Then the Sun Came Up...

As I type these words, I am listening to "Hey, Jude." England, folks, has sunk its hooks into me. I'm getting to love it a little more each day, but that might be because the weather is improving somewhat.
As promised, I will go into a bit more detail about the ball last Friday. After rushing back from my fencing class, I took the world's fastest shower and struggled to make myself presentable after an hour and a half of sweating in very old fencing equipment. Some of the other Americans arrived at the house where we chatted, took pictures (sadly the camera was lost at the dance, so they may never make an appearance on Facebook) and ate a quick snack. We all trooped over to the Union and queued to get inside. The library had made a transformation from a serious and austere building, into a darkly inviting retreat. Once inside, we explored a little, visiting a room upstairs where people played blackjack, roulette and poker. My friend and I quickly lost our gratis bag of plastic chips at the blackjack table. Apparently, dressing like characters from a James Bond film does not give you Casino Royale skills. A restaurant called The Mission (Chipotle, by another name) catered with made to order burritos. In a large tent, lit with chandeliers of black stones, a guitarist played Jason Mraz and Jimmy Buffet, later followed by an acapella group called The Oxford Gargoyles. In a large chamber leading from the tent, usually reserved for the famous Oxford Union debates, a large jazz band blared its music to swaying dancers. Later, towards the end of the night, this room held a ballroom exhibition (very awesome!!!!) and a silent disco. What is a silent disco? That's what I wanted to know, upon first hearing that phrase. This sort of thing involves a pair of headphones for each of the dancers, with two or three music channels to choose between. Everyone wears these headphones and dances around for a while, which looks really insane if you can't hear the music. One of the only downsides to the ball was that there weren't enough headphones for all of the participants. As we left, the clouds opened fire and sent us back in a torrent of rain. Usually, I would have found this extremely irksome, but somehow it was a perfectly whimsical end to the ball. I may or may not have been singing "If you like Pina Coladas" in my head all the way back to Faulkner Street.
Other than a spectacular night last Friday, things haven't been too crazy. Sunday night, I stayed up a little too late planning a takeover of a small island country called Sealand with the folks on Trinity Street. Apparently, this place makes money by selling titles to people who have always wanted to add "Duke," "Count" or "Lord" (or all of the female equivalents) to their names. Not an impressively beautiful country, just an oil rig in the Atlantic. But if it is what you call home, by all means, what is a more creative way to make money than selling titles? Oh, wait, I'm pretty sure Louis XIV did that, too (History nerd joke, KingSu'd be proud). Speaking of History, on Wednesday, I had a French tutorial that started on how much one French newspaper hates David Cameron's policy on tree preservation, then somehow got onto the Hapsburgs and their jaws, hemophilia, and Queen Victoria's intense procreation. All in French. Then a tutorial today about Tom Stoppard's plays, after which I wandered in and out of book shops and enjoyed the precious sunshine.
Tomorrow, fencing as usual, although afterwards, I will once again frantically get ready for an exciting evening. I've been invited to one of the Oxford college's formal dinners. This should be a very cool event, but I have no idea what to expect. At one of the local department stores (think an English Dillard's), I managed to find a really fantastic emerald green dress that will hopefully fit the occasion. Wish me luck!

February unfurls like a flower

To start, I'd like to apologize for the delay in my correspondence, life in Oxford has suddenly become wildly exciting and I've been frantically trying to keep up with all of my loved ones back in the States while enjoying the fun times here.
I think I'll start from the end and work my way backwards, if you all don't mind.
Yesterday I ate zebra meat. Made into sushi, courtesy of Jack Steiner, my housemate. Actually, I ate a lot of really weird meats yesterday, such as wildebeest meat pie, a couple of different types of wild bird, haggis on crackers, venison chili, and kangaroo, not to mention the rabbit stew I made. (It was pretty squeamish work dicing the rabbit meat off of an actual rabbit body; no buggs bunny jokes, please!) Jack organized this occasion to try a smorgasbord of odd meats to celebrate Charles Darwin's birthday, apparently the official title of this get-together was a Phylum Feast. I have to congratulate all of the participants, the OOSC is hosting a group of pretty decent cooks!
Friday evening, Miss Sarah Stitt and I took a brief trip into London to see The Wizard of Oz on the West End, in the Palladium Theatre. I touched the original Phantom of the Opera's elbow, and I have a photo to prove it. The show itself was pretty solidly produced; the actress/singer playing Dorothy had a darling singing voice. Somewhere over the Rainbow brought the house down, just a spectacularly pure bit of music. Apparently, when Andrew Lloyd Webber was casting this show, he made the auditions into a reality tv series. Think American Idol or America's Next Top Model for the part of Dorothy, whatever his methods, I liked the result! There was a particularly fantastic bit of stage tech that I'm still scratching my head over: Dorothy and her three friends were getting spruced up for their appointment with the Wizard and in a whirl, Dorothy's dress turns from a blue checked pattern to green. (How did they do it!?!?)
This coming Friday, some of the other Americans and I will be attending a "Night in Havana" hosted by the Oxford Union. Ladies and Gentlemen, this will be my first, real English ball! Emily, my other housemate, and I have been doing a bit of bargain shopping for some appropriately ravishing dresses. I've managed to find a lovely, black satin knee-length dress in a very classic silhouette. Hopefully, pictures will be on Facebook next weekend. I don't want to say too much, but there is a certain English gentleman who has made plans to accompany me.
I've started to make reservations for the March-April break with two of the other Mercer girls on this trip. I'm really excited to finally get to see Europe. I don't think I can quite translate how my face is lighting up just thinking about this! Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, and France, ah bliss! All I could wish for was a year to savour each of the stops completely. And, best of all, I'll finally be able to return my dear friend Aude's visit to Georgia, by seeing her in Paris.
Speaking of seeing dear friends, I excitedly anticipating a week with my best high school friend, Cecilia! March 5th! Just around the corner, meaning I need to start brainstorming some really clever activities to make this trip especially fantastic!
Anyhow, the weather here is beginning to abandon that frosty cruelty, meaning it has just been rather damp on and off. I mean, it could be drastically nasty; this isn't too bad (knock on wood). Some star-shaped lilac flowers have begun to bloom in my front garden. I think that they are a good omen for the coming spring, like a promise of what is to come.