At Oxford

Greetings, True Believers! I am now officially at Oxford! It has been a great time being here so far, as I have been meeting new people and seeing some old friends. The campus is gorgeous and I will be supplying lots of pictures. Before I do bigger entries about my time throughout the rest of the United Kingdom (Wales and Scotland), I'll stick to Oxford for now.

Oxford as a town has existed as early as the 900's, but was not established as a college until the 1600's. Many people wanted to study but did not have the proper place in England. They would have to travel across the English Channel and into France and Italy to study. When they were expelled, it was decided to establish a place of learning near Oxford. The most used form of travel back in the day was by boat, as it was not safe to travel by land for the possibility of being attacked. Students would travel to this location by boat along the tree rivers that surround the town. It is the world's oldest English speaking college and is divided up into 38 colleges. When people think of Oxford, they think of the university. It is actually made up of those 38 colleges, each with their own source of study. One does not apply to Oxford, but the college that one wishes to attend (if they are lucky; sometimes the university may place you in a different choice). Some of the most famous writers, scientists, and politicians have attended this school. To give you some insight: Bill Clinton was a Rhodes scholar, Alice in Wonderland was written by an Oxford professor, and J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were part of a writing group that read to each other excerpts of their most famous books at the Eagle and Child pub. I am currently attending Mansfield College, one of the newer colleges at Oxford. It was a non-conformist college established in 1838 before being transferred over to Oxford in 1866. It did not receive its Royal Charter until 1995. I plan to be attending several events over the next few days to give everyone an idea of other areas of the campus, but for now I'll include where I go and what I have seen so far.

Oxford is not really that big of a town or university. Everything is navigable with a few confusing streets, but overall very manageable. Mansfield College is a very pretty campus. Its small and quiet, tucked away from the busy streets, but close enough to get to everything just fine. Everyone from the university is practically off (most people in Europe take a long vacation) and the town is flooded with tourists. I am taking a course called Britain and the Challenges of Globalization. I have only taken one day of class so far, but my studies will include the UK and EU, the Arab Spring, UK/US relations, Winston Churchill, to name a few. Here is a picture of the college:

I have also included pictures of my room and for the sake of comparison my shots of my room from Japan first:

The perks of being at my college include: paid breakfast and lunch, cleaned sheets and towels daily, and a porter lounger open from 7 a.m. to 12 a.m. for any needs you might have.

On Wednesday, after lunch, we took a guided tour of several different colleges and locations in Oxford. We first arrived at the the Rhodes House, well known for its Rhodes Scholars program. The scholarship program was started after Cecil Rhodes died, when large amounts of his money were distributed towards others that wanted to attain higher learning.

The next building we went to was the Natural History Museum. We did not go inside, but I plan to in the near future and provide pictures of the exhibits.

One of the more impressive buildings to go into was Keble College. It was established as a memorial to a well known man named John Keble at the university. His friends wanted to build a college in his name and with the influence of Queen Victoria (who went for extravagance) created one of the largest colleges at Oxford. Before Oxford University was know for its significance in higher learning, it was a place of teaching for theology. In terms of construction of the various campuses, the first building was the chapel, then the dining hall, and proceeding buildings that included the library or dormitories. In the pictures, you may notice that each campus encloses itself into a square. This was due to the town of Oxford being at odds with the colleges and creating a barrier between both communities.

The chapel at Keble College was magnificent. One of the main features about any facet of Oxford was each building and its detailed architecture. Many of the buildings took decades to finish, with lavish designs, stained glassed windows, and many innovations to enhance the colleges. The chapel also contained one of the most famous paintings in the world: a first edition of The Light of the World.

The next college we visited was Christ College. What makes Christ College particularly well known is that it was one of the locations used for filming the Harry Potter series. Application rates have gone up because of this. Included are pictures of the dining hall (featured in Harry Potter) and the library.

We explored a bit of Oxford until we got to Broad Street and went to the main University College. This is where people take their exams (in special black and white robes) and where they graduate (with the service conducted in latin to this day). The tour guide was describing the gargoyles above us and how they were actual people at one time represented in Alice in Wonderland. A professor taught at Oxford named Charles Dodgson who have picnic with one other professor and his family. He told stories to the children and made them all up. One time, a girl named Alice asked him to tell a story in which she was the main character. He did and years later published it under the pen name Lewis Carroll. Many of the characters represented in the book were actual figures at Oxford. Across the street was the Bridge of Sighs, which has a strong resemblance to the one in Venice. The university had a statue of James I (or VI) as he greatly aided the university through its construction.

The last college we stopped at was Exeter College. This was the college that J.R.R. Tolkien taught at and its chapel now contains a bust of him. This was one of the other prestigious colleges to get into and it was a sight to see.

