So, my month of May and beginning of June has been incredibly busy, and I think we’re all starting to feel that we are rapidly approaching the end of our stay in Oxford.
Most of May has been dedicated to studying for our tutorials. Mine is on book and print culture in the Victorian period, and I can say (with some relief) that I seem to be meeting the expectations of my tutor. So far I’ve looked at the text and ill
ustrations of Dickens, Gustave Dore, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Beatrix Potter, Kate Greenaway, Lewis Carroll, and JM Barrie. Most of my sources are from Oxford’s Bodleian Library, and every week I’ve gotten to look at first editions of my authors and illustrators. Most of the texts have to be read at Weston library (which is part of the Bod) in this reading room that’s quite tedious to get to: you go through several security checkpoints,leave all your stuff except your computer in a locker, and sign in with a guard before you go into the reading room at all. But once you get past all that, you can spend your time thumbing through all sorts of texts, no big deal if they’re from the 1800’s or earlier and are extremely fragile. I saw this one girl reading what looked like a handwritten book while simultaneously on Facebook. Only in Oxford, right? If I’m not in Weston, I’m usually in the Gladstone Link, which is basically an underground part of the lib
rary with movable shelving (there’s little steering wheels on each shelf to move them back and forth–it’s quite fun); you just have to make sure you don’t squish anyone between shelves. And then I go off and write my paper, and every Friday I meet up with my tutor and we discuss what I’ve studied during the week. Super simple, but I’m learning so much! Preparing for my tutorial usually consumes my week (what am I going to do when I have 5 classes at PLU next semester?!), but there’s always fun things going on.
Some weeks back I fo
und this bookseller that appears in Gloucester Green’s outdoor market every Wednesday, and he always has really nice old books, which of course I can’t resist. I found a copy of Persuasion from 1901 and it’s really quite pretty, as well as a copy of The Importance of Being Earnest and A Tale of Two Cities, from 1906. I won’t be having any regrets until I try to bring home all my newly acquired things with me. We also attended Regent’s Park’s college tortoise, Emanuelle’s, birthday party. It’s actually a charity event, and it was super fun! They also brought over other Oxford colleges’ tortoises to visit with Emanuelle. Chri
st Church’s tortoise kept trying to eat, or at least, climb over, a baby tortoise (that was absolutely adorable!). More recently, there was another tortoise-related charity event at Corpus Christi College–a tortoise race. They make a circle of lettuce and put a bunch of the Oxford Colleges’ tortoises in the middle, and whichever tortoise gets to the lettuce first wins. I’m proud to say Emanuelle got 4th place.
We also went punting for the first time! Basically you start at Magdalen Bridge and end in Christ Church Meadow. It was a beautiful day for it. However, the ducks expect you to feed them and they’ll steal your food if you’re not careful. But other than that, it’s a wonderful way to spend a few hours on a sunny afternoon. As long as you don’t crash into the banks or other punting boats. Also, there’s ducklings that follow you on the river. Too cute.
A couple weeks back, another girl and I took a train and a taxi to get to Highclere Castle, where they film Downton Abbey! It’s a hassle to get to, especially on a Sunday, but as it was the last weekend that the castle was open, it was o
ur only opportunity. But it was definitely worth it! The house inside (you can’t take pictures) looks exactly like in the show–the same furniture and everything! Also, the grounds are HUGE. As in, the fields surrounding Highclere just keep going in every direction. You can’t even see the town it’s closest to, Newbury. Lots of people probably have to maintain all that, and it really puts Downton Abbey into perspective–the issues about tenant farmers and land and stuff discussed in the show makes so much more sense.
