Setting Sail

After leaving Oxford early Saturday morning, we flew out of London Heathrow to Athens. Upon arriving in Athens, we immediately boarded an overnight ferry at the port of Piraeus to the island of Crete. The 'Knossos Palace' was a large ship and felt like a small cruise-liner. We had our first Greek salads, drank retsina (a Greek white, resinated wine//a 2000 year tradition) on the deck, and acted giddy and glad to be on a ship in the middle of the sea on our way to a Grecian adventure.

I could have stood against the railing of the ship, staring at the rushing wakes of the boat or looking up at the constellations while the wind grazed my face all night long...

...and I nearly did.

Aloof

Well, I really have tried to "escape" while traveling the continent for these last fifteen days. It's been pretty wonderful, actually. I've been able to send dearest Mama Liz some iMessages and shoot a few special people emails, but for the most part I have tried to keep my phone on airplane mode and just be as immersed as possible in what I am doing.

I do regret not blogging, though...only because now catching you all up (and my future, nostalgic self) is rather daunting. But, I don't regret it too much because, let me tell you, I am having the utter time of my life. I wake up some mornings not homesick but "peoplesick," but then I remember how fleeting my time abroad is and I am ready to take on the new day in a new place. This has been a quick whirlwind of a dream, but, at the same time, I feel like I have been away for months and months.

Now, I will do my best to post a few, quick tid-bits about what I have been up to in the stellar countries of Greece + Turkey and be better about posting from now on!

Miniature Pub Crawl

Last Saturday afternoon, some of the girls and I decided to hit up a few pubs from the famous Oxford Pub Crawl map. The weekend before, a bunch of girls went on a real pub crawl, visiting twelve, so we just went to a couple of their favorites. We had planned to walk to four pubs but were satisfied after two and wanted to go to South Park, so I suppose it wasn't even really a pub crawl at all - oops! At the Cape of Good Hope, I tried a half pint of Pride of Oxford, a golden ale, and at Angel and Greyhound I had Thatcher's Gold, a light ale. Both were good but I preferred the latter. The girls tried a variety of Pimm's and cider.

After our pub stops, we walked on to South Park, a large, open park filled with the greenest grass and boasting awesome views of Oxford. I plopped right down on the ground, trying to soak in the wonderful Saturday before I faced my long list of papers to write.

An Oxford Saturday with Em

Today is our last day in Oxford and there is still so much I want to see and do, and I'm okay with that because it just means I have to come back someday. But Emily and I both wanted to make sure we checked off at least a few things from our "Oxford Bucket List," so last Saturday we spent the morning visiting the Natural History Museum and gawking at dinosaur remains, strolling streets we hadn't yet walked, snapping tons of pictures, eating ice cream for brunch, and going up that amazing tower of St. Mary. It was the loveliest.

campus gate

bridge of sighs

white chocolate magnum bar, big yums

pristine campus grounds 

oxford natural history museum

wowzers

dodo bird

em loves dinos

i enjoyed the building itself more than its contents

evolution

rhodes scholars

spot the college seals?

grandure

climbing ivy

afternoon date

Farewell High Table

Well, last night was the last high table and it was sad. I mean, it was fantastically fun, but sad because it meant that our time here at Oxford is over. I was finally on high table this week, sitting between Steve (the professor who guides us around the continent) and Stevens, across from my Greek Literature professor and my Roman History professor, and near a few friends. I know it's egotistical, but I swear they designed the menu for me: goat cheese salad + lamb and fine beans + chocolate soufflé. That's right, the Lincoln chef and his incredible crew managed to prepare about seventy splendid soufflés. It was really fun being up there at "the special table," eating our dinner slowly and sipping on our wine with care, making room for conversation to flow. A professor from the Western track gave a side-splitting speech about taking in all the [often strange] smells and sounds and sights we are about to encounter - I sure plan to! 

Life is pretty stellar.

I regret it now, but I didn't take any pictures while on high table...I was scared of being uncouth!

But, here are some shots from last week's high table: 

trying to be the spice girls

A Bird's-Eye View

Emily and I went up the tower of the University Church of St. Mary. Being at the very center of the city and 127 steps up, the tower is the ideal spot for seeing all of Oxford and even the surrounding countryside. It was breathtaking up there.