The Calm Before the Storm

Later in the break between Hilary and Trinity terms, I had the opportunity to go visit a friend from West Point who lives in Italy. He is posted at an Air Force base in northeast Italy, so we were able to visit Venice, Trieste, and Aviona while I was there. I really enjoyed Venice. I was pretty disappointed with the Bridge of Sighs (which the bridge in Oxford is modeled after), but was impressed with San Marco's Plaza, the Grand Canal, and the rest of the city. The narrow alley ways that wind through the city and the dozens of criss-crossing canals provided a feel truly unique to Venice. At some points my friend and I were the only two people in a long alley. A few minutes later we would emerge into a bustling square crowded with tourists, cafes, and street vendors.

The Rialto Bridge.

The view from St. Mark's Campanile (1514), about 323 feet above Venice.

One of dozens of mask shops scattered around the city.

The actual Bridge of Sighs. Biggest. Disappointment. Ever. But still cool to see in person.

Looking down on St. Mark's Clocktower and Piazza San Marco.

Andrew and I in the middle of the Piazzo San Marco.

Trieste was great too. The city's location on the coast very near the Slovenian border has had a profound influence on the cities culture. It is off the beaten path, so it had a truly Italian feel unadulterated by the tourism industry. It was also occupied by many different empires ranging from the Romans to Austro-Hungarians to Napoleon. This diverse history was showcased in the Castello di San Giusto, but was also evidenced throughout the town where modern buildings were sprinkled with Roman ruinss. The close proximity to the sea made seafood a staple in the diet. I experienced this when I ordered the "mixed grill" platter for lunch while we wandered through a boat show taking place along the wharf.

My lunch. Appetizing? I would list what everything is, but I have no idea what I was eating.

Roman ruins outside of the Castle of San Giusto.

I have been busy with Rotary as well. Aside from several more speaking engagements at various clubs, I also went to Ascot to watch some horse racing and Abingdon to race dragon boats.

The racetrack at Ascot was recently rebuilt into a massive and impressive sports venue. There were only about 19,000 people there when I went, but the Royal Ascot in July draws 80,000 people each day for an entire week! My initial strategy of betting on the underdog was thwarted after the first race when the colt I chose finished in last place...as expected. Thus I adopted a new approach of betting on the American-born horse. This method was more successful and when we reached the last race, I was up three or four pounds. The last race was more difficult however because there were three Americans in the pool. I decided to wager my winnings on Bomber Command, confident that the American origins and military name were a winning combination. It wasn't meant to be unfortunately as my horse finished with the other two Americans low (very low) in the standings. Despite this sudden stroke of bad luck, I enjoyed spending the afternoon at the races.

The scholars and our hosts from Rotary.

The Dragon Boat Races are Abingdon-Vesper Rotary Club's primary fundraiser for the year bringing in more than ten-thousand pounds to fund various charities and projects. The eight Oxford scholars we brought combined forces with the Toastmasters Club to form the 16-person team for the race. A few days before the race I reassured our team that even if we weren't the fastest boat in the 35-team field, we were certainly the smartest. After the first race, this reassurance seemed to be the only claim we could stake as we turned in the third slowest time out of all the boats. Between races, we helped the hosting club by cooking and selling food at one of their stands. This gave us the much needed time to rest our bodies (from the minute-long race) and rethink our strategy. For the second race, we shuffled the order thinking that improper weight distribution may have slowed us down. We also thought that perhaps a little bit of experience and a better feel for the boat would help us be more competitive. Our renewed confidence was immediately shattered when our second race was two seconds faster, but still in the bottom five. For the final race of the day, we decided to set a more reasonable goal and just try to break a minute, about 5 seconds faster than our second time. Somehow we turned in a blistering 55 second run, taking 10 seconds off our previous time and jumping into 5th place overall!

Cooking some sausages!

Before the races, I had been asked to submit our team's strategy to the announcers so that they could discuss it while we were competing. I wrote "lull the opposition into a false sense of security by coming out of the gates slowly, then turn on the jets and come roaring back for a dramatic come-from-behind victory." What the announcers didn't know--and no one else (including myself) knew either--was that our strategy was not meant for just one race, but for the whole day.