Formal Dinner at Regent’s
The group at our cabin
And, this past Saturday, eight members of our Oxford group (including me) went to Snowdonia, which is a massive national park in North Wales. The Oxford Mountaineering Club owns a little house that we were able to rent for very cheap. Problem was, it was in a teeny village named Pentrefoelas (as in, there was a convenience store, a pub, and a chocolate factory, and that’s about it), where, upon getting to a neighbouring town, we found that there were no busses to Pentrefoelas (internet was inaccurate on this) and we almost had to walk nine miles there, as most taxi services were busy. But we finally found one, and after tramping through several farms, fields, and even climbing over some barbed wire, we found a little stone house that at first we thought was abandoned but realised it was the right one (later, we found the footpath you’re supposed to take from the main road). You have to walk for a good ten minutes or so from the road to even see the house–it’s just surrounded by fields and fields of sheep and cows. Anyway, the house was super cool, complete with a little fireplace, massive bunkbeds (think five bunkbeds conglomerated into one long one), and magazines from the 1980’s. It was really nice to fall asleep to the sound of baa-ing sheep 🙂
The nex
t day (Sunday), we headed out to Mt. Snowdon, the tallest mountain in Wales and the highlight of Snowdonia. It’s about a 9mile hike, and the first four or so miles are uphill. But the view was absolutely breathtaking–just miles and miles of mountains and lakes. One of the lakes we passed to put our feet in is, according to legend, where King Arthur threw Excalibur at the end of his life. It certainly looked magical enough to be part of the legend! Anyway, this hike was probably the hardest I’ve ever done, and the fastest–we climbed to the summit of Snowdon in about two hours. I’m still sore from all the walking, but I’m proud that I made it and didn’t wimp out 
or anything. O
n Monday, we also took a bus to Carnarfon, to see the beach and Carnarfon Castle, which is where the Princes of Wales (as in, Prince Charles) get validated or something when they are 17 or so. Another thing that’s really cool: most people in the northern Wales area actually speak Welsh–when I was in Cardiff and Tintern, I barely heard any, but here, we actually met someone (a bus driver) who couldn’t answer a question because he didn’t understand enough English. So, Welsh is definitely not a dead language!
So, that’s me up to date. This week, I’ll be finishing my tutorial (I had two essays this week), and then I’ll be doing some last-minute travelling for the rest of my time here. This Saturday is Final Fling, which is kinda like prom, at Regent’s, so I have that to look forward to. I also have a ticket to see Shakespeare’s King John at the London Globe on the last week of June! So I guess there’ll be one more blog post, presumably when I get back to Hawaii. Have a wonderful month of June!
The other students have returned to Oxford from their spring break, as term starts this week. The beginning of Trinity Term also means that Emanuelle, Regent Park’s (very old) college tortoise, is now roaming the Quad during the day (the main courtyard at Regent’s). There’s a birthday party for her in the beginning of May, and we’re all super excited! (Why can’t we have a PLU tortoise? It would be great.)
hames screaming for their respective teams. I’m very proud to say that Oxford won all three races: women’s, men’s, and the reserves. Apparently, this year’s race was a very significant one–this is the first time the women’s team have ever rowed the same course on the same day as the men’s team. It was amazing to be part of a very traditional event, and we felt quite proud to support Oxford. When we were departing by bus to London, the driver said to us (mostly joking, but maybe 20% serious), “If you’re supporting Cambridge, the coach is full.”
e able to look at a few paintings and immediately guess who they were painted by–the obvious ones being VanGogh, Seurat, and Monet, but I recognized a piece by Gustav Klimt. Go education! Also, the picture (below) of the couple is by Jan van Eyck, which I studied last semester in Art History II. I originally thought it was in the Louvre (when I was there, I spent 20 minutes trying to find this painting…no wonder I couldn’t find it). This is probably my favorite painting from that class because it’s done in the miniturist style–in the painting at the far back, there’s a teeny mirror with a weensy reflection of the couple’s backs and presumably the painter. Isn’t that the most adorable thing ever? I tried to get a close up picture of the mirror.
