Oxford!

This weekend has been great- very relaxing. Friday I had no classes, and it was wonderful waking up without the aid of an alarm clock for the first time in a while. I spent it being a bum- running errands, doing some reading for class and watching episodes of Modern Family- my new addiction. It was wonderful.

Saturday was a great day as Liz, Emily and I headed out to Oxford in the morning. We got to our bus early, and when we arrived, the bus driver agreed to let us on the earlier bus...but only if we sang for him. We thought he was kidding...he wasn't. He even pulled out his phone to record our performance. One off key "Happy Birthday" later we were on our way to Oxford- but not until he decided to play our song through the bus microphone so the whole bus could enjoy the musical genius that was our trio. Oh, Richard, you'll forever be my favorite bus driver. Oxford was a blast, so much more fun than I anticipated. We walked around town, went up the "hanging hill" where criminals were executed, and wandered into a pub for lunch. After that we hit the covered market and Christ Church College. Fun fact: Oxford isn't an individual school. It's the name that is collectively used by the 38 smaller colleges in the town. Each college has their own campus, dorms, and classes, yet refer to themselves collectively as Oxford University. The sports teams uniforms say "Oxford" but you apply to the individual colleges, not Oxford itself. Anyways, we went into Christ Church, arguably the most famous of the 38 as it was the home to Hogwarts in the movies. The campus was beautiful- so Harry Potter haha.We went into the cathedral, courtyard and hallways before entering the Great Hall- home to the sorting hat and cafeteria of Hogwarts.

Christ Church Cathedral

Courtyards of Christ Church

Hallways of Hogwarts

The Great Hall!

We ended our trip getting DELICIOUS cookies and milkshakes from this place called Moo Moos. The line was insane, we waited probably 15 minutes to order, then another 30 to actually get our shakes but they were so worth it. They literally had any flavor you could imagine, well over a 100 listed on their menu. I opted for Kit-Kat, Liz got Cadbury Creme Egg and Emily got Rice Krispies- winners all around. After that we headed back to the bus for the short hour fifteen minute drive back into London.

Today we all met up again, plus Ariel to go to Brick Lane market. A series of unannounced tube closures and an hour later, we ended up in Notting Hill at Portobello Market instead. Notting Hill is adorable, straight out of the movie. Beautiful town homes and lots of cute shops. We wandered into a small organic cafe then headed out to peruse the market. While I didn't get the purse or watch on my wishlist, I did get a fresh strawberry and creme crepe and was happy as a clam the rest of the day...until the Ravens lost. Still don't understand how you miss a field goal when your entire career is based off of your capability (or lack thereof) to make field goals. Better luck next year boys.

As I mentioned in the last post, lots has been happening as far as booking trips! Ariel and I are fully booked to head to Paris the second weekend of February for three days, and Ariel, Lara and I are booked for our student union sponsored trip to Amsterdam the first weekend in March. We're aiming to pick a date for Barcelona this week! Sooooo exciting, I can't believe this is my semester.  Birthday week has officially begun in London time, so off to figure out some ways to make turning 21 in a city with a drinking age of 18 a little more interesting!