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