Recap!

TSo yesterday was a pretty eventful day here in Oxford.  We had a field trip to Winchester, which has a huge Cathedral, Jane Austen's grave, and Winchester College for school boys.  We left early in the morning to head off on an hour bus ride to Winchester Cathedral and I read my postmodern reading for my integrative seminar.  When we got to Winchester we immediately walked to the Cathedral to do a tour.  The Cathedral was beautiful, with many famous graves of old bishops, kings, and random Church attendees.
Here is a picture of Jane Austen's grave:

We had an eventful day of walking around and touring the Cathedral, college, and city.  The boys college was one of my favorites because it was so stereotypically posh. One thing to explain before I get into my story; colleges are primary schools for ages 13 to 18 and Universities are what we think of as "colleges". These boys were dressed very nice and walked around with their heads held high.  I even saw a little 13 year old boy who was dressed in black nice pants, an expensive navy blue pea coat, and slicked back blonde hair.  Needless to say, he was leading the pack of boys that followed behind him like submissive puppies.  I just had to shake my head and role my eyes because all I could think of was Draco Malfoy!
This is a picture of Winchester College:

After we were done with the field trip, we got to a late start on the bus back to Oxford, leaving me worried because I had reservations at 6 p.m. for dinner at Jamie Oliver's Italian Kitchen in Oxford for my birthday.  Many of us were going out to dinner then to the 8 p.m. early showing of the Hunger Games as an early birthday celebration because Esther, Anna and I are leaving for Scotland to celebrate my birthday this weekend.  When the bus got to the bust stop, I ran out and sprinted to the Vines, got my stuff, and sprinted to the restaurant.  We all got there fine and nine of us had a great dinner and the restaurant even sang Happy Birthday to me!

After dinner we went to the showing and I absolutely loved it!!! The movie was so amazing and I recommend it, with discretion because it does have kids killing each other.  The point is to show a dystopian society and then goes in to sequels that lead to further rebellions to get out of the dystopian society.  It turned out to be a very great day that was very enjoyable.

OH I never wrote a blog post on last weekends events so I will just leave you with this.  Last weekend I went to the St. Patties day Parade in London with Courtney, Esther, Jesse, and Kelsey.  It was somewhat of a sucky parade, but we had a lot of fun.
Here is a picture from that:

Well now I have to go to Integrative Seminar and then on my way to Scotland for the weekend!
Tata for now!
Katie

Spring Break Extravaganza!!!

Hey all, I just got back from my spring break adventure in Gothenburg, Stockholm, and Copenhagen with Victoria Chandler and Casey Smedberg!  We had so much fun backpacking through the different cities and staying at all of the different hostels.  We began our trip on Friday afternoon where we flew into Stockholm, Sweden from London Heathrow airport.  We got there in the late evening and took a bus to our first hostel where we stayed for 2 nights.  The hostel was very nice and we had a room with bunk beds and a television.

The first day at Gothenburg, we went on a ferry all around the Swedish islands.  We stopped on an Island named Vrango, which had a national reserve park that we walked around for several hours.  We had a blast climbing up rocks and trees that usually was led by Casey's craziness.  After our long walk through the park, we waited for the ferry to arrive and as we sat this random cat came up to the bench and started rubbing himself against our legs.  He then jumped up on the bench and on to all of our laps.  He was very cute, so I decided to name him Sven.

Here is a picture from our Vrango adventure:

The next day, we left pretty early for the train station to take a train from Gothenburg to Stockholm, Sweden.  The train was a very calming three and a half hour ride that I read the entire time (occasionally lifting my head up to look at the beautiful scenery).  In Stockholm we set up at another beautiful hostel and did a lot of outdoor sight seeing.  All of the museums in Stockholm were closed on Mondays (which of course was the day we were there!).  It was still very beautiful to see the castles and palaces around the area!

