Week 0: Snowtastic! Snow-Rowing, Flashdance, and Menudo...

When we got back to Oxford (after being snowed in at Birmingham for hours), we were shocked and overjoyed at what we found: SNOW! People had told us that it hardly ever snows in Oxford, and definitely not in large amounts, so when we saw feet of snow on the ground, with more pouring from the sky, we were amazed. It was beautiful. It covered everything, the open fields next to the dorm, all the trees, the sidewalks, the fountain and the lakes, and -- due to the rareness of the occasion and thus oxford's inability to plow anything -- all the streets. The town shut down for the week, basically until the snow melted.

The dorm...

The fountain that everyone had been swimming in a week earlier.

And Broad Street....so beautiful.

The rest of the week was busy. On Monday (Jan 11), I went to a Rotary meeting at the Jordans and District Club to make a presentation. I had a lovely time at dinner with great company -- the Rotarian next to me was telling me how I had to go punting down the river with a Pimm's Cup in hand to truly experience the Spring in Oxford. (It's on the list now!) And several other Rotarians approached me after the meeting to offer help with my research on legal education (as they have sons, daughters, and friends who are barristers or solicitors here). The friendliness and giving spirit of the Rotarians never ceases to amaze me. It makes me so proud to be a Rotary Scholar.

On Wednesday, I woke up at 6am to hit the river to row. It was dark. It was snowing. And there was ice on the boat. But that did not stop the practice (to my horror), oh no. My hands were little frozen stumps, but I molded them around the oar and tried to hear the cox's instructions through the 4 layers I had on my head. It was an experience. The highlight of the trip was biking home on the snow-covered streets and having a bus fly by me throwing a giant wave of dirty snowy-slush onto me and Henry. As the slush slid down my face, I decided to walk the rest of the way.

On Friday, we went over to Will's friend Kevin's house to play some spades, watch some movies, and eat some pizza and popcorn. Good times. On Saturday, I went to the Christ Church artroom to make some artwork for our plain dormroom. (We now have a pretty little oil pastel piece up. Between that and our new flowers that we got at the covered market, our dorm is looking quite cozy!) Then that night, I went to an 80's bop. You can't quite tell from the pictures, but I went as the chick in Flashdance.

You can't see the spandex and legwarmers, but rest assured, they're there.

Good times.

On Sunday, we went to Far From the Madding Crowd to collect our free drinks from our last pub quiz win, and to defend our title (more for the drinks though, as we know lightning doesn't strike twice). We tied for fourth, not too shabby for Team Menudo. (Yes, the Puerto Rican boy band. As you can see, we're struggling for team names.)

Amo Roma! Scuzzi-ing our way through Rome...

With a week to go before classes started, we decided to use our time wisely and travel. So, Jan 4-8, we went to Rome! Our trip started out with a big bang when we left luggage in the train and thought we might not be able to get on the plane, but thanks to the amazing Birmingham train peeps, we miraculously recovered it in time to hop on the plane and wipe the sweat off our brows. We had an amazing time from the moment we got off the plane (leaving our plane food -- mustard lamb sandwiches -- behind) and to the hotel (where Will washed his feet in our "feet washer", otherwise known as the bidet - oh Will).

Day 1 - We spent our first day exploring St. Peters and the Vatican Museums. This was probably my favorite sightseeing activity. St. Peters Square and the inside of the Basilica (the largest church in the WORLD) is just unreal -- not only is it breathtaking (with the paintings, gold, sculptures, and marble), but it's also just magical and spiritual. It is a very powerful place. And the Vatican Museums - well, the thousands of rooms with precious paintings, sculptures, frescoes, and artifacts is indescribable. We spent quite a while looking up at the Sistine Chapel and marveling at Raphael's School of Athens.

The Snyders in St. Peter's Square.

Inside the Basilica. Doesn't look real, does it?!

Getting frisky in the Vatican Museum.

Wait, where did Will go?!

Swans - Arrghhhhhh.

(If this makes no sense, see last post on duck feeding.)

We had dinner in Piazza Navona, a beautiful and very famous piazza in Rome. We relaxed, people-watched, and took in the atmosphere (amazing fountains and a carnival) over a bottle of wine, brushetta, ceasar salad, and of course, pasta. After dinner, we made one of our 52 pit stops for gelato. Seriously, I've never seen Will eat so much dessert in my life. You'd think I starved him all day. I, of course, loved this, and took full advantage by also eating my weight in gelato. So much for my diet.

