Believe it or not, this is the 50th post I have made in my travels! To celebrate the occasion, I've decided to upgrade the look of the blog, opting for a new color scheme and a background photo taken by yours truly. I hope it is a bit easier and more fun to read!
In my last post, I inferred that life is never dull in Oxford. Well, just to spite me, the last week and a half have been comparatively uneventful. Let it suffice for me to provide the following brief synopsis of the past few days before moving on to something ...well... different!
Since the University is currently out of term, the city has thinned out dramatically. The days are becoming much longer, and with Saturday's time change (yes, two weeks following the US), the sun is now high in the sky at the end of the work day. These two factors have actually had the influence of leading me to work late on several occasions, eagerly plotting and manipulating data via MATLAB. I swiftly realized that it is only marginally helpful to plot 400 data samples simultaneously; thanks to MATLAB's "rand" function, I have several plots of confused technicolor spaghetti. Not to worry, however, because statistics is on my side, and I was able to pick out a decent number of sufficiently representative samples.
Aside from lab work, I've also increased my cello practicing schedule. In just a few weeks, I have been able to learn almost the entirety of Bach's first Unaccompanied Suite for Cello (Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Minuets I & II, and Gigue) as well as the Bach Air on the G String and Saint Saens's "The Swan" from Carnival of the Animals. Yes, I'm preparing for a wedding... can't believe Tony and Christina will be tying the knot in just two short months!
Last weekend, I went gallivanting about the countryside, taking an afternoon trip to Bath with Kebleites Frank and Liam. The latter attended the University of Bath for his undergrad degree, so he showed us around, taking us through the Bath Abbey (we also went on a bell tower tour, which was amazing) around the Roman Baths, and throughout the city. We also spent a good amount of time simply relaxing with a million other students by the Royal Crescent, a former Royal housing complex turned into apartments. It was a beautiful day. On Sunday, I did a great deal of sitting around, followed up by my first trip punting! Basically, punts are gondolas (gondolae?) which are propelled with a pole instead of a paddle. Roos, Luke, and Radhika watched as I took the first shift at the helm, wobbly at first but then getting the hang of it. It's harder than it looks! Anyway, I look forward to a long summer full of fantastic punting, at which times I will describe in greater detail.
Perhaps the best part of the past two weeks was when my dance partner, Jenna, returned from family vacation. Naturally, we divulged in the obligatory 'catch-up-lunch' on Wednesday at the Missing Bean cafe, but have been dancing intensely since then. How intensely? To the tune of 6.5 hours over three days, requiring 14.6 miles of walking between Keble College and Iffley Sports Complex. Result: one new cha cha routine and one glorious new quickstep! I am incredibly grateful to have a dedicated, yet easy-going partner in Jenna. A better-suited dance tandem in Oxford I doubt anyone could find. Maybe that is a challenge :-) Anyway, we celebrated our practice sessions with a trip to the Blenheim Palace, home of the Duke of Marlburgh since the early 1700s and birthplace of Winston Churchill. Jenna and I really enjoyed the grounds, albeit chilly and requiring another 2.6 miles of walking. Whew!
Well, so much for the brief synopsis... now for the main event. For the 50th blog post, I thought it would be fitting to remember 50 random experiences from my travels to date. But first, some statistics (in engineering fashion):
Number of countries visited: 12
Number of posts: 50 (only 49 blogs included in the stats below)
Number of days between first and last post: 1428
Total number of words written: 46,249 (Austria: 9647; China: 13,795; England: 22,807)
Approx MS Word pages (end to end, 12 pt, 1" margins): 79
Total days on trips where I blogged: 266
Mean words written per blog and per day: 943.9 per blog; 173.9 per day traveled
And now 50 random incredible experiences... in no particular order...
1. Belize: swimming into a cave with a flashlight in my mouth (proving Maglights are waterproof)
2. China: walking through a bad part of Nanjing while trying to reach the Yangtze River (oops...)
3. Ecuador: mixing concrete in the dirt street for our Habitat House (bucket line assemble!!)
4. Austria: learning about Turkish football (soccer) fans during Eurocup 2008
5. Belize: sketching plans for the TCGA to build a cacao bean drying facility
6. China: eating at 'the noodle place' (a name both extraordinarily vague, but sufficiently descriptive)
7. England: getting to see Stonehenge (it rocked)
8. Austria: seeing the graves of Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, and Brahms all side by side
9. Ecuador: delicious fruit (esp. bananas and papayas)
10. France: running into an old classmate from high school on July 4th next to the Mona Lisa
11. Ireland: St. Patrick's Day in Dublin
12. Austria: learning what 'old' means (context: St. Stephen's Cathedral, 14th c.)
13. Netherlands: Kinderdijk windmills
14. China: walking on the Great Wall
15. Austria: kebabs, wursts, and black pepper salami sandwiches for lunch every day
16. China: being served two Peking Ducks just for myself to eat
17. Austria: seeing the Sound of Music in German
18. Ecuador: while everyone else talked in Spanish, communicating with a nun in German
19. Belize: snorkeling in the most incredibly clear water I have ever seen
20. Ecuador: driving through the Andes (possibly the most dangerous experience I have had)
21. England: seeing an original King James Bible and the Codex Sinaiticus
22. Netherlands: going to the MC Escher museum and the Van Gogh museum
23. China: getting thermal scanned by men in Tyvek suits to determine whether I had H1N1
24. China: not seeing the sun for over five weeks
25. Austria: Vienna Philharmonic in the rain at the Schonbrunn Palace
26. Belgium: accidentally finding the statue Mannekin Pis
27. Czech Rep: modern art on 'Museum Night.' (over urinals: "This is art." "This is not art." etc..)
28. Hungary: seeing the communist statue museum (including Stalin's giant feet)
29. Netherlands: cycling around Texel Island, semi-lost, looking for the North Sea
30. Ecuador: standing on the Equator
31. England: standing on the Prime Meridian
32. Austria: history, art, and architecture
33. China: engineering, government, and economics
34. Belize: the world's most amazing tortillas (made by hand, naturally)
35. Austria: setting a standard for visiting cathedrals
36. France: crepes at the Eiffel tower before a concert in Notre Dame
37. England: attending Oxford University (this caught me off guard today)
38. China: witnessing a culture of extremes
39. Belize: learning how people with few material possessions can have all the joy in the world
40. Ecuador: getting dizzy at 9000 ft elevation
41. Austria: being introduced to heavenly gelato
42. China: first meal off the plane in Shanghai: cross-sectioned duck slices, complete with head
43. England: being blown away by Les Miserables in the West End
44. Ecuador: realizing people around the world are - by and large - the same
45. Austria: realizing the significant influence of the US around the globe
46. Netherlands: realizing how many famous people are Dutch
47. France: realizing that the French don't necessarily hate Americans
48. China: realizing one must learn to laugh when confronted with challenging lingual differences
49. Belize: realizing I can lead an international team of volunteers
50. England: realizing I now have a truly international network of friends
As you can see, it has been an incredible ride so far. Each of these experiences has defined my journey and helped form my perceptions of the world. Keeping this blog, however, has allowed me to remain connected to my roots, always providing a road home, and -importantly - always reminding me to remember the path by which I have come. Here's to the next 50 posts!
CULTURE CORNER
x, xx, xxx, xXx, etc.
In the United States, many youth and young adults end certain messages with a cute xoxo as a symbol of either friendship or affection. Personally, I had always thought that the 'x' corresponded to a hug and an 'o' to a kiss. Well in England, x's are the name of the game; as I learned this week, it is not 'o' but 'x' that marks the sign of the kiss.
Interestingly, messages sent in the UK are routinely tagged with one of the combinations given above (completely omitting the aforementioned 'o's ". Girls to girls.... girls to guys... guys to girls... and least often guys to guys. Nonetheless, here are a couple of messages from different en masse threads I have received this week:
"8:30 acland foyer for anyone who fancies the trip xx"
"I'm going home but I'll see you next week! X"
"Alright x"
Upon inquiring at evening tea about the purpose of the x, it seemed as if some debate enshrouds the issue. In the end, it struck me that the high frequency of x's deems them to be relatively trivial, a simple gesture of friendship (sort of like kissing cheeks in certain cultures). Interestingly, one member of the conversation spoke up, saying that an old female friend had been slightly put off because it was not his habit to reply with x's in his messages.
