Four canopic jars were used to house the entrails of deceased Egyptians, the heads on the jars depicting the heads of the four sons of Horus. Imset, the human head, housed the stomach and large intestines; Hapy, and ape head, held the small intestines; Duamuter was a jackal head who was in charge of the lungs and heart; and Kebensanuf was a hawk, housing the liver and gall bladder. There was also a special exhibit on supernatural artifacts – speaking, weeping, sick-curing, blinking, nodding, and bleeding images, icons, statues, and paintings, generally following a religious theme. The most interesting one was the crucifix at Santa Maria di Castello in Genoa that acted as a witness by nodding to confirm a young mans vow of love to a young woman.

After the museum, we headed to The Eagle and Child Pub for lunch, pet-named “The Bird and Baby” by JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, and all their cronies who frequented the pub for intellectual chit-chat and beer. Then we hit up a thrift store, Uncle Sam’s, for something totally foreign to us: American vintage clothing!

Then we embarked on our walking tour of Oxford University. We met at the Martyrs Memorial, erected in the 19 th century to remind Britian of its Protestant values when it began to lean back toward Roman Catholicism. The statue depicts the two bishops burned by Mary Tudor in 1555 when she tried to reinstate Catholicism. Then we moved on, heading toward campus, which isn’t one particular location, it’s scattered throughout the city and includes the one university and 39 colleges. The students belong to both Oxford University and one college. Oxford is the oldest campus in the English-speaking world, dating back to at least the 11 th century, perhaps older. Oxford was originally an old Saxon military town, protected on three sides by rivers, The Themes and Cherwell. The North side was the only exposed side, so the remains of the old city wall can be seen on Broad Street. Their college operates in a far more antique fashion than Cornell, from small subtle differences to huge overwhelming ones. Some little differences can be seen in the titles of their terms – they were beginning the Hillary Term, for their terms are named after saints. They also put the coat of arms outside their colleges, rather than the name of the college. Furthermore, they don’t offer modern classes like computer science, or even creative writing. PPE (politics, philosophy, and economics) just recently became their most popular subject, followed closely by Modern History.

Their testing system is also completely different than ours: they take one test at the beginning of their education, and one at the end. Some four year programs give you a test halfway through. That’s it. You have to remember everything you ever learned. And this is a fairly recent testing practice because up until the middle of the 19th century grades were based on public oral tests, which became so rowdy the written exams were initiated. Another unique aspect of Oxford is the reliance on tutors. Tutors meet with the students three times every fortnight (that’s every two weeks). The tutors keep an eye on their progress, aiding a 2% dropout rate, and facilitating a high intellect, leading 23% of graduates to earn a first degree (which is good – it’s like an A).

The architecture all over campus is astounding. I was particularly impressed by Christopher Wren’s Sheldonian Theatre, where university ceremonies are conducted (still in Latin, I might add). The big heads out front were my favorite. Lots of scary faces all over their buildings.

The Old School’s Quadrangle also possessed a fabulous archway depicting the advancement of column architecture from Tuscan all the way to Corinthian. The fame factor is huge at Oxford – John Locke, William Penn, and everyone’s favorite kid’s author Lewis Carroll went there, among many others. Those three all belonged to Christ Church College, which we perused and popped into the chapel, which became the Cathedral of Oxford under Henry VIII. It was actually Wolsey who founded the Church in 1525. Inside the Cathedral is a surviving image of Thomas Beckett’s assignation, miraculously escaping the Reformation almost entirely unharmed. The massive dining hall of Christ Church College was impressively huge, and there we saw a portrait of Dean Liddell, and stained glass impressions of his daughter, Alice Liddell, Lewis Carroll’s inspiration for Alice in Wonderland.

After our tour concluded we hopped on the coach and made our way to Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s stomping ground, and there we saw Great Expectations at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. I found the performance to be a wildly successful adaptation of the novel; in particular I was impressed by the inventive employment of the chorus as a combination of narrative voice, stagehands, and props. The show managed to condense a 500 page novel into a few hours without leaving any gaping holes in the plot, and retaining portions of straight-up text. The show incorporated an array of acting styles, with a particularly striking Joe created by Brian Doherty. The chemistry between the cast could have been stronger, but technically the show was stunning, and the careful chorography of the show created a balletic feel, making it a production worth watching.

Following the production I checked out the Dirty Duck Pub with Michelle, Katy, and Paul in hopes of chatting it up with some of the actors, and met the actors playing Magwitch, Estella, and Orlick. Overall a fun day, but entirely exhausting. So I went back to the hotel room and crashed out.