Oxford Reflections

Wales

2006-06-29T22:49:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone! I am now back in the states and most likely won’t be updating this site with much regularity. There are plenty of photos left to post from my time at Oxford, but I currently have a dial-up Internet connection at home that isn't conducive to uploading large amounts of pics. Above is a photo from my recent hiking trip to Wales with Brittany.

Formal Hall

2006-06-06T02:13:00.000+01:00

Pictured below is my attempt at devouring the pudding featured at formal hall last Friday evening. One semi-petrified peach + cream + a veritable smorgasboard of every utensil that one would never think of using for peach consumption =

+

Scenes From London

2006-06-02T23:49:00.000+01:00

Dad and I at Ye Olde London pub

St. Paul's Cathedral

The Tate Britain gallery

The Houses of Parliament

Trafalgar Square at night

Big Ben at night

The London Underground

Westminster Abbey at night

The British Museum--Part II

2006-05-30T23:37:00.000+01:00

Dad @ the British Museum

Roman Emperors

The Sutton Hoo Treasure

Byzantine Icons and Such

Ye Olde Fiddle

The British Museum--Part I

2006-05-19T00:45:00.000+01:00

The British Museum

The Rosetta Stone

Salisbury Cathedral

2006-05-16T23:24:00.000+01:00

PLEASE NOTE: I have been having trouble with the thumbnails on this post. If you see an empty black box or box with a red "X" instead of a picture you can still view it. Just click in the middle of the box or "X" and a full-size photo will be displayed.

Stonehenge

2006-05-06T02:38:00.000+01:00

Scenes from Stonehenge

Spring Break--Part VI (continued)

2006-04-29T00:44:00.000+01:00

Stained glass at Canterbury Cathedral

Spring Break--Part VI

2006-04-20T23:04:00.000+01:00

Remnants of the old city wall in Canterbury

Entrance to the cathedral grounds

The Cathedral

More pics from the cathedral coming soon--I am currently having difficulties connecting to the photo server and uploading photos.

Spring Break--Part V

2006-04-19T21:27:00.000+01:00

Strolling down the Champs Elysées

The Arc de Triomphe

The Arch du carousel

The Louvre

Spring Break - Part IV

2006-04-18T17:18:00.000+01:00

The Paris Opera House
(Setting of my and Stephanie's favorite musical, The Phantom of the Opera)
(I can almost hear Stephanie exclaiming now: "Opéra!!!") :-P

Spring Break - Part III

2006-04-17T13:30:00.000+01:00

Inside Notre Dame cathedral...

Outside Notre Dame...

Sunset in Paris...

Stonehenge and Salisbury

2006-03-20T22:30:00.000Z

Dad and me at Stonehenge
(photo by a wandering Druid)

Me at Salisbury Cathedral
(photo by dad)

How Real Men Drink Their Guinness

2006-03-19T22:05:00.000Z

"It comes in pints?? I'm getting one!"
-Pippin from Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

Dad at the Eagle and Child pub "enjoying" his first pint of Guinness ;-)

Spring Break - Part II

2006-03-19T22:00:00.000Z

A market on Rue de Grenelle

The Eiffel Tower

:-*

Stephanie and I at the Notre Dame cathedral

Much more still to come...

Spring Break - Part I

2006-03-18T23:45:00.000Z

Last Saturday, my lovely fiancée ventured across the pond to visit during Georgetown’s spring break. We spent an absolutely amazing week together touring Oxford, London, Paris and Canterbury. After having been apart for several months this trip was a very enjoyable, much needed reunion for us. I don’t know that I will be able to post all of the photos from this trip for at least several weeks as dad and I will be traveling around Britain and France for a while, but I do have several pics below from our first day in London and our first evening in Paris. Enjoy!

London
-----------

St. Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge crossing the Thames

Views from the Millennium Bridge.
Tower Bridge in the distance towards the right (upper pic)
"I eat rubbish!" (lower pic)

Stephanie and I at the Ye Olde London pub near St. Paul's Cathedral

EMBANKMENT at the Tate Modern in London
(click here for more info on the piece)

Tower Bridge near the Tower of London

Paris at Night
--------------------

Gare du Nord (The North Station) in Paris, France.
The Eurostar high speed train through the Channel Tunnel (or "Chunnel") arrives here.