While I continue to investigate this topic, I have yet to 'x' a message... When the jury comes back with a verdict, perhaps I will decide whether or not to assimilate this interesting cultural practice into my messages.
Words of the Day
Niche (pronounced: neesh): n. a location, job position, role, etc. that is particularly suited for a specific object or individual. (Not to be confused with niche (pronounced: nitch), which is a location, job position, role, etc. that is particularly suited for a specific object or individual; American)
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
The Pipes, the Pipes are Calling
As always, it has been a busy nine days in Oxford... well... mainly out of Oxford... but you get the point. Since we last met our intrepid hero, he has traveled to Salisbury, Stonehenge, Avebury, London, Dublin, and the Wicklow mountains. So without further ado, let the games begin!
Last Sunday, I took advantage of the opportunity to go sightseeing with the Clarendon Scholars. Twenty-three of us piled into a pair of vans and left a quiet Oxford bright and early in the morning. The most important thing about the trip I am about to describe is that the weather was absolutely gorgeous, perhaps even the best thus far in 2012. So after every succeeding sentence, think about my descriptions in the context of a bright blue sky, cool air, and a green landscape just shy of bursting into springtime!
So, avoiding the motorways (highways), our drivers took us through several small villages en route to Salisbury. There was Wantage, home of King Alfred the Great (9th c), Hungerford, located on the Kennett River, and Marlborough with its antique wheat straw thatched cottages. All along the way, we witnessed wild pheasants meandering by the roadside and rabbits peacefully munching away on the fresh grass. Driving into Salisbury, we saw the nearby Old Sarum, a natural hill that served as a settlement, castle, and fortification from 3000 BC until the 1200s AD. Because the settlement had no water and there was no risk of attack, the people decided to move. Legend has it that the ruler of the time shot an arrow from the top of the hill and where it landed would indicate the site of Salisbury's first building: the current Salisbury Cathedral. Never mind that the cathedral is 2 km from the top of Old Sarum... it makes for a good story.
With an hour of free time, many of us walked from the cathedral where we were dropped off, into the town to grab a bite to eat. Another American and I chose a particularly inviting pasty shop and - in American fashion - immediately gravitated towards the "Large Traditional Pasties." These must have been crafted simply to lure gullible Americans as ourselves to spend more money, for we both quickly realized that - while delicious - the large pasties were unnecessarily large; we should have gone for the regular sized ones. After picnicking in the cathedral close (see below), our driver gave us a tour of the cathedral. It was constructed in a speedy 37 years (no sarcasm intended), with its completion in the year 1258. The simple, yet beautiful interior featured a large bronze fountain, extremely tasteful in its design and location.
More interesting, however, was the interesting set of personal connections that I soon found within the cathedral. Four copies of the 1215 Magna Carta are extant: two in the British Library, one up north, and one in the Salisbury Cathedral. As it turns out, the Magna Carta was forced upon King John in 1215 by his half-brother, William Longspee of Salisbury, among others. Longspee was the first person to be buried within Salisbury Cathedral and his effigy remains in the nave along with a placard identifying him as a (illegitimate) son of King Henry II, the Norman. Thus, supposing Grandpa's genealogy is correct, I serendipitously visited the grave of a family relation. Interesting, right? Furthermore, one might find it interesting that the Magna Carta was signed in Runnymede, which now happens to be the sister city of Herndon, where I grew up. Very strange, but very cool.
Anyway, I digress. I know you're all dying to read about Ireland, and here I am blabbering on about my relations (though Grandpa would have been utterly fascinated, to be sure). So we left Salisbury behind at last, driving the short distance to Stonehenge. I hope you are still thinking about the beautiful weather! On the way, we emerged into wide open fields with broad hills. All of a sudden, there it was: an oasis of rocks providing the only shade for a mile on any side. Now many people seem to express discontent with the ancient landmark, saying that it is just a bunch of rocks and it is a shame one cannot get close to them. I did not share this Mona Lisa-esque opinion, however. Rather, I was awed by the complex engineering and inspired by the resulting artistry. Indeed, the stones came from a site over 20 miles away. Weighing up to 45 Tons, it must have been an impressive feat to carve, position, and erect each sarson stone. Further, each of the three-stone assemblies is fitted with a pair of mortise-and-tenon joints such that the horizontal cross pieces would remain balanced on top. Further still, the concentric henges are perfectly circular and perfectly oriented to the solstices. Pretty impressive for a 4500 year old construction! Yet, not only was the engineering impressive, but the bluish-gray stones seemed perfect among the landscape. The rocks were extremely photogenic from every angle. The stillness of the day provided a calming peace at the site, yet somehow the stones seemed alive given their stark contrast to the wide open fields. It was truly captivating. Unfortunately we were on a schedule, but I would have loved to simply sit under the golden sunlight in the fields of green to admire all the rocky goodness.
Alas, we proceeded on our way to Avebury, a quaint village with yet another stone henge. The village was very quaint, complete with an 1100 year old chapel. The henge at Avebury predated that of Stonehenge, but the rocks had been left unshaped and had been selected from a nearby site. The henge itself was 18 times wider than that of Stonehenge, though the stones did not make a perfect circle and many were missing. Nonetheless, it was a nice and tourist-free alternative to the popular younger sibling.
"Ok, enough of henges already. Yes, you had a great day and the weather was beautiful, but get on with the main attraction already."
Fair enough.
On Wednesday, I welcomed Katlin and Jordan into Oxford, fresh off the plane from North Carolina. We spent the day wandering around the city and countryside seeing the typical list of sights. Taking advantage of the opportunity to see something new, I led them into Merton College to look around. It was one of the original Oxford colleges, so the interior was old, labyrinthine, yet garden filled. It was fun to see. We also walked through the countryside up to Wolvercote, but I will omit our interesting adventure consisting of me attempting to find a new route back to Oxford. Thankfully, none of us got soaked. ;-) On a personal note, I realized that day that I am already becoming accustomed to Oxford; I'm starting to take the old walls, the ivy, and the cobblestones for granted, already losing my ability to see the uniqueness of the supposed commonplace. Thus, I am hoping to give way to my inner photographer once more, seeing the detail of daily occurrences. Speaking of photography, by the way, did I mention that I placed 2nd in a Keble photo competition:
St. Paddy's vs. St. Patty's?
ONLY St. Paddy's! Paddy derives from the Irish Padraig or Patrick; Patty derives from Patricia or what you call a slab of meat. Look it up on Google if you must, else "Happy St. Paddy's Day!"
Words o' the Day
Pasty n. A pastry in which minced meat (chicken, lamb, beef) is mixed with onions or other fillings and wrapped into a semi-circular crust, similar to a calzone.
Close n. An enclosed area near to a building such as a cathedral; typically a garden or large courtyard
Sarson n. A type of stone from a particular region in southern England. Along with "Blue Stone," these rocks made up the sculptures at Stonehenge and Avebury
Last Sunday, I took advantage of the opportunity to go sightseeing with the Clarendon Scholars. Twenty-three of us piled into a pair of vans and left a quiet Oxford bright and early in the morning. The most important thing about the trip I am about to describe is that the weather was absolutely gorgeous, perhaps even the best thus far in 2012. So after every succeeding sentence, think about my descriptions in the context of a bright blue sky, cool air, and a green landscape just shy of bursting into springtime!
So, avoiding the motorways (highways), our drivers took us through several small villages en route to Salisbury. There was Wantage, home of King Alfred the Great (9th c), Hungerford, located on the Kennett River, and Marlborough with its antique wheat straw thatched cottages. All along the way, we witnessed wild pheasants meandering by the roadside and rabbits peacefully munching away on the fresh grass. Driving into Salisbury, we saw the nearby Old Sarum, a natural hill that served as a settlement, castle, and fortification from 3000 BC until the 1200s AD. Because the settlement had no water and there was no risk of attack, the people decided to move. Legend has it that the ruler of the time shot an arrow from the top of the hill and where it landed would indicate the site of Salisbury's first building: the current Salisbury Cathedral. Never mind that the cathedral is 2 km from the top of Old Sarum... it makes for a good story.
With an hour of free time, many of us walked from the cathedral where we were dropped off, into the town to grab a bite to eat. Another American and I chose a particularly inviting pasty shop and - in American fashion - immediately gravitated towards the "Large Traditional Pasties." These must have been crafted simply to lure gullible Americans as ourselves to spend more money, for we both quickly realized that - while delicious - the large pasties were unnecessarily large; we should have gone for the regular sized ones. After picnicking in the cathedral close (see below), our driver gave us a tour of the cathedral. It was constructed in a speedy 37 years (no sarcasm intended), with its completion in the year 1258. The simple, yet beautiful interior featured a large bronze fountain, extremely tasteful in its design and location.
