it, which was pretty cool.

Today marks exactly two weeks into my program and exactly two weeks left. Never have I ever been more of an optimist in saying this trip is most certainly half full, not half empty. I am so full of amazing memories and it’s not even over yet.

I am now off to read and sleep and prepare for this week’s classes, second midterm, and even more exciting things to come. Yes. I said it. EVEN MORE exciting things than these last four days are coming soon.

Stay tuned!

Oxford here I am (14 days left)! 

Wait, This is a School Trip?

8:58 PM

Yesterday we got to tour Oxford Castle which has incredible history from its creation through wars and transformations into a jail and now a hotel. In fact, the castle was used as a prison up until 1996. If I could capitalize numbers I would. 1996! That was only 19 years ago. And during that time, the rooms had no toilet, wash basin, or anything besides a bed and a bucket, without even glass on the barred small windows.

The tower which housed inmates and has some seriously disturbing and amazing history, is the oldest tower in Oxford at 1000 years old. It’s still standing even while the rest of the castle is not due to, luckily, important people throughout history keeping it up.

Our tour guide, Giles, whose character is based on a real life inmate of the former prison who was innocent yet hanged for a framed murder. This is also inside one of the cells which, before then, was the room of Empress Matilda before she had to flee after her cousin Stephen stole the throne and held her castle hostage.

We got to climb the historic tower of the castle and see incredible views of the city of Oxford. Some may say unfortunately (we said luckily) it was a stormy day and as soon as we got to the top it started pouring. It was magical.

The view from the top of the tower

Katy, me, Maddy

The castle also used to have a chapel before King Henry VIII tore most chapels down in his changing of the country’s religion during the Anne Boleyn scandal. The crypt under the former chapel still exists, though, and is thought to be haunted.

The crypt of Oxford Castle

Oxford is also where mugshots were first invented in the prison at the castle.

In the back is a mugshot of a 7 year old girl, the youngest inmate of the prison, who served 7 days for stealing

The castle and tower were absolutely gorgeous and the history there is so rich and enthralling.

After the tour, my friends and I got lunch from the local market, Tescos, where Cool Ranch Doritos are just Cool Original and also a lighter blue bag.

Eating on our favorite steps on campus

With a midterm looming, we then went to a nearby cafe to study until it closed at 6 PM when we then got dinner and went to Starbucks until it closed at 8:30 PM.

We managed to steal a huge table from one person who was trying to take the whole thing

Katy and I’s bored of studying selfie

We then studied in the common room on campus until 11 PM. It sounds like a lot of studying, but don’t be fooled. My Oxford friends are great distractors and we did about 50% studying and 50% goofing around, watching videos, singing songs, and just not studying. We still got through our studying though and I don’t think I would have managed to do anything without their (and mine with them) fun and entertaining shananigans.

—

Today was midterm day. We actually had to do studying and take a test. What is this? A school trip?

The midterm was two essay questions and it went reasonably well, I believe. The rest of the day’s class was on the first book of The Lord of the Rings which isn’t a book I grew up with, but is a story that is immensely important to so many in my class, which is what I love about this class. I also got a lot of insight into perspectives, opinions, and history of the story and J.R.R. Tolkien.

After a bit of relaxing after class, a group of us went to The Four Candles pub and got food and drinks. I usually don’t drink more than one drink, if I even drink that, but it is interesting to be of age and in a country where drinking is so normalized and prominent; especially since I’ll be coming home still underage in America.

How I feel when I order a drink and I have no idea what to order. I usually just resort to: What lager do you recommend?

We then had a movie night for our program; we watched the second half of “The Fellowship of the Ring.”

I’m back early to my room tonight to relax and get some sleep before getting up at 3:30 AM tomorrow to leave campus at 4:15 AM to go to Stonehenge! Prepare for lots of photos since we get to go INSIDE THE INNER CIRCLE, PAST THE FENCES. A lot of people have been waiting for tomorrow since the trip began, and I’m super stoked to wake up early and see an ancient wonder of the world.

That’s it for now. Tomorrow will be exciting and this weekend is my weekend in London with a friend, so be patient if I don’t get to a computer to update for a few days.

Love to you all!

Oxford here I am (17 days left)!

My Very British-American Life

8:57 PM

While America was celebrating Independence Day on the fourth, the British were making jokes about treason. I, on the other hand, was having the most American-British day. It started with McDonald’s breakfast with some friends so we could have pancakes and syrup (not a breakfast item served at my college here).