my Oxford group–we went to the Louvre and to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The Louvre is, of course, amazing, but honestly, there is so much to see that it’s hard to take in all at once. It did help that I recognized a few of the paintings and sculptures from my college art history classes, as well as from my years at Trinity–the big one being the Mona Lisa, which I painted a replica of in my junior year of high school. I think the best part of being in the Louvre was seeing works of art that I recognized, and being able to remember the stories, the time periods, and the artists behind these famous works. In short, the Louvre is amazing. Except that there’s 
no way to go through the whole thing in a day, though I did my best to see most of the main attractions. But of course the Louvre is not the only art museum in Paris! Throughout the rest of my stay, I went to D’Orsay Museum, which houses Modern artists like Van Gogh, Picasso, Seurat, etc., the Orangerie, which had Monet’s famous Water lillies, and DeCluny Museum, which is a small Medieval museum that had,among other things, a narwal horn, aka a unicorn horn 🙂 (For more images, see the attached gallery to this post)
in the UK for six months) but I made my way back to Oxford and then set out the next day to London, and more specifically, the Harry Potter studio tour, where you can go see a ton of the sets, costumes, and props they used in the films. It’s quite a hassle to get to (amounting to a 3 1/2 hour journey from Oxford) but so worth it! Also, there was a solar eclipse that happened on the way to London, but unfortunately it was super cloudy and I didn’t get to see the whole thing. Anyway, I got to try butterbeer (wh
ich is basically root beer combined with cream soda), climb on the Hogwarts Express, and my favorite, see the miniature model of Hogwarts they used during filming. Basically, a HP nerdling’s dream come true. After that, I had to hurry back to Oxford for a fancy dinner with the PLU president, who was stopping by Oxford on his way to Namibia, his wife, my professor, and Oxford people. So pretty much a really cool day!
Welsh sure know how to make castles fun! This was the first proper castle I’ve been in, since we didn’t go in the one in Ireland. Basically, inside the walls, it’s an open field, with a fancy house where the owners would have lived, plus a mini-castle on a little hill that is the castle keep. A fun fact: Wales has more castles per square mile than anywhere on earth. Even though I was only there for a few days, and passed through only a handful of towns, every town I passed through, big or small, had some sort of castle. Just so’s ya know. Also, their flag has a DRAGON on it. Best. Flag. Ever. These flags are also on every street corner, building, and castle–the Welsh must be pretty proud of their country. 
also situated in the middle of a foresty-farm area, but only the forest on the east side of the Wye is considered the Forest of Dean (which makes a brief appearance in the seventh Harry P. book). Tintern Abbey is located in this lovely secluded spot, and though it was probably smaller than Notre Dame, its presence felt so much larger, because it is the largest building around. It was built in the 13th century, but is perhaps more associated with 19th century poet, Wordsworth, who wrote a poem about the surrounding area of Tintern Abbey. Havin
g seen the area up close, I can see why.
Though a little town has sprouted near the abbey, there are few cars that go by, and the nearest city is about twenty minutes away. Tintern is surrounded on both sides by mountains and trees–simply stated, it is a wonderful place to spend your day. I spent a few hours climbing up some trails on the mountain, and I would have loved to go all the way to the top but I didn’t have the right shoes on and no inclination to go up there by myself, as safe as it probably is.
Manchester is the second most populated city in England after London, apparently, but honestly, it’s nowhere near as cool as London. I visited a cou
ple of old libraries, including one that Karl Marx used to meet up in with Friedrich Engels. The John Rylands library is famous for having a fragment of papyrus from c.100AD that has a translation of the Bible, more specifically from the book of John. Chetham’s Library was the one with the association with Marx. Both looked like they could definitely be part of the Hogwarts library! Those two places were probably the 
highlights of my stay, because there wasn’t much else to do besides shopping. I also saw Manchester Cathedral, the Manchester Art Gallery, and rode on the Manchester Eye (basically a very large ferris wheel), but it’s not really somewhere you can spend a large amount of time.
uernsey from Poole, but unfortunately, the 25mph winds cancelled the ferry. So instead, I spent my time on what’s called the Jurassic Coast, which spans the southwest co
ast of England. It is characterized by sheer cliffs and lovely beaches (and supposedly lots of fossils, not that I found any). Of course, with the wind and rain going on, it wasn’t exactly the ideal beach day, but it was still an amazing place to go! I went to Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door, and they were probably my favorite place to visit this spring break!
