Oxford
After we'd exhausted London for four days, we hopped into a rental car, en route to Oxford, England. No one wanted to sit in the front seat because the shotgun's job was to yell, "KEEP LEFT" whenever my dad made a turn. That was quite the family bonding experience. Anyways, we made it to Oxford safe and met up with my mom's friend, who at the time was a visiting professor at Oxford University. She gave us a riveting, story-filled tour of the super cute college-town and of a few of the school's 38 colleges. Yes, the number stunned me as well; my school has 14, and I already thought that was a lot. Anyways, I don't think I fully captured Oxford on camera, so I also threw in some iPhone photos in this post, enjoy!
A Typical Oxford University Campus Road
The pastel colored houses and lack of cars made me super jealous of those who study here!
I have never seen a more beautiful cinnamon bun in my life, nor have I ever seen such a huge assortment of pastries on display. Step it up San Francisco, haha. I'll insert a few phone pictures to show you what I mean.
Balliol College Dining Hall
Most of the colleges are open to the public for tours with an admission fee. Luckily, we got in Balliol for free thanks to my mom's amazing friend! Something special about Oxford is that every college has its own church, library, and dining hall. Pictured above isn't the famous "Harry Potter Dining Hall" of Christ Church College, but I really liked the festive table setup here. Every student has a personalized placard that saves their spot. At my school, we either throw our phone and keys on the table or flip a chair. The moral of the story is to study hard, kids.
The Bodleian Library
Now this is what I came for: the gorgeous architecture at the Bodleian Library! This library was also on my must-see list because one of the rooms called 'Duke Humfrey's Library' is where the Harry Potter library scenes were filmed. (iPhone + VSCO)
Although the cloudy weather persisted throughout our time in England, Oxford University still looked like a dream. It certainly felt like one; I was walking the same streets C.S. Lewis (and Bill Clinton) once walked on, maybe even seeing the same sights he did. Though I'll never be able to fully understand his Christian apologetic writings on my own, I was able to see what a part of his life was like. Just thinking about all the people who studied here since its founding in 1096 made me feel so special to be at Oxford for even just a day. It was like opening a time capsule of KNOWLEDGE! Be sure to make the commute to Oxford if you're ever in England; it was definitely worth the scare of driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Next stop (was): Rome!
Cheers,
Jamie