'Bob's Your Uncle!' (no dad, not you)

Nothing could quite match the madness of Summer Eights (and the numerous celebration dinners, happy hours, and parties afterwards), so 6th and 7th weeks were just a tad quieter. We still managed to fill them with tons of Oxfordy activities. Let's see... I went to a BBQ at Kellogg college where they had a -- drum roll please -- bouncehouse! (Which, they call a Bouncey Castle - hilarious, right?) It was fantastic. Embarrassing picture to follow.

Yes, it was me and the children in the 'bouncey castle'. Not that I cared. There was no way I was missing that - children or floral dress notwithstanding.

I also went punting this week with some friends from Linacre. Punting is basically pushing a boat through the water with a big, long stick. Sounds simple? Au contraire. I don't know whether it was the weight of the stick or the Pimm's that we were drinking (a punting tradition and absolute necessity for any real punt outing - it consists of Pimm's, sprite which they call 'lemonade', mint, fruit and even vegetables like cucumber), but I basically spun the boat in circles, as my friends laughed. We traveled approximately 20 feet in the hour of punting. Quite the journey. I so can't wait to do it again!!!

We also had a few BBQ's with our friends in this gorgeous weather. We played a little 'Things' again, where this time the funniest category "Things Americans can't say" prompted responses like Bicester, aluminum, oregano (yes, all of these words have either silent letters or accents on different syllables making them sound like words in a foreign language), and the best (albeit saddest) response: 'goodbye.'

After the debate over correct pronunciation of words, we also learned some new vocabulary: Big Girl's Blouse (wimp), Billy no-mates (friendless person), and Bob's Your Uncle! (you've got it!) As you can see, we only made it to the B's. I have tried to assimilate these words into my everyday speak, but it's tough to yell out 'Bob's Your Uncle!' everytime Team Quiztiano Renaldo gets a question right at quiz night. (The fact that Bob's my DAD doesn't help either.) I feared sounding like the bizarre girl in the pub and ending up a Billy-no-mates. (See how I slipped that in? Didn't see that one comin', did ya?! skillz.)

Also interestingly, I came to the realization that calling someone a Benedict Arnold over here doesn't quite mean the same thing. When I called one of our British buds that, I thought I was calling them a traitor -- they thanked me for calling them a hero. Interesting how two quite similar people can interpret something in two quite opposite ways -- makes you think. Benedict Arnold, the hero -- I didn't see that one comin'.

Let's see - other cool things these weeks. Saw Sex and The City II with ten girlfriends from Linacre -- sooo fun to have ladies night! (even for a horrendous movie) Went to Linacre's final bop - the Carnival Bop! (It was a fantastic night with my friends. People are starting to move out of the dorms already, so I'm trying to cherish every last minute with my closest friends before they go.) Attended more rowing dinners, lunches at different colleges like Green Templeton, pub nights at the Turf, card playing at the Vic, bops at Green, cricket matches in the parks, and, of course, football (aka soccer) watching for the World Cup. Watching England v USA in England with a bunch of Brits was an absolute blast. (especially since we didn't lose!) How are we ever going to leave this place?! I got a memo this week with details about 'going down', which means, leaving Linacre. I think they're going to have to drag me outta here, up or down or sideways, kicking and screaming. This shouldn't be tough though, as I'm a total Big Girl's Blouse. (zing!)

boaties and rotary's

Week 5 was again, craziness! It started off with a trip to the Rotary Club of Windsor, where I met some lovely Rotarians and gave a presentation about Miami and my future plans. (see pic below) It was a great afternoon.

This week was dominated, however, by Summer Eights -- THE biggest intercollegiate rowing competition in Oxford. (AND, the only time it is acceptable to leave the house wearing nothing but spandex.) Four days of racing, 13 boats on the water at a time, 1.5 boat lengths apart from each other, attempting to 'bump' (let's be honest, RAM) the boat in front of them to move their boat up a position in the rankings. Despite the rain, soreness, and law-related jokes (as law firms like Morrison Foerster and Jones Day sponsored this regatta - so picture things like 'MoFo' and 'every day is a jones day' blasting from the announcers on loud speakers), the event was an absolute BLAST for rowers and spectators alike.