Ireland II

...The trip went smoothly and it wasn't long before we were able to drop off our luggage and start exploring the city that not only built the Titanic, but also earned the nickname "Linenopolis" by becoming a leading linen producer during the Industrial Revolution. We took a tour of the beautiful City Hall which is even more splendid inside than out thanks to the thousands of talented craftsmen drawn to the area by the shipbuilding industry. My proudest moment in Belfast may have been when we were reading the inscriptions beneath the statues in front of the City Hall; there was one for Queen Victoria, a few for particularly influential mayors and MPs...and one for an ENGINEER! It's about time we received some recognition.

The Palm House in the botanical gardens was built in 1840 and is one of the earliest examples of a curvilinear cast iron glasshouse. This is one of those places where you wish pictures could capture smells. Although it was raining most of the time we were in Derry, we had great whether in Belfast and were able to enjoy being outside in the park.

We also managed to visit Queen's College, the Belfast Museum, and the Riverwalk. Belfast experienced more damage than Derry during the Northern Ireland Conflict, losing at least 1,500 people to political violence from 1969 to 2001, but the feeling is less palpable because of relative peace in the last decade and the extensive efforts to revitalize the city center. Worn out from all of our wandering, we slept well and left the next morning for Dublin. 

Dublin is much bigger than Belfast or Derry (or all of Northern Ireland for that matter) so there was much more to see and do. 

This is Wellington Monument in Sphinx Park. I was amazed not only by the size of the park--one of the largest in the world--but by the number of people out playing games, riding bikes, and just enjoying the weather. The most memorable part of my time in the park was probably from when I sat at the base of the monument to do some reading. There was a great sitting area at the top of the angled base and a few people were even sitting on a ledge about five feet farther up (right below the large rectangular murals in the picture). A family near me was enjoying a picnic when the dad decided to climb the base and put his toddler up on the ledge for a picture. I was nervous at first, but the kid loved it. He loved it so much in fact that he didn't want to come down. So you can picture me sitting there trying to pretend like I'm reading while discretely watching this event unfold. Every minute or two I'd hear soft footsteps and a lot of giggling followed shortly after by much heavier footsteps and persistent demands to stop so that dad could take him down. I gave up on trying to read and just focused on trying to contain my laughter. I'm not sure who ended up tiring first, but the dad eventually coaxed him into coming down. Either way, it was absolutely priceless.

Another great part of the trip was visiting the Dublin Castle. Dublin was first invaded by vikings, who beat the indigenous population and established a prosperous city. Eventually the Normans came over and after swiftly defeating the vikings, began building a castle to consolidate and protect their new territory. Norman rule was short-lived however and the English followed just a few years later and made quick work of the Normans. The English continued construction of the castle and completed the original design: a square with four formidable towers at the corners. Over time, the need for the castle waned until it was decided that it should be dismantled to make room for the growing city. All but one of the towers were removed and once the foundation had been filled in, new buildings were constructed. It wasn't until the latter part of the 20th century that while laying the foundation for a new government building workers discovered the original base. After archaeologists thoroughly examined the site, planners reconfigured the building's design to incorporate a basement tourist center to allow visitors to see the original foundation. The break in the wall is a small staircase connecting a small mooring area in the moat to the castle. Seeing the unaltered stonework sent my imagination wild; this was definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip (aside from seeing the Guinness factory, of course).

Another amazing part of Dublin was seeing the Book of Kells (from the 8th century!) at Trinity College. I would have taken pictures, but photos were not allowed. The book is displayed in conjunction with the Long Room, which is so large and contains so many ancient works it is nearly ineffable. It's unbelievable that so many books have survived so long considering how many times the libraries and buildings where they were stored caught fire or were pillaged during attacks. A timeline in the exhibit actually lists the times fire endangered the book, but after about 10 years at about three year intervals the dates continue with "...". An interesting side-note is that the Book of Kells is written on lamb skin, or vellum, and required more than 100 lambs to produce!

