Adventures in Oxford Summer 2007

Home safe and mostly sound

2007-08-09T09:01:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the longest travel day, or so it seemed. After being gone for one day short of six weeks, I suddenly find myself back in Melbourne. I couldn't sleep, despite it being close to 4am GMT when I arrived back home. My flights out of Philly were all screwed up, though I ended up taking a later flight than I was scheduled to...and one of my bags ended up on the new flight (don't ask me how) and the new flight ended up arriving 30 minutes before the flight I was originally scheduled to arrive on. And my second bag came on that flight...so no real gains either way. My friend Eric came to pick me up, but it took nearly 2 hours to get to the airport (what is normally a 45 minute drive.) He wasn't really late...I got my 2nd bag just as he arrived...but we both forgot about the traffic coming from the Cape after the shuttle launch. Anyway, I drove home in the dark, thinking about my trip and just chatting with Eric about anything and everything. Then I get home and its...well I cant sleep. So I unpack, put clothes ready for the laundry, sort some of the stuff I bought, and then go to sleep about 1:45 am.

I wake up at 6, and tell myself, back to bed, which is where I stayed until about 7:45. Luckily today is a slow day. I've been sorting mail and paying bills, going through an entire box of mail. I have a huge stack of magazines to go through, laundry to do, grocery shopping (which needs to be done sooner than later) and well an assortment of stuff that is small and large. Tomorrow is an all day business day at work, but I may pop in very briefly this morning to turn in grades and drop off a few things for the secretaries who have helped me out while I was gone.

Anyway, this may be it for this blog, but I will post a few more pictues when I can get settled a bit more and have some time to breathe. Probably over the weekend would make sense...

I hope you have enjoyed the blog. I plan on doing the same next year.

Matt

Sorry for the lack updates...

2007-08-06T17:35:00.000-04:00

...there really hasn't been much to say since last week. The last four days were spent with exams and prework around exams. I will post some pictures from the final dinner and from the dinner at my flat on Thursday when I can. I went out on Friday night with Ralph and Ingrid, and on Saturday, I went out to dinner with some of the students one last time. Sunday was spent checking on flats, arranging keys, and dealing with the last of the summer programme. It was also the move to London for the last few days. I didn't do much on Sunday night, except wander around and get to know this part of the city: Southwark. My hotel is not far from the Tate Modern and the new Globe Theatre (maybe 5 minute walk). Today was off to Hampton Court Palace, and then some last minute wandering around London. Tonight, I went back to where I used to live and ate in the local pub I used to frequent on Parson's Green. It is called the White Horse Pub, and well, it brought back fond memories. Tomorrow its off to the Imperial War Museum in the morning, then wandering to do some errands and some last minute shopping. Then its off to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a classic old pub which survives in part from the Fire of London in 1666. A little touristy, but good food and not far from the hotel. Then packing and off to Gatwick around 8:30 on Wednesday morning. My flight home is around 12:30, and I should be back in Orlando around 9pm. I am hoping to be in my bed in Melbourne around 11pm.

Anyway, this is probably the last post until I get back. I hope you have been enjoying these last few weeks. I will post more pics but I have hundreds more I can't post.

Matt

Edinburgh Pics 4: Miscellaneous

2007-07-31T18:00:00.001-04:00

Edinburgh Pics 3: From the Bus Tour

2007-07-31T17:56:00.001-04:00

Edinburgh Pics 2: Royal Mile and Holyrood Palace/Abbey

2007-07-31T17:52:00.000-04:00

Edinburgh Pics 1: Edinburgh Castle

2007-07-31T17:48:00.000-04:00

Scotland Part 2

2007-07-31T17:31:00.000-04:00

Saturday: The hostel bed, well it could have been thicker and more comfortable, but I have slept in worse places then before. Using the communal co-ed facilities was all unique, but not all the odd in the long run. A quick breakfast at a place called Deacon Brodie's Cafe (I would eat there again on Sunday morning) for scones and hot chocolate was a great way to start the morning. We met up with the Locurcio's and the students at Edinburgh Castle atop the Royal Mile. Preparations were already in place for the Edinburgh Tattoo, but it wouldn't start until after we left. One year I am going to have to time things to see the tattoo at least one evening. The castle has the most splendid sights of the city, and the history stretches back to roughly 1000AD. It was a great place to spend a few hours, visiting the Scottish Crown Jewels, two of the military museums within the walls, and finally the Scottish Great War Memorial. After that it was down the Royal Mile with the students, stopping and shopping, and pointing out the history. Lunch was a brief stop at a restaurant at the top of the mile, then back down the mile towards Holyrood Palace. By the time we got to the bottom, it was nearly 3:00. A bunch of the students went their own way, the Locurcio's went back to their B&B and I went into Holyrood Palace by myself. At 6, I went on a bus tour of the city with some people, one of those open top busses. It was fun and entertaining, and gave me a 24 hour free bus pass to use the next day. That evening it was off to dinner for Pizza and back to the same restaurant where we had lunch for desert.

Sunday: Started off brisk and cold. Back to Deacon Brodie's Cafe for a bacon sandwhich and some tea, then off to see more of the city. The bus tour took us around the city until we ended up at the Scottish National Galleries to see some art, both by Scottish artists and collected by Scotsman. I then saw a Native American musical group performing near the gallery and broke down and bought both their CDs because they were that good. If anyone wants some of the music for their Itunes library, let me know! Then it was back on the bus, and off to the Museum of Scotland to see a bunch of Scottish history for a few hours. Seven floors of stuff, though I never made it to the adjacent Royal Museum to see other exhibits. Then it was lunch at Greyfriar's Bobby pub and off to see the grave of the wee dog. Do a google search on Greyfriar's Bobby and you will see what I mean. Back on the bus, then dinner with the Locurcio's and all of the students around 9 at Deacon Brodie's Pub again. I should have gotten a tshirt!

Monday: I had moved into a hotel the night previously, not wanting to spend another night with my back and hip on the hostel bed. The Jury's Inn in Edinburgh was worth the expensive, and I would probably stay there again both because of the price, the location and the cleanliness of the hotel. Monday morning was off to the Bank Hotel restaurant for a wonderful Scottish breakfast and then met everyone at 11:45 for the exploration of Mary King's Close, a covered over, haunted and abandonned street from 17th century Edinburgh. It was a fun and intriguing hour long tour of a forgotten part of the city. Then it was shopping (and a brief visit to the Borders and Lothian police museum) and looking for a kilt. I went to a couple places, but I realized eventually that buying a kilt and all the accoutrements was going to be a $1200 dollar experience (A made to order kilt would take six weeks and cost 445 GBP alone!) I will think on whether I should treat myself at Xmas time or not. Anyway, it was time to head back to the hotel for a late check out and then meet up with everyone to head back to the airport. We probably left an hour earlier than we had to, but it was nice to relax and explore the airport, have some dinner, share some drinks and enjoy each other's company before flying back to London and returning to Oxford around 11pm.

Tomorrow night (Wednesday) is the last formal dinner in Oxford, and then spaghetti dinner on Thursday, finals on Friday, and grading on Saturday. I am going to spend the next few days doing things I haven't done yet. I had to run errands this morning and run by the supermarket for more Diet Coke and some laundry powder to do the last of my laundry on Thursday or Friday. Tonight was eating at the Eagle and Child Pub, the place where Tolkien and CS Lewis hung out and discussed their work. Great little pub with good food and I got to eat in one of the very special rooms that often fill up. It was a good evening, then back home to grade papers for my Civ Class. Finally, it was writing this blog to catch up.

I'll post up some of the pictures from Edinburgh.

Edinburgh: What a lovely city, pt 1

2007-07-31T04:00:00.000-04:00

Ah, Edinburgh. I now know why I love this city so much. Four days was not enough to see or do even a small portion of what the city has on offer, but it was enough to whet my appetite again and remind me why I love the city so much. This will be an update, a kind of abbreviated one, because I think it will have to be broken into two parts to cover everything. I did learn a few lessons about being a group advisor, even with a small group, and one that takes into account that it is often better to be early than late. Though sometimes being too early can be just as never wracking.

Day 1: Friday
Well everyone was about at noon when they were supposed to be, though the buses were late and the Locurcio's were meeting us at the bus station. Everything was going swimmingly and excitement was high among the seven students who were traveling off on this small adventure. We were waiting for the bus when the first hiccup occured: some of the students got on (all but one it turned out), plus myself when the bus driver said there was no room for more luggage. We had to wait for another bus (which was running about 20 minutes at that point) and we knew we were going to miss the 12:30 bus to Heathrow. Well it turns out, that the student who did not get on, Nina, did not have the right ID (she left her passport in her room, so she ran from the centre of town back to the dorms, then back to the central bus station) and we didn't make the 1 oclock bus either by about 2 minutes. The other students had caught the 12:30 bus with Dr. Locurcio, and we caught the 1:30 bus. We arrived at Heathrow just before 3 and our plane was scheduled to leave around 4:15. It was cutting it close, but it still was within plenty of time to get to the gate and assembled. It was a good thing I had checked in early and online.

One of the students, Cody, who has been sick on and off the trip with an intenstinal infection, had to turn back and came back to Oxford and never made the trip. We were back to six, which was the number originally meant to go. The flight left on time, and arrived on time, and had one small miracle, something you never see on a US airline: a meal. The flight was less than an hour, but they managed to serve a salmon appetizer and drink in that time. I was impressed and the food was quite good.

Anyway, the trip to the hostel in Edinburgh was an interesting experience, and one that was relatively short, about 25 minute or so, even with rush hour. The bus dropped us off on top of the Mound, which still meant a steep walk up the hillside to our hostel. The hostel, Castle Rock Hostel, was actually right by the castle and a pretty nice place for a hostel. (I did stay in a hotel on Sunday night though, which is a whole other story). The students had two rooms, I had what we jokingly called the presidential suite (it had a sink and a tv) and a double bed (egg crate mattress on a wooden frame). It wasn't the largest room or the most spacious, but it was good enough for two nights. Then the group assembled and we went looking for dinner along the Royal Mile (or at least a portion of it) before ending up closer to the top at Deacon Brodie's pub and restaurant. It was good food, not too expensive (we ended up there on Sunday night as well with everyone) and had table service, which is rare in English pubs. After that, almost everyone went back to the hostel and called it a night since it was around 10 and an early day awaited.

Saturday and the rest, including pictures, will come later today or tonight...I have to go run some errands this morning before class.

Back from Edinburgh

2007-07-30T18:36:00.001-04:00

I have returned home safe and sound from Scotland. It was the best weekend so far with the best small group of students and the Locurcio's. I will write more tomorrow, and post tons of pics, but I am exhausted at the moment and my cold continues to threaten me with severe bodily harm.

I so want to go back to Scotland tomorrow, but this is the last week of classes, with exams on Friday and then off to London until I fly home a week from Wednesday. I can't believe my time here in the UK is almost done.

Just wait until I recount this weekend's adventures...

