Iffley Village

The other day I was a little stressed from my dissertation and I followed my father's advice and went cycling. I had heard that a few minute cycle ride from Donnington bridge is a quaint little village named Iffley Village. It is a small village just outside of Oxford and is quintessentially English. The Thames goes through it so it is a nice cycle ride/ walk. The best bit is that it is picturesque!

Along the main road of the village.

The secret garden

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Oxford in Snow

So, we had one day of snow in Oxford. Which was extremely exciting, and everything was absolutely picturesque. We went to the RadCam (Radcliffe Camera) around 11pm, and there were a few people who had the same idea. There were snowball fights, and pictures being taken. The snow lasted until the next day but was mostly melted by 2pm.

St. Mary's

Radcliffe Camera

High Street 

All Soul's College

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Driving in England

*Disclaimer* This is MY initial experience with English drivers and dealing with the roads in England

Hello, again.

It has been a long time since I have posted anything, I've been busy working, packing, moving and unpacking.

I have officially moved to England to complete a graduate degree  at Oxford, and the majority of my posts will be about England.

I brought a lot of things with me to England, about 110 pounds of stuff. Mostly clothes, shoes, and some toiletries. My mother came with me to help me carry everything and we decided to rent a car. Now, that has been a ride in itself and we returned the car a week early.  We rented our car from AVIS at Heathrow, the employees were very helpful and advised us to get insurance. We, thankfully, decided to get the insurance because normally we opt out of the offer. The insurance covered the regular things, like scratches and if you break down on the side of the road.

The one thing that was shocking was the tire insurance.

Now, let me tell you - that is not if your tire pops on the side of the road.

Are you ready for this?

It is if your tires get stolen! Apparently, in the UK it is normal for people to jack the cars up and steal the tires. They cost 300 pounds a piece which equates to about 500 US.

After learning that we got in the car. Now, we are accustomed to driving on the left because of the Bahamas but we are not used to the wheel on the right side.

We eventually got to Oxford, it was smooth sailing until we got to my new home. My street is so narrow, that the cars park on either side and are on the side walk. A car can drive through as long as every car is on the side walk. This little yellow Fiat did not do that and was parking a foot out into the street. This car was full of dings and scratches, the person soon moved to another street with  more space. (S)he pissed off a lot of people.

The drivers in England are quite 'safe' and aware of their surroundings, I haven't seen a car accident yet. Although, they can be inconsiderate because they hit cars and drive off from the scene without so much as a note. One thing that upset me is that people cut in front of you on the road. In the U.S it is illegal to block an intersection or street, Here, if you stop to make sure you're not blocking, someone will cut you off and get into that space you were trying to not block. That was a little dosage of culture shock.

The main mode of student transportation in Oxford is bikes, because it is cheaper than buying a bus pass. I was accustomed to riding my bike around campus in Florida and I did consider buying a bike but the vehicles get too close to the cyclists but I haven't seen a casualty. Although, I'll stick with the buses, thank you very much.

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What would I do differently?

I am most likely going to Europe this summer to complete a program similar to the one I completed this past summer. This is a list assuming most everything I experienced will be similar, what will I do differently.

Clothing:

1.  1. I would pack less work clothes and more play clothes. I did the opposite this past summer and I wished I had more clothes to travel with because I don't wear big tees on the regular basis. 
   
2. I would bring a smaller suitcase so I could have the option of traveling around, either that or find it a place to leave it. Unfortunately a lot of airports do not have that option anymore, some bus and train stations still do though.
3. I would bring less clothes as a whole, so I could buy clothes over there because I found some good deals and things I liked but I didn't had hardly any weight room available.
4. Bring clothes for different seasons, I sorely wished I brought shorts with me.

Food:

1. I would bring peanut butter with me and ritz crackers. The food is expensive on top of the exchange rate. My friends and I wanted to 'eat the culture in' when traveling but it got to hurt our wallets. They give a lot of food but a lot of the places we ate at didn't allow 'doggy bags'. I also don't remember ever seeing kids meals.
2. IN MODERATION- Not eat and drink as much as I did daily. It was neither easy on the wallet nor my waistline.
3. Find cheaper options to eat because you still need to think about the exchange rate depending on your home country.
   

Travel:

1. Don't plan so much- This past summer I learned this, because I was saying how I will be here x amount of days/hours. That really never happened.
2. Although if you are planning on traveling on a Friday, buy the ticket so it isn't so expensive. I was going to go to Edinburgh and I was waiting the entire time for the night before to buy a ticket to anywhere. When I went to buy a ticket to Edinburgh it jumped from 85 pounds to near 200 pounds. I had to give up that portion of the trip.

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London Pre-1666 Great Fire of London

I found this video this morning. London prior to the Great Fire was recreated by 6 students enrolled at De Montfort University who studied historic accounts from the time period. It's a fly through model and focuses around the area of Pudding Lane and Thomas Farriner's bakery (where the fire began). I hope you guys enjoy!

http://londonist.com/2013/10/fly-through-17th-century-london.php
The link from where the article was found.

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London Part 4: Tower of London Parte Deux

That is the extent of my knowledge of French. Well not entirely true I could find the nearest restroom and such if need be, and that would be the extent of my French. Luckily I speak Spanish, so I could get by okay in a French speaking area.