Here are a few more pictures from Dublin:

And St. Patrick's Cathedral, of course. Dublin is unique in that it is one of the only cities in the world to have two cathedrals (the other is Christ Church).

I will hopefully have my pictures and stories from Italy up next week. I was supposed to be going to Blenheim Palace this Saturday, but the ash cloud stranded our tour guide in the U.S. Also, rowing camp just finished and I would just like to have it on record that rowing in the sunshine is immeasurably better than rowing in January. I also found out I am getting "half colors" for playing two sports for Hertford. Full colors is normally awarded to students who have contributed significantly to their college sports teams over the course of their time at Oxford, so even though I am only here for one year, it is great to be in such talented company. Take care and Happy Earth Day!!

Spring Break

The last several weeks have been fantastic! The first weekend of break was the Rotary District Conference in Eastbourne. The following weekend I went to Northern Ireland with the group leader of our U8 project to present on the survey work we have completed so far. Unfortunately we found out just a week before the conference that it was cancelled, and Emily and I were forced to make the most of the situation (by making a four day trip across the Emerald Isle). Finally, I just returned from Italy yesterday! I can't cover everything in this post, but I'll talk about Rotary and Derry and leave Ireland and Italy for the next one. I hope you enjoy!

While Eastbourne was once a thriving seaside city in southeast England, it's large retirement community at present has earned it the affectionate nickname of "heaven's waiting room." Despite the unappealing epithet, the conference was very enjoyable. It was an excellent opportunity to catch up with the other Rotary scholars studying at Oxford, Oxford Brookes, and Reading (17 in total) and see some of the great projects our district is working on. Building on Rotary International's theme, "The Future of Rotary is Your Hands," the conference followed the theme of "Hands on Rotary." Aside from supporting major international Rotary programs such as shelter boxes and Polio Plus, Rotarians presented on development programs they have been participating in ranging from provision of microeconomic loan programs and health care in rural African communities to Group Study Exchanges in South Africa and drilling wells in Haiti. Each speaker's story was moving and inspirational and I feel privileged to be supported by such an active organization. The other scholars and I will be visiting Blenheim Palace (Winston Churchill's birthplace), the Ascot races, and racing Dragon Boats in the coming weeks so I am sure I will have some more stories to share (and pictures, hopefully!).

While some of my friends have accused me of writing "nerdy" posts (considering where I am at school, I think this is to be expected), the next part of this post is of a particularly nerdy nature. I don't remember spending much time on Northern Ireland in history class but I've done some research since my trip and tried to provide a little context to help understand some of the following pictures.

I began the trip by flying from London to Derry in northeast Northern Ireland. You may have heard that the Irish are very amiable and that belief was quickly affirmed after my arrival. Unsure of the easiest way into town, I asked an elderly couple if there was a train or bus. They did not know either, but said their son was coming to pick them up and were positive he could drive me where I needed to go. After they dropped me off, it did not take long to find the hostel and Emily because everyone in the town seemed to know the hostel's owner (I only asked one person, but two other passersby stopped and joined the conversation).  A quick note about the hostel in case you are concerned for my health, safety, etc. This particular one was very well maintained and had the distinct advantage over local hotels of having a host who not only knew the city inside and out, but also readily engaged in conversations about the city and the rest of our trip. I have the added benefit of having slept in the bays at West Point with 30 other people, so eight beds in one room was no sweat.

Derry is the the second largest city in Northern Ireland (around 90,000) and is one of the longest continuously inhabited cities stretching back to the 6th century. In 1613, shortly after the city had been razed by an Irish army, the city was rebuilt and became the first planned city in Ireland. The city walls, forming one of the best examples of a walled city in all of Europe, were completed in 1618 and were never breached even though the city was attacked many times. Today, visitors can tour the city via a walkway along the top of the walls. Needless to say, Emily and I wasted no time getting to the walls in our indirect quest for dinner.

