The Birds Punt and Picnic :)

After spending the previous day in London, the gang headed up to wreak havoc upon Oxford! :) The day started off classically rainy, and ended with gorgeous blue skies, just in time for an amazing afternoon of punting and picnicking… But first... Carolyn insisted we find a Cornish Pasty… Haha :)

The insiders secret in Oxford is to get you meat pies from the butcher himself… So we headed over to the High Street indoor market after walking around the city for a few hours… And I’ve never seen the gang so happy! :)

Later that afternoon, we headed up to the boat docks to pick up St Cross’s punt, and headed down the Thames for a picnic in the University Parks… Mom and Sarah showed up right on time with all their favorite… Wine, cheese, and olives. Haha :) We had a wonderful afternoon relaxing on the banks of the Thames. everyone got a chance to try their hand at punting… A true Oxfordite talent! 

Perfect afternoon for picnicking!  

The girls were quite nervous to attempt punting, but they were both naturals in the end!

 And while the girls practiced their punting skills, we honed our expert skills at making wine and snackies disappear at an alarming rate… :)

We boarded the punt again, happy and full, and confident that we were safe in the hands of our natural-born punter, Drayton!

 

But such happy endings are altogether boring… And Drayton much prefers to keep things interesting… Which was exactly the resulting effect when we suddenly turned around to discover that we no longer had our pole to guide our punt!

 Carolyn’s “Uh-Oh” face.

 Yup… That’s right buddy. Paddle faster. Haha

Needless to say, we recovered our once lost pole and survived the trip… No one went swimming, which seems enough of a success in and of itself… And everyone had an altogether wonderful afternoon! :)

With Love from Oxford… <3 Mary Elizabeth

A “Wicked” Day in London!

The week after I completed my written examinations, the Bird gang headed to join me in England… Dragging along our old family friends, the Stokes’ and Schultz’s! It was family and friend reunion all rolled into one crazy, hilarious, and very loud trip to London! :D We met on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral, but by that point my dear family (whom had only been in London for 12 hours and in England for less than a day) had already accomplished what I hadn’t managed to do in an entire year of living there: They saw the Queen of England herself.

Apparently they were on their way to meet me, driving through London… And as usual, my poor mother (who has bravely faced mind-boggling traffic, international road rules, and police officers that speak everything from German to Polish, in no less than 10 different European countries in the last year) got lost and my family found themselves sitting at the stop light at the roundabout right in front of Buckingham Palace… First car at the intersection, they were ready to drive off when the light turned green… When out of nowhere a motorcycle cop pulls up to stop them from moving… And in a black unmarked car, with perfectly clear windows, sits the Queen of England in the back… And she drives right by them and into Buckingham Palace. I only wish I’d been there to witness the shock (and inevitable screaming and laughter) that ensued after that… :)

St Paul’s Cathedral… The Bird kids reunited in England! <3

Eventually they found me though… And after introducing the gang to the joys of a real sushi bar (which Drayton and Carolyn both loved) and the terrors of the London Tube, we headed towards London Bridge, Parliament, Big Ben, Winchester Cathedral, St James’ Park, and, of course, Buckingham Palace… But since everyone but me had already seen the Queen once that day, Buckingham seemed a bit anti-climatic this time around. :)

Parliament and the River Thames

Winchester Cathedral

In front of Buckingham Palace…

That evening we made Carolyn’s dreams come true, and headed to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London! And it was absolutely AMAZING!!! We were nearly struck speechless it was so wonderful… I think Carolyn had officially reached 7th heaven at finally being able to satiate her childhood obsession with “Wiz a’ Waz” (her name for Wizard of Oz when she was little)…

 

The Bird gang all super excited to see Wicked!!!

In Wicked with the Stokes and Schultz Families! :)  

It was another perfect day in the beautiful city of London!

With Love from London… <3 Mary Elizabeth

Trinity Feast at St Cross College! <3

Trinity Feast was my last formal college event at St Cross during my time at Oxford… And much like the previous two terms of feasts and halls, it was wonderful… Too many courses of fabulous food to count, way too much amazing wine (I think I counted at least 6 glasses on the table when we sat down!), absolutely hilarious debate and intelligent conversation, and one mid-meal fire-alarm (during which the Master was spotted leaving with champagne bottle in hand… If you’re gonna have to leave the table, might as well be prepared to continue the party out in the rain, right?! Haha) made for an entertaining and memorable evening… I will be truly sad to say goodbye to the quaint, down-to-earth college that has been my home this year!

Anna and I at Trinity Feast! <3

  

Anna looking all pensive and academic… :) Haha

With Love from Oxford… <3 Mary Elizabeth

Surviving Written Exams…

It’s hard to believe that in the midst of all the high-school and college friend-reunions, frolicking about the English country-side, and mastering my punting skills… I did actually manage to spend an exurbanite amount of time in the library doing exam revisions!

