Arrival, First Few Days!

England!! Here I am in London and I can't believe it! Lucky for me, this place has been a blast so far. We've already seen so much, but rather than drone on endlessly (though I'm going to do so anyway), I've decided to take a different route....

The Top Ten Exciting/Interesting Things About My First Few Days in England (in no particular order)

10. English Breakfast... Baked beans are a must! Here, they're served more savory than at home. That is, there is more ketchup in them than sugar/molasses. Also, I love the breakfast bacon, which is more like a slice of ham rather than a strip of fat. (Vocab word of the day: a "rasher" of bacon = 1 slice)

9. Fashion... There is definitely a dress standard here that is much different than in the US. Almost no one wears tennis shoes or sweats, but everyone seems to be wearing a nice jacket, nice /or artistic shoes, styled hair, nice jeans, etc etc. Looks like I have some adapting to do!

8. Tower Bridge/London Eye... Thankfully the weather has been beautiful for us - in the 60s and 70s with few clouds - so the iconic bridge of London was simply stunning. Its dominating towers were connected by bright blue steel chains and that unique pair of beams high in the air. In pictures, it looks nice, but it is larger than life in person. Above the choppy Thames, pedestrians and motorists travel from bank to bank by the score (on the left side... see #3 below). I have to say, it's quite amazing. Also amazing was the London Eye, a giant ferris wheel resembling a bicycle wheel. The wheel almost never stops turning, which is good since one round takes 30 minutes. In the mean time, one can see the bridge way off in the distance and Parliament/Big Ben immediately below. We chose to ride at night when the wheel and cabins were lit deep blue, which was very nice.

7. Museums... We've been to two so far: The Natural History Museum and the British Museum. The former contained three floors of engaging exhibits on geology, jewels, rocks, fossils, and biology. After looking around for four exciting hours, we had to call it quits even though we had only seen half of the museum. In particular, I enjoyed seeing the excellent dinosaur exhibits - lots of skeletons with fascinating commentary and even some animatronics to boot. The British Museum was also somewhat overwhelming because of the number of excellent ("stolen?") artifacts. To me, the most exciting artifacts were Cleopatra's mummy, half of the Athenian Parthenon's frieze, and the Rosetta Stone. I'm glad I can now say I've seen the Rosetta Stone and the Hammurabi Code, which is at the Louvre in Paris (see my last 2008 blog).

6. Tower of London... Going in, I was expecting this to resemble Alcatraz - a medieval high security prison. While it has served as a prison for extensive periods of its 1000 year history, the Tower complex has also served as home for the royal family, a mint, a guest house, barracks, and home for the crown jewels. So when we went to actually see the crown jewels, I was thoroughly excited. I promise I am not a female, but WOW were those ornaments sparkly! Offsetting the fancy jewelry, we also got to see some jousting equipment, armor, and torture devices :-)

5. Churches... I've already been to St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. St. Paul's was very much a "normal" church with vast tile floors, huge vaulted ceiling, domed center, and huge windows. Don't get me wrong, it was quite impressive, but it was nothing compared to Westminster. Westminster was enormous. The vaulted ceilings were extremely ornate, with elaborate stone arches gracefully flowing down as columns to the floor. The architecture of the chapel behind the alter was every bit as exciting: a fancy pattern was carved into the ceiling above and grand wooden seats for knights adorned the sides of the room. The most peculiar aspect to the Abbey was the quantity of memorials and tombs. Being over 1000 years old, there is no underground crypt, but many important figures have been laid to rest there: Kings and queens, poets, scientists, writers, scholars, and other figures. Believe it or not, GF Handel (composer), Charles Darwin, and Isaac Newton are laid there. Darwin's resting place doesn't really make sense to me... but fair enough. In addition to those laid to rest, markers and placards commemorate other important figures who are buried elsewhere, like Shakespeare, Benjamin Britten (composer), and countless people I did not recognize.

4. Languages... This is perhaps the most diverse city I have ever been. I have overheard more German this week than I have since traveling to Austria three years ago. I've also heard plenty of Italian, Spanish, French, and Chinese... almost more of those languages than English! It will be interesting to see how Oxford similar or different from London.

