~ *Katty's Korner* ~ A Concoction of European Delights: OXFORD--Sept.25 & 26

Oxford was awesome. When I got there, I again walked in a large circle to find my hostel. I suck at getting my bearings. My hostel was REALLY loud and busy. Very intimidating. The staff were not very friendly so I just wanted to get out of there. I went to walk around and get a bite to eat, and there were soooo many drunken people on the streets! It was only 8:10pm!!!! The Uni is right beside the shopping/bar district, so it was very busy at night...not like Bath. I went to a Chinese restaurant and was given a huge portion of sweet & sour chicken w/ rice! It's funny to hear a British Chinese person...not expected.

The next day I switched hostels and it's the best thing I did! My new hostel was sooooo much cleaner, the staff was super helpful, and such a cozy intimate atmosphere. There were a lot of Australians too! I met these 2 Canadian guys, Jack and Koichi, from Ottawa. They were awesome! Jack offered to show me around that afternoon. Then we met up with Koichi and went to a bar called the Turf. Oh my, the girls style I saw there was as if I was back in the 1980s. They had teased hair that look like a birds nest, stretch pants with weird skirts on top and tons of jewelry and make up! EWWWW! HAHAHA. I hope their style doesn't influence mine, it seems to be a trend here. After the Turf we got a taxi to another bar in the suburbs (farmland) called the Trout. It was gorgeous there! and there was a LIVE peacock just walking around!! :O I was scared it was going to peck at my butt! On the other side of the river there were live cattle and all sorts of animals. After a yummy dinner we header over the river to the remains of what Jack said was a nunnery. It was really neat. We ended up walking home along the river and farmland. It was so beautiful. We had to dodge a bunch of cow shit, but that wasn't the least of our worries b/c it started to get dark FAST. I turned out to be like an hour walks on this straight line along the river. I honestly was getting scared of twisting my ankle falling into a hole and there was no way off the path unless we went all the way back. I was soooo happy to see lights! And this person on a bench came out of nowhere, he scared the crap out of us.

I felt like I'd known these guys for years! We got on really well. They have a VISA to work in the UK for a year. Koichi is actually living in Switzerland now! It's crazy! I could imagine myself doing that. I don't know how much my mom would like that...haha, oh well! The next day I just toured around to all the colleges, some of which you had to pay to get in! As you can imagine, I opted NOT to pay! lol...I actually snuck into a few that we not open to visitors. I'm becoming a rebel! bwa ha ha. No, but I do feel incredibly independent and brave to travel off by myself on a whims notice. It's a good feeling. :)

A typical hostel room

Soooo many bikes! yeeesh!

St. John's College, the richest college!

This bar is where C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) and J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings) often met to discuss their books and advise eachother! NEATO. eh Kirsten?

New College. The real medieval wall that once encompasses the city of Oxford.

Path in Christ Church College meadows. I felt like I was in an Ivy League school (duh) in the U.S. and that rowers could pop out at any moment! It was really cute and peaceful!

Christ Church College. Where they filmed Harry Potter!!! I didn't go in though b/c it was too expensive.