Don't Walk on the Lawn!

Saturday, September 06, 2008

I’m sick. I feel like death warmed over. I was doing all right in the morning, but on the train to Oxford my body decided to hate me, and now I just want to sleep, so, despite what should have been a very exciting day, this entry will probably not be that thrilling.
It was muggy all day, and by the time we left Oxford, it was pouring rain. Thank God for my little yellow umbrella.
As for what I did today, it’s all sort of a blur thanks to this raging headache. We walked through the town, saw The Eagle and Child, which is the pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien used to eat. We took a tour through all of the major colleges of the university, stopping particularly to look at Mansfield College, where Prof. Rudalevige’s parents met and were married. There was a general exclamation of “Awwww.” Also, you're not allowed to walk on the lawn of any of these colleges, not unless you're a Fellow...or, at least at Mansfield, unless you're playing croquet. Sadly, we were neither. We continued on our way, passing by the Martyr’s Memorial, the Sheldonian Theatre (yet another Wren building), and the Radcliffe Camera (home of the Bodleian Library). I remember being particularly intrigued by All Saints’ College, which Prof. Rudalevige described as “a professor’s paradise,” since there are no students. Professors there, by his reckoning, basically get paid to sit around, drink port and trade witty banter. Possibly do some research now and again. Sounds like a job I would love.
We walked to Christ Church, the most famous of the Oxford colleges, recently known for being the location for many of the scenes at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies. It’s the closest to Hogwarts that I’ll ever be. In any case, the line to get in was very long, and most of us were very hungry and went to get lunch. I, however, stayed in line and eventually made it into Christ Church. It’s a beautiful college. The architecture is amazing. I can’t imagine students actually going to school and, for the most part, living a normal college life there. I saw the courtyard, the cloister, and the stairwell where portions of the Harry Potter movies were filmed. Not surprisingly, they don’t really look the same as they do in the movie. I did get to see the Great Hall, though, which my peers who came later did not get to see because there was a wedding reception there and it was closed to visitors. Again, it’s a beautiful room, but slightly disappointing. Nothing was as big as it seems in the movies, and, of course, the Great Hall scenes aren’t actually filmed there, but in a set inspired by it.
I left Christ Church and wandered around town for a while. I was hungry and tired and a tad bit lost. Being the genius that I am, I had left my map of Oxford at the hotel. I eventually made my way back to the center of town and found Blackwell’s, which is the oldest bookstore in Oxford. It was fabulous. And it had a café, so I got a Panini and wandered around the endless stacks of books. At some point Chris, Lauren, Katie, Jen, and Alana showed up and we all walked down to the river. There was a great variety of water foul there, but the grey geese took a particular liking to Chris. The swans were particularly friendly, too. They must be used to getting food. As we wandered around trying to find the train station, the rain started to pour. We took the 4:30 train back to London, cold and wet. They wanted to change clothes, get dinner, and go see The Duchess, but I was feeling awful, so I decided to stay in.
Thank God Chad texted me, asking if I wanted to go in on some grilled cheese and tomato soup, otherwise I don’t think I would have eaten dinner. I was too tired to go out. It was exactly what I needed, though. Lauren was kind enough to bring me back some cough drops and this stuff called LemSip, which the Brits love, and hopefully I’ll be feeling better soon.