01 July 2011 13:25
Hey Everyone,
The day I thought would never come is finally here. I'm sitting in LHR listening to the "My Fair Lady" soundtrack while waiting for my flight's gate to open, so I can board it and head on home to sunny, 90 degrees F and rising SoCal...permanently. Well, semi-permanently since I'll be moving back up to that foggy city that's pretty much become my new home and then I'll be there....permanently (ok, probably semi-permanently again here but nevermind).
Anyway, this past week everyone's been asking me about how I feel about leaving Oxford and returning to the States for my senior/final year (another life thing I thought would never come) of university. I really don't know how I feel about it. I guess the best answer is "mixed feelings." On the one hand I'm excited about seeing my family, catching up with old friends, moving into my own apartment, getting back to work with my awesome co-workers (yes, I love my job, don't judge me =P), and finishing my degree (you have no idea how many silent "YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"'s are running through my head right now), but on the other hand, I'm sad about leaving England and all the wonderful people I met behind. To be honest, when I first came to England, I didn't really feel entirely at home. Even though I was extremely thrilled about being a student at Oxford, a long time dream of mine, there were still a few days where I really just wanted to jump back on a plane to SFO and run back to my summer apartment with my awesome roommates, friends and Bigs the Cat. And then I don't know really know what happened. I guess I "grew accustomed" to it in a way like Professor Higgins did with Eliza Dolittle. Probably more than accustomed to it actually. Like a dream, so much happened in such a short period of time. I did a sport I had never considered doing before and fell in love with it. I visited places and saw beautiful sights I never imagined I would visit in this lifetime. I read over 10 novels (which included Thackeray's "Vanity Fair" and Dickens's "Bleak House") in 9 months and wrote papers on at least a quarter of them, a feat I never thought I would accomplish. And somewhere in all this, England started feeling more and more like home. I'm sure a large part of it has to do with the people. I met and became friends with some of the most wonderful, spectacular, hilarious and kind people in the entire world. And they came from all over the world too. I don't think I've ever spent so many days in a row laughing my head off as I have here, and I made so many new friends, some of them I would even consider as best friends. So thanks, guys. =)
I'm going to miss Oxford and all the friends that I've made there, but I have this funny feeling that it's not quite over yet. So hopefully, this is only a "see you later" to England and all of those fabulous people. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. =)
In the meantime, I have no idea what the next year is going to bring, but I think I've grown up just a litle bit more this past year and hopefully it's enough to tackle anything SF can throw at me. Plans for Tea & Nutmeg then? Well, I think this blog has run it's course, so thank you to everyone who kept up with my often silly adventures. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did. Who knows, maybe I'll start another blog just for kicks and giggles.
So for the last time on this place,
Thanks and Cheers,
Nutmeg <3
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
There's a House Across the River, But Alas, I Cannot Swim
Hellooooooooooooooo! =D
So from the 1st through the 4th of June (the end of 5th Week), SBH Boat Club raced in Summer VIII's, which was a series of bumps races just like Torpids only in much nicer weather. I thought the team did incredibly well. On our first day we rowed over (didn't get a bump or get bumped), the next day we bumped Osler House but they didn't recognize it before we were bumped by Queen's College, the next day we were bumped by St. Anne's, and the last day we were bumped by Wadham. So we didn't get Blades, but we didn't get Spoons (meaning that we got bumped everyday) either. And the team looked absolutely amazing on the water, which makes me think that if they continue to train as they have been, next year they'll be a definite threat.
The Banner
And Next Stroke Legs for Ten!
Why is Tea so Therapeutic? Boiling Water Raises Your Self of Steam
Summer VIII's Team
Summer VIII's was my last time racing with SBH Boat Club, which is hard for me to believe. I spent a lot of time with these guys and made quite a few friends. It's hard for me to imagine the rest of my time at Oxford not racing down to the river and yelling commands at these guys at least three times a week. I had an absolutely amazing time this year, so thanks, guys. I will miss all of you next year. Hopefully, I'll be able to come back and cox for Benet's again, but in the meantime, I'm sure they'll keep working hard and blow Osler out of the water. =D
So from the 1st through the 4th of June (the end of 5th Week), SBH Boat Club raced in Summer VIII's, which was a series of bumps races just like Torpids only in much nicer weather. I thought the team did incredibly well. On our first day we rowed over (didn't get a bump or get bumped), the next day we bumped Osler House but they didn't recognize it before we were bumped by Queen's College, the next day we were bumped by St. Anne's, and the last day we were bumped by Wadham. So we didn't get Blades, but we didn't get Spoons (meaning that we got bumped everyday) either. And the team looked absolutely amazing on the water, which makes me think that if they continue to train as they have been, next year they'll be a definite threat.
Summer VIII's was my last time racing with SBH Boat Club, which is hard for me to believe. I spent a lot of time with these guys and made quite a few friends. It's hard for me to imagine the rest of my time at Oxford not racing down to the river and yelling commands at these guys at least three times a week. I had an absolutely amazing time this year, so thanks, guys. I will miss all of you next year. Hopefully, I'll be able to come back and cox for Benet's again, but in the meantime, I'm sure they'll keep working hard and blow Osler out of the water. =D
I Know Our Days are Numbered, Early Bird of the Summer, You'll Fly South Just as the Fall Begins
*waves*
So, while digging around and organizing my photos, I stumbled upon a couple of things. The first were a few funny photos I took of the television set while my friends and I were drinking Pimms (at 11am, I still can't believe we did that...) and watching the Royal Wedding.
Jonny Being Patriotic
Evidence that the English are Crazy (Yet Pretty Wicked =D)
The Happy Couple on Jonny's Television Set
The second was a recording I took of the Magdalen College Choir singing at the top of their tower on May Morning. May Morning is the morning of the 1st of May, and as Jonny explained it to me, for some reason, it's tradition for many Oxford students to stay up all night of the 31st of April, drinking heavily, and then get breakfast extremely early before stumbling down to Magdalen Bridge to listen and watch the choir sing at around dawn. Jonny and I skipped the drinking bit and just had breakfast and watched the choir sing. And I just happened to take a recording of it.
Anyway, I'm working on getting a quick Summer VIII's post together as we speak, so until then,
Cheers,
Nutmeg
So, while digging around and organizing my photos, I stumbled upon a couple of things. The first were a few funny photos I took of the television set while my friends and I were drinking Pimms (at 11am, I still can't believe we did that...) and watching the Royal Wedding.
The second was a recording I took of the Magdalen College Choir singing at the top of their tower on May Morning. May Morning is the morning of the 1st of May, and as Jonny explained it to me, for some reason, it's tradition for many Oxford students to stay up all night of the 31st of April, drinking heavily, and then get breakfast extremely early before stumbling down to Magdalen Bridge to listen and watch the choir sing at around dawn. Jonny and I skipped the drinking bit and just had breakfast and watched the choir sing. And I just happened to take a recording of it.
Anyway, I'm working on getting a quick Summer VIII's post together as we speak, so until then,
Cheers,
Nutmeg
A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles. - Tim Cahill
Hey, it's been awhile, hasn't it?
Well, at the moment, I'm beginning my fifth week of Trinity term, and I'm procrastinating on reading about the beginnings of what appears to be Buddhism in ancient China and DH Lawrence's Sons and Lovers. And people claim I'm a good student. =P So to make me feel better about my procastination, I've decided to be "productive" and catch up on all the blogging I should have done weeks ago.
So, here's a quick (and poorly constructed) video with the bit of footage I had:
Let's start off with Greece then, shall we?
GREECE
I think when I last left this place with an actual blog post, I was getting ready to hop on a plane to Greece at a rather ungodly hour. Well, I did get on that plane with three of my friends, who were about to become my travelling companions for the next month, and about five hours later, we landed in Athens a little tired but in one piece. We spent our first afternoon and evening checking out the areas in Athens nearest our hotel and ended up eating in an outdoor restaraunt in the fading sunlight. It was pretty surreal, and the moussakka I had was absolutely delicious. The next day we explored the little pockets of ruins scattered throughout the city, and imagine our surprise and delight when we discovered that our Oxford Bod Cards got us into all the ruins for free. =) Needless to say, we took full advantage of our Bod Card. So the ruins we visited included the Tower of Winds (which I recently discovered that Oxford University has an observatory tower designed to look exactly like it =P), the Agora, Hadrian's Library, the Roman Agora, Dionysus's Theatre, the Temple of Zeus, and of course, the Parthenon. It was strange to think that I was walking in the same places ancient peoples had walked, and I don't think I really believed that I was in Greece, a place I never thought I'd visit. We also visited the Panathenaic Stadium and had a great time walking around it while listening to our somewhat kooky audio tour guide. I highly recommend visiting this site, especially since the views from the top seats are breathtaking.
Anyway, after about two days of exploring Athens, we got on an overnight ferry to Heraklion on the island of Crete. James and I had planned to spend a majority of our time in Crete soaking up sunlight (or in my case curled up under an umbrella), reading for fun, and sipping on gin and tonics. James had even booked a hotel that was about 100 meters from the beach. Well, when we arrived in Heraklion at around 5:30am with cloudy and drizzly weather, these thoughts of sandy beaches and gin and tonics were the only things that kept us awake and determined to make it to the city's center and eventually our hotel. We did make it to our hotel, and while we were waiting for our room, we decided to check out the beach. And here's what we found (it's at the beginning of my Spring Adventure video):
...Which wasn't quite what we were expecting.
That morning I seriously believed that we had missed a zombie apocalypse and were wandering through a Grecian ghost town. James and Tom eventually discovered that the reason for the emptiness was that the spring tourist season hadn't started yet, and we were actually the first tourists of the season. Unfortunately, this isn't as exciting as it sounds, but we still managed to have a pretty good time in Crete. Of course, we had to abandon the whole sitting on a beach with gin and tonics plan, but we did manage to visit the ruins of the Palace Knossos and spent the rest of our time cafe hopping and sitting in front of an ancient fountain for quite a few hours (which became a reoccuring activity in all the places we visited in the future).
Anyway, we returned to sunny Athens and wandered around some of the ruins I mentioned earlier and ate copious amounts of Nutella gelato before returning to cloudy England. To sum up, Greece was pretty amazing.
PARIS, FRANCE
After spending a couple days in England doing laundry and repacking for a three-week trip, Miranda and I hopped on a 7:30am Eurostar train bound for Paris. If anyone is ever thinking of traveling from London to Paris, I highly recommend the train. It is a bit pricey, but if you manage to secure tickets in advance, it's definitely worth it. The ride only lasted for about 2 hours, and I was far more comfortable on the train than I have ever been on a plane.
We spent our first day in Paris taking the Metro to our guest house, which was called Namdemun Guest House and was pretty amazing, and exploring the surrounding neighbourhood. The next day, we headed into the city to be tourists. We walked through the Pantheon (where we saw Voltaire and Rousseau's crypt!), Notre Dame (which was bigger than I expected and extremely crowded), and Saint Severin's Chapel (whose stained class I liked a lot more than the Notre Dame's *gasp*). We also visited the Museum d'Cluny, which had a lot of medieval pieces, including old worn statues from the outside of the Notre Dame. My favourite piece in this museum was the Book of Hours with its painted pages. At one point my friends lost me, because I had stayed behind to take a picture of every single page they had on display. Yes, I am a dork. xP Anyway, we spent the rest of the afternoon souvenir shopping in the Saint Severin Chapel area before heading back to our guest house for a Korean dinner.
In the following days, we visited A LOT of sites and still didn't manage to see everything Paris had to offer. We spent an entire day in only two museums: the morning in the Louvre (which I had no idea was a large as it was) and the afternoon in the Musee d'l'Orangerie (where I saw Monet's Water Lillies, which are actually large pieces by the way). On another day, we were so tired and sick of museums that we spent the entire day sitting in front of a fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens having a picnic lunch, reading and (in my case) napping. Of course, we also visited the Eiffel Tower and ate ice cream in the grassy area in front of it, celebrated with our friend James, who ran in the Paris marathon, by the Arc d'Triomphe, and went shopping on the Champs Elysses.