More recently, Derry has been an epicenter of conflict in Northern Ireland. Differences of religion (Protestants and Catholics), political views (loyalists and separatists) and related economic divisions are pervade the community. In fact, even the city's name is still in dispute--Londonderry or Derry--and your preference is often taken as an indication of your political opinion. The murals below are just two of many to memorialize an especially tragic event emanating from these strong sentiments. A clash between British soldiers and citizens of Derry has come to be known as Bloody Sunday because of the 14 deaths and 29 injuries that occurred on January 30th, 1972. The mural on the left shows a soldier breaking into a home during a raid as part of a wider strategy to arrest the most active dissidents and place them in internment camps. The picture on the right shows demonstrators running from gunfire and tear gas. Interestingly, there are murals in another part of town that were painted by loyalists in response to this collection revealing their strong desire to remain part of the United Kingdom.

The sign below was painted onto the side of a house in the 1960's to delineate the border between Free Derry (previously termed Bogside, referencing the marshy land on the backside of the walled city). In an exhibit in a Belfast Museum the description of the event is displayed on a similar shaped white wall.

A few hours from Derry is a natural phenomenon called the Giant's Causeway which Emily and I visited the park on our second day in Ireland. According to local legend, the roughly 40,000 hexagonal rock pillars that stretch out into the sea toward Scotland (which has similar rock forms extending back toward Ireland) are remnants of an ancient land bridge. The giant who lived in Ireland, Finn McCool, built the bridge as a means to go fight the Scottish giant, Benandonner. However, when Finn made it to Scotland he saw that Benandonner was much larger and ran back to Ireland.  Finn told his wife what had happened, she dressed him like a baby so that when Benandonner arrived Finn appeared to be missing. Finn's wife told Benandonner that he was out cutting wood, but that Benandonner was welcome to wait in the house until he came home. When Benandonner came into the house and saw how big Finn's baby was, he realized Finn must be much bigger than himself and quickly  fled back to Scotland, tearing up the bridge as he went.

The legend shared by geologists is slightly different and somewhat less exciting. The remarkably uniform hexagonal (with some 5-, 7-, and 8-sided anomalies) basalt pillars formed some 50 million years ago as molten lava cooled, contracted, and fractured. 

After spending the afternoon hiking the surrounding trails and getting soaked in the storm that started to roll in while we were on the bluffs overlooking the rocks, we headed back to Derry for the night. The next morning, Emily and I headed out on a two-hour bus ride to Belfast....

Two Terms Down!

Hilary Term ends on Saturday. I still have one more seminar, but I have completed all of my essays and this particular course does not require much preparation...so I'm done! This term was certainly busier than Michaelmas, but at only eight weeks, it goes by quickly. In fact, the whole year is going by quickly. It's hard to believe that I'm almost two-thirds done with my degree!

I think in an earlier post I mentioned some of the essays I have been writing. For International Diplomacy, I wrote one on Cialdini's persuasion principles and another on how to overcome barriers to negotiation. Cialdini's work is only a portion of the much broader literature on the psychology of influencing behavior, but his popularity in the business world draws extra attention to his contributions. In my essay, I summarized the principles and then critiqued his claim of their universality. Many researchers propose principles that include only some of his principles (or none of them), so it is a valid question. However, I believe that his points are generally applicable to a wide population and if anything, might be just a subset of universally applicable persuasion techniques. For overcoming barriers to negotiation, I discussed ways to reduce risk, expand the range of solutions under consideration, build on common ground, among other approaches. This topic is particularly interesting in light of the debate on the American health care system and President Obama's recent summit to help move it forward. I wrote another essay for my Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) Politics course looking at how NGOs should choose and frame transnational movements. Several authors discuss how certain frames (how a problem is described to the general population) have greater resonance with the population. Universal resonance, as well as resonance with the local population, are critical for the movement to grow and make a lasting difference.

Outside of the classroom, the end of Hilary brought an end to the rugby and rowing seasons as well. Here is a picture from our rugby dinner just before our semi-finals match. As a result of some unfortunate scheduling, I had to bike straight from a race to the match. I made it in time, but...um...we won't talk about the results of that match.

