beer festival and a priestly halloween

this friday night, we of course went to formal dinner again and then afterwards, decided to go to pub. i know, big surprise. well, we decided to go to the turf tavern, where we have been many times and which is super cool (maybe my favorite). however, this was not just any night at the turf. as it turns out, we were pleasantly surprised to see that there was a beer festival happening this past friday and saturday night at the turf and consequently there was about 100 different kinds of beers to choose from. needless to say it was really cool and quite a good time. we stayed probably for an hour and a half and then capped the night off by going to our favorite local kebab van- hassan's....

as for the rest of the weekend...first of all, friday marked the birthday of two of the american visiting students- chuck and julia (21st bday nonetheless). second, this was halloween weekend. third, the brits don't really do much for halloween. fourth, brits and americans know that americans throw sweet parties....now that the setting has been laid, i'm sure you can all understand why the british students were begging the americans to throw a party this past weekend, and why the americans most certainly wanted any excuse to throw a party in the first place. so, last night there was a pretty happening house party commerating chuck and julia's bday, halloween, british-american relations, anti-war, etc. well, everything except anti-war, that was just wishful thinking on my part...at any rate the party was a good time and a ton of people came- americans and british alike. and, there were tons of sweet costumes, including hula girls, playboy bunnies (lame and cliche), mike ditka (awesome!), a priest (me) and a nun, ron burgandy and his sidekick champ, and many others.
if you noticed in the pics, i went as a priest, and it was obviously ironic because we all know that i most certainly will not be converting to catholicism anytime soon, although i do love the jessies...well, i hope you all enjoy the sweet pics and feel free, as always, to leave some loving comments. hope all is well. peace, love, and happiness.
-jay

a tour with the inklings

this past wednesday i went on an "inklings" city tour with justin (a.k.a. j-tack) and it was pretty enjoyable. as many of you know, i have been studying c.s. lewis, j.r.r. tolkien, and charles williams- 'the inklings'- this term. it has been really awesome and this tour was especially cool because it was a chance to see a lot of the places these people interacted with each other. some sweet places we saw and and that are documented in the pics below, include: pete (our crazy tour guide that looks like a wannabe tolkien), exeter college (where tolkien went), balliol college (where a few other members went), the eagle and child, tolkien's house where he wrote LOTR (the little red one), a place where lewis stayed, the eastgate hotel (where lewis met his wife), the house where lewis got married, magdalen college (where lewis taught), merton college (where tolkien taught), and probably some other places...well, i think that's it for my nerdiest entry yet, but whatever, it's part of who i am. hope all is well. talk to you all not soon enough. peace babies.
-jay

a week in the life of a rower...

well, this post is a few days late but nonetheless, i figured i should let you all know that i did, in fact, complete an entire week's worth of rowing. actually, we're well into our second week (we had practice yesterday morning and have another one tomorrow morning). every week we have morning practice (6:30am-8:00am) on wednesdays and fridays, the first half of which is before the sun even rises, and then we have afternoon practice on saturdays (from 2-4). we are rowing in a boat of 8 guys (pretty standard), plus the coxen (a girl) which steers and directs us. i am the "bow" position, which means i am in the back of the boat, farthest away from the cox, but closest to where we're going. yeah, hope that makes sense. alright, that's all. wish me luck tomorrow morning, especially because it's supposed to be raining. peace (p.s. the pics are from yesterday's morning practice).

I actually wore a tie!

Past friday was again formal hall and yes I went and yes the food was delicious and yes it was a good time! I think we had guinea fowl (who knew it was so good), and basically its just like chicken. Also, the desert was quite delicious...Attached are some pics of me, Justin, Hillel, and Jeff- my homies. They are all awesome peeps and you would all get along with them...

After formal hall, we of course did what we do every Friday night and almost every other night, which was go to the pub. We chilled in the college pub for a couple hours and then went home to go to bed. Fairly low-key, but definetely a good time...p.s. we got a little more dressed up than last time, and yes i jason long wore a tie. i know, pretty hard to believe, but there's evidence...

Champagne and Chocolates with Salter. And other extremely important stuff too...

