Monday, September 10, 2007

Kiddlington

So, life here in Oxford is very lovely. My flatmate ended up being Julie, incredibly randomly, and we have a private kitchen and bathroom and a housekeeper who comes every morning to clean. Yes, I am living a pretty spoiled life over here. Today she brought us clean sheets and towels.

My classes are fairly interesting, some more so than others. I'm taking Ethics, Fundamentals of Drawing (both of these are basic requirements for USD, required for graduation), History of Europe from 1945-present, Kings, Queens, Parliaments which is British History from Tudor England to the end of the Reformation, and Irish History. My largest class is my ethics class with 12 students, my smallest class is my Irish History class where I am the only student.

Yesterday Julie and I decided to explore Kidlington. We walked down to a very old church (St. Mary the Virgin, it was built in 1220) and then down a footpath along fields. On the one side we had fields of wheat, on the other side fields of these tall purple flowers. So pretty! I felt like Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. Minus the bonnet and elevated language.

For dinner Julie, myself, and a friend popped over to the Six Bells, the pub across the street. I had a toasted sandwich, cheesey chips, and tap water (I'm trying to save money and pints are 3 pounds which is $6 with the current exchange rate) and we watched the end of the Scotland v Portugal rugby game and the first half of the Ireland v Namibia rugby game. Fun fact, it is currently the rugby world cup. England demolished USA on Sat. We kind of are terrible at rugby.

So, things are just lovely in Kidlington. My housekeeper told me that Richard Brunson (millionaire from the Virgin Air, Virgin Rail, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Records, Virgin EVERYTHING) lives down the street. She says his property has its own lake. So that is the next place that Julie and I are going to set off to explore.




hopefully this map helps illustrate where I live in relation to the city of Oxford.
It's only about 15 min by bus.


this is my manor!
Fun fact: the ancient privy in my manor is the first indoor flushing toilet in all of the UK!

the street on which I live. My manor is on the right side, just beyond the bushes.
On the left you can barely make out a red sign. This is for the Six Bells, my local pub.

The footpath we found by the church. So, naturally, we followed it.

The gorgeous purple flowers. Does anyone know what they are?

Photo Opp with the flowers.

and again

St Mary the Virgin

St Mary the Virgin again. There's the wheat on the one side and a different sort of flower on the other. The purple flowers are further to the left, beyond the end of the picture.

and then at the end of our footpath adventure we found a pond with lillypads.

of course.

1 comment:

Megan said...

"My housekeeper told me...."
LOL LOL LOL
ps all the HK kids are real real into the rugby world cup as well, I understand. is the class where you are the only one awkward?