Edinburgh Castle and Other Fun Things I Did With Lydia

Ok, back to the pictures. Phew!

This weekend Lexi and I went to Edinburgh and stayed with the lovely Lydia Bremer from Friday-Tuesday. We went out to a cute pizza restaurant. Mary Neely was also there. Here's Lydia smelling the wine the proper way, one nostril at a time?


After dinner, we met up with Lydia's friends in an Irish pub. Yeah, an Irish pub...in Scotland. Lexi got her first Guiness and this lovely Irish friend of Lydia's taught her how to wait for it to settle properly and also how to get a beer foam mustache and look ridiculous.


At breakfast the next morning. Lydia got a yummy scone and I got the piece of lemon cake on the tray there which was totally delicious! Perfect fuel for the castle.


If you can't read the inscription, I'll just tell you that's Hume. Yeah, I know. Super exciting!


The Royal Mile, home of David Hume and other less exciting statues like Adam Smith (whatever)



Lydia and me! View from the castle:

Low Defences too low for Lydia:


Who are those people in those awkward cubbies on either side of this gate? Maybe Lydia and Lexi but it's unclear...


Who are those totally disrespectful tourists in the war museum? Definitely not Lexi and Lydia again...

Saint Margaret's Cathedral is the oldest surviving portion of Edinburgh Castle. This picture sort of makes it look big but actually it's really tiny.


We had to wait for this really tacky wedding to be over to go in. Check out the bridesmaid dresses?


Who's that person in that thing behind the lion? Definitely Lydia.


On the way to the Scottish crown jewels, there were lots of displays about Scottish royalty. This one king was winking, lol.


Model of baby Mary Queen of Scots:


Lexi and Lydia in a Scottish prison cell in Edinburgh castle. Sleepy criminals.


It cost 11 pounds to go in but the Castle actually contains several museums and we definitely got our money's worth. We spent over three hours seeing everything! After that, we pretty much exhausted our touristy-ness for the day. More Edinburgh pictures to come.

Papers, that other thing I do at Oxford

I've been informed my blog reads like I'm on vacation, which isn't surprising since I never post anything about my tutorials or work. I've been thinking a lot about it though and some of you might actually be interested in my papers, at least when I tell you that they have recently involved a lot of talk about ejaculation and mimicking anal rape on stage. Catch your interest? Read on! If not, just wait for more pictures ;)

Here are the titles of all the papers I've written for Absurdist British Theater so far:

Week 1: Mark My Words: Unstable Terms for Ambiguous Relationships in Two Harold Pinter Plays

Week 2: Two Umbrellas in the Desert: The Betrayal of Inaction in Three Harold Pinter Plays

Week 3: Between Science and Storytelling: Blurring the Lines Between Rational and Romantic in Arcadia

Week 4: I am, I am not: Abstraction and the Search for Self in Three Sarah Kane Plays

Week 5: Spitting, Spewing, Swallowing: The Insatiable Mouth of Desire in Three Steven Berkoff Plays

Week 6: You Play Like a Girl: Exploring Dealer’s Choice with an All-Female Cast

(Just 2 more to go!)

Ok, so I have to read my papers aloud one-on-one with my tutor, and some of these topics make that a tad awkward. So let's just say Oxford has taught me how to talk about oral sex, ejaculation and anal rape in the most delicate ways possible. That's right, I had intelligent things to say on all these topics as they relate to contemporary British theater.

Here are some quotes. Just imagine me saying them out loud, and you'll be entertained:

The confusion between sex and love becomes more pronounced as “I fucking miss you” gets transformed into “I miss fucking you”

Mike also likens his “juices” to “the honey from the little wasps of Lesbos that only live a day,” and Sylv’s “arse” to “Bertorelli’s ice cream” (17).

despite Mike’s crudeness—“‘open them [knees] thou bitch before I ram a knuckle sandwich in thy painted boat”’—she misses him and misses sex (11, 12).