Off to Scotland, och aye!

2007-07-27T03:38:00.000-04:00

Well today at noon GMT (like 3.5 hours or so) I am off to Scotland, particularly Edinburgh with a small group of students, just 6: 4 girls, 2 guys, as well as another professor and his wife. Three of the students had to drop out due to financial reasons (they have to eat the costs of the flight and the one night room they paid for) because the trip will cost an additional 55 GBP* or so before even getting to really see the city. Some of them have less than that to live on until their flights home next weekend. I am looking forward to the trip, and will probably make my first significant purchase of the trip and it is something for myself: a kilt and accoutrements. We shall see, unless the price is going to bankrupt me. I'll let you know when I return on Monday night or Tuesday morning because I won't have internet access for the weekend. When we return, there will be less than a week left for the students, many of them flying out on August 4th and 5th. I'll be here until the 8th (though I will be in London the last few days) and then flying home on the 8th and back in Orlando somewhere before 8 or so. Home by 10...and then to work on Friday (though I may sneak in on Thursday, briefly, we shall see how I am feeling.) Speaking of feeling, I am doing better, though my cold is not complete gone yet...mostly, but not completely.

Time to get a shower and get packing.

* 20 pounds for the roundtrip bus to Heathrow, 30 pounds for the remainder of their stay at the hostel, and 5 pounds for the roundtrip bus between Edinburgh and its airport. That doesn't take into account probably another 20-30 pounds spending money and the same amount on admission fees.

More Pics

2007-07-26T09:44:00.001-04:00

Some more Pics

2007-07-26T09:36:00.001-04:00

Thursday July 26th

2007-07-26T09:30:00.000-04:00

Its been quiet the last few days, not much going on other than school, classes and work. I have been getting better after a visit to the pharmacy on Tuesday to get a decongestant and a cough suppressant. Took a while as I am allergic to paracetamol, the UK equivalent of Tylenol, as most of the medicines have the painkiller in it. Also, unlike in the states were the cold medicine is help yourself, in the UK it is all behind the counter so you have to ask a clerk for help. It has its plus and minuses, but the plus is that you get exactly what you need. The minus, of course, is waiting in a 20 minute line since the girls behind the counter are true pharmacy techs and help diagnosis what you need for your specific symptoms.

Anyway, next to last week of classes, and I can't believe how much time has passed already. I am off to Edinburgh tomorrow through Monday, though to be honest, I am not exactly hot on the idea of staying at a hostel, but it is cheap. We shall see how it goes, but there might be a B&B in the future. I don't know. I'll let you know. However, I won't have internet while I am there, so I won't be back on line until Monday evening. Then its the last week of classes, before heading off to London for a few days, then home to Florida.

I'll try to post a few more pics today as well....

Paris: Last Day

2007-07-24T05:17:00.000-04:00

These are some pictures from the military museum. Regretfully, I was so sick at this point, I didn't take any pictures of Napoleon's tomb. I will have to get some from one of the shutter bug students.

Paris: Monet's Gardens

2007-07-24T05:14:00.000-04:00

Paris: Louvre

2007-07-24T05:10:00.000-04:00

Some pictures from inside the Louvre. What we could take pictures of and what didn't come out too blurry.

Paris Pictures from the Eiffel Tower

2007-07-24T05:05:00.001-04:00

Here are some pictures from the Eiffel Tower and of Paris.

Stratford Pics

2007-07-24T05:02:00.001-04:00

These were some pictures taken in Shakespeare's home town before we went to see Macbeth that evening.

Bath Pictures, Part 1

2007-07-24T04:58:00.000-04:00

These are pictures from the town itself, including the Royal Crescent.

Pictures from Bath, Part 2

2007-07-24T04:53:00.000-04:00

Well I owed you these pictures from Bath. Part 2 are the Roman Baths themselves.

Tuesday Morning Part 2

2007-07-24T04:14:00.000-04:00

continued....

Saturday evening a group of students and I had a picnic. It was some of the people from the afternoon and a few others who had not been around. We went to the Monoprix supermarket just a few blocks from the hotel (think Super Target) and got some bread, some cheese, some ham, some apples, some white peaches, some cookies, some Madeleine's (oh I love them!) and some Creme Brulee ice cream cones. Okay, lots of food, 8 people, a bottle of wine, some coke and diet coke thrown in, and the total came out to about 4 Euros per person. I don't think we ate that cheaply at any point during the trip. It was more than enough food for everyone, and there was some fruit left over, actually there was soda, fruit and that was about it. The little park across the street was small, but it had park benches, and well, it was a picnic in Paris. After that, we quickly went back into the hotel to change, clean up from the picnic, and then went on a walk along the opposite bank of the Seine to head towards the Eiffel tower. Some of the students hadn't gone up it on Friday night, and they wanted to see it all lit up. We walked along some of the streets we hadn't seen before (and I wish I had brought my camera to take some pictures) and then stood on the bridge in front of the Eiffel tower, cheering the people on the baton mouchees (the river tour boats) and waiting for the Eiffel tower to do its light show at 10pm. After that, it was back to the hotel for a quiet evening (and as I found out, the evening when I knew I was getting sick!).

Sunday was an early morning: leave the hotel by 8:30 for a day out. Giverney, Claude Monet's house and garderns, and then off to the Louvre. At one point during the drive, the bus driver found that none of the bridges could take the buses weight: the recommended one was rated for 3.5 metric tons, while the bus weighed 17 metric tons. A bit more than the recommended weight! So we took a scenic tour to see the French countryside before finding a bridge that could take our weight and then doubling back through small towns which probably never (or hardly ever) saw tour buses. At least one or two of them would have been nice places to stop for 30 minutes or so, but the appointed group meeting time was waiting at Giverney.

The house and the gardens were nice, but I was starting to feel the cold at that point. I hate scratchy throats, and it was getting worse throughout the day. Still, wandering through the house and gardens was fun, and I do have some pictures I will post from there in a short while. After Giverney, it was off to Versailles. The trip there was less eventful, and we had some time before our tour went inside to explore the town. About 90 minutes or so. A small group of students came with me, and we wandered through the back streets looking for a pharmacy to be open but the one supposed to be opened on Sunday was closed. We eventually found the city was shutting its doors around 2pm, so we grabbed some lunch and found a park bench to sit on. My lunch was simple but good: hot, fresh, still steaming baguette and some icy cold diet coke to sooth the aching throat. There is one thing I have to give the French credit for, and that is their bread. Even the bread from the Monoprix supermarket was better than almost any bread I have had in the states, and this simple baguette from a corner bakery in Versailles, hot, cracking the crust to let the steam out, well that was better yet. A few other students joined me in that same sort of simple repast (and I now know what every customer but us in the store bought 2 of the baguettes when they were leaving!). Some of the students wanted something a bit more substantial, so they went to a nearby McDonald's. Okay, even I have to admit I was tempted at one point for the sheer convienece of the McDonalds when everything else seemed to be closing, but that was something I have yet to do on this trip.

Then it was a short wandering through the town, before heading to Versailles and our group tour. Through an odd coincedence, the tour guide at Versailles was the same one at the Louvre! It turns out that she had been doing a friend at the Louvre a favor, covering for her at the last moment, and got our group. Her normal job at Versailles ended up with us again. She was nice enough and took us around and into spots were regular tourists not on groups never get to go. The royal chapel, for example, is roped off and the tourists get to walk down the outside rows-- we mortals got to stand right in the center of the chapel, under the dome. However, when the organized tour was done, it was time to see the rest of Versailles. Bad mistake: 4:30 on a Sunday afternoon, and the place was a disorganized mad house. A couple more of the girls had mass panic attacks (even I could feel the claustrophobia). The guards wouldn't let us out through any short cuts, the nervousness was growing, the stupidity of tourists in a rugby scrum who enter into a massive room, and instead of moving off to one side just stop right there in the doorway...it was all too much for everyone. What normally should have been a 5-10 minute brisk walk through the rest of the palace, was a 20-25 minute brutal push and shove affair. I have to admit, I used elbows, pushes, gentle shoves, etc to get the people out of the way from "my students" who needed to get out. Even outside it wasn't much better, and I have to admit even I messed up at that point. One of the girls wanted to go to the giftstore, and I thought she was alright, but it turns out I was wrong. The other students were in a sorry state, so I took them out of the palace and back to the bus, but I thought Dana would be alright. By the time I got everyone out, Dana had come back to the bus and was in tears. She had been one of the people who had paniced as well, but had kept her expression neutral. When she came out of the gift shop and no one was there...well she broke down. I have to admit, I have been in huge crowds before, but this was just one of those near animalistc herd ones, and not a place to be. I talked with her, one of the other girls talked to her, I made myself into a silly ass and got her to laugh, and well, she eventually calmed down. What caught me by surprise is that she is one of the stronger people I have encountered on this trip, and to see her red eyed and teary, well, it wasn't what I expected.

I promised to by some of them ice cream here in Oxford, especially Dana for leaving her behind. I think I am going to live up to that promise tonight with a trip to G&D after dinner time.

After the Versailles experience, it was time to head back to Paris. A whole bunch of students wanted to go out for the evening, and they got dressed up a bit. They wanted to go to the French Quarter and eat dinner and party. They dragged me along, and I was happy to go. However, I didn't know anything other than how to get there, but we wandered through the crowded streets and eventually found a small French restaurant. Inside, there was a piano player singing and playing American music, and the 12 of us sat down and ordered food. It was about 8:30 by this time, and we didn't leave the restaurant until 11:30, just in time to catch one of the last metro's of the evening. The piano player was a French African who had lived in Hoboken of all places, and with the girls singing along (it was about 8 girls, 4 guys including myself) it was a fun evening for all. He even got a few of them to get up and sing along with him before we left. Remarkably, other than a glass of wine apiece at dinner, it was an alcohol free night, and after the nightmare of Versailles for some of them, they all agreed while waiting on the metro platform, that was the best evening of the night and the entire stay in Paris. It was a great way to end the night...

But when I got back to the hotel, my fever was in full rage (and breaking) and I couldn't sleep. The hotel room was too war, too small, too crowded, too dark or then too light. I eventually fell asleep around 3 am, woke up at 5, then back to sleep until 8, but it was not the best night I ever had. Off to breakfast, packing, and loading the bus before having a free day in Paris. At that point all I wanted to do was go back to Oxford, but we had hours to kill. Outside it was pouring! Gray, overcast and sky opening up. I decided to go off to the military museum at the Hotel des Invalides and to see Napoleon's tomb as well. A few of the students tagged along: a couple guys, one guy and his visiting girlfriend, and remarkably the two most unlikely girls ever, Camille and Lisa. They tend to be the fashion plates on the trip (and they have been nicknamed the Barbies by some of the other students) but they both turned out to be more than interested participants in the experience. I have to say I was impressed by their attention, their own knowledge of history and it put both of them in a different light. However, even by the end of the morning and early afternoon, the cold, wet day was giving way to hunger for them, and they went off to a cafe and I went to wander on my own, the first time I was alone in Paris the entire trip. I hadn't even realized it until then...