This past weekend Salter was here and it was quite enjoyable. However, before I get started there is some incredibly IMPORTANT NEWS! Last week I officially signed up for the C.S. Lewis Society (the first meeting is Tuesday at 8:15) and the J.R.R. Tolkien Society. Also, I went to the first DARTS get together, bought mine own set of darts (necessary), and we have our first practice on Thursday (the first match is Thursday 20 October, there is a match every Thursday night in a college pub). Most of all, last Thursday I signed up for ROWING! I hope all of you, especially mom and dad, are super excited. I am actually very excited myself. I will be rowing in the same boat with some of my new best buds, who I really, really like- Justin, Hillel, and Jeff (they are all in the pic at the top. Jeff is on the far left and is from Santa Clara; super funny guy and just fun to hang with. Justin is the crazy person in the middle looking down. He is a smarty pants from UPenn, who shares my obsession with C.S. Lewis. Hilel is just to the left of me, looking super serious, which is fitting because while he is super chillaxed most of the time, he loves his political debates). They are all awesome guys and none of us have ever rowed before. It will really be a good time. We have practice three times a week (Mon, Thurs, and Sat. with the first being tomorrow morning) which will be not that hardcore, and then we have the Christ Church Regatta in Seventh week (when Dani's here, so she will need to be a sweet cheerleader). As you can probably tell, I am genuinely excited. So, lets recap before we move on to this past weekend. I am in the C.S Lewis and Tolkien societies, and I will be on the Mansfield College DARTS and ROWING teams. There are other things I will be doing as well, including Walking Club and Croquet club, but that's not official yet (some of it's not until the Spring)....Anways back to this weeked and Salter. Nick got in Friday night and as soon as he got off the bus we went to college with Chris, Chuck, Justin, Jeff, Hillel, and various other people (I initially was hanging out with mainly Chris and Chuck all the time but I have started hanging out a lot with Jeff, Justin, and Hilel and they are really, really awesome guys!). Friday night was the second formal dinner (see previos blog about the first), which was black tie. It was supposed to be awesome, but some of us, including myself, didn't go because we thought that you had to have a tuxedo. Most English people do, but as it turns out, many people, just wear a suit and the gown over for the black-tie formals, or as their called "Formal Formal." Anyways, now I know and I will be sure to attend the one towards the end of the term....After Formal Formal, there was another separate event, that I did sign up for along with everyone previously listed, "Champagne and Chocolates." It was basically like a party at college. You pay 3 pounds (of your parents money- thanks mom and dad) and then get to have as much champagne and chocolates, or port and cigars, as you like. I, of course, will never smoke anything for as long as I live, so I had some champagne and chocolates. Afterwards, everyone went downstairs for the rest of the night to the college pub. That seems to be the general thing that will happen every Friday night (Formal Dinner followed by college pub). The pub is particularly popular on Friday nights because it can stay open until 1am and all the other pubs have to close at 11pm (below is a pic in the Mansfield Pub of Jeff (one of my new buds) and Salter getting into a political battle, which there were quite a few of that night between everyone- oh the intellectual atmosphere!)...It was a fun night, followed by a good day yesterday giving Salter a brief taste of Oxford and making him wish he came here instead of LSE. We went to college for lunch, toured some pubs and the main strip in the city, and then had a pretty calm night (he went to bed early and I watched "Shadowlands" for one of my tutorials)....This morning he left and I went to the second round of tennis tryouts. It was very competitive but quite enjoyable. Everyone there was of exceptional level, and I played very well myself (I have not hit the ball that hard in a long time). Regardless of what happens (realistically I probably won't make the team, and that is fine with me), I feel great about it. I got a fair chance, had a good time, and got to play some quality tennis with some good guys this afternoon...Anyways, all here is good, just missing all the fam and friends like crazy. Love you and miss you all! Peace my babies. -J

First Formal

Tonight, 12 October, we had our first formal dinner. It was really awesome! Harry Potter-esque, like the Visiting Student dinner, and we wore our gowns. The food was pretty good, the dining hall was packed, and the High Table was full (all the senior members of the university- tutors- were there). Before dinner, the senior members process in while all the students remain standing. Then a prayer is said in Latin, and the meal begins. Overall, it was a great experience and I look forward to many more to come. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of me or anyone else in gowns, but there will be some soon to come. Oh, the joys of Oxford and their crazy traditions....

