To the University! A Day at Oxford...

The pub Tolkien and Lewis
used to meet up at

Since my best friend Theresa was to arrive the next day, she invited me to go along with her sister and brother in law to Canterbury.  Thus, my time in London and Oxford was cut a bit shorter than I had planned.  However, this allowed me to (theoretically) see more of England than originally planned.

My day in Oxford was cold and rainy (hello English weather).  It was kind of a terrible day for sightseeing, but since I only had ONE day, I set out determined to see the highlights of Oxford courtesy of the handy dandy free walking tour guide.  However, before sightseeing, I started the day off with my very first ENGLISH Mass since I moved to Poland in September.

Boolean Library

Apparently Oxford was founded by the Church (not really surprising since most higher education was sponsored by the Catholic Church back in the day).  For some reason, the townsfolk of Oxford and the students didn't really get along so well, so after a few violent run ins, the Oxford City Council passed a curfew and law forcing all students to remain in the halls.  These halls are now the 38 different colleges at Oxford that house over 21,000 students.

Some of these colleges were built by the church, while others were donated by wealthy graduates.  Perhaps the most fascinating origin of a college is Bailey College, which the bishop demanded as penance from a wealthy landowner after a land dispute.  Can you imagine hearing that one in the confessional? Go build an entire college.

Christ Church

I saw Divinity College and Christ Church College, both home to Harry Potter movie scenes.  This was a bit annoying because I was interested in Oxford as a university, not the set of a fictional movie, no matter how popular.  It's kind of unfortunate that parts of Oxford's grandeur are now overshadowed by Harry Potter.  Oddly enough, the Brits call the first Harry Potter book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" not "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."  I do wonder if that would've made a different with the Christian Right in allowing their kids to read the book.

Inside Trinity College

Horrified, I listened as the guide talked about the Bullingdon Club.  It's an exclusive club, with incredibly high prices for membership.  Understandably so when the point of the club is to wear expensive clothes, eat expensive food, drink expensive alcohol, completely trash the establishment you're visiting, and then leave 10k pounds on the table to cover the damages.  Who would be in such a boorish club?  Why the current Prime Minister of the UK, David Cameron, and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

A door that served as part of Lewis's
inspiration for Chronicles of Narnia

The last funny story involves Oliver Cromwell and the Boolean Library.  Cromwell really wanted to borrow a book from the Boolean library, but the library is for reading only.  Understandably so since the library is filled with really old books and college students aren't the most gentle users of reading material.  Disappointed and quite teed off, Cromweel returned to London bookless.  However, he decided to try again and sent a messenger to borrow a book from the library.  After many entreaties, the librarian acquiesced to the persistent messenger.  Victoriously, he headed back to London where he presented Cromwell with a wrapped copy of the library's rules.

The last crazy story centers on one of the colleges.  I don't remember which one it is...however, they don't have students, only fellows.  The college is incredibly difficult to get into.  The entrance exam is one word, and then writing for something like three hours.  Sounds like fun to me...maybe I'll try one day!

To round out the day, I attended my first Anglican service with Anna.  She sings in the choir, and I was a bit curious what Anglicans do.  They're not a very popular denomination in the U.S. so I took the opportunity to learn a bit about them.  The service I went to was pretty similar to Evening Prayer in the Catholic Church.  There was a hymn, readings, and psalms.  A younger, unordained man gave a sermon about helping others.  After the service, there was dinner and I ended up right across from the Anglican priest...aka perfect position to ask strange and probing questions about the Anglican liturgy.  Fortunately, this was before I remembered that there are women priests in the Anglican Church.

After dinner, I skyped my family for the first time in a week or two...and we chatted for a bit.  Then, still not feeling so great, I curled up in bed and went to sleep.  There was an exciting and early morning awaiting me on the other side of dreamland!