Realizing that I have not posted too many pictures from rowing, I snapped a few of the boathouse to ease some of the pressure on your imagination. We share the boathouse with a few other colleges, but it is a large building and easily accommodates all the crews. I haven't been able to take any at rugby, because it's usually rainy and I'm always on the pitch (aka field).

The balcony has one of the best views of the river of all the colleges because it is in the center of the course, just past a narrow bend called the "gut." Why this is exciting, I will explain in a little later on. The Men's 2nd Eight boat (the one I usually row in) is the top one on the right. The red tape is a point of pride, also soon to be explained. Do you like how I'm building suspense?

Rowing concluded with a big--nay, huge--regatta (~1,200 rowers and coxes from Oxford!!) called Torpids. Torpids, and Summer Eights during Trinity term, are a unique style of racing found only in Oxford (as far as I know) called bumps. The teams are slotted into divisions of 12 based on their performance at last year's Torpids. Each crew starts about a length and a half apart with the goal to "bump" the boat in front of them, either through concession (read, "surrendering") or an actual collision (read, "the ideal outcome, never mind the $30,000 price tag on the boats"). The gut then, is especially exciting because boats either slow down to navigate the turn and risk getting bumped or attempt to power through, risking crashing into the bank. Either way, we have a great vantage point from our balcony. One amusing part of this is that since the race is only four days, a crew can only advance four places in the standing each year. This difficult feat is called "blades" meaning that you bumped the crew in front of you each day. However, if you are at the top of your division and crash, you can be passed by all eleven boats behind you and drop into the next division--a four year hole to dig out of!

The picture above is our Men's 1st Eight shortly before they bumped the crew in front of them. They were one of only a handful of boats to bump everyday and achieved the highly coveted blades. My crew was not as successful, but we still had a good showing. After the races in the lower divisions was cancelled the first day, we rowed over the second day meaning that we failed to bump the boat in front of us, but also avoided being bumped by the boat behind us. The second day, we bumped just before entering the gut, narrowly avoiding being bumped by Balliol behind us. In our attempt to exit the race (the reward for bumping) by clearing the racing line, we managed to get caught in low-hanging tree branches, nearly catch the oars of two crews behind us, and get spun around in the current. We were too happy to care. As you might expect, on the final day of racing we were bumped by the crew that had almost caught us the day before. Thus, our overall standing was the same we had started in. 

Here is a picture of my crew after our last race on Saturday. All but one of the guys are novice rowers, so we were happy with our results.

On a final note, I just wanted to give a shout out to all of my buddies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of my classmates recently completed their officer training and have started deploying. They are joining a number of officers serving in the area that I know from previous years at West Point. While I am over here working on my degree and enjoying my time in England, I never lose sight of the bigger picture. Everyday,  I think about our men and women in service and pray for their safety and well-being. I hope you do the same!

Plugging Through Hilary Term

Hello! So if you're wondering where I've been for the month, don't worry. I haven't written in a while because I don't have much interesting to write about. Everything is going well though.

In my Diplomatic Practice tutorial last week, Justin (one of the other American students) and I had a fun time explaining what role the American embassy in London plays in promoting American businesses in the UK. Neither of us are experts, but even an expert would probably have a difficult time explaining the hierarchy and responsibilities of the embassy and all the other government bodies involved: Department of Commerce, Trade Representative, International Trade Administration, etc. This week, the tutorial topic is Public Diplomacy. We are writing a mock report for the ambassador explaining how our embassy works with the British media (through press conferences, radio interviews, meetings with journalists, etc.) to promote our national interests and explain our policy towards the UK.

The professor for my NGO politics class has been in New Orleans for a social science conference the past week. When he comes back next week, we will be able to hear his impressions of the latest research and should have some interesting papers to talk about.