Before I go, I had the chance to attend a performance of Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare at the Said Business School's Rooftop Amphitheater. The weather held off for a nice performance of nine actors, singing numbers and music to accompany the scenes, and a stage that could turn.

That's all for now. I plan to walk around more and see some attractions of Oxford on Saturday. Classes are great right now, but take up the majority of my day. I will break down my next blog entries over the next few days and weeks to make it more mane gable for me. I hope all is well back home and I can't wait to tell you more about my travels and stay at Oxford. Until next time, True Believers, Excelsior!

P.S. Our first night at the dormitory was rather eventful. We were woken up to a fire alarm and found out a pipe had burst in someone's room! Luckily nothing was damaged, but it was an exciting way to start my stay at Oxford.

Countdown to Oxford or My First Steps Through the UK

Greetings, True Believers! I was hoping to have this blog post up sooner, but because of the limited connectivity on my trip so far and the time schedule I have had, I was not able to get to my blog sooner. My first update will deal with my trip in the UK, covering my time in London before my tour started.

I arrived in London on August 3rd at around 7 a.m. and surprisingly was not jet lagged. My mother (or Mum, as I called her on this trip) felt fine as well and had no need to rest to catch up on sleep. We were lucky enough to get to our hotel safely and into our room by 9 a.m., which is a rarity while traveling. After a short break, we were off to our first stop at Buckingham Palace. We had to book tickets in advance as it was only going to be open for a short period of time, due to the Olympics (which I'll get to in detail latter, along with the English culture). Suffice to say, Buckingham Palace was magnificent. I sadly was not able to take pictures on the inside, but was able to take pictures from the inside and will provide some insight to the palace.

Buckingham Palace is where the royal family lives in England and is enclosed within the city of London. Before we actually went inside, we were fortunate enough to see the changing of the guards. It occurs practically everyday at 11:30, when the new guards take over. What made not only this event, but the whole trip special, was the fact that London was hosting the Olympic games. Not only were regular tourists present, but also those who were heading off to see some of the Olympic festivities. As you can tell by the pics, there was a huge crowd of people. Posted below are pics and a video capturing the event.

After the changing of the guard, my Mom and I took our tour of Buckingham Palace. Suffice to say, it was fantastic and gigantic. Each of the rooms were elegantly decorated, with beautiful furnishings and a detailed explanation of every little object. The Palace dates back centuries where the Royal Family has housed many popular figures there, such as Princess Diana, Prince Charles, Prince William and Harry, and of course the Queen, Elizabeth II. One of the more interesting bits of it was that it was bombed during World War II. The King and Queen did not leave and one part of the palace was entirely destroyed. They were lucky not to be blown up. The yard in the palace was the site of many bombings and during the war one could see where bombs had landed. It was a fascinating experience and made me wish I lived in a place like that.

The last photo uploaded was of the fence surrounding the entire palace. Some parts of it were as high as twenty feet, but what my Mom and I found fascinating and terrifying at the same time was the rows of barbed wire and spikes sticking out of the top.

Before we left Buckingham Palace, we traveled to Trafalgar Square. My Mom had missed taking photos of this spot a long time ago and we had the opportunity to be there. It was erected in honor of Queen Victoria and was the site of many races for the Olympics.

We continued to explore a lot of London afterwards, including Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and observed one of the newest landmarks, the Eye, a new Ferris wheel. Each box can hold up to twenty -five people. While we wanted to get on, the line was huge, and had Disney World waiting times. We decided to view it from a distance instead.

For our first day being in London, my Mom and I traveled to a lot of sites and got a lot accomplished. One last tidbit before I finish this first day. As we were walking back, we noticed London was filled with statues of its most famous kings, queens, and public servants. We then noticed the King George III was placed under a tree in a not very special part of the city, away from the other statues. 

The next day, Mom and I traveled to Saint Paul's Cathedral and a few other historic landmarks. Saint Paul's Cathedral has been the sight of many ceremonies and events in England's history, including the funeral for Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the 9/11 Service. (To clarify, many events are held at both Saint Paul's and Westminster. It depends on where the people would like the event to take place in London). The cathedral was gigantic and beautiful on the inside, but again, I was not able to take any pictures from within it. I was able to take pictures from outside the cathedral and we came across a wedding the day we visited.

One of the things we were able to do there was explore the outer and lower areas of the cathedral. The crypt contained many saints and had memorials for those who died in previous conflicts for the United Kingdom. We found out we could climb to the top of the cathedral and see the London landscape. We decided we had to see all that London had to offer and we climbed 528 steps to the top. The view was amazing and we took many pictures. One of the buildings present is the Shard, which at the moment, is the tallest building in Europe. I also have included shots of the Millennium Bridge, the Globe Theater, and Tower Bridge. The last picture is of the dome to Saint Paul's Cathedral.

