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)!