Disc-ing, Raining, Pudding, and Barista-ing

Whoops. Once again essays/sickness take priority over blog. I am still alive, relatives. Bonus: More to write about!

Wellcommeeee to rainy season in England! Characterized by the high correlation between me jumping on my bike or going running and me returning completely drenched (EVERY TIME). It has rained undoubtedly every day last week. Forecast tomorrow: Guess. The best way to describe it is no matter what kind of sky you look up at when you set foot outside your door, 10 minutes later it could be raining. Hanging laundry outside (it's sunny! it'll be fineee) has not been going well.

On the bright side, this has given me an excuse to buy a trench coat! I've always wanted one.

The usual seen-and-heard-around-Oxford

Tourist season is coming. TOURIST SEASON IS COMING. [[Star Wars Darth Vader theme music]]
I've never lived in such a small city that is quite such a large tourist attraction. This means that our lovely campus and streets are now increasingly swamped by random people taking pictures of the oddest things.   These awful tour guides lead them around, dressed as British guards (?) or as something else that looks old and British-y.  They try to sell their tours usually by referencing Harry Potter.  Harry Potter beats Newton and countless others in marketability. I'm resisting going on a rant about what this travesty says about mankind.

I do have to say, there is a certain coolness factor of strolling into the Bodleian Library while 3 or 4 tourist groups are snapping pictures of the building. Oxford student cards. They get you places.  Also I seemingly will be in many random family albums.

This also means that I may eventually be indicted for running one of these completely-unaware-of-everything-around-them tourists over with my bike. It's not my fault. I swear. They just stand there in the middle of the bike lane with their camera. If it's either them or a car, guess which one I'm choosing...

Food/Job News (interrelated topics, I swear) 

Black pudding, looking particularly turd-like.

I have now tried black pudding. Which may or may not be made of pig's blood. The worst part: I actually thought it was really, really good.  I'd totally have it again.

Also, I got a job! Part-time at a cafe here which serves amazing food AND above-normal-British-standard coffee (mainly why I chose the place, hah).  It is certainly a rarity among Oxford students.  It's not a 'thing' to have to work part-time here; I'd even border on saying that there's a bit of a social stigma to working a service job purely for cash, or at least an aversion to the idea.  I think I resisted getting a part-time serving job for most of this year for no other reason than it seemed like something you don't do at Oxford.

But, my Dutch-work-ethic psyche won over.  I have worked all my life while going to school.  I've never not earned my own way. I couldn't be more happy about caving and finding an income. I've only worked one shift so far but I've really, really enjoyed  it.  The staff is nice, it's busy and challenging, and I feel like I'm not constantly just putting myself more in the red.  Plus, I make a mean latte.

Frisbee Update (for those who care) (a.k.a. anyone outside of my immediate family... grumble)

Last week I played an Ultimate tournament for Dog Eat Disc (DED), the competitive mixed team I've been playing for. The competitive club scene in Britain Mixed consists of three main tournaments: Mixed Tour 1, 2, and 3. All the teams in the U.K. enter and are power-ranked into 'divisions' of 16; so the top 16 play each other, 16-32 play each other, and so on and so forth.  Around 45-50 teams are at each tournament, and where you place at the previous tournament determines where you're seeded at the next. DED went into this year ranked 4th overall in the U.K. Eek!

Last weekend at Mixed Tour 2, we were playing with 5 women. Traditionally, Mixed is played with 3 or 4 women on at a time. 5 women total = hardly any subs. SO tiring. Played 3 games on Saturday and went 2-1, and then pulled off an upset victory on Sunday with a brilliant win over the higher-ranked (and cow-print sporting) Thundering Herd.  Wooo!  Lost Game number 6 of the weekend for 3rd place by only one point. BUT since we finished 5th in MT1 and 4th in MT2, we've had more consistent finishes than any of the other teams except 1; so we're currently ranked 2nd overall in the U.K.!  Cool points.

It's really the first time I've played for such a high-level mixed team, and I'm really enjoying it.  It makes you focus in on your weaknesses and think about every move you make on the pitch (a.k.a. field in Britspeak). I'm also playing for a new competitive all-women's team in the coming months which we've been training for, and that should be really adrenaline-packed also. Yay.

In other sports news I'm also playing for the Hilda's co-ed rugby team this term! Hahahaha. Whenever I tell this to people, they seem to always remind me not to die, please.  Pshaw. I swear, no confidence.

