Finally here...

Hey everyone!

Unfortunately, this post won't have pictures, as I still haven't figured out my wireless connection. Today we are going through 'orientation' (I feel like a Freshman again) and tonight we are having a formal dinner in the college hall (a bit like the dining hall in Harry Potter, which is in Christ's Church College) and hearing a presentation calllleeed: 'Prison in the UK: Holiday Camp or Hell.' Hmmm..should be interesting. I'll let you know!

I still plan on posting pics of Stonehenge and Salisbury, so the llama story and other stories of my time there should be up soon. BUT, now I am in Oxford, and it's incredibly exciting, so I'll write a bit about that...

Today we went to the Bodleian Library and got library cards which give us access to 12 million plus books! The librarian said the library gets an additional 3-5,000 books/week, and their collection has gotten so massive that they actually store books in some salt mines outside of Oxford. Some books can take 4-5 days to retrieve! You can't check out books from the library, so you use reading rooms throughout the main libraries to do research...and the reading rooms are GORGEOUS! Pictures to come... The library was built in the 1500s by Thomas Bodley who fell out of favor with Elizabeth and saw the library as a way to cancel out ill-favor with the queen.

My apartment is great..I have my own room/bathroom (never had that before) and it borders a medieval castle and prison. It's in the center/oldest part of Oxford and within walking distance of nearly everything. The college I study at is five minutes away and also in an ancient part of campus.

I still don't know my way around too well...I have lots to learn and see, but I'll keep you posted, and hopefully get more pictures/less text in the next blog!

Love,
Emily

PS: Holly is still alive/around Oxford...she's staying in a hostel and exploring on her own while I go through orientation.. She heads to Sicily on Wednesday, and we plan on meeting up for some museum-ing tomorrow.

Attempting to be Londoners!

Hey everyone! Don't have much time, but I wanted to share some pictures with you all from London!


One of the first major things we encountered was Westminster Abbey. Holly and I spent three hours wandering around the Abbey. We saw the graves/memorials of:

Elizabeth I (next to her half-sis Mary, ironically enough), Mary Queen of Scots, Henry VII, etc... lots of royalty...Darwin, Newton, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Dylan Thomas, RL Stevenson, etc, etc... We were blown away! The Abbey is beautiful and absolutely FULL of history.








The Globe Theater!







London Bridge!







Holly's ice cream and Buckingham Palace!






Baroness Barker spent TWO HOURS (!!!) showing us around the Houses of Parliament (in the background). We walked past tour groups into back rooms, through a legitimate trap door (covered in wallpaper), and through GORGEOUS chambers full of ornate carvings, sculptures, and art.

This picture was taken at a cafe on a terrace (exclusively for members of the Houses of Parliament) overlooking the Thames. We were able to sit here and talk with the Baroness about her work... You may have heard about the controversial stem cell research bill that was recently passed in the UK... Baroness Barker told us all about the debates she heard in the House of Lords about this bill... really interesting!





St. James Park




I wish I had more time to write.. we saw so much more...

Holly and I spent today with John Potter touring Stonehenge and the BEAUTIFUL town of Salisbury. John has been incredibly hospitable and we have LOVED Salisbury... picturesque English countryside with sheep (and a llama...story to come soon) and wonderful architecture.

Stonehenge was surreal... but more pictures to come!

Love,
Emily

Finally!

After a loonng and painfully quiet summer break, I am heading to Oxford in a little over a week! I'm flying over before my classes start to do some travelling with my sister, Holly. This will be Holly's first time travelling overseas, so my goal is to avoid a major travel fiasco. Unlikely, but I'll have my fingers crossed.

We arrive early on the morning of June 24th (after an overnight flight, joy) in Gatwick Airport and plan to meet up with our London hostess, a student named Rachael who I found through the Couchsurfing website (www.couchsurfing.org). Needless to say, my mom is not a big fan of lodging based on a random person's website profile, but I used the site in Amsterdam and had the best travel experience of my life. Basically, you contact people on the site to see if you can crash on their couch for 2/3 nights. This way, you connect with a local who can steer you away from hangouts where 98% of the people are foreign. Rachael seems really cool--she studies Public Health and has an interest in Economics and French (I figured we'd really hit it off). The coolest thing about Rachael is that she happens to live two blocks from Westminster Palace. :) Convenient...

The next morning, after adjusting a bit to London time, Holly and I are meeting up with Baroness (yes, a REAL baroness!!!) Liz Barker in the House of Lords for a tour and some coffee. Neither of us can believe we actually get to do this! THANK YOU MARTY!!!

After London, Holly and I will head to Salisbury to see Stonehenge. Unfortunately, we are missing the Summer Solstice, when thousands of people are allowed to camp out near the site. We are still pretty lucky, however, thanks (again!) to Marty who knows some Salisburians. They have offered to give us a tour of Salisbury as well as a free place to stay (which in the land of the pound is a HUGE help). We can't wait to meet them!

On Saturday morning, we head to Oxford. Holly will spend a few days in Oxford before she heads off to Sicily to study Mediterranean conservation and eat lots of gelato. I'll be spending six weeks in Oxford studying under Dr. Ken Addison, and I can't wait! If you'd like to get an idea of what I'll be studying, I found a course outline (though Dr. Addison assured me we will be straying from it) at: http://www.spc.ox.ac.uk/text/149/option_3.html. I'll be writing much more about Oxford when I get there.

I plan on updating this blog as much I can, mostly with pictures. Feel free to leave comments and to contact me via email (eburchf@clemson.edu).

Finally, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU TO THE DUCKENFIELD CLAN! This is
such an honor, and I'm sure it will be the experience of a lifetime. I have been looking forward to this experience since November, and I can't believe it is almost here. It definitely would not have been possible without you all.

Hope to update you all soon!

Emily