dani in england!

hello again. hope all is well back home because things here are certainly going well. dani was here for the past week we had a blast, going to london, seeing the oxford sights, going to pubs, having tea- pretty much living the high life, english style... last friday we went to harry potter, followed by a classical concert featuring beethoven's "symphony no. 5" (at the sheldonian, which is an awesome, old theatre in oxford), and then champagne and chocolates at college! it was an awesome night, packed with tons of fun... last weekend we visited salter in london and got to do some great touring around, including westminster abbey, parliament, big ben, st. pauls, st. jame's park, buckingham palace, picadilly circus, oxford circus. my personal favorite was when we got to go to church at westminster abbey on sunday morning, and sit next to the choir- definetely a rocking expereince! this past week we have had a great time in oxford, enjoying visits by salter and ana barton (for those of you with impecable memories, she is the lovely lady i visited in madrid/ dani's best friend from high school)...on a most exciting note, i finished my tutorials on tuesday and thus have no more academic responsibilities until january 15! however, that doesn't mean that my life was free of stress after tuesday; it just means that the stress became about something else- rowing...in conjunction with both thanksgiving and dani's visit, our race for rowing (the Christ Church Regatta) happened to be this week- wed.-sat. before i tell you about the regatta- what happened, how we did, and such- i'll give you all a little background/ introduction to regattas. some regattas in rowing are "head races," which means that multiple boats are racing at one time and the distance is a little bit longer, but due to the nature of this race is was all racing in pairs. there were over 120 boats entered in the race, and each was paired up, making head to head races. this means two things- tons of excitement and tons of pressure! our first race wasn't until thursday, and needless to say, we were considered the underdog. however, we managed to pull some strength together, get a great start and win our first ever rowing race! so much adrenaline, and so much fun! it was really a great experience and even though i was so hesitant about it all summer, i am thankful to neil for making me do it and would definetely recommend it to anyone else coming here in the future...after winning our first race, all the races on friday were cancelled due to bad weather conditions and crashes the day before (because the regatta is all novices, there are sometimes crashes and accidents). yesterday, we raced in the morning and somehow managed to pull of another win, and then had to race again an hour later. unfortunately we lost that race, meaning we were knocked out of the regatta. however, we were always considered the great underdog, so winning two races was in itself quite a feat- we finished in the top 25% of all the novice crews in oxford. after the regatta, dani and i went to tea at the grand cafe on high street (the location of the first ever coffee house in england), which was quite an aristocratic experience. then last night was quite a highlight. our college hosted a black-tie, cocktail formal party in honor of the christ church regatta that had been happening all week. it was a lot of fun, getting dressed up all fancy and busting some dance moves in the college chapel (i know it seems rediculous that a party would be in our chapel and i agree completely, but for some reason all of our college sponsored parties seem to be held there, which is not the best reflection on our generation)....sadly, dani left this morning, but i did have a fairly exciting afternoon participating in a "turkey bowl," meaning a game of american football using a turkey instead of a football. now i am just trying to get caught up on emails and tomorrow i think i will start reading for pleasure, seeing as i have two free days without tutorials. tuesday night is formal christmas dinner at college and then wednesday mornings, jeff, justin, and i leave for switzerland! so overall, things here are going well and i am having a great experience, althought i am missing you all and wishing you were here with me. love you and hope to hear from you soon (i.e. feel free, as always, to leave some love in the form of sweet comments).
with hope- jay.

p.s. here are a few more sweet pics (from the top of the church):