Happy birthday HP and JK Rowling!

Hello,
Have I told you that I love trains? I love trains. I read all but the last 10 pages of the Last Battle on the train today, and it was perfect. I didn't feel a jerk bringing me to the new Narnia. Which is probably best for now. I'm not quite ready to die. But it still was the perfect place to read that specific book.

Brooke and I first went to Platform 9 and 3/4. Just letting you know, Platform 9 and 3/4 is not anywhere in between platforms 9 and 10. It's in the very back corner in the 1-8 platforms section. There was a big group of girls from somewhere like Romania in front of us. You could tell they were having a blast. A man wearing a Hogwarts sweater would give everyone the official robe to wear and hawthorn wand to wield while pushing the cart through the wall to catch the Hogwarts Express. The official dude was having so much fun. We told him how exciting it was to be there on Harry Potter's birthday, and then Brooke and I launched into a full-throated rendition of a Happy Birthday tune to Harry Potter and J. K. Rowling. Sadly, none of the tourists spoke English, or at least none of them sang Obnoxious American. But they did laugh and took pictures. Our voices resounded at their fullest volume, and I am satisfied.

We then went to go see if the Globe Theater had any groundling tickets left for Henry VIII. They did not, but that did mean we got to walk across the Millennium Bridge again. Yet another tribute to our great hero, Mr. Potter.
We went to Leicester Square to see if there were any half-price tickets for Chicago after that. Something new I learned, Leicester is pronounced, "Lester," not "Like Esther." I love the silent "ice." Chicago started out with scantily clad women dancing around the stage, and continued to be consisting mainly of scantily clad women in fishnet tights and various versions of lingerie. I think we saw a sign that said "family friendly." But it was quite fun. My favorite character was Amos. All the other characters ask the band for exit music when they leave, and then dance out to the music. Amos sings a son about how he is cellophane and no one sees him. ;( When he asks for exit music later on, the band doesn't start up, but he just says, "Okay," and walks out.
He got the biggest applause at the end.
The tube on the way back was loads of fun. We sat in one spot on the train, and different vignettes would pour in at each stop and spill out at the next. We saw the most adorable family that spoke in some really cool language, and the little boy would go up to his sister and lightly kiss her on the arm. It was adorable.
They spilled out, and the next was an entire cricket team from India. All of their luggage spilled over at the slightest jiggle of the train. Sitting amongst them, looking like a bright flower out of place was a blonde girl in her twenties in a short sun dress with pockets. When she got up for the next stop, the coach yelled at all the teammates to pick their stuff up and move out of the way for her.
One guy asked us if we knew which Circle train we were on. We just knew it was going to Paddington, so he was probably going to have to get off the next one to switch to the Hammersmith line. We sort of helped someone that had a British accent! Okay, so Brooke helped him. But nevertheless, we as American tourists held our own.

We ate dinner in the train station. One restaurant was on the second level, but there were menus on the first floor and an escalator that specifically went up to that restaurant. The escalator screamed "We will feed you, and you don't have to walk around for a short while. Step on the escalator. Escalator's are fun." So, we listened to the escalator and let it take us to a wonderful world where they gave me a ginormous cup of tea.

We read on the train ride back. Getting back to Christ Church felt almost like coming home. I even got to video chat with Daniel when I got back to my room, which was lovely. But it's not quite going back home. It was more of a reflection of real home, like how the earlier Narnia was just a reflection of the real Narnia. The best part of traveling is coming home again. The subtitle to the Hobbit is "There and Back again." I'm happy to be here, but I'll also be happy to come home. I miss all of you back home.
So, trains are one of the "in-between places" like the wood in between the worlds Magician's Nephew. And in Inception. And in the 7th Harry Potter with Harry going back to King's Cross. Even Platform 9 3/4 is in between platforms 9 and 10 in the book.
I love the in-between places. I love enjoying the journey. Mr. Hollis used to tell us that if we were looking forward to Fridays when it was Monday, we were wishing we would die 5 days sooner. I like that thought. So, our lives are journeys, but if we can enjoy the in-between places, we can discover joy in a whole new part of life. I like where I am in my point of uncertainty of what I want to do with my life. I can enjoy school and each class and professor and new person I meet for their own value, not where those experiences and people will get me.
One last thought that Brooke told me about on the train: HP 7. Snape looks into Harry's green eyes before he dies. Green is the color of Lily's eyes. Question: what color are Beatrice's eyes in Dante? Dante looks into Beatrice's GREEN eyes before he can go up into the rose thing in Paradiso.
ARGH! Mind blown. Okay, I'm not sure if this was J. K. Rowling's intention, but you have to admit it's pretty freaking awesome. No wonder she always made such a big deal about Harry having his mother's green eyes in the earlier books! Oh, HP, you constantly renew my fascination.

Bath

Hello!
Today, Brooke and I went to Bath.
I got a nutella and banana and a little extra sugar crepe on the way to the train station. I tried eating it while walking, but I got chocolate all over my face. As soon as I sat down in the train station, I just went Fantastic Mr. Fox all over that thing. So delicious! I got chocolate all over my hands and face and thoroughly enjoyed licking it all off. Sorry, Mom.
The first thing in Bath that we did was the Georgian House. All of the guides were so nice. There was a different guide in each room that knew thousands of facts and details about upper class life in the 1770s. Apparently, families would just take 6 month vacations in Bath and leave all of their children who weren't at a marriageable age with the servants at home. In the kitchen, they would have a turnspit dog that ran in a hamster wheel above the fire to turn the spit to cook meat. They were a bit like wiener dogs, but they are extinct now. I wonder why... They had hot coals at the back of their feet in the wheel at first to train them.
The servants weren't allowed to make the tea because it was so expensive and the lady of the house wouldn't trust them. However, they could take the tea leaves after they were used and either drink them themselves or sell them to a used tea leaf dealer who would disguise them as new tea leaves. Thank God for food standards. Or not God. But I thank whomever who did that.
The guide in the lady's bedroom told us that she met her husband in the Assembly Rooms. (Notice that? Lady's room? Husbands and wives in the upper class didn't sleep together. They just had 16 kids magically.) She thought he was an absolute bore when she first met him. Since it was in the 60s, he had longer hair than she did, and frankly she was a bit disgusted. But somehow they got married and they have been happily together for 40 years. Brooke and I whisper-screamed in the stairs afterwards, "Mr. Darcy!"
In Jane Austen times, girls used the muslin dresses to their advantage. They would wet the material slightly before they went out dancing on the floor in order to show off their figures. Remember, knickers or any sort of underwear were considered improper at this time. Who ever thought that we dress racily today? Those girls were skanks. There was also an entire language with fans.
Some of my favorites:

Touching tip with finger - I wish to speak to you
Open wide - Wait for me
Presenting a number of sticks fan part open - At what hour?
Drawing through the hand - I hate you

These girls had an entire semaphore thing going on. It's almost as good as ants flirting with their antennae.

Next, we went to the fashion museum. And we tried on corsets and hoop skirts. No wonder they had such good posture. Corsets had whale bone in them.
Outside of the Assembly Rooms was a wedding with firemen. They had such a good time taking pictures on top of the firetruck. The bride's name was Arwen. Brooke and I had a small LoTR freak out. Dr. Hanks calls her Eowyn.

