Update/Transportation

I wanna hang a map of the world in my house. Then I'm gonna put ins into all the locations that I've traveled to. But first, I'm gonna  have to travel to the top two corners of the map so it won't fall down.

--Mitch Hedberg

Since today is Halloween (and more importantly Chrissy's birthday) I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to update you all on life in Oxford. To set the scene, I'm currently writing this from inside a Borders Starbucks. I just finished my tutorial meeting with Emma, my tutor, for Jane Austen (we discussed 'Mansfield Park'). I feel like I've just experienced the epitome of Oxford-- a meeting with a professor over coffee. To add to this description, I will let you know that I just saw a guy with a green painted face walk by. Halloween is interesting in England…to say the least.

 

Tutorials have been going well, although I'd be lying if I said it was easy. There is a lot of work and research to be done and it certainly keeps me on my toes. I have another tutorial in a few hours (Nobility and Gentry) and hopefully it will run smoothly. I feel like I have a good handle on the subject, which is more than I can say for the past two weeks. There is so much to know!!

 

Tonight my house is having a Halloween Party for all of the SCIO students. SCIO stands for 'Scholarship and Christianity in Oxford' and is the program I'm studying here with. I will be dressing up as Jane Austen, and I'm hoping to quip up with random quotes, although they will most likely be about 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Mansfield Park' which, I am sad to say, are so far the only books I've read in their entirety. I was going to be a mime, and had been practicing my miming skills (which are decent at best), but decided that I would wear the gorgeous dress that my mom had made. Plus, this is probably the best audience for subtle Austen allusions. Let's hope I can pull it off! I'll be sure to post pictures at a later date.

 

For those that are interested (which  I hope is all of you!), I'll explain a bit about transportation here in Oxford. Recently, Oxford was listed among the top cities for the longest commute. I believe it cited the Oxford commute as being around an average of 51 minutes, second to London and Birmingham (and maybe Liverpool?). Every day (or at least, almost every day) I take a short walk down the lane my house, The Vines, is on. It takes no more than five minutes on most days and the bus stop is close by. I've had very good luck with the bus system in Oxford. I ride with a company called Stagecoach and I bought a 13-week pass for a decent price, and with riding an average of twice a day, it costs little over 50p (pence) a ride. Usually the buses arrive every seven to eight minutes, however sometimes I'll have to wait up to 15 minutes. In rare cases I wait longer, but that is very rare indeed. To walk into the city center takes a good half hour, whereas the bus takes less than ten minutes to drive there (usually less, but it depends on traffic). It's been fairly easy getting busses back and forth, and they all have a ticker on the outside that says where they are going and via what roads. Since there is another University right near my house (Oxford Brookes, but this is not part of the Oxford University), there are also a lot of 'Uni' busses which I can ride with my Stagecoach bus pass. Very convenient.

To be honest, I didn't expect to like the bus system. Coming from a suburban area in New York and a very rural area in PA, I was a bit nervous. I'm not sure that I had ever ridden a public bus before. However, it's very safe and usually very clean; the bus stops are usually in very convenient places. I'm not sure how I will manage without the buses!

Yet, the state of public transportation in England says a lot more about feelings towards transportation in general. I speak on my feelings upon living here for a few months, and not with any inkling of how true Brits feel, but I imagine my thoughts are similar to those of many locals. Using public transportation is a great way to cut down on exhaust emissions from cars. Carpooling, or should I say, buspooling is very convenient, cuts down on traffic congestions (making the city center of Oxford very nice for pedestrians), and limits pollution. If I lived in Oxford full time, I more likely than not, just use public transportation rather than buy a car. There's no need! Having experienced the many benefits of using the buses and trains (another wonder, very reasonable costs as well) it makes me wonder if the U.S. will ever catch this craze? I certainly hope so! Think of the land that can be kept open, at least in part, if we just had reasonable trains instead of highways! I recently looked up an Amtrak fare from Schenectady to Harrisburg and it was very expensive, in fact, it was at least double what a similar distance would be in England (relative to the value of the currency for a native). Not to mention the fact that going to Harrisburg I would have to transfer in New York City or Philly, which I imagine are far less conducive to stress-less travel than the stations I've experienced here in England.