Here is a picture in Stockholm:

After Stockholm we took a plane to Copenhagen, Denmark for the last stretch of our Scandinavian adventure, and what a stretch it turned out to be!  It was dark outside when we first arrived because we got a late flight so we could do a bit more sight seeing in Stockholm.  When we got off the metro from the airport to our stop, we had to find our way in a strange city, at night, to a hostel we had never been to.  When we finally found the hostel, it was on top of a bar, and there were scary people in the front talking about beating the crap out of others who were not present.We were all sort of scared for our lives.  When we got into the safety of our hostel room, it was not very nice, which was unfortunate since the last two were extremely nice.

When we woke up the next morning we decided to walk to Nyhavin Street, which had many shops and was the place Hans Christian Anderson wrote his first fairy tale (for those of you who don't know, he wrote the little mermaid and there is a statue of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen).  A 17 minute walk turned into a 3 and a half hour getting lost around Copenhagen tour!  We got so flustered we gave up and just went to the coast of the water and saw the Little Mermaid statue.  We were so exhausted that we layer out on the rocks and took a two hour nap by the statue! Even though it was tiring and frustrating, we still had a fantastic time and got to see a lot of lovely buildings and shops around Oxford.  If we hadn't have gotten lost, I would have never come across my new horse names Johann Stavros.

This is his picture:

We also stumbled across a Disney Store where I found out that Mickey Mouse was originally supposed to be named Mortimer Mouse, but Walt Disney's wife told him that would be too scary and he should name him Mickey!  Fun fact of the day!

Ironically, after our adventure, we got on a bus to go to our last and final Hostel and passed the street we spent hours looking for . . . figures. lol.

Needless to say, we had a fantastic time and I am sad that it is over.  At the same time, I am ecstatic to be back in my own room and have fresh new clothes to wear.  Well I shall be off now because I have to wake up early and start British Landscape course in the morning.

Tata for now!

Katie

Saturday NIght Family Dinner

So this weekend many of the Viners are in Paris, France touring all the amazing sites.  Chris Schroeder, one who stayed this weekend, decided of those who are left, should have a family dinner.  Everyone got together and helped make one thing or another and we pushed all the tables together and had a wonderful dinner!  We ate pasta with chicken and an amazing mushroom sauce, thanks to Anthony.  We also had steamed veggies, sparkling grape juice, oven baked bread, and an amazing fruit tart thanks to Leah, Charlotte, and Conner and I helped decorate for the end result!

It was really nice for everyone to get together and then afterwards watch the Fantastic Mr. Fox.  It was a productive Saturday morning and a fun family filled Saturday evening!!  I will really mixx everyone when I leave to go home in April.

Oh yes and I cannot forget, the picture of my flattened peep that I promised everyone!
Here it is:

Well now that I have slept in passed 11 this morning and it is pouring rain outside, I need to eat some food and then get to work on my long essay proposal!
Tata for now!
Katie

My Easter Peep :)

I got a letter in the mail from my wonderful Grandfather the other day.  When I started opening it I was so excited because it was thick and I thought he made me another DVD with puppy pictures in it.  When I opened the envelope there was not a DVD, but a flattened peep and a little not on the inside of the envelope.  The note said:

"I thought you needed and easter peep so I flattened this and sent it to you."

I laughed so hard when I saw all the trouble my grandfather went through to flatten a peep and send it to me for easter.  It was a tad bit early, but very funny nonetheless.  The peep definitely made my day.
It was nice to have a laugh in the middle of my week because I was so stressed this week with my last double week.

I struggled a lot this week because I really needed to impress my secondary tutor for my last paper.  I also had to make up a day of work because I spent all day Saturday in London!  I am through the tough week though!!! I just finished with my last secondary tutorial and yesterday was my second to last primary tutorial.  Now I just have one last primary tutorial on Thursday and my proposal for my long essay is due Friday by 3pm.  Once those are done, I will be on a plane to Sweden where I will be spending the week with Victoria and Casey traveling around Gothenburg, Stockholm, and Copenhagen, Denmark.

I will post a picture of my wonderful flattened peep later, I am writing from the SCIO offices right now and the peep is in my bedroom, but do not fret the picture will be up so you can laugh as much as I did!
Well Tata for now!
Katie

Les Miserables!

