napping is key here

i have had two naps thus far and they've both treated me nicely. i've gotten lucky with my curtains. they're hideous but a dark color, most people have pale ones and can't block out excessive light, mine do.

view straight out the window over my desk...not too shabby :)

the past two days (tuesday and wednesday) have been great. i'm starting to this they'll all be great. its a tad chilly, which is actually for the best... since nothing is air conditioned here. the bars are really the only place it gets me. ordering water goes over really well with british bartenders. the first glass is fine... by the end of the night my sweaty self was only earning half full glasses with no ice. they were displeased... i could have paid for the h20 sorry i sweat. maybe if you air conditioned your bars i'd order a drink instead.

meg the mutt

tuesday was our first lecture & high table. we have a lecture before dinner. all fancy and such ;) our lecture tuesday was a charming man who has been at oxford since the 1800s according to him... we had a mini history lesson for the most part. when women were allowed etc etc. apparently when oxford started the townspeople would regularly murder students, glad thats no longer a tradition. oh and on another positive note-hitler was a huge supporter of oxford. after our fancy dinner, which was thank god not lamb this time i went to see my favorite oxford employee. colin. he is such a doll. he's our porter (door man) and he brings his dog meg to work. she has an official oxford university college bandana. there is also a tortoise named percy. he's not as fun to touch as meg for obvious reasons but he's rather adventurous and was a gift from SMU so he deserves mention...i guess.

saira, me, stacey, shannon, clara, before 

after dinner we all concluded since wednesday class was only going to be 45 minutes we would do the only logical thing... go out. so we went to a bar/club called camera. which was fun, but this was where i had to order water. the bars here are more like clubs, dancing is the more popular activity. adam, a new friend is possibly the most entertaining dancer i've ever seen. it must have something to do with his long hair and 6'5 frame. our group is fairly close knit so its always entertaining when some creepy older dancer would try and infiltrate our circle they were promptly edged out.

the main entrance to the palace

gardens

class came all too early as always, but today we only met for 45 minutes before going on our first field trip! as a child i always loved field trips because my mom always drove so i felt cool and popular. today however a mute drove our bus the approximate 20 minute journey away to blenheim palace! the duke lives here, currently. i may or may not have seen him strolling around in some sweats having a sammich on the lawn. casual.. but a bit stand off-ish because he won't allow photos to be taken in his house. outside is free game though. he has a lovely garden and massive palace. after our tour with a small man who had a lisp and a middle part of thinning hair we came home. and yes i did say our tour with a man who has a lisp. how on earth you get a job as a tour guide when you're not an eloquent speaker is a total mystery to me. he was also one of the most retiring men i've ever come across. our group of 70 (divided up for tours) is intimidating im sure but still... also he is unobservant. clearly we're a group of college aged americans yet some how this middle aged ASIAN man, yes they still haunt me but not to the levels of excess as before, was in our group. our private tour funded by our tuition had a leech... who was always in the front listening to things i couldn't hear. rude. get out of my space small tan man. i don't like you, not one bit. after the tour we headed home and i hit the books. we've covered the entire odyssey in 3 days time. yes an epic tale, that there are entire classes based on was covered since monday... i have a test in it tomorrow. not looking forward to it but hopefully it'll go well. my first paper was well received, a B/B+ with several comments was nice to discover today. my next one is due tuesday. several people are going to london this weekend, but i have way too much school work to afford two days off. we're all going as a class to london friday! we have a cruise too i'm very excited. more pics to come as always! but for now... goodnight

my birthday roses from papa in full bloom!