On our final day, we regrettably had to move out of our guest house into a hotel closer to the train station, since Miranda and I had to catch another early morning train the next day. After our move, we spent the day wandering around by the Seine and had dinner in Montmarte, which is the neighbourhood where the Moulin Rouge is located.
SWITZERLAND
The next morning, Miranda and I hopped on an early train bound for Switzerland. By this point, I was pretty exhausted from Paris, so I was looking forward to spending a rather "lazy" week at our friend Emile's place. Well, it wasn't a very "lazy" week. Emile and his parents went all out in making sure we had as much fun and food as possible. I seriously don't think I've ever eaten so much chocolate in a week in my life, and for those who know me, that's really saying something. Anyway, we visited so many villages and towns and did so many things that I really can't remember them all. But what I do remember (apart from the kindness and genorosity and hospitality of Emile and his family) was the landscape. We drove through fields and fields of bright green and cows, alongside babbling rivers and creeks, and up and through towering mountains. All of it put together, the fields, rivers and mountains, really reminded me of my grandparents' village in Japan...only less humid. So in a weird way, Switzerland felt incredibly homey for me, and I loved just about every minute of my time there.
On our last day in Switzerland, James, Miranda and I caught yet another train to Zurich, so we could then catch a plane to Ireland. Zurich was an incredibly nice city but extremely expensive. We were so tired that we didn't really do much other than hunt for postcards, which were nearly impossible to find, and sit in front of a river and read before catching our plane to Dublin, Ireland.
IRELAND
We finally made it to Dublin, and it was quite a change from Zurich. I really don't know how to describe it, but Dublin didn't really feel like a city to me. And it was strange and relieving to hear the English language spoken by practically everyone again.
Anyway, by the time we made it to Dublin, I was so sick and tired of being a tourist that I told everyone that all I wanted to do was find a nice part of the city where I could sit and read, which I did in addition to walking through a park, seeing the Book of Kells, and shopping in Temple Bar. The Book of Kells was beautiful, and my favourite part about it was this poem that supposedly one of the monks wrote while working on the Book of Kells. It's called "Pangur Ban," and it's about a cat:
Pangur Ban
I and Pangur Ban, my cat,
'Tis a like task we are at;
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.
Better far than praise of men
'Tis to sit with book and pen;
Pangur bears me no ill will;
He, too, plies his simple skill.
'Tis a merry thing to see
At our task how glad are we,
When at home we sit and find
Entertainment to our mind.
Oftentimes a mouse will stray
Into the hero Pangur's way;
Oftentimes my keen thought set
Takes a meaning in its net.
'Gainst the wall he sets his eye
Full and fierce and sharp and sly;
'Gainst the wall of knowledge I
All my little wisdom try.
When a mouse darts from its den.
O how glad is Pangur then!
O what gladness do I prove
When I solve the doubts I love!
So in peace our tasks we ply,
Pangur Ban, my cat and I;
In our arts we find our bliss,
I have mine, and he has his.
Practice every day has made
Pangur perfect in his trade ;
I get wisdom day and night,
Turning Darkness into light.'
Anyway, after our short time in Dublin, James's godparents invited us to their house near a village called Drogheda, and even though we were only there for an evening, we had a great time laughing and chatting.
At the end of it all, I was eager and happy to be back in England. I remember briefly talking to Jonny on the bus ride from the airport and telling him how happy I was to be back, and he said something along the lines of, "It's because you're coming home." And he was right. It's scary to think how homey England's become in such a short period of time, and it's even scarier to think that I'll be leaving it soon.
Well, for the time being, I'm going to try not to think about it as I force myself to get back to working.
Until next time,
Cheers!
Nutmeg
P.S. All the pictures from my trip have already been uploaded to my Picasa account. So enjoy! =)
Well, at the moment, I'm beginning my fifth week of Trinity term, and I'm procrastinating on reading about the beginnings of what appears to be Buddhism in ancient China and DH Lawrence's Sons and Lovers. And people claim I'm a good student. =P So to make me feel better about my procastination, I've decided to be "productive" and catch up on all the blogging I should have done weeks ago.
So, here's a quick (and poorly constructed) video with the bit of footage I had:
Let's start off with Greece then, shall we?
I think when I last left this place with an actual blog post, I was getting ready to hop on a plane to Greece at a rather ungodly hour. Well, I did get on that plane with three of my friends, who were about to become my travelling companions for the next month, and about five hours later, we landed in Athens a little tired but in one piece. We spent our first afternoon and evening checking out the areas in Athens nearest our hotel and ended up eating in an outdoor restaraunt in the fading sunlight. It was pretty surreal, and the moussakka I had was absolutely delicious. The next day we explored the little pockets of ruins scattered throughout the city, and imagine our surprise and delight when we discovered that our Oxford Bod Cards got us into all the ruins for free. =) Needless to say, we took full advantage of our Bod Card. So the ruins we visited included the Tower of Winds (which I recently discovered that Oxford University has an observatory tower designed to look exactly like it =P), the Agora, Hadrian's Library, the Roman Agora, Dionysus's Theatre, the Temple of Zeus, and of course, the Parthenon. It was strange to think that I was walking in the same places ancient peoples had walked, and I don't think I really believed that I was in Greece, a place I never thought I'd visit. We also visited the Panathenaic Stadium and had a great time walking around it while listening to our somewhat kooky audio tour guide. I highly recommend visiting this site, especially since the views from the top seats are breathtaking.
Anyway, after about two days of exploring Athens, we got on an overnight ferry to Heraklion on the island of Crete. James and I had planned to spend a majority of our time in Crete soaking up sunlight (or in my case curled up under an umbrella), reading for fun, and sipping on gin and tonics. James had even booked a hotel that was about 100 meters from the beach. Well, when we arrived in Heraklion at around 5:30am with cloudy and drizzly weather, these thoughts of sandy beaches and gin and tonics were the only things that kept us awake and determined to make it to the city's center and eventually our hotel. We did make it to our hotel, and while we were waiting for our room, we decided to check out the beach. And here's what we found (it's at the beginning of my Spring Adventure video):
...Which wasn't quite what we were expecting.
That morning I seriously believed that we had missed a zombie apocalypse and were wandering through a Grecian ghost town. James and Tom eventually discovered that the reason for the emptiness was that the spring tourist season hadn't started yet, and we were actually the first tourists of the season. Unfortunately, this isn't as exciting as it sounds, but we still managed to have a pretty good time in Crete. Of course, we had to abandon the whole sitting on a beach with gin and tonics plan, but we did manage to visit the ruins of the Palace Knossos and spent the rest of our time cafe hopping and sitting in front of an ancient fountain for quite a few hours (which became a reoccuring activity in all the places we visited in the future).
Anyway, we returned to sunny Athens and wandered around some of the ruins I mentioned earlier and ate copious amounts of Nutella gelato before returning to cloudy England. To sum up, Greece was pretty amazing.
After spending a couple days in England doing laundry and repacking for a three-week trip, Miranda and I hopped on a 7:30am Eurostar train bound for Paris. If anyone is ever thinking of traveling from London to Paris, I highly recommend the train. It is a bit pricey, but if you manage to secure tickets in advance, it's definitely worth it. The ride only lasted for about 2 hours, and I was far more comfortable on the train than I have ever been on a plane.
We spent our first day in Paris taking the Metro to our guest house, which was called Namdemun Guest House and was pretty amazing, and exploring the surrounding neighbourhood. The next day, we headed into the city to be tourists. We walked through the Pantheon (where we saw Voltaire and Rousseau's crypt!), Notre Dame (which was bigger than I expected and extremely crowded), and Saint Severin's Chapel (whose stained class I liked a lot more than the Notre Dame's *gasp*). We also visited the Museum d'Cluny, which had a lot of medieval pieces, including old worn statues from the outside of the Notre Dame. My favourite piece in this museum was the Book of Hours with its painted pages. At one point my friends lost me, because I had stayed behind to take a picture of every single page they had on display. Yes, I am a dork. xP Anyway, we spent the rest of the afternoon souvenir shopping in the Saint Severin Chapel area before heading back to our guest house for a Korean dinner.
In the following days, we visited A LOT of sites and still didn't manage to see everything Paris had to offer. We spent an entire day in only two museums: the morning in the Louvre (which I had no idea was a large as it was) and the afternoon in the Musee d'l'Orangerie (where I saw Monet's Water Lillies, which are actually large pieces by the way). On another day, we were so tired and sick of museums that we spent the entire day sitting in front of a fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens having a picnic lunch, reading and (in my case) napping. Of course, we also visited the Eiffel Tower and ate ice cream in the grassy area in front of it, celebrated with our friend James, who ran in the Paris marathon, by the Arc d'Triomphe, and went shopping on the Champs Elysses.
On our final day, we regrettably had to move out of our guest house into a hotel closer to the train station, since Miranda and I had to catch another early morning train the next day. After our move, we spent the day wandering around by the Seine and had dinner in Montmarte, which is the neighbourhood where the Moulin Rouge is located.
The next morning, Miranda and I hopped on an early train bound for Switzerland. By this point, I was pretty exhausted from Paris, so I was looking forward to spending a rather "lazy" week at our friend Emile's place. Well, it wasn't a very "lazy" week. Emile and his parents went all out in making sure we had as much fun and food as possible. I seriously don't think I've ever eaten so much chocolate in a week in my life, and for those who know me, that's really saying something. Anyway, we visited so many villages and towns and did so many things that I really can't remember them all. But what I do remember (apart from the kindness and genorosity and hospitality of Emile and his family) was the landscape. We drove through fields and fields of bright green and cows, alongside babbling rivers and creeks, and up and through towering mountains. All of it put together, the fields, rivers and mountains, really reminded me of my grandparents' village in Japan...only less humid. So in a weird way, Switzerland felt incredibly homey for me, and I loved just about every minute of my time there.
On our last day in Switzerland, James, Miranda and I caught yet another train to Zurich, so we could then catch a plane to Ireland. Zurich was an incredibly nice city but extremely expensive. We were so tired that we didn't really do much other than hunt for postcards, which were nearly impossible to find, and sit in front of a river and read before catching our plane to Dublin, Ireland.
We finally made it to Dublin, and it was quite a change from Zurich. I really don't know how to describe it, but Dublin didn't really feel like a city to me. And it was strange and relieving to hear the English language spoken by practically everyone again.
Anyway, by the time we made it to Dublin, I was so sick and tired of being a tourist that I told everyone that all I wanted to do was find a nice part of the city where I could sit and read, which I did in addition to walking through a park, seeing the Book of Kells, and shopping in Temple Bar. The Book of Kells was beautiful, and my favourite part about it was this poem that supposedly one of the monks wrote while working on the Book of Kells. It's called "Pangur Ban," and it's about a cat:
Pangur Ban
I and Pangur Ban, my cat,
'Tis a like task we are at;
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.
Better far than praise of men
'Tis to sit with book and pen;
Pangur bears me no ill will;
He, too, plies his simple skill.
'Tis a merry thing to see
At our task how glad are we,
When at home we sit and find
Entertainment to our mind.
Oftentimes a mouse will stray
Into the hero Pangur's way;
Oftentimes my keen thought set
Takes a meaning in its net.
'Gainst the wall he sets his eye
Full and fierce and sharp and sly;
'Gainst the wall of knowledge I
All my little wisdom try.
When a mouse darts from its den.
O how glad is Pangur then!
O what gladness do I prove
When I solve the doubts I love!
So in peace our tasks we ply,
Pangur Ban, my cat and I;
In our arts we find our bliss,
I have mine, and he has his.
Practice every day has made
Pangur perfect in his trade ;
I get wisdom day and night,
Turning Darkness into light.'
Anyway, after our short time in Dublin, James's godparents invited us to their house near a village called Drogheda, and even though we were only there for an evening, we had a great time laughing and chatting.
At the end of it all, I was eager and happy to be back in England. I remember briefly talking to Jonny on the bus ride from the airport and telling him how happy I was to be back, and he said something along the lines of, "It's because you're coming home." And he was right. It's scary to think how homey England's become in such a short period of time, and it's even scarier to think that I'll be leaving it soon.