The Ecole Miltaire

The Eiffel Tower at night

More pics to come within the next several weeks...

Beethoven Reincarnated

2006-03-04T11:47:00.000Z

Last night I attended a piano recital at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford. Pianist Paul Lewis performed four of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, including the well-known “Pathetique” Sonata. This guy is one of the most aggressive pianists I’ve seen—jolting slightly off the bench and growling during nearly all of the forte passages. Being familiar with the first two sonatas, I was able to pick up on several passages that were interpreted very creatively. Despite his jolting and growling, the pianissimo sections and slower movements were particularly expressive. Amazing concert!

I’m convinced this guy is a British reincarnation of Beethoven—similar hair, angry and despondent demeanor, etc… Thayer speaks of Beethoven as having had broad shoulders, a short neck, a large head, and always bent forward slightly when he walked. Just have a look at the pics below :-P

More N.T. Wright Pics

2006-02-24T23:00:00.000Z

N.T. Wright

Kyle and a few of his blogging buddies--Steve, Richard, and Peter

London Paddington Train Station at night

N.T. Wright Links:
The N.T. Wright Page--http://www.ntwrightpage.com/
Summary of the Christian Origins series--http://www.opensourcetheology.net/node/167
Official Bishop of Durham Website--http://www.dur.ac.uk/durham.diocese/bishop.htm

N.T. Wright Sighting

2006-02-23T00:44:00.000Z

I sent this quite blurry pic to Stephanie tonight commenting that it seems almost like an Elvis or UFO sighting. "It really is Tom Wright!! He was there, right in front of me, I swear!!" :-P

Patrick, Kyle, and I hopped on a train to London this afternoon to catch my favorite theologian lecturing at King's College. He spoke on "Apocalypse & Postmodernity" tonight and will be lecturing on "The Bible and the Christian Imagination" tomorrow. Hopefully I will return with better photos next time. Actually asking him for a picture might help the situation, lol. We had the opportunity to introduce ourselves and chat with Bishop Wright over tea several minutes before the lecture. It's probably not too far fetched too say that I've not stood in a room with someone this well read and of this intelligence before, yet, amazingly enough, he appears from first impression to be one of the most humble individuals I've met.

Hopefully more pics and comments to come soon!

Poll Answer

2006-02-21T18:50:00.000Z

According to a definition I found on a British-American dictionary website, digestives are...

digestive biscuits n :
dangerously addictive drug with no known remedy. Actually, it’s just a semi-sweet wholemeal biscuit, and you can sometimes get them at Safeway, but they probably epitomize what any British person thinks of as a biscuit, and for those addicts, a cup of tea and biscuits ends up being as many cups of tea required to consume the whole packet. (So there!) “What's Your favourite biscuit?” “It’s got to be the Chocolate Digestive, plain or milk. Unsurpassable in the biscuit world.” - Noel Gallagher, Oasis.

Also, biscuits aren't really biscuits in Britain either...

biscuit (sweet) cf n :
basically a small cookie, but with the texture of a sweet cracker, or the sandwich part of an Oreo cookie (the part around the filling), or a shortbread cookie. Of course, there are a zillion varieties, with all the usual chocolate, creme filling, etc.

Click the link below for the British-American dictionary website:
http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary/

Virtual Tour of Regent's Park

2006-02-21T00:00:00.000Z

Pusey St.
(The wall running down most of the right hand side of the picture is Regent's Park College-- where I am studying during my time here)

The Front Door

"The Star"
(facing the front door)

Down the Hallway
(towards the dining hall and library)

The Dining Hall

Up several flights of stairs to the library entrance

The Green Couch of Death
(just to the left of the library entrance)
(who the heck is William Carey? Click Here )

Inside the Library
(where I spend most of my time at Regent's)

The Quad

The JCR (Junior Common Room)

"Nut Allergy Can Kill" Poster in the JCR :-P

Oxford Related Links:

The Oxford Student Newspaper--http://www.oxfordstudent.com/
(the official student newspaper of Oxford University)

The Cherwell--http://www.cherwell.org/
(An independent student newspaper of Oxford)

