The city, the pubs, the cuisine...

The first few days (Sept 23 -25) were just a whirlwind...we had to stock our new swank dorm room and find our way around our new city. Honestly, it might sound cliche, but Oxford is just the most beautiful city -- every cobblestone street has a different 700-year old, ivy-covered, castle-like building and cute, oddly-named pub (so far from what I can tell, most of the names seem to be related to animals or objects - The Eagle and Child, The Lamb and Flag, The Bear). I feel like I'm walking in a movie set ALL the time. During the day, it feels like you are hanging out in a Harry Potter movie, especially since our first week here was very sunny and "warm" (which I have now sadly discovered is HIGHLY unusual English weather). And at night, it feels like you are hanging out in a Sherlock Holmes documentary, since it gets foggy and misty, and the temperature drops about 40 degrees. Another side note: I'm not the only one who feels like this apparently, as every week they are filming a different tv show or movie right on campus. We accidentally walked on to a set during one late night stroll... the bobby quickly alerted us to the error of our ways.

We also sampled our first taste of English cuisine. We had lunch with Jola and her husband Lars (our new substitute dad for the year) at Turf Tavern, a famous pub from the 14th century. It's dark inside, with tons of different passageways and rooms to down a pint in, and has tiny doorways that probably perfectly fit the typical five-foot tall englishman in 1547. I had a traditional cheese and cauliflower pie, and Will had bangers and mash. Seriously, the food was awesome. Everyone kept telling me how I'll lose weight this year from not wanting to eat the food - I wish! Between the pies with cheese, digestive biscuits (deceptive name - biscuits are really fantastic fatty cookies), scones with clotted cream, rhubarb pie (as you can see, I've sampled the desserts in depth) and the ridiculously good Thai food we've had (love the Bangkok House), I think I'm in trouble.