More interesting, however, was the interesting set of personal connections that I soon found within the cathedral. Four copies of the 1215 Magna Carta are extant: two in the British Library, one up north, and one in the Salisbury Cathedral. As it turns out, the Magna Carta was forced upon King John in 1215 by his half-brother, William Longspee of Salisbury, among others. Longspee was the first person to be buried within Salisbury Cathedral and his effigy remains in the nave along with a placard identifying him as a (illegitimate) son of King Henry II, the Norman. Thus, supposing Grandpa's genealogy is correct, I serendipitously visited the grave of a family relation. Interesting, right? Furthermore, one might find it interesting that the Magna Carta was signed in Runnymede, which now happens to be the sister city of Herndon, where I grew up. Very strange, but very cool.
Anyway, I digress. I know you're all dying to read about Ireland, and here I am blabbering on about my relations (though Grandpa would have been utterly fascinated, to be sure). So we left Salisbury behind at last, driving the short distance to Stonehenge. I hope you are still thinking about the beautiful weather! On the way, we emerged into wide open fields with broad hills. All of a sudden, there it was: an oasis of rocks providing the only shade for a mile on any side. Now many people seem to express discontent with the ancient landmark, saying that it is just a bunch of rocks and it is a shame one cannot get close to them. I did not share this Mona Lisa-esque opinion, however. Rather, I was awed by the complex engineering and inspired by the resulting artistry. Indeed, the stones came from a site over 20 miles away. Weighing up to 45 Tons, it must have been an impressive feat to carve, position, and erect each sarson stone. Further, each of the three-stone assemblies is fitted with a pair of mortise-and-tenon joints such that the horizontal cross pieces would remain balanced on top. Further still, the concentric henges are perfectly circular and perfectly oriented to the solstices. Pretty impressive for a 4500 year old construction! Yet, not only was the engineering impressive, but the bluish-gray stones seemed perfect among the landscape. The rocks were extremely photogenic from every angle. The stillness of the day provided a calming peace at the site, yet somehow the stones seemed alive given their stark contrast to the wide open fields. It was truly captivating. Unfortunately we were on a schedule, but I would have loved to simply sit under the golden sunlight in the fields of green to admire all the rocky goodness.
Alas, we proceeded on our way to Avebury, a quaint village with yet another stone henge. The village was very quaint, complete with an 1100 year old chapel. The henge at Avebury predated that of Stonehenge, but the rocks had been left unshaped and had been selected from a nearby site. The henge itself was 18 times wider than that of Stonehenge, though the stones did not make a perfect circle and many were missing. Nonetheless, it was a nice and tourist-free alternative to the popular younger sibling.
"Ok, enough of henges already. Yes, you had a great day and the weather was beautiful, but get on with the main attraction already."
Fair enough.
On Wednesday, I welcomed Katlin and Jordan into Oxford, fresh off the plane from North Carolina. We spent the day wandering around the city and countryside seeing the typical list of sights. Taking advantage of the opportunity to see something new, I led them into Merton College to look around. It was one of the original Oxford colleges, so the interior was old, labyrinthine, yet garden filled. It was fun to see. We also walked through the countryside up to Wolvercote, but I will omit our interesting adventure consisting of me attempting to find a new route back to Oxford. Thankfully, none of us got soaked. ;-) On a personal note, I realized that day that I am already becoming accustomed to Oxford; I'm starting to take the old walls, the ivy, and the cobblestones for granted, already losing my ability to see the uniqueness of the supposed commonplace. Thus, I am hoping to give way to my inner photographer once more, seeing the detail of daily occurrences. Speaking of photography, by the way, did I mention that I placed 2nd in a Keble photo competition:
http://www.keble.ox.ac.uk/students/activities/photo-competition/keble-photo-competition. The photo is of Keble chapel reflected in an appropriately placed puddle. Thanks to Kalli for lending me the camera during her November visit!
Moving right along... on Thursday, we got up early as I was attending my first conference in London. I left the ladies to fend for themselves while I caught an early train from Oxford. The conference was at the Institute of Structural Engineers (ISE), the body responsible for structural engineering licensing procedures in England. There were several interesting posters (including two particularly relevant ones) and a variety of interesting presentations. I talked with two members from Arup, a London-based international structural engineering firm. While Arup was involved with the London Millennium Bridge design (upon which my research is based), they are a world renowned firm - a potentially good future employer.
Following the conference, I held my own Olympics-inspired London quintathalon:
Stage One: Run to London Victoria train station.
Stage Two: Catch train to Gatwick airport, taking the opportunity to get organized. Upon arrival, run to bathroom to rearrange bag. Ryanair has a notoriously extreme strict baggage policy: one carry on no greater than 10 kg (22 lb) and no greater than 55x40x20 cm. Fail to meet the restrictions and they gate-check your bag for a fee of 50 Euros. Dan:1, Ryanair:0
Stage Three: Take plane to Dublin. Part of flying a no-frills airline is not having a complementary drink but having to listen to the salesmen flight attendants pitching their newspapers, scratch-offs, and smokeless cigarettes.
Stage Four: Pass customs (new stamp = yay!) and catch a bus to the city, getting off at an ambiguous bus stop, asking bus driver for walking directions.
Stage Five: Walk to hostel, meeting up with Katlin and Jordan, whom had flown earlier in the day!
That night, we went to a pub (theme developing: Dublin is home to over 900 pubs) and ate traditional Irish fare. I had "Dublin Coddle" for dinner, and it was amazing! Essentially, it was a stew consisting of potatoes, sausage, and bacon in an herb-laden broth. On the side, I had a slice of delicious Irish soda bread, which was also very good! Afterwards, we took a quick walk into the green-lit Trinity college before heading back to the hostel for bed.
Friday, we awoke early, excited for a long day of sightseeing. First, we dropped our stuff off at a new hostel (even booking in November, there were no hostels with three beds available Thurs-Sunday, so we had to switch), which was across the River Liffey from Four Courts (their judicial court house). We walked 1.7 miles (oops - map not to scale!!) to Kilmainham Gaol (pronounced: jail), which housed prisoners from the 1790s until the 1920s. The jail figured prominently in the Great Famine, housing over 9000 prisoners in a mere 115 cells in 1850. Also, the jail was a rallying point during the fight for independence since 15 members of the 1916 uprising were held and executed there. To me, it seemed much like Alcatraz - a cold, damp, and creepy prison.
Speaking of cold and damp, Friday had a lot of both. We caught a bus back into city center, and avoided the chilly drizzle by having a pub lunch at a restaurant called "The Quays." Once again delicious, I chose cottage pie, evidently defined as shepherd's pie without the lamb. The pie was served with a piped-mash crust and a tasty red wine-based gravy. Notably, I ordered my first ever pint of beer, none other than Guinness.
As an important commentary, Guinness is an institution in Dublin. At any given time on any given day, it would not seem to be an exaggeration that three-quarters of the patrons in any given pub are holding a pint of Guinness. It is unbelievable. The Guinness logo features the national logo, the harp. Fittingly, the Guinness label seemed to be plastered on literally everything in the city. Not only that, but the restoration of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin (more to come) was funded by the Guinness family (though the Christ Church Cathedral reconstruction was funded by the Jamesons... of Jameson Irish Whiskey fame). The Guinness family have an estate in the Wicklow mountains nestled on a lake which - I kid you not - looks like a pint of Guinness. If you don't believe me: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=53.108917,-6.269073&spn=0.02079,0.037208&t=h&z=15
Fully stuffed, we left The Quays and headed to the tourist info center to start our walking tour. Yes, it was chilly and damp, but we went on a walking tour. The tour covered city hall, Dublin castle (reconstructed in the 1700s... i.e. doesn't look much like a castle any more), the gardens of Dubh Linn (meaning "Black Pool" in Irish; the pool was buried by the castle since the city's founding), Christ Church Cathedral, some original city walls, and St. Patrick's Cathedral. Being a St. Patrick's Festival tour, we learned much about St. Patrick. He was originally born in Wales in the 5th c, and brought to Ireland by the vikings as a slave. His dad had been a priest, so he became consumed with the will of God while enslaved as a shepherd. At last, God told him to run away and return to England. After formal training to be a priest, God told Patrick to return to Ireland to spread Christianity to the pagans. It is rumored that he devised the shamrock metaphor to describe the nature of the Trinity to nonbelievers, and that he banished all snakes from Ireland as a miraculous sign (to this day, snakes supposedly live in England but cannot survive in Ireland). While St. Patrick was never canonized by the church, he has been given the title of Saint thanks to popular consent throughout the ages.