Oxford University--http://www.ox.ac.uk/

Regent's Park College--http://www.rpc.ox.ac.uk/

Regent's Park College JCR Website--http://www.regentsjcr.org.uk/

Today's Poll

2006-02-18T22:15:00.000Z

If one goes to a store in England in search of digestives, what might one be looking for? :-)

Windsor Trip--Part VIII

2006-02-12T22:03:00.000Z

The Long Walk

Brittany, Myself, and Patrick in front of Windsor Castle

Sunset over the city of Windsor

The church greeter
(Seriously)

Our train from Oxford to Windsor
(Not seriously)

The Windsor Train Station

Windsor Trip--Part VII

2006-02-12T21:14:00.000Z

View of Windsor from across the river

Windsor through the eye of a fish

Bird and Sky

Trees and Sky

The Crooked House Tea Room

A church near Windsor Castle

An ancient well

Windsor Trip--Part VI

2006-02-12T20:58:00.001Z

Patrick with his favorite mistress

Crossing the Thames

Eton College

Patrick lends a fossilized British man a hand...

Playhouse across the street from Eton College

Windsor Trip--Part V

2006-02-11T20:39:00.000Z

More sunny pics from Windsor Castle...

St. George's Chapel @ Windsor Castle

A castle warden showing us around

Me in front of the same uniquely British thing with better lighting

Another Unique British Sign

2006-02-11T18:15:00.000Z

Alright folks, if you care to make any educated conjectures about this one, be my guest :-P

More pictures from my trip to Windsor last weekend will be posted soon.

Windsor Trip--Part IV

2006-02-09T22:48:00.000Z

Windsor after the fog cleared...

Eton College
(Actually a high school. These titles can get somewhat confusing here in the U.K. There is a college I pass on the way to lectures called University College...)

Windsor Trip--Part III

2006-02-08T22:51:00.000Z

The Queen's Dollhouse
(The castle warden told us that this thing is actually a fully functioning house with plumbing and all...)

Inside Windsor...

Windsor Trip--Part II

2006-02-07T22:44:00.000Z

A foggy morning at Windsor Castle...

Me in front of something uniquely British

Brittany talking to a castle warden/sexologist/theologian

Windsor Trip--Part I

2006-02-07T01:03:00.000Z

Patrick on the Train

Brittany on the Train

Foggy Train Ride

Arriving at Windsor

Windsor Pics Coming Soon!

2006-02-06T00:14:00.000Z

Transferring my citizenship

2006-01-29T23:22:00.000Z

Today I happened upon quite the interesting discovery as I wandered into the Virgin Megastore (one of the larger CD/DVD chains around) after church. Two very large isles in a prominent area of the store were each devoted to the classical and jazz sections. Back in the far corner of the store, where one would typically expect the small, single shelf of the combined classical/jazz/new age/Musak section to be, I found the country section. I've spent the rest of the day contemplating citizenship in the U.K. :-P

This might be a good opportunity for another poll...

Which country has better taste in music?
A) The United States
B) England
C) Greenland
D) The Country

The City of Dreaming Spires--Final Post

2006-01-28T07:30:00.000Z

Oxford Botanic Garden

Cornmarket Street

Sunset
(Across the street from Regent's Park)

Banbury Road
(walking back to the house)

Sunset
(looking out my window)

The City of Dreaming Spires--Part VI

2006-01-27T23:27:00.000Z

Christ Church

Magdalen College
(pronounced "maudlin")

Oxford Botanic Garden

The City of Dreaming Spires--Part V

2006-01-26T07:00:00.000Z

The Bodleian Library

Shadows on a Wall

Logic Lane
(this photo is dedicated to my lovely fiancee ;-)