A few weeks ago, I was able to row with the men's first eight crew on the Thames in London. The stretch of river that we row on in Oxford (the Isis) is just under 2000 meters, so we need to stop and turn around several times during an outing. In London, however, we were able to row continuously and our outings consisted of rowing for 45 minutes in one direction before heading back to the landing. The other big difference is that waves from the wind and other boats are much larger and regularly came crashing over the boat. We started in Putney and almost made it down to the Houses of Parliament, but had to turn around one bend short of seeing them to beat the tide. I was pretty sore from rowing Saturday and Sunday, but it was fun and definitely an opportunity that doesn't come around very often. I'm racing in the men's second boat for the Torpids race in a few weeks. Oxford has a unique style of racing, 'bumps', where you try to crash into the boat in front of you (youTube it if you get a chance). It should be an experience to remember!

Our rugby team beat Trinity College 18-5 yesterday to advance to the semi-finals of the Cuppers tournament. Yesterday was especially rainy and the teams quickly exchanged their colorful jerseys for brown ones in the first few minutes. The slippery ball also made the game sloppier than usual--more drops and knock-ons-- but we played well given the conditions. I thought about mailing my kit back home to get washed, but given that we have another match Sunday and it would take a week in the mail, I came to the conclusion I was going to have to do it myself.

KEEN is great this term. We celebrated the Chinese New Year Monday and next week, we are going bowling. I am also working with an NGO this term in helping prepare a survey to learn more about a community just outside of Lima, Peru. The project is coordinated by a DPhil (PhD) student from Minnesota who set up the NGO with a partner at a university in California. After we complete the survey this summer, some students from the California school will take it down to Peru to administer it to the population. The goal is to know enough about the community to direct more focused development projects in the future.

As a major sport enthusiast, you would expect that I have been following the Olympics and indeed I have. Actually, I have been up until two or three every night the last week to watch the events (why can't they be in eastern Canada??). I am not sure if I have a favorite (maybe snowboard cross or speed skating), but I enjoy watching all of them. Regardless of favorites, last night I determined that skeleton is insane. One of my course mates is from the Netherlands, so we have had many discussions on the speed skating races. The Six Nations rugby tournament is also underway and England is 2-0. I have decided to cheer for them since I have no allegiances, but I may switch to France as they have looked dominant in the first two games. Without a doubt, the best performance was Wales' epic win over Scotland on Saturday. Scotland was winning 24-14 in the last seven minutes before Wales scored three times to win 31-24. We have been comforting Steve, our resident Scot, the entire week.

That's all for now! Take care until next time.

Week One

Rowing camp was terrific! Each day we did two outings in the morning and had another erg session in the evening. Although there was still a lot of snow on the ground, I never noticed the cold after we had a few minutes to warm up. This is a picture Becca took of us clearing off the raft using the blades (again, no shovels…). My British friends couldn’t believe I was wearing shorts, but most of them haven’t been to Michigan.

The beauty of rowing on the morning river was almost surreal (just look at the background of the picture!). Each morning started the same way. Illuminated by the diffuse twilight, we pushed off from the dock onto the glassy water. The boat cut a narrow wake as the gentle ripples from our measured strokes slipped into the veil of fog, the vestiges of which were still shrouding the river in their hopeless struggle against the suns’ persistent rays. The rhythmic splashing of the blades alternating with the tempered groan of the oars straining against their locks were the only sounds on the Isis. It was mesmerizing… Those moments, though they would inevitably succumb to the sun and wind, are certainly among the many that I will cherish from my time in Oxford.

Hilary term began last Monday. My schedule is slightly busier than the previous term, but I really like my schedule. I am particularly looking forward to my course in quantitative research methods since I have a strong background in math and am familiar with most of the analytical software we will be using.  In addition to the two courses that carry over from Michaelmas term, Diplomatic Practice and International Diplomacy, I also have NGO Politics. What makes this course especially interesting is that there are only three people in our seminars: the professor, a student from Macedonia, and me. We had a great discussion last week and I am looking forward to the conversations we will have the rest of the term.

Last week, we also had our first rugby match of the season. We won handedly, 29-0, and I scored my first try! The downside is that our performance, coming after a long break with little exercise and much inebriation for most of the team, was easily one of our best of the year. Many players have been prompted to reconsider physical exercise as a means of preparation, favoring this recently validated training regimen.