I went off to a store near the Sorbonne to look at state of the art French roleplaying games, and while I was impressed, I was sick, and really feeling it at that point, so I didn't really spend as much time with the games as I should have. I actually left the store without buying anything. Got back on the metro and back to the hotel and sat in the lobby talking to two of the students for a while. Then off to the supermarket again to get some supplies, and then the long 7 hour bus ride home. Traffic in Paris, a late student, and well when we got to Calais, we had exactly 10 minutes to use the bathrooms before the train left. The late student, one who was always the last to board (and someone I advised to get back to the bus 30 minutes earlier than she did) was the source of grumbling from some of the students who wanted to burn their last Euros.

Still we watched movies on the bus: Braveheart and Gladiator, and it was an uneventful but wet journey home. So now, this week its back to the rigamarole. Its off to class in an hour or so, then off to town to go to the pharmacy and find a decongestant, to the bank to get rid of 120 or so Euros into pounds (I won't need them for the rest of this trip), a brief jaunt to the supermarket for milk and toilet paper, and then back to class. Tonight is cooking dinner in my hopefully now working oven, and then the ice cream run, before a quiet night back here in Oxford.

Time to post some pictures. Remember, these are just a small selection of pictures from each day, since blogger will only allow 5 pics at a time.

Enjoy!

Tuesday Morning 7/24

2007-07-24T03:46:00.000-04:00

Well, all I can say this morning about how I feel is that I slept last night. I slept pretty well, from about 12:30 until 6, then from 6 until 8am. I feel miserable, but my throat doesn't ache like it did yesterday and there was no return bout of the sweats. Now, its just that general cold malaise: aching body, runny nose, cough. I am sure it has turned the corner, but how much longer this will last for is not quite known. Most of the students said a couple days, and I hope I am right as rain when we head off to Edinburgh on Friday. This is a short week for me: today, tomorrow and thursday, then off Friday from Edinburgh around noon. The flight isn't until 4:15, but we need to go through the hour long trip to Heathrow, then checkin and the endless security loop. Hopefully it won't take that long and we will have plenty of time if we get there by 1:30.

So, the sun is out and it seems to be drying out in Oxford today, or day in which is should be drying out. Temps once again approaching 70, and lows in the mid 50s. If it were like this year round, I would be a happy camper. However, the muggy Florida weather is awaiting me in a little more than two weeks. I can't believe how time has flown. Still, I have more than two weeks left in England, and lots to see and do. Last night, while checking email, I learned that the event I was supposed to be playing in at the August 4th convention was cancelled due to the time commitments of the actress who was supposed to be attending. Gah, I had been hoping to have some fun on that day, but now I think I am going to spend the day here in Oxford sightseeing and packing up stuff before heading off to London on Sunday morning, August 5th, before flying home on the 8th or 9th (I forget which). Now I regret not booking the extended vacation to Finland for that second weekend in August. Maybe next year...

Paris--I love France, but I dislike Parisiens. I was going to say I hate them, but that is too strong a word. Perhaps its the simple fact that even if you do speak French, if its not up to their standards, they immediately switch to their broken English rather than letting you get by or practise in their French. Or, they give you a condescending attitude and repeat what you said in "perfect" French...its not a question, because they are getting what you want, or what you ordered, etc., but they want to correct your French. Or perhaps its because everytime I go to Paris I get sick: usually some sort of cold or virus. This time was almost as much of a doozy as the last real bout of sickness, and my ears are still recovering from being congested and traveling through the Chunnel's pressurized transit system. At one point, my ear would not pop and it hurt like hell. Eventually it did, and the pain was even worse at least in the short term. I need to make sure I am less congested before flying on Friday or its going to be an unpleasant experience.

So what did we do after the last post? Well, lets see: Saturday morning was spent traveling to the Louvre, where we had a tour of the highlights of the museum. The tour guide was a nice enough woman, but the crowds at this time of the year were horrendous. We saw all the major things you are supposed to see at the Louvre, including the Mona Lisa. There, one of the female students had a panic attack from the huge crowds and I went with her off to one side of the room trying to calm her down and help her relax. She did manage to do so, for a while, and the 15 or so minutes we spent just chatting and distracting her from the anxiety was well spent, until the tour moved onto another room, where it was packed as hell. She had a flare up again, and two of the students decided they would go with her and off to see Paris. From what I understand, they did the tourist afternoon with Notre Dame and a few other churches on their agenda and all felt much better.

After the formal tour was over, I and a small group of students went back into the Louvre and we went to see Napoleon III's formal suite of rooms, Napoleon I's throne, and some 19th century exhibits, along with some medieval statuary. We also wandered around a bit of the museum and I was acting as tour guide for the 10 or so students who tagged along. It was a fun afternoon, which ended up in the massive food court of the Louvre shopping complex for lunch. I had a gallette Montagnard, basically a plain crepe with ham, potatoes and creme fraiche. It was quite good, and something uniquely French, even if the cooking to order took longer than I thought it would. The other students ate an assortment of food, before we headed off to Museum d'Orsay, the great Impressionist museum of the left bank. This is when tragedy struck for one of the students. As were wandering down the banks of the Seine, Brendan realized he did not have his wallet anymore. It was gone! It had been in his front pocket, and Brendan is one of the more absent minded students. Had he left it behind? He knew he had it in the food court of the Louvre, but after that, he did not know where it was. Since there were 10 or so students still with us, one of them, Jesse, volunteered to go back with him to search for it, while I took the others to the Museum d'Orsay. We ran into Heather and her son Ben headed to the museum, and I told her what happened. When we reached the museum, Heather took the students into the museum and I waited for Brendan and Jesse to return. About 30 minutes later, and sitting under a statue of a rearing horse to stay in the shade, they returned.

No Luck! I took Brendan back to the hotel, while Jesse ran into the museum to join up with the others. Brendan and I walked for about 5km back to the hotel (we hadn't thought of trying to figure out the Metro, using the time to talk and get things settled down as we walked back to the hotel.) Once back at the hotel, Brendan called his parents, I got the numbers for the banks which two of his credit card companies were from off the internet, and I loaned him about 40 Euros to try and tie him over until Monday. (I have since also loaned him 30 pounds until he gets his debit card sent to him by Bank of American fedex, which should arrive today or tomorrow at the latest!). He is a nice enough kid, and I didn't mind that my afternoon got spent as chaperone/substitute parent/fix the situation adult rather than seeing the d'Orsay. I still haven't ever been in: some day it is a reason to try Paris for a 4th time! Hopefully there won't be a 4th cold.

to be continued...

Back from Paris

2007-07-23T18:51:00.000-04:00

I am back from Paris and exhausted. I also happen to be sick as a dog. Everytime I got to Paris, I get sick. I don't know what it is about that city, but it makes me sick. Anyway, I have a lot to post and will do so tomorrow. Didn't sleep well last night at all, but I think the worst of this darn cold/flu/strepthroat is on its way out. I am hoping for a more peaceful evening tonight.

Anyway, lots of pics to post, and some make up posts to finish. It should be a long and busy day. I am glad I am back in Oxford.

Matt

Friday night, part 2

2007-07-20T16:48:00.000-04:00

Well, its about 10:45 CET, or Central European Time, and I am exhausted and hurting. After we checking into the hotel around 4 pm local time, it was off to my room, which was way too hot and way too warm. I closed the curtains, checked some email, and then went off to meet up with Heather, Andrew and bunch of students for dinner on the Rue Cler. It was a bit of a walk from the hotel, a couple of kilometers, but it was worth it. We walked past the Eiffel Tower (more about that in a while), then through some parks and back streets to get to this small pedestrian only shopping district. Lots of little restaurants, cafes, and assorted shops. I ate with the Cudmores in a small cafe (and it was my turn to pick up the bill!) and had a wonderful fried duck quarter, with roasted potatoes, a small salad, and we shared 2 carafes of white wine. It was quite good, while the students ate in a small cafe just across the way that served Italian food. After dinner, we wandered around the district, and then eventually got some desert from a small bakery. I had a pistache macaroon. Not exactly an american style macaroon, but something that was amazingly tasty. That and a diet coke, it was the ideal dinner.

Then it was off to the Eiffel Tower. We chose the shorter line, which was to walk up to the first level, a total of 325 steps. Its a lot more than it sounds, and by the time I got to the top, my right calf was driving me crazy. Last night we went to see Macbeth in Stratford, a performance by one of the Royal Shakespeare Companies. It was a semi modernized version, but it was loud, and my original seats on the balcony were so cramped that for the first hour and 20 minutes, I was in pain from a leg cramp, including the one that developed in my right calf. I had been hoping it might have been worked out, but the climbing of the Eiffel Tower set it throbbing. I was smart enough to pay the extra money to go to the second level, but I did have to walk down and walk home about 2 km back to the hotel. I am hurting, and I think I may call it a fairly early night since I got very little sleep last night. I have lots of pictures, but I left the cable behind in Oxford, so hopefully I will post a bunch of pictures on Monday night (depending on how late it is when I get back) or on Tuesday morning.

Tomorrow is off to the Louvre, and then a bit of a free day. Perhaps it will be off to see Napoleon's tomb, then dinner at a Japanese restaurant in the Rue Cler. Either that, or I will spend some time in my small guide book and find something to do. However, it does depend on how my leg is doing. I think some tylenol should make it feel better. Keep your fingers crossed cause it hurts like a bitch.

Adventures in Paris

2007-07-20T11:00:00.000-04:00

Well, we have finally arrived in Paris after one very long bus ride. All I can say is that the hotel looks very nice, but the room is godawful hot, even though the A/C is set at the lowest rating possible. I mean it must be near 80 in the room, if not warmer, and I have the afternoon sun.

We will see how this goes once the curtains are closed and the A/C has some small chance of trying to cool the room.

Matt

Off to Paris...

2007-07-20T00:36:00.000-04:00

I owe you folks some blogs. Macbeth was last night in Stratford, and I also need to download some pictures. However, it is way to early in the morning and we are getting ready to head off to Paris this morning. It is far too early to be up...

I will post more later on, hopefully this evening from my hotel in Paris.

Wednesday Evening

2007-07-18T12:51:00.000-04:00

Not much has happened the last two days...get up, do work for classes, teach a class, get lunch or go wander and do errands, and then teach another class, dinner, then some online time. Tuesday was a little more exciting than today since yesterday involved:
a) a walk to Jesus College to get the world's smallest fan for the conservatory where we are now holding classes since the room originally set up was too small;
b) buy my second piece of luggage for this trip, one that I will be using on Friday for the Paris trip and next weekend for Edinburgh;
c) a mid afternoon walk to get to know the neighborhood better, eventually wandering down a street called Walton Street, in a neighborhood called Jericho. The neighborhood is famous for where a lot of the Inspector Morse murder's took place in the novels.
d) a brief jaunt off to Sainsbury for bread, milk, diet coke...
and
e) burning my dinner.

