I admit, I have not been faithful to writing much. But I assure you it is because I am having a wondrous time, not because I have nothing to say!! Ian, Ruta, and I had a lovely few days in London, finishing it off with seeing Les Mierables, as promised. It was fabulous.

Our professors' flight was canceled, but we came to Oxford on Tuesday as planned, got settled in and began orientation on Wednesday; our profs also arrived that day. That lasted until Thursday, and then we took a day trip to London!

 It was quite strange to go back after just being there, but it was great to have a chance to see some new things. We took some time (though hardly enough) on Charring Cross Road, famous for its many, many book shops, and then tubed over to the Tate Modern Art Gallery, which was fascinating! We saw Damien Hirst's diamond-encrusted skull, Salvador Dali's Metamorphosis of Narcissus, and so many more interesting pieces of art.

 Yesterday, we had our first class to discuss Studies in Words by C.S. Lewis and Owen Barfield's similar work. We got to discuss it on Addison's walk, which is at Magdalen College, and is the walk which Lewis and Tolkien would often take together after supper; at the end of one such walk was the pivotal point when Lewis actually became a Christian.

 In the evening, I went to a play with Professor Van Dyke and Ian called Vita and Virginia. It is a play that the "playwright" took the letters of these two women authors (Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf) and put it into an unconventional play format. It was really well done, and was also very helpful for me in thinking about my tutorial on Virginia Woolf!

On our way back, we literally stumbled upon the Eagle and Child, the pub where Lewis and Tolkein would meet, and we spent some time in the "Rabbit Room," Their room which they would come to every Tuesday morning.