Day 7

After sleeping in my little twin bed last night, I woke up to a dreary, rainy morning.

Breakfast is served cafeteria style in the enormous Hall. In one corner, there was yogurt and cereal, down the side, cooked English breakfast, and at the end, fruit, toast, and croissants. They had trays and trays of fried eggs, baked beans, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, potatoes, tomatoes, and probably four or five other things that I have forgotten. I just got a bowl of cereal and some fruit. The cantaloupe and watermelon were delicious but the honeydew was awful.

It was astonishing to see how many people had loaded plates with the whole deal.

I might try an egg and toast tomorrow. The eggs that Peter made us every morning really seem to hold me. The cereal just didn’t!

I met my 10 classmates and my tutor in our little room. It was completely paneled in dark wood and about 14 feet square.. There were two slim doors on either side of the back wall. I think they go to bedrooms and our classroom is the living room for student accommodation.

Julia Creswell is our tutor. She was a student here and has taught here for many many years. She said she’s retiring on Friday.

She’s very sweet and likes to have some discussion but mostly just reads from her syllabus. It gets pretty dry.

We learned about how science has determined what people have eaten thousands of years ago. They have found that dental plaque forms layers on teeth over the years. They took one and examined the layers and found bits of hazelnuts and eel.

On the teeth of a 12th century nun, they found lapis lazuli. They figure she was a manuscript artist, and probably licked her brush before applying the lapis.

Lots of words like Mesozoic and Cro-Magnon and Paleozoic, all mentions of long long long long long ago!

We had a break in the middle and walked over to the undercroft. It was raining and there were a lot of people crammed in. They served us coffee or tea, and had plates of traditional English biscuits (Cookies).

Back for another hour, I found myself pinching my arm to keep from nodding off.

We had a bit of a break, then lunch. You could get a hot lunch, which I think was haddock or a cold lunch with turkey, roast beef, quiche, smoked salmon, Caprese salad, and a very small selection salad bar. That’s what I chose, it was more than enough.

Lots of us took the guided tour of Christ Church College, we were divided into groups. Our guide was a custodian, complete with his bowler hat. I don’t think custodian needs the same thing here.

The gardens around the side and back of the college are spectacular. We were shown one that had a wall with a small ancient door in it. King Charles 1st had it put in because he was living in Christ Church College , and his wife was in Merton College. He could get there by going through the wall instead of going way around on the road. Also, as you may remember, this is where Alice from Alice in Wonderland lived.

Next to Hall is the Buttery. That has nothing to do with butter I learned, it was where the butts of beer were stored. We also saw a very old building which was the college brewery in the 1500s. They couldn’t drink the water, so everyone had beer.

Very interesting stuff!

Pat and I decided to walk to the center to see if they were any interesting shops. It is so amazingly crowded everywhere and again, lots and lots of tourists.

We split up, and I walked back, picking up a Diet Coke on the way.

Put my feet up and had a soda and a small piece of Gruyere cheese that I kept from our wonderful cheese shop in Bath.

Dinner at 6:30 at The Hall, Pat met me at the entry so I didn’t have to search up and down the long, long tables. We sat with two of the women we met last night and a few new people. Everyone is so nice and open and chatty. 

Everyone in the program has received an invitation to the high table, mine is for Friday night. Men have to wear a jacket and tie.

Dinner conversation was nice although you have to raise your voice to be heard. There are 200 or so people eating at once. Food was good.

They are having a little croquet party tonight, I decided not to go because my little tootsies hurt. My activity app is going wild on my phone. It’s never seen so many steps registered to me! Probably thinks someone stole my phone.

I’m going to do some really interesting stuff now. Like wash my socks.

Love,
Lynn