Turns out the oven wouldn't work, so I tried using the grill (ie broiler) and it burnt the food I was cooking. However, the maintenance guy came by and fixed it for me today. A simple switch had to be thrown that I didn't know about. It now seems to work...we shall see on Tuesday when I next cook dinner. Why Tuesday? Well tonight I will be having the free dinner on the main campus, tomorrow I will be in Stratford for dinner, Friday through Monday I will be in France or on the way home from France, so Tuesday will be the first day to cook again.

I did manage to whip something together, so it all worked out. Last night was laundry and dealing with a card that kept getting rejected and laundry machines that work a little different than those at Jesus College. They work, but I have to get used to the timing cycles which are very different.

Today, well other than dinner, it was up in the morning, work, class, work again on a project that is not academic (I am writing more gaming stuff), class and now off to dinner. So since today is boring day, I figure I will give you more pictures. Two sets of pictures, this time, from Bath on Sunday. Enjoy!

Weekend Pictures, Part 3

2007-07-17T04:08:00.000-04:00

More little car pictures. I will post some pictures from Sunday later on today.

Weekend Pictures, Part 2

2007-07-17T04:01:00.001-04:00

These are from the little town of Burford and the Cotswold Wildlife Park.
Looking up Burford High Street
Looking down Burford High Street
A monkey
A peacock. I couldn't get it to spread its fan of feathers.
The smallest car in the world. Its name is remarkably a Messerschmidt, after the WWII fighter aircraft. We say it parked on the street, and while we were eating, the owner in the blue shirt came by. A couple of the students wanted to try the car, and he was nice enough to allow them to. The funniest with Andrew Busse, in the picture above, who is 6'8 or so. I don't think the roof/lid of the car would close for him. I have another picture of another student in the car when the roof is closed. The owner said that car can do about 55 or so, though he did manage to get it up to 70, once, on a motorway. Its three wheeled, and I will post a few more pics in a seperate post.

Weekend Pictures, Part 1

2007-07-17T03:56:00.000-04:00

They only allow me to post 5 pictures or so at a time. These are from Saturday morning at Blenheim Palace.
Blenheim Palace 1
Blenheim Palace 2
Students at Blenheim Palace
The Maze
Lavender in the gardens of Blenheim Palace

Tuesday morning...longish

2007-07-17T03:06:00.001-04:00

Well the long awaited update has arrived. Yesterday too proved to be a bit of a whirlwind and I didn't get much time to just sit down and relax. Not until the daunting prospect of writing this blog came about. By that point it was close to midnight, so I decided to put it off until the morning when I can think clearer and get my day going right. So what has been happening these past four days? I won't try to bore you too much with all the nitty gritty, but I will try to give you a bit of an overview.

Friday:
The day began as usual, waking, breakfast, make sure everyone knows we are headed off on Saturday quite early, and then back to my room to get some work done before classes. Class, run errands, a very fun class on Industrialization and Beer Making as the first modern industry, and then dinner. After class, I went back up to the new dorms and showed a few students from my History of Science class where things were and how they worked. I figured showing five of them might be a start to make things easier on Saturday morning when we were all in a rush. Remarkably, or perhaps better unsurprisingly, it really didn't help very much. Then I went back to campus after a brief stop for the best ice cream in Oxford (G&D homemade icecream). Then I packed my stuff to move myself early so I would have less to do on Saturday morning as I got the move organized. Heather gave me the task of making sure everyone was organized and ready to go and I think things came off with only the smallest of hitches. However, I wanted to be sure I wasn't worried about moving my own gear on Saturday morning. Let me also tell you, though I bought a new suitcase, it obviously is somewhat smaller than the ruined one, and thus it made it all the more clear I need a second suitcase. I haven't bought very much despite all the money I spent, and I am going to have to mail some books home to save weight and space (despite the cost!) but I will need a second suitcase, if nothing else for the trip to Paris this weekend, and Edinburgh the next. I rolled my suitcase to the bus stop and the expense of the suitcase paid off as I rolled it through the streets. I also had a second shoulder bag full of stuff, and took the bus to Stephen's Close. Unload and unpacked (and even changed rooms once to a different room since I have my choice of three at the moment) and finally made it back to the main campus around 10ish. I went to my room, and it was quiet as most of the students had decided to go out for the evening and I think almost all of them took advantage of the first night they were in Oxford as a group.

Saturday:
Last breakfast and then making sure everyone was at the Porter's Lodge by 8:20, to board the bus by 8:30, and then make sure we were on our way by 8:40. It didn't work all that well, but we were still on our way by 8:45. The bus' hold was full...I mean full to the brim even with expert packing as many of the other students had more than one bag or had one massively stuffed bag. We made the shift to Stephen's Close and almost everyone once again was on time and we were back on the bus by 9:15 and on our way. It worked out quite well, and we actually arrived at Saturday's first destination: Blenheim Palace by 9: 40 or so. We got let in early--our group was the first tour of the day--and we spent until 1:30 wandering the palace and the extensive grounds of the huge palace built for the Churchill family, the first Dukes of Marlborough. I will post up some pictures in a seperate post. There were also extensive gardens, a few special exhibits, the constantly played up connection with Winston Churchill who was born there in 1874, and some extensive gardens. They also had a special tour of a part of the house still lived in by the current 11th Duke, but it was full at the only time I could have gone with our schedule.

After Blenheim Palace we took a drive through the Cotswolds, the rustic country area to the northwest of Oxford. We stopped for an hour break or so in a small town called Burford. A very typical Cotswold town with one main high street, a fair number of tourists, and some very good food shops. I got an excellent sandwhich and a special almond tart made in the town for desert. I think about half the students managed to eat in the small restaurant/bakery/takeaway place. The bread, homemade, was excellent, and I still kick myself for not buying a loaf to take home. After that short break, we went to the Cotswold Wildlife Park, a kind of zoo set in a natural environment. It was an interesting change of pace, and since I used to work as a volunteer at the New York Zoological Park (ie the Bronx Zoo) when I was living in NYC after undergrad graduation so long ago, I have had my fair share of zoos. However, I did manage to wander around the zoo and take a lot more pictures than I thought I would, before taking a well deserved rest before boarding the bus once more. Our last stop was to head to a super large Sainsbury in Witney (a town about 20 miles from Oxford) where we did grocery shopping since all the students are cooking in their new flats. The shopping expedition, originally meant to take just 45 minutes, took a lot longer, close to 75 minutes as everyone and there mother found that trying to shop without a list and with the Saturday night crowds took much longer than we thought it would. The bus driver, Brent, put up with it all, and we managed to collect a tip from all the students (plus what Heather and I threw in) and gave him a rather substantial tip of 35 pounds for staying with us at the supermarket an hour past when he was supposed to be off duty and for helping with the loading and unloading. I managed to by 55 GBP of groceries, and then realized that while I had to buy a lot of basics (aluminum foil, plastic wrap, sponges, dish detergent, etc) that will probably not be used up by the time I left, I had managed not to buy very many groceries. So I went back out after we got back to Oxford and went to the local supermarket (the mini Sainsbury I have talked about before) and got some frozen vegetables to go along with the meat and pasta that made up the rest of my earlier shopping. So add another 10 GBP, and I spent 130 bucks for groceries. I should still have a lot of it next week...

BTW, remember I think I mentioned earlier that if you don't think about UK prices, they seem pretty comparable to US ones? You can buy a 2 litre Diet Coke, on sale, for 1.50, or bread for 65 pence a loaf, or milk for 3 pounds per gallon? But when you double it, you realize how much more expensive it all really is? Well here are two little tidbits to put the living expensive into perspective. One of the girls was stuck behind a woman in line (she was the last to get on the bus) who had a single trolley full of groceries, meant to last a week for her family of five, and the bill was more than 255 GBP! (about $520). The other was a T-bone steak, about 12 ounces or so of prime British beef. I thought, maybe I will treat myself to a steak one evening, instead of the chicken and pasta now dominating my cart. I looked at the price: 9.85 and thought, that's not too bad. About what you might...whoa, wait a second, that's 20 bucks for a single steak! It went back on the shelf once I realized that was more than I would pay for the same steak out in the average restaurant in the US. A lot more. So no steak at the moment...back to chicken, pasta and some other simplier fare. Dinner that night, after all the running around and it being so late, was at 11 and consisted, deliciously but not healthily, as scones, raspberry jam, and vanilla flavoured clotted cream. YUM!

Sunday:
Sunday was another fairly early morning. Up 8:45 ish, though the bus was late this morning as the driver had picked up a bus that had been out the night before and not been refueled before he picked us up. It was the grand day off to Stonehenge and Bath. We drove through the wet and cool morning to Stonehenge, seeing more people at Stonehenge when we arrived about an hour later than I have ever seen in my life. I have been to Stonehenge twice before, and both times it was relatively uncrowded. This time, not so much, and it was so crowded that they told several tour buses to come back later as the carpark was completely full! Anyway, after a brief 45 minute stay, it was back on the bus, through the countryside and to Bath. We passed by the Salisbury military barracks, through a bunch of small towns on the back roads, and finally arrived in Bath: the city famous as a spa town in the late 18th and early 19th century, setting of Jane Austen's novels and the city where she lived much of her life, and home to the famous Roman Baths. We arrived around 1pm, and had until 3:15 when our appointment was for entry to the Roman Baths. I went off and wandered a good portion of the city, heading off to the famous Royal Crescent, went into #1 Royal Crescent, set up as an 18th century townhouse during the heyday of spa Bath, but regretfully, you could not take pictures and I couldn't even sneak them as their were docents in every room. Oh well, then back out into the grey and overcast sky, out and about the city wandering through its hilly streets, in and out of a few bookstores, then grabbing some lunch from Marks and Sparks, dodging even more tourists, then into the very crowded Roman Baths at our appointed time. I always love the Roman Baths, and spending time there can really transport you back in time. I spent an hour and half going through the museum and the baths themselves, before stopping into the gift shop and buying my first real purchase for myself: a book on Roman London and southeastern England. They it was to the bus at 5:15 (we left promptly, hooray!) and the nearly two hour bus drive back to Oxford through the countryside.

It was an interesting ride home and then a quiet night dealing with students problems: one of the big ones was how did the hot water work, and that required dragging the caretaker Neal out of his bed and showing us how it worked in one of the flats. I went around to all the others and fixed them for the other students, except for those who went out immediately and cold showers still on Monday morning. We also had no internet all weekend, so it raised that interesting problem for many of them: what do we do? Even I thought to myself, I have been spending a lot of time on the computer since there is no tv, or other real distractions (movies are a maybe 1x only expensive here at nearly 25 bucks a person once you add in snacks and soda, or about 15 dollars without that expensive). I love to read, which is what I did, but when that is your only option, it does seem kinda hollow at times.

