Engerland: Vol. II
Sitting here and sipping coffee as I'm looking over the courtyard from Ryan's new room is making me re-evaluate some of my lifeplans. I understand that viewing the country from the eyes of a tourist is considerably different from actually living here, but still...
As I was mentioning last time, we headed off to Oxford to meet up with Glen (who is from Moosejaw BTW), a fellow at Christ Church at Oxford. After a 3 hour bus ride (that wasn't nearly as bad as Ryan warned), we arrived in Oxford early afternoon. Brilliant city. Much like Cambridge, but larger. After a few items of business (Ryan had to drop an application off at Jesus.. Hee hee: the college is called Jesus), we headed over to what was touted by the Canuckers as being 'The Best Bar in the World', The Turf. This is apparently where Clinton didn't inhale. 'Twas a very cool pub indeed.
From there, we headed over to Glen's office at Christ Church. Sadly, I will never, ever have an office as cool as his (Sigh... THAT'S how the other academic half lives). After a tour around the college and surrounding grounds, we headed over to The Bear (which both Simon and Matt insisted I must go) and the White Horse (another tiny pub). Side note: if ANY of these pubs were in the Tdot, they would be my favorite bars in town. Hands Down.
And I'm listing every place that we went for the sole purpose of making Cleavers jealous.
Sitting high table was also ubercool. The hall is exactly like it looked in Harry Potter, and, to put things in perspective, I would have been seated right next to Dumbledore (come to think of it, I think I was in Snape's seat). Instead, I was seated beside Glen and another fellow, who I failed miserably at making small talk with. The conversation went something like this:
Me: So what are your research interests?
Him: I'm interested in the Social Relationships between religions in the 15th and 16th century.
Me: Huh.
[long pause]
... so, you like stuff?
Not so good with the small talk, turns out. So instead, I talked to Glen and Ryan most of the night. Although at one point the chap beside me had to turn to me again and tell Glen to hurry up and finish eating, as the entire hall must wait until everyone at high table is finished eating before the next course is brought out. Hee hee. At least it wasn't me.
Afterwards, we ended up in the Common Room with the other fellows for after dinner drinks. While we were sitting around talking, an article about Oxford in The Economist was pointed out that started off with the line: 'When people think of Oxford, they typically think of Fellows sitting around in robes while sipping port in a wood panelled room'. We read this while surrounded by Fellows in robes, and sipping port in a wood panelled room. It was funny. We booked it about an hour later, headed back to the Turf (2 visits in 8 hours, I think that's pretty good), and then back to Glen's apartment for sleep.
Back on the bus yesterday morning, got back to Cambridge early afternoon, at which point I came back to Ryan's room and crashed. For about 3 hours. Last night was a casual one, which involved:
1. Going to the Red Bull (the local pub across the street) and talking research with Ryan (I really do think we may be able to collaborate on something sometime soon)
2. My first (and definitely not last) exposure to MonkeyDust
3. Sitting with Becky (British) and Lauri (Finnish) and watching Trailer Park Boys (apparently everyone here loves the Trailer Park Boys: this is the impression that they have of small town Canada... which in reality isn't that far off the mark).
4. Street Meat.
And today, after going to lunch with Ryan, Becky and James, I'm going to explore Cambridge. I think I'll go to Marks and Spencer to get some underwear.
And I'm going to hunt down the PostDoc adverts in London that were forwarded to me. I've got some serious thinking to do.
As I was mentioning last time, we headed off to Oxford to meet up with Glen (who is from Moosejaw BTW), a fellow at Christ Church at Oxford. After a 3 hour bus ride (that wasn't nearly as bad as Ryan warned), we arrived in Oxford early afternoon. Brilliant city. Much like Cambridge, but larger. After a few items of business (Ryan had to drop an application off at Jesus.. Hee hee: the college is called Jesus), we headed over to what was touted by the Canuckers as being 'The Best Bar in the World', The Turf. This is apparently where Clinton didn't inhale. 'Twas a very cool pub indeed.
From there, we headed over to Glen's office at Christ Church. Sadly, I will never, ever have an office as cool as his (Sigh... THAT'S how the other academic half lives). After a tour around the college and surrounding grounds, we headed over to The Bear (which both Simon and Matt insisted I must go) and the White Horse (another tiny pub). Side note: if ANY of these pubs were in the Tdot, they would be my favorite bars in town. Hands Down.
And I'm listing every place that we went for the sole purpose of making Cleavers jealous.
Sitting high table was also ubercool. The hall is exactly like it looked in Harry Potter, and, to put things in perspective, I would have been seated right next to Dumbledore (come to think of it, I think I was in Snape's seat). Instead, I was seated beside Glen and another fellow, who I failed miserably at making small talk with. The conversation went something like this:
Me: So what are your research interests?
Him: I'm interested in the Social Relationships between religions in the 15th and 16th century.
Me: Huh.
[long pause]
... so, you like stuff?
Not so good with the small talk, turns out. So instead, I talked to Glen and Ryan most of the night. Although at one point the chap beside me had to turn to me again and tell Glen to hurry up and finish eating, as the entire hall must wait until everyone at high table is finished eating before the next course is brought out. Hee hee. At least it wasn't me.
Afterwards, we ended up in the Common Room with the other fellows for after dinner drinks. While we were sitting around talking, an article about Oxford in The Economist was pointed out that started off with the line: 'When people think of Oxford, they typically think of Fellows sitting around in robes while sipping port in a wood panelled room'. We read this while surrounded by Fellows in robes, and sipping port in a wood panelled room. It was funny. We booked it about an hour later, headed back to the Turf (2 visits in 8 hours, I think that's pretty good), and then back to Glen's apartment for sleep.
Back on the bus yesterday morning, got back to Cambridge early afternoon, at which point I came back to Ryan's room and crashed. For about 3 hours. Last night was a casual one, which involved:
1. Going to the Red Bull (the local pub across the street) and talking research with Ryan (I really do think we may be able to collaborate on something sometime soon)
2. My first (and definitely not last) exposure to MonkeyDust
3. Sitting with Becky (British) and Lauri (Finnish) and watching Trailer Park Boys (apparently everyone here loves the Trailer Park Boys: this is the impression that they have of small town Canada... which in reality isn't that far off the mark).
4. Street Meat.
And today, after going to lunch with Ryan, Becky and James, I'm going to explore Cambridge. I think I'll go to Marks and Spencer to get some underwear.
And I'm going to hunt down the PostDoc adverts in London that were forwarded to me. I've got some serious thinking to do.
posted by Anderson at 2:27 AM
3 Comments:
I'm so glad you are having a good time, and enjoyed the best city in the world
/silently seething with jealousy
And if you leave the Tdot as well, I think I'm going to jump onto the DVP
Come join us - it's bliiissss!
Your bar tour of England sounds fantastic! Here's something for when you come back and are bored, or something to read now: How the liberal media can finally ask the preseident the questions they've been dying to ask - http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2005/11/10kellett.html
Post a Comment
<< Home