Next, Jane Austen exhibit thing. After the tour guide gave his schpeel, a 8 year old boy went right up to him and asked him how he knew all that stuff. We all laughed and the tour guide responded that he had studied a lot. Outside, a man dressed to the T in period introduced himself to me as Mr. Bingley and asked if my name was Jane. When I responded no, he said it was a pity that he could not marry me. He had the biggest smile on his ruddy face. Now I know what ruddy means. He was just the perfect gentleman and so believable as his character. Good job, Mr. Bingley.

My favorite part of today was having afternoon tea in the Pump Room over the Roman Baths. It was super high class and fancy. We got the Traditional High Tea. It was a lot of food, but we were determined to finish it. So, so delicious. We drank 4 pots of tea. There was a piano trio playing the entire time directly in front of us. They were actually good! They played Bach stuff and the general stuff that takes up time but not chops, but it was still extremely lovely and I had a huge smile on my face the whole time. The violinist had three rings on two fingers on her left hand. I never understood rings, especially while playing violin. But she still had perfectly good technique!

We then went to the Bath Abbey and participated in the Evensong service. There was a choir wearing blue robes from some church out of town. There were about 6 kids in front that got a bit antsy. They all exited in military fashion, doing a little twirl at the turn. The kids had a lot of fun with that. A little old lady stayed until everyone left so she could begin a slow mosey out of the sanctuary, not in military style.

Next, the Roman Baths. I love the mix of eras. The springs have been a worship spot for 7000 years (give or take a few millennia), the bath part was Roman, the columns and most of the structure was from the 1700s, and most of the museum was fairly recent. Some of it had just been excavated in the 70s.
Romans would write curses on pewter and throw them into the baths. Most of them were just complaints about how they had lost a robe at the baths.
We then headed home. We met some Texans in the train station who had apparently seen us wandering around Bath because of my distinctive pink peonies. They said they were going to a nice Italian restaurant. We saw where they went, but we went to a pizza place across the street in order to appear less stalkerish. The pizza was lovely and I tried a third a glass of white wine with it. I made lots and lots of faces. I should not drink wine at all in public places where it would be offensive to make faces. Don't worry, parents, I still have not had a full drink since I've been here. I just have never had wine with a meal before, and I can't legally have that experience in Texas yet. If you read this and think it's detrimental to my possible future success at getting a job, tell me and I'll take it down, but it looks pretty harmless to me right now.
Brooke and I left the peonies outside Maddee's door and a postcard sending our regards.
I am happy with today's proceedings. Bath isn't nearly as touristy as I thought it would be. Or maybe Brooke is just an amazing tour guide. Everything was just perfect.

Distraction

Hello,
Today was just nice and relaxing. Religion, Dr. Beck explained the difference between gargoyles and grotesques to me after class and how stonemasons just have a great sense of humor. Maddee and I went to lunch afterwords and got these delicious crescents at a place built in 1250.
Oh yeah. Just eating lunch in a place that was built just barely within the past millennium. What the heck, England? You're just so cool and casual about your awesome oldness. Anything past 1800 is considered "modern" where anything over 50 years old in Texas has a historical landmark. I still can't wrap my head around it all.
Then I practiced/got distracted by the internet for the entire afternoon in my room. I wrote some postcards while sitting in my window seat. I watched all the tourists go by and got a bit distracted. There were four little kids who were playing on the grass, just general frolicking. One girl in pink, about 8, showed off some awesome cartwheels. I know I have never been able to do cartwheels. My very few gymnastics lessons consisted of teachers being impressed by my lack of agility, and then teaching me to do somersaults. Thus, I was very pleased to see a 5 year old boy show off his somersaults. He started while she was doing her cartwheels, but she did not fulfill the duty of traveling. That little boy somersaulted across the entire quad after all his siblings and parents had already left. He was determined. When he got to the gravelly part, he just flailed his arms and legs to get to the next grass section as quickly as possible, and then proceeded to gleefully somersault like Link across Hyrule. I like that kid.

Before dinner I went to the ice cream place across the street and drank some tea while finishing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I sat at the bar looking over the street and just laid my head down as close to the book as possible so I could curl up in joy when Lucy and Susan romped around Narnia with the resurrected Aslan. I don't care if Tolkien thought it was too allegorical. I like it and it makes me curl up and start giggling in public places. End of story.
I got to watch all the people go by. My favorite was a professor wearing circular coke bottle glasses, a straw hat, a suit, and a polka dot bowtie, riding a bicycle. I had always wished that people like this existed, but for some reason I expected that these marvelous works of art only exist in the realm with talking animals and elves, not actual Oxford.
Then, dinner. There were several crashes for some reason. I think there were some new workers. Lauren firmly believes in Sasquatches, but not Yeti, and thinks that the existence of Sasquatches makes far more sense than how the internet works.
After dinner, Sam played guitar in the stairwell and did a great job. We get to hear Christine play piano on Monday night! I love this extended talent show after dinner thing we have going on. I feel like there should always be some casual music after dinner. I love this group of people.
Marilynn asked me if I would go over to the Oxford Experience party and play at the director's house. One of the tutors was in a fit of laughter looking over at us, so I could see that probably wasn't going to work, even if it did sound like fun. But it was still very sweet of Marilynn to invite me. I introduced her to a good portion of our group, and we all agreed that we love old people.
Well, oh gracious world, thank you for listening to my story for the day. Tomorrow, Brooke and I and maybe Maddee depending on how she is feeling go to Bath. I'm super excited! We get to see Jane Austen stuff.
I don't feel like I'm in a place that really exists. Watching Inception while I was here blew my mind because I already felt like I was in a dream.

Creation

We met a Texan at breakfast this morning! He asked us about Ken Starr and how we felt about him.
In Oxford Christians today, Dr. Hanks had us all sing "our note" as loud as we could, and we could change it around just for funsies. I had fun being the one ruining the whole thing with sevenths and ninths and just plain out of tune notes. Yes, I played the part of Melchior. Brooke did a lit bit of opera on top. Dr. Hanks motioned everyone to be piano and brought her out and we all started laughing. But his point was about human subcreation and how every thought we have and every sentence we form is creating something. We argued about whether all music or art is heavenly or not. It was just a fascinating class, and we all continued the discussion throughout the afternoon. I love discussing that sort of thing.
I personally believe that you can see a bit of God or heaven in all music, no matter what circumstance inspired it or how dirty and horrific the lyrics are. Even if it isn't "great" music, it wouldn't be played if it didn't bring at least one person joy or comfort and out of a bad moment. The inspiration doesn't really matter. It's all about how a person perceives the music and how awesome it is that a person could even create music in the first place or how people can play it and somehow communicate such raw ideas through their hands or voices. If you disagree with me or don't understand what I'm saying, please email me or comment, and I would love to continue the discussion.

We then went to the Kilns and had a tour of Lewis's home. You have no idea how much I spazzed out. We got to feed the ducks that Lewis and Tolkien fed. We got to enter Narnia and Middle Earth. Agh! I might just go back tomorrow and just spend the whole day in those woods that Lewis walked through to work and with Warner and everyone...

Oh, it was just great. We'll all have to go sometime. You can actually stay in his house! It still functions, and students can live there and go to Oxford. I would love to die there. The house is so rambling and has so many bay windows and flowers...
I'm completely incoherent, I apologize, but I just had one of those life moments today. Our group apparently seemed very interested, because Dr. Hanks said that the tour guide gave us the longest and best tour he has ever given that Dr. Hanks has ever had in the Kilns throughout all the years he has visited. The tour guide shook my hand and asked for name.
I knew it pays to take notes and look interested.
Okay, just a couple of stories.