this weekend (Saturday-Tuesday). We stayed in Tralee, which was in a convenient location near both the airport and the beach. We hopped off the plane into a tiny airport and found that we had to take a ten-minute walk over to a little village to catch a bus. To all you someday travellers to Ireland, it’s important to have Euros before you get to Kerry (the only ATM in the airport was broken), because then we had to find a store that was willing to exchange pounds for Euros, then run after the bus that we needed to take to Tralee (it was the last one of the evening–it was a bit of a close shave).
that one minute, it’s sunny with a nice blue sky, and a minute later it’s aggressively hailing. I have never seen that much hail in my life–plus it hailed overnight twice and I thought it was snow when I woke up in the morning; there was that much. On our first full day in Tralee, we decided to take a 30 minute walk down to Blennerville, where there was a famous windmill and also the shoreline. Five minutes into the walk, it started hailing, then raining, and then a sort of snowy-rain-hailing-windy mess that we powered through nevertheless (it stopped within twenty minutes and the sun came out). We took a road that ran parallel to the highway to Blennerville, and we were so excited by the green fields and snowy mountains and abandoned train tracks and general beauty of the landscape. That was probably the best
part of the journey–the windmill was pretty cool except they took off the wingy things that spin (sorry, don’t know the technical term) so it was actually just a white tower. Still, it was a fun excursion.
pass through generations. Also, according to the brochure, there were drawings of people wearing Aran sweaters in the Book of Kell. That old. So that was all to say that the minute we heard it was in Killarney (a town about an hour or so away from us) we decided to go there on Monday. And get woolly sweater things. I got a very thick grey scarf that has a hood attached, and it’s probably my favourite thing ever–scarves with hoods just make sense! Also, it was very handy protection against the surprise hail storms that plagued our trip! Here’s a picture of me looking entirely too proud of my hooded-blanket-scarf:
we saw a couple of deer (with little antlers, so I guess they’re bucks) peeking at us through the trees. And it seemed to be a tradition by then for Irish weather to start hailing/raining/snowing on us for fi
ve minutes into our walk. But the castle was gorgeous, set on the edge of a loch. It was pretty windy, though, and we were literally almost blown away by the castle. The castle’s interior, unfortunately, is closed at the moment. We walked around it and found construction workers apparently hosing down one side of the castle, so I guess even really old stone castles need a good cleaning now and then. The wind started picking up again though, and–you guessed it–hail and a very strong wind literally drove us away from the castle. When we got back to town, we all got brownies with ice cream and chocolate sauce and immediately felt better.
middle of the interview, he definitely took an opportunity to use his world-famous Gollum voice. I think all of us who went died (and went to heaven) a little bit inside after that–we were in the second row of seats, so we had a great view! After the interview, he sat down with the author at a table to sign books, so of course we all bought a copy…and maybe posed with him. And got a picture. And then geeked out. And I promise that it wasn’t just me. And my greatest claim to fame is now that I didn’t just get an autograph and a picture. After he signed my book, I said, “nice to meet you” or something lame like that and he replied “love you too.” Andy Serkis loves me, guys. Just thought you should know. The rest of the weekend for me was madly writing a 2000 word paper for my philosophy class, so that’s what I mean by slow days…very slow (in case you’re wondering, it was a possibly insightful look into how human rights and utilitarianism intersect).
gathered together in our living room, watching Les Mis the movie
(because why not) when the other house group came by to inform us that it was snowing outside! This
journey by bus, but definitely worth seeing! Unlike Oxford, all the buildings match and do look pretty rich. We stopped first at the bridge and river that they used in the Les Mis movie (for Javert’s last song)! In case you’re wondering, the makers of Les Mis changed the bridge that’s next to that waterfall thingy he crashes into. And the whole thing isn’t even in Paris. But hey, still pretty. Still awesome. 
