Someday I'll be a C.S. Lewis scholar...

Monday, the 26th, had little detail of note. I went to class in the morning, Humanities, ate a pre-made chicken kiev, took a nap, did homework, ate another kiev (they were about to expire) and then went to bed. Somewhere in there (I believe while the dinner kiev was cooking), I did my duty as house recycler. Each Monday, I am to take the four recycling bins from my house to the large recycling bins outside of the other house. I then have to sort the different items into their respective bins, cardboard, cans, plastic, etc. It's pretty easy and I get paid. Yay for saving the planet!

Tuesday was more eventful than Monday. It started with our International Studies class (INTS), during which the visiting professor, Dr. Morris, gave a lecture on morality. I have been intrigued by the amount of philosophies and writers that seem to agree with my anti-war opinion. I figured that war would not be so widely accepted if so many philosophies were against it. But while reading a book for the class, Mere Discipleship by Lee C. Camp, Camp talks about how people perceive theories and biblical teachings as applicable only to an ideal world... which we do not live in. As you might be able to tell, I found it fascinating. 

After INTS, we had Christianity and Culture. We have been talking about Genesis 1-4 for the past couple class periods. It's interesting to look at the creation as the ideal state of the world, the state to which God wants the world to return. After lunch, I had my C.S. Lewis class. I have been so impressed by Lewis' story of conversion and by his excellence in writing. He was of the highest caliber in three completely separate genres! He is becoming one of my favorite authors. I just need to read more of his work so I can talk intelligently about his thoughts.

For dinner, I  made homemade tomato sauce with tomatoes that were about to rot (notice a trend?). Afterwards, I went to another C.S. Lewis society meeting. This one was a bit less intimidating than last weeks because the topic included some of the letters and essays of Lewis that we had just read in class that day.

Today, Wednesday, I had humanities in the morning, and then my friend Emily and I went on a walk for our Oxford through the Ages course. We had to follow directions on a paper to different sites through the "Port Meadow" area of Oxford. This area was frequented by Lewis Carol and influenced his imagining of the story of Alice in Wonderland. It is a beautiful area with many areas that have been untouched by modern society/technology. We saw an old church with a well that had supposed healing powers, the ruins of a nunnery destroyed in the 1600's, and farmland with horses, sheep and goats. The walk was mainly along the River Thames, so I'm glad I had my Wellies (rainboots) to get through the mud. It was also just a good opportunity to get away from the typical American experience of England and see the countryside.

Next weekend, starting on the 5th, a group of us are going to Ireland for our first travel break. We haven't planned a whole lot yet beyond visiting Blarney Castle and, if I can get past the idea of the germs, kissing the Blarney Stone. 

A week and half into the semester.

So, it seems a lot of other people are doing blogs for the semester abroad. While I'm not much of a follower, I can be lazy. I believe that writing on here will be much easier than telling all my family members the same stories over and over. So here's my fantastic and creatively-named blog: Semester Abroad. Enjoy!

My first week and 1/2 in Oxford has been amazing. We had a couple days to settle in the houses and explore the town before classes started. Here's a quick recap of my time so far:

Thursday- arrive in London Heathrow Airport after 9 hour flight from Dallas.

- ride in bus to Oxford. This was the first glimpse of the beauty to come.

- receive room assignments. Taylor and I are on the second floor (called first floor in England).

-We went on a tour of the town... Didn't retain a lot of info due to exhaustion. 

- Ate dinner at On the Hoof, a sandwich shop a street over from our houses.

- Finally, went to bed. 

Friday- Had meetings about schedules, houses, travel, etc. 

    - I don't actually remember much else from Friday... 

Except for watching the Office online. I may have gone grocery shopping Friday as well.

Saturday- Went for a walk in Port Meadow. It was gorgeous! 

-Ate lunch in the house. 

- Shopped in the famous Blackwell's bookshop. 

- At dinner at the house. 

Sunday- A group of us went to church at St. Andrew's, an Anglican church nearby. The service was good but different. I think that the British accents made everyone sound fascinating and genius.

- We went to On the Hoof again for sandwiches, paninis to be exact. Mom, you would love this restaurant. I'll take you when you come here.

-At 9 pm we had our first "9 @ 9" a devo with the whole study abroad group.

Monday- Classes started. It looks like there will be some studying involved in study abroad. I'll write more about classes later.

Tuesday- more classes.

-lunch at The Eagle and Child, the pub that C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein and friends frequented. I had a club sandwich but did try Taylor's fish and chips just so I could say I did.

- After my C.S. Lewis class, we tried to find a pub to watch the inauguration. We were told that people in Oxford were really excited about it and that it would be a good experience to watch it with Oxfordians. However, none of the pubs were showing the inauguration, so we hurried back to the houses to watch the second half. 

- When the inauguration was over and we had grabbed quick bite for dinner, a group of students went with our C.S. Lewis professor, who works at Cambridge University, to a C.S. Lewis society meeting. While there, I found out that people have been defending the theory of extraterrestrial life for centuries. It was fascinating... and added to my nerd factor.  

Wednesday- More classes. 

-Taylor and I went to the open market. I bought some apples, tomatoes (which I sometimes eat like an apple, which grossed out some girls in the house), and 2 avocados (I've made guacamole twice... and it tasted pretty good. Yes, I'm proud of it). 

-Extra nerd factor- I went to the public library after classes and spent an hour there and checked out five books.

Thursday- No class until 1:30.

- My one class of the day involved a walk to the New College, which is not a new college at all. My friend Emily and I got really excited when we realized that the cloister of the college was used as a set for some Harry Potter scenes. For those who watch the fifth movie, it was used for the scene where Mad-Eye Moody turns Malfoy into a ferret. 

Friday- More classes.

- We didn't do much Friday in preparation for London the next day.

Saturday- London! We saw the Big Ben, London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, and Buckingham Palace.

-After dinner at a really great Italian restaurant, we went to the musical Wicked. It was really good, despite our poor location, and it was only 20 GBP, roughly $30.

-The train ride back was stressful since we found out after getting on the train that it was not going all the way to Oxford due to maintenance. It turned out to be OK; At the last stop, an announcement came on saying that there were buses waiting to take us onto Oxford. We got into town pretty late but since we were a big group with guys, we were safe.

Sunday- Recovered from busy day in London

-Homework!

-9@9 was really awesome. Our theme for the semester is going to be stories of Jesus' mealtimes in Luke. We talked about communion last night.

So that should catch everyone up. I'll try to keep up with my posts so none of them will be this long again.