This is the final installment of my Tower of London posts. As I have said before it is a HUGE location and is best known for its bloody past and its ghosts (if you believe in that sort of thing). There is one thing I loved about the location is that they have actors who reenact scenes that give light into the ToL's past. There was one which was an argument between a constable and a coin-maker, from what I recall from memory they used speech that is best associated with Middle English but wasn't pure Middle English. I am sure this is to ensure that the public understands them. For my readers who are unaware of Middle English, the best example I can give is Shakespeare for the usage of thou and thy and the suffix -est for verbs. 

Moving on to the best part: the pictures!

The White Tower- I mentioned this in the last post. It was the most fortified portion of the castle and is where the King lived. It contains the Royal Armoury, which you can see the armour of past knights and Kings.

Armour of King Henry VIII. I think he was overcompensating for something. Hmmmm

Yes that's a dragon.

Some were imprisoned in this tower, those imprisoned made use of their time by carving into the stone walls. There was even a prisoner who wrote a book that was published in the 1600's. One was imprisoned because he was thought to be a sorcerer, he made use of his time by  carving a astronomical clock that can be seen below.

Hugh Draper of Bristol who was thought to be a sorcerer carved this clock into the wall of his cell.

A diagram that showed the Tower of London during the time of the Peasant's Revolt in 1381.

Another tower that held prisoners during the 16th-17th centuries but its original use was as a guards tower.

The carving within the Broad Arrow Tower that was by a Catholic priest.

The famous Bloody tower. This where the 'little princes' were murdered. I remember watching an episode on the Discovery Channel as a child that spoke of these 2 princes and how they had recovered their bones. This is the reason why it is called the Bloody Tower because they are believed to have been murdered in this tower by their uncle. It was also used for imprisonment of other folks.

 Well that concludes this portion of the Tower of London. I would love to go back and explore some more!

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Ghosts of Tower of London?

I was messaged by a friend who is a viewer who wanted to see my throne room pictures from the Tower of London. I decided to post them for your amusement, I had a lot more of these type of pictures of ToL but I deleted them without a  second thought. With that being said, if there are other kinds of pictures you want to see that you don't see on my posts. You may ask and I will see if I have them!

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The Southern preps guide to packing for 6 weeks of Ireland's summer

Now to let you guys know my personal style is more preppy but in a southern sense.  Southerners are known for being very colourful with their outfits. The best example I can think of is Lilly Pulitzer, most of my items from her are not clothing but accessories because I like Tommy and RL for clothing. This is what I packed and wish I packed for the trip. It was an archaeology field school so my clothing options were limited and I wore certain clothes for the site and others for outings. Perhaps I'll do a post on what to bring for an archaeology site. I had to bring the large suitcase so I could have clothes to where for different occasions when not on site but the non-site clothes I brought would have fit into a carry-on.

I also brought a backpack with me which I carried on the plane. I had 2 shirts, a weeks worth of undergarments, some basic toiletries, and pair of shorts. I did this just in case my luggage got lost and I still had some clothes with me to get by until I could get it back. I learned that part through a friend's experience whose luggage got lost when en route to Italy.

I had brought 4 pairs with me. The boots I wore for site and some of the hiking I did around. Since they were bulky I wore them on the plane and a pair of Sperry in my backpack's bottle pockets.

I brought 2 swimsuits because the condo had a pool and I was planning trips to places where I could go swimming in the Lakes/Oceans. For Glendalough, Fowey, Tintagel.

2 AE Artist jeans, Adidas shorts, Yoga pants, AE shorts. I also wore the Adidas and Yoga for sleeping.

4 Button-up shirts; they're classic and in style no matter where you are in the world

A sweater, I also brought a raincoat with me.

4 regular shirts that are for nice dinners and lounging around

All in all I chose clothes that I could mix and match and make different outfits with, so I chose the colours to be blue, white and pink. All of which I could mix together and jeans, yoga pants go with everything. Don't forget your sunglasses, I brought wayfarers and aviators with Lilly Pulitzer croakies. 

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London Part 4- Tower of London Part 1

When I  was in London I visited the Tower of London, there were a lot of tourists around, and it was unfortunate because it was difficult to take clear pictures. The entry price was pricey and it was about 18 pounds  for students; BRING YOUR STUDENT ID everywhere with you! I am going to make this into 2 parts because it is such a huge location.

Anyways it is known that the Tower of London was a symbol of oppression and many people who spoke out against the royal family were imprisoned and some never made it back out. There are many stories that say that the castle is haunted. That's right, did you know it was a castle? A castle where the monarchs lived, like Buckingham and Windsor?!  As well as housing the monarchs and jailing the dissenters the tower had other functions within the walls. It was an armory, a menagerie, a treasury, a mint factory, held public records and the crown jewels.

The first king to commence building was William the Conqueror in 1078, and it had progressive expansions throughout the next few centuries.

This cobbled area is towards the main entrance of the castle but it known as Tower Hill, which is where over 100 people were executed in a 400 year period.

Throughout the castle they had animal statues which represented the fact it was also a menagerie.

The Bell Tower

King Edward I bedchamber in St. Thomas Tower

King's thrown, took me 4 shots to get this picture. It kept coming out blurry! Was it the ghost of the King? Who knows.

The Lost Palace- in front of the White Tower (which will be discussed more in detail in another post), this was the Inmost Ward. It was a set of buildings built to serve the residence but they are gone now.

Lanthorn Tower- construction began in 1220 and possibly used as the private residence of the queen. 

Candle Tower

They had these guys all over the castle.

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