My boat (with two of my dearest friends, Kine and Jeanne) started off as the second boat in Division 4. On the first day of racing, we bumped Hertford's boat (which was just plain AWESOME!) So, we moved up a notch to the first boat in Division 4. This also made us the 'sandwich' boat, which meant we would row in TWO divisions that day. We were in the highest boat in Division 4 (since we bumped Hertford from that spot), and the lowest in Division 3. So, to move up to Division 3, we HAD to bump the boat in front of us during that second race. We couldn't catch them though, so that meant we rowed in TWO races, 2,000 meters each, for the next two race days.... the first race trying to make sure the boat behind us didn't bump us (since there was no one for us to catch and relieve us of the pain of rowing all 2,000 meters at full race pace), and the second race desperately trying (after rowing a full 2,000 meters already, mind you) to catch the boat in front of us in Division 3, so that we could move up and leave Division 4 (and sandwich boat status) behind. Well, after three days of this, on that fourth day, we were so worn out that we got bumped, back to Division 4, right where we started! It was wildly fun, and we held Linacre's position in the race for next year (your position is determined by years and years of past racing!) What a wonderful memory. I will truly miss rowing when we head back to the States. I'm a total 'boatie' at heart.

Check out the Gator hat! Gotta represent!

My girls: Human Metronome, Lieutenant, and Engine Room.

Our boat - I'm in Seat 7.

Stern Pair : me and Kine.

(A Beer Boat - where they were more concerned with costume and beer than actual rowing...)

Our boat with our cox, Ken.

Post-Race Pic.

A champagne shower to celebrate the last race!

To see part of our first race, check out the video footage, courtesy of Will...

Only in Oxford - Battle in the Park!

We've been hitting the park almost on a daily basis as the weather has just been unbelievably perfect! We're talking sunny, 70 degrees, cool breeze -- total heaven! (We're going to DIE when we return to the sweltering heat of August in Miami.)

So, we jog, play frisbee (and survivor-triple-frisbee), tennis (we got a tennis membership for the Oxford parks - awesome!), watch cricket, hang out, aaaaaaaaaand, wait for it, watch students dressed in full body armor and metal hats engaging in battle via swords and shields. No, I am not joking. See videographic evidence below. Only in Oxford. It was too priceless not to share.

Just your average day of croquet

Woah have we been busy! Term-time (we're in the last of three 8-week terms during which you have classes, which is deceptive since we don't actually have classes this term, yet, alas, it is still called Trinity 'Term' -- typical confusing Oxford terminology) is always jam-packed full of events. So let's see, during third week, we did a little, what I like to call, Extreme Bowling.

Yes, Will is blindfolded. Each frame involved a different challenging twist on how you had to bowl -- backwards, with ball in the other hand, and, the piece de resistance, blindfolded. And yes, there were balls thrown into lanes other than our own. Good times.

I also danced at my first Ceilidh, a traditional Scottish social gathering where you do coordinated dances almost like line-dancing. My personal favorite was the one where I got spun in circles, and was airborne, until I started to feel a little nauseous. Again, good times.

I went to an exchange dinner at Lincoln College, where the buildings are ancient and the libraries look like this:

Unreal, right? The Lincoln college kids study in a Harry Potter film set. I also played my first game of croquet, where I was a natural, of course. (That may be a slight exaggeration, but there is no video footage, so I feel like I can take some liberty with this one. The only evidence to the contrary is a picture where I'm swinging the stick like a golf club. However, I maintain that would be a much more efficient way of croqueting. You just can't get a big power hit by swinging it between your legs. Especially when in heels.)

Also Harry-Potter-ish, my friends and I had brunch at Christ Church College, in the dining hall where they actually did film Harry Potter. Very cool.

In addition to pub quizzing at the Royal Oak, juggling lessons, a Graduate College Bar Crawl (and late night visit to the Purple Turtle), and multiple BBQ's (because the weather is SO amazing right now - sunny and 70's in England - who knew?!), we also fit in a trip to Blenheim Palace with the Rotary Club. It is a stunning monumental country house (interestingly, where Winston Churchill was born) and the current home of the Duke of Marlborough. We toured the interior and beautiful garden grounds and met the Duke's daughter, Lady Henrietta Spencer Churchill, who told us a little bit about the history of the place. What a great day.

Will and the Palace.

Snyders do Blenheim.

Me at the entrance.

Also this week, we celebrated our second anniversary! We went to the neatest restaurant in Oxford, the Old Parsonage, saw a movie, went for ice cream, and walked all around this beautiful city. Oxford was a great place to spend our special day -- it made it very memorable. I hope this won't be our only anniversary in Oxford...