Monday:
Okay, back to school and work today. The morning was spent meeting the new scout, who doesn't speak a lot of English, but did a really good job in cleaning the bathroom, mopping the kitchen floor, empty the trash etc. I still haven't quiet figured out the shower yet myself: I have two settings, way too hot, hot enough to boil an egg, or cold enough to play a new game of find your missing testicles. ::laugh:: Actually its not that bad, but the shower is either way too hot or lukewarm at best. I'll take the lukewarm over the boiling hot. Then it was off to class in the new temporary class rooms, but the class was too big for the room, so from today onwards we are going to meet in the conservatory at Stephen's Close. Hopefully it won't be that warm. I do have to wander off this morning (Tuesday) and go get the fan from the porter's lodge, but I want to finish this blog first. After classes, it was stuck around my room, trying to get MAC addresses from all the students so their internet would work and sending them off to the IT people at Jesus college to register them. Then it was my afternoon History of Science class (which is going to be held in my living room most days), and then off to dinner at Heather's house. Heather made Indian style chicken and rice, and it was quite good. I am not that keen on most Indian food, but this was good. Then we sat around and chatted, getting to know each other better, until around 10:30 when I left to head home.

I got home, and I couldn't sleep. It was the first night I was up until late, like 1:00 o'clock or so, before heading off to bed. Got up my normal time of 7:30 and then signed on to the do the posting and read email. Now its off to the showers, run down to the porter's lodge before the exam starts (it was supposed to be on Monday, but with the computers down, and most of the exam questions were posted via internet, we gave an extension until today) and then give the exam. I have a few errands to do as well, but the whole trip down and back shouldn't take more than hour. Plenty of time before the test.

Tonight is a stay around and cook for the first time night. I haven't been exercising first thing in the morning, but most days I have been walking miles and miles. However, yesterday I didn't, so perhaps now that we are in residence and the classrooms are just a hopskipjump away, I think I need to get out and walk again. I do need to do laundry again, so that is another reason to head down to the main campus and get my laundry card refilled.

I'll post more tomorrow...and some pictures in just a few. I can't believe its week 3. Thursday its off to see the "scottish play" in Stratford (you aren't supposed to say the name aloud!) and then an early morning (6 am) start on Friday to Paris. We will be in France over the weekend, so I am not sure if I am going to bring my laptop or not with me, but I probably will.

Talk to you all later...

Quick Update

2007-07-16T09:19:00.000-04:00

Action packed weekend...internet not working at the new place until an hour or so ago. So no updates and busy with getting everyone back on track. I will post more later this evening when I have some time do so. Lots of pics, and lots to say, I think.

Matt

Ghost Tour Pictures

2007-07-12T17:57:00.001-04:00

Ghost Tour Group of Students
Location where the Oxford Martyrs where burnt at the stake in 1556, Broad St.
Haunted Street, where a battle between Royalists and Roundheads took place during the English Civil War in the 1640s.
Haunted Chapel, Trinity College
Walled up door that leads to a medieval cemetary, now used as a garden by St. Edmund's Hall college students. I will try to get a picture of lawn chairs set up in and among the grave stones tomorrow.

Oxford Evening Pics

2007-07-12T17:51:00.000-04:00

Bridge of Sighs Replica, Hertford College
Carfax Tower, the remnants of an old Norman church
Cornmarket, one of the main shopping streets and a pedestrian only street. Probably the most crowded street in Oxford during the day time.
An Elizabethan shop on Cornmarkter and one of the oldest buildings in the city.
The King's Arms, one of the local pubs and where we ate the second night in Oxford.

Thursday July 12th

2007-07-12T17:31:00.000-04:00

Well, today has been another mixed day. Breakfast, work online, class, run to the post office to mail some postcards, then on a little adventure. I went off with Heather, Andrew, their son Ben, and Rosemary from Jesus College to the new flats where we are moving to on Saturday. They are quite nice, about a 15 minute walk from town. Large flats, where three students live, each with their own bedroom, bath, and a shared living area, kitchen and small dining space. I will take some pictures over the weekend for all of you to see. Much more spacious than I thought, and it will be a nice place to spend the last three weeks or so. I will have all three keys to my flat, plus a master key for all of the student rooms if something should go wrong. Unlike the college here in town where there is a porter 24 hours a day, there is a resident porter for some portion of the time, but not really on weekends. The new classrooms for the last three weeks are in coverted flats (they are turning the large living rooms into classrooms) from a 19th century building just down the street from the Stephen's Close dorms. I think the students will like them, though they are not quite so convienent to downtown as the rooms we have right now. One of the girls said that she was just getting settled in when we have to move. I agree with what she was feeling, but I think it will turn out for the best. After my History of Science Class, I ran some errands, had dinner in my room (a sandwhich again, but it was good!), then got ready for the ghost tour. However, they moved the time of the ghost tour, so it started at 8 instead of 7.

The ghost tour cost 5 GBP and was worth every penny. The guide was quite good, the stories were interesting, and the hour and 15 minute walking tour was informative and historical. I learned some things I didn't know, and I will post some pictures of the city from this evening. Oxford is quite beautiful as the sun is setting and the crowds leave for the day. Some of the shots I think are good, even for me, so I will let you be the one to judge. Tomorrow is packing day and getting things ready for the move on Saturday. I might move some of my stuff tomorrow evening, which should give me a head start and I will only have to carry two bags, or a bag and my fan on Saturday morning. Gives me more time to oversee the move and make sure all the students are present and accounted for. Heather will meet me at Stephen's Close when we are ready to leave. Then on Saturday its off to Blenheim Palace, the Costwold Wildlife Park (someplace I haven't been before) and hopefully a brief layover at a supermarket so we can all get some shopping done since our weekend is so busy otherwise. Personally, if we don't do the shopping on Saturday, I don't think I will have a chance to shop for anything before Monday morning or between my classes, whichever becomes free first.

Today's pictures will be posted in another post...

Wednesday Evening

2007-07-11T16:06:00.000-04:00

As I said, today was a day spent shopping for a new suitcase. I got one with a warranty, and seems pretty durable, though it did cost 75 GBP. I will get back 14.25% of that price for a VAT refund, but I am also going to buy a smaller suitcase for the Paris and Edinburgh trips next week. I didn't want to sticker shock myself all in one day! After that, it was off to class, then I went out to a larger supermarket a short bus trip away, but it turned out to be an adventure in and of itself. They are doing so much construction here in Oxford, that what should have been a 5-10 minute bus ride home took over 30 minutes. It was so bad that there were 5 more buses all stacked up behind the one I was on because the construction on Magdalen Bridge is so bad. I will try to take a picture of the roundabout construction to show you what a mess it is. But just think, three major roads dump into a roundabout, which in turn, dumps into a two lane bridge. One lane of the bridge is shut down for repairs, and repairs are supposed to take more than 18 weeks. They did manage to repave oneside of the bridge and they are now working on the other, but how long it will take I don't know. Its a good thing the dorm is the opposite direction from that mess.

After that, it was lunch in my room: ham and cheddar (real English cheddar is quite different than anything we get in the states), on a fresh multi grain roll. Then back to class, some work in my room, and then off to dinner. Dinner was the usual once a week semi formal thing, though tonight the dining hall was quite crowded. It was roll and butter, a piece of fish in puff pastry with a nice cream sauce, then a piece of beef with a tomato based sauce, boiled new potatoes with mint, and mixed vegetables heavy on green beans. Finally, desert was chocolate gateau, and it was really good.

Then it was meetings with the students, and we decided what we are going to do on Sunday (Stonehenge and Bath). I tried to convince them to go to Hampton Court, but it was overwhelming the number of students who wanted to go to Stonehenge and Bath. I have been to both places, and Stonehenge is okay, Bath better, but I really wanted to head off to Hampton Court. Oh well, I will get a chance to do that at the end of the month in my free time in London before I fly home.

So now you know what a typical day is. Its now about 9:15, its still light outside, though the sun is finally setting. The weather forecast keeps changing, though we are supposedly due for a real warm up this weekend, into the upper 70s, near 80, though the weather forecasters say it won't last more than a day or two before it cools down again. That should be good news, because the lows around here most evenings have been in the mid to lower 50s, and on Sunday, there are supposed to be in the upper 60s. When it is warm here, it is almost as humid as it is in Florida. Still, I am glad I have a fan and hopefully the warm weather won't last long. The weather has mostly been in the mid to upper 60s, today the low 70s, and the nights comfortably cool. A bunch of the students are getting colds, which is inevitably: not enough sleep, too many late nights, the strange adjustment to the weather, maybe one too many pints. Remarkably, the drinking has been well under control, even on weekends from what I can tell, because of the class schedule that makes most of them stay in a couple nights of the week to get work done. I really am not sure what all of them do at night, but many of them are up and bright eyed and bushy tailed since the first class for many is at 8:15.

Tomorrow is a quite day for me. I am off to go see the new residence with Heather and Rosemary around 2, then back to class in the afternoon. My first grading assignments are coming in on Friday and there is a test and another grading assignment due on Monday. I should be busy for much of next week in the evenings with grading exams and short research papers. It shouldn't take very long: there are only 16 students in the civ 2 class, and they are each turning in a paper and taking a final, and 7 History of Science students who are turning in their longer papers on Monday. I am hoping to have it all done by Wednesday. Tonight its answering email, writing on this blog, and getting some of my own work done. I'll probably post more tomorrow night. I also think I am going to try and get up extra early tomorrow or Friday to go and take pictures while the streets of Oxford are relatively empty.

Even More Pics

2007-07-11T15:59:00.000-04:00

Another image from the Bodelian Library, outside the main entrance.
A random door in Oxford near the Sheldonian Theater.
Jesus College Dining Hall and Charles I, benefactor of the college.
Jesus College Dining Hall, looking towards the kitchens. The paneling is early 17th century.

More Pics

2007-07-11T15:50:00.001-04:00

Just some Random Pictures:
My Room at Jesus College
My Room at Jesus College 2
Tower Bridge, London (shot from the Tower of London)
The Malmaison Hotel in Oxford, built in the former prison, and possibly the highest quality hotel in Oxford
Some Ducks in Oxford

Wednesday July 11th

2007-07-11T04:45:00.000-04:00

Hi gang,

Short and sweet post today. Tuesday was a quiet day. A day spent catching up on work in the morning, teaching class, doing more catch up on work in the afternoon, and then off to class again. Dinner time was spent at Heather's rented accomodations discussing the trip and the upcoming move, as well as plans for the weekend. It was a simply dinner of soup, salad and Irish soda bread, which was quite good. It was a nice change of pace from sandwhiches. Then back to campus, walking along Woodstock Road, to time how long it would take to get to town from the new dorms. About 15-20 minutes or so, maybe shorter on a bus ride if you time things right, but if you don't it could take 30 minutes to get to town (the bus comes every 20 minutes or so outside of rush hour). Still, it is nice, in a quiet part of North Oxford, and not that long of a trip down to campus if you should need to come back, or down to town for an evening stroll or something else. Lots of students are going to go see Harry Potter tonight or tomorrow, while tomorrow evening is the Oxford Ghost Tour at 7. A busy next few days between classes, so in a short bit its off to buy the first piece of luggage (I only need 1 this week, the second I will buy next week) when the shops open at 10.