So this weekend I went into London with Connor, Leah, Kelsey and Christina and met up with Christy, Bryce, and Phil to see they famous and wonderful play, Le Miserables.  Connor, Leah, Kelsey, Christina and I left early to go shopping and get lunch before we got to the Theatre in London.  We did not do any substantial shopping, but it was fun to go window shopping and have interesting conversations about all the different levels of hell meant for the people in our group! Apparently there is a special level in Hell for me for Karate kicking rabid foxes!

We had a ton of fun walking around and shopping.  After shopping, we went to the Golden Lion Pub and I had Fish and Chips (Now I can officially check that off my bucket list!).  The pub was right by the Theatre so when we finished eating, we went straight to the Box Office to pick up tickets.  Unfortunately, Bryce and Phil were late because there was a lot of traffic coming in to London.  Connor and Leah had purchased their tickets under Bryce, meaning they could not get their tickets without Bryce! They were stressing because we didn't want to miss any of Le Mis.  The guy at the Box office was so nice and gave Leah and Connor their tickets and let us go in so we didn't miss any of the play.

The play was soooooooooooooooo amazing!!!!!!!! All of the actors were talented and had beautiful singing voices.  I have to admit I was crying like a baby the entire play!  Here is a picture of Connor, Leah, Kelsey, Christina and I during our wonderful Les Mis adventure:

After the play was over, we started walking behind back to get to the street that led to our bus stop.  When we got around back the actors of the play started coming out of the back door so we were able to see the Les Mis actors!  It was cool to see them up close, and it was cute to see them signing the play books of these two old ladies that were ecstatic at the opportunity.

On our way back to the bus we stopped at the Wonderful Waffle and got  . . . well . . . waffles.  I had a waffle with Nutella, Bananas, and Cream (this is just whipped cream, but Brits just call it cream).  An interesting fact about England is the obsession the citizens have with nutella.  EVERYONE eats nutella here.  We actually have a group effort to collect all of the nutella jars in the Vines and stack them in the Kitchen. We want to see how many nutella jars were used during the Hillary Term at Oxford.  The English Nutella obsession has spread to the Americans in the Vines.

Needless to say (after that huge rant), Les Miserables = AMAZINGNESS, Nutella = AMAZINGNESS, and the people in the Vines = AMAZINGNESS!  I shall now go and read the articles I am procrastinating.
Tata for now,
Katie

"The English Tea Lingo"

So today was our weekly tea at the SCIO office and I was sitting listening to everyone's tea orders and decided that I had to tell my State side friends and family all about the different names that the different ways of getting tea are.  Sound confusing? Well that sentence was and would never be accepted in one of my papers, but I don't care, and here is the list of names:

1. Object of old desire: tea without anything in it.
2. Fair Lady: Sugar and no cream
3. Dracula's dream: Cream and no sugar
4. Fat Cow: 1 sugar and 1 cream
5. A Fat Desmond: 2 sugars and 2 creams

If you want to get tea, you have to mention one of these names to get it how you want it.  For those of you who are wondering, I always order a Fat Cow.  It is my new found favorite in the tea drinking world.  I also like Ear Grey or English Breakfast tea.

Well now that I have tea on the brain I think I may grab myself a cup and finish my paper that I have not started.  To be fair to myself, I wrote an amazingly awesome outline today that was 1,400 words.  So really. I just have to put that into essay form and add another 600 words in and around the essay!
Tata for now!
Katie

Stratford Upon Avon

So I apologize I have not posted in awhile, but I have been very busy, plus we have had several power outages at the Vines!  But, today I went to Stratford Upon Avon with three other friends from the Vines.  For you of those who don't know, Stratford Upon Avon is the birthplace and death place of William Shakespeare!  We were originally going to go to Stonehenge, but tickets were 70 pounds round trip, so we chose the 16 pounds round trip to Oxford.

Here are some of the pictures of Stratford:

 Here is me with a statue of William Shakespeare

 This is Macbeth and me seriously contemplating the weather . . .

 Here is a poster with Shakespeare's birthplace on it.

 This was a very cute shop that I bought awesome Shakespearean post cards in!

 This was Shakespeare's birthplace, it was 20 pounds to get in so I only saw the outside.

 We went to tea at the Benson's house of Tea and this was the menu; I got The Full-afternoon tea meal.