What a Ball!

About an hour after we got back from the cruise, I hopped into my party dress to attend the Jesus-Somerville College Paparazzi Ball with my friends. Going to a Ball during your time at Oxford is one of those things that people told me I HAD to experience, and now I see why. There were four different stages of live bands playing at all hours (everything from hip-hop to jazz to classical string quartets), six different food stations with food from various restaurants (as well as a dessert room complete with chocolate fondue and champagne fountains), a casino, laser tag, a 3-D show, a room for dress-mending in case you ripped off your sequins on the dance floor(s), and, of course, tables upon tables filled with glasses full of champagne, mixed liquor fruity drinks, beer, and cider, just waiting for you to sashay by and grab. It was sensory overload at its best. The best part about it though, was getting dressed up with my girlfriends and spending a fancy night out together laughing and enjoying a very Oxfordian tradition.

The girls sipping champagne before the Ball...

The craziness didn't stop there though. The next morning after the Ball, Will and I took off for the Abingdon Rotary Club's Dragon Boat Racing Charity Event! In between cooking-up burgers and bacon to sell to the hundreds of spectators, we raced in the dragon-shaped boats against 30 other crews from around Oxfordshire. With 16 to a boat, needless to say it got a bit hectic. At one point, I was laughing so hard I couldn't row. Between the team costumes (from teams like Blazing Paddles, In Denile, and The Drag Ones - you can imagine what that team wore) to the waves of freezing water that I watched douse everyone in the boat, you couldn't help but laugh. I was wet, frozen, and smelled of ground burger beef, but I had a fantastic time.

Will and Tom on the grill...

After the racing and burger grilling, we walked through the park with our buddies Kev, Anna, and Mark, and played some serious games of Pooh Sticks. If you're thinking Winnie the Pooh, you're right. They actually play Winnie the Pooh's Pooh Sticks here (where everyone drops a stick off the bridge and sees whose stick comes out first on the other side of the bridge) for charity events and just general weekend amusement. I know it may sound silly to the uninformed, but trust me, Pooh Sticks can provide hours of solid entertainment. Since I haven't managed to actually win a game yet (which I attribute solely to highly unpredictable, shifting, English water-currents), I'm working on perfecting my stick selection strategerie. Kev, Anna, Mark, and Will -- consider yourselves warned.

Finally, this week (which is actually Third Week of Trinity Term, since I was on the cruise for the first two weeks of term!), I attended lectures by The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu (the Nobel Peace Prize winner, among other things) as well as Malcolm Gladwell (my favorite author) and went to Formal Hall with my girlfriends (see below).

Even without classes, this term has been busy! I'm really looking forward to just enjoying and soaking up every minute of this final term at Oxford. I'd give anything to be able to slow down time right now. I'm just having such a ball...

National Lampoon's European Vacation, Sisti-Style

After finishing exams and saying goodbye to our visitors (and some other notable events including falling into the River Isis during rowing practice, having tea time with Jola at News Cafe, and attending a Garden Party in the Linacre quad), we prepared for the Main Event: the arrival of the Sisti's! Mom and Dad Sisti came to visit us in Oxford for a day and then took us on a European Cruise. It was the trip of a lifetime! We spent a few days in Venice and then hopped on the ship to Dubrovnik, Croatia; Kusadasi, Turkey; Corfu, Greece; and Santorini, Greece. We made so many memories on this trip that it would be impossible to detail all the stories and laughter, but here are some of the highlights, and the pictures...

Venice!

Basically, we toured around the city (after comically missing 3 different buses) and ate our weight in gelato. My favorite memories of Venice include Will dropping his (45th scoop of) gelato off his cone and my mom, worried that he would be upset (and likely feeling the affects of four glasses of Italian wine), picking the scoop up off the dirty Venetian streets and telling him 'Don't be sad! You can just eat the top.' Problem. Solver. Equally comical memory was watching my dad use unknowingly inappropriate hand gestures to question the Italian-only-speaking pastry-shop-worker about what type of filling was in the croissant he spotted. When I saw the look of utter confusion/disbelief on her face, I thought for sure the Sisti's were going to be politely escorted out of the shop. For the rest of the trip, I did all the dessert ordering for my dad. Ah, memories.

Croatia!

We walked all around this beautiful old town, and, of course, ate some gelato along the way.