After enjoying a home comfort, we went out to the streets of Oxford to enjoy the Alice’s day festivities. This year, on July 4th, was the 150th anniversary of the publishing of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and every year there are events all over Oxford to celebrate the most famous children’s tale.

Did I mention I was dressed like this all day?

The first stop was The Story Museum where there were multiple stations related to Alice. There was a pretty cool cake display, people in costumes, and my favorite part of the holiday: an opportunity to use a real printing press to print a page of the honored book.

Cake display

My pressed page

Printing press we got to use

My inner journalism/paper/typography/writing nerd couldn’t contain its happiness as I pulled the lever that pressed the ink onto the page. Later in the day we also checked out the printing press at the Weston Library and actually got to ink the letter tiles AND press the paper, though it wasn’t as spectacular of a design. We got to pick card symbols and I picked the symbols of a character’s “card” from the show “Once Upon A Time in Wonderland.”

After dropping off our papers, we went to the Natural History Museum front lawn and learned the Lobster Quadrille dance, which we now have mastered after so many repetitions and reenactments since then. Next we went to lunch at a delicious Tapas place and got ice cream.

Tapas (I ate my ice cream too quickly to remember to take a picture of it)

We relaxed for a couple hours after that before going to the Bill Spectre Oxford Ghost Trail where we heard spooky stories of Oxford past and laughed at cheesy tricks played by our guide. It was super fun and Bill Spectre had the most perfected Victorian accent/voice to play the role of the scary-story-teller.

Bill Spectre

We completed our British-American day with our first pizza of the trip that was a bit peculiar in appearance and taste, but was delicious after a long day.

A group of us then watched a bit of Netflix on a projector in our classroom before sleep.

—

Saturday was another excellent American-British day at the Cowley Road Carnival. It was, by far, the largest street fair I have ever been to as it spanned an entire mile long road, and about 3 side roads off of it. There was never a moment lacking music; as soon as you got out of ear shot of one band you were coming up to another band, DJ, music group, etc. There was also a ton of different food vendors and after a long time of searching for the right food, I finally settled on a good ol’ American BBQ vendor’s pulled pork sandwich.

There were a TON of people at the carnival and, despite a few slow crowds, it was super fun and interesting to see what a British carnival was like (with American food, no less).

A trip to a cafe was a must after the carnival (when in England…). Except, our drinks were not American at all and my white chocolate mocha was kind of just frothy milk. But, it’s okay, we still love you England.

Queen’s Lane cafe, opened in 1654

Continuing the British vibes, we then went to a different cafe to read and do homework before then going to the junior common room on campus to do more studying once the cafe closed. I’d just like to disclose now that studying in Oxford is not like studying at Davis, or any college. It’s super fun and only slightly productive (though is always completed) due to my amazing distracting friends and awesome Oxford venues.

That night we stayed in the JCR after studying to secure the couches in front of the TV so we could watch the Women’s World Cup game live at midnight our time. My friend Katy is also a soccer fanatic and player, and it was too much excitement sitting next to her and watching the amazing US Women’s team score 4 goals in 20 minutes. Our other friends videotaped our yelling/chanting/cheering goal reactions.

Katy and I still overly stoked during half time while everyone else was overly calm and collected

Katy and I ended up staying up later than anyone to watch the medal ceremony and after-game interviews until the last highlights and credits of the broadcast. That meant we were up until about 3 AM.

USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA

—

Today was another class day with a guest lecturer from an actual Oxford University professor. She talked to us about C.S. Lewis, J.R.R Tolkien, and Philip Pullman, along with their writing and revisions processes and how we writers can implement their techniques or learn from them in our own writing. I was a bit teary-eyed by the end when she spoke about how each and every one of us in the room, even those who didn’t claim to be writers, were and could be a writer without having to be a magical genius or anything like that.

Her talk was so completely inspirational and at the end she told us we could email her whenever we wanted to ask questions or ask for advice, and you know I will be taking her up on that soon.

After lunch and more class, I had some free time before grabbing dinner with my friends at a Pizza Hut, which was the fanciest Pizza Hut ever with extensive menus, sit down, separated booth tables, and no take out pizza sizes.