 

Well, I feel that I've gone on long enough about matters which probably don't matter. I must be back to our SCIO headquarters so I can prepare for my next tutorial in about two hours.

 

Feel free to post your responses to my public transportation rambling! I'm looking forward to hearing other's responses (*cough Elizabeth, Quinn, Dabney cough*).

 

Cheers <3

Note: this post is from quite a few weeks ago, but I forgot to post it. I hope you enjoy this reflection on the beginning of fall in England...

-----------------------------------

Fall is here. That crisp air smell is present, even all the way across the pond. It's a rather encouraging feeling, that no matter where I would be this semester I still get to experience that Fall smell. 

This weekend I had the opportunity to just relax, which has been very much appreciated. After a week busy with lectures and papers, I decided that, since I only have one tutorial (and thus only one paper) due this week, on Friday, I could use the weekend to regain sleep and work on my personal to-do list. This list included cleaning up my desk area, writing postcards, and filling out my absentee ballot. Upon reviewing the choices for president I realized how very important this election is. For the U.S., for the world, for history. I had some reservations about who I was going to vote for, but when the options were laid in front of me, it became apparent what my choice would be. 

Luckily, my rejuvenating weekend also allowed me to take go into the backyard of The Vines (the house where I'm living). I'm sad to say that yesterday was my first time going into the backyard! The weather was great and it seemed very peaceful so I headed out back and had a great time talking to my younger nephews and sister on the phone. Today I went back outside to take some pictures, since I figured the leaves will soon be gone (they seemed to have fallen all in a matter of a few days, making me think a better name for the Autumn/Fall season in Oxford would be 'Drop', like my friend Alicia suggested). Below are a few pictures that I took outside...

Baa Ram Ewe, Baa Ram Ewe

"Always remember, a cat looks down on man, a dog looks up to man, but a pig will look man right in the eye and see his equal."

-Winston Churchill

Per the request of the Quinn-ster, I have the following photo post of 'King Bladud's Pig Trail' in Bath...

More to follow...

Would you care to dance?

"I really believe I shall always be talking of Bath!"

-Catherine Morland, Northanger Abbey

I'm not sure that I'll always be talking of Bath, but it certainly was a memorable trip!

A few weekends ago, my friend from Messiah, Carly, and I traveled to Bath by train. We arrived early in the day and so, after arriving at our gorgeous hotel (read: with our hotel we were spoiled more than any college student ever has been...except maybe the heiress to large fortunes and royalty), we walked to the Jane Austen Centre on the other side of town. We had lunch in the Jane Austen Tea Room, and I had the 'Lady Catherine [de Bourgh] Cream Tea' before going through their exhibits for our tour.

I must be honest and admit that The Jane Austen Centre was a little bit less than what I had imagined. Granted, I probably had quite a spectacle imagined, so nothing could amount to the ideal. The displays were well done and it was very informative; for someone who didn't know a whole lot about Jane Austen, it would have been great. I did enjoy their gift shop, though, and quite a few of you will be receiving Christmas presents from there.

The main reason for the trip to Bath, of course, was to attend the Jane Austen Grand Regency Ball at the Assembly Rooms. After taking out time to get ready at the hotel (have I mentioned that the hotel was AMAZING?!), Carly and I walked, in our ball gowns, to the Assembly Rooms. We arrived to see quite a few people outside taking pictures, and as there was a decent amount of light, we joined in. We were disrupted at one point by the clip-clopping of a horse-drawn carriage, containing a few of the guests.

The night was filled with laughter and much dancing. There were an abundance of girls and so many of us stood up together. I am sad to say, that I did not find my Mr. Darcy, although we did make some friends, a few couples that told us of a reenactment at the American Museum just outside town.

On Sunday Carly and I ended up going to this reenactment....of the American Civil War!! Unbeknownst to us, we 'snuck' in without paying; although we followed the pedestrian signs, they had no place to buy tickets. We ended up seeing the Titanic exhibit which was set up quite well. The reenactment itself was a skirmish in which the Union won. It was very interesting as there was a narrator and the setting was absolutely perfect- up on a hill overlooking a stream and small wooded area. It was quite entertaining! I had never known that Britain was on the verge of joining the American Civil War on the side of the Confederates!

