The weekend :)

6/4/13

Dear blog readers

   It’s Tuesday. I’m not sure what happened to this whole, “I’m going to write a detailed, descriptive, and intelligent post every day.” I think the problem has been a combination of mild laziness and mild forgetfulness. So, let’s go over my weekend, and Monday.

    On Saturday, the OSAP group went to Windsor Palace. We were leaving at nine, but I got up early to take photos of Christ Church Meadows and get a book from my library. Christ Church Meadows is a park open to the public, which is a five minute walk from my house. It’s technically part of Christ Church College grounds, but you can only see parts of the buildings from the park. Anyways, it’s not just a dinky little park with two slides and a swing set. It actually doesn’t have a slide or a swing set. It’s just a lot of paths that go through meadows and trees and by the Thames River. To run around the biggest loop is about a 12 minute run for me, if that’s any indication of its size. From this, I’m guessing it’s about a mile and ½ loop, but who knows. But the park is absolutely stunning, and has a field full of cows in the center. Ducks and geese are also a big part of the wildlife, and I’m keep seeing a deer hanging out with the cows. I’m not sure if the deer is tame or what, but it’s living the dream. It’s completely safe in the cow field, and it can eat their food. A lot of people do their homework there (not with the deer, but in the park), or have picnics when the weather is nice. But I got up early to take pictures, because when I run there, I always want a picture, but I’m running so I can’t take any. It was a big life problem.  So Saturday fixed my picture dilemma. I also petted a women’s dog there, and it sat on my foot. It was glorious. After that I successfully found my book at the library, and then hurried to the bus. The bus ride was about an hour, and I did a lot of staring out the window. The area surrounding Oxford is very pastoral, with rolling fields of greens and the like. Unfortunately, I also felt a little carsick. But I had a quick recovery once I got off the bus, and we made our way to the castle. The castle was not exactly what I envisioned. I guess I assumed it would be more chateaux than castle, more elegant than medieval.  But it was pretty medieval. Knights’ armor hung on many walls, along with a lot of swords and guns. Don’t get me wrong. The castle was still beautiful.  Beautiful, and ready to fight a small war with its wall displays.  After viewing the castle, Amanda and I walked down around the city. We ate, we shopped, and spent a lot of time in bookstores. After we all came back, I just worked on my reading for my upcoming paper.

            On Sunday, I went on a run with the Athletic Club. They were booking it, though, so I didn’t run with the main group for a very long time. I just kinda turned around after a certain point. After that I spent a large amount of the day in the Christ Church Park reading, and then came back to do some more reading. It was super exciting. But a good day.

       Monday brought library and tea. And I ran eight miles instead of the four I intended to do. I got a little lost at one point, but it was a good run. Well, I actually have to go and finish this paper which is due tomorrow, but more is to come!