Although I am back in Oxford, my adventures still continue. This weekend in particular has been chock full of activity. Overall, at 8:30 am on Monday morning, I am just pretty tired....
We kicked off the weekend by going to a formal dinner on Friday night at Pierce's college. There didn't seem to be any special occasion except to welcome everyone back for the term. On Saturday I went into London to meet up with my friend and teammate from UVA, Megan Leo. Megan was in London for one night on her way back from Bangladesh where she was working on a research project. She will graduate from med school in three weeks and head to Boston for her residency in emergency medicine. It was great to catch up and hear all of her fascinating stories from Bangladesh. We didn't have much time in London, but we grabbed dinner in a pub and bought half price tickets to a show in the West End. We ended up seeing Blood Brothers. Although it wasn't the greatest plot line...Twin brothers separated at birth become friends and meet a fateful end...it was entertaining and a great experience, nevertheless. We had a few pints in Soho (we visited one of the same pubs Hadley and I went to on our Soho pub crawl back in December) and then I went in search of the bus back to Oxford. It was 3 AM before I crawled into bed.
...only to rise again at seven for our exciting day with "Not So Chabee" Airlines. To briefly explain, one of Pierce's classmates, a Frenchman named Nicolas Chabee (pronounced shabee, or in the American accent, shabby) has a pilot's license and has joined the Oxford Flying Club. As a result he has access to a small six seater plane. He recently volunteered to share his hobby with anyone who was interested. Of course, we immediately jumped at the chance. We flew from Oxford to the Isle of Wight off the coast of southern England. It took about 45 minutes to fly there and we circled the island, taking in the Needles which are shear white cliffs and rock formations at the southwestern tip of the island. We then landed at Bainbridge island and walked from the airport to the cliff's edge. We spent about forty-five minutes walking along the beautiful cliff's edge path until it dropped down to the beach where we stopped for a picnic. Pierce and I were responsible for sandwich stuff and unfortunately forgot the bread so we had lettuce sandwiches instead. The day was mostly cloudy but even in the low light you could see the clear blue shades of the water as we landed and as we walked along the sea. During our picnic the sun popped out briefly. We topped off the day with a round of putt putt at a some kind of mini golf course.
On the flight home Nicolas did at least three huge circles around Oxford so we were able to see all the "dreaming spires" and incredible architecture from above. After our third or fourth spin we all felt ready to lose our lunch so headed for home. As if that weren't enough in one weekend, today is May Day, a huge holiday in Oxford and a bank holiday in all of England. The general festivities (for undergraduates in particular) is to stay up partying all night and then go down to Magdalen College tower to hear the Magdalen Boys' Choir sing at 6 AM. In previous years many inebriated students then jump off Magdalen Bridge into the River Cherwell, only to suffer broken legs from the roughly two and a half to three foot deep water. This year the bridge was blocked off (I guess as a result of a record number of broken bones last year) and we didn't have the energy to party last night. We did wake up at five and go to hear the singing. Unfortunately, although May has arrived, spring-like weather has not and it poured rain from about five until seven. After the singing (only seven minutes of it) the streets are filled with Morris dancers, although I think the festive nature of the even was somewhat dampened by the rain. We just grabbed a big English breakfast...baked beans anyone? The idea for the rest of the day was to go punting, but we decided to save it for when the true May weather arrives! P.S. Eventually I will add photos so some of this makes a little more sense!
| 
1 vote 
