I finally met my tutor, Philip Wheatley, on Monday! It was simply the loveliest of experiences. I met him in the main entrance to the Bodlian Library, and he invited me to walk with him -- a much more invigorating choice than sitting and talking. We circled the Radcliffe Camera and talked about time and Virginia Woolf. I'm so excited for my first paper (and uncontrollably nervous as well!)

 Now, going back in time (because each day has been memorably exciting, I feel I should give the day-by-day -- yes, that was a play on words with play-by-play -- dad will be proud of me for making a reference to sports without much distaste).

  Sunday, we went to St. Aldates Church in the morning, where I ran into Ruth Marks! (For the non-Cornerstone Church members reading, she is a good friend of Kaia's, and her family has been attending my church for most of our lives!) I knew she was in the area, but we mysteriously hadn't met up yet, though we had tried. Not sure how that works... but we met there, and she invited us (Ian, Ruta and I -- or should I just the Oxford comma since I'm here and say "Ian, Ruta, and I") to a student dinner/bible study group on Thursdays (of which today happens to be one!). 


 Later on Sunday, after a "family dinner" with the Cornerstone [Univ] group of pizza -- some burnt, some unburnt -- we attended Evensong at Christ Church College. Now Ian and I will often break out in singing liturgically "God Save the Queeeeen," particularly if we happen to be in a place with a good, resounding echo, which are available all throughout the hundreds-of-years-old buildings. 


Monday, our class took a nice, long walk out to the remains of Godstow Abbey. Fun fact #1 about Godstow is that Henry II impregnated one of the nuns there, afterwhich the informational board said, it became know for its "hospitality" the the young men around. Perhaps this was an inspiration for Monty Python?

Anyway, the more interesting: Fun fact #2 about Godstow: it is the place where Charles Dodgeson (who you may know more affectionately as Lewis Carroll) took the dean of Christ Church College's daughters, one of whom was named Alice, and picnicked and told stories to. If you don't get where I'm going with this, I'll take it one step further and say that one day they spotted a rabbit run down a rabbit hole, and this inspired one of the stories Dodgeson so loved to tell the girls. This turned into Alice in Wonderland! So, we had our class there regarding Alice in Wonderland.  That night was the night I met with Philip.

 Tuesday, I spent the whole day about the Bodlian, reading, reading, reading. We also met our final roommate -- Ziyi. From China. We had been expecting her that day, only we were surprised when we realized the she was a he! Yes, Ziyi likes us to call him Frost. So, Tuesday also consisted of Ian and I taking him out about Oxford to show him around. He is very sweet, and asks questions. He is studying philosophy.

 Wednesday, we were reading in the Bodlian in the morning, and we planned to meet at the Eagle and Child at 3pm. Well, right around 2,45, which was when we planned to leave, it started to downpour. So we had a good, soaking walk to the iconic pub and as soon as we got there, it ceased to rain... why? Anyway, we had a good final "class" time discussing JRR Tolkein's "On Fairy Stories." Then we went to a formal dinner at Christ Church College as a farewell to Professor VanDyke, who flew off at 5am this morning. Rough. (Feel free to pray for him if you read today for his safe travel and healthy transition back to American time and life.)

 On the docket for today: Read. Dinner/Bible study at St. Aldate's. Both Ruta and Ian have their first REAL tutorial today with their first papers! (Also a prayer!) For tomorrow: Read. Visit New College in the afternoon (I have not been there yet). Ian and I are having a date night tomorrow :) Well, after that exhaustive (though hopefully entertaining) post, I think I will leave to to heave a sigh of relief, and I will go read!