Oxford

No posts last week as we didnt do much but go to work and school. We did go to a great restaurant on Friday called Tom's Kitchen. Very pricey but worth every pence =) We officially had the best burger and fish and chips thus far.

Saturday a group of friends from Pepperdine decided to go to Oxford. So we set off of the train trip to see everything Oxford has to offer.



Christ college is famous for 2 things. Most recently for scenes of the dining hall in Harry Potter, and for being the place where Lewis Carroll was inspired to write the Alice in Wonderland stories.



In the picture on the bottom row hopefully you should be able to see the images of Alice and Wonderland, and then towards the top of the window pane Alice herself. They are tiny but they are there we promise!



Oxford has many many colleges built in it. Most of them, Like Christ Church, double as a place of worship as well as school. The seem to be set up with a quad in the interior.



The day continued with the group wanting to go punting-which basically is some sitting on a boat and one person driving the boat through various canals with what looks like a long pool cleaning tool =) We decided that we didnt want to take a chance on falling in (as many are prone to do) so we went to the botanical gardens directly across the street! They were amazing! Here is Joel with the punting canals behind him.



My favorite part of the botanical gardens was the section of sunflowers. This probably my most favorite picture Joel took.


From the botanical gardens we walked to New College, it was amazing, the schools in Oxford are just unmatched in the states, the living history is just unbelieveable.

We made one more stop before going to a pub for dinner, which was Oxford castle. We were all slightly disappointed as it had closed for the day and looked very much like a mall. Oh well ya cant win em all.

Dinner was at a place called All Bar One, where they served us the most amazing tapas, and cinder. Dinner was a mix of lots of laughs and good cheer as the pepperdine crowd continues to get to know each other.

More soon we promise, as this weekend we'll be off to Scotland for the most enviable golfing trip.

Movin' Out

This weekend has been jam packed, as does every day we are in London. Saturday we said goodbye to the dorm we were living in and moved in to our flat in Knightsbridge. Joel and I and our roomies had a luggage caravan going through the streets of London, we were quite a site! We made it to the flat all in one piece and finally got to unpack. It was so nice to not have to live in a suitcase anymore. We have very nice accommodations here, and are getting used to living in London. Last night we decided to treat ourselves to a bit of luxury starting with a walk through Harrods. We only made it to the "Luxury Rooms" of the first floor, where Fendi, Gucci, Prada and Pucci were flying off the shelves as if they were being given away. Having left Harrods feeling a bit like a kid in a candy store we decided to have a bite to eat at, get this, an Italian Hookah Bar sidewalk cafe. We sat back and enjoyed the city and people watching over wine, Italian garlic bread and Hookah which they call "She-shah." It was a great first night. Today we finally got to see some of the site of London. After a week of running errands and finding a place to live we got to act like tourists. There are ton of amazing museums in London, and I hope we get to explore them all. We started with The Victoria and Albert Musuem today, looking through the history of fashion, as well as some "cartoons" of Raphael paintings. Then a group of us met in Hyde Park for a picnic in front of the serpentine lake. The weather was in the 80s with a light breeze so it was just perfect. After walking the park we headed to Buchingham Palace, the Queen was in but did not see fit to invite us in for tea. When going to Buckingham palace the flag is raised when the Queen is there. We saw the guards patrolling the gates and are looking forward to seeing a changing of the guards ceremony. From Buckingham palace we headed over to Westminster Abbey, Joel's and my favorite Abbey!! It was absolutely beautiful, but as it was Sunday we were not allowed to go in as there were services in progress. There was also a church just outside of the abbey, which had a window made for Catherine of Aragon-as a Phillipa Greggory reader I was super excited! As we came to the abbey we were able to get our first glimpses of Big Ben. Now we really felt like we were in London!!! Walking through London led us to the London Eye, which we hope to get to ride soon and a view of Thames River. There were many more museums and an installation of Dali-so many things to see, so little time. Most of us were getting a bit tired after a long day of walking so we made one more stop to Picadilli Circuis. We took the tube there and popped out in what looked like Times Square. It was amazing, theatres, stores and of course more museums. We called it a night and headed back to our flat where we made our first London dinner. I cant wait to get really set up for cooking here, and buying fresh produce for our meals.
Tomorrow is back to school. Joel has orientation-which I have been invited to and then classes begin Tuesday. We will post pictures in the next day or so but wanted to share the fun with all of you!

New Friends and Roommates

The place that we found in Knightsbridge was amazing but the entry way and kitchen were shared. So I thought who better than to share it with than other Pepperdine Students. There is another married couple here who are very nice and I thought the front room would work great for them, they saw the place and they loved it.

Also they were friends with another student who also is very friendly and he loved the middle room.


So I am really excited because it feels like we will all get along great and we have a great place that is really close to school and in a great area. On an aside, I have really enjoyed walking around London, it is very beautiful and people really seem to be enjoying themselves.


Lastly, I have an interview tomorrow for a internship at a firm in "the City" (referring to the city of London in contrast to the commonwealth of London). It is for asset management and financial planning law, which is right in the same field of law as the private client work I hope to do at the firm back home next year. Check back soon.

We found a place to Live

Hi all, so we have been here for two and half days. We have been waking up early and hitting the pavement looking for places to live. The weather has been amazing, in the 80's nice breeze. It reminds me of a New York day minus the humidity. We have walked ALOT. London is definitely a walkable city however, city blocks seem to be a bit longer than NYC blocks. There are lots of places to rent (let as it is called here) but many of them are not available for periods less than 6 months. It is amazing the cost of some of these flats. I saw a flat yesterday for £215/week (1.61 exchange rate=$355/wk or $1,540/month) that literally was a closet. I literally felt like I was in an elevator. Well we found a place in Knightsbridge, which we are happy about and looks like it will work well for us. It is a cool area, 1 block from Harrods and only a 12 minute walk to Pepperdine house. The kitchen and the entry way is shared but we have our own bathroom and a little outdoor patio. Well that is all for now, Jen and I will keep everyone updated.