When Helen “gobbles the waiter,” sexual and edible metaphor become so layered they are inseparable wherein the waiter bearing breakfast on a tray becomes a sexual object she “gobbles,” literally swallowing his semen like food (19).

References to masturbation and castration further emphasize the men’s anxieties about their ability to be productive and successful sexually and financially. Ash (Tom Georgeson) tells Carl to own up for as “the sad sorry little prick you are for spunking all this money,” but no equally demeaning phrase seems to exist for women.

Switching the genders also complicates the moment where Frankie pretends to sodomize Mugsy and give him HIV (15). Not only does the act lose the touch of humor it has in the original as women are at much higher risk of sexual harassment and rape, but women miming anal sex does not have quite the same effect as men, since women lack the phallus necessary to perform the act.

Bath! (No nudes, sorry)

The day started like this:


It was very early in the morning and we were very confused. We missed 2 trains we paid for and took 3 we didn't but we finally made it to Bath in the end.

When we got there, we met up with the rest of the IFSA group and took a bus tour of the city. Unfortunately, everything exciting was on the left of the bus and we were sitting on the right. Here's a picture of Bath Abbey, off the bus at last.


Here I am frolicking in front of the Royal Crescent! The sun was out briefly which was very exciting. It's a series of (famous) connected 18th century townhouses. Apparently my grandmother knows someone who LIVED in this thing. Badassery!


IFSA took us to the Roman baths for free (AKA we paid for it awhile ago so it felt free now). Here I am with Alexis and Lexi and some Roman statue dude.


Obligatory failed myspace group photo at the Roman baths:


Grace and me at the Roman baths. The water is basically a steaming cesspool now so no touching!


Very old masonry. Crazy, crazy old.


Bath is also famous for being somewhere Jane Austen didn't like very much. There's a whole museum about it. Definitely a must see.


Here we are with a jolly fellow in period dress. Left to right: Grace, Me, Jolly Fellow, Lexi

Inside, we met Jane Austen, minus a face. None of the mannequins had faces and they had stockings on their heads sometimes which was creepy.


Fan speak was all the rage for ladies of Jane Austen's day. This is how to say "Do not forget me."


The gravel walk in Persuasion is located in bath. Lexi declared her eternal love for me, just like in the book!

Steps picture in the park:


We found duckies in the park which always makes me happy.


More frolicking! I'm becoming quite the expert.


On the way back, we didn't mess up the trains so we got home around 6. We got Hassan's (cart food, cheese and chips yummm) and then I basically crashed and went to bed after the long long day.

Tomorrow I am headed to Edinburgh for the weekend with Lexi. We will be there staying with Lydia until Tuesday so I will definitely have to get some reading done there! Hopefully there will also be plenty of time for adventures.

Out on the Town

I have collected a number eating/drinking pictures over the course of the term, which are kind of nonevent events, if you will so I decided to compile them all in one post!

Here's Emily and Charlie at hall at Jesus College where Lexi and I went on a lovely Monday evening.


Sunday night out for delicious Indian food on Cowley Road. Left to Right: Mike CK, Erin Horan, Drew, Andrea, Andrew. The restaurant was very...blue. The flash made the lighting look weird, but actually it was weird already.



Mike Yohai and me. Something worth smiling about.



One night, Alexis and Grace and I went out for drinks when everyone else was going to a club or something and we wanted to have a chill night. Grace suggested we go to Chequers which I think is so far still my favorite pub.

Oh yeah, and did I mention Sir Francis? He was there too. He's Alexis's gnome. Can you spot him in this picture?



Hey Sir Francis, little buddy...


After Chequers closed at 11pm, we headed over to the King's Arms for some warm winter Pimm's. It's not uncommon for pubs to close that early. I don't think there's a pub in Oxford open past 12:30am.

Oh yeah, and at King's Arms we met up with Sensible Dave. Sensible Dave is appropriately named, let me assure you. In fact, he has an entire facebook app dedicated to him which gives you sensible advice! Check it out if you're interested.