That evening, we grabbed fish & chips take away from Leo Burdock. They were amazing- easily the best fish & chips I've had since arriving in Europe. I say this mainly as a point of reference in case I ever return to Dublin :-) We also took some time to wander the streets, already filled with plenty of green people and green buildings.
Saturday morning came quickly! The weather improved slightly, omitting the rain but remaining slightly chilly. We desired to have a glass of Irish coffee (coffee + Jameson whiskey + cream) before the parade, but we found out that - by law - pubs are not allowed to serve alcohol before 12:30 on national holidays. We found this peculiar given that the Irish national pastime is drinking, but perhaps the law was in place to ensure that no one had an unfair advantage going into afternoon festivities on holidays! At any rate, we bought some lovely green garb and staked out our spot on Lord Edward St, well along the 1.4 mile parade route. Good thing too - some 500,000 spectators came out for the brilliant costumes and talented bands in the parade. Everyone was wearing green - you've never seen so much green! The parade took a solid hour to arrive at our location and then another hour to pass by. Admittedly, most of the bands were from US high schools and universities, including Notre Dame and Missouri. Everyone seemed to enjoy it though!
Following the parade, we reembarked on our mission to find Irish coffee, ending up at Nealon, a pub on the north side of the river. It felt great to sit and relax with something warm, especially since we were all visibly exhausted. After our coffees, Katlin and Jordan - undoubtedly jet lagged in addition to having walking exhaustion - decided to return to the hostel for a nap. In the mean time, I decided to check out the interior of Christ Church Cathedral. While I was there (being unimpressed compared to St. Patrick's Cathedral), I received a text message from Roos, a fellow Kebleite! I had known that she was also going to be in the city for the holiday, and it seemed that she had some spare time in which to meet up! Thus, she and two of her friends met me outside Christ Church, and we walked around the city for a bit, catching up.
Leaving her friends at a crowded sports pub (oh yeah, England was playing Ireland in rugby! Too bad Ireland couldn't pull it out..), Roos and I returned to St. Patrick's Cathedral, where we met Katlin and Jordan for a St. Paddys service. The service featured readings about the ministry of St. Patrick, interspersed with songs by a harp quartet. The quartet had a surprisingly crisp, refreshing sound in the large, open space, and I could easily have spent double the time enjoying the service. When the service ended, however, the four of us plus a person we had met in the hostel all wandered toward "Temple Bar," a section of city centre (aptly named as an actual bar, a street, and the section, owing to the quantity of surrounding pubs). After the parade, most of the crowd simply filtered into the pubs, so it was rather difficult to find a place for dinner, even five hours after the parade. After leaving Roos with her friends, the remaining four of us ended up having dinner at the "Hairy Lemon," an overwhelmingly green (surprise!) pub (surprise again!). I had Irish beef stew (surprise), but unfortunately they had run out of soda bread. I said that wasn't a problem, but the waiter showed up some minutes later, bearing a complementary half pint of Guinness (surprise) to compensate.
We finished dinner quite late, and ended up walking around the city for a while to assess the overall situation. By midnight, we were ready to turn in, but we couldn't help but notice that most of the city streets were completely trashed. Crowds of people were (quite humorously) stumbling around. Broken glass was rampant, as were assorted food containers. Naturally, having only had three drinks all day, we were perfectly sober. This perhaps made our observations even more humorous. It was really a fun (and culturally enlightening?) day.
Consider this: we went to bed at 1 am. By 8:45 am, when we were frantically running to catch our tour bus for the day, the streets were almost entirely clean. Katlin, Jordan, and I could hardly believe what a quick job the city had done to return the streets to normal. True, a fountain in city center was still overflowing with soap suds (lol) but by-and-large, one would never have guessed what insanity took place the day before. In fact, I give huge credit to the city for the whole day: traffic was adequately controlled, police were everywhere and helpful, the parade route was lined with precautionary EMS staff, and everything ran according to schedule. It was a brilliant handling of a holiday event. Anyway, we caught our tour bus (piloted by Dave, a comedic Irishman who evidently stayed up until 5 am celebrating with his own family) destined for Wicklow Mountains National Park. In a nutshell, the park was stunning. The mountains were only 1000 feet tall, but the unending peat bog landscape reminded me of the Klondike in Maine's Baxter State Park. Apparently during the summertime, the mountains become covered in purple, gold, and green wild flowers, which must be amazing. We really enjoyed our day driving around the countryside and the mountains. Perhaps some day I will even get a chance to do some hiking in Ireland. Who knows.
Finally, we finished our Dublin experience with dinner at O'Sheas, yet another pub. I had Irish lamb casserole (which was more like a stew), but the highlight of dinner was sharing ice cream and a shot of Bailey's Irish Creme. The ice cream came in three flavors: sea salt, brown bread, and chocolate. Perhaps this may not sound very tasty, but let me assure you that after a weekend of heavy foods, the ice cream was remarkably delicious. I shall have to make some (esp brown bread ice cream), for sure.
Sadly, yesterday I returned to Oxford (Dan:2 Ryanair:0) and Katlin and Jordan continued their five-week adventure by flying to Barcelona. Wish I could join them, but it is back to reading for me. Time to start planning my next trip!
CULTURE CORNER
The most interesting event happened during the St Patrick's Day parade. One high school marching band from Texas was walking the parade route with a couple members handing out American flags. American flags in an Irish parade?! I couldn't believe it! I was really astonished and aghast that they would even have the audacity to do such a thing. I felt really embarrassed, honestly. But then what happened next left me completely confused. A little girl and her mother had been watching the parade next to us, evidently of Irish descent. As the person came by with the flags, the mother goaded her daughter to obtain one. Upon successful receipt of said flag, the girl turned around with happiness and the mother expressed sincere joy, stating (only marginal paraphrase), "Look, you got one! Everyone will be so jealous of you!" Thus, I really didn't know what to make of the situation. I do not think I have honestly heard such pure joy about anything American in all my travels. I do not tend to hear that many negative opinions either, but it was certainly rare to hear someone so excited about receiving an American flag. Perhaps this was an isolated event, or perhaps it was a manifestation of close America-Ireland ties, but nonetheless, I still remain baffled.
St. Paddy's vs. St. Patty's?
ONLY St. Paddy's! Paddy derives from the Irish Padraig or Patrick; Patty derives from Patricia or what you call a slab of meat. Look it up on Google if you must, else "Happy St. Paddy's Day!"
Words o' the Day
Pasty n. A pastry in which minced meat (chicken, lamb, beef) is mixed with onions or other fillings and wrapped into a semi-circular crust, similar to a calzone.
Close n. An enclosed area near to a building such as a cathedral; typically a garden or large courtyard
Sarson n. A type of stone from a particular region in southern England. Along with "Blue Stone," these rocks made up the sculptures at Stonehenge and Avebury
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Hilary 8th Week: Oxford Island Hopping
Dear readers: please take note that this is the second post today, so you have lots of reading ahead! :-)
When we last left our intrepid hero, he was exhausted from an epic weekend in Blackpool. While Jenna was planning to head out for three days in Zurich the next day, I (totally jealous), planned to save money and rest up. Well, I actually ended up getting less sleep than Jenna... but no matter.
This week has been the last week of term. Undoubtedly, undergrads across Oxford are currently packing up their paraphernalia and beginning the mass exodus out of town for the next six weeks. In the lab, I was met with three days of sheer boredom before spending large portions of Thursday and Friday gleaning data from the Nuffield Orthopedic Centre's database. Now I just have to figure out how to manipulate the data, pulling it from columns B, C, F, G, M, N, Q, and R of 44 Excel spreadsheets. Technically they're Comma Separated Variable (CSV) files... but you get the point. I think I'll be writing a MATLAB program to manipulate the data for me, but if anyone has any better ideas, I'm all ears.
