ACU COBA in Oxford 2010 (unofficial blog)

Our entire group took a trip to London yesterday to visit the Lloyd's of London to visit an ACU alum who works at Lloyds and talked with us about being a Christian in the workplace. Our group was required to dress in business casual attire which meant no flip flops and no jeans. I did not have much of a problem with that so I dressed in a nice outfit with white heels to match which was a mistake that would impact the duration of my stay in London. My logic and reasoning behind wearing the heels was because I felt like they were the only pair of shoes that did not resemble flip flops and therefore I had no choice but to wear them and to this day, I regret ever wearing them that day. We went to London by taking the train but first we had to walk to the train station which was about a 30 min walk. Once we arrived in London, we had to walk a considerable length (I would say about a mile, maybe more) in order to get to Lloyd's (by then my feet were relatively sore) and then about another mile to get to Pizza Express which was where we had lunch. By this time it was starting to heat up considerably outside and since it was sunny, it made things even hotter. My feet, on the other hand were another different story. All the walking that was done caused large blisters to form on front sides of my feet due to the fact that my heels had small straps that would rub against my feet with each step I took. Our visit to Lloyd's was very interesting. Our speaker had lived in the UK for 11 years and told us about life in the Workplace which, in my opinion was very different from the work environment in the United States. Our lunch was very tasty and once we were through a group of us got together and tried finding a pub that would be showing the World Cup match between the United States and Algeria. This proved to be quite a challenge because England was playing at the exact same time as the United States and naturally, all the pubs and restaurants were showing the England game. It took us a while to find a place but the closest that we got was the window of a restaurant called, coincidentally, The Texas Embassy who would not let us in because they were completely filled up. So we watched the game from the window and was able to see the game winning score that the United States made at the very end of the match which caused the crowd in the restaurant to go absolutely crazy and they all started chanting "USA! USA! USA!" Our little group outside went pretty crazy too and pretty much let all of London know (I exaggerate of course) that we scored and we were darn proud of it! After the game the crowd came out of the restaurants giving us high fives and a couple of guys were so happy, they jumped onto Jeff and gave him a hug! It was a pretty memorable experience that I will never forget and of course, I hope that the United States is able to keep playing and potentially make it to the finals of the World Cup. Who Knows? As for whatever became of my poor feet...I ended up taking my shoes off and pretty much walked through London, to the train stations, and back to Oxford in my barefoot because it became extremely painful to walk around in those shoes and I would rather brave the paved and graveled roads than the painful blisters that would keep getting rubbed against my shoes if I kept walking around in them. So now I have these humongous blisters on the side of my feet and they hurt like crazy! I'm hoping that they'll heal soon!

Botzaris was our final stop for R&R at the end of a long weekend of walking/biking to and from the Eiffel Tower, Arch of Triumph, Musée Du Lourve, Notre Dame, Musée d'Orsay, Le Forum des Halles (huge underground mall), the FIFA Outdoor Event, and other attractions/restaurants. (Let me catch my breath.) Our group met an hour late, sorry Josh and Bradye, for lunch in the park. After enjoying the site on the right, a few of us decided to explore. Jeff, Tyler, and I had heard through the Josh and Bradye grapevine that there was a "filming" going on. After seeing the site, we decided to climb to the suspending bridge and walk across to the top with the fantastic view. On the way to the top, we also found a couple of locked gates that led to paths around the island. Once we made it to the top, we quickly ran around to give Kenli a shout to take pictures of us. A wee little lad befriended us during our photo shoot and introduced us to his friends as his "American friends." Quickly we became stars and his friends started to ask for our autographs and if they could take pictures with us off the paved trail ... minus the autographs. Nevertheless, it was "nice to meet" them and we were on our way.

I have never been much of a “tourist” when I go on trips or vacations. By this I mean that I am not as interested in seeing all the usual sites as I am with experiencing the actual place and culture. I can honestly say that I “experienced” Paris this past weekend. It was amazing walking around Paris with a friend (Charles Levitte, golfer extraordinaire) who is from France. I think the highlight of my trip was the day he took several of us to meet his parents and to eat at one of their favorite traditional French restaurants in Paris. Even though there were language barriers preventing us from directly speaking with his parents, using eye contact and body language turned out to be great means of communication. Also the fact that Charles speaks both English and French helped too. We each ordered separate dishes and desserts that were absolutely delectable. When people say that English food is less than memorable, they are right, but anyone who does not enjoy true French food has something wrong with them. I ordered the duck, which my family knows is my absolute favorite thing to eat, and it had to be one of the best meals that I have ever eaten. I followed this wonderful meal up with an amazing dessert and unfortunately cannot remember what it was called. It was astonishing how every part of the meal complemented one another making everything taste better. Realistically I think I could write a book concerning all of my experiences in Paris, but this one really stood out. I enjoyed those four days in Paris; all of the beautiful architecture, impressionist art, religious art and architecture, and most of all the culture in general. It was a great experience that I hope to relive one day but will certainly never forget.