The entrance to Pizza Hut from the top of the long staircase that starts at street level and goes down underground to the restaurant

Movie night was after that in the campus theatre room, where my class watched the first half of the first Lord of the Rings movies.

Katy, me, Maddy, Amanda

Now I’m chilling in my room, writing my blog, and soon going to read and watch Netflix before bed. Tomorrow is the Oxford Castle tour, some midterm studying, and most likely some spontaneous adventures.

I know all of you back home want to know I’m safe and having a great time and I want to assure you I am having the time of my life and I can’t wait to share more stories and the photos I haven’t posted when I’m back in the states. I promise I miss you all, even if I don’t say it, but again thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey (including, especially, my parents and best friends who I don’t talk to enough but I love you all!)

Cheers!

Oxford here I am (19 days left)!

How Do You Title Such Perfect Days?

12:37 AM (Oxford)

It’s getting harder and harder to update every night with so much excitement and so many adventures to go on every day and night, but I promise to try my best to update as often as possible.

I left off last on Wednesday, so let’s talk about Thursday. That was the day of museums and boats and rivers and rooftops.

First, I spend a few hours in the morning museum-hopping. Let me just say: there are many museums in Oxford and it’s fantastic. The first thing I did that day was actually not an exact museum, it was the Weston Library. In the library, however, they have two rooms right now with the Marks of Genius exhibit. I recommend checking out this page to see everything on display there right now. Some of my favorites were the dust-jacket of the original, hand-illustrated by J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit cover, books and journals of Galileo, Kepler, and Copernicus, the oldest surviving copy of a text in English, Einstein’s letter of acceptance to Oxford University for his honorary degree, The Tale of Urashima hand-scroll, and the Shelley relics.

The exhibit was insanely breathtaking and that’s not even an exaggeration. Staring at the works and belongings of the famous astrophysicists and authors who have shaped my aspirations and life in general is something I can’t express in words. And, believe me, I tried in my journal entry for class this week.

I would say a lot more about the experience, but feel free to ask me when I’m back since it will be easier in person to try to convey a bit of how I felt after that experience.

Also, side note, I’m currently sitting in my room listening to my favorite natural sounds of thunder and lighting and rain as a storm approaches and I’m so excited to fall asleep to them.

Anyways, moving on, I next went to the History of Science Museum, which wasn’t quite as grand as I had hoped but was still quite interesting. I got to see telescopes, cameras, astrolabes, and telephones through time.

Telescopes

Astrolabes

That evening was the river boat cruise on the River Thames (called the River Isis in Oxford). I feel like I say this a lot about everything in Oxford but I swear it is always true: it was seriously exceptionally incredible.

Our boat (I forgot to take a photo of the outside, whoops, so here’s one from their website)

Sun roofs on the boat

Crappy picture of the inside of the boat

Just some casual wild horses along the river

Some swans for your viewing pleasure

A bridge

Under the bridge

Pretty

I have so many more photos form the cruise that got a little ruined from glare or just would fill too much blog space. The river was gorgeous, the nature was breathtaking, and the experience was unforgettable.

Later that night, a good-sized group from the program went to a rooftop bar to hang out and check out the beautiful views of the city.

A red moon for your viewing pleasure

Red moon close-up

Sunset

I love hanging out with my fellow program mates because they’re all such wonderful people and there’s always something to talk about or go do and I feel so honored to be a part of such a kind and enthusiastic group.

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The next day, Friday, technically yesterday now for me, was our first completely free day of the trip (since we have every Friday-Sunday unscheduled for travel or leisure). I used the free morning to sleep in (a tiny bit until 9 AM) and then went to my favorite cafe to do some homework. Afterwards, I went to the Ashmolean Museum with my friend Maddy for a few hours trying to take in the colossal amount of artifacts in that massive building.

I can’t quite relay exactly what I saw because there was so much, but it was amazing, of course, and I think you would have to spend a month there to actually see and read everything. We did get to see a really cool exhibit about Roman statues and what they would have looked like before their paint wore off.

Julius Caesar compared to a replica of what he may have looked like with paint

We then got lunch at the covered market, ate on campus, and then I went off exploring on my own to check out some shops and get a milkshake.

I then spent some time in my room relaxing and napping before heading out to the King’s Arm pub with a group of friends. We hung out for a while just talking and laughing, enjoying the Oxford life. When we got back to campus, two friends and I managed to scare a few other friends who were watching Netflix in a theatre-like room, which was, of course, great fun.