Anyway, it ended up being a culturally fantastic week for me! On Monday, I went to Keble chapel on a whim to hear the choir sing John Stainer's "The Crucifixion." This oratorio was written for choir, tenor, baritone, and pipe organ back in the late 1800s, and its setting in the Keble chapel was simply marvelous. Following the oratorio, I grabbed a quick dinner in Acland before heading to our weekly pub quiz at the Royal Oak, where I contributed answers such as "Wilmington" (the largest port city in North Carolina), "Drum" (what type of instrument a Goombay is), and "Vivaldi" (a person born in 1687, died in the mid 1700s, composed a piece of 'four,' produced hundreds of works, etc.). Nonetheless, we seemed to have a poor showing in the quiz, so I left before the answers were given out to go swing dancing St. Anne's College. In the end, we placed third out of 15 in the quiz, and the dancing was with an amazing live band. Successful Monday, for the win!
The highlight of Tuesday was joining my lab partners at formal hall at Balliol College. Balliol is one of the oldest in Oxford, founded in the 1200s. The hall was simply gorgeous, consisting of half wood-paneled, half grey stone walls. The rafters were constructed from beautiful dark-stained wood beams with black iron connections. As is typical, the portraits of prolific college presidents adorned all the walls, silently looking down on the naive graduates and undergraduates. The highlight of the hall, however, was a magnificent wood and aluminum pipe organ in the balcony opposite high table. Filling two-thirds the height of the wall and its full width, the organ's presence dwarfed the noble portraits. The food for the evening was also splendid: delicious (California) Cobb salad for starters, followed by tender lamb chops (which I mistakenly analyzed as pork) with au gratin potatoes and a vegetable which I have since forgotten. The night's pudding was a delicious apple tart that even our French lab partner said was amazing. To top off the evening, we celebrated Clarissa's (the Balliol student/our lab partner) birthday by having cake in their MCR bar.
I followed up Balliol formal by going to Worcester formal hall with two lab partners on Wednesday. Worcester has a reputation for being among the best college food in Oxford, largely because it is sponsored by the late Lord Sainsbury, politician and former owner of Sainsburys grocery store chain. The menu was - as Brits like to put it - sumptuous. The starter was a delicious clam soup, followed by a juicy, flavorful steak with miscellaneous mysterious vegetable salad (including beets... quite popular here) in a cream-based dressing. For pudding, we had decadent chocolate-caramel brownie fool. Yes, it was called chocolate fool. If you have heard of said dessert, please let me know... and definitely recommend a recipe! This fool was served in a small glass: the bottom layer was whipped cream, followed by a layer of chocolate, another layer of whipped cream, a pureed strawberry-raspberry sauce, and finally the chocolatey, caramel brownie. Words cannot express the deliciousness of this refreshing dessert! Ah yes, the hall. Worcester's hall was, in my opinion, less exciting than I have seen elsewhere around Oxford. With colonial-style architecture, the room had two ceiling-height (non-structural?) columns under a baby blue ceiling. The ceiling had the obligatory offset white crown molding. The walls were of a yellow hue, also supporting the oil paintings of long deceased academics. After yet another trip to a college bar to protract our conversation, I headed back to Keble, content with my island hopping.
So Thursday, Keble hosted guest night. While I was excited to wear my suit coat for a third consecutive day, I was reminded of how substandard Keble's formal atmosphere is. Where as a guest at Balliol and Worcester, I needed to wear a full suit for their standard weekly formal, Keble's special once-per-term guest night allowed students to wear their normal street clothes under their gowns. Hence, I donned my suit coat as a sports coat with khaki trousers and I was among the better dressed students at dinner. This special dinner also reminded me of how sub-par our food is. Admittedly, in the panoply of international college food, Keble does do pretty well, but among Oxford colleges, the Keble dining experience seems to be on the lower end. Nonetheless, dinner consisted of stuffed bacon-wrapped chicken with our standard bland "new potatoes" and haricot vert (green beans). This followed our standard pear salad but preceded an admittedly tasty creme brulee.
And thus I now establish the Dan-Zagat ranking of Oxford dining (best to worst in each category):
-Hall design/functionality/architecture: Keble, Balliol, Magdalen, Worcester
-Formal Dinner Menu: Worcester, Balliol, Magdalen, Keble
-Wait staff: Balliol, Magdalen, Worcester, Keble
-Cost (low-high): Keble (5), Worcester (8), Magdalen (10), Balliol (12)
-Overall Experience: Balliol, Magdalen, Keble, Worcester
Moving right along, I come to yesterday! Jenna, having returned on Wednesday night from Zurich, welcomed her mother to Oxford from Los Angeles on Thursday. Thus, when Jenna invited me to join them for Jenna's weekly Missing Bean lunch ritual, I was excited to jump on the opportunity! The Missing Bean is, in Jenna's well-researched opinion, the best cafe in Oxford. Located on Turl Street, they serve delicious (and artistic!) coffees, cocoas, teas, and sandwiches. Jenna's ritual Friday lunch at the Missing Bean is the salmon & cream cheese bagel, so in homage said ritual, I also partook in the tasty lox (not to be confused with Goldilox?). Anyway, we had a fantastic lunch together, mainly discussing US politics (what!? A conservative and two liberals can have a civilized conversation and actually agree on things? I know that's shocking to some of you...), but also school systems, dancing, etc. etc. It was a really nice time.
To conclude my cultural week, last night was going to be rather busy. I was planning to go to a talk in Keble entitled "Why the Internet Won't Make You Any More Friends" but upon the discovery that Jenna and I won't be able to practice together for the next two weeks due to traveling, I booked it across town so we could get an hour of rehearsal in. Returning to Acland, I made a not-so-formal dinner of pasta, eggs, and sauteed courgettes (remember: zucchini) and sat around talking to some others in the kitchen. We grabbed a quick ice cream at G&D's by Keble (ironically, Jenna also invited me to the other G&D's with her mother back across town, wishing I had multiple bodies) before I joined yet another group of Keble-ites at The Cellar. This club in downtown Oxford happened to be hosting a funk/latin/"afro-beats" night, so we decided it would be fun to check out. Turns out, it was amazing! The band was sort of like the band Chicago-meets-Philip Glass-meets-the island Jamaica. The band, known as the Fontanelles, consisted of drums, lead guitar, backup guitar, bass, synthesizer, misc wood percussion, trumpet, trombone, tenor sax, and baritone sax. Yes, that's a lot of instruments. Yes, that's a lot of sound. Yes, it was still amplified. Yes, my ears were still ringing when I woke up this morning.
Nonetheless, it was an amazing night, an amazing week, and an amazing term. Coming up on the schedule: tomorrow to Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Avebury with the Clarendon Scholars; Wednesday welcoming Katlin (from the Belize trip) and her friend Jordan into Oxford; then on Thursday, off to Ireland!
CULTURE CORNER
Having spent the last four+ hours writing these two blogs, I'm going to keep this pretty short. Over the past week, I've come to realize something interesting. In the next year, I'm going to have friends in Regensburg, Munich, Constanze, and Geneva. Sensing a possible opportunity for travel, I think I'm going to up the ante on my German studies. Thankfully, I have three friends (Madeleine, Frank, and Clarissa) who are German. Hopefully, I'll be able to start practicing with them in hopes of regaining my long lost quasi-proficiency :-)
Word of the Day
Entree. n. The first course in a dinner, served before the main dish. This usually consists of a light salad, soup, or other small/light food. syn. Appetizer
When we last left our intrepid hero, he was exhausted from an epic weekend in Blackpool. While Jenna was planning to head out for three days in Zurich the next day, I (totally jealous), planned to save money and rest up. Well, I actually ended up getting less sleep than Jenna... but no matter.
This week has been the last week of term. Undoubtedly, undergrads across Oxford are currently packing up their paraphernalia and beginning the mass exodus out of town for the next six weeks. In the lab, I was met with three days of sheer boredom before spending large portions of Thursday and Friday gleaning data from the Nuffield Orthopedic Centre's database. Now I just have to figure out how to manipulate the data, pulling it from columns B, C, F, G, M, N, Q, and R of 44 Excel spreadsheets. Technically they're Comma Separated Variable (CSV) files... but you get the point. I think I'll be writing a MATLAB program to manipulate the data for me, but if anyone has any better ideas, I'm all ears.
