The Windsor Castle Plot…

After much driving around in circles, the Covert family finally found there way to me in Oxford and my dearest Lizzi and I were at last reunited again! If you’d told us 5 years ago that our reunion post-highschool and college would occur in England, we probably wouldn’t have believed you! But given our teenage dreams of traveling Europe and reliving Jane Austen novels in their country of origin, it seemed as if fate had brought us together again with perfect timing! :)

As soon as they were settled in Oxford, we took off to tour the lovely Windsor, on what turned out to be the first in a string of uncharacteristically gorgeous summer days!… We got lost quite a bit on the way, ended up not being able to tour the Palace, and thus a plan was hatched…

Our plot began as a simple tactical maneuver to gain castle entrance over one of the many, and lofty, stone walls… Which we imagined were certainly guarded by a plethora of little red suited soldier in funny hats. So it was determined that Kaitlyn, as she was both the smallest (for hiding in dark crevices of castle walls, of course) and fastest (plus she has mad tae-kwon-do moves), must be the one to do the deed. We spent the afternoon walking the lovely town of Windsor, drinking milkshakes, and examining the walls for visible weaknesses in their defense.

And by the end of the day our scheme had become an elaborate plot in which Kaitlyn would infiltrate and marry Harry, single-handedly assume the thrown, and then instate Lizzi as the Archbishop of Canterbury (Primate of the Church of England) and lead me to a land-slide political victory as Prime Minister. Lizzi and I would lead England benevolently, whilst Kaitlyn remained a figure-head, kept content by the multiplicity of palaces and crowned jewels. :) I’m still convinced it wasn’t an entirely bad notion…. Haha

Lizzi: In what would become her usual “video-camera at the ready” form. :)

 In front of Windsor Palace! First picture of us together in five years!

 The Covert Family!

   

And much other shenanigans walking around Windsor…

With Love from Windsor… <3 Mary Elizabeth

A Day in Academia…

Just the simple, random joys of life as a nerd… :)

 Medical Anthropology Lunch Study Group… With very little studying and much soaking up the sun! :)

Working from home…

 And awesome cookbooks (courtesy of Josh’s kitchen)… :)

And I feel I should totally have a picture for all the Peanut M and M’s and sour gummies that have become Anna’s new coping mechanism… But alas…

With Love from Oxford… –Mary Elizabeth <3

BBQ’s and Other Postgraduate Shenanigans…

Trinity Term has been a whirlwind of massive amounts of library-time (Who would have thought it was possible for Anna and I to increase the amount of time spent in the stacks? Yet we did.), inter-mingled with as many social outings as we can stay awake for… Haha :) Anna and Steve made a very smart investment in a 6 quid grill from Tesco, which has been a favorite with us all while the weather’s been gorgeous this May!

And in breaking news, I have very nearly been named an honorary “Orientalist” by virtue of the fact that I have almost completely learned my way around the OI Library (thanks to Saturday-library dates with Anna), mastered the secret handshake, and am the only non-Arabic Studies post-grad to grace the group with my presence… Haha :) Needless to say this means that I am in a constant state of awe at Anna’s Syriac and Arabic work, and that I rarely have a clue what in the world the Byzantinists are talking about in the pub… But I apparently have some other charms, because they still keep me around… :)

Typical “Anna and Mary Beth in the Kitchen” photo…

Josh, Anna, Steve, and I made a night of the “Dylan Moran Comedy Show” in Oxford… Which was definitely a night of laughs. Whether that was a product of the company or Dylan Moran himself is slightly debatable… :)

I don’t know what was up with the pepper shaker…

And we managed to squeeze in a Thai Dinner Night to celebrate (or mourn) Steve’s last weekend in Oxford before heading back to Montana… Along with drinks at Freud’s and other various Jericho pubs… :)

Apparently the napkins were a source of great entertainment… Proof that even Oxford post-grads are still just big kids…

 

  The Ladies… Except minus the kool-aid colored beverages this time… Haha :)

With Love from Oxford… –Mary Elizabeth <3

Celebrating May Day in Oxford!

I returned to England just in time to experience May Day… In Oxford, the May Day celebrations begin on the eve of May 1st with an all-night party. Needless to say, that was way past my bed-time so I simply cheered on my friends with considerably more stamina than I from the comfort of my bed… But Anna and I did manage to drag ourselves out at 5am the next morning to join the crowds (half of which were drunk while the others were half asleep still)… There was an amazing assortment of outfits… From traditional Celtic and British May-Day outfits to tuxes (for your more classy Oxford partiers) to pjs to the classic skimpy, up-all-night, club attire… Anna and I even had the joy of watching one pathetic guy “chunder” (another wonderful British term I’ve adopted) all over the street in front of us. Needless to say, this made the tightly packed crowd directly around him scatter as much as room would allow, leaving a nice wide hole. For the rest of the morning Anna and I (along with the slightly drunken, yet hilariously sarcastic, preps behind us) enjoyed a new game, “Which tourist will unknowingly trod directly through last night’s dinner”… It was absolutely disgusting, yet oddly memorable.

