From Lorien to London

Last night, the Tolkien society met at Magdalen bridge. We walked to a remote site, east of the river. Candles had been set up, and a large bonfire roared. Half the group were in cloaks, and we had to walk through the dark woods to get there, it did feel very much like Lorien. And then, I kid you not, someone lost their ring, and started asking if we had seen it. I hope it didn't fall in a volcano. There were fireworks, sparklers, barbeque, mulled wine, songs, skits, and a lot of fun. I was at the "Gandalf's Fireworks" for about five hours, and still left the group early.




Today I took the bus to London.
I walked through Hyde Park, passing the fair which is set up for Santaland, a large carnival-style Christmas thing. I walked through Kensington Gardens a few times, making sure I saw all the things I wanted, I had never visited them before. I went to the Orangery, a restaurant at Kensington Palace, and had venison sausage with Yorkshire pudding and mashed potatoes. It was good, but expensive, and I ended up not going to the palace itself. Instead, I walked to the Science Museum, Natural History Museum, and Victoria and Albert Museum. I rushed through all three, just trying to get a taste. I also visited Harrods, which I'd also never been to, and which is very large. I walked back to Victoria, bused back, and then made dinner which came out well.

A Canterbury Tale

Today was a great day, and as I write I am in a fantastic mood.  Oskar, my mythology tutor just told me my paper for this week is the best one I've written, and ironically it was the most fun to write (looking at wolves and werewolves in myth from Aesop and Romulus to Harry Potter and Twilight).  Yesterday I registered for classes at Catholic, and it is my final registration ever, since I don't think I'll go past the Master's level academically.  As part of registering I submitted my first proposal for my MA Thesis, and applied for Graduation this May.  The end of a long academic career is in site!

After dinner last night, I went to the Wheatsheaf pub.  A queue (line) forms very fast every Monday for the Oxford Imps, who perform above the pub in a small theatre/bar every Monday.  I went to the show, sitting right up front and laughed very hard.  I had tried out for the Imps earlier but didn't get in.  They're fun, filled with energy, and were really funny.  Had a good evening.

Today I woke early and took the train to Canterbury.  I spent six hours total traveling (3 hours either direction, changing and using the Tube in London) and only 4 hours in Canterbury, but it was good, because I got a lot of reading done on the train, and also worked on my lines.  The weather was also not the best, very overcast, cold, and it was raining by the end of my time there.  A lot of the attractions closed much earlier than I had expected, since it is off-season, some closing at 3 and 4, which also was a problem.

Despite all of those things, I had a wonderful trip.
I hadn't known it was so associated with Kit Marlowe, but it is the town where he was born and baptized, and it had a parallel feel to Marlowe the way Stratford-upon-Avon feels about Shakespeare.  One of my first sights entering the city walls was the massive Marlowe Theatre, and the statue of his characters, again similar to the statues of characters in front of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford.



I visited a hospital where pilgrims, similar to those in the Canterbury Tales stayed.  Then I went to the Cathedral, which was amazing- I liked the spot where Thomas Beckett had been murdered by knights acting for Henry II.  Beckett was beatified as saint almost immediately, and his tomb was a major pilgrimage, inspiring stories of pilgrims.  Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are based on a group of pilgrims traveling to the tomb.  The Cathedral was both massive and stunning, but also filled with history, including kings and the Black Prince buried there, and of course Beckett, for whom I was given the middle name Thomas.

After the Cathedral I wandered the town a bit.  Canterbury has many old features, a Norman wall, part of which is Anglo-Saxon, a ruined Norman castle built by William the Conqueror, a ruined Abbey, and the Cathedral itself, which is now a World Heritage site.  But the city itself feels remarkably modern in a distinctly English way.  I walked to a 45-minute self-guided tour through The Canterbury Tales using lights, wax figures, sets, and some animatronics, etc.  It was really well done, I expected it to be a bit touristy, but they did a fantastic job of both telling some of the best stories, and conveying the sense of the pilgrims' journey.  I went to the castle but it was closing, walked through some gardens and wandered around before heading back.  

Guy Fawkes' Day

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...

November 5th is a holiday unique to England: Guy Fawkes' Day and Bonfire Night. In 1605, Guy Fawkes was one member of the Gunpowder Plot, which tried to blow up Parliament and assassinate King James I. He was the one found with the gunpowder, ready to blow up the House of Lords on the next day. Fawkes was dragged into the streets and burned at the stake. Today, British people erect massive bonfires and burn effigies of Fawkes, accompanied by many fireworks.

My day was a ton of fun. I took the bus into London but got there early, so walked through Hyde Park, passing preparations for a Christmas fair, and went to Diana's Memorial fountain. Then I met my friend Nadia at Holborn. We had a nice lunch in a pub, then spent a little over three hours in the British Museum, seeing a lot of really amazing things. I think my favorite was the prehistoric art, carved bones and things depicting Woolly Mammoths- some of the earliest known art ever found.

After the Museum, Nadia and I walked through Leiscester Square, which I had never been to. The city was lit with early Christmas lights- there's a big effort here to extend the Christmas buying season due to the poor economy. It looked really nice. Then we went to Camden. Camden Town is really neat- the hub of alternative culture in London, and filled with street markets. There is massive three-dimensional art on the buildings, and the markets extend into old stables filled with enormous horses on the walls, floors, and even ceilings. It's unlike any place I've ever been, kind of an enormous (and enormous is an understatement) flea market feeling, with cool art and giant things everywhere. Hopefully the pics tell the story a bit better than I can.

