New Goal: Study Old English

In about an hour I need to start getting ready for cocktails and high table (a thursday tradition) so I'll attempt a breif rundown of the last two days:

I left off last time mentioning that our evening plans were to try out some interesting pubs. The night ended up being SO pleasant. We began in Merton's Bar, which is within the college walls and has this beautifully old scholarly feel to it. It was Quiz Night, so my friends and I competed against other teams answering trivia about Merton. Needless to say, my team of new yorkers and mid-westerners didn't win. The only way we got any points was when the sweet old bartender snuck over to our table and whispered answers.

A couple welsh Oxford students--Gwyn and Sam--then took us out to try The Turf, The King's Arms, and this underground cocktail nightclub with beautiful private lounges glowing with all sorts of neat lighting. Afterwards, we walked back to Merton and found a place to sit in one of the many courtyards. (our keys let us in at any hour) We sat around a round table that was actually C.S. Lewis's inspiration for the table where King Atlan was slain. (C.S. Lewis was a Mertonian.) Every nook and cranny of this place is so insanely rich with history. Everything has a story.

Then yesterday, on the 4th, We had lectures in the morning--one of which was one of the most captivating things I've ever experienced. A professor here who is an expert on Old English discussed selected poems and talked about the uniqueness and unrivaled beauty of the langauge. The best part was when she read the poems alound in Old English. I don't know if I've ever heard anything so beautiful. The way the words are structured and compounded is amazing as well.

Then jessica and I walked around discovering Oxford in the early afternoon. The town actually is quite big--over 100,000 locals, not counting thousands of students.

The rest of the afternoon (3&1/2 hours) consisted of our class on Roman Britain. I'm definitly going to come back with a decent amout of knowledge on the subject--and our professor (as you can imagine) is awe-inspiring in his knowledge, charisma and vocabulary. He also plays double bass in a jazz band that travels world-wide, and they just happened to be preforming at this jazz club opening in North Oxford. So several of us hopped a bus last night to the jazz club. The band consisted of him, the scholarly, english double-bassist, a young, tall danish electric guitarist, and a swedish drummer, dressed in white linen with hair past his rear. They had all original pieces and were absolutely fantastic.

After the concert, several of us decided to check out this Independance Day Party at a club called the Purple Turtle. The club was amazing--a huge mass of underground tunnels, bars, lounges and dancefloors, all lit with purple lighting. Mostly americans, but what did we expect, you know? Gwyn assured us that americans aren't THAT annoying.

Well the bells are tolling, which means I need to get out my umbrella and head back to my room.

Quick QUICK rcap of today then:
breakfast (fantastic breakfasts here)
lecture on Elizabethan and Jacobean poetry--really excellent)
nap...
lunch
As(h)molean Museum--world famous for roman artifacts
Oxford Museum
a bit of shopping
and here we are.

hope this wasn't too dry and sketchy!
feel free to email and post--I love to hear from you all.
Bye for now*