This picture is from a presentation at Cookham Bridge Rotary Club last Wednesday. The other scholar is Giulia, from Italy. Among many interesting questions posed by the attending Rotarians, one observation stood out. While Giulia, who studies philosophy, described a number of Italian and European stereotypes (of academics and women, among others) she has experienced, my presentation was characterized by a lack of similar societal biases and a wealth of unique opportunities.  The Rotarian credited much of this to America’s youth and I would be inclined to agree. I think even among Americans I have been exceptionally fortunate, but the differences in social structure and opportunity between Europe and the US have been evident during the last several months.

A friend of mine studying as an Ambassadorial Scholar in Spain is coming to Oxford in a few hours and we are both excited to share our experiences. I need to do some cleaning before she gets here though!

Until next time.

The New Year!

Hello! I hope you had a Merry Christmas and a terrific New Years! I know I haven't had a new post in a while, but it's for good reason; I went home for Christmas!

Shortly after last term, I went to the my host rotary club's Christmas dinner. We had a lot of fun performing pantomimes or pantos, which are traditional British plays (such as Jack and the Beanstalk or Little Red Riding Hood) performed each winter. Not only do the plays usually have a lot of jokes and men playing the roles of women, they are also a lot of fun because the audience participates throughout the show. My table put on Cinderella and I got to be Prince Charming (and yes, middle-age male stepsisters were sufficiently ugly!). The next day, I went with the president of the Banbury-Cherwell Rotary Club to Stratford-Upon-Avon. If that name sounds familiar, it's because it's where Shakespeare was born! On the other hand, if you didn't recognize it, then I guess now you have another piece of trivia, right?

This picture is from outside his childhood house. His father was a leatherworker, so their house doubled as his shop and warehouse. The welcome center next to his house underwent a recent renovation and has several terrific videos that talk about his life and the vast impact he has had not only on British culture, but the entire world. The glass panes signed by the first visitors are still in the house, but since it has now received over 27 million people, I could only sign the guest book. The number of visitors to the house is staggering, but even more amazing considering there were only about five million people living in the U.K. during Shakespeare's time!

 

This is a picture of one of the main streets in Stratford. The decorations looked great! On a completely unrelated side note, Stratford also had some delicious pasties, a pastry crust with some kind of meat and vegetable filling.  I always tell my British friends that if I could take one thing back ot the U.S. it would be pasties.

Like I mentioned earlier, I made it home for Christmas! Other than my brother, my family wasn't expecting me, so it was a pretty epic surprise. In addition to spending time with many of my Michigan friends, I also went out to New York to be a saber bearer in a friend's wedding where I could also catch up with several of my West Point friends. I had a wonderful time seeing everyone back in the States, but it was also a lot of fun to drive (on the right side of the road no less!), watch football, listen to country music, and eat American food. My suitcases were full of presents for everyone on the way there which afforded me plenty of room to bring American food back over. James studied at Harvard for a year and developed a taste for peanut butter and Lucky Charms, so I brought him a 6 lb. package of the former and 2 lb. box of the latter. Hooray for Sam's Club! I also had some Betty Crocker cake mixes, pumpkin, and a few other things I've had trouble finding in Oxford.

Below are some pictures from around Oxford over the holiday season. The right is one of the butcher shops in the covered market downtown. Christmas dinner is much like Thanksgiving dinner in the U.S., so they had dozens of turkeys, pheasants, rabbits, and other animals hanging from the storefront. A few days ago, Oxford had an unusually large snowfall--about 8 inches--so of course I had to play in it! The second picture is the snowman I built outside of my house after a snowball fight I had with some of my friends; it's about eight feet tall!

These are some of the snowmen the other students built. It's a game- you have to find all ten.

I rode my bike down to a pub quiz before the snow really started coming down. The trip down was fine, but it was tough going on the way back, especially since I forgot to switch to my snow tires and chains.

Just a few more pictures from around Oxford. The bottom one is Hertford's chapel.

The first day of rowing camp went well! My legs are feeling fine, but my hands are already torn up pretty good. A friend has some great pictures of us clearing the snow off the raft with oars before we brought the boats out, so I'll try to get those up when I get them from her.