Oh Hello, Oxford!

The inside of the main quad
of University College

Saturday morning marked the beginning of our programme's residential week at University College, Oxford (aka "Univ").  We all get to stay in single rooms during this week, so I am currently in a MASSIVE room that has a large common room with a side bedroom.  It's weird having all of this space to myself though.  My flatmates and I are scattered across the college, and I miss having them around!  This college is comprised of two quads and couple other courtyards all surrounded by residential and academic rooms.  It really is phenomenal being in Oxford - I can't believe I'm here!

After unloading our suitcases into our respective rooms on Saturday, we all met for a general overview meeting and lunch.  We also went on a brief tour of the college and the surrounding city.  Oxford is a much bigger city than Bath, and I really like the feel of it.  The individual colleges are like little oases in the city - each one is walled and gated, so the inside is very quiet and peaceful.  That evening, our programme held a disco, so we all went to the University Bar for games and dancing!

Punting!

Sunday was also quite a busy day.  A handful of us ASE students went to a Choral Matins service at the cathedral at Christ Church College, which was quite an interesting experience.  I had never been to an almost-entirely sung service before.  The cathedral  itself was gorgeous, and I hope I can go back and take some pictures sometime this week.  In the afternoon, our entire programme went to the river for punting!  Punting is kind of like gondola-ing, with a flatter/shallower boat.  I did not end up punting myself, but I did do a good deal of navigating and steering with the boat's paddle (it's hard to steer with the punting pole)....putting my limited experience with canoeing to good use!  My roommate Anna turned out to be quite the pro punter....we got off to a rough start (taking about 30 minutes to get out of the main starting areas!), but will her at the helm, we were soon passing other boats.  We were delayed slightly by sabotaging efforts (made especially by those in Linley House), but in the end, we made up for a lot of lost ground!  And the weather for punting was perfect!  It's been really sunny here, and I even got a little sunburned out on the river! :)

We finally caught up to our group!

After our wonderful punting adventure, we went to the Oxford "college wear" stores, where I bought some spirit wear!  I am particularly partial to sweatshirts, so of course I purchased a Oxford University sweatshirt! :)  Our evening concluded with imitation-Mexican food (I am totally craving Chipotle - it is definitely going to be one of the first restaurant foods I eat when I get home!), and a viewing of the movie Shadowlands about C.S. Lewis.

Elysia & Katie during our punting trip

Today was mostly dedicated to class and reading....and dealing with the woes of my laptop.  After 2 hours of me trying to figure it out, and 5 hours in the IT Clinic (yes, they call it a "clinic" here), I am finally able to access the internet!  As frustrating as that experience was, I am glad that it happened here where I have access to IT support, instead of Bath, where there are no free computer services.
So that's the first half of my Oxford Adventure!  I'll try to update again on Friday with the rest of the week's events! :)