So, as we speak, or more appropriately I guess, as I type this, I am sitting in the computer lounge at Christ Church (apparently those "in the know" never refer to it as "Christ Church College", but simply "Christ Church"). In their JCR, in fact. I am so thrilled! It was sad to leave London, because I just love that city so much, but as you all know, I have been waiting years to get here, so I am very happy indeed.
Sorry I didn't write yesterday -- posting all of my London pictures took a while (but now they are all on facebook, except for some of Imperial College where we were staying that I took this morning and thus have yet to put up) and then some other stuff happened that frankly took precedent. However, here it is at last, the much awaited summary of the day's events. We gathered for the morning's activity, a trip to Down House, the home of Charles Darwin (of Origin of the Species fame). If you hadn't guessed, this was a trip led by Dr. Rosenbaum, as its subject matter takes sort of the philosophical bend. It was pretty interesting; the whole top floor had exhibits about his life and work and the downstairs had some very nice period rooms. I felt like I could have spent longer in there, but after an hour or so, everyone was ready to head back. Plus, the bus we needed only came around every hour, so we had to try to catch that one.
Once back at Victoria Station, Jenna, Micah, and I hit the Victoria and Albert Museum. Oh my goodness, it was amazing! They had a fashion exhibit, which was really cool -- tons of designer gowns, and old dresses. There was even a section on "Clothes of the Future" -- granted, most of it was hideous and entirely unfunctional, but it was still rather interesting. The Medieval section was rather disappointing, as a lot of it had been taken out for conservation work, but there were still some very nice, very interesting pieces. After Jenna and Micah saw Tipoo's Tiger (for one of the classes Micah is taking) and the fashion section, they headed back to Imperial, but I stayed for another couple hours, looking at million dollar jewels, Persian floor rugs as big as my house, and even a Bernini sculpture or two. All in all, it was a joy to wander around in, and I wish I could have stayed longer.
That afternoon, six of us girls -- Micah, Jenna, Ashley, Margaret, Sarah, and I -- had the full afternoon tea experience at the Wolesley at the suggestion of one of my friends who went on the trip two years ago. It was lovely (though we did get minorly chastised for taking pictures, lol)! There were five types of finger sandwiches, six different dessert pastries, scones, and -- of course -- some fabulous tea. Then we met some of the rest of the group at the London Eye, and did that before it got dark. A lot of our pictures turned out really well, despite a few moments of rain while we were up there.
Today, as I have mentioned previously, we packed up our things and moved into Christ Church, Oxford. This year, the whole group is staying right on Tom Quad, which is nice in many ways, but it means that my window is blocked by decorative architecture and thus my view isn't really that great. Still, there are many worse things in life, lol! After settling in to our suites, we got a guided tour of the college from one of the Custodians. (Here, the Custodians are the men in bowler hats who know lots of information about the college. The people who guard the gates and act as OAs when you have problem at 2 AM are called Porters, and the people who clean your rooms and make your bed are called Scouts.) It was a nice tour -- we saw the Jabberwocky Tree, the Masters Garden, looking through the Alice in Wonderland keyhole, the Cathedral, etc. Our tour even ended with afternoon tea in the Great Hall, which was very good, but slightly awkward, because while we were eating at one end, all of the tourists were still filtering through and taking pictures at the other. I sort of still can't believe I am here. I got into my room and almost started to cry a little. It's funny, because I don't think anyone else in the group can quite understand how special I find all of this. These next four weeks are going to be incredible!
Well, I'm off to change for evensong and then dinner in the Great Hall. (Man, with all that Brooks practice, that phrase just rolls off the tongue!) Oh, in other news, classes start tomorrow and we all purchased tickets to see Harry Potter tomorrow night. Those of you who have seen it (ahem, Dad texting me at 8 AM this morning... ;-) ), I am rather jealous! Stupid lack of midnight premieres... Night!
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