Week 7 - Tuesday

No pictures today, just a hurried reflection in the midst of the chaos that is end of term here at Oxford. It is amazing how the eight weeks of term mimic perfectly the experience of riding on a roller coaster. The first four weeks seem to take forever. It feels just like sitting in the roller coaster car and inching your way up that first incline, thinking you're never going to get over the top. And then Week 5 rolls around. You're at the half-way mark, you feeling like you're just sitting still on that hill looking down at what's to come and the next thing you know you're barreling down into Week 7, everything is rushing past, and all you can do is toss your hands in the air and try not to throw up. So, yeah, that's pretty much where we're at right now. On a happier note, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Wish I could be there with you.

Week 6 - Monday

One of the first things I did after classes began in October was to become a member of the Oxford Union Society. They have amazing weekly debates, speakers, events, etc. And the Union is in an absolutely gorgeous building. The library is stunning though, unfortunately, they don't allow anyone to take pictures of it. On the bright side, they sell postcards:) I picked up five this morning and scanned them. One of my favorite rooms at Oxford! The Debating Chamber is another fantastic room at the Union. The energy in that place during a debate is incredible.

The Debating Chamber

The Library

The Library

The Oxford Union Society building

The Library

Week 6 - Sunday

And I'm back! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I was without internet for almost a week and then had a presentation to prepare. The internet is back on and the presentation was Friday, so I've got more pictures to share. No particular theme this time - just some pictures that I took over the past week or so. Fall is finally here. The temperatures are getting cooler and the leaves are changing color. There are so many beautiful trees and lots of climbing ivy around Oxford - it makes it difficult to choose! Autumn is my favorite season and I've been taking pictures like crazy. I couldn't post them all so here are some of my favorite shots. Most of them were taken near my college, Wolfson, except for the church. That's at Keble College, where my Sources class meets. Beautiful!

Week 4 - Sunday

I was sitting in my apartment trying to get over yesterday's migraine while getting some work done when I glanced out my back window and realized what a glorious day it was. Fat, overstuffed clouds were drifting across a gorgeous blue sky while a delicious breeze rustled the changing leaves. I knew that, even if I really didn't feel like it, I had to take a walk. It was too wonderful a day to stay inside. On top of that, tt gets dark here so early now that my window of opportunity was shrinking. So on went the walking shoes and out I went. I decided to just walk and see where I ended up. I knew that turning right out of my door took me to the grocery store, church, and the center of town. I really didn't know what was in the other direction so I decided to take what was, at least for me, the road less traveled and I'm so glad I did.

About five minutes down the road, I came upon an arched faded brick bridge right next to a weeping willow. Weeping willows are my absolute favorite tree - they're so graceful and wistful and, though it may sound strange to say it about a tree, very emotional. The slightest breeze moves them. It's a very romantic tree:) Anyway, I went to take a picture and found a little canal running below the bridge with a walking path down the far side. What a discovery! The whole thing was absolutely adorable and so picturesque. It was a little bit of the English countryside almost right outside my back door. I went about two miles along the path but couldn't go any farther as I had to get back to the apartment and back to work. But it was a great break and a lucky find. Glad I took that walk!

Here's the tree that originally caught my attention. Isn't it beautiful! I'll have to figure out
how to photo shop those traffic lights out.

There were some beautiful homes along the other bank.

Week 3 - Something I forgot about Oxford Castle!

So this is really just a follow up to my Oxford Castle post. I posted a picture of the Crypt and mentioned that it was from the time of William the Conqueror. What I forgot to include was that a man named Geoffrey of Monmouth worked and taught in the Crypt in the 12th century. Now, don't think that he was teaching among a bunch of tombs or anything like that. At the time, it was actually part of the Castle school. Anyway, while teaching at the Oxford Castle school Geoffrey wrote a work called A History of the Kings of England. In this book, he developed the first stories of a king known as Arthur. Sound familiar? We have him to thank for Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, the Round Table, the whole thing. And I got to see where he wrote it :) I'll try to get better pictures of the Crypt when I go back but I just had to post about Geoffrey and King Arthur. It was one of the best things I learned that day!