Well, for the time being, I'm going to try not to think about it as I force myself to get back to working.
Until next time,
Cheers!
Nutmeg
P.S. All the pictures from my trip have already been uploaded to my Picasa account. So enjoy! =)
Monday, 2 May 2011
You Just Keep on Trying 'Til You Run Out of Cake, and the Science Gets Done and You Make a Neat Gun for the People Who are Still Alive
Hiya!
Well, I am happy to report that I have made it back from Europe alive and well (for the most part). I've had a lot going on this past week, so I'm sorry to say that it may be a little while yet before I have my blog posts ready for all of you. I certainly don't want to do another rush job like I did shortly before I left. =P However, since I am a bit of a dork, I used the few spare moments I had while traveling on trains and procrastinating on my work to make a few previews of what I've been up to for the past month. So in the meantime, enjoy the silly videos and expect blog posts of all these adventures and other special events (like the Royal Wedding perhaps? ^_-) soon!
Nutmeg's Adventures on the Continent
Nutmeg's Return to Tewkesbury
Cheers!
Nutmeg
Well, I am happy to report that I have made it back from Europe alive and well (for the most part). I've had a lot going on this past week, so I'm sorry to say that it may be a little while yet before I have my blog posts ready for all of you. I certainly don't want to do another rush job like I did shortly before I left. =P However, since I am a bit of a dork, I used the few spare moments I had while traveling on trains and procrastinating on my work to make a few previews of what I've been up to for the past month. So in the meantime, enjoy the silly videos and expect blog posts of all these adventures and other special events (like the Royal Wedding perhaps? ^_-) soon!
Cheers!
Nutmeg
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
What Time is It? It's ADVENTURE TIME!
*waves excitedly*
So I don't know what possessed me to do this, but for some reason, on the day that Jonny and I planned to go to London to watch the Oxford -Cambridge Boat race, I decided that I would film most of it and then make a movie out of the videos I got. And that's what spawned the whole trailer thing and now this. Yes, I am a dork and a geek. I will readily admit that. =P
Anyway, to preface, Jonny and I went to London this past Saturday to view this magnificient boat race. We went up a couple hours early so we could have lunch and fool around in one of my favourite places in London called Camden Town. =) For lunch, we had Japanese food at a Teriyaki Take-Away House, and it was oishii. ^_- We did a bit of shopping (I bought a cute scarf and another pair of black sunglasses since the Isis claimed my last black pair ;_;), and then took about a million trains to get to Putney Bridge to view the race. The race was AMAZING, and can be viewed here. Cambridge are in light blue, and Oxford are in navy blue. And now without further ado (because I think this movie sums up this adventure better than me rambling on) here's Jonny and Megan Adventure Through LONDON.
Cheers,
Megan
So I don't know what possessed me to do this, but for some reason, on the day that Jonny and I planned to go to London to watch the Oxford -Cambridge Boat race, I decided that I would film most of it and then make a movie out of the videos I got. And that's what spawned the whole trailer thing and now this. Yes, I am a dork and a geek. I will readily admit that. =P
Anyway, to preface, Jonny and I went to London this past Saturday to view this magnificient boat race. We went up a couple hours early so we could have lunch and fool around in one of my favourite places in London called Camden Town. =) For lunch, we had Japanese food at a Teriyaki Take-Away House, and it was oishii. ^_- We did a bit of shopping (I bought a cute scarf and another pair of black sunglasses since the Isis claimed my last black pair ;_;), and then took about a million trains to get to Putney Bridge to view the race. The race was AMAZING, and can be viewed here. Cambridge are in light blue, and Oxford are in navy blue. And now without further ado (because I think this movie sums up this adventure better than me rambling on) here's Jonny and Megan Adventure Through LONDON.
Cheers,
Megan
It's Taking Me Higher Off the Ground
HiI'mbackagaintogiveyouanotherratherquickblogpost. =P
TORPIDS
Wednesday of seventh week marked the beginning of Torpids, Hilary Term's rowing regatta. Torpids is a series of "bumps" races. Unlike head-to-head races (like last term's Christ Church Regatta), the point of bumps racing isn't to try and cross a finish line before another boat; basically, the goal of bumps races is to literally bump the boat in front of you before the boat from behind bumps you. It's a bit tricky to get a bump without getting tangled up with another boat, so I was extremely stressed and nervous during the four days of Torpids, especially since I'm the one that pretty much has to make sure this doesn't happen. Bumps racing requires more luck than skill, so despite the incredible amounts of stamina and skill our boat possessed, we didn't get a blade (a reward given to a boat who has bumped every day of Torpids and does not get bumped), but the boys rowed extremely well. We looked amazing on the water, and I'm sure that next term we'll be a dangerous force to be reckoned with.
The Start of the Race
Our Boat in Action
Me Coxing =P
Torpids Crew 2011
We're featured at around 2:23 in this video. We're the boat with navy blue and white striped gear and white blades with a single navy blue stripe. I think you can actually hear me shouting encouragements. =)
ASIAN DINNER NIGHT
At the end of seventh week, Father Mike and I hosted an Asian Dinner Night for the Blackfriars houses on St. John Street. We made tonkatsu, sesame green beans, kappa maki (cucumber rolls), fried rice, Chinese pickled cabbage and for pudding, mochi and Miranda's awesome chocolate raspberry cake! ^_^ It was a lot of work, but the meal turned out to be success. The food was delicious and made me miss home a little bit less. Since I was cooking, I don't have any photos of this evening, but as soon as I steal some from other people, I'll be sure to upload them! =)
AN EARLY BIRTHDAY AND BENETIAN VENETIAN
Kate's birthday fell on the middle of eighth week, which happened to be Ash Wednesday, a rather depressing day to have a birthday on. So on Mardi Gras, after we made a quick appearance at St. Benet's Hall's Benetian Venetian End of Term Party, which was similar to the Christmas End of Term Party with the food and Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band except it was Masked Ball themed (we looked awesome by the way ^_^), we threw her a small birthday party. I made my peanutbutter chocolate cake, which I don't think came out as nice as the one I made on my birthday unfortunately =(. Despite that though, it was a nice small get together, and I hope Kate had a good time. =D
The Team Awkward Ladies
A Masked Maggie and Kate
Kate Making a Wish
ITSA ME! MARIO! AN ITALIAN THEMED END OF TERM PARTY
At the end of eighth week, we had an Italian themed End of Term Party. It was a nice chill get-together with lots of board games, Italian appetizers and mustaches! Kate, Jonny, Tom (one of my housemates) and I played Cranium, and the Giggle Twins dominated. =D
Cranium!
Getting a Mustache
Kate and I look like old school evil villains =)
A Close Up of My Mustache
It was nice to spend time with everyone at the end of term, when everyone's work is finished, and to see everyone off before we all go our separate ways for the spring holiday.
AN UNEXPECTED VISIT FROM AN OLD FRIEND
At the end of ninth week, one of my best friends from home Andy came to spend a weekend in Oxford. Unfortunately, we didn't get to do much, because he was pretty jetlagged and came down with something on his last day here. But we did get to explore a lot of Oxford, and somehow got into Christ Church College on a busy Saturday afternoon. Christ Church is a gorgeous college. The architecture is amazing with a lovely quad in the middle. I loved their chapel (it also has an amazing ceiling and beautiful stained glass), and their dining hall was the site for the Great Hall in the Harry Potter films. =)
Christ Church College
The Amazing Ceiling of Christ Church Cathedral
I think it needs a sorting hat =P
I felt bad that Andy didn't get to do a whole lot, but I hope he had a great time in the short period that he was here. ^_^
Sorry for the rushed tone of this post. I just wanted to give a bit of an update before I run off to all my spring holiday travels. Where am I going? Well, the plan is to go to Greece (which I'm supposed to be leaving for in about two hours x_x) for a week, then a few days after I return for the next three weeks or so, I'll be going nonstop from Paris to Switzerland to Ireland. Is Nutmeg crazy? Perhaps. So expect a few more rather adventurous posts after I return with plenty of pictures. =D
I know I'm missing a few events like Scott Pilgrim Night and St. Patrick's Day, so I may have to do a rewind post in the future.
Oh and I haven't forgotten about this:
Until next time then.
Cheers, Nutmeg
Wednesday of seventh week marked the beginning of Torpids, Hilary Term's rowing regatta. Torpids is a series of "bumps" races. Unlike head-to-head races (like last term's Christ Church Regatta), the point of bumps racing isn't to try and cross a finish line before another boat; basically, the goal of bumps races is to literally bump the boat in front of you before the boat from behind bumps you. It's a bit tricky to get a bump without getting tangled up with another boat, so I was extremely stressed and nervous during the four days of Torpids, especially since I'm the one that pretty much has to make sure this doesn't happen. Bumps racing requires more luck than skill, so despite the incredible amounts of stamina and skill our boat possessed, we didn't get a blade (a reward given to a boat who has bumped every day of Torpids and does not get bumped), but the boys rowed extremely well. We looked amazing on the water, and I'm sure that next term we'll be a dangerous force to be reckoned with.
We're featured at around 2:23 in this video. We're the boat with navy blue and white striped gear and white blades with a single navy blue stripe. I think you can actually hear me shouting encouragements. =)
At the end of seventh week, Father Mike and I hosted an Asian Dinner Night for the Blackfriars houses on St. John Street. We made tonkatsu, sesame green beans, kappa maki (cucumber rolls), fried rice, Chinese pickled cabbage and for pudding, mochi and Miranda's awesome chocolate raspberry cake! ^_^ It was a lot of work, but the meal turned out to be success. The food was delicious and made me miss home a little bit less. Since I was cooking, I don't have any photos of this evening, but as soon as I steal some from other people, I'll be sure to upload them! =)
Kate's birthday fell on the middle of eighth week, which happened to be Ash Wednesday, a rather depressing day to have a birthday on. So on Mardi Gras, after we made a quick appearance at St. Benet's Hall's Benetian Venetian End of Term Party, which was similar to the Christmas End of Term Party with the food and Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band except it was Masked Ball themed (we looked awesome by the way ^_^), we threw her a small birthday party. I made my peanutbutter chocolate cake, which I don't think came out as nice as the one I made on my birthday unfortunately =(. Despite that though, it was a nice small get together, and I hope Kate had a good time. =D
At the end of eighth week, we had an Italian themed End of Term Party. It was a nice chill get-together with lots of board games, Italian appetizers and mustaches! Kate, Jonny, Tom (one of my housemates) and I played Cranium, and the Giggle Twins dominated. =D
It was nice to spend time with everyone at the end of term, when everyone's work is finished, and to see everyone off before we all go our separate ways for the spring holiday.
At the end of ninth week, one of my best friends from home Andy came to spend a weekend in Oxford. Unfortunately, we didn't get to do much, because he was pretty jetlagged and came down with something on his last day here. But we did get to explore a lot of Oxford, and somehow got into Christ Church College on a busy Saturday afternoon. Christ Church is a gorgeous college. The architecture is amazing with a lovely quad in the middle. I loved their chapel (it also has an amazing ceiling and beautiful stained glass), and their dining hall was the site for the Great Hall in the Harry Potter films. =)
I felt bad that Andy didn't get to do a whole lot, but I hope he had a great time in the short period that he was here. ^_^
Sorry for the rushed tone of this post. I just wanted to give a bit of an update before I run off to all my spring holiday travels. Where am I going? Well, the plan is to go to Greece (which I'm supposed to be leaving for in about two hours x_x) for a week, then a few days after I return for the next three weeks or so, I'll be going nonstop from Paris to Switzerland to Ireland. Is Nutmeg crazy? Perhaps. So expect a few more rather adventurous posts after I return with plenty of pictures. =D
I know I'm missing a few events like Scott Pilgrim Night and St. Patrick's Day, so I may have to do a rewind post in the future.
Oh and I haven't forgotten about this:
Until next time then.