Thought I was kidding, eh? Nope - I have photographic evidence.

They have, um, interesting gelato flavors in Rome. If you look close, you'll see that they ran out of "Viagra".

Day 2 - We hopped on the Hop On - Hop Off bus for the day to catch the big picture view of the city. We saw everything that day. Rome has so many amazing historical/cultural sights -- it's crazy thinking that one city can hold so much. That night we had dinner at Piazza del Popolo and saw Sherlock Holmes with Italian subtitles. It was a blast.

Us at the Trevi Fountain. I kept trying to explain to Will that you're supposed to throw the coins in with your right hand over your left shoulder, but Will always likes to chuck coins to the beat of his own itunes (as you all know), so he tossed them in basketball free-throw style.

The Spanish Steps. There were so many incredibly romantic spots in this city. This was one of them.

(That is, until Will ditched me -- or as he says, paused to buy gelato, which I didn't notice. I panicked in the hoards of people who were mostly yelling -- which they would describe as 'animated speaking' -- in Italian. Petrified, I didn't move from the fountain. It was late, it was dark, and I knew there was no way I could find my way back to the hotel -- remember my sense of direction? When he found me a few minutes later, there might have been a tear or two (or ten) of relief shed. That actually was romantic.)

Will - nice try. Your escape plan was foiled. Sorry sucker, but you're legally bound to me.

Day 3 - After a fantastic breakfast of prosciutto and melon (seriously, every meal was so delicious - ok, except for one lunch we had by the Colosseum where Will literally gagged on his brushetta) -- overlooking some ruins (we literally stumbled upon ancient ruins every 10 feet during this trip), we headed to the Colosseum and Roman Forum. Will's favorite part of sightseeing was definitely the Colosseum -- it was just enormous (like our football stadiums today) and technologically advanced for the day. The ground floor had compartments for holding animals, prisoners, and gladiators that were going to battle it out for the crowds, and it had trap doors so that fighters and scenery (including forests and mountains) could 'magically' appear with the spectators watching in awe. They even had a water battle there by flooding the compartments. Unreal. Of course, after seeing this, we bought Gladiator so that we could see what this would look like in real life.

The Colosseum.

The Roman Forum.

A super cool statue.

She must have been a hot chick back in the day!

We had a yummy pizza lunch in Piazza Venezia overlooking the Viktor Emmanuel II Monument. Later that night, we had yet another amazing dinner on a little side street (and another bottle of wine!) Then shopping, and of course, more gelato.

Homemade pasta, clams, and zucchini - sooo delicious.

We were sad when our trip was nearing its end (although to be honest, we were slightly exhausted from all the traveling and the miles we walked over the few days touring the city -- the gallons of gelato we ate probably didn't help either). We loved all the amazing history, culture, and sights of Rome. We adored the food -- haven't eaten that good since Mama Sisti cooked for us. And, we appreciated Italian culture. I have to say, though, that being there and experiencing Italian culture (and remember, I'm Italian!) made me appreciate British culture even more. I like the way Italians are animated, excited when they talk (think louder like Americans and lots of hand gestures), and family/friends oriented (taking hours to dine and spend time with loved ones), but -- and this is just my own impression -- they aren't as 'polite' a culture as the British (but then again, I don't think anyone is).

For example, when you're walking down an Italian street, if you don't get out of the person's way who is walking toward you, you WILL get hit, head on. I say this, because each day, to Will's amusement, I performed an experiment where I would walk down the street and stand my ground, that is, I didn't hop out of everyone's way like I do normally. I just walked to see if anyone would even duck back a shoulder when clearly they were going to ram me. Well, EVERY time, there was a massive collision, and not even a hint of a 'scuzzi' (translation: 'excuse me') from my collider. I 'scuzzied' all over the place, because I just couldn't help it. But seriously, it was as if it was normal to ram into people. I think people brace for it, instead of scoot. During one walk (where I was back to scooting and ducking out of the way of people since I was sick of bruising myself), a little kid (like we're talking 8), even punched me in the gut! Bewildered, I looked at him and his mom and said a firm "SCUZZI!" I thought I would be the shining example of politeness (to show that gut punching strangers = not cool), but, alas, I don't think they noticed.

I now really appreciate the British way of bending over backwards not to come remotely close to touching passersby. And, I sorta like the British way of looking away or at the ground or basically anywhere but making eye contact after experiencing the Italian male stare down one too many times. I hate to quote The Hills, but as Lauren said, "Rome is like one big construction site."

