In Oxford...Unbelievable

I am sitting in my dorm room in Acland, Keble College to type this post. What can I say? Cars are driving on the wrong side of the road, I'm told to revise instead of review or study, my room is on the first floor even though I had to go up a flight of stairs and the accents every now and then cause me to repeat in my head what was said so I can understand. I walk down the street to my Latin class and I hear German, Spanish, Russian, Italian and other languages I cannot identify as well as the many different English accents in the ten minute walk. The buildings are touching on either side of the road and what buildings--they belong to another world, to fairy tales, behind wrought iron gates I catch a glimpse of beautifully kept grass in the quad of another college. I worked through my homework yesterday in the Bodlien Library, the main library of Oxford University. Everything is so different, but I can hardly stop smiling as I walk up and down the streets. I need to go find some lunch and return a temporary pass to Keble College. I will be taking pictures soon and giving you a glimpse of what I am experiencing.

One more thing though. Across the street, a little to the west and south of where I sit there is a pub called The Eagle and the Child, affectionately dubbed "The Bird and the Babe" by the Inklings. C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and several other brilliant Oxford writers would meet there and talk over a pint about their current projects. Lewis read drafts of the Screwtape Letters and Tolkien regaled the group with recent additions to Middle Earth. On Sunday afternoon, I was able to eat there, it is a small place, you wind through a narrow passage opening on small rooms with tables apparently randomly placed, past the bar to more tables and larger rooms. We sat in the back room where the roof was glass panes enclosing the area. The food was good and I could hardly believe that it truly was real.

Thats all for now folks, thanks for reading and catch you later.