Cheers, Nutmeg
Monday, 28 March 2011
We're After the Same Rainbow's End, Waitin' Around the Bend, My Huckleberry Friend, Moon River and Me
*waves*
So I'm really, really sorry about disappearing from my blog again. I think I might have mentioned before how I would be incredibly busy due to a combination of factors this term, which meant I wouldn't be able to blog as much as last term. Well, it's all over now. I'm into ninth week, meaning that I've completed my tutorials and rowing for Hilary Term, meaning that I'm able to blog about my adventures in England. Wooooo!
So what new cultural adventures has Nutmeg experienced since, what was it, fourth/fifth week? Well, quite a few, actually. I had to pull out my diary just to remember what I've been up to. I might divide my "adventures" up into a couple of posts, just to keep things a bit more organised and easier to read.
So as promised last time, I'll start with my second trip to Bath.
IN WHICH NUTMEG RETURNS TO BATH
On Thursday of fourth week, I went to Bath again, but this time with my friends James and Tom from Blackfriars. We had lunch at a cute "retro" cafe downtown and then explored Bath Abbey, which I hadn't been able to visit the last time I visited Bath. The Abbey is quite large and sits right across from the Pump Room and Roman Baths. Supposedly, this is the Abbey that Jane Austen based her Northanger Abbey after, and I can see why she would want to. Beautiful stained glass windows lined the walls of the Abbey, and along the walls and floor were plaques for the deceased. I have a bit of a soft spot for stained glass (inherited from my mom, probably ^_^), but my favourite part of the Abbey was the ceiling. I absolutely loved the design and the way it worked with the two largest stained glass windows. I think the picture below probably does it better justice than my poor description.
The Epic Ceiling
An Example of the Stained Glass
Entrance to Bath Abbey
Tom also pointed out that the angels beside the entrance are climbing up ladders. Isn't that neat? =)
After exploring the Abbey, I took James and Tom to see the regency houses just past Gay Street and the Royal Crescent. After that, we had a brief walk in the parks surrounding the Crescent then did some quick shopping (I bought nerdy owl socks!) before heading home.
dichotomyDuality
At the end of fifth week, Kate (my friend from Team Awkward) choreographed and performed her own modern dance piece in Oxford University's student-run dance show called Platform. I think most (if not, all) of the pieces were modern dance pieces and were really interesting to watch. Kate's piece, which was about tension we find in objects and in ourselves (I think?), was amazing and beautiful, and someone filmed it so I can share its amazingness with all of you. =)
A TRIP TO UNIVERSITY OF LONDON SOAS
On the Thursday of sixth week, James and I paid a visit to SOAS (University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies) for their postgraduate information evening. (Can you believe it's already time to start looking at graduate schools? x_x) The evening was like any other information day with lectures about the different programs offered and booths passing out application requirements for each area of study. I went to a lecture about Global Relations and one of James's friends, who is a visiting student at SOAS, gave us a quick tour of the campus. In many ways, SOAS reminded me a lot of USF, but that might be because I've grown used to Oxford, which is quite different from the two. The buildings were old but not "ancient" like some of the buildings around Oxford, and their library was certainly more modern than the Bodlean, Radcliffe or Blackfriars libraries. The cafe where the students hang out reminded me a lot of USF's Crossroads with its somewhat "funky" seating and decorations and the student made posters everywhere. I have to admit, being in SOAS student cafe made me miss USF just a little bit.
Anyway, I don't have any pictures of the school, but I do have pictures that I took from the top of one of the double decker buses of some tourist-y sites in London.
Oxford Street, One of the Best Places to Go Shopping in London
A Poor Photo of the Marble Arch
That was basically my second trip to London, and as to my opinion of SOAS, it seems like a nice university, but I'm not entirely sure if it's the place for me. We'll see what my future looks like in terms of grad schools later though, I suppose. ^_^
BLACKFRIARS "START" OF TERM DINNER
The day after my SOAS adventure with James, Blackfriars hosted our Start of Hilary Term Dinner, which should actually be more like the End of Term Dinner, since we had it at the end of sixth week. The dress code was again "smart," but I didn't look very much like a librarian this time. Although Maggie did my hair in an awesome bun that somehow remained that way through the ENTIRE evening. Kudos to Maggie. =)
I'm sure I've said this a thousand and one times, but I love going to events hosted by the friars. All of them are incredibly nice, friendly and above all, fun, and this time was certainly no exception. They served us sherry before dinner and kept checking on us to make sure we were having a good time. At dinner, I was seated at a table with our Vice Regent, Father Conrad, who somehow had discovered that I like puns, so we chatted about that for a while, while we ate a wonderful meal of...I can't remember what it was exactly but I remember it was hearty and delicious. I also remember chatting with Brother Laurence and Brother Mark about all sorts of subjects, some of which were funny and others more on the serious but interesting side. After dinner, we had port, which I'm sorry to report I'm not a huge fan of, and coffee, and we all continued chatting and laughing. At one point, I think one of my housemates and fellow Blackfriars student, Dr. Peter Power, challenged one of the friars to a tie tying contest. And the friar won. =)
The Tie Battle
Some of the Blackfriars Visiting Students
Father Mike, Me & the Great Dr. Peter Power
All in all, it was a great evening, and I was certainly very happy that I was able to spend time with the friars and my fellow Blackfriars students.
I think I'll leave it here for this post. In the next one, expect more rowing trials and tribulations during Torpids, an East Asian cooking extravaganza, an unexpected visit from a friend from home and this...
Cheers,
Nutmeg
So I'm really, really sorry about disappearing from my blog again. I think I might have mentioned before how I would be incredibly busy due to a combination of factors this term, which meant I wouldn't be able to blog as much as last term. Well, it's all over now. I'm into ninth week, meaning that I've completed my tutorials and rowing for Hilary Term, meaning that I'm able to blog about my adventures in England. Wooooo!
So what new cultural adventures has Nutmeg experienced since, what was it, fourth/fifth week? Well, quite a few, actually. I had to pull out my diary just to remember what I've been up to. I might divide my "adventures" up into a couple of posts, just to keep things a bit more organised and easier to read.
So as promised last time, I'll start with my second trip to Bath.
On Thursday of fourth week, I went to Bath again, but this time with my friends James and Tom from Blackfriars. We had lunch at a cute "retro" cafe downtown and then explored Bath Abbey, which I hadn't been able to visit the last time I visited Bath. The Abbey is quite large and sits right across from the Pump Room and Roman Baths. Supposedly, this is the Abbey that Jane Austen based her Northanger Abbey after, and I can see why she would want to. Beautiful stained glass windows lined the walls of the Abbey, and along the walls and floor were plaques for the deceased. I have a bit of a soft spot for stained glass (inherited from my mom, probably ^_^), but my favourite part of the Abbey was the ceiling. I absolutely loved the design and the way it worked with the two largest stained glass windows. I think the picture below probably does it better justice than my poor description.
After exploring the Abbey, I took James and Tom to see the regency houses just past Gay Street and the Royal Crescent. After that, we had a brief walk in the parks surrounding the Crescent then did some quick shopping (I bought nerdy owl socks!) before heading home.
At the end of fifth week, Kate (my friend from Team Awkward) choreographed and performed her own modern dance piece in Oxford University's student-run dance show called Platform. I think most (if not, all) of the pieces were modern dance pieces and were really interesting to watch. Kate's piece, which was about tension we find in objects and in ourselves (I think?), was amazing and beautiful, and someone filmed it so I can share its amazingness with all of you. =)
On the Thursday of sixth week, James and I paid a visit to SOAS (University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies) for their postgraduate information evening. (Can you believe it's already time to start looking at graduate schools? x_x) The evening was like any other information day with lectures about the different programs offered and booths passing out application requirements for each area of study. I went to a lecture about Global Relations and one of James's friends, who is a visiting student at SOAS, gave us a quick tour of the campus. In many ways, SOAS reminded me a lot of USF, but that might be because I've grown used to Oxford, which is quite different from the two. The buildings were old but not "ancient" like some of the buildings around Oxford, and their library was certainly more modern than the Bodlean, Radcliffe or Blackfriars libraries. The cafe where the students hang out reminded me a lot of USF's Crossroads with its somewhat "funky" seating and decorations and the student made posters everywhere. I have to admit, being in SOAS student cafe made me miss USF just a little bit.
Anyway, I don't have any pictures of the school, but I do have pictures that I took from the top of one of the double decker buses of some tourist-y sites in London.
That was basically my second trip to London, and as to my opinion of SOAS, it seems like a nice university, but I'm not entirely sure if it's the place for me. We'll see what my future looks like in terms of grad schools later though, I suppose. ^_^
The day after my SOAS adventure with James, Blackfriars hosted our Start of Hilary Term Dinner, which should actually be more like the End of Term Dinner, since we had it at the end of sixth week. The dress code was again "smart," but I didn't look very much like a librarian this time. Although Maggie did my hair in an awesome bun that somehow remained that way through the ENTIRE evening. Kudos to Maggie. =)
I'm sure I've said this a thousand and one times, but I love going to events hosted by the friars. All of them are incredibly nice, friendly and above all, fun, and this time was certainly no exception. They served us sherry before dinner and kept checking on us to make sure we were having a good time. At dinner, I was seated at a table with our Vice Regent, Father Conrad, who somehow had discovered that I like puns, so we chatted about that for a while, while we ate a wonderful meal of...I can't remember what it was exactly but I remember it was hearty and delicious. I also remember chatting with Brother Laurence and Brother Mark about all sorts of subjects, some of which were funny and others more on the serious but interesting side. After dinner, we had port, which I'm sorry to report I'm not a huge fan of, and coffee, and we all continued chatting and laughing. At one point, I think one of my housemates and fellow Blackfriars student, Dr. Peter Power, challenged one of the friars to a tie tying contest. And the friar won. =)
All in all, it was a great evening, and I was certainly very happy that I was able to spend time with the friars and my fellow Blackfriars students.
I think I'll leave it here for this post. In the next one, expect more rowing trials and tribulations during Torpids, an East Asian cooking extravaganza, an unexpected visit from a friend from home and this...
Cheers,
Nutmeg
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
The Fundamental Things Apply, As Time Goes By
Well everyone, I apologize for neglecting my blog again. As I've said before, I spend most of my days sleeping, eating, studying in the library/JCR and rowing, so I haven't had any real blog-worthy adventures, and there are a few people who are quite upset with me about this, seeing as how I've been choosing to work rather than go out and adventure. And I'm sorry about that as well. I finally do have a couple adventures that I will share, but I'm afraid to say they won't be in this post.
Early on I promised myself that I wouldn't do one of those stereotypical ramble-y blogs that my friends back home always make fun of, the ones where the blogger seems to whine on and on about his or her life, which I'm sorry to say most people don't particularly care about. Anyway, I bring this up, because I had hoped that the purpose of my blog would be to share my experiences of studying abroad in England with friends and family back home, especially since many of my friends are studying abroad and writing blogs about it as well. I had hoped that by blogging about my experiences, it would be similar to my friends and I walking (and on some mornings sprinting) up the steps of LoMo, getting together those few minutes before the beginning of class and chatting about what we did during the weekend or night before. I hope that I've been able to maintain this purpose/feeling in my blog, but even though I'm going to try not to, I'm afraid this post may seem like it's deviating from it a little bit.
Today (or yesterday rather) is Valentine's Day, a holiday I generally dislike not because I've had horrible experiences on Valentine's Day but because I don't like the silly expectations and the misery it seems to bring. This year was a (thankfully) rather uneventful one, but I did receive some dark news from back home, which coincidentally fell on this day.
Firstly, I wouldn't call myself a Facebook addict, but I do check it pretty regularly throughout the day, and today one of my best friends posted a status about horrible difficulties which had just been dumped on her mother. I feel incredibly sorry for my friend and her mother, who don't deserve a drop of anything bad at all, and I wish I could be back home to help in some way. The best I can do though is hope things end up working out for them, and until then, I'm sending as many good karmic vibes as I can their way. But as bad as this news was, it wasn't the worst I heard.
