To be honest with you I was pretty excited to just stay in Oxford this past weekend rather than travel to another country. There were many groups of students that chose to go to Ireland and other places...but my roommate and I decided to stay in Oxford and see what this little town had to offer.
Friday:
It was so relaxing to just SLEEP IN!!! I'm not even kidding! The day before we had had class from 8:30 in the morning to 5:30 in the evening with lil mini breaks in between...I promise you I was dying. Slowly and painfully. haha We had to arrange classes that way because we were going to get all of Friday off. I've come to the conclusion that I CANNOT and WILL NOT sit in one place for that long EVER again. The only way I will be okay with that happening is if I'm held at gunpoint...then I guess I'll be okay with it (guess I wouldn't have a choice at that point haha). Imagine staring at formulas like: n= (t*s)/ME^2 OR t-calc=(xbar-null) / (s/sqrt(n)) for hours upon hours lol. Every now and then my teacher would crack a corny joke...and me being me...I would laugh entirely too hard. I went to sleep early Friday...and I had no shame about it. My roommate did too. It was great because I slept the night and following morning away haha :) Talk about beauty sleep!!
Saturday:
After sleeping in til almost 11am, my roommate and I walked like 2.5 miles to Oxford's downtown. The previous weekend we had been in France so it was cool to be able to see how Oxford was on the weekend. It was just like any other huge city's downtown: street vendors, performers, free giveaways, and promotional events. It was so fun! Although I didn't buy anything, we walked into virtually every store! I've found that I really love the European style! In Oxford, it seems like everyone is so fashionable...of course its just a norm for them! Downtown, they also had a covered market. It was in this covered market that we discovered a fruit that neither of us had ever seen...they were called
gooseberries!!! They looked like miniture watermelons/grapes and they were furry! The man selling them laughed at us as we gawked over the wierd looking fruit. "Why don't you just give them a try?" he called out to us...so we did!! They were so interesting. They were slightly crunchy and every bit sour, in my opinion. I didn't too much care for them...but Rachel seemed to enjoy them.
Later, we walked back to our house to change clothes and shoes before heading to the grocery store. We weren't sure when the grocery store closed...and we weren't so willing to just casually walk to the store (considering it is like for ever and many, many days to get to it!). We decided that we would ask someone along the way. We saw an old man on the way...so we decided to stop and ask him. He was standing outside of a restraunt and he didn't look very busy at all. As we stopped to ask him, he smiled at us (
what a friendly old man I thought). So after we ask him...I guess he wanted to "chat" :( First he grabbed both of our hands and asked us where we were from. haha...then he randomly says "EBONY AND IVORY!" haha My friend Rachel and I just stare at each other and tried to leave without being rude. After that awkward moment, he asks us what our names are. After I told him mine, he says : "Oh your name is just like a flower!!" Then he leans over and gives me a kiss on the cheek! GROSS! I don't care how old you are...that is NOT okay! Finally we were able to get away...but I have been scarred for life haha.
SundaySunday was pretty relaxed. For our marketing research project for Nielsen, we have to interview people and collect data related to fizzy drinks (soda). Rachel and I decided to head to the park because so many people hang out at the parks on the weekends. After interviewing many college students and families...we realized that we needed to interview older men. We approached two older men and proceeded with our :"Hey sorry to bother you...we were wondering if you would be willing to fill out a short survey for our class..." One of the men responded with an extra zealous, "BUT OF COURSE...COME OVER!!" He grabbed my survey and pulled out of his pocket this wierd stuff and plopped it on top of my precious survey.
"Where are you two from??" he asked us. "Oh, Texas..." I could tell something was up...I just pick on to things quickly...sometimes. "Oh, well I'm sure they have weed in Texas but nothing's better than Oxford weed!!"
SERIOUSLY???? WHY DO THESE THINGS SEEM TO HAPPEN TO ME?? haha I immediately made up a lie..."Uh, well, we have to get 60 more surveys within the next 30 minutes so we'll have to just come back!!!" We didn't even look back as we pretty much RAN away!!! How crazy is that???
What an interesting weekend we had in Oxford! Despite the creepy men...I'd say we had a pretty good time :)
My next post will be about SPAIN...woohhooooo We will be taking two trains and a plane to get to SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN :) Wish us luck.
~Jazz
