I did not plan to update so soon...

I truly did not plan to update two days in a row, but something has come up and for organization's sake I must make a posting today, for my sanity, and for all of my reader's enjoyment. I will not start with what came up, because that happens at the end.

To begin, yesterday was the sixteenth of May, a Thursday, and the first day of my CUA seminar.

My Outfit of the Day

Before the seminar, we spent the morning being "academically advised" by one of the Oxford Study Abroad staff, and then got a tour of the college I will belong to here New College, a misnomer because it is actually the second oldest of the colleges at Oxford, originally meant for students studying theology.

While Balliol college was beautiful, the architecture wondrous, and the green space impressive, Balliol is absolutely nothing compared to New College.

Kendya, a Junior Common Room representative gave us the tour of the space. She is an upbeat, extroverted History and Politics 3rd year student (so a senior at Oxford). The highlights of the tour are:

1. New College's green space is one of the only ones that students can actually walk on! Plus it has the Tree from Harry Potter where Draco Malfoy gets turned into a ferret by Mad Eye Moody.

Green Space

The Harry Potter Tree!

2. There is a staircase that leads to nowhere, but if you clap at it, it quacks back!

(I did not take a picture there but the spot was stunning and definitely a potential study spot, so have no fear, pictures (and video) are to come.

3. The common room has free coffee, tea, and cookies, these are necessities in life and I am glad my college agrees.

4. The dining room is beautiful.

After this tour, we were inducted by Suzzanah Bridge into New College, and shown how to borrow books using the library system.

Lunchtime came next and we revisited the market and Luke, one of the CUA students with me, wanted paella so we waited for the Spanish man to finish making it on his massive paella pans right before our eyes. He even gave me a sample of the Cuttlefish Ink Paella. The ink gave it a distinct texture which might deter some people from eating it but just left me wanting more.

After lunch, it was time for our class. So we went back to Chesterhouse to finish the readings and prepare. The class was two and a half hours, and we talked about the 18th Century and the role music had in it. We discussed social class and how we would only really be looking at the upper middle class. I would go more into detail but that might just put you to sleep. I guess I can truthfully say that this course would not have been my first choice, especially since as much as I love music I do not yet have an appreciation for Opera, or Oratorios. Maybe this will be an opportunity for me to develop a liking to it, or at least to find it remotely interesting. I can only hope.

After class, I ran a couple quick errands and made it back to have dinner and NAP. The time difference has been messing with my sleep schedules lately, so I had only been getting a couple of hours of sleep a night for the past few days.

Here's the good news:

So I woke up from my nap around ten o'clock at night. I had been hoping to plan a trip for the weekend and time was running short. I slipped on my shoes and made my way to the neighbors house to get someone to go with me. In under an hour, we planned an economically sensitive journey to Paris for the weekend, leaving the seventeenth (today) at night and returning the morning of the twentieth.

By bus this is a long trip, but the rides are planned for times when we should be sleeping so hopefully it will not be too much of a discomfort to catch some Z's on the ride.

Today was also an exciting day. I got to meet my Tutor for the next five and a half weeks. She is a young woman, originally from Seattle, and she has an absolutely spectacular plan for my tutorial. I could go on forever about this but I'll be talking a lot about it later, so I will not bore you all with details now, just that one week I get to choose the refugees of my choice to research, and also that I get to build on the knowledge of refugee crises and on Peace and Justice that I have learned, so far, very basically, and am absolutely elated.

(I know I'm such a nerd, forgive me)

We met at the University Club, not a dance club, but a cafe of sorts, pictured below.

On my way back, I got a latte and a flapjack (which is not what you might think, it is actually a sort of cakey oat bar, almost like a oatmeal cookie but not). I have to say flapjacks are going to be a regular snack for me because golly it was delicious.

On that note, I have to go pack for Paris.

Just so you know, I appreciate each and every one of you who cares enough just to open up my blog let alone read the whole entry. (Especially you Grandma and Grandpa I hope you're enjoying this).

Next time I write here it will be in the early morning on Monday, from a cafe in London.

Au revoir!