The weekend was quite fun and I'm sure I will never forget it!

As for recently...

I'll be posting soon to updated everyone on classes and such. But rest assured that I have two lectures tomorrow, a tutorial (meeting w/ prof) on Wednesday as well as another lecture, two lectures on Thursday, and a tutorial on Friday. For each tutorial I need to have an approx 1500 word paper. Oh joy of joys!

Luckily, my first tutorial and paper are on Pride and Prejudice!

Cheers <3

The Lake District

What are men to rocks and mountains?

-Jane Austen

I apologize immediately for not posting in a while! It's been busy to say the least. However, I wanted to take a nap, but unfortunately "Moulin Rouge" is blasting downstairs in the kitchen. Oh joy.

I'm currently on my last real day of my vacation up in Keswick, Cumbria which is part of the Lake District. If you Google the Lake District I'm sure you'll find many beautiful pictures of the surrounding mountains and, of course, lakes, but rest assured that they are in no way equivalent to the real thing.

Our first full day up here was mainly to relax. We slept in and then in the afternoon went to Grasmere to visit Dove Cottage where William Wordsworth lived. It was a quaint town and I'd been there a few years ago. The weather, however, was atrocious. It was pouring non-stop and it even flooded the road we drove into town on, so that we had to take an alternate route home. It ended up being a nicer route in my opinion as it went right through the town I had visited when I was here with my parents.

Yesterday we went to a small church in town which was very pleasant. We then went on a ferry across one of the lakes and walked back to our cottage in town. Now, this seems like a jolly ol' time, except for those of you who know that hiking isn't high on my list of things I need to do. Add this to the fact that it wasn't a simple "Oh yay, let's walk around the lake" type of hike but a  "let's climb steep mossy mountain sides and step in mud bogs" type of hike. Luckily I had warm clothes and decent shoes. All in all it was a lot of fun and I'm glad I did it, but I wasn't so enthusiastic that I was motivated to go on the more intense hike planned for today. ;)

Today was a very relaxing day, at least thus far. I slept in a bit and ate breakfast at the other cottage. (This would be a good time to point out that the trip I'm on was planned by the program as an optional pre-term break trip. As such, they planned almost everything and rented two cottages for the time we're here.) After, I went to a few places I had looked up in a guide book last night--The Pencil Museum and Fritz Park. I wanted to stop at the town museum as well as the Mining Museum, but both were unexpectedly closed.

Knowing that it is supposed to rain this afternoon, I planned on walking back to my cottage (and praying that someone was there to let me in). Yet I failed to remember the street the cottage was on and my GPS wasn't updated with the additional maps for Northern England (whoops!). Luckily, in my tourist moments I had picked up plenty of brochures with maps in them, and managed to find my way to a street I had remembered passing earlier in the day. By some miracle I managed to find my way home!

Tonight we're going to a pub for dinner and tomorrow we leave for Oxford! Hopefully I'll be getting a nap in soon, and Wednesday the madness begins! Tutorials start, as do college extracurriculars! I'm so excited!!

I'll post pictures soon, and hopefully have more blogs about my recent trips, particularly my adventures in Bath!

Cheers!

Fortnight

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

-Walt Disney

It's hard to believe that I've been living in Oxford for an entire fortnight. So many things have happened that it has been hard to keep up with the posts! As I have quite a bit of reading to do tonight, this post will be brief, but I will definitely have time to divulge on my recent (and tomorrows) field trips. Mainly, this is a photo post.

Every Thursday during September, our British Landscape class goes on a field trip (which we are lectured about the day previous) and this past field trip was to Old Sarum, Salisbury, and Stonehenge. This first picture is of Old Sarum and the second is of me and a couple of friends reenacting Stonehenge.  I won't go into detail about their pasts for now, but they each are places that could be visited multiple times as they are truly breathtaking...                

These next two photographs are of Salisbury Cathedral. I could go on and on about this amazing building-- the gargoyles, the turrets, the pillars. Yet, there were three things that really touched me. 