Despite the bruises, though, it was still really interesting to experience this difference in cultures. Italians seem to be a lot more like Americans! As in, walking in Rome is a lot like walking in New York City. So, I think we were able to assimilate nicely. We loved our time in Rome, and have decided we have to go back to visit all the other amazing Italian cities. (I think Will just wants more gelato.)

Attack of the killer swans.

The New Year started off with some beautiful weather -- freaking cold, of course, but SO sunny!

New Years Day at the dorm.

Yes, that's a wine glass in the bird feeder.

We went for an amazing walk around the University Park next to the dorm. The ponds were frozen over so the birds were just walking around on them. See below...

The next few days were also sunny! Unreal. So I decided that I had to take advantage of this and go for a jog. It was honestly the most beautiful, picturesque jog I have ever seen. I jogged through fields with horses, tiny paths enclosed by brush on both sides with a canopy of trees overhead, over bridges with streams and swans below -- it was unreal. I felt like I was jogging on a movie set like Anne of Green Gables.

Since I loved seeing all the ducks the day before (and was sooo jealous watching people feed them), I made my own little ziploc bag full of duck food (i.e. leftover bread which I carefully ripped into tiny duck-food-sized portions) and stuffed it in a pocket during the jog. When we came to a part of the river that wasn't frozen, we got the bag out, and it was as if we rang the supper bell. I think the ducks know the sound of rustling ziploc bag, because like 80 ducks swarmed us in like 9 seconds flat. I was totally cool with this, and happily threw lots of food around, so that they wouldn't fight over it. Then, however, 6 huge, and I mean HUGE swans arrived. Swans look super pretty and calm when they're all swimming in the lake, but when they run at you full speed standing fully-erect, they're freaking terrifying! The swans heads came just below my chin! They stomped all over the poor ducks and ran right at me -- no, they ran right at my bag labeled "duck food." I tried backing up, but they bum rushed me. I panicked, turn and ran, but they literally chased me... so, terrified, I screamed, threw the bag in the air, and sprinted down the path... past the little British kids who stared at me, the crazy yank. Freaking swans.

New Years Eve, UK style!

Even though we had a great visit with our families, we were super excited to get back to Oxford! After recovering from the ridiculous jetlag, the first thing we did was see our friends. On Wednesday, we went to The Victoria, a beautiful, cool pub in Jericho, and played hearts and spades from 3pm to midnight, while polishing off quite a few bottles of red wine. (I think we got these peeps hooked on spades and hearts, because we also played hearts from 9pm 'til 2am on Friday night!) Good times.

This is the ceiling of the Vic. Nice, eh?

On Thursday, we hit the town for New Years Eve with Will's buddies. We went to the Duke of Cambridge, and then hit the Blue. (And later in the night, we stopped for some post-party Greek food.) It was a blast.

Leaving the dorm to start the partay...

Will's boys and the V.

Bustin' a move. Just like her dad.

Awwww. Midnight in England.

Bienvenidos a Miami!

We headed home for a week to celebrate Christmas with the families. When Mama Sisti booked this flight months ago (she doesn't mess around), we really thought we would want to stay in the UK for Christmas, just to have a fun change. However, when the temperature dropped, Oxford emptied, and Henry's bike lock froze (so I couldn't even ride him!), we started to have a change of heart. It really didn't feel anything like Christmas around here without our families -- I needed mom's decorations, Christmas tree, hand-embroidered (by mom, of course) Vanessa-stocking, and cooking. So, needless to say, we were really excited to get back, visit with everyone, and celebrate Christmas Sisti-Snyder style.

On Wednesday, we did last-minute Christmas shopping (and laid out in the parking lot of Transmission King to catch some rays while dad was getting the car fixed) and played a ton of cards with the Sisti's (who I swear must have been practicing Spades while we were gone -- we lost every game. We, of course, attributed this to severe jetlag.) On Thursday, we spent Christmas Eve with the Sisti's. It was a blast playing with Kaitlyn and Ashley (my adorable, and shockingly energetic, nieces) and participating in the annual Yankee Swap Christmas Gift Exchange. Then on Christmas Day, the Snyders all came over for a day of opening stockings, eating, relaxing, eating, playing another Yankee Swap Gift Game, laughing, and, more eating. (If you knew how good Mama Sisti's food was, you'd understand.) Saturday was spent golfing and shopping and Sunday we visited with friends in Miami and Davie. All in all, it was a fabulous visit. We miss our families already.