The wonderful thing about Bath is that everything is in walking distance. So from there we went to the place where Bath got its name: the Roman Baths. There’s this hotspring that the original natives of Britain thought was rather magical, and then the Romans came in and thought that it would make a fabulous bath house. You can’t touch the pool anymore (because someone got it in their nose and got sick and died…awkward), but there is a fountain on the way out that’s clean because it’s directly from the ground. After hearing the whole tour about how so many different people thought the water was magical/
or good for you (literally, everyone- the Romans, the monks, th
e British aristocracy), we were a little excited to drink of the waters…except then it tasted like blood because it’s warm and full of iron minerals. That’s definitely a one time thing only. Next we went to the very attractive Bath Abbey next to the baths–an amazing Gothic church with all the things I’ve learned in art history. It’s a relief to know that I didn’t study 15 million cathedral structures and blueprint plans for nothing. But really, it’s a sight to see!
sed up in Regency-era clothes outside the door, but we went in anyway and discovered that it was much too touristy. I guess we thought there were actually real Jane Austen things there but there was nothing authentic, not even in the house that the center was in was the one Austen lived in. So from there we headed to the famous Royal Crescent and the Circus, which are both rounded townhouse blocks that are very posh looking. We also saw the Assembly Rooms, which is where people went for balls and parties!
‘ worth of free time, so of course we went to see Platform 9 3/4 at King’s 
Cross Station. We had trouble finding the sign, and I was disappointed that it was not actually near Platforms 9 and 10, nor was it actually next to a train like in the movie. In reality, the famous brick arches of King’s Cross Station is by Platforms 1-8, and 9-11 are in a more modern section of the train station. The line to pose with the designated 9 3/4 area was huge, so we just took discrete selfies.
ferent from the movie–for instance, Fantine sings “I dreamed a dream” after she gets fired, not after she becomes a prostitute. Also, some of the lyrics are different. But my goodness, the actors! The guy who played Javert had a very deep voice and it was a pleasure just to hear him sing. Valjean was good too–the actor had a huge range. I could go on forever! The music from the orchestra! The adorable Gavroche! All I can say is, it’s a real treat to see it in person. Also, there’s a giant part of the stage that moves in a circle, which is used in every scene for the depiction of movement, time, etc, and maybe it’s a popular theatre trick but the way it affects how you watch the play is just awesome. In short, I’m really glad PLU considers watching Les Mis as an educational part of the social justice program. This kind of education is the best.
east the UK for several hundred years or so (the librarian who inducted us said they get an average of about 1,000 books a day) and then some. There are entire libraries devoted to art history, science, philosophy, maps, anything you can think of. And now we have access to all of that! The librarian inducted us in Oxford’s Parliament room, where she casually mentioned that Oliver Cromwell used to speak there, King Henry V used to sit in the throne at the front, and that parliaments from the 1600’s used to meet here when they couldn’t meet in London. No big deal or anything.
After we took a verbal oath promising to not burn down the library, we headed to one of the oldest sections of the library, Duke Humphrey’s library, which he organised himself hundreds of years ago. It might also be known as the library they use in the Harry Potter films! No photography allowed, unfortunately, but there’s a reading room in there that I can access. But anyway, most of the books there are from early as the 1500’s…copies of Cicero, Homer, Plutarch, Virgil, (basically everything I’ve read at Trinity!), leather-bound and fading, on the shelves. Can’t touch them, but they’re so very incredible to behold!
stopped, and pr
oceded on our somewhat muddy walk through fields and country dirt roads. When we reached the top of a hill, though, everything was worth it: a bird’s eye view of the city and the surrounding countryside of Oxfordshire. Also, our professor then remembered that he brought brownies for us to eat. All good things. 
he home of The Bell Inn, which, according to the sign, was the inspiration for The Prancing Pony in JRR Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings. We went inside but it didn’t look mu
ch different from any other pub…but hey, still pretty cool. After lunch we took a bus to Bourton on the Water, another adorable English village about 15 minutes away. There are lots of Jenny-sized doors, sweet little cottages, bridges, ducks…think Beatrix Potter.
to places described in the book. Along the way, we toured outdoor markets, underground vintage shops, and learned how to navigate the bus, Overground, and Underground, all on our own. At one point, we had to board the Underground at St. Pancras Station, which is right next to King’s Cross! We couldn’t go in because of time constraints but at least we got to be there! (When we returned home, we found out that Tom Felton had been stuck at King’s Cross about five hours before we got there…so very close!).