The first was the sheer size of the cathedral. We were able to go on a guided tour which took us 202 ft up into the steeple- only halfway. From the top we were able to see the surrounding town and far into the distance, as it was a clear day. You didn't need to go far to see why Salisbury Cathedral is visited by so many people.
The nave was amazing and, even though I had visited a few years prior with my parents, it was great to be in there again. 

The second was that this giant church wasn't built simply to be a symbol of wealth or ability. Salisbury Cathedral was the physical embodiment of piety. This structure is a monument of devotion to God, and it is certainly amazing to see what people are capable of. 

This last blessing was tucked away in the steeple. In fact, the average tourist wouldn't have seen this, or even have known it existed. In the late 20th century, people were able to engrave a piece of glass, after which the pane was placed in the windows of the steeple. There were many panes of glass that had names of people who had toured Europe or the British Isles, many names of families, but one had caught my eye and really touched my heart. I know it needs no explanation...

As I have a field trip to Hampton Court Palace tomorrow and a paper due Monday, I really should hit the books. Hope this blog has sufficed for now :)

Cheers ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!

A Tragedy and a Triumph

"Do not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." -Ernest Hemingway

After a good nights sleep I managed to wake up at 11 AM and managed to go through the morning routine with relatively no mishaps. I've managed to borrow a towel and I grabbed a curling iron as well, which hopefully will also work as a straightener of sorts. The one thing I have to buy is a straightener because *surprise surprise* it won't work. I used my converter and all, but it blew a fuse and I was then told that it would be much better (read: safer) to just use one that is from the UK. This was my tragedy, not so much because it was actually that bad, but it was very stressful not having what I needed.

My triumphs, thank goodness, have been multiple. The first isn't so much a triumph as it is a true blessing. As I arrived Friday and settled my first arrangements, I entered a small, yet cozy room that I share with a really nice girl, Andrea. We have very similar interests and personalities, but are different enough where we don't annoy the life out of each other...at least, not yet ;) The first obvious blessing is that I have a good roommate! The second is that there is only one roommate, which is a big stress reliever for me. The third is that we have a little sink in our room! So far, we are the only room to have a sink and our thought is that, since it's a rather

small room, it might have been a bathroom at one point. Nonetheless, it's very nice having a little sink to ourselves, since the bathrooms and showers (there are many, but the toilets and the showers are all separate) are all communal.

((Can you find Jeffrey the Gnome in the picture?))

My second triumph was finding a two-pence on the street! I went with a group of five or so on a leisurely walk in to town. We ended up walking probably over six miles (getting into town takes a good 15 minutes...getting back to the Vines took a bit longer--uphill for a good while). Amidst my travels I got to know some more people that live at the Vines and at one point noticed a coin on the ground. Fully aware that one pound coins are pretty valuable, I picked it up...but it was just a two-pence. But, that is about 3.5 cents! So yay for that triumph.

My third triumph was finally learning to play this game called "Mafia" and although I didn't win, I had such a blast.

Quick Facts From Oxford:

1. Garbage= "rubbish"
2. A "quid" is slang for a pound sterling (right now £1 = $1.77 or $1 = £0.57). This could stem from the name of a mint in Quidhampton, but is more likely to stem from the Latin phrase Quid pro quo, ("this for that") which  means an exchange of goods.
3. 'Cheerio' is outdated term but 'cheers' is not (that I know of)...

Overall, I had a great first (whole) day in Oxford and I'm really excited for what tomorrow brings! I could give hints away now, but I'd rather surprise everyone tomorrow (although, it should be noted that I have stayed up far too late and that my next post for "tomorrow" will, in fact, be today!).

Cheerio ;)

------

Note to self:

-put picture of gnome on first blog

-upload video of bells ringing

'ello Gov'ner

"If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad."

-Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

I've arrived! Safe and sound and somewhat sane! It was a crazy time, flying from Albany to Philly, and Philly to London, but I made it. The plane was decent although my back is sore from trying to sleep at a 45 degree angle, and I was perplexed as to why we were served dinner (what seemed to be heavy chicken or pasta meals) at midnight EST/5am BST. Nonetheless I have learned the following valuable lessons that I would like to pass on to those of you who might travel for extended periods of time:

1. Don't overpack; it will make you very tired to carry your luggage around a huge airport and then the distance on the country road to your housing.
2. Make sure you keep the dramamine you brought in your pocket or purse, not at the bottom of your carry-on which is stored above in the overhead compartment.
3. Go to the bathroom before you get on your eight hour plane ride and then before your hour long coach ride into town.
4. Don't overpack!
5. Did I mention not to overpack?