I had finally gotten around to checking my labeled inboxes for my home university's email account the other day, and I sent a sort of "check-in" email to the office I had been working in. Today I received a reply, which said that one of my co-workers, after a long battle with cancer, had passed away in early December. I had only been with the office for two years, so I probably wasn't as close to her as some of the other people there, but she was an incredibly sweet lady and definitely added her own little flair to the office. I will certainly miss her when I return to work. I was also a part of the office when she was diagnosed with cancer, and when I was preparing to leave for England, she had just returned to work, recovering really well. Around the time she had returned to work, another one of my co-workers had a beautiful baby girl. So when I left for Oxford, things were looking pretty bright and cheerful at work. In fact, things were looking pretty bright and cheery generally in San Francisco (my friends and I were all settled into our awesome apartments, a fresh new school year was about to start, the sun was actually out for a few days). Things were looking so great that I actually considered abandoning my study abroad plans. Well, clearly I didn't abandon my plans, and even though I tried not to, I still foolishly hoped that things would stay exactly the same until I returned from Oxford.
I remember reading in our study abroad handbook how we should not expect things to stay the same back home, and I remember only half-considering that thought. I had automatically assumed it would be similar to me leaving the OC to go to school in San Francisco, but I'm slowly realizing that this isn't all that similar. I definitely feel as though I've been in a plastic bubble, especially now that I've cut myself off from illegally watching American TV, and with the rather dark news from home, a few holes have certainly been jabbed into my bubble.
Don't get me wrong; all the bad news and realization has not upset me to the point where I feel like I can't function properly anymore. I'm only a bit shaken and just a little sad. But it's not anything anyone should worry about. =)
Anyway, the point I wanted to try and get across in this post is that I think a part of the study abroad experience is realizing how easy it is to slip into "bubbles." For me, anyway, I wanted to study abroad to expand my "horizons," to broaden my view of the world, and while doing that, I forgot about my end of the world and ended up just shifting my horizon, not expanding it. Even though I knew things would change back home (politically and economically as well as personally), I unconsciously thought that things would be static and that things would be exactly the same as I left it. I think I know better now that this isn't the case, and hopefully, I'll slip out of the bubble sometime soon.
I'm sorry if this post is a little bit whinier than my other ones; it does deviate from my usual style. And if you could, please keep my co-worker's family and my best friend's mom in your prayers. Or if you're like me and don't pray, could you send good vibes their way? Thanks, everyone.
Next time, I promise to up the mood a bit with my second adventure in Bath, and if you haven't already noticed, I finally got my Picasa account sorted, so new pictures await there. Until then...
Cheers,
Nutmeg
Rest in Peace, Bettyann
つくずぐ思うがるの、死は門だなあって。死ぬってことが終わるってことでなくて。そこくぐり逃げて次ぐへ向かう。まさねえ、門です。私は、門番として、ここでたくさんの人送ってきた、「行ってらっしゃい。また会うの。」って言いながら。
−おくりびと
I've often thought that maybe death is like a gateway. Dying doesn't mean the end. You go through it and onto the next thing. So it is a gate. And as the gatekeeper, I've sent so many on their way. Telling them, "Off you go. Until we meet again."
-Departures
Early on I promised myself that I wouldn't do one of those stereotypical ramble-y blogs that my friends back home always make fun of, the ones where the blogger seems to whine on and on about his or her life, which I'm sorry to say most people don't particularly care about. Anyway, I bring this up, because I had hoped that the purpose of my blog would be to share my experiences of studying abroad in England with friends and family back home, especially since many of my friends are studying abroad and writing blogs about it as well. I had hoped that by blogging about my experiences, it would be similar to my friends and I walking (and on some mornings sprinting) up the steps of LoMo, getting together those few minutes before the beginning of class and chatting about what we did during the weekend or night before. I hope that I've been able to maintain this purpose/feeling in my blog, but even though I'm going to try not to, I'm afraid this post may seem like it's deviating from it a little bit.
Today (or yesterday rather) is Valentine's Day, a holiday I generally dislike not because I've had horrible experiences on Valentine's Day but because I don't like the silly expectations and the misery it seems to bring. This year was a (thankfully) rather uneventful one, but I did receive some dark news from back home, which coincidentally fell on this day.
Firstly, I wouldn't call myself a Facebook addict, but I do check it pretty regularly throughout the day, and today one of my best friends posted a status about horrible difficulties which had just been dumped on her mother. I feel incredibly sorry for my friend and her mother, who don't deserve a drop of anything bad at all, and I wish I could be back home to help in some way. The best I can do though is hope things end up working out for them, and until then, I'm sending as many good karmic vibes as I can their way. But as bad as this news was, it wasn't the worst I heard.
I had finally gotten around to checking my labeled inboxes for my home university's email account the other day, and I sent a sort of "check-in" email to the office I had been working in. Today I received a reply, which said that one of my co-workers, after a long battle with cancer, had passed away in early December. I had only been with the office for two years, so I probably wasn't as close to her as some of the other people there, but she was an incredibly sweet lady and definitely added her own little flair to the office. I will certainly miss her when I return to work. I was also a part of the office when she was diagnosed with cancer, and when I was preparing to leave for England, she had just returned to work, recovering really well. Around the time she had returned to work, another one of my co-workers had a beautiful baby girl. So when I left for Oxford, things were looking pretty bright and cheerful at work. In fact, things were looking pretty bright and cheery generally in San Francisco (my friends and I were all settled into our awesome apartments, a fresh new school year was about to start, the sun was actually out for a few days). Things were looking so great that I actually considered abandoning my study abroad plans. Well, clearly I didn't abandon my plans, and even though I tried not to, I still foolishly hoped that things would stay exactly the same until I returned from Oxford.
I remember reading in our study abroad handbook how we should not expect things to stay the same back home, and I remember only half-considering that thought. I had automatically assumed it would be similar to me leaving the OC to go to school in San Francisco, but I'm slowly realizing that this isn't all that similar. I definitely feel as though I've been in a plastic bubble, especially now that I've cut myself off from illegally watching American TV, and with the rather dark news from home, a few holes have certainly been jabbed into my bubble.
Don't get me wrong; all the bad news and realization has not upset me to the point where I feel like I can't function properly anymore. I'm only a bit shaken and just a little sad. But it's not anything anyone should worry about. =)
Anyway, the point I wanted to try and get across in this post is that I think a part of the study abroad experience is realizing how easy it is to slip into "bubbles." For me, anyway, I wanted to study abroad to expand my "horizons," to broaden my view of the world, and while doing that, I forgot about my end of the world and ended up just shifting my horizon, not expanding it. Even though I knew things would change back home (politically and economically as well as personally), I unconsciously thought that things would be static and that things would be exactly the same as I left it. I think I know better now that this isn't the case, and hopefully, I'll slip out of the bubble sometime soon.
I'm sorry if this post is a little bit whinier than my other ones; it does deviate from my usual style. And if you could, please keep my co-worker's family and my best friend's mom in your prayers. Or if you're like me and don't pray, could you send good vibes their way? Thanks, everyone.
Next time, I promise to up the mood a bit with my second adventure in Bath, and if you haven't already noticed, I finally got my Picasa account sorted, so new pictures await there. Until then...
Cheers,
Nutmeg
Rest in Peace, Bettyann
つくずぐ思うがるの、死は門だなあって。死ぬってことが終わるってことでなくて。そこくぐり逃げて次ぐへ向かう。まさねえ、門です。私は、門番として、ここでたくさんの人送ってきた、「行ってらっしゃい。また会うの。」って言いながら。
−おくりびと
I've often thought that maybe death is like a gateway. Dying doesn't mean the end. You go through it and onto the next thing. So it is a gate. And as the gatekeeper, I've sent so many on their way. Telling them, "Off you go. Until we meet again."
-Departures
Monday, 31 January 2011
Don't Look Back Into the Sun
*waves cheerily* =D
Well, I've made it through second week of Hilary Term alive and relatively well, and I FINALLY have a couple adventures to report back to all of you. =)
So my blog-appropriate-social life of second week began last Thursday, when Team Awkward celebrated a belated Burns' Night at St. Benet's Hall (with other cool Benet's people, of course ^_^). Burns' Night is a celebration in memory of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, who wrote that song we all sing on New Year's Auld Lang Syne among other poems. The link explains pretty much all you need to know about Burns' Night, but anyway, we were lead into the dining hall by a bagpiper, watched the haggis be carried around the hall (led by a bagpiper), listened to my rowing captain read Address to the Haggis (and chuckled a little bit), toasted with a dram of whiskey, tried a bit of haggis and had a great time. What were my thoughts on haggis? Well, to be honest, it was a little on the awful side. It smelled terrible. Kate and I were incredibly eager to pass the giant plate of it down the table far, far away from us. Surprisingly though, it didn't taste too bad, but then again, I wasn't fully aware of what it was until after I had had two bites of it. Maggie thought that it tasted like corn beef and hash...really salty corn beef and hash. After I had had my two bites, I happily passed my portion to Jonny, who devoured it along with his helping. Kate and I ended up eating her vegetarian haggis, which was wonderfully delicious. Despite the grossness of the haggis, I had a really good time, but I regrettably do not have any pictures of it. I know, definitely a fail on my part. =(
After Burns' Night, one of our friends, who is involved with Oxford's Fashion Week, invited us to the Fashion Week's Cock-Teas Launch Party, where the theme was prohibition and 1920's. We arrived to the party a little on the late side, so it was pretty crowded and certainly in full swing. We had cock-teas, which were exactly what the name implies: tea cocktails. They were dangerously delicious and strong, but I couldn't finish mine. Unfortunately, Kate and I were so tired by the time we got to the party that we didn't stay for very long after we finished our cock-teas. Oh, did I mention that we dressed up 1920's style for this party? Well, we did (and we went to Burns' Night dressed to kill). I thought the three of us looked incredible, particularly Maggie. She looked like she stepped straight out of black and white film. I have her to thank for my outfit, since I didn't have anything 1920's, she loaned me one of her gorgeous dresses. Again, I regrettably don't have any pictures of this event either, and I wish I had. There were so many fashionable people there with beautiful 1920's dresses.
On Friday night, I went on a pub-crawl with fellow Blackfriars students. It was pretty casual but not devoid of fun. We played Battleship at the last pub, and the Team Awkward girls had a late night snack of chips in curry sauce. Mmmmm.
Then on Saturday night, Blackfriars went to a Baroque music festival at the Sheldonian Theatre. The program consisted of Suite from Abdelazer Z 570 by Henry Purcell (think Pride and Prejudice), Adagio in G minor by Tomaso Albinoni, Organ Concerto No 13 in F, 'The Cuckoo and the Nightingale' HWV 295 by George Frideric Handel (the organ in this piece sounded a little bit like someone's mobile ringtone; it reminded me a little bit of Main Street in Disneyland ^_^), Concerto in E flat major for violin 'La Tempesta di Mare' RV 253 by Antonio Vivaldi, and Brandenburg Concerto No 5 in D BWV 1050 by Johann Sebastian Bach. The concert was amazing, and I loved every minute of it. It certainly made me miss being in symphonic band and orchestra. It was also my first time being inside the Sheldonian, which was gorgeous. Kate and I felt like we had been transported back in time. I think my poor pictures could probably describe it better than I can.
The Upper Gallery Across from Our Seats
The Organ Pipes (They Weren't Used During This Concert)
The Beautiful Ceiling
The Harpsichord; Isn't It Cute?
All these photos were taken with my phone's (which is frustratingly not cooperating with me at the moment ;_; ) camera.
Then on Sunday night we Blackfriars students celebrated Father Mike's (he was one of the friars who came with us on the Reading Party, and he's one of my favourite friars) birthday, which was of course filled with fun. With Father Mike, it's pretty much impossible not to have fun. We had drinks with him at St. John's, and then took him out to dinner at Nandos, which is a chicken restaurant. I got a beanie burger (the last one of the night apparently), and it was pretty good. Then we shared a giant delicious chocolate cake, which pretty much filled my sugar quota for the week. Anyway, I hope he had a great birthday. He certainly deserved it. =)
Make a Wish!
Happy Birthdaaaaay, Father Mike!
Well, even though I've finished a paper for my tutorial tomorrow (I finished it before 10:30pm, a world record for Nutmeg!), I have to start working on another one for Thursday. So until next time...
