Italia

So I just booked tickets to go back to Italy. I'll be in Rome and perhaps Naples from March 17th to March 22nd. I might slip in Edinburgh right before this trip, but at any rate it'll be the last hurrah of my European adventure. Only made it to two new countries, kind of weak, I guess. Can't believe it is almost over.

Illness

So I spent the last four days, totally sick. I converted into one of those English-type people who drink copious amounts of tea to make them feel better. I have to admit that my throat totally better every time I drank tea. At the same, I also have to relate that it didn't actually do any good for my cold, so tea is certainly not a miracle, even if it is Lady Grey.

As part of my illness, I missed both of my classes today, one of which was my tutorial. I almost didn't finish my tutorial this week as I was quite sick and didn't finish researching until I was actually writing (on Sunday...tutorial due Monday). Despite that...I just got an e-mail that suggested that this was my best essay to date. Quite confusing. Oh grades.

Anyway, to conclude this post inspired by wine, I'll conclude by saying that I'll write about my encounter with Austen, last friday...by tomorrow.

xx

Bodleian : An Ancient Bureaucracy

So I've just spent the last 2-3 hours, looking up sources for tutorial paper due Monday. In many ways, that sentence is telling of how I've had to adapt to life here at Oxford and the various constraints imposed on me by bureaucratic forces.

For those of you who haven't been at Oxford or know about how the Bodleian operates, let me take a minute to explain. The Bodleian is the central library at Oxford University that all enrolled students, faculty, and select others are allowed to use. Established sometime like 800 years ago or so, the Bodleian prides itself on two main points. The first is that it is a non-circulating library (i.e. no one can check anything out) and the second that it supposedly receive a copy of every book published in Englad/perhaps the U.K. On the first point of pride, the librarians love to share the story about how a servant of Charles II tried to check out a book on his majesty's orders and a librarian turned down, even the King. Why this would be a point of pride in the modern era, where than can fine someone's ass into the point of oblivion if they failed to return a book...I'm not quite sure.

Beyond the non-circulation bit, the other big pain in the ass feature of the Bodleian is that it has most of its books placed in stacks underneath its basement that no one has access to, other than the librarians. One, therefore, must request books ahead of time for perusal in one of the designated reading rooms. If one requests books too late in the day (read after about 11 am) then it is generally the case that you can't get the books till the next day.

Added onto this fun mix is that as a visiting student, I don't have permission to enter the library until after 4 (library closes at 10 M-F, 5 on Sat, and just isn't open on Sunday). Basically, this means that I have to do all my requesting of sources/research of what sources I need on tuesday/wednesday in order to have time to read by saturday and then write on the weekend for Monday. This has certainly caused me to have to improve my work ethic as procrastination just isn't feasible. *exhaustion*

All that complaining aside, I am enjoying the chance to studying information that I actually want to study. It makes all of the work a hell of a lot easier...and the workload makes working at Stanford seem like daycare.

Off to start reading my sources!

*for those who might be curious, my topic this week (which I picked) is : The breakdown of Anglo-Spanish relations during the reign of Elizabeth I

Wales & The Borderlands

*Warning - be prepared for small poor quality photos, apologies*

Continuing my backwards trajectory, this post is about Wales and the borderlands, the Bing trip of my first weekend here.

I gotta say that although the trip was arranged at such a time to encourage friendship formation and group cohesion (which I suppose it did to some extent), it might have been better to let us have another week to get used to Oxford. Taking off so suddenly, we had hardly had any chance to see Oxford...and in fact, Oxford felt quite foreign to me on my return.

First stop on our trip was Kenilworth castle, once owned by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (yay for early tutorial research!)



The castle was pretty neat despite being ruins, as a result of the English Civil War.





After that, we traveled into Chester, where we were to stay for the night. Chester was a cute little city that has a history going back to the Roman times when it was a military encampment. Has great medieval walls that you can walk around a large portion of the city on.


On Chester's walls



Went on a pub tour that evening, hitting up 3 joints and I ended up spending £12 on beer. *blush* Surprisingly, I like Guinness in this country...but I most certainly do not like warm ale. Heard a lot of American music, which apparently is quite a staple here in Europe. Was mightily disappointed to hear both Gwen Stefani and jlo, I thought I had left those bitches behind.

The next day took us to Conwy castle. I'm not entirely sure what it is famous for, I think perhaps border skirmishes when one of the English kings wanted to conquer wales. Had some pretty neat views.





Although you can't see it well, I found it odd that the local townspeople seem content to let boats rot away along the coast near the castle.



We saw a few other things as we trekked into Wales, a ruined abbey for one, that I don't have pictures of as they weren't that awe inspiring. After seeing lots and lots of sheep (yea the stereotypes of Wales seem pretty true), we came back to the English side of the border and spent the night in Shrewsbury. Had some not so great but cheap Indian food. Shrewsbury also had a Grope Lane that looked exactly what you would think such a street should look like.

Travel weary, the next morning we set off in search of Offa's Dyke which is apparently just a large mound of dirt that was built up in the reign of King Offa (of Mercia?) to prevent easy crossings out of the Welsh border. Was rainy and muddy and we ended up getting lost, never seeing the actual dyke (just the visitor center). After a few more stops, we drove on home and made it home to Oxford on Sunday night with just enough time to sleep before classes the next morning.

At interesting trip for sure, although one that would have been better had we not gotten lost on several ocassions / had not travelled with some of the whiniest bitches in the world. It was all I could do from wanting to tumble with some lame asses who whined all the time about being on the bus.

Barcelona and the Sun

Another post as I'm procrastinating on writing my architecture paper. The weekend before last, I traveled down to Barcelona. It was a blast, stayed in a cheap hostel, bought cheap drinks, and went to clubs with no cover. Best part of Barcelona was the sun and the warm weather. I don't think it ever got above 65 but I was grateful after all the cold of Oxford. Sadly, last Tuesday (after I had returned) it snowed.

Onto the pics:


Arch of Triumph



Random cool building



More arch



La Sagrada Familia




La Sagrada Familia-2



Beach w/feet



Palm trees



Random building-2



Random building over street



City scene

Hopelessly out of date

Here are some pretty pictures of Florence, while I put together a real post.



Ospedale Degli Innocenti





Old Florentine city walls





Santa Croce





Medieval home with bust of owner on front





Palazzo Pitti





Villa Medici





Uffizi




View of Florence w/Duomo and Palazzo Vechio

Oxford - Arrival

My trip began rather lovely like when I was pulled aside to have a special screening as I passed through security. Apparently the gate agent had written a little code (lines of curlicues) that informed the security guards that they should go through all of my luggage and give me a pat down. I can't complain too much though, as it was the first time ever.

Flight was fine, slept most of the way as I took a sleeping pill ahead of time. Did wake up briefly when they served me a vegan dinner with grapefruit as a side. I hadn't realized it was grapefruit and took a big ol' bite.

Upon arriving at Heathrow it struck me as very odd that at 7am it was still dark out. I've since learned that it doesn't get light here until around 8ish during winer. Oh my.

Oxford itself is a fabulous little city. I only walked around for about an hour yesterday because of all the things they wanted us to do. Ate at the Queens Coffeehouse, nothing to special but then I guess it wasn't too pricey either. Walked down a few blocks to where a majority of the shops were at; cute little area. Although I've seen quite a few garden/park type areas, Oxford doesn't seem like a very good city for people who are a very big fan of trees/green, as there aren't a lot of them lining the streets.

Anyway, time for a mini-nap before stores open. Pictures to come when I can.