Prepare, dear readers (er .. Mom?), to have your mind absolutely blown away by photos.
No, seriously, I think you should go put sunglasses on. I don't think my Blog's insurance plan will cover you if your eyes explode ..
Series One: Normal Days That Aren't Normal Because I'm In Oxford
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| Blackwell's, the most beautiful and dangerous bookstore in the whole world. |
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| The view from the third floor of Blackwell's where they keep the used books. |
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| Outside the Radcliffe: Upgrade the Library Cat's litter! Tidy Cats or BUST! |
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| Monday Night at the Student Union, hanging out with Ian McKellen. Yes, he discussed gay rights, yes, he discussed his sex life, yes, he performed Shakespeare, and OH YES, he did the "You shall not pass" line. Such an amazing presence. |
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| He seriously almost touched my foot. Not, like, with his hands. Just, in general. |
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| Hertford College Cat, Simpkins III reading Tennyson with me. |
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| Doing my homework in The Eagle and Child where Tolkien and Lewis used to booze up and discuss dwarfs and such. |
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| Covered Market: Most beautiful, sparkly giant cupcake I have ever seen! |
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| Hearts grow on trees in the Covered Market. |
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| Apparently, in England, you can grow pretty much anything. |
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| Glamor store in the Covered Market. |
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| Dear Covered Market, Are you trying to kill me? |
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| Protesters on Cornmarket Street. |
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| Inside the Student Union Library, which is pretty much the only library with comfy chairs. |
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| Maybe too comfy. |
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Series Two: Two Castles and a Ball
All in one Saturday? Surely, you jest! No, sir, I don't. The best part about taking a big trip together was getting to play tourists for a day. In Oxford, we try so hard to blend in, but who the heck wants to blend in at a castle?!
Part One: Broughton Manor
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| You know you've made it big when you have your own personal graveyard. |
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| Private? Yes! People actually live here when it is not frigid. |
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| Just another Saturday morning ... |
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| Deepack, our program director, only had one rule for this trip: No Jousting. I had a hard time with that. |
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| Look at this teeny tiny armor in this great big hallway! Those knights must have been shrimps! |
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| The upstairs. In the winter, the family would walk up and down this hallway to get exercise. Also, a movie called "Three Men and a Lady" was filmed here and apparently gave the house that carpet. I still feel like a bad American for having no idea what the heck that movie is .. |
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| Nook, probably for writing letters and reading People Magazine. |
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| Such a gorgeous room with handpainted wallpaper. |
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| From Roma in England. |
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| More handpainted wallpaper - I want. |
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| No, I REALLY liked it. |
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| Creepiest doll I have ever seen. Ever. |
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| Katie darling cheesin' with some antiques. |
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| This ceiling is from the 1600's!!!! |
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| Pretty standard attire. |
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| Old books, pretty books, smelly books. |
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| If you pull one, it probably leads to a secret passage or something. |
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| What tiny knights used for tea parties. |
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| Even their play houses are castles. |
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| Oh, you know, overlooking my moat. I mean, their moat. |
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| Representing CUA on the roof. |
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| I will never know it's purpose. |
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| A harp and more beautiful books. Classy. P.S. Judy Dentch was here. |
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| Lauren, Maggie, and some cute armor. Metallics are so in this season. |
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| Ready for battle. And by "ready for" I mean, "useless in." |
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| Making an appearance in the gardens. |
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| Exploring the freezing gardens and planning our next tea party. |
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| Everyone took pictures of this bench. |
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| This reminded me of The Secret Garden. Cue birds and violins. |
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| This tree is right at home. |
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| Admiring the grounds. |
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| Right about now is when Katie, Mel, and I realized that no one had been around in about ten minutes. We ran to the bus to find Deepack handing out homemade sandwiches. Sweet deal. |
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Part Two: Warwick Castle
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| My summer house. |
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| In case you needed more proof that I was hanging out in a castle. |
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| "#$@!! the Dungeons." Solution to everything. |
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| Bird's eye of the dining hall. SO tempting to yell things at unsuspecting tourists. |
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| Stained glass inside. |
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| View from one of the bedrooms, which has been turned into a wax museum. Creepy. |
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| From the top of the Mound, which had something to do with the Battle of Hastings. I only remmeber this because Dr. Wright never told me to forget 1066. So I never will. |
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| Ugh, if only Deepack hadn't forbidden jousting! |
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| Fun fact: I have a double eye infection in all of these pictures. I know. So royal, right? |
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| Surprisingly, what they sell in the Princess Tower. |
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| Climbing a million stairs (no but really, a thousand) to get to the top of the barricks and sing We Are the Champions! |
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| This peacock did not want to be friends. |
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| See? |
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| Because it was cold and gray, the place wasn't exactly hopping. So we got special treatment from the staff. This man talked about swords for about twenty minutes. I immediately forgot all of it. But, hey, look! Cool picture, right? |
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| Wax museum. You think I'm laughing? No, I'm screaming. I swear one of them moved. |
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| The dining hall where Bono was apparently playing that night. Sarcasm? |
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| Bitches and hos. Aka King Henry VIII and his wives. |
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| Leaving the castle. Michele got a marriage proposal from one of the knights. Sigh. Life at the castle is so rough. |
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| Photo Credit: German Tourist. Some pop stars at the top of one of the towers. |
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| Our super special VIP tour guide who told us waaaay too much about the (more recent) scandals at Warwick and stayed in character THE WHOLE TIME. Such a champion. |
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Are your eyes bleeding yet? Take a moment to rest them before my dress from the ball blinds you ..
Part Three: The Last Pango Ball
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| After napping on the bus and some Thai food, it's off to the Last Pango Ball, Hertford College's only ball of the term! |
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| What is the Pango? It's a lethal drink containing vodka, whiskey, rum, grenidine, and tonic. The Hertford College Bar (yes, my college has a bar), has been run by students forever and they invented this .. poison. Recently, something went down and now students can't work at the bar anymore, so, they threw a ball to celebrate .. ta da! The Last Pango. Or more like, the last 1000 gallons of Pango. |
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| Did you see her lipstick? Gaahhh. So good. |
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| They just passed out drunk food. It was amazing. Here, we are sampling the Krispy Kreme donuts that they were serving on silver platters. There was also a chocolate fountain, tons of candy, and pork sandwiches. |
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| Most bizzare thing ever: There was no DJ at this dance. There were no speakers. Everyone got headphones and could dance to songs of their liking. Which meant that people weren't even dancing to the same music. My favorite part was taking off my headphones and watching other people swaying to all different beats. Too weird. |
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| But, before that, was the all male acapella group: Out of the Blue! They were incredible! |
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| A Pango in one hand and a burrito in the other. Kind of like heaven. |
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| This may or may not be stolen. I don't want to talk about it. |
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| And, goodnight. |
