Off to Oxford (or hogwarts)

The day starts off very blurry and clumsy. Maybe it’s the holiday, maybe it’s sleep deprived or jetlag, whichever it may be sure brings alot of funny stories. Just 10 seconds after I leave my friend’s apartment,  I walk straight along the corridor and pass the elevator and keep walking to the end of the hall while my friend stops infront of the elevator and look at me like ‘that’s not the way girl.’ Only 1 meter away from the wall that I realize whoops, shouldn’t be playing on the phone while walking. I’m sure alot of people can relate to this ;p As I don’t have my oyster card for using the underground train and buses (due to the fact that the ticketing office closes during weekend, as well as most shops and restaurants)  in London i have to buy single tickets from the machine. With all my confidence in the world, I walk (like rihanna) to a ticket machine, only to realize the one I walk to is to top up the oyster card. I then smoothly move to the right machine like oh yeah was just checking out the machines you know. Even though there’s no one around, but why do i feel so embarassed… Helllooo Paddington! I must admit I want to experience this place myself due to its famed movie! And the bear sure is adorably fluffy. What I find weird is how they show which platform i suppose to go on only about 10 minutes before departure, which is why I have to rush to the train and no time to take photo with the Paddington bear at the platform! Grrr…. What’s worse? I spill my hot cocoa on my white pants! See how clumsy?

And here we are in Oxford! The olden city. Most popular for its university, where kids always answer which university they want to go to when they grow up. Have not even pass the train station, first problem arises; my friend can’t find her train ticket! ‘Ok keep calm, it’s probably in your pants pockets, no? Check your bag..try the other pocket, that tiny pocket inside the big pocket? Your wallet? Your coat?’ ‘No, nope, nope, not there.’ Suddenly my friend screams ‘oh my god!’ ‘You found it?’ ‘It’s in the trash!’ ‘ It’s in the WUHHTT?’ Who would have thought… in this beautiful city…with this magical ambience… my heart eagers to explore the city that I have been hearing since I was young, but the first thing we do…dig out the trash! I’m not sure if saying thank god would be appropriate for this situation but i really do appreciate whoever invent the see through bin bag. It gives us the opportunity to play the ‘where’s wally’ game before really going through the….dump. ‘There! In the coffee cup!’ Full of excitement like winning the lottery, jumping up and down, ignoring the people walking by who probably find it weird to see these girls getting excited over something in the trash. Here comes the final stage – the digging phase! Oh my friend is so ready for the fight, taking off her coat, pulling up her sleeves, giving all the stuff she carries to me and here she goes…. slowly, disgustingly picking a cup, a snack bag, pushing it aside.. to the left..to the right…pull it up.. it will probably takes hours to reach to the ticket which is wayyyy down the bag almost at the bottom. And like a prince on a white horse….some guy comes over to find plastic bottles in the trash, so we kindly ask him if he can help get the ticket and voila! The princess is saved! (From digging the trash) Having done no prior research, thinking there would be maps available at the train station. Nope. We decide to go with the flow especially the people with camera because that means they are tourists too! Here we gooo!

Wonder why post box are classified into first class and second class? what are your guesses? This is very unusual to me as normally there’s only one hole in a post box. My very very best guess is first class is for corporate level mails, or confidential documents and second class is for others like postcards to your friends. Well, well, the truth is first class is to be delivered on the next working day, while second class is aimed to reach the recipient by 2-3 days. (Source: http://www.postoffice.co.uk/first-second-class-parcels) Well, my guesses are close enough right?

From Radcliffe Camera, you might understand why i might start to feel the Harry Potter vibe from Oxford, what a coincidence that the actor who plays Harry Potter has the same name. And now you’re wondering why it’s called camera when you clearly see no lens. Well, well peeps, you are here not only for leisure reading, but i will give you knowledge too you guys. LOL. Now ‘Camera’ is actually Latin for room. It is a neo classical style building to house the Radcliffe Science Library, belongs to university of Oxford. Boy, don’t i sound smart, there must be something in the Oxford waters ;p ( Big thanks to Google) We walk around snap photos here and there, but the place that really makes the day magical is at Christchurch college, a constituent college of University of Oxford. We stop to have a look as the students with black gowns walked out the building to the field, can’t help but think… oh wow im seeing hogwarts in real life! …( on a related note stay tuned for upcoming ‘Harry Potter’ blog post)