So as I said in my last post, I was in Oxford. I went to visit Monica, and say good bye to the great college town. I had to go back, and see The Eagle and Child again, and of course Monica, the girls I've met there, and just the sights. Monica realised that she could take me into the different colleges, since she is a student of Oxford. So that is what we did before we went punting. Well we started to.
The first one we went to was Christ Church. I had wanted to see the inside of this college for awhile, they use this campus for parts of Harry Potter, the Great Hall, the staircase, and different outdoor scenes. They use another college too, I believe it's called New College, and it does not live up to it's name, it's pretty old, like 600 years old. Something like that.
I am right now labeling pictures, but I thought I would put up a little quiz for everyone. Tell me where you have seen this tree before, and who was it in? And who got chased around it, while a lot of people stood around and laughed. Then tell me why I took the pictures below.
Well while you work out that, I will be labeling pictures, and then will return to finish my day in Oxford.
Alright, back. Day 1 of Oxford is labeled, so back to describing my day.
Christ Church was cool, a lot of kids out. Er. Group tours and all of that. Christ Church is where they have filmed some scenes from Harry Potter, such as the Great Hall, and the stairs from the Entrance Hall. It was so brilliant to finally see these sights, I mean ever since Monica and I started talking about going to England, and her to Oxford, it's been the home of Harry Potter. I also got my picture taken on the stairs, a few times... lol, and it was really cool. Christ Church is huge, and really old looking, and kind of intimating. I mean colleges in the States are ohh maybe a hundred years old, this college is 500 years old, and that's not even the oldest college. After seeing the other colleges, this one isn't even the prettiest, but it is one of the most well known.
So then we went to New College, a very nice campus, so pretty, with something a little strange on the grounds. There is a mound, full of dead bodies that makes noises. When you clap at it, it makes a noise back at you. I didn't really believe this, or understand what Monica was talking about, but we went to the mound and she started clapping. I didn't hear anything. I clapped, and then I heard it. It's an echo of your clapping, but sounds really weird. When I finally heard it, I couldn't believe it. It's so weird! If I went to this college, I would love to sit and people watch, and just watch people go up to the mound and clap at it. It's really weird!
After New College, we visited, okay well I'm starting to forget the order. We visited Oriel College, and then over to the Radcliffe Camera area, with the Divinity School and the Sheldonian Theatre. Sheldonian Theatre is where Matriculation takes place. Monica was not allowed in during matriculation because she is a study abroad student, and not there for the full three years. She did get to dress up though. Monica had never been in the theatre before, or the Divinity School. We weren't sure we would be able to get into either, but yes we did. The Divinity School is where they filmed the hospital wing scenes from Harry Potter. It was cool to see that! In the Sheldonian Theatre, we climbed up to the top, and we got to see all the gargoyles and tips of the towers of Oxford. Beautiful. Up there, we both kept repeating that we don't want to leave England. It was such a nice day to be up there, and looking out at Oxford. I feel that is my last tower/a lot of stairs that I will be climbing in England or Europe. I climbed my first tower in Oxford too, we climbed the Carfax Tower when we first came to Oxford. It was another feeling of coming full circle. I have climbed my share of towers/a lot of stairs/mountains, and the first and last time it happened in Oxford. It was sad to climb down the stairs.
After that we went back down to Christ Church to go down to the River. This is where Monica spent her mornings while she was rowing. Hahaha, she had to wake up insanely early to row, about the time I was going to bed. She only did it for the first term though. But it was nice by there, I love the Thames. It's where I spent my first few hours in Kingston, and in London, so I love to see it whenever I travel.
After Christ though we went back to Monica's place to meet the other girls so we could go punting. I was so excited to go punting. It was free because we had to punt ourselves... hahaha. What a show though, having to punt by ourselves. I preferred that to having someone punt for us, I mean what an experience to get to punt. We went with Meg, Ann, and Amelia, three friends of Monica's. I've met Ann before, she lives next to Monica. She's really nice.
So punting... yeah. We went punting down by Magdalen College. So now I have walked around Oxford at least once... nice. Anyway, Magdalen College is the most beautiful, really hard to get into, and they stay inside their college. They don't associate with the rest of Oxford apparently. But C.S. Lewis taught here, so I was glad to see it, and the next day I would be going inside. Oh yeah. But to punting. IT'S HARD! You have this big metal poll that is huge, and bigger than two people. You have to put the pole into the water, and push it into the ground, but not too far because it could get stuck. The pole pushes the boat along, and then you just let it go behind the boat, and then repeat the process. If you need to turn, you move the pole in whatever direction you need to. Yeah that is a horrible description of punting, but it's hard to describe. It was fun though. Ann had some trouble at first, but she figured it out, and all was good. It was so funny to begin with, our boat would not stay straight. It did a lot of 360s.. we hit a few bushes, the bridge, but not other boats. No one got wet either which was really good! Amelia was really good at punting, she has experiences with boats. Meg and Monica were good, they had some tough spots, and Amelia helped them out, but they did fine. I had a nice straight part of the river, it was good, though I couldn't keep the boat straight. I didn't hit the bank though, so all is good. It was so much fun, I am so glad we did it.
After punting, Monica and I went to The Eagle and Child for the last time. Well my last time. Monica goes there often... wish I could. We got dinner, and I just love being in The Eagle and Child, there is good food, and I just love the fact that Tolkien and Lewis and their friends use to go to the pub. Another feeling of coming full circle. Going to The Eagle and Child was one of places we couldn't wait to go when we took our first trip to Oxford. Now Monica goes to The Eagle and Child all the time, and I go whenever I come to Oxford for some great food.
After eating, we got ice cream, walked down by the River, and just talked. We mostly talked about how different we are now, I mean when we first came to Oxford we thought The Eagle and Child was an hour away, we would need 3 buses to get there, and no it's up the street. We didn't know anything about Oxford, and our first trip to London was just as amusing.
So that was day one in Oxford of my last visit. We went back to Monica's room, I showed her the Boosh, a Snuff Box episode, and The IT Crowd. I think she liked the Boosh, and The IT Crowd. Snuff Box is an acquired taste for some, but those with weird senses of humour like me, Jenna, Kathleen and Amaya we liked it almost at once. Well when Matt Berry did the whole throwing down the fish tank thing and yelling. heheh.
Wow long post.
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