My housing is absolutely gorgeous and I hope to have pictures up by Sunday. I live at The Vines which is a 35 minute walk from Wycliffe Hall, where I will be studying. Luckily there is a bus pass that will make it a lot less strenuous (as a bike in the rain is not exactly what I would like to do, especially the steep uphill trip back to The Vines). My double room is a bit smaller than at Messiah, but it does have a sink in the room which is fabulous!

I wish I could write more, but I'm simply exhausted and since it is 7:38 pm here, I feel that I will not suffer jet lag too badly if I take a small nap.

More later!

Cheers =)

Babe's cuter little cousin...

Somehow I came across a site about Royal Dandies Mini Pet Pigs. So cute!

Enjoy :)

Pre-Oxford

"'I'm something of a cheese connoisseur. I do enjoy a stinky cheese. A pungent, ghastly, stinky piece of cheese!' Of course, anything sounds brilliant when said in such a remarkable British accent - but I digress."
~The Travelocity Traveling Gnome

Before I leave, I thought I would give a little background into my semester abroad. This is as much for your information as it is for my packing procrastination. (Pack three and a half months worth of clothes and other necessities into two suitcases? Yeah, right!)

I've always wanted to study at Oxford, ever since I was very young. I didn't know much else of what I wanted to do when I grew up but I knew that Oxford was the best University in the world and that I wanted to be there. Fast forward to last fall when I was getting ready to study in Cheltenham and suddenly realized that they didn't have any classes I wanted to take. After I couldn't physically produce more tears I realized that it was certainly a blessing in disguise.

I quickly decided that I would apply for Oxford and I was certain that if I didn't get accepted my life would be ruined, or at least very boring. The program I'll be traveling with is through Best Semester and runs from Sept 4-Dec 13.

I'll be taking two general courses: a British Landscape course, a history seminar; and then two tutorials: Nobility & Gentry in England 1550-1660, and Special Authors: Jane Austen. The latter two don't start until October, which is really good since I haven't finished all my pre-term readings. Yet, despite the mountains of reading, I'm more than excited for my two tutorials which will hopefully be the jumpstart to my Senior Thesis.

I'm completely ready for this new experience and prepared for what God has in store for me this semester. I know that it's a lot.

------
I leave September 4th for my first flight by myself. I'll be flying from Albany to Philly (1 hr) and then from Philly out to Heathrow (8 hrs). I have a decent layover in Philly and I arrive at 11:00am (BST) so *hopefully* it will just be like sleeping in really late. Since I'm not too keen on planes to begin with, I'd appreciate any prayers :) 

----

In a last attempt to make this first blog post interesting, I should probably explain my "Wandering Gnome" idea.

As some of you may know, this past Halloween I dressed up as David the Gnome which officially marked the beginning of my gnome craze. I now have a collection of garden and house gnomes.

Of course, the madness doesn't stop there. I wanted to chronicle my travels in a unique way by taking a small memento from home and photographing it everywhere I went. Since one of my best friends Dad's had already taken the "Traveling Rubber Chicken" idea, I felt that the only item truly representative of myself would be the gnome.

 Meet Jeffrey (kudos to my nephew Adam for the name)...

((PICTURE COMING SOON))


Seeing as the "Traveling Gnome" is taken by Travelocity, and my gnome won't necessarily go on travels, so much as he will wander throughout Oxford, the countryside and future travels (which include Cyprus, yay!), I settled on being "The Wandering Gnome."

So now, explore my blog, click on links or just go and re-read the quote at the top of the blog. You'll laugh, I promise ;)

Cheers,

Courtney

P.S.-- For those of you who are interested in contacting me (Skype, AIM, e-mail, snail mail) comment on this post or email me and I will give you more information. =)

Also, you can subscribe to my blog and receive and email every time I update. This is suggested for the truly devoted and, of course, my mom and dad.