Queen's College

St. Mary the Virgin Church

A building on High Street

The City of Dreaming Spires--Part IV

2006-01-25T07:00:00.000Z

Gargoyles @ St. Mary the Virgin Church

More views from St. Mary

The City of Dreaming Spires--Part III

2006-01-24T07:00:00.000Z

R a d c l i f f e C a m e r a

V i e w s f r o m:
S t . M a r y t h e V i r g i n
C h u r c h t o w e r

The City of Dreaming Spires--Part II

2006-01-23T07:00:00.000Z

C o r n m a r k e t S t r e e t

Q u e e n ' s C o l l e g e

S t . M a r y t h e V i r g i n C h u r c h

The City of Dreaming Spires--Part I

2006-01-22T07:00:00.000Z

In celebration of a rare sunny day in merry old England, I spent several hours today (Saturday) walking around town taking copius amounts of photos (and the rest of the day editing and posting them :-). Due to the very, very good lighting, I think these pictures have turned out better than any I've taken so far during my stay--I'm pretty excited! I have divided the day's photos up into a seven part series which I will post a portion of each evening (greenwich mean time) between tonight and Friday night. I'll most likely be spending my days in the Regent's Park library again this week and thought this would be a good way to keep my blog going. Hope you all enjoy!

~~~~~

Bright blue sky in Oxfordshire

Waking up to a (quite rare) bright sunny day
(view from my window)

Oxley-Wright: The house in which I am staying
(my room is the left-most set of windows on the 3rd floor)

Banbury Road
(toward the house)

Banbury Road
(towards downtown Oxford)

St. Giles Church
(I walk through their graveyard every morning on my way to Regent's Park. The best part of wakin' up... ;-)

War Memorial

Airplane flying over Oxford

The Eagle and Child pub
(the regular meeting place of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien back in the day)

The Martyrs' Memorial

London Pics--The Final Post

2006-01-20T07:30:00.000Z

Saint Paul's Cathedral at Night

Big Ben at Night

Tube Exit to Big Ben

London Pics--Part IV

2006-01-19T07:30:00.000Z

St. Paul's Cathedral

Crossing the Thames

The Millennium Bridge

The Globe Theater

The Tate Modern Art Gallery

London Pics--Part III

2006-01-18T07:00:00.000Z

The Queen's Horse Guard

An Important Looking Building in London

Big Ben From a Distance

St. Martin in the Fields

Odeon Theater

The Tower of London
(and sights nearby)

Poll Answer

2006-01-17T08:00:00.000Z

According to Webster's, a bollard is "any of a series of short posts set at intervals to delimit an area (as a traffic island) or to exclude vehicles." I've actually seen some that retract during certain hours of the day to let cars through. I'll have to say I like the theories posted on the comment page much more :-) If anyone out there is actually curious about these things, I did a Google search and found a page with more info than anyone ever needs to know about rising bollards (I spent about 1.5 seconds looking at the page, lol).

Rising bollards page: http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_roads/documents/pdf/dft_roads_pdf_504750.pdf

London Photos--Part II

2006-01-17T07:30:00.000Z

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

Westminster Abbey

Still more to come!!

London Photos--Part I

2006-01-15T21:10:00.000Z

The Oxford Tube

Victoria Station

Buckingham Palace

Traveling on the Tube

More to come later...

Verdi Requiem

2006-01-13T08:00:00.000Z

Well, folks, only one picture for today. I'll be touring London on Saturday and will hopefully bring back some interesting pics from there. Beginning next week, though, the posting may be much less frequent once the academic work starts piling up.

Tonight I had the opportunity to go to an AMAZING performance of Verdi's Requiem. It was performed by the Oxford Philomusica in the Sheldonian Theatre. And only 5 pounds for students!! This is the first time I've gotten chills at a concert for quite some time.

I spent much of the day doing some reading for my first tutorial question--the rather ambitious "For what purpose was the book of Revelation written?" We'll see what happens next Thursday once I turn in my first essay.

Thank you for all of your letters and comments. Keep 'em coming! I'll postpone the bollard answer for a while--I'm curious to see if these comments get any more elaborate :-P

Today's Poll

2006-01-12T07:20:00.000Z

Here is a unique street sign I discovered in downtown Oxford. If you live in the U.S., leave a comment and let me know your best guess as to what it might mean :-P

Rising bollards Sign

Oxford -- Day 3: Photos

2006-01-12T07:15:00.000Z

It does get sunny and clear in England!!

