My Week In Oxford

Hi again!


I just got back from a great week in Oxford! We stayed at University College, which is the oldest Oxford college. The interesting thing about this town is that it is made up of 39 different colleges, and there is really no such thing as "Oxford University" (though I got the sweatshirt anyways...). We all had single rooms and got to eat in the dining hall for breakfast and lunch. I have to say that I really enjoyed not having to cook for myself this week. I never thought I would say that I miss SMC's Alliot dining hall, but I really do!

The city itself seemed to be more crowded than Bath, but there were a lot of familiar shops and restaurants that I recognized. It is more urban than Bath, and I began to miss Bath's scenery the moment I arrived. The actual Oxford students are just starting to return now for the semester, so I can imagine that it will get even more busy and more fun. While I was there we had our classes as usual, but for me that just meant two classes on Wednesday and one class on Thursday. So, I had a lot of time to explore. I went to see Christ Church, the Ashmolean Museum, Bodlein Library, and numerous Oxford colleges. I also got to see one of my lifelong best friends, Emily Brock! She is studying at Oxford Brooke's for the semester, and it was so nice to be able to meet up with her.

Emily and Me

The Oxford sweatshirt

First Day Exploring

At Christ Church. Many Harry Potter scenes were filmed here!

University College

Some other highlights of my trip were the Saturday night disco with the students and ASE staff, going punting along the river, and our fancy 3 course dinner in the University Hall!

Friends at the Disco!

Relaxing on the river with my housemate Sarah

My turn to punt. It's harder than it looks!

Friends and me before our dinner

The fancy dinner. I love tea!

To round off our trip in Oxford, we visited Blenheim Palace and it was amazing! It is currently the home of the 11th Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, and also the birthplace of Winston Churchill. Sometimes I become bored and uninterested with old historical spots (haha!), but this one was truly breathtaking!

Well I think that is all for now! I am excited to be back in Bath for the weekend and recover from my inevitable fall season cold :( spending a week away from my new home made me realize how much I truly love it here. Next weekend I am heading out to Dublin!! So check back for new stories and pictures :-)

Cheers!

Sara

London Town & Student Teaching

Hello!

I usually wait until Wednesday's to blog, but I wanted to share a sweet story that happened during my student teaching day...

 First of all, I love the school that I am teaching in! It is a short 15-minute bus ride from my apartment, and the building itself is brand new and in amazing condition. You can tell that the school's staff is proud of it, too. They make the kids take off their shoes when they enter the building! This is no joke. I walked into my 5th year class (4th grade to us) and all of the students were either in socks or plushy slippers. It was one of the weirder things I have seen while here, but the school was so immaculate that I guess it makes sense! The kids were so sweet to me and were very interested in hearing me talk and listen to what I had to say about my life in the US. The girls were fighting over who would get to read to me first, and instead of bringing their math questions to the teacher, they brought them to me. (Sorry, parents)!! But in all, it was a great day. The kids are so well behaved - their accents and little yellow, black and grey uniforms are to die for. (They're school mascot is the Wasp). My favorite part though was in the very beginning of the day during their morning prayer and thanks. One of the boys in the class looked over at me and then looked at his teacher and reminded her that it was the "twin tower anniversary" and that we should include those who passed in our prayers today. I thought that was so touching and so sweet! I can't wait to go back to school and take on more responsibilities and get to know the kids better. They even asked me to put together a little slideshow about my life in Boston and some things that make our schools different than theirs. So I can't wait to do that!

Anyway...last Saturday I went to London for the day and it was SO great! The train ride to London from Bath is just over an hour and pretty cheap too. When we arrived at Trafalgar Square, the first thing we did was go to The London Eye! It really is very cool and I recommend doing it if you ever get the chance. You can see every inch of the city! It was also about 80 degrees that day so the AC was awesome too : )



View from the London Eye. Sorry about the reflection! Big Ben is right ahead



Emily, Melissa, Sarah, Amy, Me, Nora on the London Eye

 After the London Eye, we went to see Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately we missed the tour hour for the Abbey so we just got to walk around it. I'll save the tour for my Mom and Dad's trip ; ) We then made our way to Buckingham Palace. It was such a beautiful day out that it was hard to get a decent picture of it with all of the people around!

