Exploring and Speech Writing

Today I got a decent amount of exploring done, and I also finished my last assignment.

I slept in a little more than usual (until about 9), and stayed in my room to get some of my presentation for tomorrow done. After some noticeable progress was made, I went down to grab some breakfast before the lecture of the day. I went over to the Missing Bean Coffee shop and got a almond croissant (one of my new favorite snacks), and a tea. The lecture of the day was titled Blasphemy and the Right to Speak Freely: Lessons from the UK, and was given by Dr. Christopher Nock. Dr. Nock is the assistant director of the History and Politics program here, and an expert in Political Philosophy. The lecture was a review of blasphemy laws in the UK over the couse of history and their gradual decline in importance as the liberal democracy progresses. Mainly the decline is because the laws only protected adherents of the established Church of England, so no one else (a large population of British subjects), had full rights.

I went from the lecture with Blake to pay for our one extra night of staying at Exeter, and then to eat lunch at a really fancy restaurant. It was called "Pizza Hut," and it served greasy buffet pizza and old bread sticks. I am joining a campaign to get such a wonderful place started up in Louisville.

After lunch, Blake and I headed back to Exeter and split up. I did some more work on my presentation and wrapped it up in preparation for tomorrow. I now am not only a master of Irish Home Rule history and Italy's involvement in the European Union, but also am well versed in the Labour party's difficulties and rise during WWII. My knowledge will no doubt be in high demand when I return home to the ignorant masses of Americans thirsting for a brief glimpse into British Political History.

I went from working on the speech to explore the city a little more. I went into the Sheldonian Theatre, which was designed by Christopher Wren, the famous British architect who designed St. Paul's in London. The Theatre is an amazing thing to see in person, and was exciting because I had seen the main room in a movie called The Oxford Murders, which thankfully has not been recreated while I've been here. I also climbed into the cupola of the building for another top down view of the famous spires.

I went on a long walk over near Chrits Church, and then back to Exeter, where I did my reading for tomorrow's British Politics class in the Fellow's Garden. The bench where I sat in the garden has a great view overlooking the Radford Camera and the Bodleian Library as well as Mary the Virgin Church. I read about People's views of Churchill before the 1940 election and how he came into power under a very unlikely series of events. When I was finished reading, I went to take a nap before meeting Joanna and Blake for dinner.

We went to the Turf Tavern and had a great dinner. It was nice to hang out with the two of them again, we haven't been able to do something with the three of us since the paper-writing madness began. We told stories about high school and about our classes here at Oxford, and then headed back to meet up with everyone else in the undercroft bar. After sitting outside in the quad and having a drink with a big group of the students, we all walked back over to the Turf Tavern to hang out there. We made our way over to the King's Arms afterward, and then headed home. It was a successful pub crawl where I met a really nice Australian teacher named David who was teaching German students in Oxford at the moment. He asked me and my friend Anna if we were hanging out as a big group on Friday and if he could join, since he said he was tired of going to hang out with 16 year old German kids. We'll have to give him a call soon.

I got back to my room and video chatted with my good friend Ted and then my family, and afterwards called it a night. Tomorrow are my last two classes and my presentation. Thanks for reading, there will be another update soon.