No happy time is really gone, if it leaves a special memory.

Well, the day has finally come. This is my last day here in Oxford.

On the one hand, I'm pretty sad to be leaving. Its just so nice being here... makes me feel QUITE scholarly :) The buildings are beautiful, the city is full of places to see, its so close to London, etc.

The reasons for wanting to stay go on and on.

On the other hand, I'm excited to be headed back to Moscow. Good food (sushi!), great prices, good friends, and good times.

All in all, I'm happy I applied to this program (haha, or rather "programme"). I've made some really good friends and had some great experiences.

So, in order to not waste the day, I've been pretty busy.

This morning, I was up at 8 to go down to the program office to print out my paper. After that, Sam and I headed over to breakfast.

Then I went back to my room, showered, and relaxed while waiting for 10:30 to roll around. During the tea/coffee break, they handed out our tshirts. Very cute:


This is the back
This is the front.

I went back up to my room after that to grab my purse before heading out. As I left, I heard organ music coming from the chapel (which is almost never open when I walk by). So I stuck my head in. It was the organist practicing but it was so beautiful!!!!

Inside the University College chapel
My first stop was Christ's Church college. This is where they filmed scenes for Harry Potter!! This is the dining hall (where they filmed) from the outside. Its the huge, castle looking thing.
Christ's Church
Inside the dining hall... not the best picture...
Stairs used for Harry Potter
Me in the quad... I'm getting pretty good at these self portraits :)
Inside the Christ's Church Cathedral. So amazing to think that this could be on your school's campus...
Also inside the Cathedral
Norman monument... its a medieval knight with the Norman family crest... Apparently he was very large for his time because he was 6 feet tall...
"Fear God. Love the Brotherhood. Honor the King"
Cool pews
Random but pretty
After my visit, I walked down cornmarket street (the main pedestrian street) and saw this guy. His sign says "need money... for new instrument?" and he plays beer bottles by blowing into them. He's actually surprisingly good...
Ah yes, the shoes. Ashley, thank you for reminding me! These are the shoes I bought in Edinburgh... I like them, even though they are not the kind of style I would usually buy. They were really comfortable and strong so my back didn't hurt after walking around all day in them. I call that a success!!!

Well, thats it for now. We're having our farewell banquet tonight for everyone leaving tomorrow. I'll probably have some pictures from that to post later tonight. I think we'll probably all go out after that... I'm literally down to my last few items of clothing so I hope its not somewhere really smoke filled!!!

Tomorrow my flight leaves at 11 am... and gets into to Moscow at 5:35 pm... sounds like a lot but there is a three hour time difference. The only part that sucks is that I have to leave Oxford at about 6:30... So I have to see what the bus schedule is like. I may have to leave as early as six. Sigh!

"Power seldom grows old at court"

Today was also a very intersting class experience.

Although not quite as interesting as prison was!

We went and visited the Oxford "Crown" court. This is a step above the "Magistrate's" court and would be like I guess our circuit courts?

When we arrived, we had a meeting with three judges. I never learned the names of two but the most important one was Judge Morton Jack. (yes, that is his REAL name)

He was absolutely the epitome of a British judge. He was dry, old and yet, so funny.

They explained to us about the system and then opened up the floor for questions. We again asked about the death penalty. They were all very opposed to it and said that if they were sitting on a case where the death penalty was an option, they would have to step down because they couldn't be unbiased.

After that, they told us about their cases for today. One was deciding family court (which is held in closed chambers in England), one was deciding a very technical ("and boring") case, and Morton Jack was dealing with "a very boring case between what is essentially two rival drug dealers. its all quite tame. kidnapping, battery, extortion".

Naturally, we decided to sit in on his case.

We were thinking to ourselves, "this sounds amazing! how can it be boring?!"

Well, it most certainly can be.

In England, they have soliciters and baristers. The baristers are like our lawyers. They do all the talking while the soliciters do all the research for the case.

These baristers were horrendous. The defense spoke so... slowly... and... dragged... out... his... sentences...

ridiculous

And the prosecutor seemed totally unprepared.

There was one really funny/awful moment when the defense asked the police man to verify that those were his notes (as they had been called by the prosecutor) and he looked and said "no".

Talk about a HUGE mistake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After we left, we all went to the covered market for sandwiches. Its a huge complex with all sorts of shops so we split up. Those fools! I found the most delicious little Italian deli and got a sandwich of salami, prosciutto and fresh mozarella for... 3 pounds.

I know, amazing!

I got home, ate my lunch and took a nap. Then got started on finishing up my paper.

We also had a barbeque with the SMU law students... but they pretty much kept to themselves. So we did too. Anyway, it was nice to sit and talk although we were all talking about how we needed to do our papers!

Tomorrow all I have to do is print mine out, then I'm done!

So far, my plan for tomorrow is:

- wake up kind of early so that I can beat the rush to the printers
- eat breakfast
- shower
- go to our tea break (which is funny because we don't have class) and get my t-shirt from the program
- pack my suitcases
- go to Christ Church college to see the Harry Potter stuff
- relax/pack
- get dinner with the girls.