Westminster Abbey



In front of Buckingham Palace

We also got to visit the British Museum, and I especially enjoyed the Olympic exhibit. Even though the Olympics are over, there are still London 2012 flags everywhere and Paralympics posters are plastered all around the city. Another thing that I really loved about London were the underground trains! They are so efficient, fast, and cheap that it is really easy to see so much even in just one day. There's still so much I want to do in London and I can't wait to go back with my parents : )

Well I think that is it for now! My program leaves for Oxford on Saturday for the week. Our classes will continue as normal, but I'm excited to explore a new city! ( I only have classes Wednesday's and Thursday's anways ; ) My friends and I also just booked our tickets to Italy and Barcelona for Fall Break! Lots to look forward to, and I will keep you updated!

Cheers! xx

Sara

Beautiful London!

The clubs in Bath aren't bad either : )

My study trip to Dyrham Park. The cows were everywhere. The scenery reminds me of VT!

Stonehenge, Salisbury, Lacock and...Classes?!

Hi again!

So this past weekend we took a study trip to Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Lacock. All destinations were only about 40 minutes away from my house, but it was still fun to go step out of Bath and see something new. Our first stop was at Stonehenge. All of my "tutors" said the same exact thing about the historic landmark: that you should not build it up in your mind before visiting it, or you will most likely be disappointed. As soon as we got to Stonehenge, I realized just what they meant.

The landmark is, in fact, a bunch of stones. However, what my tutor tried so desperately to explain was that, we must ask ourselves: Why were those stones put there in the first place? What language were the people speaking? How on earth did they move all of those heavy stones?
So, after taking all of that into consideration, I found it to be really cool! Im glad I got to see it and take some pictures.
The next two towns we visited were Lacock and Salisbury. These destinations were enticing to a lot of students because many Harry Potter scenes were actually filmed there! For those of you who are close to me, you know I am not an HP fan, at all. But, I did enjoy the scenery and especially the Salisbury Cathedral.

So, aside from the weekend traveling, classes started this week! I was actually excited to start classes because I was starting to feel that I was having a little too much fun, and almost forgot that I even had to take classes at all (ha ha)! Tuesday's I have a school placement at a local primary school. The children don't start until next week, but it was still nice to get to go to the school, meet my teacher and see my class. The school building is brand new and so nice! I'm anxious to get started there and to see the differences in their school systems versus our US school system. Aside from my school placement, I have 3 other courses in literature, political science, and history. All of our tutors are professors at Oxford, and they come to Bath once a week to teach their courses. The class size is only about 8-10 students which is really nice for discussion and personal attention. After just one week I can already say that I know I'm going to love my classes.

One thing I have come to realize while being here is that even though they speak English in the UK, I have found that it can still be difficult to communicate. I first realized this last week when I went to ask for a Band-Aid. I have never seen a more blank face upon a man when I said that word. I realized then that I had to better explain myself, and once I did, he replied, "ohh you mean a plaster". So, in the UK...
Band-Aid=Plaster
Bathroom= Loo or Toilet
Doctor's Office=The Surgery
Business Attire=Smart Attire
French Fries=Chips
"You're Welcome"="Alright"
....and those are just a FEW that I have come across so far. Pretty funny!

I have also learned that Americans definitely do have the reputation for being loud, and overly-friendly. All of the restaurants are small and are not meant to accommodate parties of 10, or even 6. All of the quantities in supermarkets and restaurants are a lot smaller, more expensive, and I have heard the phrase, "well everything is bigger in America, isn't it?" a number of times. I guess that is what we're known for??
I really didn't expect the culture in England to be much different from the US. But, I am pleasantly surprised that there are many sublte differences. I knew it was going to take some adjustment, but so far, so good!

Thanks for checking in! I will post again next week about my visit to London this coming weekend : )

Cheers!

Sara

Friends : )



Emily and me outside our house, overlooking the River Avon

 




Can't get enough of these!