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| Scrambling with two days to do an 8-page paper... |
Three weeks ago today I left Boston, and I can hardly
believe that the first component of my time here is over. Friday marked the end
of our 2-week worldviews intensive. The class was phenomenal, and I’m amazed at
how much we learned in such a short period of time. For those of you who are
unfamiliar, readings included the Qur’an, portions of the Hadith and Reliance
of the Traveler (two other Islamic primary sources), portions of the Bible,
three other books, and many other articles. I don’t think I’ve ever done that much concentrated reading
in any other time of my life! But I loved it.
During the two-week intensive, we were at the Bywaters’ home
from 10am-6pm. Once our tutorials start this week (my first one is tomorrow!!),
it will be Friday afternoons, followed by family dinner. Which, so far, has
been the highlight of each week for me. (Who doesn’t love being greeted by a
smiling, three-year-old, red-head boy screaming “YAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!” at the
top of his little lungs as soon as he hears you taking your shoes off at the
door??)
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| Emmeline! |
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| Setting up for family dinner |
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| The group! |
Saturday, some of us took a trip to Blenheim Palace: the
largest palace in the UK (even bigger than Buckingham), and birthplace of
Winston Churchill. There are many other interesting historical facts about that
place that I can’t remember because I was too busy walking around imagining I
was in Pride and Prejudice or Downton Abbey.
Hands-down highlight of this week:
LIS GREEN!!! For those of you who know her, she is doing an
internship in London and got to come to Oxford for a night/day! For those of
you who don’t know her…I’m sorry. You’re missing out. ;)
Another highlight: I GAVE TWO DIFFERENT BRITISH PEOPLE
DIRECTIONS TODAY! Made me feel like a true local.
Newly-acquired vocabulary:
“Ping” = to send a quick message, including texting or a
brief email
“Hoovering” = vacuuming
“Plain chocolate” = dark chocolate (as opposed to milk
chocolate, which is not plain)
“Blimey!” = not sure how to translate this one, but an
expression of surprise or sometimes frustration. It just sounds cool in a
British accent. But then again, everything does.
More pictures:
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| Ceiling at Blenheim Palace |
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| Where Churchill was born |
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| Where Churchill proposed to his wife...fittingly, in the pouring English rain |
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| Tapestries (NOT paintings!) on the wall done exclusively by men. I, for one, was impressed. |
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| This was a tiny fraction of the books in that room |
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| The cascade |
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| The rose gardens were in bloom! |
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| Flat-mates :) |
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| My beautiful roomie! |
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| Eynsham |
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