"You get ten years for stealing bread in the US. I'm never going there!"

Wednesday was a very interesting day, class-wise.

Instead of our usual classroom discussions... we went to prison.

HMP Grendon Prison to be exact.

This a special prison, class B (so high security) where inmates apply to be assigned. This is where they come to work out their own issues through therapy to figure out why it is they have done these crimes and how to avoid it in the future.

Many of them have had rough childhoods and other issues that made it impossible for them to live normally.

We arrived at around 10. We were greated with drug smelling dogs and searches. Then we entered the building and walked down a really long hallway to a room where we were going to meet some of the prisoners and have a question and answer session. As we were walking, I was looking around and was surprised by the prison itself. There were paintings on the walls andn things like that... not at all what I expected. Also, the rooms for prisoners have doors, not bars. Also unexpected.

While we walked, I noticed people just walking around in jeans and tshirts. I thought these must be staff.

So we sat down in the room and six men came in and sat with us. One sat right next to me. Again, because of the way they were dressed, I thought they must be some kind of guards because I'd seen them out in the hall.

... and then they started introducing themselves.

That guy next to me?

Oh, just serving life for murder.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was shocked.

They were out in the hall! Unescorted!!!!

Anyway, after getting over the initial shock, we had a really great conference with them. They were very open about their crimes and about the help they are receiving here.

They were very interested in the United States system. The above quote was from one of the prisoners... very funny!

I asked them, since we were on the subject of the US, how they felt about our death penalty since there is no death penalty here. I was especially interested because there were two murderers with us, one white and one black. And while I'm not trying to be racist, its almost guaranteed that at least one of them would have received the death penalty. He is black, young, and poor. That right there is three out of four! We just went over the statistics. If he had a court appointed lawyer too, then he would definately have been sentenced to death row.

They were all against it. Their argument was, how do we know that people are totally sick? That they can't be reformed?

It was really interesting.

After that, they had their hour of exercise so we had a tour given by the head psychologist. Then we ate our sandwiches that we had brought with the rest of the psychologists where we were able to ask them questions and talk amongst ourselves.

All in all, it was a really incredible visit. And it really changed my view of prison. Our group consisted of 12 girls and one guy. And yet, there weren't any cat calls and everyone was very polite.

Incredible.

"London is the epitome of our times, and the Rome of today."

On Tuesday, some members of our group headed into London to see Dame Judy Dench in her new play, "Hay Fever". It was absolutely ridiculous but funny and entertaining! I would definately recommend it!

We all arrived in London seperately and met at the theater at 7 for our 7:45 show. Sam, Katie and I took the train with some other people.

No matter how many times I go to the train station, I will forever find this shop strange. Coffee and Pasta? Are they serious?
Katie and Sam on the Train
Me on the train
SLOUGH!!!!!!!!! If you have seen the British verison of the office, this is where it is set. If you haven't seen it... WATCH IT IMMEDIATELY. Its so funny... so funny.
Me at the Harry Potter "Platform 9 3/4"...
Big Ben with the London Eye in the background. I love this picture! It feels so "London"
We arrived at Westminster Abbey to find... it was closed. For some crazy reason, it closes at 3:45 every day except Wednesday. When its open until 7. So strange.
Westminster Abbey from the front
Me and Westminster :)
Me in front of the gardens across from Buckingham Palace. (I swear I don't usually look so pale! But I've been wearing so much sunscreen so as to not burn!!!!! The sun is surprisingly intense here)
Me in front of the pillar proclaiming South Africa as part of the British Empire. They are really big on putting reminders of their former colonies all over the place... I feel like, if I were the queen, I would find it depressing to look out at what I WOULD have ruled over if I had been born earlier... but hey, thats just me.
Statue about victory? Charlotte, maybe you can help me out with this?
St. James Park
Buckingham Palace (I couldn't get a straight on picture because the sun INSISTED on being behind it...)
Me at the Hard Rock... I realize now why mom and dad refused to let us go to Hard Rock cafe's in cities when we would visit them... its crowded, boring and the food actually isn't that great.
Katie and her friend Elizabeth who is here in London for two weeks
Me (looking exhausted) and Sam at dinner
Bryony, me and Katie in the theater... we got yelled at for taking this picture... but it was worth it :)
Play!
escalator fun!
on the tube!!! (forgot name), Laura and Katie
Me and Alyssa on the tub

"Barcelona Spain is habit forming"

Ok, time for the LONG delayed post about Barcelona!

I left Oxford with Adam, Scott, Rick and Garrett at around 1145. We took the bus to Stansted... a trip that was supposed to take three hours and ended up taking four because of traffic. It wasn't too bad though since we had each other to talk to and since we got to the airport with plenty of time for our flight, we were pretty pleased.

The flight was really smooth and took a little less than two hours. When we arrived, I was a little worried because Leeza hadn't answered any of my text messages... so I didn't know if she was coming or not to the airport AND I didn't know where her apartment was! Anyway, just as I started to panic, we walked out of the baggage claim and there she was, waiting.