The Sisti crew.

Me and the bro.

A few random highlights from the trip:

1. Watching my dad bust-a-move to Kanye West. Now I know where I get it from...

2. Watching Will laugh at the Walgreens "HINI shot" sign. Quote Will, "Look! Hiney shots! Hahaha..."

3. Watching the fam laugh at Man v. Wild when Bear Grylls made a sleeping bag out of an inside-out sheep, and called it a "sheeping bag."

4. Seeing an old family friend who said: "I remember when you used to dance on our pool table in your swimsuit." Some things never change.

5. Trying to get out of Heathrow 3 days before Christmas. We woke at 4am, left the dorm at 4:45, walked with luggage in the freezing dark cold to the 5:30am bus, took a two hour bus ride, and then stood in lines for two hours to catch a 10am plane. I have never seen 1,000 people queue for anything before, let alone to check-in for a flight. There were hoards of people. We must have gone through 9 security checkpoints, where we encountered: a lady so drunk next to us in line that she literally passed out, hitting the floor like a cut-down sequoia (airport staff put little gates around her so no one would step on her), a female guard who gave me a pat-down that I'm sure cannot be legal, a polish security officer (Vladimir) who had a crush on the V chatting me up about Poland and my little naked lady sculpture (who yes, made it home in one piece, head in tact), and finally, a security woman who took her job very seriously and interrogated Will about his aspirin for 30 minutes while I chuckled to myself (since he had just teased me about Vlad's crush, which by the way, had saved me 25 minutes of in-depth headache-medication inspection.)

The art of the subtle anti-smoking campaign.

I just had to dedicate one quick post to British cigarette laws because every time I see a cigarette container, I think 'this can't be real.' The first time a friend pulled out a cigarette container, I honestly thought it was a joke novelty item they bought from some English equivalent of Spencers Gifts because the warnings on the boxes are, well, not so subtle. We have the tiny "surgeon general's warning" on our boxes, but they go waaaaay beyond that. It's hard to describe, so I've posted actual pictures below. All I have to say is: Bravo, British lawmakers; bravo. Once a kid sees the cig container with the pic of the gaping sore protruding from the alleged smoker's throat, there ain't no way he's starting the habit. That specific container, next to the picture, reads: "Smoking can cause a slow and painful death." I can't make this stuff up. (Note: I left out that one picture for those of you with fainter stomachs. Personally, it gives me the willies.)

It seems that the British also realize how extreme these warnings look, as I noticed that my smoothie container poked a little fun at it. See below.

If you can't read the writing under the first warning, it says: "Of course, if you fired it from a rocket launcher..." Bloody brilliant.

"Don't worry: It's totally thick enough to stand on..."

Right before we left for sunny Florida, the temperature plummeted, snow fell, sidewalks got icy, and the fountain froze (contrary to my assumption, however, not enough for me to stand on). At that moment that I was clutching this chunk of ice for the photo op and losing feeling in my fingers (and pretending my feet weren't soaked), I was thinking "Miami, here I come!"

Let's Get Quizzical

On Saturday (Dec 19), I finally convinced Will to take me to my mecca: the Bicester Village outlet mall. I did a little happy dance during my 'Hallelujah!' when I got the go ahead for this trip. We actually took a bus (which cost us about 20$, eating into my 'savings' at the mall) to get there, but it was so worth it. I have the boots to prove it. However, per Will's instructions, I am now banned from going within 100 feet of a shopping mall.

On Sunday, we, yes again, hit the Madding Crowd pub quiz. This time, we brought more ringers -- 4 of Will's British friends, Kevin, Ben, Mark, and Timmy (see pic below). For the first time in history, Team 'Timmy's Going Down Under' (aptly named in honor of friend Timmy, who was leaving for a year in Australia the next day), kicked that quiz's butt. Team 'Let's Get Quizzical' didn't know what hit them. We WON! It was hard for us even to believe. Disclaimer though: unlike the usual 30 teams that participate (e.g. week 1 we came in 26th, week 2 we slid in a cool 14), this time there were, oh, roughly 7 teams. (Remember how I told you everyone left Oxford for the holidays? Team TGDU took full advantage of this.) We didn't let this diminish the awesomeness of our victory though; oh no. At the outset, we knew that even if we were the worst that night, we'd score better than we ever had: top 7! Being # 1 of 7 was just the icing on the cake -- or I guess I should say, the froth on our beers, since, as the winners, we got a sweet round of brews. Go TGDU!