Juditth and Andrew

This past week was officially Week 1 of first term. I had my first tutorial on C.S. Lewis with Judith Tonning, and had an introductory meeting with my other tutor- Andrew Linzey. Judith and Andrew will be rather influential in my academic development this fall and I will be referring to them frequently, so you should try to remember their names. On Tuesday, I had completed my first paper for Judith. The tutorial started by me reading the paper to her (scary!) and then us discussing. Whlie there were a few mistakes in my analysis, overall the tutorial went very well. Judith is really nice and is going to be a great person to work with. I am psyched! Then after much relaxing on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, I met with Andrew on Wednesday afternoon (by the way I meet with both of my tutors at their houses...pretty cool, but also kind of intimidating). It is hard to describe my meeting with Andrew without taking up 50 pages. He is incredibly charasmatic and our meeting was unbelievable. When I first rolled up on my bike outside his house, he came outside, threw his arms in the air, and called my name, "Jason!" It was awesome and he made me feel so welcome. We have never met each other before, but it felt as if we were great friends. We proceeded to chat for the next two and a half hours on his couch. I told him my life story and then we discussed what we were going to study together this fall. I told him that I really wanted to do something that would be complimentary to my C.S. Lewis tutorial, and he has a bunch of different interests/ strengths in theology, so he is pretty flexible. We eventually decided on "The Inklings," which in brief was an informal literary society during the 1930s and 1940s in Oxford, consisting primarily of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. Works like the "Screwtape Letters," "Lord of the Rings," and "All Hallows Eve" were read in their very first drafts to this group of people. They were all great friends and had a strong influence on each other. Needless to say this is something that I am extremely interested in and very excited to be studying...One other thing that is crazy/ maybe cool about Andrew is that this is my secondary tutorial, which only meets 4 times all term (once every other week), and unconventionally, Andrew decided that he wants to meet every week for the next four weeks and then we will be done in mid-November. It means that I have a ton of work every day for the next month, but then the last three weeks of term (when Dani will be here), will be less stressful- still a lot of work for Judith, but only one tutorial every week...Well that's about it. Stay posted because I will continue to talk about Judith and Andrew a lot the next few months. They are amazing scholars who will hopefully become great friends. Basically, I have awesome tutors.

21 in London and other noteworthy events in my life as a scholar...

hello again. i meant to publish this yesterday but one two hour conversation led to another (the parents and the gf), and well it's monday night. as many of you already know, i spent this past weekend in the lovely city of london for nicholas colin tomb salter's 21st bday. it was quite enjoyable, seeing as carly came up from spain, and his fam came out from the states. we had a good weekend, although it was short. saturday afternoon we went out to lunch, walked around town, went to the london eye (the world's largest ferris wheel), and then had a pretty fun night. we went to this place called "oxo," which was on the eighth floor of a building on the river. it was a bar and restaurant with great food and delicious views.
then we went to this bar, baltic (where salter's parents began to fall asleep), before going to the end/aka. it was a fun night full of good times and good company. nonetheless, it is good to be back in oxford. while it can certainly be lonely at times, there is something about this place that is already beginning to feel a little homey and welcoming. (i think it's probably the spirit's of potter and lewis roaming around, in two very different ways)... after returning from london, i had an afternoon tennis tryout, which went terribly and was rather discouraging, but don't fear my friends, i am getting another shot next sunday. no worries if i don't make the team (i was never expecting to), but i just want to get a fair shot. that's all...after the bad tryout experience, i was able to come home and chat with the parents for two hours, and it was really good to hear their voices. then last night i went to our first sunday night worship service at the mansfield college chapel and went to a dinner in the senior common room (which is quite a big deal!) for some meet and greet with the chaplain. after dinner, i came back and had a very encouraging convo with the gf. i think some of you actually know her. her name is daniella morello, she has brown curly hair, big green eyes, and is a film and communications double major at boston college. if you happen to see her around, tell her i say hey...
today, i woke up early, went and registered for a reader's card (which means i get special access to a sweet english library) and worked on my paper all day, only stopping for lunch and dinner at college. the food was pretty good and the company was even better (it really is a good time eating at college- it's a good deal, many people from school are always there, and the setting is just like harry potter). i have finished a rough draft of the paper and am just about to go edit it and come up with some form of a final copy. my first formal tutorial with judith, studying c.s. lewis, is tomorrow morning at 11 at her house. i will read my paper aloud and the conversation will go from there. could be intimidating, but potentially awesome as well (she's a really cool lady). wish me luck. i miss you and love you all. hope all is well. take care of each other. peace and love in christ- jay.

