Tea at Crick Road house.

Today Danielle and I had our own little worship time. We sang several worship songs, ate our new cereal, and took videos with my camera of The Vines and its grounds. Soon, you should be able to see them on YouTube, for those of my family that care to see them. They're funny!

At 2:30, Danielle and I, and a large group of the students from the Vines, walked 45 minutes to the Crick Road house for afternoon tea. It was delicious! I had two cubes of sugar and milk in mine! I will never drink tea the same way again. There were cheeses, cakes, fruit, and little British made snacks. It was all very good. I spent a good hour talking with other English majors about British literature and linguistics. So fantastic! Can you all imagine a bunch of English nerds getting passionate and excited about British literature? I could not have been happier today! I spoke with Mr. Jonathan Kirkpatrick, Junior Dean of the Crick house and SCIO lecturer for the Classics Tutorial, I believe. It was completely fascinating! He might very well be my tutor for the Classics Tutorial that I am taking. I am so excited to study the Greek and Latin texts! Although, that won't begin until about a month.

Then we all traveled to St. Andrew's, Evangelical Anglican Church (www.standrewsoxford.org), where Mr. Kirkpatrick attends. The service was the contemporary service, geared more toward youth. It was led by the Curate, Will Pearson-Gee. It was wonderful! Very spirit-filled and we all took communion together. We walked up to the front and knelt at a huge altar and the Vicar, Andrew Wingfield Digby, broke our bread and two women held up the cup for us to sip. They took a handkerchief and wiped after each person sipped. I almost choked because I wasn't expecting wine. The alcohol was very strong and very bitter. But it was only a sip. No, I am not tipsy. Hahaha

Then, after the service, we all walked back, another 45 minutes to The Vines. Our feet called for freedom! Danielle and I, who had acted as normal college students, forgot to eat and so opened our new bag of kettle chips and ravenously ate the whole bag within minutes! And now, as I sit here and write of all the day's occurrences, I am delightfully looking forward to tomorrow's events.

For all of those who care to know my schedule for the first week, here it is:

4 September Monday: Wycliffe Hall

8.15 Vines students leave to go to Wycliffe Hall
9.00 Coffee and Tea
9.30 Orientation commences
10.50 Morning Break
11.15 Orientation continues
12.30 Lunch
1.30 Orientation continues
3.00 Afternoon tea
3.45 British landscape programme commences
5.00 Finish

5 September Tuesday: Wycliffe Lower Common Room, the Frewin Court

9.30 British landscape programme
10.30 Break
11.00 Bibliography session
11.30 Editing session
12.00 General Q&A
12.30 Lunch
1.15 Introducing Wycliffe Staff
1.30 Tour of Wycliffe
2.00 Chapel
3.00 Frewin Orientation and afternoon tea

6 September Wednesday morning: British Landscapes: Wycliffe Lower Common Room

9.30 British landscape programme
10.30 Morning tea
11.00 British landscape programme
12.00 Lunch
12.45 British landscape programme
2.30 English Seminar
3.30 Afternoon tea
4.00 English Seminar
5.00 Finish

7 September Thursday field trip

8.45 Field trip to St. Albans
5.00 Return to Oxford

8 September Friday morning: library orientation, then British Landscapes programme: Wycliffe Lower Common Room

10.00 Library orientation
11.30 British landscape programme
12.30 Lunch
1.15 British landscape programme

9 September Saturday: London
Field trip to London with Simon Lancaster and Jonathan Kirkpatrick


So, that's it for now! I'm going to go eat and get much needed sleep! Love you all! Cheers!