Nadia and I had a very good dinner at an Italian restaurant called Marine Ices. Then we met a bunch of her actor friends. They were really great people, and perhaps because I am also a theatre person, I found them really easy to talk to. We all walked up Primrose Hill, which is a park that overlooks the entire city. I could see Big Ben far in the distance ahead, with Canary Wharf off to our left, and the BT Tower and skyscrapers to our right. Regent's Park was right in front of us. The park was filled with people, most of who at least had sparklers. We had heard and seen many fireworks across the city, even before getting there. I did not do anything Bonfire-related, but will do that next week.

The thing that amazed me most about the Fawkes fireworks, was how different the feel was from anything in the States. In the US, for the 4th or other fireworks events, I am used to seeing a presentation organized by a city or State that is very controlled. People group together and look at it. Some people do set off their own, but they're just tiny little, usually illegal, displays. This was completely different. There were a few organized firework displays, most notably by Big Ben and the Eye and another near Canary Wharf, but they were just a tiny fraction of the fireworks we saw over the city. The vast majority of fireworks (which are completely legal to buy and use here, they sell them in many stores, even supermarkets) are put up by random people. On Primrose Hill, the best fireworks were ones set off all around us- not miniature fireworks, but full-sized enormous changing, screeching bursts. For about an hour and a half we stood on the hill, never sure where to look for the next burst- they were literally on every side. The fireworks over London were mostly in front, but the best displays were closer. There were also many people lighting and releasing Chinese Lanterns, as in the video below.

After the fireworks, the group I was with (6 total) went to a pub and hung out until after 11. It was a karaoke pub, but we didn't sing. It was a lot of fun just hanging, drinking, and talking. Great people, great time. The one bad thing happened after I said goodbye to Nadia and headed home- her house was burgled (found out today) :( Overall though, a really good day.

Debates, Drinks, and Work

The middle of Fourth Week means I am about halfway through my two real tutorials, and have only a month left here in Oxford.

I spent most of yesterday in the Bodleian. Got some weird looks, since several of my required reading books for this session of Mythology in Literature are Harry Potter books. I then attended a drinks party with other OPUS students, our advisers here, and some of our tutors. After the party, I went to a debate at the Oxford Union. It was the firs debate I've attended, and was really interesting, though a lot of people said it wasn't the best debate. The proposition was "Democracy is essential for human progress" and the opposition made a much, much more persuasive case. Several Members of Parliament, some journalists, but mostly just Oxford faculty and students debating, and I could've joined in too, which was neat.

Tonight, I went to a very different kind of debate. I had been working hard all day, so decided to join the Tolkien Society's primaries for the next President of Middle Earth. Tonight was the primary for Free Peoples. The debate was hilarious, the characters each stayed in character with Bombadil rhyming, Treebeard needing to be woken and Pippin continuously eating and dancing on the table. They took questions such as what to do with Orcs, and should they be referred to by the insulting name "Orcs". There were "commercials" and a final vote, in which Galadriel won. I had voted for Treebeard and his green party, since Galadriel's platform was a bit frightening at times.

Preparing for Halloween

Today was mostly a work day. Also the first time I had dinner in the Hall at New College. When I came back, we carved a jack-o-lantern. SoHee, who had never carved one, did most of the work and the design, and Frank finished it. I broke out some candy I had bought. Halloween is pretty minor here, but it was fun to do this, especially after last night's party.

Blenheim and Birthday

Yesterday I took the bus to beautiful Blenheim Palace, home of the Spencer-Churchills, birthplace of Winston Churchill, and current home of the Duke of Marlborough. The palace was very nice, I took a short guided tour of the state rooms, then spent most of the rest of my time wandering the grounds. I was there for over 5 hours, trying to see everything I could on the immense grounds, from the Water Terrace where I had lunch, to the Rose gardens, by the lake to the Cacades, then to the Secret Garden, across the bridge to the Column of Victory, and back to the Pleasure Gardens for the Marlborough Maze (2nd largest hedge maze in the world). I walked through Woodstock, a quaint town, afterwards. When I got back, I dressed in a "costume" (a piece of paper and some fake glasses that Brie loaned me) as an essay crisis (the impending horror of a paper due...). I then went to a costumed surprise birthday party for Brendan, one of my friends who is also studying abroad. The party was fun.

Such a Beautiful Place to be with Friends

Yes the quote is from Dobby, but it is strangely appropriate, as Oxford is a great and beautiful place to be with friends.


This morning, my entire house went punting for just over an hour. It was a beautiful fall day, sunny, and fairly warm. Punting was a lot of fun, although the one person in our group who was by far the worst at it was me. We each punted for a while, going around Christ Church meadows. Then we all went to a very fancy lunch at the restaurant Jamie's. It is a gourmet Italian restaurant owned by chef Jamie Oliver. The meal was delicious, though overpriced.

In the evening I went out again with SoHee and Brie, we went to a Korean event at the Union that SoHee organized. Had Korean food, saw some performances and wrote my name in Korean. The best part of the day, is knowing I have a family here in Oxford. Note: I added four pics of ChristChurch chapel from yesterday to the end of the slideshow.