After a fantastic pizza lunch (very Croatian, I know), we stopped at this cliff-side restaurant where we enjoyed some wine and the unbelievable views.

Turkey!

We took a really cool tour of Ephesus, an ancient Greek city with tons of Roman ruins. We saw the Library of Celsus (the second largest library in the world), some enormous theaters (like the Colosseum in Rome), and the remains of the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders of the World). Oh yeah, and I rode a camel.

The next stop was Santorini, Greece. After climbing 600 feet through donkey poop (as tons of people ride donkeys up the hill instead of burning off the calories they gained from the hourly feedings on the cruise ship), we finally arrived at the city on top of the mountain. We spent the day walking around this beautiful city (and trying to rid ourselves of the poop stank).

Thought I was joking about the donkeys? oh no.

Here are 2 of about 200.

The next stop was Corfu, Greece! We took a bus tour of this beautiful island and its Achilleion Palace. Each time the bus turned a corner, we ran into another unreal view of water crashing onto the cliffs, crystal clear blue water, and sandy beaches. When people imagine paradise, it looks like Corfu.

In addition to seeing all these amazing cities, we spent time on the cruise ship laying in the sun, playing TONS of Spades, ordering 5 entrees and 6 desserts EACH for dinners (and then ordering MORE food via late-night room service), attempting to run off all those calories on the gym treadmill, playing three-card poker and roulette in the casino, watching a 70 year-old man in a fluorescent orange speedo do a pole-dance on the pool deck to win a keychain, and generally just laughing, laughing, laughing with each other. We made memories to last a lifetime, and are already looking forward to the next Sisti-Snyder adventure together.

The Italian Invasion

The weekend after my exams, we had a visitor to our Oxford pad: our good friend Nate!

Lucky for us, even though he's American, he's working in Italy for the year, and thus, came bearing AMAzing Italian treats! See below...

We had a great time introducing him to Survivor Triple Frisbee, learning new card tricks, eating gelato, pub quizzing (although I can't remember if our team name was Risky Quizness as Nate suggested or Quiztiano Renaldo as Will did - you boys will have to correct me there), listening to (and then ditching thanks to a fake emergency bathroom break) some choir music, watching him totally bite it in the middle of the night due to some loose wooden boards in the quality cot we got him...

drinking Pimms...

hitting the pubs...

touring the city...

...and just laughing. What a great weekend.

Survivor Frisbee - my new favo(u)rite game

The week after my exams, to our amazement and joy, the sun finally decided to descend upon Oxford. So, everyone in the city headed outdoors in droves. We hit the park. We watched some cricket, played some footie and flip cup, enjoyed the new flowers and pink-blossom covered trees, ate ice cream from the ice cream vans, and invented a new fabulous sporting event: survivor triple frisbee. (i.e. one person throws three frisbees simultaneously towards the rest of the group, and then in an every-man-for-himself, rugby-style, wrestling-type mosh pit, the 8 or so of us battle it out to be the last man standing with frisbee in hand. totally awesome.) It was such a great day. We even got sunburned! (There's a sentence I never thought I'd say in England.) We're really hoping that the sun decides to visit again sometime in the next few months.

Just a sampling of some of the amazing flower blooming right now...

Thought I was joking about the pink trees, eh?

Some of the crew picnic-ing and listening to Kev play guitar...

Anna and I getting pumped for Survivor Triple Frisbee...

In addition to bruising and some blood shed, our feet were permanently stained...

The Snyders before the soccer ball pummeled us.

Exams: A reminder that school is not always AWESOME.

After getting back from our fantastic trip to Morocco and Portugal and reminiscing about the amazing beaches and entertaining anecdotes that we had almost forgotten (e.g. when the airport attendant asked to see our hand luggage and I held up my hands, having missed the word 'luggage' in that request, and then misreading the scale and telling him my bag weighed 278 kilos, not 27.8; I did Americans no favors in that airport), I had to buckle down to study for exams. Studying was tedious and tortuous and went on for two weeks. But it was such a fantastic relief when they were over!

Will got me these good luck flowers....

