Friday, December 4th was absolutely glorious. I am still glowing with the recollection. Laura, Harman, Navjot, Jen, and I went to the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs. The day could not have been finer for the season, and the scenery could not have been more beautiful if it... well, for anything. The cliffs and the downs have such pleasing contours, and the clouds hung about in all the right places. I felt as if there was nothing and nowhere else on Earth where I would be happier in those minutes we spent there. All of us were happy, and we were all relaxed and taking it in in the most selfless way possible. Recalling my thoughts, I realize I was not worried of concerned about anything. Which is weird for me. There was not a single negative thought the entire time. "The stars all seemed to be aligned" -- listening to The Killers whilst writing this.
We returned to Brighton and dined at Fat Leo's, where the Italian food is genuine, and always a treat. I think it is my favorite so far, as it is delicious, fairly priced, and always staffed with good humor. Afterwards, I went to frisbee practice, which was wet, and slightly painful, but entirely worth it. I think the game was a personal best, although I had no idea whilst I was playing. I was too focused.
Today (Dec. 5th), we are on our way to Oxford, and then Stratford-Upon-Avon where we will see the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Arabian Nights. But, for now, we are on the bus.
** after this, I wrote a lot of stuff which I do not agree with now. One of them being, "I love all the imperfect because anyone who values only perfection must always be bitterly disppointed and angry"... Okay, so, Hannah-Past, take this into consideration: if Gaudi had not been so intent on perfecting his work, had he not been dissatisfied with his own designs and executions of those designs, if he had happily said, "well, it's not perfect!" and laughed off his life's work, we wouldn't have the Sagrada Familia (or at least part of it), or all of his wonderful designs. We may not even have Darth Vader (since Lucas got the idea for Vader's helmet from one of Gaudi's chimneys, according to legend). Anyway, more about Gaudi later... I just wanted to put in the note there that what I write at the time, I don't always believe later. ** Anyway, moving on.
Oxford was interesting. I had venison at a little Thai restaurant So Young, Jisoo, Daye, Kyunghee, and I found wandering around the narrow Oxford streets. It was so spicy, but very delicious. And I was so happy to be eating spicy food, I didn't really care there were tears streaming down my face from the spice. We shopped at the famous Oxford market and I got some Christmas presents, and saw a dead deer hanging in the butcher's shop. Most of the girls were abhorred by the carcass, but I thought it was cool they were selling an entire deer, or at least displaying one. The deer was very small though, compared to Idaho standards, and at first I mistook it for a large goat.
Anyway, we walked all around Oxford and I got to hear the Oxford choir sing at University Church of St. Mary's, which was really cool. I got some video of it, I just have to find it. My videos and pictures are in terrible organizational disarray.
We walked around the Old Library, the outside, obviously, not inside... I saw some students entering it's bowels however, and I thought to myself, "How lucky they are! I would give anything to get my hands on some original publications." Oxford houses at least one copy of every book every published in the English Language. So naturally, the Old Library filled up, and now there are several libraries all over the place, of course. We also walked by the Thames, or a branch of it that runs through Oxford. I liked Oxford, except for the shopping district (which was LUDICROUSLY crowded), it was a nice quiet place. Very old, very quaint, and reminded me a lot of the first Harry Potter movies, and I'm sorry for the kind of mediocre reference, but the first Harry Potter movies have a lot of things in common with Oxford. The narrow streets, the weird places where there is total silence, then there is the leaning buildings, and the straight, flat lawns. The later Harry Potter films look like they were based in Scotland (and indeed they were). But the first two were DEFINITELY based at Oxford.
After wandering around, we got back on the bus and booked it to Stratford-Upon-Avon. We stayed at a delightful little B&B about 2km outside the actual city centre. As old as Oxford is, Stratford seems older. It's a very flat place. There are no hills to speak of. The trees are old, and Shakespeare is everywhere.
Anyway, after we got in from Oxford, we had a little free time before we went to the Courtyard Theatre to see Arabian Nights, so Apryl, Lauren, and I went to eat at the Golden Bee (or something "Bee") pre-show. We got a little bit lost on our way to the theatre, but found it in time.
Arabian Nights was a very interesting show. There was a lot of magic tricks involved. One of the most interesting things was the set. It was a white floor, with a circular, revolving sand pit, which had the awesome quality of being softly luminescent when lit with different lights, instead of a hard reflecting surface. The story was pretty simple: A king has lost faith in women and executes one in his village whenever he has time. One woman decides that the blood shed has gone far enough and requests to be the king's woman for the night (doomed to be beheaded), however, her stories are so good, he must postpone her execution until he is tired of her stories. Her stories are the main part of the play, with the king's story getting mixed up in the middle of it. One night, she runs out of stories, and the king must decide whether to kill her or not. Of course, he loves her and decides not to kill her, and they live happily ever after.
The puppets in the show were beautiful as well. The story was not complex or compelling (I think it's more like a children's play), but the sets were beautiful, the acting was good, and I had a good time overall.
The next morning, we had breakfast, and then I went out for a walk, because we weren't supposed to meet up before noon.
And I'm sorry, I wrote a huge description of Stratford, and my computer just deleted it. I'm going to go scream for a little bit and come back to you when I'm all calmed down.
ARGH!
Hannah
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