It may be a little late, but we’ve been transferring back into school mode for these last two weeks of classes. We did, however, take a class trip to Oxford this past Friday and it was a rather interesting time. When we arrived, I completely underestimated the power of wind and found myself under-dressed. We then embarked on a walking tour that was about two hours. I’m not entirely sure if it was my hunger or my frigidness, or a combination of both, but I surprisingly didn’t find myself “wowed” by this tour. As much as I love history, I found it difficult to connect with any of the stories the guide was telling us about the university. It was essentially like accompanying your sibling to tour their prospective colleges. Don’t get me wrong, the campus is lovely, especially the Christ Church grounds, but overall, I was kind of underwhelmed. After the tour, we had lunch and then we partook in an activity called “punting.” If you don’t know what punting is, the simplest way I can describe it is like being in a large gondola and having to steer the boat with a large metal pole and one oar. It was absolutely drastic. Thankfully I was not in charge of steering (shout out to Rebecca for getting us back safely), but I have never found something so thoroughly unpleasant. I will say that in hindsight I can laugh about a lot of what happened, including the temporary attack by the duck that tried to capsize our boat. Though I wish I didn’t have to be an oarsman, it was definitely an unforgettable experience. Would I do it again? If a crew member was steering, yes; otherwise, no way. I think Oxford was still a nice town, but I think I prefer a little less homogeneity.
Lex in the City 