oxford.

today, i escaped from london for the day with C and C, two new canadian friends! we took a bus to oxford and spent the day touring the old universities and the small little college town. the bus took about 45- 1 hour to get there. it was nice to see rolling hills covered in the yellow, orange, and red leaves of fall. after the bus ride, our first stop was christ church college and cathedral. the harry potter dining hall was modeled after the dining hall of this school. and hogwarts in took some inspiration from the place as well. it was very pretty, but we didn't see very many students, which i was somewhat surprised by. we wandered around the town. saw lots of pretty old, gothic inspired buildings and churches. for lunch, we found an old, typical english tavern, tucked away in a little alley. after lunch, we briefly visited the natural history museum. after a quick lap around the city again, we caught the bus back to london. the bus ride home was less than enjoyable. it took forever (over 2 hours), and it was packed. i also suffer from motion sickness and sitting on the top of a stop-n-go double decker probably wasn't a good choice. i'll spare you the details, but suffice to say i've never been so happy to get off a bus!

anyways, here's a few pictures for your viewing pleasure!

inside christ church

stairwell up to the dining hall, so harry potter.

inside the dining hall. the enchanted ceiling is way better.

the alley to the tavern.

fall in oxford!

behold, the future.

for those of you who care (or only keep up with me via the blog?) i finally, finally, finally have a plan! drum roll please.....in one week, i will be moving to london. yes, i realize this sounds all too familiar. this go round i will be working towards a masters in curating contemporary design at kingston university. kingston is a small suburb on the outskirts of london. i will be studying there, as well as working with the design museum in central london. unlike the failed au pair trip, or europe round two as i like to call it, i will not be going alone. by shear luck, i met a girl from greenville who also will be studying at kingston. i have learned, by trial and error, about power in numbers, or rather the comfort of having a familiar shoulder to lean on.

currently, this post finds me packing and wondering what the future holds. i have all those similar feelings of anxiety and anticipation that lingers with the beginning of something new.

i now have one week to soak up the good ole us of a and take full advantage of my parents' good graces. next time i check back in, you will probably learn more than you ever cared to know about flat-hunting in london and all this mishaps that will undoubtedly follow me during my trans-atlantic move.

may day

wow...is it really the middle of may already? where does the time go? i feel so old saying that, but it's true. one minute it's the end of february with winter still lurking around the corner. the next, it's frigging 90 degrees and halfway through may. i won't bore you with all the exciting non-events of my life the past few weeks. i'll just run through some of the highlights...

-i saw passion pit in concert a few weeks ago.

-artisphere in greenville was awesome. i saw a few of brian olsen's art in action performances. i also helped with the artists' of the upstate exhibit still up at centre stage through the last weekend in may.

-all of my wonderful siblings are home for the summer, which means a cramped house and learning how to live with them again.

-i still have yet to finish devil in the white city and wicked.

-it's been over a year since i graduated from clemson! (and what do i have to show for it?) oh and they have the nerve to send me letters asking for donations. haha, what a joke!

-one month until my birthday!

well, ta-ta for now!