Now, I sit, writing this blog post, listening to the rain, and will soon be asleep, ready for the amazingness that will be Alice’s Day tomorrow.

Goodnight and g’day America!

Oxford here I am (22 days left)!

Amazing Things Are Happening Here

9:23 AM

I apologize for no blog post yesterday or the day before, but, after you hear about my days, you will understand how tired I was. I wanted to be able to properly express my excitement and happiness without any tiredness in the way.

Tuesday was the best day (so far). It all began when our group of 30 students stood outside Jesus College waiting for our tour guide to arrive. But, alas, this was no ordinary tour guide. No, this was Felicity. She is one of the single most British people you could ever meet, from her voice to her demeanor. It was like getting a tour by Julie Andrews. No joke.

We first saw the beautiful architecture of the Museum of the History Science, the Bodleian Library, and the Sheldonian Theatre.

Museum of the History of Science

The Sheldonian Theatre

The Bodleian Library

I will be visiting these places again and will post more on them then.

After that, we went behind the Sheldonian to the door where Oxford University students enter in their graduation robes on graduation day.

Degree ceremonies door

We also saw the gargoyles on a building that depict characters from books we are reading, like the Dodo, TweedleDee & TweedleDum, Aslan the Lion, and other characters from children’s stories based in Oxford.

Next we went into a building where I almost cried of happiness because it was the exact room used for the Hospital Wing and Goblet of Fire’s Ballroom in the Harry Potter movies.

The gorgeous ceiling

More ceiling

More more ceiling

Windows

My friend Amanda and I in the Divinity School room

After spending much time soaking all of that in, we then went further into the University grounds and saw…

The Radcliffe Camera, which, before the outside was resurfaced, was J.R.R Tolkien’s inspiration for Sauron’s Tower in The Lord of the Rings

University Church

The door that inspired Aslan the Lion and Mr. Tumnus the faun/human from the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis

And what is that just down the walkway a bit from the door?

The lamp post that inspired the exact same lamp post in The Chronicles of Narnia

We also walked down many MANY gorgeous cobblestone alleys with stone walls and buildings

And also gorgeous streets

With randomly gorgeous buildings

We saw and learned so much more from Felicity than I can ever relay to anyone else without her. It was a literary walking tour by name and literary life-changing, inspiring, incredible tour by experience. All of us felt like the luckiest fantasy nerds in the world. Especially after Felicity said she was good friends with Philip Pullman quite nonchalantly. Philip Pullman is just the author of the His Dark Materials series, one of my all-time favorite series as a child and today. You may know it’s first book, The Golden Compass. I’ll just say I’m a bit jealous of her British-ness, knowledge, and friends.

After the tour, a few friends and I went to the University Church to climb the St Mary the Virgin’s Tower. The views were incredibly over all of Oxford.

Radcliffe Camera from the tower

Nichole, Amanda, and I at the top of the tower in front of Radcliffe Tower

Brasenose College

All Souls College

High Street east end

High Street west end

Inside University Church

The alley back to my college

I honestly don’t think anything I say or do can convey the amazingness of that day. That night was my friend Maddy’s birthday and we went to the famous Turf pub for food and drinks to celebrate.

—

The next day, Wednesday, yesterday, was a class day where we finished discussing Alice in Wonderland and also talked about The Wind in the Willows. During our lunch break, a couple friends and I got food from the Covered Market and then ate in the Christ Church Meadow. I had pie and mash, which is a meat pie and mashed potatoes. It was positively delicious and my new favorite British meal.

Pie and mash

I also managed a trip to Tescos, the Safeway of England, and picked up some snacks for my room.

British Honey (not honey nut) Cheerios which taste good, but not as good as American Cheerios

In Great Britain, they don’t have Lays potato chip brand, they have Walkers crisps (chips)

The British equivalent of Hershey’s brand chocolate (super delicious)

After more class after lunch, I had some relax time before movie night where my class watched Howl’s Moving Castle in our own theatre on campus. I then went straight to my room and feel right asleep before being able to finish this blog post.

I am currently about to get ready to leave for museum day and a boat cruise tonight. Most of you are probably asleep since it is almost 2 AM your time in California.

Hope you all are sleeping well and I think I’ll be posting again tonight (if I don’t fall asleep again).

Cheers!

Oxford here I am (24 days left)!