Old Tom was their cat. He was a mouser, but he had lost all his teeth. The cook wanted to put him to sleep, but Lewis was fond of the old guy. Lewis had the cook buy fresh fish for the cat every other day. Once when Lewis and Tolkien were walking, Old Tom crossed in front of them. Lewis stopped, took of his hat, and did a little bow saying "That's the old pensioner."
Puddleglum in the Silver Chair was based off of their gardner. Lewis was a bit obsessed about stuff not changing, especially nature. In order to cut a limb off of the tree, he had to wait until Lewis took a nap, and then he would cover it with mud to cover up his destructive pruning.
The gardner was also paranoid that the Germans would attack Oxford and built them a bomb shelter in the woods.
Joy Davidman used to take out her shotgun and shoot animals in the garden.
They all smoked so much that one of the layers of paint was entirely yellow with tobacco.

The original Eagle and Child sign looks like this, and they have it in the garage-converted-to-library now. Someone bought it for 10 pounds when they were replacing it. Remind you of a certain eagle and wizard and hobbit?
When we came into the kitchen, Debbie gave us delicious cookies, warm out of the oven. You could see a wild garden with orchids and roses out of the shutter windows from the kitchen.
I was just home! When I find my notes, I'll tell you more.
We went to see C. S. Lewis's grave and his parish church afterwards. He actually went to church with the butchers and shop owners like he writes in the Screwtape Letters. Oh my dear Wormwood...
I felt as though I saw my entire childhood coming alive in front of me. This is one happy little girl!

After we got back and had dinner, we went to the Eagle and Child. Jaclyn read some of her poetry she had written and Caleb read a short story called "The Monster." There we were, hearing new work they had just written, discussing it afterwards. That's what it's about. Creation.

Inklings Walk

After religion, I got to talk to Dr. Hanks a bit at tea. We talked about inert ideas of faith as children and how those ideas fall down at the first sign of trouble. I told him I thought my faith was a bit wishy-washy, and he reassured me that thinking about intellectually was what Jesus asked since he added "and with all your mind" to the whole "love the Lord" verse. That was very reassuring. Sometimes I need to hear someone encourage me where I'm at rather than telling me at the end of a discussion that I'll eventually come to the "right" conclusion.
After tea, I started on my Inklings journey. All of the pictures are on facebook, and I posted most of what I did on the pictures, so you can check those out if you want nitty gritty details.
Here is an excerpt from my Oxford Christians Journal. I'm turning this next bit in for a grade, so if you see any errors or you would like to pick at a point, feel free to comment and destroy it.

I am currently sitting in the White Horse, eating fish and chips and reading The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. It is easy to imagine the Inklings meeting here. It must have been quite crowded. Perhaps they would have sat up on the second level in the corner. There are two older men with beer sitting there right now, discussing something in low heavy voices not in English. I feel as if it must be something very important. I am almost glad that I cannot understand what they are saying, or else it would destroy my imagination of what serious and heavy topics they discuss. The Pevensies were sent out to the countryside because of the war. The Inklings were sent out of the Eagle and Child because of the war. So, the war very much affected every aspect of Lewis’s life. They must have felt a bit more cramped here than in their normal haunt. Still, the atmosphere is set for inspiration and discussion of very important things, and I am sure they still enjoyed every moment of conversation and last drop of beer. I talked with a man at the bar, and he said the last time he had been there was forty years ago. I asked him if anything had changed. He said nothing, except the prices were higher and the food was better. It was apparently just “pub grub” before. Poor Inklings having nothing good to eat there and a beer shortage to limit the loosening of the tongue.

I have relocated to King Arm’s pub. The bartender laughed at me when I asked him if I could buy any beer glasses. I just got some tea, and now I am people watching. It is much more spacious and well-lit here. This probably didn’t cramp their style quite as much, but probably didn’t inspire as deep of conversation here. It reminds me much more of the frivolity of hobbits, singing and dancing and enjoying their drink. Tolkien had to imagine such happy beings in a place like this.

I am now sitting on a little park on a bench in University College. I can see how Lewis could imagine the four Pevensies running away from the busy Mcready and finding themselves suddenly in a world of peace and nature like Narnia. The High is full of cars that threaten to knock over pedestrians and give certain death to animals. But as soon as you pass through the magical gates of University College along Logic Lane, silence pervades the atmosphere, and a little bench pops up, inviting you to sit underneath the bulbous tree with fungi and knots everywhere. I feel like I must be breaking some rule sitting here, but no one has caught me yet. Lewis loved University College, and it’s obvious why. It’s a perfect oasis in the midst of chaos.

End of journal.
After the Great Hall dinner, I got to play in the stairwell where Harry Potter was filmed. I played the allemande and its double of Bach's first partita. It was super fun. The acoustics sounded great, rebounding everywhere and making me feel less scared. Our whole Baylor group and some of the Oxford Experience people stopped on the stairs stopped and watched and applauded. One of the Oxford Experience group people asked if I had been hired to play for them. I forgot about the whole getting paid thing.
I then did laundry, and definitely forgot about it entirely until an hour ago. But that means I got to put on hot pajamas out of the dryer. Best feeling ever, hands down. It's being hugged all over by something warm.
My foot's asleep. Perhaps it's trying to tell me I should go to sleep.

Tea and Spades

Hello!
So, I changed the design to another template to show how I like looking at rain through a window a lot. But I just used the template. Me and super creative web design have just never really explored our relationship to any great extent. I also enabled comments so anybody can comment, not just people who have fancy google accounts. I like hearing from friends and family, so feel free to spam me if thy wish.
Today was lovely.

I had my midterm and studied for it a bit last minute out on the side of Tom Quad. Just warning you, it's illegal to sit on the East side of the quad. Apparently, if tourists see you sitting there, they will swarm and all sit down, and by the expression of the man who told me thus, they will actually rip your flesh and bones apart and make a nice picnic of you. So, no East side, because that's the only side tourists are allowed to be on. We can just make them jealous by sitting on the North, South, and West sides by just looking cool, being all scholarly. I kind of love being able to not be a tourist. Hmmm. Oh, silly Americans. Hehe, that's fun to say.
Midterm was all right. I completely made up the third paragraph of my essay, but that's what the third paragraph is always for in my book: balogna sandwiches.
Then, I went to study in a little corner of the JCR. There are window seats everywhere. It kind of makes my day to sit in a window and drink tea.
Next, I prepared to take the Inklings walk and called Brooke to see if she would like to join. She was apparently in class. Oops. I called out to Lauren who had her window open if she would like to join me. She informed me that we had class in an hour. Somehow I had entirely forgotten that class was on Monday/Thursday, not Tuesday/Thursday. I am very glad that I called out to Lauren, or else I would have been a very confused little girl walking around the streets of Oxford, just reading some Narnia in random pubs. Inklings walk is tomorrow.