dining like witches and wizards

as many of you already know, one of my top reasons for coming to oxford was the magic and allure of harry potter. many parts from all the different films have been shot here at different colleges in oxford. for instance, one of the bigger colleges Christ Chuch, has a massive gorgeous dining hall, that so happens to be the Hogwarts dining hall.

but what's really awesome is that all 39 of the colleges at oxford are designed in the same way, so even the colleges where no major filming was done (i.e. my college), there is still very much a resemblance and a trace of the potter magic. all of the dining halls, including mine, have three long tables (that is the difference, for hp they had to add an artificial fourth table because of the four houses), where the students sit, and then at the front of the dining hall there is usually a raised platform with a another long table for the senior members of the the university (professors and such)...although i know you are all loving this as much as i am, i will get on to why this is relevant. last night was our first formal dinner, and it rocked. every day there is lunch and dinner served in the dining hall and then two nights a week (wednesday and friday), there is formal hall. everyone dresses up, gets served delicious food, has cocktails, and all for a great low price. also, almost everyone in the college goes to formal hall about once a week, so it makes for quite a good time. last night was actually just for the visiting students, so there were only the 30 of us, but the food was delicious and i can assure you that this was one of the times i have felt closest to harry (below is a picture of chuck, chris, and i at dinner).after dinner, we went downstairs to our college pub (that's right, as if there isn't already a billion pubs, every college also has their own), chilled and chatted with english folk and then went to another pub called the Turf Tavern (the first pic is just a bunch of random people at the college pub and the next one is of chris, mariel, and i at the Turf).

all in all it was yet another fun night, but the best part was certainly being able to dine like mr. potter...

the eagle and child, a bike, and no internet...

hello again. i know that it seems i should have better things to do than blog my time away, but the first entry wasn't quite enough to keep you up to speed and a few major events have happened that i felt i must inform you all on. first, the eagle and child. many of you of course know that i came to oxford to study theology, and specifically, c.s. lewis theology. some of you also know, because i have probably told you more times than you would ever care, that c.s. lewis was a professor at oxford. to make a long story short, he was a professor here at the same time that j.r. tolkien was, there were friends, and the eagle and child is a pub in oxford. it is the pub that they met at every tuesday for twenty years. so, as you may have guessed i most definetely wanted to go there and check it out. so, i did. this past week my parents and i had lunch there, in the spirits of lewis and tolkien, and it was pretty much awesome. so give you my greatest apologies for not sharing this with you earlier....next major news: the bike. if any of you decide to come visit at any time this year, or happen to notice in some pictures you see, you will find that there are bikes, lots of bikes, everywhere in oxford. about 95% of the students have a bike. for those of you who don't like numbers, that's pretty much everyone. so my parents and i decided i could get a bike, a sweet bike that i picked up yesterday and rode around (real scary!) some streets in town. anways, it's pretty awesome and will be fun, although potentially dangerous and scary at times (in the picture, my bike is the gray mach 15, the one in front)
...finally, the internet. i arrived in my dorm last week to find that i had internet without having to do anything, no registration, nothing. it seemd to good to be true, and well, it was. yesterday, after having enjoyed this for a couple days, it was disconnected and nowhere to be found. today i am in the college library, which is pretty incredible and very harry potter-esque for those who care, and using this internet. however, i did talk to the i.t. guy, and think i may have figured everything out. so there is a slight chance i may have internet again later today. cross your fingers and i'll keep you posted. peace.

p.s. there is a link of the side to "snapfish," which is where i will be posting all of my pics from this year, but i have not yet figured out how to get that link to take to you directly to my pics. so, just be patient people. ok, that's all. hope everyone and everything is well.