Cheers!
Nutmeg ^_^
Well, I've made it through second week of Hilary Term alive and relatively well, and I FINALLY have a couple adventures to report back to all of you. =)
So my blog-appropriate-social life of second week began last Thursday, when Team Awkward celebrated a belated Burns' Night at St. Benet's Hall (with other cool Benet's people, of course ^_^). Burns' Night is a celebration in memory of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, who wrote that song we all sing on New Year's Auld Lang Syne among other poems. The link explains pretty much all you need to know about Burns' Night, but anyway, we were lead into the dining hall by a bagpiper, watched the haggis be carried around the hall (led by a bagpiper), listened to my rowing captain read Address to the Haggis (and chuckled a little bit), toasted with a dram of whiskey, tried a bit of haggis and had a great time. What were my thoughts on haggis? Well, to be honest, it was a little on the awful side. It smelled terrible. Kate and I were incredibly eager to pass the giant plate of it down the table far, far away from us. Surprisingly though, it didn't taste too bad, but then again, I wasn't fully aware of what it was until after I had had two bites of it. Maggie thought that it tasted like corn beef and hash...really salty corn beef and hash. After I had had my two bites, I happily passed my portion to Jonny, who devoured it along with his helping. Kate and I ended up eating her vegetarian haggis, which was wonderfully delicious. Despite the grossness of the haggis, I had a really good time, but I regrettably do not have any pictures of it. I know, definitely a fail on my part. =(
After Burns' Night, one of our friends, who is involved with Oxford's Fashion Week, invited us to the Fashion Week's Cock-Teas Launch Party, where the theme was prohibition and 1920's. We arrived to the party a little on the late side, so it was pretty crowded and certainly in full swing. We had cock-teas, which were exactly what the name implies: tea cocktails. They were dangerously delicious and strong, but I couldn't finish mine. Unfortunately, Kate and I were so tired by the time we got to the party that we didn't stay for very long after we finished our cock-teas. Oh, did I mention that we dressed up 1920's style for this party? Well, we did (and we went to Burns' Night dressed to kill). I thought the three of us looked incredible, particularly Maggie. She looked like she stepped straight out of black and white film. I have her to thank for my outfit, since I didn't have anything 1920's, she loaned me one of her gorgeous dresses. Again, I regrettably don't have any pictures of this event either, and I wish I had. There were so many fashionable people there with beautiful 1920's dresses.
On Friday night, I went on a pub-crawl with fellow Blackfriars students. It was pretty casual but not devoid of fun. We played Battleship at the last pub, and the Team Awkward girls had a late night snack of chips in curry sauce. Mmmmm.
Then on Saturday night, Blackfriars went to a Baroque music festival at the Sheldonian Theatre. The program consisted of Suite from Abdelazer Z 570 by Henry Purcell (think Pride and Prejudice), Adagio in G minor by Tomaso Albinoni, Organ Concerto No 13 in F, 'The Cuckoo and the Nightingale' HWV 295 by George Frideric Handel (the organ in this piece sounded a little bit like someone's mobile ringtone; it reminded me a little bit of Main Street in Disneyland ^_^), Concerto in E flat major for violin 'La Tempesta di Mare' RV 253 by Antonio Vivaldi, and Brandenburg Concerto No 5 in D BWV 1050 by Johann Sebastian Bach. The concert was amazing, and I loved every minute of it. It certainly made me miss being in symphonic band and orchestra. It was also my first time being inside the Sheldonian, which was gorgeous. Kate and I felt like we had been transported back in time. I think my poor pictures could probably describe it better than I can.
All these photos were taken with my phone's (which is frustratingly not cooperating with me at the moment ;_; ) camera.
Then on Sunday night we Blackfriars students celebrated Father Mike's (he was one of the friars who came with us on the Reading Party, and he's one of my favourite friars) birthday, which was of course filled with fun. With Father Mike, it's pretty much impossible not to have fun. We had drinks with him at St. John's, and then took him out to dinner at Nandos, which is a chicken restaurant. I got a beanie burger (the last one of the night apparently), and it was pretty good. Then we shared a giant delicious chocolate cake, which pretty much filled my sugar quota for the week. Anyway, I hope he had a great birthday. He certainly deserved it. =)
Well, even though I've finished a paper for my tutorial tomorrow (I finished it before 10:30pm, a world record for Nutmeg!), I have to start working on another one for Thursday. So until next time...
Cheers!
Nutmeg ^_^
Monday, 24 January 2011
Via, Via, Neanche Questo Tempo Grigio Pieno di Musiche e di Uomini Che ti Son Piaciuti
Hi everyone! It's definitely been awhile since I've been on here, and I'm sorry about that. The reason for it is that I haven't had very many exciting adventures lately.
Basically, I went home to SoCal for about a week, and it was an incredibly busy week. I flew out on Christmas day, which was nice, since everyone was in a pretty good mood, and then went over to my aunt's to celebrate with some of my family. I spent the rest of the week shopping with my mom, hanging out with friends that I hadn't seen in far too long (like Radioactive Cheesecake! ^_^), and putting up with jet-lag. It felt really weird to be back in SoCal. It was weird to see the sun again and to drive on the "right" side of the road. And I'm sure the jet-lag wasn't a big help. Anyway, I flew out on New Year's Day and arrived back in Oxford on the 2nd of a brand new year! Unfortunately, the mountains of snow had all melted away by the time I came back, so Oxford wasn't as postcard-y, and fortunately, the mountains of snow had all melted away by the time I came back, making it A LOT easier to navigate Pusey Lane and the stairs leading to our house.
As mentioned earlier, I'm sorry to report that I haven't had many blog-worthy or epic adventures to tell you all. My days have basically been consisting of reading, eating, sleeping and rowing. The picture below essentially summarizes what I've been up to lately:
Kate and I Dying in the JCR After Working All Day
Hopefully, I'll be able to have a better grasp on my work-load this term, so that way I can actually plan on attending more fun social events (like the Start of Term Shindig we had this past weekend) and attend unplanned events (like our "BALTS: Bacon Avocado Lettuce and Tomato Sandwiches" Night we also had this past weekend). I was on a good schedule last week, which was First Week of Hilary Term by the way, but I'm beginning to get a little behind this week. I've heard that Hilary Term is supposed to be the most depressing term of the year, what with the rather bleak weather and things like that, but so far things don't seem to be too bad...yet...
Well, I had better get all caught up with my work, so until the next time I have an adventure to write about...
Cheers!
Nutmeg
P.S. I've used up all of my available space on my flickr account, so I'm working on getting a Picasa account so I can finish uploading pictures from the Reading Party and my adventures through Tewkesbury with Jonny. I'll be sure to let you guys know when I've actually done that. =D
Basically, I went home to SoCal for about a week, and it was an incredibly busy week. I flew out on Christmas day, which was nice, since everyone was in a pretty good mood, and then went over to my aunt's to celebrate with some of my family. I spent the rest of the week shopping with my mom, hanging out with friends that I hadn't seen in far too long (like Radioactive Cheesecake! ^_^), and putting up with jet-lag. It felt really weird to be back in SoCal. It was weird to see the sun again and to drive on the "right" side of the road. And I'm sure the jet-lag wasn't a big help. Anyway, I flew out on New Year's Day and arrived back in Oxford on the 2nd of a brand new year! Unfortunately, the mountains of snow had all melted away by the time I came back, so Oxford wasn't as postcard-y, and fortunately, the mountains of snow had all melted away by the time I came back, making it A LOT easier to navigate Pusey Lane and the stairs leading to our house.
As mentioned earlier, I'm sorry to report that I haven't had many blog-worthy or epic adventures to tell you all. My days have basically been consisting of reading, eating, sleeping and rowing. The picture below essentially summarizes what I've been up to lately:
Hopefully, I'll be able to have a better grasp on my work-load this term, so that way I can actually plan on attending more fun social events (like the Start of Term Shindig we had this past weekend) and attend unplanned events (like our "BALTS: Bacon Avocado Lettuce and Tomato Sandwiches" Night we also had this past weekend). I was on a good schedule last week, which was First Week of Hilary Term by the way, but I'm beginning to get a little behind this week. I've heard that Hilary Term is supposed to be the most depressing term of the year, what with the rather bleak weather and things like that, but so far things don't seem to be too bad...yet...
Well, I had better get all caught up with my work, so until the next time I have an adventure to write about...
Cheers!
Nutmeg
P.S. I've used up all of my available space on my flickr account, so I'm working on getting a Picasa account so I can finish uploading pictures from the Reading Party and my adventures through Tewkesbury with Jonny. I'll be sure to let you guys know when I've actually done that. =D
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
Hear the Sigh of the Trees, Those Who Enter Here Never Leave
Hey there! So does anyone want to explain to me how Christmas is only four days away? I almost completely forgot about the holiday, and I don't know how that's possible since there's actual snow everywhere and fairy lights twinkling between pretty much every building in Oxford.
Anyway, I haven't really been up to much since I've returned from the Lake District. Like I told myself, I got plenty of R and R and eventually banished my cold into the dark oblivion where colds go to die (insert appropriate YES! gesture here). Hopefully, that cold fulfilled my once-a-year-cold quota. So by the time Friday rolled around, I was pretty ready to tackle more adventures. On second thought, "tackle" is probably the wrong word. "Slipping" and "sliding" is probably more accurate. Anyway, that Friday, I (along with a couple other friends from Blackfriars) slipped and slid to the house where my friend's Christmas BBQ was held. Now if you're from SoCal, a Christmas BBQ probably doesn't sound all that crazy, but a Christmas BBQ in Oxford, UK is definitely a little on the insane side. Especially when there's snow on the ground and the barbecue's propane tank is threatening to blow at any minute (it probably wasn't that life threatening, but it was fun to think that it was for a few minutes). Well, as crazy as it may have been, I had a good time...I think. I can say with certainty that I spent some of the evening talking about Harvest Moon and Pikmin with the guy with the gags (by the way, his name's Ralph since I'm tired of typing out "rock'n'roll guy with the gags" over and over) and his friends. And I can again say with certainty that these people are definitely some of the coolest people I've ever met. =)
On Saturday morning I somehow managed to catch a 10:30 train to Cheltenham with Ralph, and I'm sorry to say that since everything was covered in a thick layer of snow, the scenery during this train ride ("Look at Didcot Parkway, pretending to be a nice town!") was prettier than the scenery on the train ride to the Lake District. Anyway, I met up with Jonny, who I was visiting, in Cheltenham, and we spent the day trudging through snow (I love my eyelashes except when they catch gigantic snowflakes and keep me from being able to see), eating delicious pasta in a church converted into a restaurant (it was gorgeous), and throwing snow balls at each other. I also bought an extremely warm snow/water proof jacket with hot pink lining, since my poor SoCal jacket wasn't holding up too well in the snow. Unfortunately, we had been having so much fun that we failed to notice that the roads had become icy, which caused the buses to stop running. After a panicked phone call to Jonny's dad and a stressful, bad joke filled car ride, we made it to Jonny's hometown of Tewkesbury. For those who don't know, Tewkesbury is where the famous Battle of Tewkesbury during the War of Roses took place, and I think it's a gorgeous town. ^_^ Anyway, once we made it to the house, we ate dinner and watched one of Bill Bailey's comedy shows. And I don't know why Jonny was so worried about me meeting his family, because they are wonderful, fantastic, lovely, super-special-awesome people. I really felt like Harry Potter every time he visits the Weasley family, and I've never felt more welcome and at home than, well, with my family at home. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank them enough.
Window at Zizzi's Restaurant
On Sunday, Jonny took me on a quick tour of Tewkesbury before we had to catch a bus to Cheltenham to catch our train. Like I said before, it was a beautiful town. The snow covering everything made it look like something on a Christmas card. We made snow angels in a field Jonny said was called The Ham and walked around Tewkesbury Abbey. After the quick tour and some waiting at the bus stop, we discovered that the buses weren't running again and that trains were getting cancelled left and right. So to Jonny's horror and my delight, I spent another night in his house with his family and had another lovely evening, watching Harry Potter and chatting about all sorts of British-y things.
