Sorry it has taken me so long to write--so much going on and not enough time!

So where did I leave off....... Oh yes, acceptance into the Hogwarts library. So after this momentous day, we were off to meet tutors for our first class (which I had a 8-10 page paper to turn in on Thursday). So to the library we went, writing our paper while looking out the window seeing 500 year old buildings and tall spires that stretched to the heavens. What a distraction! I took the first week to become acclimated to the city and see all the sites. I went to Christ Church College and sat where Alice in Wonderland sat to study. I walked and ran along the Thames River. I climbed atop St. Mary's Cathedral and saw beautiful sights from the top of a church that stretched for many miles beyond Oxfords city limits. Then, as the weekend approached, I decided to explore my newfound home.

On Friday, I still hadn't made any plans, but a good friend of mine was staying in London with a different study abroad program. So of course, I call her quickly and tell her I'm coming. I board a bus, and within 2 hours, I'm sitting in front of Hyde Park in London scurrying through Subway stations making my way to her apartment outside of Regents Park. It was a wonderful apartment with marble floors, large rooms, and centuries-old architecture. What a cool place to be in London. Since I arrived later on Friday after my explorations through Oxford, we decided to hang out with all (about 12 including myself) of the guests of the apartment and then go out to see London's nightlife. In Soho, went went to a club named "Punk" (where Paris Hilton did her first interview with Lady Gaga). It was one of the best nights I've had in a while, dancing and hanging out with some really fun people--all in the heart of one of the worlds most internationally renowned cities.

The next morning, I awoke at 7:00 a.m. to start my day of seeing London (which I have seen before but wanted to see the sights... When in Rome). So I started my day out by seeing Picadilly Circus and the flashing lights of the musical scene (where many famous US Celebrities are making their broadway debut), went to the House of Parliament, House of Commons, Tralfagar Square, Hyde Park, London Eye, and Tower of London and London Bridge. It was a fantastic day exploring the city, and by about 1 oclock, I was boarding another bus back to Oxford to return to the Alice in Wonderland festival which happens once a year that just happened to be on July 10th. When I deboarded, there were children dressed at Cheshire Cats, people in crazy costumes, and many Alice in Wonderland tours going throughout the city. Home to Lewis Carroll (the writer of Alice in Wonderland) and Alice Liddell (the REAL Alice) Oxford had much to boast in the history of the book.

Sunday, me and 2 friends from the trip had booked an excursion to see Windsor Palace (the current residence of the Queen of England herself and the oldest inhabited castle in the world). We also saw Hampton Court Palace, each being around an hour from Oxford and an hour from London. They were beautiful palaces, and we even arrived at a time when the Queen was home! Flying high above the city, a flag notified us that the queen was only metres away from us as we stood on the streets of Windsor. We also rode a giant ferris wheel that took us high above the city, where we had a great view of Windsor Palace and the Eton College (where almost all the princes and prime ministers had at some point been educated, including William and Harry). When we arrived home at Oxford, we had a barbeque provided by Trinity College at Oxford, and we enjoyed socializing with the rest of our group and then a night of World Cup finale. It was great experience to be in Europe during the finale, as "Football" here is the biggest and most important sport. The city was teeming with excitement--every pub and restaurant was completely packed with people enjoying the final game of a 1 month tournament in South Africa.

On Monday, we returned to the library where most of us spent sunrise to sunset studying hard for the next week of tutorials. Then Monday night, we again had Hightable Dinner with our professors and dons. Drinks on the lawn followed by a dinner of Ribeye Steak with Mushroom bolognaise and Chicken Salad served with dessert and sparkling water was the end to a wonderful afternoon. Throughout the past couple days, I have nothing very exciting to tell you about, except that me and the library are becoming better friends all the while! Oxford tutorials are really intense--I definitely misjudged the difficultly level of them. While you only meet once a week with your professor, you are forced to prepare vigorously. Understanding the concepts and the timetable of events isn't enough--you must be able to understand why and how things happened the way they did and be able to make an educated opinion of the happenings. Its such a great way of learning, because you don't want to look like an idiot when you arrive in class and the don looks at you like you're completely stupid for not having some sort of educated opinion on the subject. That alone is motivation enough to come to class having read all 4-9 books for the week and being able to speak clearly and freely about what and why. So thats what I do during the week--Study study study!.......

The following weekends should be fun--This weekend, I hope to get to Amsterdam to see the city and see Brussels and Antwerp, Belgium. All cities filled with many interesting sights and happenings, they should be interesting. The next weekend, a good many of us have booked a trip to Barcelona, Spain. Both of these trips should be great weekend trips for us all to get close and see wonderful parts of the world.

Time for bed. Until next time--Peace, Love, and Rock-n-Roll.

Andrew