Wandering the streets

I haven't written in a few days because I've been reading reading reading. But a lot has happened. Let me see if I can manage to untangle my thoughts and put some of them in writing.

Well, first of all, I met with both of my tutors this week. The first meeting was quite an adventure. My tutor was very nice and offered us a short cut back to town from his house, which was over an hour walk from my house. We were very happy to have an alternate route back, but it was getting dark as we were heading out, and none of us are familiar enough with Oxford to know where exactly to go. (I've also noticed that British people tend not to give explicit directions..."It's just down and around the corner there." "If you go in this direction you will get there." No street names, landmarks, or blocks). Anyway, so we're going home, and we realize this is far from a short cut. Then by divine intervention, one of the girls here runs into a friend from high school who is in town for the week. He informs us we're going the wrong way and need to back track about two miles to get back to Oxford city centre. Tired and frustrated, but thankful for the interception, we hop on the first bus we can and head back. The driver felt sorry for us, I think. He could tell we didn't really know what we were doing. Although I'm sure he deals with that sort of thing a lot. It was a happy ending, except that I got my first blister, and I was exceptionally cranky when I got back to the flat.

I met with my other tutor the next day, at a much more convenient location. He first took us on a tour of Oriel College, Oxford's fifth oldest. It was beautiful, although he said it was about average as colleges here go. Each time we meet, he is going to take me to a different place. I kind of hope he takes me to where Harry Potter was filmed. (I know, I'm a loser, but I'm in Oxford!)

Since my meetings, I've done nothing but read about Hitler and Hobbes. Not the most entertaining subject matter, but it has been interesting. It is kind of nice to read about what I know nothing about. Everything is fresh and new, and I actually retain what I'm reading; I guess the tutorial method works. I hope to have my papers done in the next two days, so I can take a little break before I do it all over again next week.

My birthday is on Tuesday. The big 2-1. I don't have anything terribly special planned. It's not quite the same celebrating here as it would have been back home. Oh well. I think we're going to go to Oxford's famous ice cream shop, and I'm going to have a great big Bailey's Irish Creme ice cream cone with hotfudge mixed in...or something like that. It will be delicious, I'm sure. I'll let you know. :D

Cheers!