The last time I left you I was recently settled from a long but beautiful and emotional weekend on one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. You know, I never thought that in 6 months I would be displaced from the Rocky Mountains in a hospital bed to the Scottish Highlands in a tent on an ground mat. What a great God I serve to be able to be there!
Anyways, so the last two weeks in Oxford would prove to be very busy. After the trip, I of course had to drown myself in books yet again to finish the two papers that lay ahead of me. I spent a good portion of the 90-some-odd hours that spanned from Monday to Thursday preparing for these two classes. My topics were the British Constitution and Israeli Palestinian Conflict. First, the British Constitution was something like I never even considered. As a pre-law student, I've been drowning myself in University courses related to law, so I feel somewhat confident in my knowledge of Constitutional and Tort law. Through this class on British Common law, however, i'd realize how much I didn't know about the foundational source for American Law--British Law. It was a great topic because I learned that Great Britian, while it doesn't have a written constitution, has statutes, case law, procedures, and expectations that guide them into a field of law referred to as Constutitional Law. It was a great learning experience, and even the 700 page Law book I had to read was super interesting and chock-full-of great information. But honestly learning a new legal system is like learning a new language. Tough and tedious.
That Friday, we had been promised an excursion with our Common Law class to London. So, for about the 4893th time, we board a bus to London with our professor Ben McFarlane. Let me just put my two cents in about this guy. He is awesome. And he is a prodigy. What a great experience to be able to take a full course with such a legend! He's about 30 years old, but upon coming to the University as a student, he started studying law. Only 4 years later he is a Doctoral Fellow at Oxford (the youngest one EVER) and he is a Dean of the Oxford Law school. How awesome! .... As I digressed I will now resume. We get on a train to London where we take a tour of the Supreme Court and Parliament of London--both of which I've seen but never toured. It was also interesting to learn that the Supreme Court has only existed 3 years, and only since October have they had their own building. So new for an institution that seems so basic! I also learned that before three years ago, Great Britian used their legislature to produce "Lords" who would serve as Legal Law Lords to decide cases of strong importance. This creates a problem, however, because the same people elected to Parliament are deciding cases probably biased. Now, they have a separate entity that makes these decisions. While at Supreme Court, we also got to witness a case with real judges deciding a case about the embezzlement of 40 million pounds! (About 60 Million dollars)
Now lets move on to what you really want to hear about--the night in London. Ben McFarlane had taken us to do the two most obvious things related to the Legal System in Britain apart from meeting David Cameron, the Prime Minister of England. So..... We go see Legally Blonde at Picadilly Circus at the Savoy theatre. What a great show! If you know the story, you know what the musical will be like--but much better. It was SUCH an awesome show, and we had a great time getting to meet Dr. McFarlane more and meeting his wife. She is a barrister in England (the equivalent of a lawyer) and she showed us her little white curly wig she has to wear in court... It was a great trip..
The next day, I went with a group back to London to see Les Miserables also at Picadilly at the Queens Theatre, and we ate a wonderful meal of Hungarian food with a UGA Professor, Dr. Lira Rhodes. Finally, to end the weekend, Sunday we travelled to Bath, England to see a wonderful city full of suprises. For anyone who doesn't know the Roman Reference in England, it is tied at Bath where all religious Romans came to pay their respects to religion and spend sacred moments near the naturally hot springs. Built around this is Roman ruins of the temple, spa, and meeting rooms used by the Romans about 2000 years ago. Also in Bath is the Princess Diana fashion memorial and the Jane Austen house. Jane Austen based many of her stories in Bath, and the idea behind many of the buildings remaining are portrayed in many of her classics such as Pride and Prejudice. Finally, we obviously had to end the day by going to the usable Roman Baths, where we payed a fee to enjoy a whole day of Spa treatment and relaxation in Hot tubs, pools, and saunas. It was the great end to an absolutely wonderful weekend. Not only was the city beautiful with its towering cathedrals and beautiful ruins, but the food and spa scene was great! One of the best places I've been in the United Kingdom for sure.
So now its back to real life, but the last week of real life I'll face across the pond for a while. We have a debate at the end of the week on the Iraq War, and we have a discussion on Property Rights in Law on Thursday. Apart from that, we all want to see as much of Oxford and the surrounding areas as we can. Yesterday, my friend Emma and I spent all day on a bus tour, learning new facts about the city that we never knew. For example, we saw a small garage where a Mr. Morris used to build cars. It was always called "Morris's Garage." It later became known as MG, and the source of some of the world's most remarkable cars. We also spent lunchtime in the Harry Potter Great Hall, and found the Alice in Wonderland realities all throughout Christ Church College. Then, we spent about 30 minutes in a little store where a certain little girl always got her chocolates after a long day at Uni. Alice Liddell (presently known as Alice in Wonderland) was a real student at the University, and at this chocolate shop is now a store full of Alice goods, and is properly called Alice's Shop. For lunch that day, we ventured out about 8 miles to the English countryside where we ate at a restaurant called "Trout." It was one of the coolest dining experiences I've had yet, because it was literraly a whole in the wall on a small river. Very famously known, Trout had great seafood and a great atmosphere.
I'm so glad I got to spend the weekend around England instead of travelling far away. It made me really realize that alot of the world's treasures are just under our feet every day--Even in Georgia. Sometimes we spend too much time worrying about what we don't have or can't see, and we fail to realize what a wonderful place we live in and on. I hope after this trip I can go back to Georgia with a newfound appreciation for everything in my life and instead of worrying about when the next time I'm going to the Islands, spending that time seeing the beautiful Appalachian mountains and towering pine trees that surround me daily.
Thanks for reading this long, long account of my week. Hope it found you well.
Cheers Mates, Peace, Love and Harmony.
Andrew
