I'm in Oxford - for 5 weeks, what are the best things to do?

[Immortal Wombat]

Originally posted by lightblue
Once again, I resent that!! Boaties != ruggerbuggers.

I think that's what he meant. Two separate ones. Both repellant

[RedFred]

How athletic are you?

If you have a week off after studies, the Cotswold way starts near Oxford and continues to Bath. I walked the ~100 mile long distance path in six days not going hard. You can easily stay at B&Bs the whole way.

It is a wonderful trail and I can highly recommend it.

[mactbone]

Well, I went punting and fell in - I'll tell the story later.

I'm on my way to London right now! We're going to take the Tube and be there in about 2 hours. I'll be meeting another group tomorrow at Abbey Road at 1:00 PM or 13 or whatever.

We've been to Blenheim Palace and there are some more things happening soon.

Over the weekend of the 17th I'm going to be in Munich and if anyone's around there it would be neat to here of a place to go or maybe meet.

So, if you see me (my pic is in the picture thread at the Community Forum) yell Chris!

BTW the class is on Tolkien - an ecological criticism of "The Epic"(the trilogy). We'll also be having some of the classes in the Eagle and Child.

[Provost Harrison]

Ah yes, punting I will have to come down their and train you MTB

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by MacTBone
We'll also be having some of the classes in the Eagle and Child.

Is that the name of a pub?

[Paul Hanson]

My first thought was that it was rhyming slang for something.

[FrustratedPoet]

Take your pick....

Rhymes for child:
1 syllable:
filed, mild, piled, riled, schild, smiled, styled, tiled, weild, wild, wilde, wylde

2 syllables:
beguiled, compiled, refiled, restyled, reviled

[Paul Hanson]

OK, maybe not then.

[Provost Harrison]

Ah yes, lots of academics go in there and drink overly warm beer

[Drogue]

Wasn't where Tolkien was supposed to have come up with the idea for LoTR?

[mactbone]

Yeah, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis met at The Eagle and Child and discussed their ideas for books (think about The Hobbit - remember an Eagle carrying a "child"? right, where that eagle saves Bilbo from the Wargs)

London was interesting but I felt like I was in Chicago or something. We met with some London guys who went to Purdue for a semester and they showed us around some.

Tomorrow night I'm going to The Zodiac for a hardcore show - Atreyu, Lamb of God and someother bands will be there. We've figured out that Oriel's pub is a good place to start - the guy who runs it is really great - and then we usually head over to The Purple Turtle. I went there on Wednesday and tried a shot of Absinth which was dissapointing from the stories (no hallucinations damn it).

I have school Monday through Thursday but I'd be willing to make a trip somewhere close to meet up.

Some observations - it is very weird to hear british accents, especially when there is a distinct difference between Midwest American and Urban Midwest American and I can't tell the difference between Oxford people and London people (I'm skirting the topic of saying, I hung out with some London black guys and they sounded the same as other London people whereas where I live black people sound very different from the rest of us and vice versa).

British advertisements are both more bold and more random than American ones, i.e. EasyJet with the Weapons of Mass Distraction ad or the BT ad with stick figures "Wibble, Wibble"

13 and 14 year old guys and girls dressed to go out? and we think our little people are influenced by Spears and pop culture... Seriously they looked like mini-versions of clubbers ready for a night out - the girls in especially slutty attire...

Buses are more prevalent (as opposed to the Midwest) but walking seems to be the transportation mode of choice.

W.C.s in the middle of the sidewalk?!? Weird...

Purdue is probably a bastion of conservatism but I see way more Communist meeting times and magazines here than at Purdue.

Anyways - from what I've seen (Bath, Stonehenge, London, and Oxford) Britain is pretty cool, but I think I'll stick with Chicago and Indy as my first choices for permanent occupation.

[Provost Harrison]

Say hello to those Oxford commies from me

[Provost Harrison]

BTW, I may be popping through Oxford on Sunday so if you are about...

[mactbone]

Sure - I'd be willing to meet somewhere.

I'm staying at Oriel College and know High Street and parts of Cornmarket and that's about it. I could probably find other places, but the odds of me getting lost raise exponentially.

[Jaguar]

Re: I'm in Oxford - for 5 weeks, what are the best things to do?

Originally posted by MacTBone
I arrived last Sunday and I'm staying at Oriel College as part of a Study Abroad deal. We (about 40 students) have classes until 4:30 and after that we're free to do whatever. Any suggestions for Oxford, London, or Edinburgh?

I don't understand why everything closes at five...

I'm in Cambridge and I'm staying at Magdalene College as part of a Study Abroad deal.



Cambridge!