Another night, actually the night after Lexi and my epic walk through University Parks, we decided to go out for drinks at the Eagle and Child famous for its writerly clientele. Left to right: Alexis, Lexi, Erin, Jarad, Drew and two people talking who I don't know...


Why the Eagle and Child pub is famous:


Despite it's cool connections, the Eagle and Child is often too crowded and doesn't actually serve half the things on its drink menu making it difficult to find something you want. If you like beer or cider you'll have no problem getting a pint. Just order what's on tap and don't try anything fancy.

Here's Drew, Mike, Lexi and Me nestled in a corner. You can see Mike has a notebook and a book with him as if he was going to get some work done or something. I have no idea what made him think that. I also do not know why he is pointing at the camera and making that ridiculous face.


One of Mike's many attempts to use his philosophy book to create interesting framing and get an artsy picture:



After some people left to go to a club, my camera was sitting at an empty table. These people thought I'd abandoned it for good and decided to leave me this hilarious picture:


This week (that's right, folks, this was only FOUR DAYS AGO!) it was Alexis's birthday. Well actually it was the day after her birthday but anyway, we decided to go to a wine tasting. It was really intense because they are preparing for a competition. At the end, we all got to pick our favorite of the wines and finish of the bottles. I picked a Pinot Noir.


Here's the birthday girl with the pint I bought for her!


After wine tasting we met up with more party people for drinks at the Turf. The Turf is famous because it is the pub where Bill Clinton "did not inhale." Here's Grace and Me celebrating this fact:


Sensible Dave and Andrea looking tough.


Roommate picture!!

This is the last picture I took that night. We were on our way to a club called The Bridge and it was snowing.


After this moment, everything went kind of downhill. My wallet was stolen at the club and I had to call the bank half drunk and cancel my debit card and order a new license and so on. I felt terrible, but it's all part of the experience right?

Anyway, now we are pretty much up to date. Yesterday I spent the entire day in Bath. Pictures forthcoming.

Touring Oxford Continues: A brief foray into Jericho and University Parks

One of the London IFSA coordinators named Andrew came down to give his own special tour of Oxford for anyone interested. We went around less familiar parts of Oxford, mostly checking out Jericho for the first time which used to be a sketchy neighborhood but is now rather gentrified and "cool," full of student housing, cheap eats and used bookstores. (Also Charlie lives there.) Jericho got its name because it is outside the old Oxford city walls.

Here's Lexi walking by Keble College:


Oxford's version of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice. This isn't in Jericho at all...more towards the center of town:

These twin towers apparently inspired Tolkien's Two Towers in Lord of the Rings.


This is where Sir Haley discovered Haley's Comet! In his own personal observatory at the top of his house.


This is the back of Christchurch College.


Me at the Rhodes House. This is where the Rhodes scholars hang out!! I look natural, right??



Last Friday (we are getting more and more up to date, finally!) Lexi and i went on a tour of the University Parks...and by tour I mean just us wandering around, haha. Here's a map of the parks:


We entered from South Parks Road and went across the parks and then up by the pond and over to Lady Margaret Hall where Mike goes. Here's Lexi, happy to be out and about in the parks. It was a pretty warm and sunny afternoon too which is rare for Oxford so we picked a good day to go.



The first of a long series of Katie and/or Lexi on a bridge picture.



Duckies!


Sun going down which still happens very early.


Lady Margaret Hall:


Here's me crossing over into what I later found out are the LMH faculty gardens AKA we were definitely not supposed to be in there. Lexi had a feeling we shouldn't be there but I stand by if there are no signs anywhere than I can't be blamed!


Mike showing us his sweet pad at LMH.


After LMH, the three of us decided to explore some other nearby colleges. Lexi is trying to see as many Oxford colleges as possible. So here's Mike and Lexi at some other college. Saint Anne's maybe? This is the problem when you don't keep up with the blog!!


Maybe we were at Saint Hughes? Here's Lexi with a cool tree!


Mike investigating a cool rock:


Here's a cool picture of Lexi and Mike walking back down to the center of town.


Cool, cool, cool.