Class was great! We just met in the JCR. I definitely said some thing that were completely off and Dr. Hanks just looked at me with gyrating eyebrows and his book covering the rest of his expression like in Home Improvement. He told me to read the part of Jesus in Dorothy Sayer's play. I had gotten a bit bored because everyone was doing normal voices, so I did a nice silly voice for the part of Jesus, and many cried out blasphemy, so I had to tone it down a bit... I am used to reading stuff like Plato and Shakespeare for Great Texts out loud with Andrew and Rachel and we get super bored super fast, so every voice must be entirely different and annoying enough to keep us awake. Apparently, Jesus is supposed to be more blasé...
After that, Maddee and I had tea in my room until dinner. We had a lovely 3 hour girl talk about everything, giggling and telling each other everything that popped into our heads. I hadn't had an unrestrained heart-to-heart over tea in a while, and I definitely needed it. Hmmm. I feel much better now. I had forgotten that tea is not only for personal relaxation, but it is meant for conversation and providing an arena to get to know someone new or old. I had meant to be productive this afternoon, but I think it was worth it. Maddee, if you read this, I think you're a great person. Maddee likes jazz dance, ultimate frisbee, reading, and is just a really cool person to talk with. You should meet her.

Then dinner. We had fowl. I love dinner in the Great Hall, but every night is a struggle for water. The glasses are tiny. All the Oxford Experience people are drinking wine, but we have no alcohol, so the water is our staple liquid. But there is only one pitcher per 6 or 8 people, and we Texans get thirsty. And since the tables are extra long, it's hard to get the attention of the server. I wish I could just get up myself and bring back 2 big pitchers of ice water and pour everyone a nice glass like I do at home. One thing I look forward to in Texas is a huge cup of Bush's sweet tea. Big is important. Ice important. Lots of sugar is important.
After dinner, the Morris Men danced yet again. They apparently dance every Monday night for the sake of the Oxford Experience group.

Then I came back to my room, practiced for a little bit, and then Jaclyn knocked on my door. We played spades with Caleb and his cousin up in Jaclyn's room, and even though Julie and I lost, it was a nice fair game where we discussed identity, faith crisis, and what is important in our lives. Jaclyn's light was broken, so deep discussion was requisite.
It's been a good day. I may have relaxed a bit more than I expected, but every moment was valuable in itself. I had been kind of recluse except for the traveling part. I think that's the first time I have actually had someone in my room... I am used to having girls in my room for tea at least a few times a week in my dorm. It's good to be restored to normality.

Living today

Hello!
Today I went to the Anglican service in the Christ Church Cathedral. There was an American woman helping with the service. It was pretty awesome, just not what I was expecting in an Anglican church in Oxford. I forget that Anglicans are not sexist.
We went to lunch at EAT. There were pomegranates in my fruit cup! They have these little places where you can get a sandwich in a box for pretty cheap, like Pret A Manger, and it's surprisingly delicious.


I then went shopping, got a little black dress and a fun red dress with buttons. I tried on my dresses in the men's room because there were not enough women's rooms.
Then I got freesias for two pounds on the street. I talked with the guy who was selling them for a while. Apparently, most florists in England get their flowers from Holland, so it's fairly legit. He has always wanted to go to America and likes skyscrapers more than castles. I begged to differ. Darren is about 40ish or something, and he gave me a kiss on the cheek as he shook my hand. Question: is that socially norm for England? I thought that was a French or Spanish thing, but I hadn't encountered that here yet.
When I got back to the porter's lounge to ask for some laundry detergent, I ended up talking to the Porter's for a while. They were shocked that I had gone to Wales and had just gone to the Dr. Who exhibit. The idea of Baylor confounded them, they wondered if we would go around trying to convert them. I assured that I wouldn't, but who knows if someone on the trip approached them. One of the guys asked names so he could find them and have a good argument.
I then headed back to my room, studied, practiced, and had lots of tea.
Dinner was quite nice. I got to sit next to Mrs. Dr. Hanks. We talked about how she has gone through multiple careers, and each experience compounded. So, I don't have to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life right now. :) I like that.
There is a new group on campus, and they are all clergy with clerical collars. They took up two big tables, so I'm sure that I'll get to have lots of fun conversations at breakfast!
I got back, and we group studied in Becca's room for the midterm, and then I got to videochat with Daniel.
It has been quite a lovely Sunday. No pictures today. I've just been living for the day, no touring.

Dr. Who

I have locked myself in my room tonight so I will practice for auditions and study for my mid-term, but that doesn't mean I can't take a blog break.
We went to Wales today. Brooke, Maddee, and I got on the train at 7:37 this morning. I accidentally dropped my chocolate croissant on the ground right before I got on the train, but I was hungry, so I ate that thing. I'm not dead or anything telling like that. I have decided I would like to travel by first class train with a view of English countryside everywhere. I would love to travel to Baylor by train, to Austin by train, to Dallas by train, all with a view of English sheep and free tea and biscuits in my tummy. And biscuits that are actually cookies. Not the biscuity kind of biscuits.

We eventually got to Cardiff. We got lost, and headed the entirely opposite direction of that which we intended. However, this let us see some pretty nifty parts of the city. It's so clean! There were street cleaners everywhere to make sure it was so. There were flower trees. I know, you may be thinking of a tree with blossoms or something like that. No. A metal tree with scores of huge arrangements of flowers hanging down from the "branches." The UK just has flowers everywhere. You can buy flowers at every gas station, train station, tube station, and street corner. Sorry, I know you were hoping for a nice tricolon with a repetition of station, but there are just that many flower stands that I can't contain in it in grammatical parallelism.
There was a little girl playing an accordion. Not extremely well, and she only used the piano looking part, but she did let us know when we had walked full circle. Welsh kids may be more adorable than British kids. There was a carousel in the middle of the street, and only one little girl was riding with her parents watching. She was in one of the tea cups, and was spinning herself as fast as she possibly could, wildly giggling like a super villain who had just formulated her plan. That tea cup could be her vehicle of destruction of the world.
We walked by a hair salon. A lady came out of it with her white hair perfectly poised for stardom. I complimented it as she walked past it. She laughed and told me in her really cool accent that she hadn't gotten it done today, laughed again and walked on.
We eventually found the tourist information center. They found out the directions while I bought sheep poo paper. I'm just not very good with directions, so my plan on this trip so far has been to stick with people who know how to figure it out, entertain them with my wit, and perhaps they'll let me stay.
You have got to know that Cardiff smells wonderfully. We saw seagulls and felt the tiniest drops of rain every so often, but the temperature never got outside of a perfect breeze that freshened our touristy legs.

We got on a bus and went to the Dr. Who exhibit. I was giving Maddee a massage as she sat in front of me. Some random dude sat next to her, and I accidentally brushed him with my massaging hands. I got a weird look.
Dr. Who was pretty sweet. So, I don't really know much about Dr. Who, by the way. I have seen about 4 or 5 episodes each with different group settings. But it was still really freaking sweet looking. There were strobe lights and projections of the tv episode that each nick nack or outfit was from. The BBC may not be so great with special effects, but all of the costumes were super neat and told a story of their own.
I got a few gifts on the way out for my friends that have let me know that they are hardcore Dr. Who fans. I think my pile and my presence somehow made the checkout lady think I was a super hardcore fan. She took about five minutes to launch into a discussion about the differences between the 10th and 11th doctor, and how Matt's character seemed more disjointed because of the conflicting inner inspiration and outer instructions from the director. I did a lot of nodding and agreeing, trying to see how far I could go. I had only seen one of the three episodes she asked if I had seen, but it didn't seem to phase her at all. Thank you, Webbons, for letting me watch the one about Venice and vampires while I stayed at your house.
So, trip to Wales was a success. We then ate at a Mexican restaurant across the parking lot because we couldn't figure out how to get across the street. I got quesadillas, but they had potatoes and saffron in them. Super weird. But that's what I get for going to a Mexican restaurant in Wales.
When we walked back into Christ Church, the bells were ringing like in the wedding in the Sound of Music and the little boy has the time of his life jumping up and down on the ropes. You guessed right! There was a wedding. And a high class one. Every woman over the age of forty wore ridiculously huge hats. And the groom wore a kilt. Hence, it was classy.