Anyway, it ended up being a culturally fantastic week for me! On Monday, I went to Keble chapel on a whim to hear the choir sing John Stainer's "The Crucifixion." This oratorio was written for choir, tenor, baritone, and pipe organ back in the late 1800s, and its setting in the Keble chapel was simply marvelous. Following the oratorio, I grabbed a quick dinner in Acland before heading to our weekly pub quiz at the Royal Oak, where I contributed answers such as "Wilmington" (the largest port city in North Carolina), "Drum" (what type of instrument a Goombay is), and "Vivaldi" (a person born in 1687, died in the mid 1700s, composed a piece of 'four,' produced hundreds of works, etc.). Nonetheless, we seemed to have a poor showing in the quiz, so I left before the answers were given out to go swing dancing St. Anne's College. In the end, we placed third out of 15 in the quiz, and the dancing was with an amazing live band. Successful Monday, for the win!
The highlight of Tuesday was joining my lab partners at formal hall at Balliol College. Balliol is one of the oldest in Oxford, founded in the 1200s. The hall was simply gorgeous, consisting of half wood-paneled, half grey stone walls. The rafters were constructed from beautiful dark-stained wood beams with black iron connections. As is typical, the portraits of prolific college presidents adorned all the walls, silently looking down on the naive graduates and undergraduates. The highlight of the hall, however, was a magnificent wood and aluminum pipe organ in the balcony opposite high table. Filling two-thirds the height of the wall and its full width, the organ's presence dwarfed the noble portraits. The food for the evening was also splendid: delicious (California) Cobb salad for starters, followed by tender lamb chops (which I mistakenly analyzed as pork) with au gratin potatoes and a vegetable which I have since forgotten. The night's pudding was a delicious apple tart that even our French lab partner said was amazing. To top off the evening, we celebrated Clarissa's (the Balliol student/our lab partner) birthday by having cake in their MCR bar.
I followed up Balliol formal by going to Worcester formal hall with two lab partners on Wednesday. Worcester has a reputation for being among the best college food in Oxford, largely because it is sponsored by the late Lord Sainsbury, politician and former owner of Sainsburys grocery store chain. The menu was - as Brits like to put it - sumptuous. The starter was a delicious clam soup, followed by a juicy, flavorful steak with miscellaneous mysterious vegetable salad (including beets... quite popular here) in a cream-based dressing. For pudding, we had decadent chocolate-caramel brownie fool. Yes, it was called chocolate fool. If you have heard of said dessert, please let me know... and definitely recommend a recipe! This fool was served in a small glass: the bottom layer was whipped cream, followed by a layer of chocolate, another layer of whipped cream, a pureed strawberry-raspberry sauce, and finally the chocolatey, caramel brownie. Words cannot express the deliciousness of this refreshing dessert! Ah yes, the hall. Worcester's hall was, in my opinion, less exciting than I have seen elsewhere around Oxford. With colonial-style architecture, the room had two ceiling-height (non-structural?) columns under a baby blue ceiling. The ceiling had the obligatory offset white crown molding. The walls were of a yellow hue, also supporting the oil paintings of long deceased academics. After yet another trip to a college bar to protract our conversation, I headed back to Keble, content with my island hopping.
So Thursday, Keble hosted guest night. While I was excited to wear my suit coat for a third consecutive day, I was reminded of how substandard Keble's formal atmosphere is. Where as a guest at Balliol and Worcester, I needed to wear a full suit for their standard weekly formal, Keble's special once-per-term guest night allowed students to wear their normal street clothes under their gowns. Hence, I donned my suit coat as a sports coat with khaki trousers and I was among the better dressed students at dinner. This special dinner also reminded me of how sub-par our food is. Admittedly, in the panoply of international college food, Keble does do pretty well, but among Oxford colleges, the Keble dining experience seems to be on the lower end. Nonetheless, dinner consisted of stuffed bacon-wrapped chicken with our standard bland "new potatoes" and haricot vert (green beans). This followed our standard pear salad but preceded an admittedly tasty creme brulee.
And thus I now establish the Dan-Zagat ranking of Oxford dining (best to worst in each category):
-Hall design/functionality/architecture: Keble, Balliol, Magdalen, Worcester
-Formal Dinner Menu: Worcester, Balliol, Magdalen, Keble
-Wait staff: Balliol, Magdalen, Worcester, Keble
-Cost (low-high): Keble (5), Worcester (8), Magdalen (10), Balliol (12)
-Overall Experience: Balliol, Magdalen, Keble, Worcester
Moving right along, I come to yesterday! Jenna, having returned on Wednesday night from Zurich, welcomed her mother to Oxford from Los Angeles on Thursday. Thus, when Jenna invited me to join them for Jenna's weekly Missing Bean lunch ritual, I was excited to jump on the opportunity! The Missing Bean is, in Jenna's well-researched opinion, the best cafe in Oxford. Located on Turl Street, they serve delicious (and artistic!) coffees, cocoas, teas, and sandwiches. Jenna's ritual Friday lunch at the Missing Bean is the salmon & cream cheese bagel, so in homage said ritual, I also partook in the tasty lox (not to be confused with Goldilox?). Anyway, we had a fantastic lunch together, mainly discussing US politics (what!? A conservative and two liberals can have a civilized conversation and actually agree on things? I know that's shocking to some of you...), but also school systems, dancing, etc. etc. It was a really nice time.
To conclude my cultural week, last night was going to be rather busy. I was planning to go to a talk in Keble entitled "Why the Internet Won't Make You Any More Friends" but upon the discovery that Jenna and I won't be able to practice together for the next two weeks due to traveling, I booked it across town so we could get an hour of rehearsal in. Returning to Acland, I made a not-so-formal dinner of pasta, eggs, and sauteed courgettes (remember: zucchini) and sat around talking to some others in the kitchen. We grabbed a quick ice cream at G&D's by Keble (ironically, Jenna also invited me to the other G&D's with her mother back across town, wishing I had multiple bodies) before I joined yet another group of Keble-ites at The Cellar. This club in downtown Oxford happened to be hosting a funk/latin/"afro-beats" night, so we decided it would be fun to check out. Turns out, it was amazing! The band was sort of like the band Chicago-meets-Philip Glass-meets-the island Jamaica. The band, known as the Fontanelles, consisted of drums, lead guitar, backup guitar, bass, synthesizer, misc wood percussion, trumpet, trombone, tenor sax, and baritone sax. Yes, that's a lot of instruments. Yes, that's a lot of sound. Yes, it was still amplified. Yes, my ears were still ringing when I woke up this morning.
Nonetheless, it was an amazing night, an amazing week, and an amazing term. Coming up on the schedule: tomorrow to Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Avebury with the Clarendon Scholars; Wednesday welcoming Katlin (from the Belize trip) and her friend Jordan into Oxford; then on Thursday, off to Ireland!
CULTURE CORNER
Having spent the last four+ hours writing these two blogs, I'm going to keep this pretty short. Over the past week, I've come to realize something interesting. In the next year, I'm going to have friends in Regensburg, Munich, Constanze, and Geneva. Sensing a possible opportunity for travel, I think I'm going to up the ante on my German studies. Thankfully, I have three friends (Madeleine, Frank, and Clarissa) who are German. Hopefully, I'll be able to start practicing with them in hopes of regaining my long lost quasi-proficiency :-)
Word of the Day
Entree. n. The first course in a dinner, served before the main dish. This usually consists of a light salad, soup, or other small/light food. syn. Appetizer
Hilary 8th Week: Blackpool
Cutting straight to the chase, I shall begin today's post by thoroughly rehashing the sequence of events comprising our trip to the national dance championships in Blackpool. At 2:00 last Friday, the OUDC (Oxford University Dancesport Club) boarded two coaches destined for the distant city of Blackpool. I should note, however, that Blackpool is distant only by British standards, requiring a mere 4.5 hour bus journey. While I spent most of the trip sleeping/chatting/singing songs with my partner and some other beginners, I did gaze out the window for a while to admire the lush, green rolling hills and the many peaceful flocks of sheep. Needless to say, the scenery was exceedingly picturesque.
Finally, we rolled into Blackpool after a beautiful English sunset (I reckon it would be strange if we had seen a French or American sunset, no?), winding our way through town towards an illuminated beacon known as Blackpool Tower. In spite of the Eiffel-shaped Blackpool Tower, the city reminded me of a deserted Myrtle Beach. Not only is Blackpool situated on the water, but the downtown area recollects a cheesy 1950s-1960s carnival atmosphere. Full of old arcades, flashy colored lights, and plenty of run-down chip shops, it seemed as if the city had been left somewhere in the past. All the same, our coaches dumped us on a street with literally dozens of narrow hotels which resembled a bookcase of tightly packed novels. Nick, Latt, and I procured our key at the Fern Villa hotel, swiftly dumped our bags, and rejoined the other similarly-minded hungry beginners.
