Oxford

Sorry folks. I went to Oxford the last weekend in April. I was visiting my friend who is doing her doctorate program there. She is in psychology and I got to be one of her many test subjects as payment for my staying with her. It was actually quite fun. Being in Oxford was like being in a huge international version of the Claremont Colleges. I rather liked it. There are restaurants/palces to eat everywhere and I am sad that I only got to sample a few of the many, many options. We had burritos, GOOD Indian food...uhm tea, and other things I don't remember. Some rather healthy stuff that is had to come by in Spain..apart from all its olive oil.

It was strange to be in an English speaking country to begin with, but more so when you can't understand anything because of the accent. It also made me laugh because everyone sounded exactly like the CDs we use at school. The ones the kids listen to for listening comprehension. I had to keep from cracking myself up sometimes.

I was also in Oxford for May Day, which is apparently a big tradition where people get up before 6am and wait by a bridge and listen to some singing n a church and then some bits of scripture and then they jump off the bridge into the deep enough, but not super deep river below. These people have also been out drinking since the night before. If this were Spain, it would sound very normal...out all night and the do silly things in the morning, but in Oxford it is a once a year thing. After our early morning wake up call..we didn't jump, just photographed, we went and had some fresh waffles and cocoa. I got to see some of the quintisential Oxford rowers and enjoyed my only sunny day in England in the wee hours of the morning.

My last day of England was spent in super rainy London town. My friend and I took the bus and went to China town!!!!! woot woot. It was actually more like China block, but they had a lot of restaurants and we chose one for Dim Sum. AMAZING. Not as good as at home, but tasty and familiar. What was weird about it was that they didn't have descriptions of the item, I know my favorites mostly by sight, and you had to order off a menu. Weird. Bad for vegetarians. If something says 'spinach dumpling' how am i supposed to know it has meat in it!!?? Nayway, I bought som bao to take home and then we walked along the river from Big Ben to allllmost the London Bridge. We didn't quite make it. By the time we were almost there it was dark and we were freezing. We opted for trying to find good warm food instead. I guess I'll just have to go back to England and specifically visit London.

Over all it was a great trip. I got to see a new place, catch up with an old friend, and eat yummy food. The downside was the cost. Really expensive transportation. The British pound is a funny money. The coins are all random sizes and the one pound coin is super heavy. I think I will try to make it back to London, with more cash money in the near future.