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Hi MOM!
So I may have cut that blog post off about mid-sentence. Sorry about that, I accidentally typed Ctrl P instead of whatever I was trying to do. So the other day we went to Oxford on a day trip and it was so much fun. It made me want to go to Oxford for grad school. We'll see, England is really expensive. Anyway, we had about five hours to explore the town (there is no campus really, just an assortment of ancient college buildings scattered throughout the city). We went to Magdalen College (pronounced MAH-duh-lin, according to Dr. Paul, the English like to confuse us. Leicester, for example is pronounced Lester. You can tell who are the foreigners on the Underground by their inability to pronounce Leicester Square, a tube stop quite close to the Centre).
Anyway, we took some great pictures proving that we were there but right now my camera is on the floor and my bed is about five feet up, it's a feat getting up and down. Although Brother Shuler (the caretaker for the Centre; his wife takes care of our food) did fix my ladder, and I don't have to use a chair to get up and down anymore. Yay!
Then we went punting, which is basically getting in a gondola/canoe boat and hiring a boy with a very long stick to pole down the river. Our guide's name was Humphrey. We had lot's of fun going down the river, maybe the best idea we had all day.
Then we went to the Oxford official shop where I bought college paraphanalia for my siblings and myself. Michael's is extra cool. He will love it. I bought Abbie two things to make up for it. My bank account is really looking bare because of all the spending. I've already used over $500... in three weeks. I'm going to budget more, I can't live like this, it's too irresponsible. Sorry.
Anyway, after that we went to the pub called the Eagle and Child, where J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis used to swap stories over a pint (they both went to Oxford) and I bought a bowl of chips (french fries). The barman flirted with us for a bit, which was nice, since we only have the one boy. Only a British man can call someone "my dear" without it sounding creepy or affected. He had a mohawk though, which was odd.
After that we raced over to Christ Church, the official cathedral for the college, and listened to the Evensong service, which is an Anglicized version of Catholic prayer services. There was a choir of boys and men that sang the high and low parts. They sang the Psalms and also from the Book of Common Prayer. It was really interesting and reverential, but not at all informative. It makes me wonder how Anglicans actually learn anything about the Bible.
So all in all it was a lovely day, and I didn't even talk about the morning (we went to Blenheim Palace, where Winston Churchill was born. The grounds were beautiful and so was the inside). I have pictures though and will post them on facebook just as soon as I learn to levitate my camera.
Love you much
Cheers, (the customary goodbye for Britishers. also means thanks.)
Lindsay