A short walk brought us to La Piazza, a family-owned Italian restaurant, shockingly located on a beautiful stone plaza. As we walked up to the plaza, my dance partner - cutely arm-in-arm - gave a large "oooooh" as she saw a gorgeous stone church lit with assorted colored lights. Looking up to also admire the church, I failed to continue navigating, catching a bollard square between my legs. I'm fairly certain it was the funniest moment of the weekend, although such realization came only after I assessed that I can still have kids some day!
The restaurant itself was quaint. The interior was (also shockingly) decorated like an Italian plaza. Our food - I had soup and a calzone - was really good, but the owner seemed to have a chip off his shoulder, continually trying to convince us to buy more food or drinks. Thus, as we finished eating, we trickled out of the restaurant to return to the hotel via Marks & Spencers, a grocery store. Nick, Latt, and I talked briefly but swiftly went to bed in hopes of resting up for the competition.
I didn't sleep well that night. The bed was hard, the air was too warm, and I had too much anticipation for dancing. Restless, I bounded out of bed at 6:30, ready for a nice hot shower. I turned on the water and ... UGH! Freezing cold! It turns out the hotel's boiler cannot make hot water very fast, so the girls upstairs - who had been bounding around their room since 5:00 - evidently took it all. Thus, I decided that washing my hair and face would be sufficient; never have I been so glad to have a shower wand instead of an American-style fixture!
After an excellent, albeit late, full English breakfast in the hotel, we walked over to the Empress Ballroom, located across the plaza from the pain-inducing church. It was so nice to not have an x-hour bus ride the morning of a competition. We were relaxed, calm, and excited for a fun day of dancing. As we walked into the main ballroom, I was blown away by the size of the space! The floor was easily over 200 feet long and probably a bit less than 100 feet wide. The ceiling was an elegant Victorian (I think?) vaulted arch roof, rising two balconies over the dance floor.
At last, at 9:30 am, the competition began. As couple number 545 out of 550 (about 180 of which were beginners), Jenna and I realized that we would be in the last heat for every dance. This gave us a little extra time to plot strategy before walking out on the shiny, flexible, brown floor for our first waltz. Unfortunately, our strategies were unsuccessful as we were repeatedly run over by Goliath and his partner. Mercifully, the first round is usually pretty easy to get through, so we were not particularly worried... just jostled.
After that dance, all the beginners were shunned off to the so-called Spanish Room to continue their competition. The Spanish Room was also a work of beauty, featuring a rounded sky-blue roof (unfortunately covered by dark-blue construction tarpaulin), overlooking a model Spanish town around the room's walls. Unfortunately, the small floor required the first round of quickstep to take 16 heats, whereas the first round of waltz on the main floor required only 10. Thus the morning progressed: in each dance, Jenna and I made it through the round of 16 heats, the round of 13 heats, the rounds of 10, eight, and five. At last we returned to the main floor for the quarterfinals and semifinals. Jenna and I were once again barred from the finals (sigh), but since we were having such an incredibly marvelous time simply dancing with each other, our only disappointment was that we were done with ballroom for the day. In fact, we were thoroughly excited to cheer on our teammates Aarne & Polina, Felix & Naomi, and Vincent & Rachel for their waltz final along with Louis & Bizzy in their quickstep final! It concluded an exciting morning of ballroom.
While the offbeat competition ensued (think: cabaret style dance routines), I walked back to the hotel to grab my lunch. Having returned and consumed said lunch, the afternoon portion was just about to begin. Once again, Jenna and I waited through the first nine heats before heading taking our place on the floor for the cha cha. Here, it might be good to mention that we learned an entirely new cha and jive routine only eight days prior to the competition and - for various reasons - Jenna and I did not really practice at all leading up to the competition. Thus, it was no surprise when half way through, we ended up social dancing! It was a mess, but we totally laughed it off. Once again, the merits of messing up the first round spared us an early exit. Once again, we proceeded back to the Spanish Room for the same long afternoon of heats: 16, 13, 10, eight, five. As a beginners team, we were again much less successful in Latin than Ballroom, but we were dancing better than at SUDC two weeks prior. Thus, returning to the main floor, Jenna and I were excited to have some company for the late rounds. As is our fate, we only made the semis in cha cha (though congrats to Latt & Emma for their final!) but we did crack the finals in jive! Together with Vincent & Rachel, who were apparently on fire for Blackpool, we took the floor by storm. In the end, they won second overall, while Jenna and I placed fifth.
Having not had enough dancing (warning: theme emerging), Jenna and I chose to compete in the open Rock n' Roll competition. Unlike at Sheffield where the competition went directly to finals, there were many more competitors this time around. We did make it past the first round - pretty good for unchoreographed goofing off - but our run ended there. We had a total blast.
And thus the competition proceeded into the team match. Essentially, each university submits up to six teams (labelled A-F), where each team consists of a waltz couple, a quickstep couple, a cha cha couple, and a jive couple. Thus, the most advanced dancers comprise A Team, the next, B Team, and so on. Jenna and I have danced in the team match on several occasions this year, but due to the quantity of beginners talent this time around, the jive spot went to Vincent & Rachel. I was quite excited to see how they performed along with Felix & Naomi (waltz), Aarne & Polina (quickstep), and Latt & Emma (cha cha) as "Oxford F Team." While they - unsurprisingly - could not crack the quarterfinals, they did beat some schools' A teams!! They were amazing!
By the time team match and presentations were finished, it was going on 12:30 am. Having not danced enough, they put on some disco music for everyone to just crash the floor. By 1:00, they kicked us all out and we headed back to the hotel...
...temporarily...
Having still not danced enough, the Oxford team decided to head out to a club, because that's apparently what you do after 15 hours of ballroom and Latin. So we meandered around Blackpool, carefully avoiding the drunken locals who were heading home for the night with their trays of chips n cheese, excited to squeeze every last ounce of fun from the day. At last, we found our destination by 2:00 and went in for a couple more hours of grooving to the music. Departing at 4:00 totally sober (although the same could not be said for others on the team, lol), we walked back to the hotel through the lightly drizzling rain. Sadly the main team took all the hot water in the hotel, so yet again a shower was not in the offing. Thus, by 4:30 I crawled into bed: with 18 hours of dance behind me, I knew sleep would not be an issue.
When the alarm went off at 8:25 for breakfast, I jumped out of bed - though stiff - with an energy that surprised even me. I ran (all 15 feet) for the shower, jumped in, and could finally enjoy some glorious hot water. Nick and Latt were a little bit less keen to get up, so they merely stumbled out of bed and the three of us headed downstairs for breakfast. At that point, I remembered "Twas the Night Before Christmas;" not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Nor the kitchen staff. Perplexed, the three of us stood around for a few minutes to ponder our course of action. When we realized that even a 9:00 breakfast was unlikely, Latt found a Fern Villa business card and called the hotel to inquire. The voice in the phone indicated that indeed, breakfast was at 9. Not three minutes later, the hotel front door opened, and in came one of the kitchen staff (/owner?), apologizing for her tardiness and telling us that breakfast would be moved back to 9:30. So we went back to bed. Well, Nick and Latt went back to bed while I packed. At long last, we had our amazing English breakfast, finished packing up, and boarded the coaches to return to Oxford. Indeed, the stories from the previous night were rather humorous, but hardly had 30 minutes passed before the coach was silent with sleeping students.
All in all, it was a thoroughly epic weekend. I am so excited to be part of OUDC and thrilled at our performance in Blackpool. More to the point, I am incredibly grateful to have Jenna as my dance partner. We had an amazing weekend and I loved every moment of dancing together. Thank you so much Jenna!
Next comp: Varsity Match, May 12. Oxford v. Cambridge. Iffley Sports Complex, Oxford.
YOU'RE GOING DOWN, CAMBRIDGE!!!
