orientation, class, and an old friend

So, the formal dinner on Tuesday...it was great. Everyone dressed up, and we walked over to Corpus Christi college for before-dinner sherry. Sherry is...not for me. It has a weird aftertaste and I couldn't finish my little glass. But I'm glad I tried it.

The actual dinner was in the dining hall, but it was so fancy. Salad nicoise for first course, breast of duck for main, and some chocolately thing for dessert, followed by coffee and mints. There was wine served during the meal, as well as water from these super fancy Corpus Christi glass bottles. I wanted one, but they must have predicted, because they say "Please do not remove" on the back. Dinner was nice and I wish we could have formal hall, as they call it, all the time!

Afterwards, Cole, our junior Dean (basically an RA, he's a Stanford grad who is doing a Masters - MPhil - here at Oxford and lives in the House with us), showed us one of the nearby pubs. We sat and talked for a while and then headed home. When we went home, Alex and I watched Scream on VHS.


On Wednesday, I explored a lot by myself after orientation. I bought a gorgeous dress for 12 pounds from a store going out of business. I wasn't going to...but it was cheap and beautiful. It's dark gray and long sleeved, with a ruched bodice and a tie in the back. I will wear it for a long time to come, I'm sure.

That evening, we had a potluck for our House meeting. I made chicken in pasta sauce, easy but delicious and with ingredients I had already bought for cooking with. There were some delicious things there. Afterwards, Cole showed us how to get to The Turf, the pub where Clinton famously "smoked but did not inhale" while on his Rhodes. On the way there, we had to go a different route, because we stumbled upon the filming of the new movie, "X-Men First Class!" We're all excited and are attempting to stalk James MacAboy while he's around.


We had orientation at the Bodleian, the main Oxford library. The librarian was wearing a robe, and we had to recite an oath about not setting fires or stealing books. The cards are disappointing, though. I wanted them to be all fancy and official Oxford, but they have a mauve stripe and star...how weird. I swear they look like the IDs we used to get in high school. And they have the AWEFUL passport picture of me I had to take for the program.


I also started my first class - Soccer and English Society!! It meets twice a week for an hour and a half each time, and it for 5 units. Our homework includes going to at least three soccer games, one with our professor and one without, and two will be Premier League games. The tickets are subsidized, as is the transportation. I am SO excited.

I'm trying to decide if I'm going to take a class on UK/EU politics. It's probably something I should learn about...though I may take a class on Qur'anic Arabic through the Islamic Center, so I wouldn't do the politics class if I do that.

I meet with my tutor on Monday afternoon and will have a better idea of my essay topics. I'm SO excited and ready to finally get started!


Today I had lunch with an old high school friend today! She is studying at Oxford for the whole year. We walked to a Moroccan cafe (delicious!) and got cous cous and mint tea. It was so wonderful, both the food and catching up. I spoke in Arabic to pay my bill, and then helped Candace find the drug store and get a cellphone. I feel like I'm so experienced!

This evening, I went to dinner with a friend of mine on the programme. She is Baha'i and invited some of us to join her for dinner and discussion at a friend's house. It was nice, and I liked talking about religion with people who had very interesting things to say. I also liked hanging out with the friend's daughters (she's much older). I miss children!


Tomorrow we head to London for the day with the Programme, and I'm staying overnight to see some old family friends who have recently moved there.

Love!