I am proud of myself, because of groceries and the refrigerator I got on Monday (finally!) in my dorm room, I managed to spend only 2.50 GBP yesterday, and that was on a beer from the campus pub and a can of soda when my throat was parched. Today will be a tad bit more expensive because of the luggage ::LOL:: but that is seperate from anything else. Next week there will be a fairly large shopping trip, or two, then its eating in residence, cooking myself, for the next three weeks or so.

I'll post some more pictures later on.

Pictures from Monday 7/9

2007-07-10T04:33:00.000-04:00

Okay, from top to bottom:
Ducks along the Cherwell and/or Thames River. I forget which one it is at that point.
Views from Christ Church Meadow back towards down town. You can see why Oxford is known as the "city of spires".
More of the Cherwell and/or Thames.
The Westminster Ice Cream Club before Christ Church (one of the biggest colleges in Oxford).

Tuesday July 10

2007-07-10T04:08:00.000-04:00

Its early morning, another day back to teaching and getting the kids back to classes. There weren't that many who made breakfast this morning, probably a dozen or so, maybe about half the group makes breakfast most mornings. I wonder if in the future that might be discussed. Anyway, today is back to classes, and back to work on the history of science course. Hopefully the room issues is settled by today. We have classes for the rest of the week, then moving early on Saturday, before another full weekend of travel and stuff to do as a group. Saturday is Blenheim Palace and Cotswold Wildlife Park, both of which aren't far from Oxford (30 minutes or so I would think from the map). Sunday is still up in the air, but we should know by tomorrow what we are doing for the day. Originally it was off to London and the Tower as a group, then Covent Garden and finally the British Museum (what we sort of did this past weekend, minus the Covent Garden part), but with the London excursion kaboshed because of the terror threat, perhaps it will be off to Hampton Court Palace or down to Portsmouth. I think as a group, the kids will enjoy Hampton Court, but that would pretty much be it for the day because it is so close to London that the travel time would eat up nearly 3 hours of the day. Portsmouth and the naval yards would be fun for a bunch of the guys, but since we are half women, I am not so sure how they would do with a bunch of ships and the fact that other than the naval yards, there is not a whole lot else to do. I would say we could head to York for the day, but that is a long day of travel, probably 2-3 hours on the coach. I'll talk to Heather about what we will do tomorrow.

Yesterday was a slow day: Breakfast, then back to my room to get some work done, update the blog, read email, etc. Around 1, I met the Westminster Ice Cream Club, the five students I got lost on Sunday, and we went and got ice cream from probably the best place in Oxford, or so I am told. Most of the kids got Bailey's Ice Cream, I got plan old vanilla. The other flavors that day (all special flavors made each day I am told) were mango and double chocolate. For some reason the last pairing sounds oddly tasty, but I am glad I didn't get it. We wandered off to get a picture taken (it is in another post with some other pics), and then headed back to the university. I stopped by the Oxford University Press store and realised that there are a lot of their books I use in my classes. I didn't buy anything mostly because I can get the same books in the US through OUP for half off (ie the US price). After that, it was back to the dorms for me, then later in the afternoon grocery shopping. I should be able to save some money now since their is a refrigerator in my room that they brought yesterday morning. I went to the bigger downtown supermarket which was less crowded, had more goods, and fewer annoying kid tourists. More about them later...

After grocery shopping, it was laundry now that the laundry room was up and open again after they cleaned some asbestos away from the old water heater deep under the renaissance constructed building. Took about 12 dollars to wash and dry three loads of laundry. More expensive than a US laundromat, only because I probably could have done the same amount of clothing in just two machines in the US. However, now I have clean clothes through next wednesday or so. I will have to do laundry then before we head off to Paris two weeks from now because I need clean clothes for that trip. The laundry took a couple hours, about three and a half or so, and in that time I read, ate dinner, and watched part of Miami Vice (the recent movie) on the tv down in the common room. About 9:30 or so, I came back to my room, settled down and read until I went to bed around 11. That is an exciting day off for me...

Except for the very annoying trip out to Borders around 9 while I was waiting for the last of my laundry to finish. I wanted to pick up the Economist which had come out a day or two earlier and get my weekly fix. Borders was the only bookstore still open to 10, and it was a surprise. It seems since it and the local mini Sainsbury (half the stuff, twice the crowds) are the only thing open that late, it was full of tourists, particularly unsupervised Italian, French and American kids. They were probably teenagers, either waiting out curfew or waiting for a bus to take them back to where ever they were staying. Sitting on the floor blocking entrances, or leaving books and magazines everywhere. The store, at 9 o'clock, looked like a tornado had gone through it, and the supermarket, with a huge line, looked like the day before a hurricane was going to hit...mostly empty shelves of instant consumables, and stuff everywhere. I was told by the girl at Borders working the counter (after she yelled at the same group of American students to move three times from the front of the store where they were sitting in the aisles) that they open two hours earlier than normal during the summer just to try and put everything back. Since I didn't go to the lower level where music is and toys, she said that it was worse down there. And that it was like that every night, and worse on Fridays and Saturdays. On Sunday mornings, the store doesn't open until 11am, but everyone is in like 4 hours early to do a super reorganization and clean up to get things back where they belong. I don't think I could handle that constant chaos...hell, I put things back on the shelves when I am just a customer and see things in a certain section out of order. Too many years in retail as college jobs I guess.

Anyway, I will post some pics, grab a shower, and get ready for class at 11:15 this morning. I don't think anything exciting is going to happen today, and frankly, I don't expect to spend more than a pound or two at all (I have all the groceries I will need for lunch and dinner). I may go out and walk about to get exercise (I haven't been doing that in the mornings after the first few days because I have been walking so much during the day) later this evening when the streets are emptier, but one morning I am going to have to get up early while we are living here in the center of town and go out and get pictures while the streets are mostly empty.

Send me email and if you want a postcard, email me your address. I left my address book at home, so I have a few, but not all of them.

This is Just So Wrong!

2007-07-09T05:55:00.000-04:00

Okay, while there are Starbucks on almost everycorner in London and especially in Oxford, this is just plain wrong. Part of the redevelopment of Oxford Castle after HM Royal Prison Oxford was shut down in 1996. I'll let it speak for itself...

More Images from Around Oxford

2007-07-09T05:48:00.001-04:00

Bodelian Library Entrance
Radcliffe Camera and Church
Hertford College 1st Quad
Radcliffe Camera (a library)
Oxford Castle

These are some images taken on Saturday during my jaunt out and about Oxford.

Enjoy!

Images from the London Jaunt

2007-07-09T05:41:00.000-04:00

White Tower (the oldest part of the Tower of London)
Queen's House
Entrance (on the inside of the Tower)
14th century Medieval Bedroom (Recreated)
Ravens

Sorry there are no group pictures. We only realized that yesterday on the bus ride home. Most are just pictures of the Tower of London and stuff around there. I took a lot of pictures in and around the Tower, not so many afterwards (as I realized this morning while editing: none!). But I am going to be spending a few days in London at the end of the trip so I will have more pics then.

Enjoy!

Back from London 7/8

2007-07-08T18:48:00.000-04:00

Got back a while ago, around 9:45 or so, but it was a full day. My feet ache...my legs ache...and I admit that I got my small little party lost at one point, but it was in a part of London I am not intimately familiar with. Still, it was a major oops, but they did get to see Westminster Abbey twice. I have tons of pictures to put up, mostly from the Tower of London. I got bored with taking pictures after we left the tower, but we had fun.

Let's see: arrived in London, bought tube tickets and advanced tickets for the Tower. Which was a smart idea since the line was huge. Took the tube to the tower, spent three hours or so wandering about, brief stop for lunch, then walked to the Monument where the Great Fire of 1666 started. Then took the tube to the Museum of London, two hours or so wandering the galleries (though I did pop off to a local game store across the street). Then we walked to the tube, took the Tube to Westminster, and got out to see and briefly walk about: Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Downing Street, the Cenotaph, Horse Guards, the closed Churchill Cabinet War Rooms (it was after 6 at this point), Westminster Abbey, a cashpoint (atm) as a couple of us needed money, a wander through the streets, then back to Westminster Abbey by mistake, then off to the Buckingham Palace. Made it to Victoria Station around 7 where we were to catch up with two girls who went off to ride the London Eye, but they weren't there. (Turns out they beat us back to Oxford!). Got some food from the huge train station, then walked to the bus depot, then rode back to Oxford on the most crowded bus I had ever seen: we even left one bus stop full of people (about a dozen or so) to get the next bus in 20 minutes.

Walked back to the dorms, got some snacks and went down to watch tv until 11:30. Watched the original Batman with Michael Keaton and then decided to call it a night. Now its off to brush teeth and bed time. I will upload pics tomorrow from the weekend and post them here.

Its also laundry time tomorrow. They have been removing asbestos from the laundry room, so I hope they are done tomorrow before all the students get back from Ireland and have to do laundry.

Off to London

2007-07-08T03:25:00.000-04:00

Well, after a day of exploration and of visiting museums here in Oxford, it is off to do more museum hopping in London. Hopefully the tourists will be a little less of a pain than here in Oxford where there are certainly too many people trying to get in too small a spot.

I am trying to make sure I catch a 9:20 am bus and then back home around 8 or so is the plan (which means leaving London around 6:30 or 7). Since most things close in London around 5 pm on Sundays, I think it should be doable. I am not going to try too much today: The Tower, and maybe the Museum of London or the British Museum, I am not sure which. Perhaps a little shopping...

I will write more tonight.

Some Oxford Images

2007-07-07T18:01:00.001-04:00

Top to bottom, these are pictures from Jesus College:
1st Quad, the heart of the 16th century college.
2nd Quad, the areas where we have classes.
Dining Hall, some of the oldest parts date back to the early 17th century and it is where we eat breakfast every morning.
Residence Quad, where we stay in these newer buildings. However, there are rooms in all the of the other quads as well.

The Everday Part, not so much...

2007-07-07T04:24:00.000-04:00

Well, I had originally told myself I was going to write everyday, or at least every other day, and now I find out I haven't written since Wednesday. As I am writing now, its 9:30 in the morning on a Saturday, and I am contemplating what to do today. Tomorrow, I know, is a day out in London: see the Tower, maybe head to the changing of the guard first thing, then wander about and do some shopping, I don't know what after the Tower, but it should be a long but fun day out in the city. Today, Saturday, well it feels like a lazy day...and one in which I didn't get enough sleep. It might be because we were all woken up and driven outside at 5am by fire alarms going off. I was proud that all the students who are still here in Oxford with me (about 8 of them) crawled out of bed, half asleep, and were gathered outside. Luckily, it turned out to be a visiting advisor for another programme here who set off the alarm when they tried to heat some tea with one of those travel heaters. Not exactly the way to start a Saturday morning I must admit. Construction as well continues apace here, with summer inter term remodeling and fixing up goes on. It is, I understand, and ongoing process that any 16th century building needs done. Some of it is work to the library/bar building, and some of it is asbestos removal (from the laundry area, which makes doing laundry at the moment inconvienent. That should be done by Sunday, they said. Fingers crosses X).