Finally, we rolled into Blackpool after a beautiful English sunset (I reckon it would be strange if we had seen a French or American sunset, no?), winding our way through town towards an illuminated beacon known as Blackpool Tower. In spite of the Eiffel-shaped Blackpool Tower, the city reminded me of a deserted Myrtle Beach. Not only is Blackpool situated on the water, but the downtown area recollects a cheesy 1950s-1960s carnival atmosphere. Full of old arcades, flashy colored lights, and plenty of run-down chip shops, it seemed as if the city had been left somewhere in the past. All the same, our coaches dumped us on a street with literally dozens of narrow hotels which resembled a bookcase of tightly packed novels. Nick, Latt, and I procured our key at the Fern Villa hotel, swiftly dumped our bags, and rejoined the other similarly-minded hungry beginners.
A short walk brought us to La Piazza, a family-owned Italian restaurant, shockingly located on a beautiful stone plaza. As we walked up to the plaza, my dance partner - cutely arm-in-arm - gave a large "oooooh" as she saw a gorgeous stone church lit with assorted colored lights. Looking up to also admire the church, I failed to continue navigating, catching a bollard square between my legs. I'm fairly certain it was the funniest moment of the weekend, although such realization came only after I assessed that I can still have kids some day!
The restaurant itself was quaint. The interior was (also shockingly) decorated like an Italian plaza. Our food - I had soup and a calzone - was really good, but the owner seemed to have a chip off his shoulder, continually trying to convince us to buy more food or drinks. Thus, as we finished eating, we trickled out of the restaurant to return to the hotel via Marks & Spencers, a grocery store. Nick, Latt, and I talked briefly but swiftly went to bed in hopes of resting up for the competition.
I didn't sleep well that night. The bed was hard, the air was too warm, and I had too much anticipation for dancing. Restless, I bounded out of bed at 6:30, ready for a nice hot shower. I turned on the water and ... UGH! Freezing cold! It turns out the hotel's boiler cannot make hot water very fast, so the girls upstairs - who had been bounding around their room since 5:00 - evidently took it all. Thus, I decided that washing my hair and face would be sufficient; never have I been so glad to have a shower wand instead of an American-style fixture!
After an excellent, albeit late, full English breakfast in the hotel, we walked over to the Empress Ballroom, located across the plaza from the pain-inducing church. It was so nice to not have an x-hour bus ride the morning of a competition. We were relaxed, calm, and excited for a fun day of dancing. As we walked into the main ballroom, I was blown away by the size of the space! The floor was easily over 200 feet long and probably a bit less than 100 feet wide. The ceiling was an elegant Victorian (I think?) vaulted arch roof, rising two balconies over the dance floor.
At last, at 9:30 am, the competition began. As couple number 545 out of 550 (about 180 of which were beginners), Jenna and I realized that we would be in the last heat for every dance. This gave us a little extra time to plot strategy before walking out on the shiny, flexible, brown floor for our first waltz. Unfortunately, our strategies were unsuccessful as we were repeatedly run over by Goliath and his partner. Mercifully, the first round is usually pretty easy to get through, so we were not particularly worried... just jostled.
After that dance, all the beginners were shunned off to the so-called Spanish Room to continue their competition. The Spanish Room was also a work of beauty, featuring a rounded sky-blue roof (unfortunately covered by dark-blue construction tarpaulin), overlooking a model Spanish town around the room's walls. Unfortunately, the small floor required the first round of quickstep to take 16 heats, whereas the first round of waltz on the main floor required only 10. Thus the morning progressed: in each dance, Jenna and I made it through the round of 16 heats, the round of 13 heats, the rounds of 10, eight, and five. At last we returned to the main floor for the quarterfinals and semifinals. Jenna and I were once again barred from the finals (sigh), but since we were having such an incredibly marvelous time simply dancing with each other, our only disappointment was that we were done with ballroom for the day. In fact, we were thoroughly excited to cheer on our teammates Aarne & Polina, Felix & Naomi, and Vincent & Rachel for their waltz final along with Louis & Bizzy in their quickstep final! It concluded an exciting morning of ballroom.
While the offbeat competition ensued (think: cabaret style dance routines), I walked back to the hotel to grab my lunch. Having returned and consumed said lunch, the afternoon portion was just about to begin. Once again, Jenna and I waited through the first nine heats before heading taking our place on the floor for the cha cha. Here, it might be good to mention that we learned an entirely new cha and jive routine only eight days prior to the competition and - for various reasons - Jenna and I did not really practice at all leading up to the competition. Thus, it was no surprise when half way through, we ended up social dancing! It was a mess, but we totally laughed it off. Once again, the merits of messing up the first round spared us an early exit. Once again, we proceeded back to the Spanish Room for the same long afternoon of heats: 16, 13, 10, eight, five. As a beginners team, we were again much less successful in Latin than Ballroom, but we were dancing better than at SUDC two weeks prior. Thus, returning to the main floor, Jenna and I were excited to have some company for the late rounds. As is our fate, we only made the semis in cha cha (though congrats to Latt & Emma for their final!) but we did crack the finals in jive! Together with Vincent & Rachel, who were apparently on fire for Blackpool, we took the floor by storm. In the end, they won second overall, while Jenna and I placed fifth.
Having not had enough dancing (warning: theme emerging), Jenna and I chose to compete in the open Rock n' Roll competition. Unlike at Sheffield where the competition went directly to finals, there were many more competitors this time around. We did make it past the first round - pretty good for unchoreographed goofing off - but our run ended there. We had a total blast.
And thus the competition proceeded into the team match. Essentially, each university submits up to six teams (labelled A-F), where each team consists of a waltz couple, a quickstep couple, a cha cha couple, and a jive couple. Thus, the most advanced dancers comprise A Team, the next, B Team, and so on. Jenna and I have danced in the team match on several occasions this year, but due to the quantity of beginners talent this time around, the jive spot went to Vincent & Rachel. I was quite excited to see how they performed along with Felix & Naomi (waltz), Aarne & Polina (quickstep), and Latt & Emma (cha cha) as "Oxford F Team." While they - unsurprisingly - could not crack the quarterfinals, they did beat some schools' A teams!! They were amazing!
By the time team match and presentations were finished, it was going on 12:30 am. Having not danced enough, they put on some disco music for everyone to just crash the floor. By 1:00, they kicked us all out and we headed back to the hotel...
...temporarily...
Having still not danced enough, the Oxford team decided to head out to a club, because that's apparently what you do after 15 hours of ballroom and Latin. So we meandered around Blackpool, carefully avoiding the drunken locals who were heading home for the night with their trays of chips n cheese, excited to squeeze every last ounce of fun from the day. At last, we found our destination by 2:00 and went in for a couple more hours of grooving to the music. Departing at 4:00 totally sober (although the same could not be said for others on the team, lol), we walked back to the hotel through the lightly drizzling rain. Sadly the main team took all the hot water in the hotel, so yet again a shower was not in the offing. Thus, by 4:30 I crawled into bed: with 18 hours of dance behind me, I knew sleep would not be an issue.
When the alarm went off at 8:25 for breakfast, I jumped out of bed - though stiff - with an energy that surprised even me. I ran (all 15 feet) for the shower, jumped in, and could finally enjoy some glorious hot water. Nick and Latt were a little bit less keen to get up, so they merely stumbled out of bed and the three of us headed downstairs for breakfast. At that point, I remembered "Twas the Night Before Christmas;" not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Nor the kitchen staff. Perplexed, the three of us stood around for a few minutes to ponder our course of action. When we realized that even a 9:00 breakfast was unlikely, Latt found a Fern Villa business card and called the hotel to inquire. The voice in the phone indicated that indeed, breakfast was at 9. Not three minutes later, the hotel front door opened, and in came one of the kitchen staff (/owner?), apologizing for her tardiness and telling us that breakfast would be moved back to 9:30. So we went back to bed. Well, Nick and Latt went back to bed while I packed. At long last, we had our amazing English breakfast, finished packing up, and boarded the coaches to return to Oxford. Indeed, the stories from the previous night were rather humorous, but hardly had 30 minutes passed before the coach was silent with sleeping students.
All in all, it was a thoroughly epic weekend. I am so excited to be part of OUDC and thrilled at our performance in Blackpool. More to the point, I am incredibly grateful to have Jenna as my dance partner. We had an amazing weekend and I loved every moment of dancing together. Thank you so much Jenna!
Next comp: Varsity Match, May 12. Oxford v. Cambridge. Iffley Sports Complex, Oxford.
YOU'RE GOING DOWN, CAMBRIDGE!!!
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