A Street in Tewkesbury
Tewkesbury Abbey
Running through the Ham
Snow Angel
On Monday, Jonny's parents were kind enough to drive me into Cheltenham to catch a train back to Oxford. And now here I am amongst a hideously messy room, procrastinating on packing for home and wondering how I forgot about Christmas. Hopefully, the snow won't cause any disruptions on my flight out (or back in!), so I'll be able to see everyone for a little.
Until then, Happy Holidays and Cheers!
<3 Nutmeg
Anyway, I haven't really been up to much since I've returned from the Lake District. Like I told myself, I got plenty of R and R and eventually banished my cold into the dark oblivion where colds go to die (insert appropriate YES! gesture here). Hopefully, that cold fulfilled my once-a-year-cold quota. So by the time Friday rolled around, I was pretty ready to tackle more adventures. On second thought, "tackle" is probably the wrong word. "Slipping" and "sliding" is probably more accurate. Anyway, that Friday, I (along with a couple other friends from Blackfriars) slipped and slid to the house where my friend's Christmas BBQ was held. Now if you're from SoCal, a Christmas BBQ probably doesn't sound all that crazy, but a Christmas BBQ in Oxford, UK is definitely a little on the insane side. Especially when there's snow on the ground and the barbecue's propane tank is threatening to blow at any minute (it probably wasn't that life threatening, but it was fun to think that it was for a few minutes). Well, as crazy as it may have been, I had a good time...I think. I can say with certainty that I spent some of the evening talking about Harvest Moon and Pikmin with the guy with the gags (by the way, his name's Ralph since I'm tired of typing out "rock'n'roll guy with the gags" over and over) and his friends. And I can again say with certainty that these people are definitely some of the coolest people I've ever met. =)
On Saturday morning I somehow managed to catch a 10:30 train to Cheltenham with Ralph, and I'm sorry to say that since everything was covered in a thick layer of snow, the scenery during this train ride ("Look at Didcot Parkway, pretending to be a nice town!") was prettier than the scenery on the train ride to the Lake District. Anyway, I met up with Jonny, who I was visiting, in Cheltenham, and we spent the day trudging through snow (I love my eyelashes except when they catch gigantic snowflakes and keep me from being able to see), eating delicious pasta in a church converted into a restaurant (it was gorgeous), and throwing snow balls at each other. I also bought an extremely warm snow/water proof jacket with hot pink lining, since my poor SoCal jacket wasn't holding up too well in the snow. Unfortunately, we had been having so much fun that we failed to notice that the roads had become icy, which caused the buses to stop running. After a panicked phone call to Jonny's dad and a stressful, bad joke filled car ride, we made it to Jonny's hometown of Tewkesbury. For those who don't know, Tewkesbury is where the famous Battle of Tewkesbury during the War of Roses took place, and I think it's a gorgeous town. ^_^ Anyway, once we made it to the house, we ate dinner and watched one of Bill Bailey's comedy shows. And I don't know why Jonny was so worried about me meeting his family, because they are wonderful, fantastic, lovely, super-special-awesome people. I really felt like Harry Potter every time he visits the Weasley family, and I've never felt more welcome and at home than, well, with my family at home. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank them enough.
On Sunday, Jonny took me on a quick tour of Tewkesbury before we had to catch a bus to Cheltenham to catch our train. Like I said before, it was a beautiful town. The snow covering everything made it look like something on a Christmas card. We made snow angels in a field Jonny said was called The Ham and walked around Tewkesbury Abbey. After the quick tour and some waiting at the bus stop, we discovered that the buses weren't running again and that trains were getting cancelled left and right. So to Jonny's horror and my delight, I spent another night in his house with his family and had another lovely evening, watching Harry Potter and chatting about all sorts of British-y things.
On Monday, Jonny's parents were kind enough to drive me into Cheltenham to catch a train back to Oxford. And now here I am amongst a hideously messy room, procrastinating on packing for home and wondering how I forgot about Christmas. Hopefully, the snow won't cause any disruptions on my flight out (or back in!), so I'll be able to see everyone for a little.
Until then, Happy Holidays and Cheers!
<3 Nutmeg
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way. -Jane Austen from "Emma"
*waves cheerily to everyone*
So I blinked and realised that another week has disappeared right out from under my nose. Looking back on it all, I'm surprised that I haven't dropped dead from all the excitement that's been going on. This past week was pretty much "Nutmeg's Travelling Week," and it was most definitely filled with many, many adventures. I'll try and organise this post as best as I can, but I should warn you now, it's going to be a long one.
London
On Tuesday, Maggie and I went to the big and exciting city of London. It was my first time ever setting foot in the actual city, and I loved pretty much every step I took in it. We had a bit of a late start, so we didn't get to do everything that we planned on doing but we still had an absolutely wonderful time. We took the Underground ("Maggie, it's just like BART only with 70 extra stops." "I think it has more than 70 extra stops, Meg...") and ended up going to Camden (I think it's like a district in London?) at the advice of several friends, and I think it's one of the coolest places I've ever been to. I'm not entirely sure how to explain it, actually. It was just really, really awesome. ^_^
I think Camden is well-known for its shopping, and shopping is what Maggie and I did. We ventured through Camden's Open Market, and it was a lot bigger than it seemed. We visited all kinds of stores from pretty lacy dress stores and fur shops (Maggie ended up buying a fur scarf thingy, and it looks wonderful on her) to a flashing lights and loud club music raver? store (which we were told we had to go to by Jonny and the "rock'n'roll" guy with the gags). Maggie almost had a panic attack in that store (don't worry, she came out physically unharmed), while I couldn't stop laughing at all the things in it because it reminded me so much of several friends back in SF. Anyway, I did a bit of my Christmas shopping at the Open Market, and I bought a couple dresses from the pretty lacy dress store, which I absolutely love. =D Most of the stores don't allow you to take pictures, so I only have a couple unfortunately...
Camden Lock
A Very Blurry Picture of Cool Designs in Front of a Store Building (These sorts of decorations were all over Camden by the way)
Me Looking Silly in Camden
Anyway, after all of our shopping, Maggie and I went looking for a goth club that the rock 'n' roll guy had told Maggie about. Apparently, this club's bouncers will not allow you to enter if you don't look alternative. (Maggie instructed me on what to wear, since I think my clothing style is more quirky and geeky than alternative) We failed in our search though, so we settled for this pub called At World's End, which looked like an old train station and had metal music blasting from the speakers. And Maggie and I fit right in. One guy had brought his friends up for a visit, and they even wanted to take a picture with me because I looked very Camden-ish, I guess. They said my bowler hat looked very "Mary Poppins," which I can't tell if that's a compliment or not... Well, certainly kudos to Maggie and her awesome styling tips. =D After the pub, we were starving, so we went in search of food and found this burger restaurant called Haiche. And the burgers here were absolutely fantastic. I had a turkey burger with all the trimmings, and it was probably one of the best burgers I've ever had. We agreed that we would definitely go back to that restaurant if we were in the neighbourhood again. By then, most things in Camden had closed (minus the pubs) so we hopped back on the Underground, caught our bus (after wandering around a little lost for a few minutes) back to "sleepy" Oxford. And so ends Nutmeg's first adventure to London.
Port Meadow
Well, Port Meadow isn't actually outside of Oxford, but I'm putting it here because it was an adventure and it happened within last week. So Port Meadow is this meadow just past the Jericho neighbourhood of Oxford. On Wednesday, a group of us decided to take a walk out there and stop at one of the pubs called The Perch. It was a gorgeous walk, and we left during the late afternoon, so the sun was beginning to set. Part of the meadow was also frozen, so of course, we had to run around on it. And since I've never been on a frozen lake or meadow or pond or anything like that, I had an absolute blast slipping and sliding across the ice.
Ice on the Meadow
Ice Skating Love
A "Cool" Photo by K.P.
Sunset on the Ice
On Our Way to The Perch
We eventually made it to The Perch and had a very late lunch/early dinner there. We also had honey mead wine, an incredibly delicious drink. I was able to finish my glass without grimacing once. ^_^ In short, The Perch is an adorable pub with yummy food, and I can't wait to go there again sometime.
The Perch
Delicious Honey Mead Wine
In Which Nutmeg Visits Bath
On Thursday, Maggie, Jonny and I went to Bath for a very fun-filled (somewhat Jane Austen-y) day. And Bath was...amazing. Definitely, amazing. I probably felt a little like Austen's Catherine Morland when she sees Bath for the first time, and I was giddy with excitement the whole time. We packed lunches, because Jonny wanted to have that "school trip feeling," and I mention this because I want to ask, "Can you guess what my packed lunch was?" Answer: Spam musubi, sliced spam and onigiri. Basically, it was what my mom used to pack in my lunch all the time. =D I only ate the spam musubi though. Maggie ate my extra spam.
Anyway, Jonny acted as our excellent and wonderful tour guide. He took us to the Royal Crescent, Roman Baths, and the Pump Room. Basically, all the major Austen-y places. ^_^ We tried water from the Pump, and it didn't taste too bad, but I swear that that water made me use the restroom more times than normal throughout the day. Afterwards, we went through the Christmas Market in Bath and did some more Christmas shopping. After that, we went to a spa and "took the waters." We went into the Minerva Bath (a warm, sulphur-y pool), visited the steam room with MANY scented steams (I liked the frankincense one the best), and soaked in the Rooftop Pool while the sun went down. The last part was absolutely beautiful. Overall, the spa was really nice, but I think I like onsen in Japan better even if the onsen I went to wasn't nearly as luxurious.
Taking the Trains
Regency Houses (I think...)
The Royal Crescent ^_^
The Roman Baths
Entrance to the Pump Room
Thermae Spa
After all that, we headed home via the train incredibly satisfied. And that's how Nutmeg's first Bath adventure ended.
The Lake District
So on Friday, Kate and I departed via train for Blackfriar's Reading Party. Basically, a Reading Party is a trip the students take at the end of term to start on assigned reading for the next term or read for fun. Usually, not a lot of reading gets done on these trips though. I brought only two books (Brideshead Revisted and Vanity Fair) thinking that I would get maybe half-way through one of them. This year's Reading Party was set at Boarbank Hall in the village of Allithwaite, which is on the southern edge of the Lake District. I had been looking forward to this trip, since most (if not all) the Romantic poets and novelists I had been studying this past term spent a lot of time in the Lake District, and I really wanted to see what their fuss was about. Well, I certainly did get to see what the fuss was about.
Boarbank Hall itself was gorgeous. When we arrived at the Hall, Kate and I ventured through the rooms (including an ACTUAL DRAWING ROOM), whispering excitedly to each other "It's just like Austen!" And we certainly felt like we were in an Austen novel throughout the trip. Our room was a little on the small side, but we liked it because it felt very "quaint." We didn't spent much time in it anyway. We spent most of our time curled up on the couches or armchairs in the TV lounge with the fake fireplace (the warmest room in the hall). In fact, we spent so much time curled up in those armchairs and couches that one of the friars who came with us (Father Michael) said, "Whenever I think of this year's Reading Party, I will always remember you two curled up in these armchairs with your books."
Side View of Boarbank Hall
The Drawing Room
Kate in One of the Boy's Armchairs
During the day, our little party would go on hikes or walks through the hills. The first hike we took was to a point called The Hospice, where you could see a full 360 degrees around and could see as far as Liverpool (across the Bay). I was deemed the Navigator, and I got us there in one piece. Except one person ended up slipping and falling into a rather muddy and sheep dungy spot. I don't take responsibility for that though. =P Anyway, it was a gorgeous walk. The scenery was spectacular. Kate and I kept thinking we had been transported to land around Wuthering Heights.
Landscape
More Landscape with Pretty Lighting
Group Photo Halfway to The Hospice
After our morning walk to The Hospice, we came back and another group decided to go out to Halfway Head? to watch the sun set. So we set out again, and again, it was gorgeous. Halfway Head? is a sort of cliff/peninsula that juts out into the bay. We trekked out to the tip of it and watched the sun set. Again, I can't stress how pretty of a walk it was. The walk back though was pretty painful. We had to trek up this steep hill, and it was seriously steeper than any hill I've encountered in San Francisco. And that is definitely saying something.
