BRILLIANT

Part of me is beginning to think that Oxford might in fact be Hogwarts...

Despite Balaji constantly chiming that it is unacceptable that we have yet to receive our wands, everywhere we go there is someone saying "oh, the infirmary scene was filmed here" or "This is where all the Hogwarts students had their meals..." hmmm...perhaps I'll learn spells, Shruti did say that all of us probably identify most with Hermione....right?

So literaryness brings me to the fantastic topic of Ted our awesome upon awesome tour guide. Last week during orientation week we had an hourlong walking tour of Oxford by Ted who is an older gentleman with a wonderful British accent and sense of humour and always said "understand that, you hear?" He told us a lot of cool things about Oxford, for instance C.S. Lewis was an undergrad at Oxford than taught here for years at Magdalen College...which indeed is not my college but a couple of the other Stanford kids are from there.

Anyways...Ted also told us that in the 1500s, the town of Oxford (which has a good number of citizens and was here before the University was established) and the University students had a bit of a brawl going on. There were riots and shootings, and at one point lynchings of students. So part of me might actually be grateful that the Palo Alto/Stanford relationship is icy rather than homicidal.

But Ted was awesome. He was a detective for 20 or some odd years so knows Oxford very well and he said we were like his grandchildren...yay :) There is a picture below because we absolutely had to take one! As I said before... I'm in love.

SO I'm in Brasenose college, which is historically for athletes, but I mean that's not a huge deal anymore. One of the better legacies is that we might get free gym access (brilliant) although I quite like running around outside by the Thames or in Christ Church Meadows where there are cows...moo. AND I might join ultimate frisbee, that sounds like a fun way to not be cold!

This weekend we went to York and got to see the Minster which is the what they call Cathedral, there was some historical purpose that I don't remember. But it was awesome, and now that I'm versed in architecture I can explain to you the different types of arches and vaults and layouts of most gothic and classical cathedrals...I know you're excited :) York was great, and it was for the Bing trip which was fun too, we also went to 2 Chateaus where the current Duke and Duchess live!!! Chatsworth is where they filmed both of Keira Knightley's films the Duchess (fitting) and Pride and Prejudice (NOT as good as the original)...so there were fun exhibits on that. We went into a hedge maze which was small but still a bit stressful...and I took some artsy pictures of flowers :) I always wanted to try...
We also got to see a lot of ruins. And according to our professor...ruins are romantic <3

SO I met my tutor on Wednesday morning (last wednesday). And we talked about Medical intervention ethical issues and she sits me down and the first thing she asks in all seriousness is "what are you looking to get out of oxford?" Nothing like "how do you do?" or "So how are you settling in?" nope. But you know, I can handle down to business. This will be a good experience. My first topic is...

"Health is more than Biological Fitness. Discuss" 2500 words.

Ready...Set...Go. :) This should be fun, I've already been doing a bit of reading and I think I'm going to go through some humbio material from last year. YEA HUMBIO. hokay so...

Also, she kind of told me that I have to learn the entire discipline of sociology in a week. Hmm. Maybe I should get on that.

But it all seriousness I am really excited about starting to write. Tea has become a huge staple of my diet here and I very much understand the English for wanting Tea Time everyday. Not only do you get the most awesome treats, but you need something to keep you warm! What if I am perpetually cold for the next 3 months?!? That won't do...

Well I'm off to the library, and then tonight we're going on a pub crawl with our colleges. Tomorrow is the activities fair!!!! It's exciting to be around all the freshers...that's what they call "freshman" here. So excited about life :) That's the way it should be of course.

So here is how the Paris thing is going work...we spent four days there so I am going to update each day one by one right after I write another entry here. Hopefully that won't be too overwhelming!

PS I met two guys in alligator costumes today. Fantastic. Quite possibly more exciting than onesies...