Coming up: Brussels! (hopefully) Essays! (ongoing) Dissertation! (ditto) and Sun! (maybe..knock on wood.)

LP

Sipping Tea at Downton Abbey

Okay. Important first note.

Last weekend I went to Paris with a friend from home! It was amazing in the springtime! So green! We went to the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles and the Louvre and I went running every morning through this gorgeous park called Buttes Chaumont with this gigantic rock outcropping and moat and well-dressed old men running with scarves on (?). Also we ate crepes almost every day and I murdered a lot of French words (for instance Louvre is Louv-ra, kind of? Who knew? And why, oh why, do they just ignore last letters of words? This makes no sense).

I know Paris is enthralling and incredible and all. But the rest of this post is not about Paris. Sorry. More important things to discuss: DOWNTON ABBEY!

Oh you know, just sipping afternoon tea on the grounds.

Background for those who live under a rock.  Downton Abbey is this period drama set in the early 1900's in Britain. The pretense focuses on the Earl and Countess of Grandtham, who have three daughters but no son and therefore don't have a direct male heir to take over Downton; the next in line is a distant third cousin.  Predictably, drama ensues.

The show is filmed on location at Highclere Castle, the real-life seat of the Earl of Carnarvon.  The castle was open only for Easter holidays where presumably the family was on vacation and filming of DA had wrapped a few days prior. It was just a train and a short bus ride away.  Too tempting to pass up.

100% worth the trip. Things I learned at Downton/Highclere.

1.  THE ENTAIL IS REAL. Only male heirs can inherit Highclere Castle. The current 8th Earl of Carnarvon's oldest child is a female... and she gets jack-squat.  The heir presumptive is his second child, a 19-year-old male. I'm not saying we're trying to stalkishly track him down in the hopes of becoming a Countess. You didn't hear me say that.

In an interesting side note, the current Earl  (Oxford grad!) is also heir to the title of Earl of Pembroke and Earl of Montgomery, since those titles currently have no male heir and the Earl of Carnarvon is the 8th cousin. There are no male heirs in 7 iterations of cousins. And all these families are related. Geez.

2. THERE'S A REAL-LIFE MAGGIE SMITH.  So apparently the Dowager Countess of Carnarvon (Maggie Smith's role in the TV show) was among us on Monday when we visited. We just had no idea which one of the 300 other old people visiting she was.  300 old people and us. That's who visits historic castles.

One of two pictures I managed to sneak of the inside.
The main courtyard (across the way is
where Mary dragged the body of the Turkish guy....)

You walk into the castle right into the study where the Earl of Grandtham in Downton Abbey always is filmed in. The castle itself is this weird juxtaposition of ancient priceless paintings and portraits mixed with recent family photos; antique couches and lamps mixed with Patricia Cornwell books (the Countess has good taste) and hair brushes. The staff of Highclere Castle double as tour guides of sorts; they tell tidbits of what filming is like; showed us the chair that Maggie Smith gets to recline in when she gets tired.  A lot of the castle is left as-is for filming; the dining room is exactly the same, for instance.

None of the kitchen scenes are filmed on-location, although almost everything else is. The basement of the castle where the kitchen would be? A King Tut museum. Apparently the 5th Earl of  Carnarvon discovered King Tut's tomb. And then died after shaving a mosquito bite, perpetuating the rumor of the curse of the mummy.

In an interesting twist of events, apparently it is indeed quite expensive to upkeep a castle.  The whole third floor of Highclere (apparently, a bunch of bedrooms) was inaccessible because it needs to be renovated. Apparently the TV show came just in time to save the Castle from sliding too far into disrepair.

I was completely that tourist who asks a bajillion questions of the house staff. Other random facts:

• It was built by the same guy who designed the House of Parliament, which makes lots of sense if you look at it.
• It was indeed used as a wartime hospital.
• They had Napoleon's desk and the newspaper from the day that Edward abdicated the throne. Apparently (now queen) Elizabeth was pulled out of her elementary classroom at school to hear the news that she was in line to be queen. Kind of a big day for a 10-year-old. 
• You can hold your wedding there. Just saying. 

Now back to the grind of schoolwork.  This weekend is the big Oxford v. Cambridge boat race though, which will be a welcome break.

Cheerio!

Lisa