But the comedy of it all was forgotten as soon as the choir began singing atop Magdalen Bell Tower at 6am. It was absolutely surreal, especially with the sun rising in the distance. The singing and prayers for a prosperous summer continued for about a half hour, before the street party began again. The crowds simply shifted from High St to Broad St and the festivities continued on into the day! Complete with crazy bands, funky costumes, and of course more pub drinking (and yes, the pubs were filling up again before we even made it out of town)… :)

Sunrise over Magdalen College Bell Tower on May-Day <3

Several thousand tourists, students, and towns-people crowded onto High Street at 6am to hear the choir sing atop the Magdalen College Bell Tower… It was fairly impressive!

I particularly loved the classic May-Day hats and outfits celebrating the beginning of summer! :)

Sun rising over Oxford <3

As soon as the choir finished the crowds moved to Broad Street to keep the all-night (and all-day) party going! Talk about stamina at 6am! :)  

Needless to say, Anna and I returned to the comfort of our beds relatively quickly… And our May Day was spent tucked away in a quiet hole of the library, rather than enjoying in the British debauchery that I’m sure ensued in our absence. But it was an absolutely gorgeous day, and we managed to soak up some of the sunlight later that afternoon before joining the boys for a dinner of bangers n’ mash and a classic night at the pub… All in all, I was quite pleased with my first (and perhaps last) May Day experience!

The Big Bang (our favorite bangers n’ mash restaurant) has the most amazing menus… Only in Oxford… Haha :)

Anna thought her book was more appropriate for me… :)

And who knows what Josh was thinking…

And then Steve beat Josh in pool…

And then we retired to the “Baby and Bird” for pints… :)

With Love from Oxford… ~Mary Elizabeth <3

Spring has Sprung in England! <3

I have returned to England for the final term of my MSc… Only 8 more weeks and I will wave good-bye to an amazing year in Oxford!

And upon returning on April 30th, Oxford greeted me with the most beautiful weather I have seen since moving here… Gorgeous blue skies, perfect temperature, blooming flowers, and bright greens everywhere… It was a gorgeous city under the worst of winters, but now it’s truly impossible to tolerate being inside for more than a few hours of daylight… A condition which is bound to effect my strict Trinity Term exam study schedule sooner rather than later.

So Anna and I soaked up the last weekend of freedom before our ritualized return to the library… We frolicked in the fields, explored every inch of the University parks, and blew dandelions all afternoon… For two Virginia gals, it was practically like being back home in the country… :)

Our wonderful home on Bradmore Road! :)

  Roses on Pusey Chapel in St Cross College…

Oxford Countryside…

Where there were lots of dandelions…

 

And a little rolling around in wildflowers…

 

With Love from Oxford… ~Mary Elizabeth <3

Spring Break 2011 in Garmisch, Germany!

 

A truly inspirational week spent with the Stuttgart Highschool Youth Group in Garmisch, Germany! Excusez-moi!

Ireland: Exploring Dublin and Robert’s Opera (Day 5)

Robert arrived in Dublin late Friday night, but was stuck in rehearsals for the opera most of Saturday… So Carolyn, mom, and I spent the day exploring Dublin! And I was SO excited that an old friend from undergrad, Allison, was able to come down from Belfast (where she’s in grad school at Queens University) to visit! :)

Allison and I spent the entire day literally wondering EVERY inch of Dublin… And it was wonderful, especially since the girl is an incredible Irish-history whiz! Yay for super smart friends! Haha It was almost like having a personal tour-guide… We started in the Medieval District, wondered towards Trinity College and the House of Lords… Stopped for lunch near Grafton Street… I finally found a claddagh ring that I absolutely loved (I’ve been waiting years to get one until I could buy it myself in Ireland!)… We wondered through St Stephen’s Green (which may actually be my favorite place in Dublin) and through several museums… Eventually got kicked out of the National Museum of Ireland at closing… Found coffee in a random neighborhood… And then got rained on to end the day, or course! Haha Luckily enough, after almost a year of both Allison and I studying in the UK, a little rain is pretty much par for the course… ;)

Saturday night was Robert’s opera performance at the Grand Canal Theatre! He sang as the Tenor in the Verdi Requiem, in a concert honoring the 300th anniversary of Trinity College in Dublin. And he was WONDERFUL! Afterwards, Carolyn headed back to the hotel (which was conveniently just across from the opera house) and mom, Robert, and I headed out for drinks with a group of Roberts old Dublin/opera friends… It was a great night! And a good chance to celebrate our incredibly talented, crazy cousin… :)

  By Sunday morning, we were exhausted (both from the week of intense traveling, but also from mom and my late night out celebrating with Robert)… We looked like the living dead by the time we boarded the plane Sunday afternoon to come home to Germany… But it was a good kind of exhausted. It was an amazingly wonderful trip to the “Land of Saints and Scholars!”

With Love from Germany… ~Mary Elizabeth <3