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.

My MIS class had the chance to visit the place where BMW Mini Coopers were manufactured and assembled and then shipped out to the dealers to be sold. Now, I had always had an admiration for the Mini Cooper and would always get a kick out of seeing one driving on the streets of America. But after seeing all the team members and robots put together and assemble a mini cooper, I believe I would be speaking for my entire MIS class when I say that I really wanted to just go out, buy a mini cooper and drive one! :-) The tour itself was very interesting to observe. There were so many robots putting together the bare skeleton of three types of Mini Coopers. Each car had to be measured precisely to make sure that the size was accurate. If it wasn't then everything would come to a halt and then the car would be removed. Our tour guide was very friendly and helped make the experience very unique and enjoyable for us. Afterwards our class got to observe the assembling of the Mini Cooper when it receives the windows, tires, dashboard, lights, engine and each step of way included workers performing tests on every single component to make sure that everything was functioning properly! It felt really amazing to see the finished car drive away to the various countries in the world where it would be sold and I'm hoping that someday in the future, I will get to drive away in a Mini-Cooper!

Today was a great day. I had the privilege of spending a day in London with two awesome guys, Charles Levitte and Mike Aguilar. However, it started off a little slow. The night before we had planned to be ready to go at 6:50 am, so I set the alarm to my watch to wake me up at 6:00. Although, I didn’t factor that I’m still adjusting to the time change. Mike ended up having to wake me up at 6:45 from my coma. But due to speediness, we were on the streets before 7:00 to walk to the train station to catch the 7:30 train to London. Once we arrived at London, we immediately immersed ourselves in a crash course in the London underground. After 30 seconds of learning the ropes, for a second I forgot that I wasn’t from London because of how good we were getting around. We were able to see so much in just one day. We went to St. Paul’s Cathedral, changing of the guards at Buckingham, Harrods, Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye, and Westminster Abbey. I was pretty pleased with how we did. We then returned back to Oxford around 7:00 pm and had some amazing conversations that will stick with me for the rest of my life. I felt like I truly experienced what study abroad was all about, creating close friendships and experiencing a different life style with people that by only studying abroad brought together. It was the perfect way to end a productive day.

I had always thought that it would be cool to have an experience similar to "Home Alone" where the family is frantically running to make a plane. The irony is that I actually said something similar in the London Stanstead Airport before things went really wrong. Our flight had problems from the beginning. When we first arrived, one of the members of our group that was traveling to Ireland with us realized that he had forgotten to bring his boarding pass. Most people would assume that the airline would simply print another one with the proper ID but not RyanAir. That member had to run over to a wifi hot spot and try to print his boarding pass again. We were already running late for our plane so the rest of the group decided to go on ahead through the airport security and find the gate while Seth, the person had forgotten his ticket hurried and met us there. We started to really worry though when they started having all the passengers board the flight and we did not see Seth. We all got in line to board the plane and tell the workers that we had one more member coming. That was when things went really crazy. We got up to the ticket scanner so that we could get on the plane when the lady taking the tickets looked at our tickets and then looked up disapproving. She told us that we were supposed to get our passports checked and approved back at the ticket counter and that she could not let us on the plane until we had done so. Panic struck. For a split second, we were all in shock that we were probably going to miss our flight until we found a sense of urgency and we all just started running. The airport terminals were pretty big so it took a little over five minutes to make it to the information desk. We told them our situation and a very nice lady told us that she would take us through security backwards and wait for us so that we could hurry. Once we finally made it to the ticket counter, the guy manning it told us immediately that we should give up on our flight and start looking for another. We would not settle for that though. We pleaded with him to just let us try so he reluctantly did his job and stamped our tickets. We turned around and started running for security only to find out that the lady who was supposed to take us through security had left us. Somehow, we managed to cut a long line of people (while apologizing to each individually) and rushed through security. But it could not be that easy. The airport security people decided to search Tyler’s bag so Tyler and I waited for his bag while we went the girls and Keith onto the plane to try and slow them down. The security man made sure to take his time pulling everything out of the backpack but he finally let us go free. This is where the most epic part happened, the part that I had dreamed about. Tyler and I went through the airport at a full sprint, jumping over bags, sliding between people, and yelling excuse me the entire way. As we reached the final hallway, we hear over the loud speaker that boarding for the flight to Cork Ireland is now closing. When we finally reached the area where our gate was, the ticket lady was just about to close the gate when she saw us…and smiled. We jogged over to her, gave her our tickets, and she made sure to tell us that we had no idea how lucky we were to make that flight. As we walked on the plane, I felt like everybody should stand up and give us a standing ovation. Instead, we got fist pumps and high fives from the five other members of our group as we set out for a fun weekend in Ireland.

Saturday, after our early, hectic flight to Cork, Ireland, a few friends and I decided to go visit Blarney Castle right outside of Cork. Our friendly cab driver was happy to take us out there and acted as a tour guide to us as we made the short trip through town. We were in awe as we drove through the beautiful green hills and finally arrived at the Castle. Because of our early flight, we were some of the first to enter the castle grounds that day, making us feel like we had the entire place to ourselves for discovery. We crawled through the narrow tunnels of the dungeon and took pictures on the bridge by the stream that ran by the castle before making our way to the top. From outside on the bottom of the castle, you can see high up on a ledge on the top, the couple of bars that are supposed to protect anyone from falling when kissing the legendary Blarney Stone. As we made our way up the tiny stairways and went through the small stone rooms, I couldn’t help but think that this would not pass city codes back in Abilene. Finally we reached the top where, the views were unbelievable. We walked over to a nice Irish man that was waiting to lower us down (upside-down and backwards) to kiss the magical stone that was hidden in the castle in the 1400’s but had been around much longer than that. Looking down before I kissed the stone might have been a bad idea, but it made it even more worth it afterwards. I can now say that I have been given the “gift of gab” which gives me the gift of eloquent speaking. Kissing the Blarney Stone, and more importantly exploring the beautiful fern garden, poison garden, castle, and other grounds of Blarney Castle has been my favorite European experience yet.

-Tyler Sutphen (6/7/2010)