Oxford: First Two Weeks

Hello from Oxford! The demanding coursework has inhibited me from updating this. So now I have an overload of pictures! These 2 weeks have been unreal. The first amazing thing has been finally meeting the other 11 people in our group. Since I was gone in Ireland last semester, I had to miss all the meetings where everyone got to meet each other. So, needless to say, I was anxious and excited to finally meet everyone. AND IT TURNED OUT FANTASTIC. It has actually gone too well because all we want to do is hangout with each other and not do our huge amounts of work.

The first couple of days went great. We had a first toast at our professors house (the one who we will be traveling with for this entire semester), we did a practical tour of Oxford, a C.S. Lewis tour by one of my tutors, we had an induction ceremony into the Bodleian Library (which is necessary because they have one of the largest book collection), and then the real work began.

The Oxford system of instruction includes only a one hour meeting each week with what are called Oxford "tutors" or Oxford Dons. These people are at the top of their field of study so you can imagine at what high of a level the content is but also how interesting everything is. So, to be prepared for our weekly discussions, we have reading and then responsive writing in which is supposed to start the discussion for the corresponding week. This system is for the entire month that we are studying at Balliol. Oh! We are studying at the oldest college in Oxford, Balliol College. Their dining hall was the one used in Harry Potter, so that is kinda cool (Even though I'm not into Harry Potter:)). You will be seeing lots of pictures of Balliol because I am amazed I'm actually studying here every time I leave my dorm. 

The two courses that I am taking here at Balliol are: Rectifying Social Injustice and C.S. Lewis. VERY different but so interesting. Our tutors are unreal, how smart they are. I always have to catch myself so my mouth doesn't stay agape the entire hour with amazement at how smart they are. Like, my brain has been expanding every minute since I arrived. 

Here is our home: Balliol College 

Balliol

The street Balliol is on

Here's me

Here are some pictures of handwritten pages and pictures so I feel the need to explain their significance. There are only two of us in the C.S. Lewis tutorial so our tutor set up a time where we could go see some original manuscripts by C.S. Lewis. THE GREATEST DAY EVER. We are part of such a small group of Americans to ever see these. After Lewis died, his assistant sent out a letter to everyone who he ever corresponded with and ask them to send letters that Lewis had written to them. The remarkable thing about Lewis was that he responded to everyone who sent him letters. So, there was a lot of letters made into books. I even saw a correspondence that he had with a guy from the U.S. for 20 years. So the letters were one thing; the next is probably the coolest thing ever. We got to see a story Lewis never finished; it was written down in a cheap, orange, one of those examination type notebooks. It was hard to read his handwriting but Michael and I did the best we could. Then, if you flipped the book over, he had started writing an alternative ending to the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, one of the Narnia book series. It was unbelievable. We also saw an original drawing he did for his illustrator to show him what one of the creators in the Narnia series was supposed to look like. In addition, we saw a copy of C.S. Lewis' original drawing of Narnia. The original one is buried deep in the Bodleian Library and doesn't come out. Truly amazing. 

Copy of the map

Balliol

Downtown Oxford

This is the outside of Balliol

Downtown Oxford

This is the infirmary from Harry Potter

Main Bodleian Library

Radcliffe Camera

Replica of Bridge of Sighs

Where we took the oath to use the Bodleian Library

St. Mary's: we climbed to the top and that is where the high up photos I took are from

Christ Church College

Christ Church College

National History Museum

The Eagle and Child is where the Inklings met; the Inklings consisted of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and other famous writers. They met here every Tuesday afternoon after they were done teaching.

The Radcliffe Camera from the top of St. Mary's Cathedral 

Magdalen College - where C.S. Lewis taught!

These guys are my favorite and they are all over Oxford so its wonderful.

C.S. Lewis used to walk this entire hallway everyday, thinking and reflecting. 

The first weekend in Oxford, we took a bus to Stratford-upon-Avon to see a play by the Royal Shakespeare Company. This location is special because this is where Shakespeare was born and died. Totally got immersed in history and it was AWESOME. 

Here is the house that he grew up in.

Jester statue in the center of the town

The cathedral where Shakespeare was buried 

His grave

I was in the festive mood

Today we went punting! We had Pimms, a traditional British drink and cruised down a river. We met duck friends and they guided us. It was a grand day. 

This is Lauren. I love her. 

Our Pimms. It's so pretty, with all fresh fruits and veggies.

My girl Jane was represented (I adore Jane Austen if any of you don't know that) :)

There is Dr. Brint and his wife, Sue! He was an expert and killed us in the pretend punting race. 

Overall, the past two weeks have been filled with joy, stress, admiration and good times. I am enjoying my time here way more than I ever imagined was possible. We have two weeks left in Oxford and then we move on to our travel seminar part of the trip and arrive in Barcelona! 

Thanks for reading and talk to you soon!

xoxo,

Halle