Cheers and Cheerio: Oxford!

We had the best time in Oxford. Seriously. It's amazing, and I can't wait to share every single bit of it with you! Where to start, where to start... First, it took us about 2.5 hours of driving to get there (all in all, not bad) and we stayed in Abingdon, a town about a 15 minute drive south of Oxford (see post on Abingdon). We took the bus into Oxford and met up with one of Adam's friends from Hillsdale College, Dave DeMarco, who (very impressively) was presenting a paper at a conference held at Oxford the previous week. With Dave (and his friend Miriam from Germany) we took an official walking tour of the University, and then proceeded to do our own walking tour-- which turned into a bit of a pub crawl.

Adam & Dave in front of Deer Park Gate inside Magdalin College (pronounced Maudlin)

ABOUT OXFORD UNIVERSITY
The University is comprised of many different colleges (as is Cambridge). When you apply to the University, you actually apply to an individual college. Every college teaches for every subject, they do not specialize, although applying students should be sure the college they are choosing has the preferred faculty associated with it. All classes are taught in the tutorial style, meaning they are one on one or one on three with the professor. Lectures are held for the entire university, but students are not required (just encouraged) to attend. We were told a student chooses a college by which is most appealing socially, or for which may have the best bar.

Each college has its own buildings and grounds, so each college looks different and the grounds vary in size. The grounds include dorm rooms, dining halls (think Harry Potter), tutorial rooms and (from I can tell) a pub. The buildings are centered around quads and the grounds may extend to include many acres of park/greenspace.

Trinitiy College. A wedding was taking place inside, so it was closed to visitors.

Inside Wadham College. Standing in the quad.

Our (French) Tour Guide in Wadham Chapel

In addition to seeing Wadham College, we were able to see Magdalin College (pronounced Maudlin) because we were with VIP Dave (who had been staying there during the conference).

Magdalin College Chapel

Stained Glass-- all greys and browns-- in Magdalin College Chapel

Magdalin College

Dave & Jaclyn at Magdalin College

Magdalin College has extensive grounds, including a Deer Park and access to the Thames.

Garden at the Deer Park Gate

My favorite shot of the day

Punting Boats on the Thames

The Deer Park Walking Lane

The Deer.

Oxford Univeristy Continued:

A bridge to connect an old (and un-toileted building) to a new addition

These are the heads of "nobody special."

The Medieval City Wall

All ceremonies take place here. The ceiling is painted as if you are looking into the sky (so we were told )

PUB CRAWL

We started our day at the Kings Arms. Although it claims itself to be famous, our tour guide assured us there was nothing famous about it. The food and drinks were good, however.

The sign to the allweyway that leads to the Turn Tavern. The alleyway was once known as Hells Avenue (to later be changed to St. Helena's) due to the characters that would travel it on their way to the tavern where fights of all sorts took place.