Pick a number, or just…go to bed dirty.

wagamama
Originally uploaded by approximately_yes

The showers in my hall are interesting. They've got a dial on them with the numbers zero through nine, zero being the coldest and nine being scalding hot. It's convenient, like one of those sleep number mattresses. "What's your shower number?" I'm close to an eight.

Well, I've been cranking the darn shower to nine all night and the water's still "bloody cold." I want to wash all of the city gritty off of me, but I'm extremely tired. It's not as bad as spending a day in New York City, where you feel like you are coated in ketchup, cooties, illegal drugs, feces, and traces of 8.36 million people. No, I can venture about Oxford and not feel like I've been dunked in a fryer and sprayed with exhaust fumes (I can thank Smart Cars for that), but close.

Hygiene aside, allow me to relay the best thing of the best things to happen today: booking a trip to Ireland. Two friends and I got all of the details and reservations worked out, and we will be spending Easter in the Emerald Isle! Now I sit back and wait for 09 April to arrive. Interestingly enough we are taking four (FOUR) modes of transportation to get there and back:

• Leave morning of 09 Apr from Oxford by train to Holyhead, Wales
• Ferry across channel to Dublin
• Depart Dublin for 3-day tour of Northern Ireland via coach
• Dublin to Derry
• Derry to Belfast
• Belfast to Dublin
• Fly out of Dublin to London on 13 Apr
• London to Oxford via bus


Our Ferry route is the green line.

We are "roughing it" in hostels and taking just carry on luggage, so it's going to be an adventure, no doubt. I believe it will be exciting, and scary, and as one site says "fan-fecking-tastic." Ireland will be gorgeous.

Other than that, the days events were relatively dry. I never made it to Jericho (want to set aside a whole afternoon for that) but managed to have dinner at said noodle restaurant, a trendy place called Wagamama. They are hot in the U.K., as I checked out all the locations on their website and found they dominate this area. Not certain if there are any in the U.S.? In any case it was delicious and frrrrrriendly. As in, everything was so streamlined and sleek, every bit of the restaurant's identity was well-designed, from menu to interior, even the high chairs were mod. The vegetarian options were well mapped out, and I accompanied my meal with a fruit juice drink that the menu boasted would "clean out my system."

Speaking of food (which seems is one of the main topics in every single post. What can I say, I'm a connoisseur) I must admit, I was pretty skeptical of how things would go over here with the whole veggie thing. Okay, yes I know that there are vegetarians EVERYWHERE, and that they are not some endangered species that must scrounge the depths of a Pita Pit dumpster to find something to eat. But I wasn't certain what would be readily available to me, as I didn't want to be eating noodles and sauce or worse (better), chocolate and hamburger buns for every meal. The dining hall offers a veggie option at each meal, which is a godsend. It's unfortunate however that the food is awful. Bland, colorless, and questionable. I believe someone around here has an Oxford degree in Leftover Reprocessing, terrible as it sounds. I counted pieces from about five different meals in a hotdish I had for lunch.

One of the things I miss the most right now is ice. As in, the little cubes served in a beverage. Room temperature water is fine and all, but I can't believe I took all of that frozen h2o for granted when I was home. I heard that Minot got hit pretty well with a blizzard or somesuch, well — send some of that snow my way. I will toss it in my drink.

Looking for some dessert after din at Wagamama, I stumbled upon an uber (does anyone use this word anymore? Please respond) cool ice cream shop. It's not legendary by any means, but it's three locations are well-known in Oxford: George & Danver's (where I went first) with exceptional 'Hokey Pokey' ice cream; George & Davis', conveniently located right next door to the University of Oxford's admissions building, that has excellent cookies; and another in Jericho that I have not yet visited (I figured two in one night was quite enough).



Oh! But tomorrow will be exciting. I don't have lecture until 11:30, so I've got a morning adventure planned. I love getting up here in the a.m. and venturing out. Tomorrow I am going to grab a baguette and coffee, then dash into the city centre to visit the Gloucester Green market, an open-air market that runs every Wednesday with vendors selling fresh fruits, vegetables, odds and ends. I am also looking forward to Thursday at the Green, where there is a second-hand market. Right up my alley!

I found a really neat street this evening as well. It has a "Vintage American Clothing" store on it. I am wondering what the English consider "Vintage American Clothing." I peeked in the window, and it appears to be nothing like the pandemonium that was Unicorn. I am hoping to make it to this place, called 'Uncle Sam's', sometime tomorrow. Then again, I'll be here for about four and half more weeks, so I don't know why I insist on cramming all of this stuff in. I'm afraid I'll miss something, I suppose.



The plan is to head into London on Sunday, it appears that most of the group has found this an opportune day to do so as there is no lecture. I can hop the bus into the city and spend the entire day museum-ing (now a verb!), eating, exploring and taking the Tube about. On Saturday we are making a day trip to Stonehenge, Avebury and Salisbury. Whoo hoo! I love prehistoric rock monuments and charming English villages!! (I wouldn't know this because I've never experienced either, but I'm certain all will bring a smashing time.)

It's a quiet evening, and I'm going to bed smelly. Until tomorrow —

xx
jenny

PS: Seriously, North Dakota. Think about that ice. My address is:

j to the c (me)
Wycliffe Hall
52/54 Banbury Road
Oxford OX2 6PW