Sarah: Oxford, England - Old School Style!

Trip Start Dec 27, 2007
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Trip End Dec 28, 2008


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Where I stayed
Matt Baker
(Oxford hotels)

Flag of United Kingdom  , England,
Thursday, July 3, 2008

After our late departure from london, we didn't arrive into Oxford until after 7pm. Our couch surfing host there was to be a uni student. His name was Matt and he actually grew up in Dunedin! He moved with his family to Aust when he was ten and is doing a PhD in physics (single-cell biophysics dad). He was really nice but your classic eccentric student. And he was the only person we emailed in Oxford because everyone else was stranger than him! It actually turned out Susannah knew him from fencing. He accidentally died his white fencing suit blue in the wash, so everyone within the fencing community remembers him now!

He led us through town to his flat, and took us through his college, Exeter, founded in 1314, on the way. His flat was typical boy-studenty: messy, dingy and smelly! It reminded ray of his flatting days and me of my brother's! We stayed in his flatmate's room, a mattress on the floor - unfortunately the windows didn't open!

 He told us later that this flatmate was good friends with one of the French students who had been brutally stabbed to death and set on fire in London the previous week. It's pretty scary how many people are being murdered by knives at the moment. So far this year, in London alone, 18 teenagers have been stabbed to death by other teenagers, and 52 people murdered altogether in the city. A couple of days ago, 6 people were killed in a 48 hour period - 5 with knives and 1 with a gun. There was even a teenage catfight that turned fatal because one girl had a steak knife in her pocket. They're really worried about knife crime and teenage violence over here, it's in the papers every day, and every day it seems like someone else has been killed.
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