Picking up where i left off...so we went to the shakespeare play, and it was interesting. they jazzed it up a bit (see how british that sounds?!) and everyone wore really brightly colored vintage 70s clothes. it was funny, but i somehow get the feeling a lot of jokes they made were british, and hence we missed out on something. anyway, it was enjoyable (albeit cold). i was so cold that i rented a blanket for 50 pence at intermission. some people didn't have sweatshirts and it was probably in the upper 40s or lower 50s and dark out so they were shivering a lot by the time the play ended.

anyway, on to day 2. i can't believe we've only spent 2 days here and so much has happened. it's pretty amazing. alright. today i had the English breakfast, consisting of ham, eggs, sausage, hash browns, and a cooked tomato. it was actually pretty good...and they also have fruit and cereal if you want it. i am also getting to love Nutella. for those of you who may not know what it is, it's a hazelnut chocolate spread that i've found delectable on toast. it's kind of hard to find, i believe, in the US but it's all over here. The classes were actually pretty interesting. lots of graphs in econ, but i suppose it's to be expected. the professor kept saying "if you've taken econ 101 you should know this" but econ101 at nebraska and oxford, i'm sure, are two compleetely different things. needless to day, i have already learned more than i did in either of my previous economics courses. for lunch we had salad, chicken, and strawberries and cream--very british and very tasty. after lunch i went for a walk around university park...it's huge and they have several official university fields--cricket, soccer, etc. --and several general-use fields. there are also trails and paths..it's very pretty. after i came back, brian and i went around downtown oxford, by all the shops and down by the river thames. tomorrow is when i'm going on the walking tour and i'll be taking lots of photos. it's amazing how different it can be here, yet how similar (to the US). for instance in downtown there is a disney store, a gap, a burger king, mcdonalds, kfc, 2 pizza huts, and 2 starbucks. crazy, huh?

we got back from our walk at about 1700 (dinner is at 1830). some of our friends had just returned from punting--i'm going to do that later on. we went out again to look for some school supplies but all the stores close at 1730, so by the time we got there everything was closing up shop. anyway, a lot of people skipped dinner and went to pizza hut, which i don't understand. we already paid for our meals here, they're pretty good, and usually we get food we might not get in the states. tonight, though we had steak and curly fries, followed by a scrumptious bowl of ice cream with layers of chocolate and vanilla.

after dinner some people went to a movie, but a bout 10 of us went to a candlelight Baroque music performance in one of the chapels at one of oxford's colleges. there were only about 50 people there, so it was a very intimate setting. it was getting dark and the only light came from the candles. it was gorgeous and the music was great. there was a harpsichord, 2 singers, and a cellist. then it was back to our rooms and out to a club -- the purple turtle. i had a white russian -- not bad at all -- and we danced on the floor they had in the back, almost like you were in a cellar. it's funny b/c we only heard one non-american song the whole time we were there.

oh! i got in contact with one of the frisbee players and i am going to practice and 1730 on friday ... i'll have to miss dinner, but it is a small price to pay for the chance to play ULTIMATE again. i have definitely been going through withdrawal. anyway, off to look over my notes (i am so studious!) and sleep!

Ecstatically exhausted,

Grant