Oxford and The Events

Our BC&S class had an early morning today. We took a field trip to Oxford, boarding the charter bus at 8:45 a.m. at Seething Wells. I slept almost all the way there, until we got to the lovely scenery that is Oxford. Our first stop was the trip around the area was the Sheldonian Theatre, where Oxford holds its graduation ceremonies. The mural on the ceiling represents the arts and sciences conquering envy, rapine, and ignorance. The architecture of the building, by Christopher Wren, was incredibly progressive as there are no columns holding up the ceiling. It was one of his first major works. After our visit to the lookout of the theatre, we began our tour. Our tour guide, Jaime, was very funny and passionate about Oxford. He started off by first pointing out a bicycle and reminding us that bicycles are silent and dangerous as we crossed the street, then explaining to us the difference between university and college at a collegiate university like Oxford. Oxford University is not a place you can be or not be, but the acquirement of knowledge. The many colleges at Oxford are more like our dorms in the U.S. They include all the necessities for living. Christ Church College is one of the most well known due to its use in the Harry Potter film series. It was not part of our guided tour, but after our lunch break where we visited Oxford's famous covered market and The Eagle and Child Pub–known to locals as "the bird and the baby"–we took a self-guided tour of Christ Church. It was beautiful. The Great Hall, used as the dining hall in the Sorcerer's Stone film, was incredible. It was hard to imagine eating there on a daily basis.

 The view from the Sheldonian Theatre lookout.

 Our tour guide, Jaime.

 The door to the dean of Brasenose College's house. The dean was a good friend to C.S. Lewis. The intricate door and the fawns guarding it are rumored to have inspired his stories of Narnia. If you look closely, you can see the lamp post down the street.

The University Church of St. Mary at Christ Church College. Many incredible people have spoken from that pulpit, including, according to Jaime, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu

 Lunch! 

The pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien met with their writing club, The Inklings.

Lots of locations around Christ Church College looked incredibly familiar from the Harry Potter films.

The portrait of Charles Dodgson in the Great Hall, better known as Lewis Carroll

The Alice Window in the Great Hall

It was hard to get a good picture in the Great Hall because the line is constantly moving.

After our tour of Christ Church, we headed back to Seething Wells. We had a bit of a stressful ride because our show for the evening was scheduled to start at 7:45 and we hit rush hour traffic. Lance convinced them to hold the show for a bit for us. We were still a little late but got to see most of The Events at The Young Vic. It was an interesting piece about a female priest of the Anglican church who'd survived an atrocity during the rehearsal of her church choir. Every night the performance has a different guest choir from the community. It made the piece very powerful to see members of the community in the roles of the show. Afterward, a group of us headed to Coronation in Surbiton for drinks and chips with Lance.