Second Visit to Oxford

I like how that sounds. ;) Just fyi, I wrote about Friday's adventures on the post below this, so don't forget to read both! :)
I know I say this every time, but I am extreeemely tired so I'm going to try to make this quick. Unfortunately I never have time to write all the thoughts and feelings I want to! :(
The day started off with rehearsal- we're singing two pieces in the LDS ward at Oxford tomorrow. Hopefully they go better than they did this morning. ;) Then we were off to Oxford!
When we got there we wandered around and explored for a while, and then went on a tour of Oxford guided by our friend Ruth. Ruth went to BYU (an Orem native), and then studied organ at Oxford. She's still at Oxford, but I'm not sure what she's doing. Anyway, she's been extremely helpful with all our Oxford adventures and has opened lots of doors for us. Its pretty funny though, because she totally speaks with an English accent now! Maybe that'll happen to me before I get back. ;) Anyway, she took us all around and told us lots about the buildings and such. New College, where I attended the boys choir rehearsal yesterday, was built in the 1300's!!! Wow! America is such a baby... Here I am with my friend Logan in front of a church in Oxford. I don't remember particulars about it, there were a lot of buildings and they all kinda looked the same...

Oh I forgot! The drive to Oxford is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! I love seeing the countryside, Dad you would love to see it! Well, I guess you have. Huh. Anyway, there are just endless fields of green with trees and sheep and cows and beautiful-ness! :) Then, there were these gorgeous fields of bright yellow! I had never seen such a vibrant colored field! Ah, its so pretty and so relaxing. Its nice to get out in the country and out of the hustle and bustle of the city. :) Both are fun though!


Going on. AFter the tour we explored the Covered Market, a fun market with a roof! Imagine that, eh? ;) It was fun to look around, and I bought you something mom! :) Then we walked around some more looking for a place to go punting on the Thames. I guess punting is going out on a gondola-like boat and pushing it with the pole thing, you know? Sounded fun! Turns out we didn't end up doing that (it was a long walk and expensive), so we got gelato instead and sat on the grass in front of one of the churches and ate it. We do SO much walking here! I thought I walked a lot at BYU, but I probably walk 10 times as much here! Its fun though, I really enjoy it. You get to experience where you are and its much more enjoyable than being in the tube.
Once our free time was up, we split in half to attend evensong. My group went back to New College (the one with the boys choir that I watched yesterday). This college is the most famous musically at Oxford, they even won a grammy a couple years back or something. I know why! :) We got to sit in on their rehearsal with the men, and then stayed for the evensong which was wonderful. The chapel was extremely old (but beautiful) and a couple of us got to go up into the organ loft which was neat! I really don't know why they built all these chapels and cathedrals with the organ in a place where there is absolutely no way they can see the choir director. They always have a mirror set up so that with the angles they can see the director. Doesn't really make any sense to me. Anyway, I would go into more detail about the evensong, but honestly I was having some serious trouble staying awake. I really need to get more sleep...
Oh I forgot! On our tour Ruth talked about C.S. Lewis, who was very involved with the Magdalen college. She told us the story (or myth) about C.S. Lewis coming up with the basis for Narnia. Apparently he wanted to write an allegory and walked out the building one night and saw this building in the picture. On the door is the head of a lion and he thought, "hm. That would make a good symbol of Christ." Then he saw the Tumnus character thing on either side and decided to use that. Then he saw the lamp post and decided to use that as well! Cool, huh!? So here I am with the inspiration for Narnia!

After all that we came home and I wrote on my blog for forever... I could definitely write more about today but my body is yelling at me to sleep! So here are just a couple random pictures for kicks.