3. Transportation... As is already well understood, the trains are amazing. National Rail is great, as is the Tube (subway). We've taken those everywhere so far. Today, we decided to ride on a double decker bus, which was also fantastic! Apparently the city did away with the double deckers in 2005, but massive backlash has led the city to reintroduce them. The fleet is new this year, and they are more than plentiful! It's not hard to see 4-6 buses at a time in downtown, which is great for getting from place to place. I loved the ride and being able to see over all the happenings of Picadilly Circus and Oxford Circus (huge traffic circles/shopping areas). Our other favorite mode of transportation has been walking. I swear I'm going to get hit by a car or bus, but I feel much better about that reality today: apparently Winston Churchill spent 8 days in a New York hospital after failing to look the correct direction on 5th Avenue in NYC! What an inspirational leader!

2. Churchill War Rooms... Located in a basement a few blocks from Parliament/Big Ben are the Churchill War Rooms. This is where Churchill's staff coordinated Britain's entire WWII effort. Like a ship, the quarters were tight with few amenities, but it was sufficient for Britain's leader to conduct his crucial business. Perhaps the centerpiece of the historic site was the Churchill museum, a large room with tons of exciting interactive exhibits portraying every aspect of Churchill's life. Naturally, the focal point was on his role on WWII, so it was extraordinary to see such a wealth of knowledge on such a fine political/military leader.

1. British Library... I only saw one large room of the British Library, but trust me, it was more than sufficient! In an area about the size of three master bedrooms, the following artifacts are on display:
-The original Jane Eyre
-The original Canterbury Tales (illustrated text!)
-2 Septuagint bibles from the 4th Cen (in Greek!)
-The Magna Carta (1215)
-A Gutenberg Bible
-Da Vinci's Notebook
-Handel's Messiah score
-Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" (For Midsummer Night's Dream)
-a Beethoven sketchbook of Sonata in G Major (Opus 30)
-Mozart's marriage contract to Constanze Weber
-Shakespeare's First Folio (1623)
-Handwritten lyrics to "Yesterday" and "Help!" (which really pale in comparison to these other amazing works)

Having traveled in Europe before, I wasn't as blown away by these old literary artifacts as I would have been three years ago, but the concentration of all these texts in one room was really unbelievable.

With this all in mind, I have been extremely blessed to prepare to live an hour away from this amazing city. I am thrilled to be in England, and I can only hope that Oxford will be half as amazing as London.

Cheers!

Beyond Infinity?

"This is a test of the Oxford Blogcast System. This is only a test."

Ok, this is not a drill. I'm only 3 days away from heading to England on what promises to be the academic experience of a lifetime. For anyone who has not heard, I am about to embark on a 3-year doctorate program at Oxford University. Yes, the Oxford University. While I have had six months to digest the fact that I am soon to be an Oxford student, it is still quite unreal to me. What will it be like studying in Oxford... for 3 years? There are so many things unknown about this coming experience, maybe it would be better to focus on how I got here.

Five years ago, I never would have dreamed about traveling internationally. One thing lead to another (thanks to the Caldwells, Franklins, RCSO, et al.) and I traveled to Ecuador for service and Austria for study abroad in 2008. Not having had enough, I went to China in 2009. In my mind, that cemented me as an international traveler. Between those trips, I conquered fears of language barriers, being alone in a foreign country, making connections, rolling with the punches, and coping with inadequate circumstances. This spring, I took the next step, learning how to be a leader on an international trip - a service-learning trip to Belize. With the proper training and help from my amazing co-leader, I found that I was quite able to handle such a leadership challenge. We built a team of students that could trust and interact with each other so readily. Undoubtedly, I will need the collective experience from all of these travels to reach my potential at Oxford. That said, I am very blessed to have the family, friends, education, and opportunities to prepare me for this experience.

So without further ado, here's some of the logistics with my Oxford blog. As you can imagine, spending 3 years in a foreign country is akin to running a marathon, especially in relation to a mere 6-week study abroad. Thus, I can't promise I'll blog every week, but what I will do is blog whenever I am able: I'll try to blog when I notice cultural similarities or differences; I'll blog when I travel to the European mainland; and I'll try to blog every couple of weeks or upon request. As with my past blogs, this will be the best place for you to learn about my adventures. If you have questions, feel free to ask! I would love to know someone is reading my blog, and I will be happy to answer!

Let the adventures begin!

Cheers