 This was my english breakfast tea that I had with my afternoon tea meal.

 This was part of my meal; I ate half before I realized I should take a picture of it.

 This is Shakespeare's grave, which cost 50p to get into.

And these were a bunch of swans gathering around the Avon wanting breadcrumbs.

After we got back from Stratford Upon Avon we biked back to the Vines and the power was out AGAIN!!!!!! So after we freaked out a bit, we ordered several pizzas and played the best game ever, body body! It was so much fun, especially in the dark!

Needless to say, we had a great time and even though the power went out it I had a blast today.  Well I need to get off because it is late and I will be reading all day tomorrow!
Tata for now!
Katie

Chocolate Nutella Mug Cake

Today I went to Wycliffe and stayed all day writing my secondary tutorial paper on the impact of the reformation on female piety.  It took me awhile to get started, but once I started I got into a great groove.  I got the paper written by 5:45pm.  I am so happy that I got that paper written because starting tomorrow I have to do my reading and write two papers due Thursday by 2pm.

As a reward for finishing my paper, I made this wonderful concoction that I found on my Pinterest account.  This wonderful concoction was the Chocolate Nutella Mug Cake.  All I had to do was combine cocoa powder, sugar, nutella, one egg, flour, and oil.  I put it into a coffee mug, stirred it, and microwaved it for two minutes.  This is what came out:

It kind of spilled over because the coffee mug was too small, but that did not take away from the wonderful chocolatey amazingness that I ate!  You all need to try this, it is very easy and only takes five minutes to make!

After eating my wonderful mug cake, several of the people at the Vines sat down and watched the movie 500 Days of Summer.  It was a really good movie and I was not expecting it to be.  I had a wonderful and productive day today.

Now it is time for bed so I can get up tomorrow, go to St. Ebbs for Church in the morning and then I am going to see the Vow with Courtney and Shannon.  We shall see how that movie is and it is my first movie since I was in the States!
Tata for now!
Katie

Tuesday Night Formal and SNOW!!!

Sorry I have not posted in several days, I have been very busy with school work and such.

Last Tuesday we had a formal at Wycliffe Hall that everyone dressed up very nice and we all had a wonderful dinner.  It was so much fun to be able to dress up nice and go out with everyone.  For dinner we had lamb, roasted carrots and green beans, and a wonderful mashed potato dish with gravy.  For dessert we had a sponge cake with a mandarin orange topping and a chocolate mousse.  Both were very wonderful, especially the chocolate mousse!

Here is a picture of the group I went to formal night with:

So all this week I have been trying to catch up because of being sick.  I have to write one extra paper this week and I have two papers due next week.  So last night I came back after being in the Bodleian all day and went on my computer to do yet again more reading.  Well low and behold the internet was down so I figured I would just go to bed early and wake up in the morning and do my reading.  Right as I am about to fall asleep, my wonderful roommate Esther pops in and exclaims, "IT'S SNOWING OUTSIDE!!!!!" THis was a shock; I had no idea it was suppose to snow.

So instead of going to sleep like I had planned, I went to the city centre with several friends and played in the snow.  I didn't get back until 12:30am.  My plans to wake up early were ruined, but it was so worth it!  The snow was fun and we got some really good pictures!

So this morning even though I planned to wake up at 9:00am and start working, I woke up at 11:00 am.  I then took a shower, got ready did laundry, and cooked chicken pot pie for my food group.  By the time I was done it was 2:30 in the afternoon and I had not gotten any work done.  On top of that, I got a migraine so I took a nap.  Again, meaning to only sleep for an hour, I woke up and it was 5 pm.  So I started baking the Chicken Pot Pies and although they were very tasty, I did not get any work done today.