This is a picture of my friend Jennifer and I right before the final exam. (And yes, we're required to wear the crazy outfit to take exams!) On the first day of exams, you wear a white flower. If you have a second day, you wear pink. And, the last day, you wear red, to symbolize the blood you've shed over the ordeal. We all wanted to cover ourselves with red flowers. Our fingers were rubbed raw from writing for three hours straight each of the two exam days. Each day we had 3 essay questions to answer in 3 hours -- my hand was numb afterwards. At least the Examination Schools where we took them was breathtaking, so whilst frantically essay writing, we could look up at 15th century paintings, gilded ceilings, and sculptures. We literally took our exams in a museum. Oxford is amazing.

Post-exams to celebrate, Will took me for burgers and to Jack Wills (my favorite store) where I spent my weight in clothing. (pounds, get it? haha.) And then we had a great dinner with all the people from my course to celebrate. And finally, I finished the celebration -- in traditional English-style -- in a pub.

A picture of our class during the last day of class.

(And likely, at least my mom prays, the last day of class that I will ever have!)

3 bottles of Pepto: $20; 5 bottles of sunblock: $50; Hanging in Portugal with friends: Priceless.

After saying goodbye to Tangier (and the accompanying stomach irregularity), we hopped on the 'fast' ferry to sail back to Spain (where clean clothes stashed in the rental car eagerly awaited us). I finally got to let my hair down and take off the baggy wool sweater that I had worn in the Moroccan heat for four days -- that's a smell I won't miss. In Spain, we picked up our car and drove through the beautiful Spanish countryside for four hours until crossing the border into Portugal (this time without the uzi-clad soldiers and resulting pants peeing). And after a whole day of traveling, we finally arrived at our final destination: the Rising Cock Hostel in Lagos, Portugal.

We felt right at home, as we were assigned to the Teabag Room - how English! I slept in the Earl Gray bunkbed; Will cozied up in Camomile.

The next five days were a mixture of beaching at three different locales (which for me meant sunblocking, every 20 minutes, and holding an umbrella over my head, constantly, to the point that a local commented, in Portugese, 'Why is she under an umbrella like Rihanna?'), volleyballing, city exploring (including finding an abandoned shack that Will wants to adverse possess and turn into a hostel), gelato eating (at least twice a day, and yes, I gained eight pounds), flip cupping (it was Spring Break in the hostel afterall), and finally, an amazing day trip to Lisbon. You'll see from the pictures below why we fell in love with Lagos, Lisbon, and basically the Portugese coastal town lifestyle.

The streets of Lagos looked like they were covered in mosaic artwork, and you walked on pretty blue and white patterned tiles everywhere you went. The houses were brightly colored and had such charm with their wrought iron balconies and hanging lamps. Such a pretty, comfortable, small beach town, with character.

Beach #1 - similar to Miami

Beach #2 - gorgeous rocky coastline

Beach #3 - most beautiful beach I've ever seen

Will and 'Kev on Kev'

Big V and the Dubya

The Crew

One of the fantastic seafood dishes I had: squid! They were so big that you could see their huge eyeballs, which I had trouble chomping down on... so I gave Kev all the heads. After the sixth eyeball, even he had trouble.

Will and I took a day trip up to Lisbon and spent the day trying to quickly soak up all the amazing sights in this huge city. You could fit 150 Lagos's (population 18,000) inside Lisbon (population 2.8 million)! We wished we had more than just a day, but we definitely tried our best to squeeze it all in. Let's see, we toured:

The Castle of Saint Jorge,

The Lisbon Cathedral,

The Largo das Portas ao Sol,

The Arch at the Commerce Square,

and, Will's favorite, The Jeronimos Monastery in Belem.

In between jetting from Alfama to Belem and all around town to see these (and numerous other) cultural sights, we spent time wandering around the winding, cobblestone-covered streets of Lisbon, where you'd look up to see sunflowers covering balconies and elderly couples staring down at you, whilst soaking up the sun. It was lovely. We even had time for some shopping, some pastry-eating, and a nice long lunch in Belem, on the water, overlooking the Monument to the Discoveries. The perfect day.

We spent our last day in Portugal hanging out at the beach, laughing with our new friends that we'd met along our journey, and helping our host, Selmo, celebrate the opening of his restaurant, NahNahBah that evening. Me and Yas even spun some tunes.

Thus, we had a fabulous time on our holiday, from the cultural experience in Morocco to the relaxing beach time in Portugal. We saw some amazing things, had a ton of fun with our friends, and made memories that will force us to smile (and even snort-laugh) when we think of them that night when we're stuck in the office at 3am writing a legal brief. Now that is some holiday.