Tuesday, May 15, 2007
10 days in
I so could use a decent bed at this point. The one in our room makes a nice parabola when one lies on it. I don't think mattresses should do that.
I think my feet has memory, for the feeling of soreness returns day after day. Granted, 5-8 hours of walking is plenty, but somehow I feel as though I would be adapted to it by now.
I would start recalling every detail from the beginning of our trip, but I honestly think I'll be too tired to finish.
So highlights:
1. The National Gallery in London, England. I love this gallery and its priceless collections.
2. Being hosted by Dalia and Daniel on our tour of Oxford and the English countryside. It's so nice to finally be greeted by friends and be taken care of instead of figuring everything out from scratch.
3. Wonderful weather. During our 4.5 day stay in London, we were never rained on.
4. Amazing birthday celebration in Rome. We toured the coloseum, roman forums, had gelati, finished off with a gormet pizza dinner with wine.
5. Sistine Chapel.
I think my feet has memory, for the feeling of soreness returns day after day. Granted, 5-8 hours of walking is plenty, but somehow I feel as though I would be adapted to it by now.
I would start recalling every detail from the beginning of our trip, but I honestly think I'll be too tired to finish.
So highlights:
1. The National Gallery in London, England. I love this gallery and its priceless collections.
2. Being hosted by Dalia and Daniel on our tour of Oxford and the English countryside. It's so nice to finally be greeted by friends and be taken care of instead of figuring everything out from scratch.
3. Wonderful weather. During our 4.5 day stay in London, we were never rained on.
4. Amazing birthday celebration in Rome. We toured the coloseum, roman forums, had gelati, finished off with a gormet pizza dinner with wine.
5. Sistine Chapel.
6. Rome in general. We had a wonderful time exploring the city on foot.
7. Cheap cheap booze! A bottle of wine costs 2.00 EU, and a 750 ml beer cost 0.85EU from the supermarket.
The bad:
1. Hosteling it all the way. The beds and sometimes bunk mates can be improved.
2. Getting lost. And getting pissed off at eachother because of it.
3. Sore feet and back
4. Miscalculation leading to missed flight. That's right! We spent a night in an airport to catch a 6am flight the next day. What a nigtmare. Needless to say, I was exhausted on the plane. In fact, I was so tired I passed out from take off until landing on non-reclinable seats. Ryanair sure knows now to cheap it.
Now here's what's funny: I was going to upload some pictures, but then I accidentally kicked the computer, made it restart, then realized that I could not sign in as the adminstrater, and lost access to the photos I uploaded to the hard drive. But anyways, this is my blog entry...minus the nice visuals. Sorry.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Oxford
Damn this place is so nice!
Oxford University is composed of 36 separate colleges, most of which are pretty much self sustained on alumni support. The campus itself is gorgeous, complete with a fine collection of over 50 pubs.
Things I learned today:
1. Undergrad at Oxford consist of three, eight week terms. The rest of the year is not spent in school. Now, given the condensed semester timeline, the workload also triples/quadruples in proportion.
2. The undergrad tutor ratio is 1:1. Wow. And no, we are not talking about a private tutor hired off campus...every undergrad student is assigned one.
3. Students dress up in suit, gown, and cap to their exams (equivalent of midterms and finals). For the first exam, the student wears a white carnation, second exam, pink, last exam, red. It is also bad luck to purchase your own exam carnation, so someone must buy it for you. It is not uncustome to have complete strangers give you wholehearted good luck wishes if a red carnation is spotted.
4. After the final exam is completed, it is custome to be greeted by friends with balloons, champaign, confettee, eggs, hairspray, (you name it) at the door. After being plastered with all of the above, everyone then heads to the pub to celebrate further. Of course, the gown and suit would be ruined by this point...but it's well worth it. Besides, if one is rich enough to attend Oxford, who cares about a suit?
5. Only professors are allowed to walk on the lawn of the Falculty Trad. It is a huge prestigous previlege. Those who are not faculty would be punished for doing so!
6. The highest possible achievable mark is about 74%. That's First Honours! Oh, and one's grades are posted on building walls, available for all to see!
7. A formal ball ticket costs 200 GBP, that's a just under $500.00 Canadian. (There were three balls happening at the same night when I visited). It is interesting to see people in suits, bowties, and dresses line up for fries with cheese and the like at fast food charts, which are readily available on every block.
8. Rowing is the competitive sport (against Cambridge, obviously) . Apparently a Canadian Olympic gold medalist was accepted into grad studies and subsequently became the captain of the rowing team.
9. The academic campus bit of Oxford is called "The Gown", the rest is "The Town". Those from the The Gown sure party hard on The Town.
10. Oxford makes BMWs.
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Oxford University is composed of 36 separate colleges, most of which are pretty much self sustained on alumni support. The campus itself is gorgeous, complete with a fine collection of over 50 pubs.
Things I learned today:
1. Undergrad at Oxford consist of three, eight week terms. The rest of the year is not spent in school. Now, given the condensed semester timeline, the workload also triples/quadruples in proportion.
2. The undergrad tutor ratio is 1:1. Wow. And no, we are not talking about a private tutor hired off campus...every undergrad student is assigned one.
3. Students dress up in suit, gown, and cap to their exams (equivalent of midterms and finals). For the first exam, the student wears a white carnation, second exam, pink, last exam, red. It is also bad luck to purchase your own exam carnation, so someone must buy it for you. It is not uncustome to have complete strangers give you wholehearted good luck wishes if a red carnation is spotted.
4. After the final exam is completed, it is custome to be greeted by friends with balloons, champaign, confettee, eggs, hairspray, (you name it) at the door. After being plastered with all of the above, everyone then heads to the pub to celebrate further. Of course, the gown and suit would be ruined by this point...but it's well worth it. Besides, if one is rich enough to attend Oxford, who cares about a suit?
5. Only professors are allowed to walk on the lawn of the Falculty Trad. It is a huge prestigous previlege. Those who are not faculty would be punished for doing so!
6. The highest possible achievable mark is about 74%. That's First Honours! Oh, and one's grades are posted on building walls, available for all to see!
7. A formal ball ticket costs 200 GBP, that's a just under $500.00 Canadian. (There were three balls happening at the same night when I visited). It is interesting to see people in suits, bowties, and dresses line up for fries with cheese and the like at fast food charts, which are readily available on every block.
8. Rowing is the competitive sport (against Cambridge, obviously) . Apparently a Canadian Olympic gold medalist was accepted into grad studies and subsequently became the captain of the rowing team.
9. The academic campus bit of Oxford is called "The Gown", the rest is "The Town". Those from the The Gown sure party hard on The Town.
10. Oxford makes BMWs.