er Street!). We rented bikes to ride around the park, but because I was not comfortable riding (last time I was on a bike was a very long time ago), my professor and I took the shorter way, where he re-taught me how to ride a bike, which was pretty cool of him, I must say. We then walked through Mayfair 
(a very rich part of town) to get to a very fancy, rich-looking tearoom, where we got to experience having High Tea, courtesy of our PLU program. Earl Grey tea and coffee-chocolate cake was the best way to (almost) end the day. From the tearoom, we headed to our last stop of the day, which was the British Museum. I definitely geeked out because there were SO many pieces of art from my art history clas
ses at PLU. Seeing them in person is the BEST. Also, the Rosetta Stone. And, my favorite, the sculptures and friezes from the Parthenon 
were there! I sat for a long time contemplating those sculptures, trying to imagine how they might look on the Parthenon, which I saw in my travels three years ago. I guess I can say that I’ve officially seen ALL of the Parthenon now!
Saturday was our first big excursion into London! It almost got called off by gusty gales, but we by the time we made it, the skies were clearing, and we had a perfect walking day. We explored Trafalgar Square, the Parliament area, Piccadilly Circus, and a walk along the Thames. Buckingham Palace was pretty cool. No Queen in residence, but we did see the changing of the guard! One thing I love about this trip is the relaxed-ness of it all. We 
are certainly wandering around London with purpose, but it’s a relief not to have to be constantly on the move. Our professor gave us about two hours to explore in London/get lunch by ourselves. My group went into Soho, where we ordered sandwiches at a cafe before wandering the streets, looking at play advertisements, nosing through churches (and its accompanying crypt) and completely by accident, finding M&M’s world. There’s something wonderful about walking in a city for no other purpose than wandering through its streets.
we were locals and just gushed like tourists over everything. We crossed a bridge and walked along the Thames as the su
n went down, and came across a little book market under a bridge. There were so many maps and prints and books that there just wasn’t time to nose through,though I did see a first edition of Harry Potter #5 and thought about it for a moment (or two). Though we were too far to go, our professor told us about this pub that’s only open on weekends, called the Mad Hatter, where apparently they ask you a riddle at
the door and if you get it wrong, I don’t think you can go in. I REALLY want to go back there!
Port Meadow, which is a five minutes’ walk from our house. We walked on a path that paralleled the Thames, and along the way, we saw a swan hanging out with the ducks on the river. Things like that just don’t happen in Washington (or, you know, Hawaii). Anyway,it was pretty exciting. When we got to the Meadow, though, it was sight to see. I’m not going to describe it, I’m just going to show pic
tures, but seriously, wow. We need more meadows where I live. So anyway, as we crossed the meadow, we realised that what we took to be cows were actually horses. We were observing one that was pretty focussed on chomping grass when another one started running at us–not charging, but the way a dog might run up to investigate a new potential friend. She was white with blue eyes and wanted to be pet. And also wanted to eat our coat buttons. We named her Casamassima (after a character in this book we had to read for class)
and had fun petting her, but as we left, she started following us! It was a pretty magical experience until she decided grass was more interesting and ditched us. But still. I suppose there’s more to be said about how we tasted some delicious cider, tried to go on a different route through the meadow, and ended up having to cross some very swampy areas to get home, but it wasn’t as magical-sounding as London and horses.
Fancy clothes and a ceremony is definitely more than we expected…I thought they were just going to hand us library cards…
nt cakes, and primarily, a ton of new shop fronts mixed in with intricate Gothic buildings and the like. On Tuesday, we took a two hour walking tour around the Oxford colleges, where we learned about the personalities of the colleges (Merton College is “where fun goes to die,” in the words of our tour guide), the on-going resentment between the townspeople of Oxford and the students at Oxford, what a “posh” accent sounds like, and the incredible history of the city of Oxford itself. For example, there is an unpaved patch of cobblestone in one of the streets that our guide told us was left un-asphalted out of respect for the Protestant martyrs who were burned at the stake in that exact spot (during the reign of Queen Mary). It is history like that that makes Oxford a truly special place to be in.
Onward to Oxford 