Windsor, Abbey Road, Sherlock Holmes, club

Today was unexpected.

After class, Lauren asked me if I would like to go see Windsor Castle. I agreed readily, and 11 of us piled onto a train to Windsor. We met an older British couple on the train who were apart of a Railway Club. They go every Friday night to watch films about trains and take preserved steam trains around the country. Next year is a locomotive convention in Paris.
Windsor was pretty cool looking. We didn't pay to go in however, since our BH passes didn't work and it cost 14.50 pounds. I suggested Legoland, which our BH passes did cover, but no one was interested... Oh well. Legoland will happen!

We then took the train to London and finished up our touristy things to do. We took pictures walking across Abbey Road. We went to the Sherlock Holmes museum. We went to the Beatles London store. Christine, Alyssa, and I went to Herrod's (spelling) which was crazy expensive and frankly frightened me. We then went to H&M. Much cheaper and more welcoming.
In the train station on the way back to Oxford, a community band started playing in the middle of the station. They gave a whole concert. Everyone waiting for his train stopped and watched for most of the concert. Everyone applauded and cheered after each song. I felt like I was a part of some greater moment that ripped out of mundanity and let us peer into beauty in the moments of just waiting.

We took the train back Oxford. The sunset was perfect. I wrote postcards as I sat in first class, drinking free tea with milk. I like trains. A lady who was just a bundle of joy in a small package from Dublin helped us find our way back to Christ Church. I never met anyone so enthusiastic with directions before; she even walked with us half the way. Thank you random Irish lady. Your "th" sounds are absolutely adorable.
When we got back to Christ Church, Jaclyn invited us to go to a club with a group. It was actually quite a bit of fun. I got to show off all my nerdy moves like the grocery shopping, and the sign language bird from napoleon dynamite. We left a bit early. No drinks, don't worry, Mom.

Inception, master's garden, rain from window, and practicing

We just saw Inception. Gargh. Blagh! I loved it, but the ending made me leap forward and audibly groan. I had to make a little tome with my ticket to play with to keep myself sane during the movie. I just a long bath with rubber duckies and religion reading for tomorrow's class. How could that possibly be a dream someone would make up for me?
Today was wonderful. I woke up and shuffled down to the Great Hall for breakfast and ate with Marilynn and her husband. I had cereal and tea. I skipped the eggs and black pudding and bacon part (the bacon is like slabs of ham, I haven't quite gotten used to the lack of grease, and I still don't want to know what's in black pudding.)

I then went to the Master's garden and reskimmed everything for religion and started studying for the midterm which I thought was tomorrow, but that's on Monday. It was still a lovely morning in the Master's garden. I could watch the sun rise through the clouds over Merton College from my little bench. I relocated near the Jabberwocky tree, and then I ventured into a little alcove where colorful weeds escaped from every crack in the stone. I felt like I was in my own personal paradise, created especially to let little girls know that they were home. I got a bit distracted and took pictures of all the flowers.
I then headed to class, and took notes on my laptop. She took notes on her laptop when she had a guest professor come in, so I assume that's all right. I had never done such a thing before, but my handwriting is horrible, and it's much easier to search through notes with ctrl f than hurting my eyes trying to look for a word amongst my scribbles. Also, the click of the keys is quite satisfying. This blogging has been an utter joy to see white space fill up with the click clack by my fingertips. And there are actually a few people reading this, unlike my illegible diaries and notes that I don't even read. I'll have to see if I can get a scratch-n-sniff sticker on my laptop that smells like old book. Then it would just be perfect, even if Mom would be allergic to the scent. I mean that as a joke. No scratch-n-sniff stickers for me. That's just for blondes at the bottom of a pool to make them drown. Blondes, that's a joke, too. It's just the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of scratch-n-sniff.
Right. Then, I printed off some music for our little concert in the afternoon.

And I got a fresh waffle off the street next to the ice cream shop. The guy selling waffles apparently used to coach football. It took me just a second longer than it should have for me to realize he wasn't talking about American football.
Then, lunch in my window sill with nutella waffle, milk, and tea. Perfect lunch. Nutella comes in glass jars here!

I read Dorothy Sayers for Oxford Christians as I drank my tea and looked out the window. I drew the curtain around me so I felt like I was in my own bird's nest up in the corner overlooking the quad and the tourists walking around below. Thunder cracked. Tourists screamed. Rain poured. Tourists hid. I bundled up with a blanket and watched the proceedings with great interest, safely in my own window seat with a blanket and a cup of tea. I like watching rain. I felt like I was Jane Eyre, hiding in between the window and the deep maroon curtains, watching the gray rain pour against the glass, enthralled in a book. Okay, so mine was a play, and hers was a picture book about birds, but I still felt one with the great literary character.
I then went to Oxford Christians. We read some portions of the Man Born to Be King out loud. I played the whiny Ephraim and had a little too much fun with it.
Next, I practiced a bit. I met Marilynn and her friends, Tony and Karen by the music room. It was locked, so we talked about great topics like war, death, and sexism for about 10 minutes until one of us realized that there was no one in the room. We got Peter to open it up for us. They have a Steinway and a harpsichord in there! It was great fun. I played Bach Partita III Rondo, a bit more of Lalo before I forgot it again, and the rest of Ashokan Farewell. They were very gracious. I really just like playing with or for people or just by myself.
Apparently everyone in the quad could hear me practicing today... Oops. I was wondering why Andrew was waving at me. They were all just sitting there on the steps watching. I had just put my music in one of the panes of the window and played looking out, and they can see and hear me, too....
Oh well.
Dinner was delicious. I got to eat with Dr. and Mrs. Hanks, Christine, Brooke, and Chelsea.
It was lovely.