So this past weekend the Coba in Oxford Group took a 4 day trip over to Paris, France. And let me tell you…it was incredible! It was fascinating getting to see and experience so much history all in one city. From attending Mass in Notre Dame to seeing magnificent art in the Louvre to watching the world cup on a big screen in front of the Eiffel Tower, the whole experience is still so surreal. I use to not be a big fan of art, but after going to multiple art museums I now have a new appreciation for it. Each painting or sculpture tells a story or an event either in history or their life and it is fascinating to me that I get to see a glimpse of that 100 of years later. To see painting inspired by emotion and feelings that reach into the heart and soul of its viewers is absolutely a priceless experience

Not only do I have a new outlook to art, but I now look at Oxford in a different light. After being in big cities like London and Paris, I appreciate the calmness and peacefulness of Oxford. There isn’t a constant hustle and bustle and the people are just so chill. Oxford has so much beauty and history within its own city limits and it sad that it took me going somewhere else to see what was already in front of me. The same is true back in the states. We are all such privileged people and we really take for granted things that we use on a daily bases. God has blessed our country tremendously and we need to consistently give thanks for that. Life is full of lessons; it’s amazing that they all seemed to happen in different ways and end up creating a new set of eyes

We just got back from Paris and I already want to go back. Although I packed my days as full of exciting attractions, walking, and fun as I could, I still feel like I could spend another week there and not be able to do even just the main tourist attractions.

The Louvre was one my favorite parts of France. This huge building was filled with so any amazing things that I think I could have spent every day of the trip in there. Out of the three large wings, that each have 3 floors, I only got to see about 2 floors of one wing. I was so amazed by all of the old paintings (some of which were made in the B.C.’s) and the beautiful statues. My favorite part must have been seeing all of the paintings that I recently learned about in my intro to art class at ACU. Going to the Louvre made that knowledge of art so worth it to me and I can’t wait for my next chance to go to Paris.

The excitement of the world cup had definitely spread to Paris, while I was touring the city this weekend along with my entire group. There were people flocking the streets, and cheering for their respective nations as they battled each other on the soccer field. One of my most memorable moments in Paris included taking the metro train and walk to the Eiffel tower to actually watch a viewing of a match between England and the United States on a huge television screen outside. While we were on the Metro we ran into a group of people from Oklahoma Christian who were really excited to meet us once they heard that we spoke English and were from Texas and so the rest of the train ride was spent comparing universities and back-and-forth inquiries of common people that we knew. Once we got to the Eiffel Tower, we saw that there were so many people camped out on the lawns watching the game and cheering for either England or the USA. The game itself was very interesting to watch and really all we could really do was watch since the broadcast was televised in French and given the very minuscule amount of French that I knew, I was not able to understand anything that the commentators were saying about the game. But from what I saw both teams were extremely aggressive but both teams did have their faults but it was not enough to make it a terrible game to watch. I will definitely say that our goalie was amazing in his ability to block all the shots that England attempted to make. The game ended as a 1-1 tie game so only time will tell to see who will advance further at another chance to make it to the next round. But the fact that I got to see a world cup match at the Eiffel Tower was an experience that I will never forget and I enjoyed every moment of it! :-)

I cannot believe that just a couple weeks ago I was annoyed at the hassle of getting ready to depart for Oxford. Not really knowing anyone that was going on the trip probably had a lot to do with that. The plane ride to London-Heathrow did not help matters. Heavy turbulence bombarded us the entire way and my aspirations of sleeping on the plane were quickly smashed. However, once we finally arrived the atmosphere was surreal. My entire outlook on the trip did a one-eighty once we stepped out of the airport and began the ride to our destination of Oxford. It was a dismal day but with temperatures in the sixties, what Texan wouldn’t feel great.

When we finally arrived in Oxford, the entire town was like nothing I had ever seen. Spires and old English buildings (some built before our country was even formed) lined the street. It was absolutely amazing. During that entire first week, I spent most of my time in class, getting acquainted with the other students, and roaming the streets of Oxford. I met some really great people and got to see some astounding sites from Oxford University. From going to restaurants such as the Eagle and Child (a place that was frequented by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien back in their prime), to traversing through Oxford, camera in hand, like a good American tourist, I have had a great experience.