Pusey Lane
(Regent's Park College is the wall you see running through much of the right side of the photo)

Regent's Park Entrance

Downtown

St. John's College

Christ Church

Martyr's Memorial

Oxford -- Day 2: Photos

2006-01-11T18:30:00.000Z

Keble College

Pitt Rivers Museum

Trinity College

The Bodleian Library

New College

Adam and Brittany at the Eagle and Child Pub

Me testing out the out-of-tune piano in the JCR
(Yes, I really am at Oxford, folks :-P)

What I Learned Today

2006-01-11T08:30:00.000Z

Today we decided to stop by Turf Tavern for tea. Turf Tavern is apparently one of the coolest pubs to visit around Oxford, as the website says it has "foundations dating back to the 14th century," and is a "favourite for both town and gown." Dr. Taul, Dr. Apple, and the rest of us were quite suprised to discover that Turf Tavern apparently does not have tea at tea time, but does, in fact, have "Eleven of the finest ales England has to offer," as the bartender told us. After asking the employees where we could find tea during tea time in Oxford, one replied, "Well, there are two Starbucks fairly close by..."

(Needless to say, we passed up Starbucks and found tea elsewhere at the Queen's Lane Coffee House--the oldest coffee house in Oxford dating back to the 1600s)

I also had the opportunity to hear someone practicing on a pipe organ in the New College chapel--amazing!!

Pipe organ in the New College chapel

Oxford -- Day 1: More Photos

2006-01-10T11:48:00.000Z

View of street outside the doorway of Queen's College

More scenes from Oxford

Virtual House Tour

2006-01-10T11:23:00.000Z

Oxley-Wright: The house at which I am staying during my time at Regent's Park College. Adam, Patrick, and I are staying here while Brittany, Amanda, and several other folks from Georgetown who began studying at Regent's in the fall are staying on Stanley Rd. Oxley-Wright is operated by Queen's College and located a little over 1 mile from Regent's Park (about a 20-25 minute walk).

The Kitchen

Up the stairs to my room...

The entrance to my hallway and entrance to my bedroom

Inside my bedroom

View from my bedroom window

Down the hallway to my other room

Inside my other room

Back down the stairs

Oxford Photos -- Day 1

2006-01-10T07:30:00.000Z

Journal entry to follow... For now, enjoy the pics!

Checking in at the Cincinnati airport

Pics of the airport

Adam and his parents

Waiting for the coach to Oxford from London-Gatwick airport

Adam and Patrick minding the luggage

Brittany minding the luggage

Regent's Park College at Oxford University

What the British use instead of normal exit signs

Stairs to the chapel inside Regent's Park

Walking to Queen's College from Regent's Park

Queen's College at Oxford University

Preparing for Departure

2006-01-08T07:30:00.000Z

Tonight is my last evening in Kentucky until mid June (or possibly late March if I return to the states during break). I spent much of the day putting the finishing touches on packing with the generous help of my parents and had lunch at Applebee’s with Pam, Jackie, Stephanie, my parents and grandparents. Stephanie and I hung around my house for much of the evening, enjoying our last time together until June (or, once again, March if she decides to visit me in England or I decide to return to the states). Thursday evening I had the opportunity to meet Jesse for dinner in town—it was good spending time with him again before heading out to England.

I have quite a full day ahead tomorrow with the 2-hour drive to Cincinnati, flight from 7 pm eastern time through 8 am London time, and 2-hour coach ride to Oxford afterwards. After adjusting to the 5-hour time difference and first long separation from my fiancée, Georgetown, and home, I believe this will prove to be a great experience. I am looking forward to traveling around the continent and studying religion at Regent’s Park.

Please keep in touch and post comments! Comments will be forwarded directly to my e-mail account, so I will be sure to see them. Thanks to all of you who have helped me out in preparing for this trip!

Clicking on photo thumbnails below will bring up larger, higher resolution versions.

My Passport

Packing Photos

Lunch with Pam, Jackie, Stephanie, and my family

Welcome!

2006-01-04T20:13:00.000Z

Welcome to my new blog! If I'm actually dedicated enough to maintain this page, it will serve as a travel journal (complete with photos) of my experiences at Oxford University in England. Please post comments and check back often for updates!

Oxford University: http://www.ox.ac.uk/
Regent's Park College: http://www.rpc.ox.ac.uk/