And let me tell you, having now completed my written exams I can’t tell if it was the most unique (albeit challenging) experience of my academic career, or just a bad dream. After sitting for my written examinations, in full sub fusc, in the gorgeous (but absolutely intimidating) Examination Schools, with a Proctor pacing over your head, writing by hand and in pen for three straight hours, I officially feel like I have earned my degree from Oxford. In fact given my experience, I think it’s entirely possible to summate the experience into several key points…

You can say you’re an Oxford-ite when…

• You actually understand which color carnation to wear on which day of exams.

 

• When your proctor (ie. the adorable little old British man at the front of the exam hall) falls asleep in the middle of your exam.

 

• When you have to ice your hand the night after/before yet another exam.

 

• When after completing an afternoon exam you head straight to dinner at Christ Church.

Dinner at Christ Church (with Benedict, Anna, Eric, Laura, and Andy) on the evening after my first examination and before my second! :) How about that for winding down… Haha

• When after a morning exam you head straight to the pub.

The Orientalists hit the pub post-exam! 

• When you have had to run from or dodge (in sub fusc) people with either squirt-guns, water-balloons, champagne bottles, or the occasional vat of whipped cream.

• When you have celebrated the completion of exams by literally spending an ENTIRE day pub-hopping around town with your programme and friends.

My lovely Orientalists on the other-side of their Arabic Examination! :) A very long day of pub shenanigans was to follow in celebration!

• When you have visited the party supply store for celebration confetti, leis, and other “trashing” accessories more than once.
• When you can officially say that you are a “finisher!”

With Love from Oxford… <3 Mary Elizabeth

A Punting We Will Go!

About a week after Lizzi and her family left England, my friend Allison from undergrad also came to stay and enjoy all the wonders of Oxford in the summer! Allison’s stay was much less travel, much more leisurely afternoons lazing around… Which given the post-exam (her) and pre-exam (me) stress that both of us were in the midst of (thanks to the never-ceasing wonders of graduate school) a little R&R was just what the doctor ordered!       

And in Oxford, a warm summer afternoon means punting and picnicking. And that’s exactly what we did, along with some of my Oxfordite friends, Jackie, Ryan, and Josh…

It was an afternoon of never-ending hilarity (rather typical for my Oxford gang)… In which it was determined by all that I was officially “Queen of the Punt”… A title that was earned not without some considered physical exertion, a rather panicked encounter with some rather large spiders under a bridge, and  a near soaking from halfway (legs only) falling in the River Thames. Haha :) Josh attempted several times to terrify the life out of Jackie and Allison, who maintained a tight death-grip on the punt at all times out of fear… And Ryan very nearly went swimming himself after several perfect circles in the middle of the river (never mind that the goal at the time was to move us in a straight line up-river… Haha!)

It was a wonderful afternoon… Which we followed with a picnic in the breath-taking gardens at Lady Margaret Hall College (ie. LMH or Josh’s home-sweet-home)…

With Love from Oxford… <3 Mary Elizabeth

Exploring Bath (Take Two)… :)

Any trip to England would not be complete without two of my very favorite places in the entire country: 1) the gorgeous city of Bath and 2) the pub. And thus we made sure that Lizzi and Kaitlyn experienced both whilst in this lovely country!  

First, the pub. A classic, if not atypical, hangout comprised of characters from all walks of life. Acceptable (and even expected sometimes) at all times of the day. Ages from 16 to 101 welcomed. Drinks, absolutely necessary. :) And enter the most important accessory of any British pub (I mean there are several, not the least of which are the townies, the scholars, and the drunken youths): The handsome, Bristish-accented bartender. And that’s exactly what Lizzi got for her first pub-experience… An adorable, very handsome, very British (well Welsh actually, but that’s a different story) bartender with all the personality to do the title justice! He introduced Lizzi to a rather potent Cider, and then later convinced her to drink a bit too much of it (as any good bartender would, of course).

The night was made overall complete when, after about 3 hours of the girls sitting around gabbing, we were accosted by a rather hilarious fellow-pub-goer… Who upon witnessing the good humored banter between us and the bar tender declared that we should and could not trust him , “For he is a WELSH!” The rant which followed can only be described as monumental, for it was my favorite pub-memory of my entire tenure at Oxford… She proceeded onto the most intelligent, impressive, yet drunken rant that I have ever heard… Citing the Welsh as inferior based on everything from their general disposition to lack of proper constitution/government. The rant covered everything from stereotypes and outright exaggeration to British history and constitutional law… And it was epic (and perhaps even somewhat accurate). Haha :)

All in all, Lizzi and Kaitlyn had the most amazing, and quintessential British pub experience ever. It was everything the night should have been.

And onto Bath we went the next day… This was my second journey to Bath, but I have to admit, I would go back a third time because it may very-well be my favorite city in all of England. I sent the Coverts off for a tour of the amazing Roman Baths, and then     afterwards we spent the afternoon exploring the city and all it’s marvelous highlights.