So what has been going on the last few days? Well Thursday was a busy day but a very fast and abbreviated one, with class a bit shorter, because we were all headed off to see the Lion King in London that evening. It was a good play, and well put on, and I liked how they used masks and headpieces to represent the animals they were playing. Remarkably I had never seen the movie (the most I had ever done before this was go on the ride at the Magic Kingdom, which is now closed!) but it was good, and the girls next to me had seen both the movie and the play before, and they could point out what wasn't in the movie. It was interesting to see some of the topical stuff thrown in, and a few jokes that I am sure went way over the head of the kids in the audience, but it was a very decent show. Great seats, but perhaps a wee bit too close, being in the second row to the stage. But I don't think I have ever been that close before to a show, usually sitting in the nosebleed sections when I lived in NYC and was trying to do it for free, seeing plays and operas. But I do have to say Heather did a great job in getting the seats. It was magical to see some of the faces, even of our own students, who were seeing plays for the first time, and this was certainly a play for them to see for the first time.

No pictures, of course, because theaters don't allow pictures. There wasn't much time to see or do anything in London before the play, just enough time to grab a spot to eat. The local Tescos (a supermarket chain)served remarkably well for a snack. It was interesting, though, how much of London has changed even since the last time I was there in 2002. Lots more buildings whose facades were preserved, because they were either a) listed buildings, or b) council required to preserve the identity of the neighborhood, but whose interiors were complete shells as they were working on rebuilding and modernizing. I mean complete, bombed out building shells. Very odd to see two, three or four walls standing, and nothing in the interior holding up the walls, just the mortar and stonejoining fromm 200 years ago. Anyway, I am sure I will see more changes, and once I am back down at eye level, and not coach level, I am sure it will all come back to me. I know seeing the area around Euston Station, the Wellcome Institute, Tavistock Square (I staid at two hotels over the years in the area), all brought back memories and nothing much seemed to have really changed in either spot. I am sure when I go back in August and see the Imperial War Museum, it will feel the same too.

Yesterday was my first day off, so I got to do some touristy things as well as some school related work. Most of the morning, regretably, was spent grading for summer session. I managed to finish grading the final exams (I was up early) and then off to a meeting with a friend, Dave Hallett, who is married to an American woman he met here in Oxford. We chatted about all sorts of things: his work, his recent trip to Rhodes, his band, mutual interests and writing for roleplaying games (both of us are published in the field), and he showed me some parts of the 18th century Covered Market I didn't know existed. It was about an hour or so, and I managed to stop by the homemade cookie place just as the cookies were coming out of the oven. The smell was spectacular, so I picked one up and ate the gooey mess as I went to go get bus tickets for the group.

Heather had arranged for the bus tickets the day before, but you had to go to the bus depot to get them. With more than 900 GBP worth of tickets, they said we could get a ride on the depot bus back to the depot. I had to wait for the van, and then rode with a number of Oxford Bus Company drivers back to their main depot (it was the end of the morning shift I think, being about 12:45 or so by that point) and it was one of the most interesting sides of life I have ever been part of. Raunchy, telling jokes, but perfectly at home even with a stranger among them. Obviously an overweight American (I am sure the tennis shoes and shorts, plus a windbreaker, gave me away), but it was like I was part of the group and when I laughed at some of the jokes, and even told a stupid one of my own, it was like being part of a group. But when we arrived at the depot, the reserve all came back, they went back to work and I got the tickets. The return shuttle was just mean and the driver, and it was very very quiet...

After a brief return to my room to drop off the tickets, it was off to Oxford Unlocked, the museum and exhibit in the old royal prison. The prison (which it was until 1996!) has parts dating back to what archeologists now believe is pre Norman Invasion, including the main tower whose shape and location dates it as Saxon, not Norman. The prison was on the location since the 14th century, and you wander up and into a tower, then through D Wing of the prison using an audio guide, but self paced. I admit that it seemed expensive at 7.25 GBP, but the tour itself took nearly 2 hours. I left there about 4:30 (started at 2:40) and I think it was worth the money. I will probably go back again before I leave.

After that, it was back to the room, more grading to finish up, a brief pop over to Sainsbury (another supermarket) to get some snacks for the weekend (bananas, scones, diet coke), and then out to dinner with three of the students who were here with me. We wandered around for a bit: the pub we went to didn't have seating space, and eventually we ended up at a bar/pub called O'Neills on George Street. Its an Irish themed bar, but what sold the girls was that it was cheap: 3.50 was the starting price for about 6 dishes on the menu. It looked and felt like a restaurant, but it was still a pub where you had to order at the bar. I had a ploughman's lunch: meat, hard cheddar, side salad (actually a toss of greens and baby tomatoes), pickled pearl onions, relish, and Irish soda bread. I got a side of colcannon (potatoes and cabbage) and a pint, and it came out to 8 GBP or so. Remarkably, about what it might cost at Meg O Malleys. One of the girls had sausages and colcannon (which looked exactly like the same thing at Megs), one had a meat pie, and one had a cheeseburger. Four people ate and had drinks for about 30 pounds...which isn't that bad altogther if you think it was dinner.

After that, I walked around for a bit, but it was 8 oclock and still light out, so I decided to come back to my room and get some reading done on my history of Oxford. Instead I played a computer game until about 1 am, and then went to bed. Of course you read earlier about the morning fire alarm, so today is going to be lazy.

The big thing is that today is Alice's Day 2007, part of the millineum celebration of Oxford and an annual tradition to celebrate the anniversary of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, written by Oxford don, Charles Dodgson (ie Lewis Carroll). There are things to do all throughout the town, mostly free, from noon until 5, so I am off to go see the exhibits and take pictures. I am sure it will be crowded, but it should still be fun. I am not sure what the rest of the day holds in store, but that should be a good portion of the day, and it will also be an opportunity to play tourist with my camera and take loads of pictures, hopefully be able to post a bunch of them tonight.

Anyway, that's been the update...I will probably post again tonight and late Sunday, or early Monday. Enjoy the mysterious 07-07-07 and I will do my best not to fall down the Rabbit Hole!

Wednesday, July 4th

2007-07-04T10:16:00.000-04:00

Happy Fourth of July!

Well, its another cool and nice day here, though yesterday had the strangest weather: massive thunderstorms and hail, including enough hail to briefly coat the ground here in Oxford and more so in London. Its been working and more work at times, and spending far too much money, though I knew that would happen the first two weeks without access to a kitchen or a way to limit food costs. Besides miscellaneous purchases, I have spent close to 250 dollars in less than a week: a fan, computer repairs, cell phone, etc. I have been keeping a log of expenses, and it all adds up. Dinner last night alone was 16 GBP (which is a good portion of my per diem), though I did manage to go to a wine tasting with experts from London. It seemed a good deal: taste 20 wines, plus tapas, for 10 GBP. The wines were not cheap wines, but decent wines from all over the world and there were about 30 people there for the 2 hour long tasting. I never realized that even sipping and tossing out the extra, that is a lot of wine to taste. I now know why the experts tasted, swirled and spit the wine into a bucket, hardly swallowing anything in their glasses. Besides it was only a few ounces of wine, but I would say there were about 7-8 glasses total if you added up all the sample sizes.

My morning Civ class is continuing well enough, though about half the students did not bring the books they should have brought. So many of them are out and about looking for the books they need for their first assignment due next Friday. The History of Science class spent much of the class period on a field trip to the Science Museum in Oxford. The Science Museum is really like an attic, on three stories of the old Ashmolean Museum. What was neat, from my perspective, was the penicillin exhibit (the drug was tested and partially developed at Oxford!), and a chalk board with Einstein's theory of relativity on it from a lecture he gave in the early 1930s. After the museum closed I went across the street to a huge bookstore, deceptively huge, called Blackwell's. They have this cavernous underground chamber with over 3 miles of shelves, not to mention the three levels of normal space above ground.

Back to college, more work, and then the wine tasting and some dinner afterwards. I made it home by 11, and then worked and read for a few hours. In a lot of ways this is like a working vacation, including attending a conference. Some downtime along with a lot of work time. I met up with the tour coordinator, Heather, for lunch to discuss my role as assistant group leader, and since I am living on campus, what I should and shouldn't do with the students and how to handle problems. We did manage to clear up one thing I didn't know, but I can live with it. Tonight it is dinner in residence, and then I think I am going to try and get some work done. Tomorrow it is off to the Lion King in London. Honestly, I have never seen anything more than the old show at the Magic Kingdom, and have never seen the movie, so this will be an interesting experience. I'll let you know how things turn out...

Off to History of Science and then dinner...

Adventures in Oxford: Ups and Downs

2007-07-02T12:59:00.000-04:00

Ah, I had intended to post everyday, at least something. I had even intended to take pictures by now, but I have been swamped with getting adjusted to life in Oxford and today, getting my teaching schedule sorted out. But to be honest, the reason I haven't posted since Friday/Saturday is that my computer went on the fritz on Sunday morning and I was without internet or my computer for the last 36 hours or so. I spent more than three hours this morning getting it fixed and luckily it cost only 29.99 GBP (about $60 US) to get fixed. The adventure of getting there, and the truth of a 10 minute walk are a whole other story.

The 10 minute walk: 40 minutes, in the pouring rain for 30 of it. Finally found the place, a store called PC World, and they were nice folks. They have an internal repair service called Tech Service, sort of like Geek Squad at Best Buy. They told me it would take about two hours or so for the computer to be checked out. So I decided to take the bus back to the city centre. Wouldn't you know it, the moment I stepped into my room, my mobile rings and they tell me the problem is fixed. I could have sat there and waited (and I did bring a book with me just in case.) Another 20 minute bus ride back this time, picked up the case, handed over the credit card, and another 20 minute bus ride home. Between start and finish, and finding out about PC World in the first place from a few other places I was asked about: 3 hours. Still, its good to have my computer back and a chance to post, check email, do work (including grading) and finally get my syllabi out to my students.

So what else has been happening? I am hoping that is the end of my bad luck, knock on wood. I found a local department store that sells luggage and not too unreasonably for some quality pieces. It may still take about 300 US to get the luggage, but it is right around the corner from the school. I may get away with half that amount of money if I just want luggage to get me home, but we shall see if paying more is worth it.

