The second half of this past week was much better than the first half. Wednesday night, we saw Troilus and Cressida at the Globe, and we got to stand in the pit. Three hours is a long time to be standing, and it was pretty cold right under the open roof, but I thought it was great. I was trying to imagine myself as a lowly peasant in Elizabethan England, and how this would have been the primary source of entertainment. Shakespeare's plays are so amazing to see being performed. I remember being in high school and having to read the plays, and while I enjoyed them because I'm a huge nerd, other students didn't really like them. There's something about hearing the lines being spoken in an active context that just makes the plays that much more interesting.
Thursday was my busy day of classes, and Friday I went on a field trip with the neuroscience class (I'm not actually IN the neuroscience class, I just wanted to come along for the ride) to OXFORD! What an amazing town. The whole place is built upon the premise of academic pursuits, which sounds perfect to someone like me. We went on a 2 hour walking tour of the city, and our tour guide was affiliated with one of the colleges of Oxford University, so she new a lot about the academic side of the city. We got to go into all these college quads and dining halls... it was spectacular. I certainly wouldn't mind doing some post-graduate study or even teaching at Oxford, and the tour guide said that a lot of Americans come to Oxford for those things. While in Oxford, I lunched at a pub called The Eagle and Child, where J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis used to drink and discuss their work. They left notes written on the wall in the Rabbit Room, clearly in various states of intoxication. I definitely got a sense of history just sitting there. It was so atmospheric in that pub, and thankfully there weren't too many tourists. I had a steak and ale pie and it was incredible. Also in Oxford, I explored Blackwell's, which is a book shop that caters mostly to students. Their underground room is apparently the largest room of books for sale in the UK! There were so many sections... History, Biology, Metaphysics. Super cool.
Saturday I mostly bummed around and tried to start this paper for my Black Atlantic class. Midway through I decided to hit up the shopping district in Oxford Circus. It WAS A CIRCUS. Saturday is apparently a big shopping day here, and there were a surprising number of tourists for it being so late in September. I checked out the major stores, H&M and Urban Outfitters, but didn't find anything phenomenal. I then ducked into a little hole-in-the-wall store and found the COOLEST faux-leather jacket. It was pretty inexpensive, and most Londoners have some variation of this jacket, so I felt justified. Don't want to look like a turista, right?
Saturday night I went out with some Oberlin friends. My flat-mates had a "cocktail party" here, but I had already made plans. We met up for a drink at the Oberlin flat and went to this bar/club called The Den in SoHo. There was a pretty ridiculous cover-charge, but once we got in we stayed until around 2am, so I think it was worth it. I still have yet to figure out the club scene, because it seems like most places I go on the weekend I'm the youngest person there. Not that these clubs are packed with old guys, just that they're all late-twenties, early-thirties. Where are all the students?! It was a fun night, though. Pretty low-key, except for the married guy that kept pestering me and my friends!
Tomorrow I don't have class, so I'm thinking of making a day of museums and hitting up the Tate Modern, which I haven't been to yet! Gotta love the free admission to all these amazing museums!
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