From there, we crossed the Millennium Bridge over to the Globe Theater. We were hoping to take a tour, but we're too late. We tried to get tickets to a show, but no such luck either. I will be back in London during my stay at Oxford and it is my plan to see a show (preferably Henry V) while I am there. At this point, we traveled to Tower Bridge. It is one of the most recognized landmarks not only in London, but throughout the world. It was constructed in the late 1800's because the other bridges, like London Bridge, were becoming too crowded with pedestrians, horses, and carriages. Two architects worked on the design and completion of the bridge, which allowed the road to fold up for ships to pass through. We were able to explore the top half of it and explore the engine rooms. We saw other famous bridges and observed the history of constructing the bridge. The bridges also hung the Olympic rings, in honor of the games. This was the final stop on our second day in England. (We also took a humorous photo of a car that was cycled by its occupiers that formed a bar from which everyone was drinking from. This would not be found in the United States).

The last free day we had in London was spent on our first day of the tour, saw the Women's Marathon for the Olympics, and visited the Natural History Museum. The tour was brief, as we saw Prince Albert's statue and hall, the U.S. Embassy, and many of the landmarks discussed in this entry. We stopped again at Westminster Abbey and I took more shots of the square and of the statues in the area.

After the tour, we headed back to the hotel and decided to watch a little bit of the Olympics. On our tour, we noticed that parts of London were either gated off and or being prepared for an event. The event was the Women's Marathon, happening in our backyard. I persuaded my Mom that this was the chance to see an event at the Olympics. We rushed down to Buckingham Palace, which was the site of the start and finish of the race. We got lost a few times, but we finally made it to Trafalgar's Square just in time for the finish. We had a pretty good spot of seeing the runners and the square. But as soon as we got our spot, it began to pour! I placed my hand with my camera under someone's umbrella and took the following shots and video: 

After finishing up the race, we traveled down to see the Natural History Museum , but first we made a quick stop into Harrods, one of the most interesting stores in the world. Basically, whatever you want, they can order for you. Our tour guide told us a story of how the Republican party one year asked for a baby elephant at an event they were hosting in London. The receptionist at Harrods asked, "Would you like one from Africa or Asia?" We walked a little bit in the store and saw spy equipment, objects signed by famous stars, toys, gadgets, jewelry, clothes, you name it they had it. They did not allow us to take pictures, which is a shame, because some of their products were just ridiculous.

We arrived at the Natural History Museum to see one of my favorite things: dinosaurs. As a kid, I was fascinated by dinosaurs and every museum that has an exhibit on one I try and get to. The museum from the outside was fantastic in architecture and design and the exhibit did not disappoint. They even included a fully animatronic T-Rex for people to see. The exhibit was uniquely done in that the first part was suspended over by bridge that you crossed to observe some of the dinosaur skeletons hanging from the ceiling (good use of space). We traveled through the descriptions of each period, how they may have died, habits of each, and their relevance in culture. We explored the rest of the museum which included a statue of Charles Darwin, a bird exhibit, and a stone collection. We left the museum a found a wall that was hit by shrapnel by the war and strolled through Hyde Park, which was a great and relaxing way to cap off the day. After that, our final free day was over.

 

There's something else I wanted to discuss in this blog entry before I wrapped things up. I had to read a book for my course called Watching the English by Kate Fox. In my opinion, she made the English seem like they were suffering from a "social disease" that made them awkward around people, not outgoing enough, and rather introverted. What I did not expect, nor do I think she did either, was the effect of the London Games. Watching the Olympics in the UK was an awesome experience (BBC had  much better coverage than NBC) and the excitement from everyone was contagious. Everyone was cheering, people were excited and happy, people were outgoing during the events and outside on the streets, in stores, everywhere! This was exact opposite in my opinion of how her book made the English appear to be. It will be interesting to see if this effect lasts long after the Olympics are over (their economy is not doing well either) and whether this feeling will pass.

That's all for now. I plan to make a short entry soon about Oxford and a few smaller entries about my tour. Oxford is fantastic and I start classes in a few days. I can't wait to update everyone like this again and I hope everyone is well in the states. Until next time, True Believers (or mates in the UK), Excelsior! Cheers!

P.S. The post boxes in the UK are much different than found in the U.S. What makes this one special is that it is painted gold for the Olympics. I think I heard somewhere that for every gold one, they would paint a mail box, or that for every town that had an athlete that won a gold, they would paint it. Either way, pretty cool stuff.

"Little by little, one travels far" - J.R.R. Tolkien