Embarrassing

I still feel very, very tiny.
I met Marilynn, a grandmother, with the Oxford Experience group this morning during breakfast who apparently loves the violin. I asked if she would like to hear me play, and we made a date to meet at 3 in the afternoon and then we would find a spot from there.
I arrive at 3 spot on with jeans and a t-shirt on, and she and her husband are waiting for me. Peter the director of the Oxford Experience said that I could play in the Cathedral in a little side room. He said there was a German film crew, but not to worry, they were only recording visual. He then told me a very sweet story about a brass quartet that were in informal jeans, tshirts, and silly hats, and rather boozed up, but when they started playing, the whole quad of uniformed students stopped their snickering and became quiet. Don't worry, that wasn't to happen to me.
We walk across the quad, and one of Marilynn's friends saw us and joined us. Peter escorts us, and the two sweet ladies at the front handing out brochures direct me over to the lectern that I could use as a music stand. It was off in the side, but hardly a little room. Tourists were all around and it was a very exposed spot. I unpack, already committed, and just a little bit excited about getting to play in Christ Church Cathedral. Bach is perfect for that, right? I only had music for Partita 1 allemande, which was a bit rough, but I had nothing else and my memory is famous for giving out. I had accidentally grabbed the wrong part. Dr. Eka made me a part that had combined the allemande and the double so you could see how they both had the same chord progression. So I had to skip around and turn some more pages, but no big deal.
They look at me, and make motions for me to play. Some tourists start sitting in the 10 rows of chairs in front of me.
So begins. Did I tell you that it's really hard to play double stops of the first line of Bach's 1st partita allemande in tune? Did I tell you that it's especially hard to play any of the double stops in tune if you haven't warmed up?
Anyways, what I had thought would just be playing for one lady in her room turned out to be me royally butchering Bach in God's and a bunch of tourists' ears and faces. I could hear every out of tune chord echoing to the very edges of a very large cathedral. Hundreds of tourists could hear, and would wander near to see what was creating the mess.
So, the awkward page turn in the middle of some weird V chord, waiting to resolve. As soon as I reach my hand forward, a very angry looking woman in maroon robes rushes up to me and gives me the look of the ages. "Were you booked? What are you doing? Did you know that there is a film crew shooting at this very moment?" I apologized and said I had been told they were only shooting visual, she exploded, "No! They recording audio!"
So, my butchering of Bach is now on some German film. Poor Bach.
Anyways, we were shooed out, and our little party relocated to Karen's rooms.
They really knew violin music. I played through my Bach allemande and double slightly more in tune. They asked for more, so I played the first page of Wienowski, until I hit the fingered octaves that I hadn't gotten yet. Then I played the first page of Lalo until my memory gave out. Still asking for more, I played a random hymn that I don't even remember the name of, but it was under my fingers. They were very sweet, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but I was frankly just out of music. My memory is the size of a teaspoon, especially in front of people, and I had left my huge binder of all the stuff I had played with at home. Karen asked if I had played Mozart 4 and 5, Rick asked if I knew Sibelius or Mendelssohn. This was an educated crowd in Oxford. Marilynn's father had apparently been a violinist in Russia and had been asked to join St. Petersburg's conservatory before the war. I played a little bit of Ashokan farewell and finished with "I come to the garden," but I have never felt so empty of music before. I'm playing for them again tomorrow at 4:30 in the music room, and they have invited their friends already. I did enjoy it, but what am I going to play? Shall I IMSLP it up and come up with a program or something?
Phew. I'm used to Katie who just gives me the hymn book and sings alto along with me. They were extremely kind and sweet, and I thoroughly enjoyed their company, but I'm still shaking from the woman in maroon robes chasing me down.
Well, tomorrow I'm actually booked, so no Catface McCormick giving me stern looks and twitching her wand hopefully. Or German film crews.
I still can't believe I got to play in there, even if only for a minute and badly. And I do like getting to know people outside of the Baylor in Oxford group. Good experience, just shaky.

Shorter than Stonehenge

Stonehenge: Cool. Rocks. Old.
Train: Awesome. Very British lady across from us really likes to walk.
Dinner: STEAK.

Hello world!

Today we had class outside in the afternoon with a picnic. So, we actually held class about the Return of the King in the same gardens that Tolkien may have been pondering about the same things we discussed. We all got sandwiches and had a lovely picnic. Dr. Hanks gave us Turkish Delights for dessert, in true Inklings style. I actually felt prepared for class today. When he asked if LoTR was written just for men or for both, I frantically nodded it was written for women as well. I hugged my knees and raved for a short bit about Faramir and Eowyn and the relationships throughout the trilogy. Mmmmm... it's just so juicy. I totally had forgotten about all the romantic scenes and when Faramir and Eowyn kiss on top of the wall for everyone to see, hair tangling in the wind. Corny, but oh-so-satisfying.

Anywho, we went out later on and read on the same garden after class. We met a woman from the Netherlands who was apart of the Oxford Experience group. She was taking an Introduction to Classical Music class. She had the most beautiful way of putting everything, describing how she had never thought that music had the same structure of poetry and where the phrases led. I wish I could remember exactly what she said, but in that moment in the gardens, it felt like she was speaking the greatest truth I had ever beheld.
Jaclyn, Caleb, and I went over to the other end and read the first play of Dorothy Sayer's "The Man Born to be King" aloud in all the voices and actions. I got up and ran around when Proclus was supposed to leave and all that sort of thing. It was delightful. We were reading her radio play aloud in the very gardens where she may have done the same thing, pondering her thoughts aloud and discussing with others.
I then met a very soft cat, and she chilled with me a bit, delighting in the attention and petting I gave her.
Dinner in the Great Hall was great. We talked with a professor from California whose first name was Judith. She went to Baylor and was tagging along in order to do some research at the Bodlein Library. How I would love to be able to go in there and smell some manuscripts. It's crazy how much stuff they have. Anywho, she told us about some shootings in the 1890's in downtown Waco, and the feud in the 50s between the religion and theater departments and how a relief in the side of the Tidwell building has Jesus reaching out to the Lost Lamb, or where the theater director's office used to be. Ironically, that theater building was torn down and is now the office of the University Chaplain.

We then watched some great, hilarious, fake, ceremonial dancing. They were some funny dudes.

Then, the Eagle and Child, or as it is more affectionately known, the Bird and the Baby.
I got tea, don't worry parents. We played spades and discussed a bit more of LoTR that we didn't cover in class. I felt like I was drinking tea and playing Spades with Lewis and Tolkien themselves.
When we got back, we read the other Dorothy Sayers play aloud up in Jaclyn's room. 6 people made the voices a bit easier, but by the time I was supposed to be Judas Iscariot, my voice kept slipping into different characters and Jenny remarked that he had developed multiple personalities.
Anyways, it's been wonderful. I even got to practice in between breaks, and no one has complained yet. Tomorrow is Stonehenge

The rest of nothing day

Hello!
I spent the rest of the afternoon reading in my window, and then outside in Tom Quad on the stone, watching hundreds of visitors, and scores of graduates looking even more official in comparison with their robes and fancily dressed girlfriends. I even saw some wedding pictures, and then the couple proceeded to drive out in a rolls royce out in the middle of the quad.
Agh. Crazy Oxford graduates with their rolls royces. The mom was hilarious, following them at every angle, trying to get as many pictures as possible. I had the perfect vantage point. I lied stomach down on a stone with my sweater underneath my elbows and my picnic dress with cabbages on. LoTR was perfect, since I was just getting to all the sunny happy parts, and the sun was warming my back. I had forgotten how incredibly sweet was the budding of Faramir's and Eowyn's romance. I felt so girly, savoring every detail, and smiling when their hands clasped without either of them knowing.
I mean, the war parts are great, but I'm a girl, and I had always been very sympathetic to Eowyn's plight of being the little sister who is told to stay at home.
mmmmm.
Anyways, I did laundry. Then, I went to town in order to find a place to read, but I found a Levi's. I walked up to the workers and told them that I had never found a pair of jeans that fit right and I was absolutely clueless to how sizes and styles worked. Some guy put me in the dressing room and handed me jeans one at a time, and I think I tried on ten pairs of jeans that all sort of fit, but only one pair hit the spot right on. He looked at every pair and helped me figure it all out. I didn't have to do a thing! That's the way to shop. Even one pair I wasn't sure about, he quickly told me that it would never work and I had to try something else. Most o the time they lie. I asked them afterwards, but apparently, he used to work there and was just visiting, but since it was a busy season and he liked helping people, he just hopped in and started handing people jeans. He really works at a restaurant down the street.
No matter who he was, he found me some jeans that work and I thank him for finding me the one pair of jeans that fit, and they were half off, too.
And I bought a little sweater so I could wear my cabbage dress to Harry Potter hall.
Dinner was delicious.
Chocolate tart with a anglaise cream sauce thingy.
Then, practicing violin for the first time in a long while. It felt good. I just stuck my music inside the window, and looked out over the square, and then stuck the music in the side of the mirror for gritty technical work.
A nice long bath in a raised bathtub with both hot and cold taps and LoTR in my hands once again.
This is the life.
I think someone up there thought of all the material things in life that I loved and put them all in one day and place for me. Someone has got to be looking out for me. The people are great, but I miss y'all, too. We should all come together sometime and have dinner in the Great Hall together. I'm not sure if you can do that, but if you can, family reunion 2040 is planned.

