O is for Oxford...

So I'm back from my adventure in Oxford, and what an adventure it was!

I arrived last Thursday, checked into my hostel and made a new friend almost immediately! One of my roommates was in the room when I arrived and we started chatting right away. Renee is from New Zealand and was there as part of a training session to be a private caregiver. There were two other ladies in our room that were also from down under that were training with her. We all hit it off really well and set out for a night on the town with Mick, the hostel's Aussie manager; his friend, Mark, an Oxford resident; and one of our other roommates, Wendy, who was from Ecuador. We headed to the pub for some live music, which was great fun! We laughed a lot, danced a little and had an incredible night out!

Friday, I set out to explore the home of the oldest university in England....you guessed it, Oxford University. Oxford University is made up of 39 separate colleges, spread across the city! The buildings are magnificent and the town has an ecclectic mix of students. I began my day at Christ Church College...the most famous of Oxford's colleges! Christ Church is home to the famous Hogwarts dining hall for fellow Potter fans...and was also the college where Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice and Wonderland, taught mathmatics. It is quite impressive and has massive gothic buildings and the most beautiful grounds.

I then ran into Wendy my roommate and we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring together. It's nice to have company to snap photos! We climbed the top of the mound, where part of Oxford Castle used to be. The views looking out over the city were amazing! We explored what's left of the castle and checked out the new fancy hotel part of the castle, which used to serve as a prison! We did a little shopping, continued on the bus tour of Oxford, and strolled through a French Market along Broad Street.

Friday night it was back out on the town with the girls and guys of the hostel! This was honestly the friendliest hostel I have stayed at! It's actually not even run by Brits...it's Australian/Canadian owned and run. Weird mixture of people for sure! We started out back at the pub from the night before with our Oxford guide Mark entertaining everyone with his silliness, and continued on when the live music was more rocking than silly fun...our next stop was HA! HA!, a really lush pub, with indoor fireplaces and soft lighting! It was super fancy! Then on to our final stop inside the prison hotel bar!

Finally, we returned to the hostel, where Mark, Renee, and I were eventually joined by Mick and Owen, who work at the hostel, and sat around laughing and telling stories until after six in the morning! It was a great couple of days and I seriously was sad to leave all of the great people I met! Hopefully Renee and I will hook back up during our time here!

In other news...my shiny new camera is useless right now! I have no way to charge it, as there was no cable included with it to plug it in. I've been to countless camera shops and none of them sell the lithium battery I need for the camera to replace the dead battery! How frustrating!! So sorry some of the pics are blurry, but I was back to using the broken camera with no flash and that's what I got! New pics are posted at the end of the album, which you can view by clicking HERE. I think I finally have this problem worked out today, so we'll see!

Also, I managed to leave my adaptor in Oxford! Oops! Seriously it could have been my toothbrush, my socks, anything easily replaceable really, but it had to be the thing I need to plug in everything I have here! So that was an adventure trying to get a new one on a Sunday in Britain, when everything is SHUT! Again, how frustrating!! I finally got a replacement today, so I'm back online and will have pretty hair again after a couple days with no flat iron/curling iron!

I still can't believe how fast the time is going! It's shocking that this week is Thanksgiving, which no one over here has a concept of! It feels weird to be working through the week and not having a holiday! Not that I'm complaining too much though, as this whole experience is kind of like a holiday! The next couple of weeks will be incredibly busy, as I have two papers I have to complete rather quickly for my professors back home, so the FUN is OVER for now!

Future trips include...London/Bath/Edinburgh over the Christmas holidays! Maybe a trip to Manchester beforehand to see a show with Craig. Italy/Greece after the new year! And in February...I just booked my tickets to go see THE SMASHING PUMPKINS in Manchester and London for Valentine's Day weekend! What better way to spend that weekend than with the ones I LOVE! I'm really excited!!

Miss you all...
Enjoy your Turkey Day!