a trip to oxford
I had my first 'real' couchsurfing experience recently when I went over to Oxford for the weekend. I've decided to try and discover the UK, at least partially aided by local eyes and hence the trip . I don't know anyone there, nor did I have an agenda. It also helps that this is a small country, and in the time that one reaches San Francisco from Palo Alto, I reached Oxford from B'ham.
My couch surfing host, Grace, is a student of foreign literature at Magdalen (pronounced ˈmɔːdlɨn, go figure!). She took time off from her assignments, to show me around the various colleges and point out the really old buildings. To get some perspective of what they consider old, she dismissively waved off a building and said, "Oh! That's a really new building. Of no consequence" and when I looked closer at the plate which had the construction date inscribed, it said 1827!! New indeed.
I love walking and so spent a lot of time walking around on my own. It helps that Oxford is a small university town, with most places accessible by foot. The landscape is really beautiful and so are some of the buildings. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera along, and hence had to rely on my phone as a substitute. Phone pics from Oxford. I've discovered that even if there are notices that say, "Do not enter", if you walk in looking very busy and irritated, everyone assumes that you have a right to be there :-). I walked into a couple of colleges' buildings, just because I wanted to, notably Christ College grounds.
Rounded off my trip with dinner at the scholar's dining hall, which looks impressive with real old wood and really really old people (on the walls).
My couch surfing host, Grace, is a student of foreign literature at Magdalen (pronounced ˈmɔːdlɨn, go figure!). She took time off from her assignments, to show me around the various colleges and point out the really old buildings. To get some perspective of what they consider old, she dismissively waved off a building and said, "Oh! That's a really new building. Of no consequence" and when I looked closer at the plate which had the construction date inscribed, it said 1827!! New indeed.
I love walking and so spent a lot of time walking around on my own. It helps that Oxford is a small university town, with most places accessible by foot. The landscape is really beautiful and so are some of the buildings. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera along, and hence had to rely on my phone as a substitute. Phone pics from Oxford. I've discovered that even if there are notices that say, "Do not enter", if you walk in looking very busy and irritated, everyone assumes that you have a right to be there :-). I walked into a couple of colleges' buildings, just because I wanted to, notably Christ College grounds.
Rounded off my trip with dinner at the scholar's dining hall, which looks impressive with real old wood and really really old people (on the walls).