These are my wonderful Chicken Pot Pies that I made!
Well I should get going, I am a day behind in work and need to get a paper written for tomorrow.
Tata for now!
Katie

The Starbucks Experience

So as everyone knows, I have been sick for the past week, but I went to the doctors and got antibiotics.  I am feeling much better now, but this is not what I have come on to talk about today.  So Thursday, I went to my usual afternoon tutorial for general History 16.  When I got there my Tutor looked at me and asked, "Are you sick?" I said, "Yes, I have been sick for a day or so now." He replied back to me, "No, No, No, this is no good, you need to go home."  I then replies, "No its fine I am already here I can just do the tutorial."  Well his reply pretty much just said, "You look horrible . . . I mean no offense, but you do.  You need to get to a Doctor, email me this weekend and we will just plan for your tutorial another day, OK? Ok good.  Good bye."

Well I just stared in shock and said my goodbyes and left.  Well I was determined that I was not going to make my trip into town a waste, so I decided to go to Starbucks and get a Chai Tea Latte.  Those are my favorite drinks when I am sick so I decided it was worth the expensive 3 pounds to get this amazing treat.  I biked to Starbucks and got my drink for "take away" (the British term for "to go").  I got my Chai Tea, set it down on the ground and started unlocking my bike to walk it with me back to the Vines.  The Starbucks is right before the infamous big "Headington Hill" that I cannot bike up to save my life.  But just as I clicked the last number on that dreaded safety lock of mine, my bike left my hands and fell over spilling all the wonderful Chai Tea goodness that I hadn't even had a sip of!  To make everything better I through up my hands and yelled, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME" hitting the nice old lady who had been walking innocently in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I apologized profusely, grabbed my bike, left the Chai Tea sidewalk mess and walked up that dreaded hill with the feeling of defeat.


So today after that awful Starbucks experience I decided to return head held high with My friend Emma Roemhildt to attempt that wonderful Chai drink of amazingness.  Emma went upstairs to save seats and I stood confidently in line and ordered one Grande Chai Tea Latte.  I went upstairs with the feeling of success in my heart and a cough in my chest.  I sat down next to Emma, grabbed my Chai, and took a sip, but nothing about that foamy imposter tasted like a Chai.  No, IT WAS A REGULAR, BITTER, COFFEE TASTING, LATTE!

I just sat down shook my head and said, "GOD DOES NOT WANT ME TO HAVE A CHAI TEA LATTE!" But did I give up? NO! I strutted downstairs and told that "so-called barista" that I ordered a Chai Tea Latte and this was a regular one! She apologized and made me a fresh hot wonderful Chai Tea Latte that I sit now and drink in wonderful success!

                And Here is my wonderful Chai success! Winning never tasted so spicy!

So there is my Starbucks Experience! I will never take advantage of my Chai Tea Latte again!
Well tata for now!
Katie ; )

First Snow in Oxford!!!

So today I stayed in doors because I have a wonderful sinus infection.  I relaxed all day, which was very nice and watched many movies.  While I was sitting downstairs in the common room with people, a couple of the Vines crew ran in saying it was snowing!!!

It is so beautiful and the first time I have seen snow this year.  I missed it in Illinois, Virginia, and England.  It snowed in all  those places while I was somewhere else. :(  Now I can say I have officially seen snow in 2012!

I have pictures of the snow, but unfortunately they are not very good because it is dark outside and I had to take them through a window.  I am NOT going outside in the snow when I am sick, my mother would kill me if I caught pneumonia in England.

Anyways here are the pictures:

Sorry about the poor quality. but it is better than my catching pneumonia outside!

Hope you enjoy them and hopefully be jealous of the snow!!

Tata for now!

Katie

Sickness + Writing Paper = Not fun . . .

So I woke up this morning after sleeping well over 10 hours and felt like I had just been hit by a mac truck.  My entire body was achey, my lungs hurt, I was coughing, sniffly, and just felt plane old yucky.  I am officially sick! This was just great seeing as I have to write a 2,500 word essay today, read a book, and write another 2,500 word essay tomorrow.  It was not fun, but I got prepared to head to the library with an army of tissues, cough drops, blistex and hand sanitizer.

So while I was getting ready to leave for the library, I went into my drawer to get my grocery bag full of cough drops.  I had them in a grocery bag because I bought them right before I left for England.  When I reached into the grocery bag I pulled out a pair of glasses and just started cracking up.  My roommate looked at me weird and I then had to explain the hilarity in these glasses.