My new room!

I am so happy.
This room is great. Sonto was very sweet and Jaclyn let me stay on her couch last night so I could stay in this stairwell. I think I got the best room in Christ Church. I have a couch, two chairs, a desk, fridge, three bookshelves, a wardrobe, two window seats with a beautiful view of Peckwater Quad, a perfect bed, a board filled with all my memorabilia, a sink, and all of my friends in the rooms to the side, up, and down. Life can't get much better. I also have the closest room to the toilet. Kaching!
I just wanted to say that I am very, very happy in this moment. I needed a day just to chill in a beautiful room to myself. Sonto talked with me all this morning, and she gave Jaclyn and I life lessons about love, divorce, taking care of yourself, just everything. She apparently only has 2 kids, the third one was a miscarriage, but you can tell that she still considers it her child. Her husband is still in South Africa. She always wanted to go to the UK, Hollywood, and Texas, and now she gets to be in the UK, fulfilling her dreams. She is just fascinating. I told her she must visit me if she comes to Texas.
She said she fought for me because she saw that I was already friends with the girls around room 8. Also, it's the biggest room in the stairwell. I didn't even ask, but she fought for me.
She told us that she is our mother and our scout, not our maid. She wants us to be healthy, and that is why she cleans. She brags that she has the shiniest stairwell in all of the quad, and we can check it out if we really want to compare.
Oh, frabjous day, callooh, callay!

Arriving in Hogwarts

Hello!
Today, we came to Oxford.
We held class on the first part of Return of the King on the bus with Dr. Hanks. We could hear surprisingly well. Brooke and Andrew know everything about LoTR, and it was so much fun just to listen to everything they had to say. Everyone here has the same strange interests, and I love it.
When we first arrive, I was dead tired. I don't know why, but bus trips just take the life out of me. We took our stuff into our rooms. I walk up the two flights of stairs up to my room. It was so beautiful. The parlor was huge, and there were two perfect window seats that looked over the quad, sunlight streaming in. I teared up a bit. I have always wanted a window seat. I climbed in and just stared out for while. There was a service table with an electric kettle, milk, and sugar for tea (Yeah, i just used the Oxford comma in Oxford.) However, I walked into the bedroom, opened the wardrobe, and clothes were still in there. :(
Sonto, our awesome custodian, came in and I asked her about the stuff. Apparently, some older lady hadn't moved out yet and she was supposed to check out today. Sonto saw that I was already close friends with the girls in this stairwell, so she asked the supervisor if I could stay in another girl's room and then move back into it tomorrow instead of moving to another quad. Thank you, Sonto! One night of Jaclyn's couch for three weeks of the best room in the whole quad for three weeks is totally worth it.
I was quickly rejuvenated with a cream cheese bagel, tea, and a brownie with some girls at an ice cream place across the street.
We then had a tour of Christ Church by an hilarious man in a hat.

He showed us the Jabberwocky tree! And the keyhole where Alice looked into the Forbidden Garden! I was just in ecstasy.
Seriously, wonderful. I will show pictures tomorrow.
I then went grocery shopping for a party. I got red and white sparkling grape juice, dr pepper, scones, crumpets, mars candie, and an assortment of cadbury chocolates. Sonto apparently has a second job at the grocery store, so she helped me check out, too! She took my cups and put them to the side, telling me where the secret place of all the fancy glasses were, and that I could use those as long as I didn't break or spill anything. I made many promises after many insistings.
Sonto is a really cool person. She is a grandmother, and her three kids and their kids still live in South Africa. She hasn't gotten to visit them since 2007, but she's very proud and wants to go back soon. She is extremely sweet and has already made me feel completely at home.
The security guard at the supermarket, Victor, loves American accents and traveling, but has never gone to the States. He has been in Oxford for three years and loves it.
The guards are also very nice. One of them saw me carrying sparkling grape juice, and he got very close into my face and inquired if I had any beer. He was about in his 70s, and had a big round face, a black hat, and one eye that permanently squinted. He said if I had beer, he was going to the party, and he would break dance. I should youtube him apparently. His name is Norman.

We then ate in the Great Hall. I got in a long debate with someone about something. I had to. It's the Great Hall, which apparently isn't actually where they filmed dinner scenes. They built a replica because Christ Church students couldn't possibly take a 4 week break from food.
But I left my purse and camera in there, but we'll have breakfast in the morning, so all is well.
We just had our party, and got on the roof. Someone down at the ground played guitar, and I played violin on the roof. Okay, so we couldn't actually play together, and I only just played a c scale once, but I still played a fiddle on the roof, goshdarnit.
The moon was orange and bells rang. Super unreal.
Anyways, time for sleep. That's the plan for tomorrow as well.

Last full day in London

Quick post today.

Tower of London=incredible. Our tourguide was neat. The yeoman wanderers, (tour guides) actually live in the Tower of London with their families. They get locked in at 10 every night. He had all the kids up front and would keep them entertained. He made everyone have a lane so the kids could get to walk up in front and see everything.
Lunch= pizza, tea, and chocolate cake.

St. Paul's: beautiful. As Dr. Hank's wife said, the whole place had a unity of purpose about it. It was just perfect, there is no other way to describe it. In the back was a chapel dedicated to the American soldiers who died in World War II.
We went up to the top, and it was super windy. On the stairs down (257+191), I met a theory teacher who apparently knows Dr. Millar and Dr. Benegoph. Small world!
We then went to Wimbledon. We got a little bit lost, and we were 20 minutes late after the museum closed, but Christine, Brittany, and I had a wonderful time. We bought postage stamps, an adapter for me, and I bought some t-shirts and a polka dot teal dress with ruffles for 4 pounds from a thrift store.
Brittany got fish and chips, Christine got a beef pie, and I got a chicken and mushroom pie to eat on the tube back. I also got grapes. We peeled them on the subway (a 45 minute ride) since we couldn't wash them and I bought them off the street. Delicious. It even started a conversation with a Londoner. He said that the only people he had ever talked to on the Subway were Americans, but he was used to being hospitable because he was from the North-east. It's funny that the North-East are the Southerners of America apparently.

We walked across the Millenium bridge to get to the theater.
We then saw Henry IV in the globe theater. The opening act was quite lude, but I guess it was for the groundlings.

Portraits, stones, and violins

Today was also great.
We started off at the National Portrait Gallery. Some really pretty stuff. I felt so uneducated wandering through the myriad of beautiful paintings. The most striking thing was how normal all the naked women looked. They had love handles, cellulite, pooches, and overall pudginess. Totally not the image of hard, thin bodies society makes us think we are supposed to have today. I guess women back then had a tougher time finding food, so the pooch was a mark of wealth and fertility. So strange how it changes. I guess I am glad we don't have to wear corsets and big heavy dresses or be on the underbelly of society, so really, there are still plusses to not living in the seventeenth century.
Next was lunch. Delicious bacon chicken sandwich outside on the street. MMMMMM.