In front of the Pump Room, near the Roman Baths… The site of so many wonderful scenes in Jane Austen’s novels! :)

And, of course, this meant a trip (my second!) to the Jane Austen Centre! :) Outside the centre (just as he was last December) was the nicest man, complete with period-garb to match his perfect manners…  In our obvious excitement, we (like typical tourists) asked for a picture with him… And being a proper British gentleman, he readily complied. But upon learning that we were Americans his face lit up with clear excitement at the brilliance of his next suggestion. He looked at us and enthusiastically declared, “Lets take a Charlie’s Angels photo!” You could have knocked me over with a feather. We literally stood there in shock… All of us thinking, “Did he just suggest what I think he suggested?!” Which was quickly followed by the thought that “This is clearly the best day of my life.” So that’s exactly what we did. We took a Charlie’s Angel posed photograph with the gentleman from the Jane Austen centre. And we drew so much enjoyment and hilarity from the entire situation that I am certain I will always remember that man (top hat and all) as the best thing to ever happen to Bath, Jane Austen, or I. :)

In the Jane Austen Centre in Bath!

In front of one of Jane’s former homes in Bath!

Later Lizzi found a Disney store (typical) and I reverted back to my childhood love of Tigger!

The Covert Family in Bath! :)

With Love from Bath… <3 Mary Elizabeth

The Jane Austen Pilgrimage <3

So the day had finally come… The epic and long awaited pilgrimage to Jane Austen’s home! Lizzi and I spent most of our youth dreaming about just a few of her choice characters… Like, oh I don’t know… Mr. Darcy, Captain Wentworth, Colonel Brandon, Mr. Knightly, Edmund, Edward Ferrars, and Henry Tilney… <3 (ie. every single one of Jane’s time-less male protagonists!) We were so excited to be there that we literally seemed to revert to girlhood at the mere site of the house… Lots of giggling, pictures, and intense moments of quiet, attempting to savor every sensation (as if we might somehow will Jane herself to walk through the front door) ensued. So excited were we to finally be living out a journey that was dreamed up when we were 14 years old, that the little old ladies in the gift shop were actually in laughter at the site of us. They seemed thoroughly delighted that two young women had such stars in their eyes over their own favorite author… :)

And here is where the magic happened… The quaint home of Jane that facilitated her best years of writing… Nestled in the quiet, if not picturesque little village of Chawton. It was even more endearing to Jane than we’d imagined when we ‘d pictured her sitting by the window-bay scribbling our favorite literary characters into life. 

 

Once inside Lizzi and I savored everything,… Read every snippet of history, memorized every smell… Lizzi even rolled in Jane’s grass... Attempting to gleam some nugget of literary inspiration from her garden, where we were just certain Jane sat herself, dreaming up Mr. Darcy!

 

When I walked into Jane’s home the first thing I noticed was the piano-forte… And I was literally struck speechless when the very sweet lady monitoring the house, gestured towards it and asked if I would play something (I gather she assumed I played given the way I was drooling over the gorgeous instrument!)  And so I gingerly sat down, at which point a book of Clementi’s Sonatinas were found (as if Jane just knew that I also loved Clementi)… And I played. In Jane Austen’s home. Filling the room with the same tunes that (according to the lady there) Jane loved most. It was the very spot Jane herself used to sit every morning after breakfast and “avidly” play… And it was the most precious moment of my entire Jane Austen pilgrimage… <3

The close second in “surreal moments” of the day was in finding Jane’s writing desk, where she penned her stories every day like clockwork. All the novels we’ve so loved came to life on that desk, under her diligent hand. It looked right out the front window towards the meadows, just like Lizzi and I had always imagined… And as Lizzi described: “I was having trouble breathing… I just kept thinking: She. Was. Here.” :) Yes, that’s right. We are epic Jane Austen nerds. Haha

But apparently we aren’t the only ones… Because they make some of the most amazing, and hilarious Jane Austen memorabilia… And Lizzi now owns at least half of it. Haha ;) Case in point: 

After our visit to Chawton, we headed to Winchester Cathedral to pay our respects to Jane’s burial site. It’s shocking to think that she died at the young age of 41, in the prime of her writing career. It’s sad to imagine how many other beautiful works may have died with her…

    

We brought my much loved copy of Pride and Prejudice (evident from the fraying pages and cover) with us to meet its author… It isn’t my nicest or most expensive copy, but it was my first… My grandmother gave it to me when I was 11 years old, and told me that it was a classic that every young woman should read. And I did. Again, and again, and again. And every time I read one of Jane’s novels I learn something a little different about myself. Her stories, no matter how memorized they may be, still give me butterflies and speak to me in new ways… So thank you Jane!

With Love from Winchester and Chawton… <3 Mary Elizabeth