Just a few days ago, we were able to spend time in Oxford, England. The town is everything you could imagine of an English town. Filled with houses that are considered new if they were built in the 17/18th centuries, flower pots, Tea shops and of course Oxford University. While i have dreamed of going to Oxford (as i am sure every university student has done once or twice) seeing this magnificent city sprawling with 30 different colleges was really wonderful. Peter explained that there was a SSU student who went to Oxford for a graduate studies program and described how lonely the world of Oxford really can be. The silent undercurrent of a social hierarchy is still engrained into much of Oxford, and in part the wider English culture. Nevertheless it was fun to day dream about Harry Potters life at Hogwarts (which was filmed in a section of Oxford U) and try to imagine being an Oxford student. The history seemed to seeping out of every corner and street of the entire town it was fantastic! I also was able to go to Eagle and Child Pub, the pub that C.S. Lewis, J.R. Tolkien, and other infamous authors would meet weekly and discuss their newest book ideas, philosophy and regular life over a pint and fish and chips. It was INCREDIBLE!
While Oxford University may not be in my future, it was wonderful to visit and gave me a passion for returning and experiencing more of English life.
There is really only one word that can describe what this trip is – whirlwind. We camp in one site for about three days, we see some of the world’s greatest art, cultural, and historical icons and then board our bus for a bus ride to yet another city or country. When we left Spain, we literally went through a mountain tunnel at one point and entered into Italy. In about five minutes we were no longer in the country that had been our travelling home. There has been more than one occassion where i have gone to sleep on the bus in one country and woken up in another. CRAZY! It really is life on the road. Every day is more challenging and more rewarding.
How do you really summarize a trip where a person sees the things that we stop to see? I mean, there are people who dedicate their whole lives to studying just one of the sites or even just one of the many pieces of art that stand in one of the many Museums. It’s incredible all of it really. Getting to see The Sistine Chapel, the David, Donatello’s Mary Magdalene, Michelangelo’s Pietas. These are the things i am seeing. Time in Venice, in Vienna, in Munich learning about history, and cultural impacts. I don’t think i can really express what or how i feel about them because the impact of seeing these things has yet to fully hit me.
There is so much i am learning as the days and time goes by. I am learning about how graceful community needs to be and how it is fully possible to have that level of grace. I am learning about being present and making the most of every moment, whether that’s sitting on the bus, or standing in front of the Dachau concentration camp. This travelling life demands a level of being in the moment and flexible (yes gregg finley you were right… flexibility) that not many other things ask.
I am enjoying europe a lot. I love the exhileration of never knowing what is coming next, i love the community that i am building, giving to and recieving from. I love the connection that i am learning about how i do not stand alone, i stand with thousands of other who have contributed to western culture in ways that i had never known. I love waking up and never knowing what i am going to learn, or whose life i am going to learn about.
It is wonderful, and terrible. It is rewarding and challenging, but it is such an incredible journey.
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