Next, British Museum. Wandering around with the BICker guys laughing at them complaining and trying to find stuff for their paper. We did see the Rosetta Stone. Super neat and much larger than I expected. I had only seen pictures, and nothing had put it in proportion. I had just assumed it was the size of my laptop or something, but it was more the size of a bear.
Next, Beare violin shop. I found it down the street of fancy looking buildings. I had to ring to be let in, and was directed towards an office with two secretaries. One looked very confused and asked me why I was there. Apparently, she was expecting something else. I told her that I was beginning the process of looking for a new violin, and my price range was under 20,000. I thought this was a lot. And I just now realized that was in pounds, not dollars. She gives me a look, like, "Why are you here?" And says that she will ask if they have anything in that price range. Eek. I thought 20000 was a heck of a lot. Like, that would only be if I were absolutely sure that I would be a professional violinist auditioning for symphony gigs starting right out of undergrad. But apparently, they only had 3 violins that were older that were under 20000, and 4 that were newer violins under 20000. Or i guess 30000. there were about 50 or more violins in the room they put me in.
Anyways, I'm waiting for the person to come down. One salesperson comes in and barks at the secretary that one of the patrons needed tea. She immediately gets up and puts brews two cups of tea in rose mugs with milk and sugar and takes it upstairs.
Eventually, Julia comes to get me and sets me up in my own room and puts three violins on a table that she thought might work. I told her I had been traveling and didn't have a shoulder rest or a bow, so she gets me a Hill bow and a Kun shoulder rest. She says she'll come back in a bit.

I had so much fun the room was beautiful. The floor was wooden, but most of it was covered with this thick, rich, decorated rug. There was a huge mirror in the middle of the room. On the right of it was an old wooden music stand, and I don't know what was on the left. The entire right wall had violins hanging from every hook. The back wall had old violin cases and a tiny cello. The left wall had a huge bay window that looked out over the street, but a delicate, sheer white curtain blocked any embarrassment or distraction. An old, embellished round wooden table stood in front of the window with three old instruments from the 1800s; two english, one french. I played those three for a while, and then started picking at random from the huge wall of instruments I have no idea how much they cost. It was a blast. I played scales and some Lalo. At that point, I didn't really care what the sales people thought of my playing ability. Okay, I did. I felt like they were sitting right outside my door and snickering how I was a student. But it was still wonderful. I had put all my stuff in the huge arm chair in the corner, and all I had to carry was a violin, and every one of them sang more beautifully than the next. I sank into the sound and an hour passed before the salesperson came back in and asked for my thoughts. I told her what my favorite was of the cheaper variety. (Cheap is relative entirely), and she came back with some information on it. She gave me a brief history about the schools of violin teachers and how the c-bouts and f-holes differ from maker to maker. I learned so much. So cool. Best part of the day. We exchanged contact information, and I said I might come by during Thanksgiving if somehow that works out during Belgium (although it probably won't). But it was the best first step I could have taken in my violin searching process. Star treatment, a great lecture, and my own beautiful room to test out like 50 violins.
They can't really ship out violins to the States for just a curious shopper, so I will probably need to buy from an American seller, but now I definitely have more of an idea of what to look for and how I go about looking.
Eek, so great.

Then, we had class. I felt a little bit dumb because I couldn't answer the first question she asked me. I had just walked all across London and changed a bit on the tube on the way back, and still in awe of the violins, so I was a bit dazed.
I then went to Whole Foods with Ke'leigh, Maddee, and Dalton, and then we met some girls at a pub for a short bit. I had a crepe, mac and cheese, meatballs, and tea at Whole Foods. Delicious! London's wonderful.

Changing of the Guards, Westminster Abbey, Tea with Queen Victoria, and the London Swing Dance Society

Today was great.
We started out at the changing of the guard. I spent most of my time just video taping everyone's reactions. In reality, it's quite boring. They just march and do some band music. But so many people came. I was more just fascinated by the people watching. Next to us was a Texan family. The youngest son was on the dad's shoulders, but the older son also wanted to see, so the mom looked at me, gave a look of grim determination, and took the younger son. The dad took the older son in a feat of wonder and awe. There was much fumbling, and he prayed for a moment for the changing of the guard to be short, very short indeed.


Anyways, we then had a picnic on the lawn. I like picnics. They make me feel like an elf. We had a wonderful time.

Then, we went to Westminster abbey. I think every person ever in the world that is important must be buried there. Super neato. I was just a little bit tired, so sitting on tombs was very tempting. Elizabeth I and Bloody Mary were funny. So, Bloody Mary tries to kill Elizabeth I and all that. They were in the same tomb, with a huge, elaborate, and gaudy effigy of Elizabeth I. Haha! Irony in death.

Then we had tea in the V&A. I had a chocolate muffin and english breakfast tea. There were huge hydrangeas on the way in. Only Queen Victoria can get those.
Then, we went and got our phones. I spent the extra for 100 international minutes. Just email me for the number if you would like it. Although, it's probably quite expensive on your end, but it's nice if you have an emergency or something.
I then went swing dancing with the London Swing Dance Society. Le Mis was 42 pounds, but swing dancing only 6. I took the tube with Becca there and walked the rest. I got a little bit lost on the way there, but I stopped in for some hot tea and directions and then found it fine. I could hear "And 5, 6, 7, 8! Rock step, triple step, triple step, rock step" from the street. I was in the right place, just half an hour late. I went in to the beginner lessons for a bit, but it was a bit elementary and there were too many girls. I then joined the last half hour with the jazz class, and learned a bit of the shim sham. Well, my shim sham was pretty much sham because I had no idea what half of it was, but I feel like I have a better grasp of it than before.
After, they had a social dance. It was the most lax and wonderful dance I have ever been to. Everyone asked everyone. I think I danced with 20 different guys. They all taught me something new and fun. I got to meet a girl, Sam, and she told me about the swing dance society and leant me her fan to cool off. I met a guy who went to Oxford and now is conducting around the country.
Don't worry, Daniel. You definitely win out over all of them. Congratulations!
But it was great. Normally, swing dance dudes are creepy and are at the dance to ask girls out and get phone numbers. But I didn't hear a single peep of creepiness. Everyone just wanted to dance.
There was a screen on the side of the room that showed old clips of movie star couples dancing on stage to the music. There was a bar in the back of the room, but most just drank water, because it was a bit warm. Not everywhere has air conditioning.
Oh, frabjous day it was fun. I danced with this one guy who just had the time of his life. He just went off on his own a couple times, and we would clap. He had the biggest smile ever. I felt the sweat flying in the air.
Such cool people. Isn't it nice to know that you are more wonderful, better looking, and just generally better than all of these Brits, Daniel?
They had horrible teeth, too.
The tube turned out to be only 100 yards from the club. I took that, and sat down to some USC students who were interning for the summer. We talked until I got to my station, and I took a taxi the 5 minute walk back to the dorm to avoid walking in the streets by myself. We talked, and he watched and made sure I made it inside safely and waved.
Londoners are nice, what was I thinking? I was just doing it wrong. Getting to know the locals and avoiding touristy things is the way to go.
The swing dancing has definitely been my favorite part of London thus far. They were just super good and nice, and I actually got to know people and not just landmarks.
Sorry if that makes you nervous, Mum. I meant to meet people there, but I guess they got lost. But I felt safer there than I have even at the Baylor Swing Dance Society.
Anywho, good night, people!