I'm still here!

HI! First of all, I'm not dead (as you might have assumed). After having some extreme issues with a temperamental laptop and a UK plug converter, I am FINALLY able to blog! I arrived in London 2 days ago after spending three absolutely wonderful days in Oxford - so let's start with that.

Day One
After a 9 hour, nonstop flight (never again) from San Francisco we arrived in Oxford at about 8:30 am. The entire city of Oxford is absolutely beautiful. Every where you look, there is a castle or a church, each one more breathtaking than the next. We spent the first day mostly wandering around the streets of the city center, which is fortunately very easy to navigate. I ended up taking a lot of pictures just of the streets of Oxford because I couldn't believe how beautiful it was that modern shops and restaurants could coexist with the city's ancient castles and cathedrals.

Radcliffe Square

Day Two

After waking up at four am (thank you, jet lag) and watching a bit too much of BBC's morning television, my brother and I headed over to Christ Church: one Oxford's biggest colleges... and also where they filmed the Harry Potter movies. I decided against wearing my Ravenclaw robes and tie for the sake of not embarrassing my little brother, but that didn't stop me for pointing and gasping like a five year old girl at every sight that looked vaguely familiar. Fan-girling aside, Christ Church has to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. It's amazing to think a place with so much incredible history is still used primarily as a place of learning. Granted, it's no ordinary college - students are required to take their exams in legitimate dress robes. However, that's as close as it got to feeling like Hogwarts.

Well, except that Ravenclaw's table already seemed to be set at the Great Hall...

 

 After Christ Church, we went to the Botanic Gardens. Which were beautiful, but not interesting enough to blog about. However, I'm uploading those pictures on Flickr if would like to see them: http://www.flickr.com/photos/54679313@N07/ 

Day Three

Bodleian Library courtyard

Our last day in Oxford and our third day in England provided the absolute worst day for jet lag. Leaving our hotel at 8 am, meant my brother and I arrived at the Natural History Museum an hour before it opened. To kill time we wandered around the Bodleian Library. Unfortunately you couldn't go in the actual library, so we mostly just walked around the courtyard, which was still pretty neat. 

But no where near as "neat" (I need to stop using that word) as the Natural History and Pitt River museum. Side note: The wonderful thing about Oxford is that almost all of the museums are admission free! (side note over) Set underground in a dark cellar, The Pitt River museum has artifacts from dozens of ancient cultures from all over the world. But unlike most museums, they group the artifacts by their use as opposed to the region they're from, allowing you to observe the evolution of mankind as inventors. What I found the most interesting is the placing of the equipment African tribes use to stretch women's earlobes next to the equipment you would see in just about every piercing shop. You find yourself thinking, "Oh god, how could people do such mutilating things to their bodies." and then "Oh wait, what we do is not much different." And of course before leaving Oxford, my brother and I stopped by moo-moo's in the Covered Market and oh my god I am so glad we did. I had quite literally one of the best milkshakes I've ever had.

Yeah, those are ALL of the flavors

London has been wonderful so far, and hopefully I'll be able to blog about it more consistently now that my computer is working!