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)!