Group Photo at the Point of Halfway Head?
Sunset on the Bay
Another afternoon, a few of us drove up to Lake Windermere (one of the largest lakes in England). We didn't walk very much around it, because the lake's surrounded by mountains so the sun sets even earlier. But anyway, the lake was very pretty, and I can see why Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley and Byron liked spending time around lakes. There was some snow around the lake, and one of the guys ended up starting a snow ball fight, which was fun to watch. =D
The Lake
Kate by Lake Windermere
In the evenings, after dinner, we would either read alone or get together in the drawing room for discussions (including topics such as "How Women Have Destroyed the Jane Austen Male") or read passages from certain novels or poems out loud to each other. Kate and I only participated in a couple of these evenings though, since we were usually exhausted by the end of the day.
Unfortunately, Kate and I came down with colds halfway through the trip, so we weren't able to do a whole lot after the second day. But we did get a lot of reading done, and we certainly felt pampered with our three delicious meals a day (two of which were usually three courses), along with afternoon tea.
In short, I think all the boys who went on the trip (Kate and I were the only girls there) decided that the word to describe the entire experience was "glorious." I would have to agree for the most part. The scenery was indescribable, and I guess because we were so far north, it seemed like we were in a perpetual sunset. Kate and I thought that time seemed to just halt there, and by the end of the trip, we were pretty confused about what day it was. And I actually finished a book (Brideshead Revisited, which generated a lot of discussion among people there, particularly a retired priest who even read a few pages to us). Even though I was nursing a cold through it, it was still an amazing experience with amazing people, and I would love to go back some day. So ends Nutmeg's Romantic adventure in the Lake District.
Well, that's pretty much where I've been the entire week, and looking back on it all, I am EXHAUSTED. And still nursing a cold. So lots of R'nR (rest and reading) for Nutmeg this week. However, once the weekend hits, I will be hitting the social scene again: the rock'n'roll guy's Christmas BBQ and a trip to visit my wonderful British pal Jonny's in his hometown of Cheltenham/Tewkesbury. Basically, since almost everyone has left for the holidays, this weekend is going to be spent with solely British people, which will certainly be an experience. I had thought Oxford was going to be very lonely during the holidays, but it's turning out not to be so far (thank goodness). However, the city does seem incredibly empty and a little spooky...
Until next time, Cheers!
<3 Nutmeg
P.S. There will be TONS of photos uploaded to flickr very soon! (If not already...)
So I blinked and realised that another week has disappeared right out from under my nose. Looking back on it all, I'm surprised that I haven't dropped dead from all the excitement that's been going on. This past week was pretty much "Nutmeg's Travelling Week," and it was most definitely filled with many, many adventures. I'll try and organise this post as best as I can, but I should warn you now, it's going to be a long one.
On Tuesday, Maggie and I went to the big and exciting city of London. It was my first time ever setting foot in the actual city, and I loved pretty much every step I took in it. We had a bit of a late start, so we didn't get to do everything that we planned on doing but we still had an absolutely wonderful time. We took the Underground ("Maggie, it's just like BART only with 70 extra stops." "I think it has more than 70 extra stops, Meg...") and ended up going to Camden (I think it's like a district in London?) at the advice of several friends, and I think it's one of the coolest places I've ever been to. I'm not entirely sure how to explain it, actually. It was just really, really awesome. ^_^
I think Camden is well-known for its shopping, and shopping is what Maggie and I did. We ventured through Camden's Open Market, and it was a lot bigger than it seemed. We visited all kinds of stores from pretty lacy dress stores and fur shops (Maggie ended up buying a fur scarf thingy, and it looks wonderful on her) to a flashing lights and loud club music raver? store (which we were told we had to go to by Jonny and the "rock'n'roll" guy with the gags). Maggie almost had a panic attack in that store (don't worry, she came out physically unharmed), while I couldn't stop laughing at all the things in it because it reminded me so much of several friends back in SF. Anyway, I did a bit of my Christmas shopping at the Open Market, and I bought a couple dresses from the pretty lacy dress store, which I absolutely love. =D Most of the stores don't allow you to take pictures, so I only have a couple unfortunately...
Anyway, after all of our shopping, Maggie and I went looking for a goth club that the rock 'n' roll guy had told Maggie about. Apparently, this club's bouncers will not allow you to enter if you don't look alternative. (Maggie instructed me on what to wear, since I think my clothing style is more quirky and geeky than alternative) We failed in our search though, so we settled for this pub called At World's End, which looked like an old train station and had metal music blasting from the speakers. And Maggie and I fit right in. One guy had brought his friends up for a visit, and they even wanted to take a picture with me because I looked very Camden-ish, I guess. They said my bowler hat looked very "Mary Poppins," which I can't tell if that's a compliment or not... Well, certainly kudos to Maggie and her awesome styling tips. =D After the pub, we were starving, so we went in search of food and found this burger restaurant called Haiche. And the burgers here were absolutely fantastic. I had a turkey burger with all the trimmings, and it was probably one of the best burgers I've ever had. We agreed that we would definitely go back to that restaurant if we were in the neighbourhood again. By then, most things in Camden had closed (minus the pubs) so we hopped back on the Underground, caught our bus (after wandering around a little lost for a few minutes) back to "sleepy" Oxford. And so ends Nutmeg's first adventure to London.
Well, Port Meadow isn't actually outside of Oxford, but I'm putting it here because it was an adventure and it happened within last week. So Port Meadow is this meadow just past the Jericho neighbourhood of Oxford. On Wednesday, a group of us decided to take a walk out there and stop at one of the pubs called The Perch. It was a gorgeous walk, and we left during the late afternoon, so the sun was beginning to set. Part of the meadow was also frozen, so of course, we had to run around on it. And since I've never been on a frozen lake or meadow or pond or anything like that, I had an absolute blast slipping and sliding across the ice.
We eventually made it to The Perch and had a very late lunch/early dinner there. We also had honey mead wine, an incredibly delicious drink. I was able to finish my glass without grimacing once. ^_^ In short, The Perch is an adorable pub with yummy food, and I can't wait to go there again sometime.
On Thursday, Maggie, Jonny and I went to Bath for a very fun-filled (somewhat Jane Austen-y) day. And Bath was...amazing. Definitely, amazing. I probably felt a little like Austen's Catherine Morland when she sees Bath for the first time, and I was giddy with excitement the whole time. We packed lunches, because Jonny wanted to have that "school trip feeling," and I mention this because I want to ask, "Can you guess what my packed lunch was?" Answer: Spam musubi, sliced spam and onigiri. Basically, it was what my mom used to pack in my lunch all the time. =D I only ate the spam musubi though. Maggie ate my extra spam.
Anyway, Jonny acted as our excellent and wonderful tour guide. He took us to the Royal Crescent, Roman Baths, and the Pump Room. Basically, all the major Austen-y places. ^_^ We tried water from the Pump, and it didn't taste too bad, but I swear that that water made me use the restroom more times than normal throughout the day. Afterwards, we went through the Christmas Market in Bath and did some more Christmas shopping. After that, we went to a spa and "took the waters." We went into the Minerva Bath (a warm, sulphur-y pool), visited the steam room with MANY scented steams (I liked the frankincense one the best), and soaked in the Rooftop Pool while the sun went down. The last part was absolutely beautiful. Overall, the spa was really nice, but I think I like onsen in Japan better even if the onsen I went to wasn't nearly as luxurious.
After all that, we headed home via the train incredibly satisfied. And that's how Nutmeg's first Bath adventure ended.
So on Friday, Kate and I departed via train for Blackfriar's Reading Party. Basically, a Reading Party is a trip the students take at the end of term to start on assigned reading for the next term or read for fun. Usually, not a lot of reading gets done on these trips though. I brought only two books (Brideshead Revisted and Vanity Fair) thinking that I would get maybe half-way through one of them. This year's Reading Party was set at Boarbank Hall in the village of Allithwaite, which is on the southern edge of the Lake District. I had been looking forward to this trip, since most (if not all) the Romantic poets and novelists I had been studying this past term spent a lot of time in the Lake District, and I really wanted to see what their fuss was about. Well, I certainly did get to see what the fuss was about.
Boarbank Hall itself was gorgeous. When we arrived at the Hall, Kate and I ventured through the rooms (including an ACTUAL DRAWING ROOM), whispering excitedly to each other "It's just like Austen!" And we certainly felt like we were in an Austen novel throughout the trip. Our room was a little on the small side, but we liked it because it felt very "quaint." We didn't spent much time in it anyway. We spent most of our time curled up on the couches or armchairs in the TV lounge with the fake fireplace (the warmest room in the hall). In fact, we spent so much time curled up in those armchairs and couches that one of the friars who came with us (Father Michael) said, "Whenever I think of this year's Reading Party, I will always remember you two curled up in these armchairs with your books."
During the day, our little party would go on hikes or walks through the hills. The first hike we took was to a point called The Hospice, where you could see a full 360 degrees around and could see as far as Liverpool (across the Bay). I was deemed the Navigator, and I got us there in one piece. Except one person ended up slipping and falling into a rather muddy and sheep dungy spot. I don't take responsibility for that though. =P Anyway, it was a gorgeous walk. The scenery was spectacular. Kate and I kept thinking we had been transported to land around Wuthering Heights.
After our morning walk to The Hospice, we came back and another group decided to go out to Halfway Head? to watch the sun set. So we set out again, and again, it was gorgeous. Halfway Head? is a sort of cliff/peninsula that juts out into the bay. We trekked out to the tip of it and watched the sun set. Again, I can't stress how pretty of a walk it was. The walk back though was pretty painful. We had to trek up this steep hill, and it was seriously steeper than any hill I've encountered in San Francisco. And that is definitely saying something.
Another afternoon, a few of us drove up to Lake Windermere (one of the largest lakes in England). We didn't walk very much around it, because the lake's surrounded by mountains so the sun sets even earlier. But anyway, the lake was very pretty, and I can see why Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley and Byron liked spending time around lakes. There was some snow around the lake, and one of the guys ended up starting a snow ball fight, which was fun to watch. =D
In the evenings, after dinner, we would either read alone or get together in the drawing room for discussions (including topics such as "How Women Have Destroyed the Jane Austen Male") or read passages from certain novels or poems out loud to each other. Kate and I only participated in a couple of these evenings though, since we were usually exhausted by the end of the day.
Unfortunately, Kate and I came down with colds halfway through the trip, so we weren't able to do a whole lot after the second day. But we did get a lot of reading done, and we certainly felt pampered with our three delicious meals a day (two of which were usually three courses), along with afternoon tea.
In short, I think all the boys who went on the trip (Kate and I were the only girls there) decided that the word to describe the entire experience was "glorious." I would have to agree for the most part. The scenery was indescribable, and I guess because we were so far north, it seemed like we were in a perpetual sunset. Kate and I thought that time seemed to just halt there, and by the end of the trip, we were pretty confused about what day it was. And I actually finished a book (Brideshead Revisited, which generated a lot of discussion among people there, particularly a retired priest who even read a few pages to us). Even though I was nursing a cold through it, it was still an amazing experience with amazing people, and I would love to go back some day. So ends Nutmeg's Romantic adventure in the Lake District.
Well, that's pretty much where I've been the entire week, and looking back on it all, I am EXHAUSTED. And still nursing a cold. So lots of R'nR (rest and reading) for Nutmeg this week. However, once the weekend hits, I will be hitting the social scene again: the rock'n'roll guy's Christmas BBQ and a trip to visit my wonderful British pal Jonny's in his hometown of Cheltenham/Tewkesbury. Basically, since almost everyone has left for the holidays, this weekend is going to be spent with solely British people, which will certainly be an experience. I had thought Oxford was going to be very lonely during the holidays, but it's turning out not to be so far (thank goodness). However, the city does seem incredibly empty and a little spooky...
Until next time, Cheers!
<3 Nutmeg
P.S. There will be TONS of photos uploaded to flickr very soon! (If not already...)
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