Take a bath?...No, I'll just go there!

A group of 4 girls and I decided to go to Bath today. It was Kathryn Barnes, Katie Gager, Meiko Ishigaki, Dana Hollingsworth, and me! I found out that they were going last night and decided that it sounded fun. We walked to the train station this morning at about 8:30AM. Our train left at 9:20. We switched trains once and then got to Bath at about 10:30. It only cost us L12.50 for a round trip ticket. We walked to the Roman baths first. They had a combined ticket for there and the Museum of Costumes. We spent 2 hours at the baths easily! It was really neat. It's been over 2,000 years and the system of filtering the water through still works as well as it did then. It was pretty cold outside so there was steam coming off the water. We all felt of the water and it felt like bath water (surprise surprise)! There were many rooms that had individual baths in them. It was really cool to see remains of the building too. Right before we went into the baths, we walked by a group of people in a big circle cheering. We were curious about what was going on, so we made our way in the circle and saw 2 men in man thongs performing some kind of acrobatics. It was quite interesting! We got a good laugh! Then we walked to the Museum of Costumes. This was a museum about the progression of clothing from the 1700s until today. It started off with huge dresses with many layers and then ended with a dress that was like Jennifer Lopez's favorites (low cut)! It was really interesting! We even got to try on corsets! I definitely would not have been able to live during that era. Then we went to a market and looked around at a few shops. We went into a really neat antique shop too! Then we walked to what is called "The Circus". It is actually a circle that has houses built around it. It was really cool architecture. The we went to the park area and looked out across Bath from a hill. It was gorgeous. The city looks like a bowl with rolling hills along the edges. All the way up the sides of the city are houses built up the hill. It's really neat. When we were walking down town, we saw a guy riding a 10 foot unicycle and juggling 3 flame sticks. He even tossed one under his leg while riding! Then we went to the Abbey and actually went to a service. There was a choir of little girls who sang. It was beautiful. Then we caught a train back to Oxford and ate at Ali's Indian restaurant again! It is so good and so cheap! We saved our money and appetite because it's so worth it! It was a day well spent!

Port Meadow and Ashmoleon Museum!

Courtney, Kay Lee, and I went to the Ashmoleon Museum today. It's a free museum full of really neat stuff. The first floor is all Egyptian mummies, hiroglyphics, jewelry, and pottery. The second floor was mostly paintings, pianos, violins, and guitars. Then we walked back home and ate at a sandwich place near our house called On the Hoof. The workers are mostly from Brazil so I tried the famous "Sexy Brazilian" sandwich. It was really good. It was chicken with spices and cheeses and a mango dressing. It was very different but really good. Then Courtney and I walked over to Port Meadow and saw a few swans and ducks and then we walked back. We were kinda mad though, because on the way home, we could see a pretty sunset through the houses and wished we had still been in the meadow. Oh well, I still have like 100 more sunsets to see!

We went exploring!

Well...I found out that I don't have class on Mondays and nobody has class on Fridays, so basically I only go to school on Tues., Wed., and Thurs. How great is that! Anyways, since I didn't have school today Courtney Patterson, Kay Lee Gibbs, Kelsey Hess and I went walking. We went to the Univerity of St. Mary the Virgin and climbed a spiral staircase all the way to the top! Once we got to the top, we almost blew away but instead we just froze. haha Well the view was definitely worth it! We basically had a bird's eye view of Oxford! Then we went to the Museum of Natural History and there were dinosaurs and all kinds of preserved animals from all over the world! It was really neat!

A nice walk around the city!

We went to St. Aldates Anglican church this morning at 10. It was so neat. I knew most of the songs that we sang and it reminded me a lot of Beltway and Highland mix. It was kind of like a Highland service but with a praise band. The preacher was really easy to listen to and they even had a baby blessing and a little kid song for when they went to kid's class. After church we went to the grocery store and then walked back. But Courtney and Katie hopped the bus b/c they had heels and it was a little over a 2 mile walk. The we walked to another town called Summertown. It's only about a mile north of our house. There were a lot of little shops and such. Then we walked to University Park and about 4 of us played touch football and soccer in the mud. We also went on a long walk around the park and it seemed like we were in a movie. there were over grown trees over this footpath that made an archway. We also saw 3 stone bridges that went over the river. It was beautiful! We also walked around our neighborhood and found little hidden shops and churches. I love it so far and already can find my way around pretty well.

Hello Mr. Italian Boy!

Ok...so I sit down on the plane next to a really cute Italian guy who only speaks Italian and a little bit of Spanish and of course I only speak English and a little Spanish. So, we try to talk in Spanish and actually had pretty good conversation about places we'd visited and things we like to do. He was really nice until after dinner. As soon as the lights go out on the plane, he leans over and asks, "Un keess?" I stare at him with a confused look and he repeats it about 5 times until I realize that he's asking me if he could kiss me. As soon as I realize what he means, my eyes got huge. He realizes that I am definitely not interested and still tries to explain that now that it's dark my professors will be sleeping so they wouldn't notice. I freak out a little bit and scoot as close to the aisle as possible. Thank goodness Wayne walked by about that time and realized I was a little disturbed. The guy decided to go to sleep and didn't bother me anymore. However, now Wayne and Ron are both taking the initiative to protect me from Italian boys. haha It was quite an experience and everyone has had their laughs. It made for a good story at least!

Well... my 3 roommates and I just moved into our room in house #10. We're about to walk downtown as a group. It's so neat to be here! Everything is so quaint and cozy!

I'm leavin on a jet plane...tomorrow!

Well...I said goodbye to all my friends and family last night and headed up to ACU this morning. We waited for 2 hours only to hear that Ranger Hill was closed to thru traffic. So...I hauled all my stuff back home and am preparing to do this all over again. I guess it's nice that I'll be sleeping in my own bed again instead of in a crammed airplane seat. Hopefully the weather will clear up enough tomorrow so that we can head out!

8 Days Left!

I went on my first Wal-Mart run tonight (there will probably be many more)! I'm starting to get things together and I should probably start writing my papers and studying! The days seem so short when I have so much to do!