Now that I've been home for over a week and have conquered my jet lag, I think it's time to revisit some London adventures that haven't made an appearance on the blog yet!
The first weekend in May a bunch of us ladies from my program hopped on a bus and headed a bit north to Blenheim Palace, and then Oxford for a day trip.
I must say, I felt a bit bad for our male tour guide being stuck with all of us girls for an entire day, but he was friendly and didn't seemed to mind. I don't know how he didn't go bonkers! (I sure as hell would've)For those who don't know, Blenheim Palace was built in the early 1700s and is best known for being the home of the Churchills for centuries, and most notably as the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.
The actual self-guided tour inside of the palace was short, but it was the outdoors that took my breath away. The weather itself was gorgeous so a few friends and I spent most of the time touring the outdoors. I could have spent hours, days even, just touring the grounds. It was that mesmerizing. It was like stepping back in time into a Jane Austen novel. I felt a bit like Elizabeth, but sans her Mr. Darcy (the latter being *such* a bummer, sigh).
Yes, I know her novels were written a century later, but just go with it! She is my favorite author ever, and Pride and Prejudice happens to be my favorite book of all time. So, y'all can deal.
It wouldn't be a proper trip without some tea and each of us got our own little pot of something different. One of my friends decided to be daring and tried Lapsang souchong tea. It was tasty, but weird. A smoky, black tea that tasted like I was drinking smoked meat. Weird. I think I'll stick to my normal breakfast tea/ green teas.
Part II of our trip was a tour around the famous University of Oxford. If I learned anything about Oxford it was that I probably would've completely burned out before I left sixth form and reached uni level! Man, are they under some intense levels of stress. Although even if I could, I don't know if I could deal with the "academic dress" standards and looking put together all of the time. And by that, I mean even more so than I felt going to a uni in central London/ just off of Oxford Street. Because sometimes you just want to roll out of bed and go to class in sweats because you can and not give a damn.
Of course, the best part of seeing Oxford was seeing where they filmed some parts of Harry Potter over at Christ Church. Like the steps where Professor McGonagall told Harry and the rest of first-years about the sorting ceremony and then, of course, the Great Hall! I felt the strong urge to be a complete dork and rush home to watch the films over again... If only I was being sorted myself. (Then again, I already know I'm a Gryffindor)
Alas, that is not what I did when we arrived back in London as a few of us decided to head to a pub and hang out for the night. At some point, I'd mentioned wanting a new piercing and next thing I know, we were on the hunt for a place for us to get piercings. A nice memento for my semester abroad! I settled for a helix that's about in the middle of the ear, directly across from my tragus piercing. Of course, only 2 of the 3 of us got piercings that night... (Not that this last line is directed at anyone ;) ) Just a little nudging.
Until next time
xx
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