On Friday night, I finally got to sleep after a noisy night in the courtyard. I woke up around 7:30 and went for a brief walk before grabbing breakfast. Breakfast on both Saturday and Sunday was a traditional English breakfast, served cafeteria style: fried eggs, bacon (more like Canadian bacon), sausages, toast, other breads, kippers, tomatoes, mushrooms, cereal, fruit (so far it must be a special on grapefruit!), yogurt, coffee and tea. I don't think I can eat that every morning, but for the first two weeks I should have plenty of time to walk it off. I went back, got changed, and went for a walk with Andrew Cudmore about the streets of Oxford to explore and find where things are. It was a bit breezy and a slight rain on and off throughout the morning.

I then went out and got my cell phone turned on with a company called Orange. For 20 GBP I got a calling plan that would allow me to pay as I go, and calls to the US would be about 5p per minute (way cheaper than ATT/Cingular's 99 cents/mminute!). Internal calling is more expensive, but that is the price you pay for the overseas programme. Receiving calls in the UK is free, only dialing incurs a cost. I wandered around the Cornmarket afterwards, as this is the main pedestrian shopping district, and usually filled with tourists. I'll take pictures of the street one day when I am up and walking at 7:30 and at 5:30. Its a massive difference.

I went out to a pub with the provost and his party and had a late lunch. The pub, the King's Arms, is pretty close: the beer is reasonably priced and the food is pretty good. I had a steak and mushroom pie and a pint of summer beer, both of which were good and filling. After that, Andrew decided to take the provost and his party on the "supersized" version of our earlier walk: almost 2 hours of wandering the streets of Oxford. I was exhausted afterwards, and I suspect the others were bushed, and I walk regularly for 45 minutes a day! As I suspected when I lived in England, I walk everywhere here and often, and using today as an example, I am pretty sure from looking at a map, I walked close to 10 miles back and forth, up and down stairs, about town, to the pc store, to class, from class, to lunch, back from lunch, to class, from class, to the supermarket, from the supermarket, and the night still isn't over with. By the time we got back it was raining, around 7:30, and I was too exhausted to go back out and get dinner.

Sunday was again up and out at 7:30 for a walk. It started out sunny and ended up raining again. I went past the Eagle and Child (the Bird and the Baby as locals call it!), the pub where C S Lewis and J R R Tolkien hung out and read each other sections of their work. Some evening I am going to have to go there for a pint. I also discovered the location of the Oxford Ghost Tour, which I might take this weekend while others are off galivanting in Ireland. 5 GBP and a night of tales to tell. I'll just make sure I am not running about that day like a chicken without a head, since most walking tours are about 90 minutes to 2 hours and tend to cover a good distance in that time.

After breakfast, I discovered that my computer was no longer working, and in the UK, I knew there wasn't much I could do anyway on a Sunday. Students were arriving, and I was on duty to help them get settled. I took a bunch on a short walking tour before we all went on a bus tour in the afternoon. One of those guided bus tours where you sit and listen to headphones, or hear over speakers. What the driver didn't tell us is that on our bus, the speakers weren't working, so it wasn't until the bus got half way through the trip that we got headphones. I rode the bus tour around 1.5x to get the full story. After that it was galivanting around town seeing new places on a quiet Sunday night, met up with some of the students and ended up chatting with some locals until we had to leave to go to a meeting with Heather (she is the university tour programme director) at 8pm. It was interesting, the man and his wife were from London, visiting for the day in Oxford. I never figured out what he did for a living, but his wife was a lawyer and she was interviewing for a job in NYC. I think in the hour long conversation they learned a lot of positive things about America and the students learned a lot about Britain, especially since the couple were Brits of Pakistani descent (second or third generation at least), what are called Asians here in the British press. They were nice people, and I wish we didn't have to go back to the meeting.

After the meeting, Heather took some of the students on a brief tour (those who had come in from Italy earlier in the day) and I got to see where at Merton College the Shakespeare class was going to be held, as well as a pub, the Turf Tavern, that is one of the best and oldest pubs in Oxford, and rated the best small pub in Britain for 2007. I'll have to go back later and try out their food and drink. Today was a rinse and repeat of earlier mornings, though classes didn't start until 1 today for me. Tonight is the formal welcome dinner (and I need to go get my shirt and tie on) and then its back here to do some work.

Anyway, I will take some pictures soon and post them up. I'll bring my camera along to the formal dinner and have some pictures hopefully for tomorrow's blog.

Arrival in Oxford, Safe and Mostly Sound

2007-06-29T12:30:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone,

I finally arrived in Oxford about an hour ago. Its been the trip from hell and probably a slightly expensive one in the end. Let's see...45 minute delay in Orlando due to weather, 3 hour delay in Phildelphia (including sitting on a plane for 90 minutes waiting to take off)and then a flight on the airplane with the narrowest leg room ever. My knees were in my chin for most of the flight, but I did manage to get about 3 hours of sleep, so I don't feel too bad. However, the 3 hour delay meant that today has been completely screwed up. I didn't get to Gatwick airport until 11:30 BST, and then airline baggage handlers broke the wheels on my luggage and trashed the zipper. That I discovered after waiting more than a hour for the luggage to arrive. Since the suitcase zipper is shot, I will end up having to buy new suitcases to take my stuff home. I was planning on buying one additional suitcase, but now it looks like I will have to buy two. However, my suitcase will still transport stuff, and I can get the zipper to sort of zip, but it takes a lot of work and the zipper itself is pulling away from the case. It will have to be replaced before I come home in six weeks time, and I will have to get a smaller suitcase for my trips around the country.

Other than that, I missed the tour around campus due to my late arrival in Oxford (at 4:30 instead of 1:30)and massive traffic in and around London due to the car bombing earlier this morning. The 2 hour trip from Gatwick to Oxford took more than 3 hours, so things have been snowballing all day long. I did manage to find Andrew Cudmore and Ralph Lucurcio, both of who will be staying and/or teaching here for a while. My dorm room is kind neat, a single lockable room with a shared bathroom, more modern than old, but with lots of space. Right now, I am sharing my little flat with Andrew Cudmore, but I don't know if I will get another flatmate once he leaves on Sunday I think to move to his house. I can tell I am going to have to pick up a fan because there isn't much in the way of air circulation, even though I do have a fairly large window. The weather is rainy so far, though there were spots of sun earlier today.

Time to get cleaned up, walk around for a bit, and then come back to find some people for dinner. Tomorrow will be exploration day, though it will take a day or two to get my bearings. However, the college is just a block from the Radcliffe Camera and the Bodelian Library (I found both of them earlier when I made a wrong turn). I am looking forward to exploring tomorrow and Sunday, especially once the very tired and cranky students get here. ::grin:: I also apologize if this blog seems kinda whiney, but I am working on just three hours of sleep and have had a lot of mishaps. None of which were my fault. I will take some pictures of the college tomorrow and try to get them posted here.

Write to me at my aol address, mattruane at aol.com. Hope to hear from you soon.

Note: For those of you who don't realize why I altered my email address above, its an anti-spam measure.

Mailing Address

2007-06-25T15:57:00.001-04:00

Here is the mailing address for my summer stay, in case you need to mail me anything.

Professor Matthew Ruane, Florida Tech
Jesus College
Turl Street
Oxford, England
OX1 3DW
United Kingdom

Pre Trip Update #2

2007-06-23T22:39:00.000-04:00

Saturday is usually a day to rest, but today has been one of those run around and get all the little things that need to be done before heading off on a trip. I think I was back and forth to the mall at least three times today, as well as Best Buy, Target, Circuit City and Barnes and Noble. It also includes doing a lot of not so little things: buying a digital camera was my big purchase today. I got a 7 megapixel Samsung S730 digital camera, but I had to go back and buy a SD memory card for the camera. The basic memory would have allowed me to store just 15 pictures at the worst resolution (and just 5 at the best) before the memory was full. I went to Best Buy to get a memory card, and they had a 2 gigabite card on sale for just 24.95! Now, suddenly, at the worst resolution I can shoot over 2000 pictures, but with the current acceptable middle resolution, I can store over 1000 digital photographs before I am full. I am sure that if push came to shove, I could store the extra pics on my laptop or my Ipod until I got home. The Ipod, even with the music and video on it currently, can still hold over 20,000 pictures and still function.

If I ever shoot more than 1,000 pictures you will know I have gone off the deep edge.

Let's see what else: ethernet cable, check; extra batteries and camera carrying case, check; some snacks for the airplane, check;, birthday gifts for a party tomorrow, check. I also managed to pay some bills ahead of time, trying to limit what I will still have to pay while in the UK. I did manage not to buy a guidebook to London. I am pretty sure the city has not changed all that much since my last extended visit in 2002. They also don't make guidebooks just for Oxford, at least not without being part of a larger guidebook I don't need.

Tonight was spent out with two of my best friends, Steve and Liz, having a little going away party. A few other people were supposed to show up, but they never did. At least we didn't reserve a huge table. It was odd eating "bangers and mash" at an Irish pub here in Melbourne, knowing that I probably would be eating the same thing in a little more than a week.

You know what I am looking forward to eating again? Branson Pickle and Cheese and Onion Crisps. Google them to find out what they are.

Tomorrow is spent going to brunch/birthday party, and then coming home to do some laundry and finish up on some school related work. Its going to be a long week...but I vowed on Wednesday afternoon I was going to go to the movies as a way to destress before the trip. The new Bruce Willis "Die Hard" movie opens, so I think I am going to go see a matinee before heading off to class, and then coming home to finish packing. I can already see Thursday being a whirlwind of class, grading a set of quizzes, and making sure I have everything from my office that I will need to teach in Oxford.

Wish me luck...I am sure chaos still awaits.

Pre Trip Thoughts #1

2007-06-22T09:38:00.000-04:00

Less than a week to go. At this time next week, Friday June 29th, I will be in Oxford trying to settle down for the extended working vacation I am embarking on. It should prove to be a true adventuring experience. Six weeks in the UK, teaching at Oxford, along with some brief jaunts to Paris, Edinburgh, and now, hopefully with fingers crossed, a trip to Oslo for a long weekend at the begining of July. I should know over the weekend whether I can a) afford the trip time wise, and b) whether I really should go. The only thing keeping me from going at the moment is the responsibility of remaining in Oxford while the other programme leaders are off in Ireland. I was told that a number of students will be gone that first weekend, so my leaving shouldn't be a problem either, but I need to think about this endeavor.

Anyway, luggage has been taken care of, adaptors have been secured, banks and credit card companies have been notified. Now all I need to do is make sure that I actually do the packing sometime next week. I still have a week of summer classes to deal with (one of the reasons why being in the office over the weekend will probably be necessary) and a lab install that is only about 75% finished. However, the remaining bits should be done while I am gone. Hooray for planning!

This blog will be posted to hopefully on a regular basis once I am overseas. I'll use it both as a journal as well as way of keeping in touch with people. If you want to post to this blog, or make comments on it, let me know. I am also going to try and find a way to post some pictures from the trip. The last time I went I did this the old fashioned way, keeping a pen and paper journal of my trip and of my expenses. This time around, I think I am going to embark on the bold electronic experiment of keeping it online in a semi-public blog.

Thanks for reading...

Matt