It was so fantastic to see her again and when we started talking it was like we'd seen each other yesterday... instead of two years ago!

We said goodbye to the boys and headed to her apartment on the airport bus. She actually lives really close to the first stop so it wasn't a long ride at all. Her apartment is so cute! She has two "flatmates" and actually has a really nice room. Unfortunately, her apartment is on the sixth (!!!) floor and is not airconditioned so it was quite a hike. She does have nice views of the city though, so I guess its worth it.

Barcelona was a great city; actually it reminded me a lot of Greece. Similar people, similar things... it was kind of comforting actually.

She took me around to all sorts of different sites and we had some really great food. We decided to splurge a bit (haha, "splurge" doesn't have quite the same meaning in Spain as it would in England... we had been eating 2-4 euro lunches and dinners... so we decided to spend 20 one night on a nice tapas meal... in England that would buy you... maybe some bread? Ok, I'm exaggerating but still!) for dinner one night. We went to this fantastic little tapas restaurant... the food was simple but delicious. We ordered fried camembert, a tasty goat cheese and tomato salad, kalamata olives, shrimp rolls, and "patatas bravas" which are potatoes in a spicy sauce. It was soooooooooo good and it felt amazing to have good food after England!

When I left Barcelona was when the only negativity happened... my flight to London was delayed FIVE HOURS. And the Barcelona National airport is not exactly a hopping place to be stuck. There was very little food available and almost no foreign reading material. So since I don't speak Spanish, I didn't have much to do. Apparently, there was a problem with our Easyjet crew... so the flight to Dublin from Barcelona ended up having to double back and pick us up.

I started to get nervous though because I had planned on arriving in London at around 9 (since the flight was originally scheduled for 6:45) which gives me plenty of time to take the bus back to Oxford (because the bus runs hourly). But we left at around 11 pm Barcelona time. That meant that I might not make the 1:05 am bus to Oxford. And if I missed that, I would end up waiting around for the 3:05 bus, which meant I wouldn't arrive in Oxford until close to 5:30 am.

Luckily, we arrived at Gatwick Airport at 12:20 London time. that gave me forty minutes to hustle through the airport, passport control, baggage claim, and then find my way to the coach station... my bag was the first one out, there were only three other people who weren't EU citizens on my flight so we had almost zero wait time at passport control, I RAN through the airport (actually jumped over a bag at one point), and by some miracle came running out and found myself at the coach station. So I made it onto the 1:05 bus and was back at Oxford by 3.

And then the next morning was in class at 9 am. :)

Here are some pictures of Barcelona. I had heard that the architecture was absolutely stunning... so I was expecting more of a St. Petersburg beauty than the strange things I found...

At the Stansted Airport security line... apparently little tiny plastic forks (the dark blue) are extremely dangerous... maybe to fries...
Leeza and I at the Barcelona Airport
Leeza's apartment building... yes, it IS green... and yes, those ARE shamrocks. Go figure.
The hideous stairs we had to walk six flights up
View of the city from her window
Me in front of Catalunya Square where we spent most of our time. Its really central and a huge tourist destination on the metro because you can walk to all the sites from here.
This is the local city hall... I thought it was a very important looking building
Me and Leeza, out on the town
See what I mean by strange? This is by Antoni Gaudi. Its called the "Casa Batllo" and is designed after St. George and the Dragon. The terraces are skulls and the roof has ridges like a spine of the dead dragon. On the top there is a cross signifying St. George. Really strange to think people used to live in this...
Skull terraces
Me sitting on a bench in the city... this is the kind of thing I find really nice to see in a city... makes it feel more quaint
"La Pedrera" which Leeza tells me means "The Rock". It looks like the ocean and even has shells on the roof. This is another odd site in Barcelona. Inside they have it outfitted as if the people still lived there... so the 19th century clothing seems to clash with the ocean design.
The Sagrada Familia. This was Antoni Gaudi's last work and he never finished it. They hope to have it finished and open by 2007 I think. The scale of this place is amazing. I couldn't even get it all on camera!!!
What I really liked was the differences. I'm so used to thinking of churches as being symetrical... like in Italy. But this one has mismatched sides (this being the right side... looking very modern) and also the front and back are totally different. The front is very normal looking while the back... well, you'll see.
Here's is the left side... totally different!

This is the back side... it almost looks like it was made out of wax and then melted.
Leeza in front of the church while we sat at a cafe for a water break.
Me at the cafe
Why do I feel like every site I've gone to has scaffolding over it?
Leeza at our tapas dinner
Me at the same dinner... imagine that...
Our metro stop.
I have no idea.
GUIDO the shopping center. Too bad they were closed, maybe I could have gotten a discount?
This we never figured out. Its at the huge circle at the end of Leeza's street. At night, there is a flame at the top... which caused Leeza to INSIST on singing "eternal flame" every time we walked by... very annoying because it is very catchy.
Barcelona's war museum is on the hill... as a city, they have decided to embrace peace so they are turning it into a peace museum.
This is an old bull fighting stadium. Again, because of the peace initiative, they are turning it into an exercize arena.