A Pasty for you, Archbishop?

Hmm…I have been trying to debate whether or not to finally post my Paris blog. It is quite an overwhelming and daunting task to type up and edit the story of the best weekend of your life then copy and paste it to the right constitution to be served up pretty and nice for public consumption on an internet blog. I know that I have to do this though. So I will do it my way.
But not yet.
Today is February 28. I went to Paris on February 15. So this is more of a catch up to help myself take a step forward, clear the debris out of the way that has gathered in my path from avoiding this blog for the Paris problem, and sort of post a happy little update of my Oxford existence.
Last weekend I went to Canterbury, a three hour bus ride from Oxford, with our entire 40 some odd person group, where we visited the ruins of St. Augustine’s Abbey, then to a “hospital” that was a hostel of the Middle Ages, during the times that Chaucer wrote Canterbury Tales (this is from the word hospitality), went to get some delicious pasties, that were positively delicious, then on to THE Canterbury Cathedral, seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of England’s Anglican Church, and so once the right hand man of the monarch when the monarchy truly reigned, before Parliament. Besides the pasties (of course), I think my favorite site was that of St. Augustine’s Abbey. My pastie was a Steak and Ale pasty, so it is a fried bread outer sort of pita fold-over shape (although nothing like a pita), with an ale gravy filling and wonderful chunks of steak. St. Augustine’s Abbey, on the other hand was a medieval abbey, destroyed by Henry VIII, so that now only majestic and enchanting ruins stands. It was awe-inspiring to say the least, with the stones standing out in stark contrast to the vividly green grass against the overcast sky, with the silhouette of the Cathedral in the not too distant distance. I loved it even more than the majesty of the grand Gothic Cathedral, which was fascinating as well, a pilgrimage site, as it was here that Thomas Beckett was murdered.
The most exciting part of the day for Janine and Jackie, two of our teachers here, who ate at the same pasty shop we did, was seeing THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, who apparently came in right after us and was directly behind us in line with his son, which they compared to seeing the Pope in Italy at a McDonald’s or gelato stand. So, even in our oblivion, that was pretty dang exciting.
We did not get back until around 9 or so that night, so it was a long but exciting day.
We are done with our first round of tests, and the first tests, in my opinion, are always the hardest, so it is wonderful to have that out of the way. I did well on my English exam, the only one I have gotten back so far, but the International Studies Great Britain is the one I am tied up in knots about.
This weekend, me and four of my friends, three girls and one guy, leave at 7 30 to catch the 8am bus to London, as I have to pick up coffee and a croissant on the way, then we take a three hour bus from London to Wales that leaves at 11. We will spend Friday in Cardiff, the capitol, which is where we are staying that night, visiting castles in the area, and finding a good Welsh pub to experience. Then we will spend all of Saturday at THE CELTIC MUSIC FESTIVAL OF WALES in Treco Bay, with music and dancing and all sorts of good Welsh fun, which should be thoroughly wonderful and cultural. We’ll have a picnic on the coast and then had back to London on a bus around 6, stay the night in London, to walk around and see what they have not seen on Sunday, and I am taking them to Wagamamma’s the noodle house of noodle houses that is a new obsession for me, though I have only been once. Then we will head back to Oxford Sunday night.
All in all, it is one amazing weekend after another with a whole lot of studying, reading and writing in between. We start our tutorials this week. So that’s a bit of pressure and stress. But we will be working on those for the rest of the semester. I am in the INternation Politics Tutorial and plan on pursuing British Relations with Africa, after the colonization age, in the modern world. So that should be fairly challenging but very interesting.
That’s all for now. Prepare yourselves for the Paris blog.
Peace and love.