So going back to before I left, I was at my Dad and Stepmom's house and my dad is (for the one millionth time) complaining because he cannot find his glasses.  I kept telling him, "Dad, they are probably in the car or in your bedroom." I just rolled my eyes  because (no offense Dad I LOVE YOU) my dad always loses his glasses! Well back to England, he somehow put the glasses in the grocery bag full of stuff I bought for England and forgot where he set them.  Now his glasses are safe and sound in Oxford, England with me! It was the highlight of my day :).

So back to getting ready . . . . I finished and got on m bike all bundled up and road to the Van Hemsworth Bodlean Library at the American Institute.  I know its a mouthful!  I got my desk all set up to go with my sickliness, books, and all!

This is my desk at the library, all ready to keep me comfortable.

This is me putting my game face on?  Halls wrapper told me to do it!

So now I have eaten lunch and about to have tea at the SCIO office, and then back to writing my Primary tutorial paper!  707 Words down, 1,793 words to go!

Tata for now!

-Katie

The Ashmoleon

Yesterday, after I woke up and read a bit, I went to the Ashmoleon Museum with Anna Harris.  Anna lives in Warrenton, Virginia, which was so ironic that I met her in Oxford, England when we live so close to each other!  Anyway, we went to the Ashmoleon Museum to look at art and artifacts from Ancient Greece up until modern day England.

It was wonderful to be able to look at all the history and the beauty of it all.  I took a ton of pictures and here are a few:

This is me with a smiling Egyptian, I thought he looked awesome! 

This is Anna with the smiling Egyptian! :)

I wanted to blend in with the artwork, pretty sure everyone thought I was just part of the sculpture!

This is an actual mummy that they MRI'd.

This was in the Indian section of the museum.

This was my favorite painting from the Baroque era collection, it is An Allegory of Innocence. 

This was in the contemporary section of painting.  It reminded me of something my Grandmother would paint.

This was another one of my favorite paintings.  The boy in the picture showed so much emotion, I love it!

I was too tired to post yesterday because I walked around the museum for about 3 hours, went to the store, came back from the store, forgot cheese for my enchiladas, went back to the store, got cheese, came back to the Vines, and finally cooked 20 cheesy chicken enchiladas for my food group.  The food group loved them and so did I! I recommend the recipe if you like cheese, chicken, and Mexican food!  I have the recipe so if anyone wants me, just message me on Facebook or look on my Pinterest.

So today I went to the Library and was pretty productive.  I read the Origins of the American Political Party and read a bit for my secondary tutorial. When I got back the sun was setting and it was absolutely beautiful so I had to take pictures of course!  So here it is:

Now I am off to make dinner and read a bit before I go to bed!

Tata for now!,

Katie

The two and a half mile journey!

Today was a beautiful day outside, a little cold, but sunny.  I decided to take advantage of this rare occasion and so I took pictures of the park and my entire journey from Oxford City Center to my Oxford home, The Vines.  My bike ride went from a 20 minute bike ride to about a 45 minute bike ride, but it was worth it.

Here are the pictures:

                        Here are wonderful Geese swimming in the Park I ride through.

                                      There are sometimes swans, but none today :(

                 

                       This is the bridge I go over and yes that is my wonderful bike!

                     This is the bike path to get to the road, which leads to Pullens Lane

        When the bike lane ends I turn right on Ferry Road and start hiking my way up.

  

You know that phrase, "It can only go up from here"? Well that is the case from this point on.

                     And look! SHOCK! AWE! SURPRISE! More uphill biking!
                             (This is the point that my breathing gets heavier)

And this is the final hill before I turn onto Pullens Lane and ride about 20 feet to The Vines.

I have seen people (Oxford citizens) bike up this hill and I have no idea how they do it.  I walk my bike up this hill and am dying by the time I get to flat land!  Well this is my journey that as you see in the title, is two and a half miles just to the city.  It is 3.3 miles to Wycliffe, which is my college and study area, and it is 3.8 to my tutorial.  It is easy to say that I get a lot of exercise here at jolly ole' Oxford!

Well I hope y'all enjoyed my little virtual tour of my everyday commute!
Tata for now,
Katie