Blog - my oxford memories

HOW GOOD IT IS TO MAKE FRIENDS!

DAY 1
Our long first day...

We started well in Francisco de Sá Carneiro Airport, Portugal. (the country that actually WON the EURO CHAMPIONSHIP for those who don't know...)
Here's their James Bond & M's look.

Then we suddendly made the longest tour EVER inside an airport. Why? Ask the teacher... she knows all about it :(

So the whole story in steps:
1. We tried to catch the wrong flight although destination was right
2. We made a nearly one-hour tour of Barajas (we're know certified guides if needed))
3. And finally this is the plane that took us here:

Experienced pilots fly under any conditions...

This is the little girl that massacred Rodrigo during the whole trip.
Thank God he fell asleep!

But the final round was yet to come

Dying as we were to get to our destination: we had to wait a while for the plane to find a poxixion (i.e. position in proper english which the spanish fail to know)
we took one hour waiting for luggage. Cool.
A one-hour trip to Oxfrod followed
The driver took us to the University instead of the residence. The teacher told him. No use.
Someone from the staff had to come and direct the poor man to the right place
He got lost
It took us a while to get settled
We arrived at 6.30pm to London
We settled near 10pm in Oxford
We believe the guys from Mexico got here first

END OF DAY 1

DAY 2

We have company at 7 am. From our bedroom window.

On our way to University. Green everywhere. Secluded pathways. Fantastic.

Now it's breakfast time at Brookes University Cafeteria

Enjoy the meal!

After breakfast there came INDUCTION and PLACEMENT TESTS

Green ipad-ipod-iphone equipped Chinese were our company for the afternoon

Then, city tour!

But the best part of the day was yet to come!
DISCO NIGHT, yeaaaah!

Viewer discretion is advised. Some grownups innapropriately behaving like teens...

END OF DAY 2

DAY 3

Let the sports begin!! (slideshow will start automatically)

What better way to start the day? :)

Lovely, isn't it? The two little mascot boys, I mean...

And then classes finally started at JHB (John Henry Brookes building)

For the sake of Catarina The teacher managed to swap classroom...

Evening activities were also sport related. They didn't want to do quiz night

Just watch this

End of day 3

DAY 4

Lovely summer morning to visit:

Any chance of getting to meet HARRY POTTER?

Too tired to return on foot we decided to take the bus. Guess what, 11 more came with us! Teacher Cristina had to take care of them all!

Edgar from France/Switzerland/USA (you name it!)

The six from Thailand

Maria from Lithuania and Camille from France

Roman and Christoff from Germany

A view from Lunchtime

Classes in the afternoon which led Catarina to win a prize!! Yay! The orange is the prize. What were you thinking about?

And the activity for this evening is: BLIND DATE!!

Three girls or boys facing the audience. One boy or girl sitting backwards. 5 questions for the three and then you have to pick one!. Simple, hum?

Guess who was the first boy to be picked to play? :)

Here's the footage. Well done Rodrigo, you behaved like a gentleman!

END OF DAY 4

DAY 5

Day started with a morning excursion to Bicester.
Lord, paradise for any shopaholic! Bicester is actually a Village Outlet where you can walk through the streets, sit to have a drink in the wonderful little cafés or shop and get brands for 70% discount! Cristina nearly had a heart attack...

We went by bus as Bicester is only a couple of miles away Meeting point at Ralph Lauren (why not DIOR?!)

That's how we look when we still think we can afford Bicester... That's how we get after realising we can´t.

Now it is lesson time for some, blog time for others and laundry time for the same others.

Guess what's inside the bag...

This afternoon students were assigned new classes:

Catarina and Rodrigo's class was split in two and they're now separate
They both have friends they like in their classes
They don't stand a chance of speaking portuguese (they don't even do it with me, most times)

Karaoke night or maybe not... watch this:

END OF DAY 5

DAY 6

Early morning breeze. Why not open the window and... oopss! Let's try and close it, shall we?...

With Rodrigo on sleeping quarenteen off we go for sports!

Why on Earth doesn't she like photos but loves selfies?!

Time for a chat in breaktime

Where's Rodrigo????? He needs to take his medicine!!!

Evening activities: FILM!!!

BATMAN (not really that exciting for some...

The film was actually quite good but we have a party to attend at M3. The Brazilians will leave this weekend.

No party photos allowed

END OF DAY 6

DAY 7

No classes today!! On the other hand we have to wake up earlier. Departure at 8h30 to... LONDON!!!!

We took the bus

We got the Tour plan (how many kms exactly?)

I guess we just weren't expecting this heat

Before the Boat trip some time to chill
THE TOWER OF LONDON

TOWER BRIDGE

Queuing for the boat

With Mia from Croatia

In the boat

We got a witty guide!

Back on shore. The looong walk starts in Big Ben and goes on through St. James' Park

Until we got to Buckingham Palace

Then we made our way to Trafalgar Square

And we left to Covent Garden. Not much free time left though

END OF DAY 7

DAY 8

Sunday!!!! Lots of things to do and they... decided not to do any!!!
So we took the day to chill out

Eating chicken at the... CHICKEN COTTAGE!!! Tasty as hell!

Then a short walk through the city and checking classes for tomorrow. Yay! ALL our friends are in my class. I wonder why... :)

At the central office

Today more students arrived and we had a MEET & GREET evening

Come Greet & Meet me!!!

END OF DAY 8

DAY 9

Special message to Rodrigo. Click here

Lessons in the morning and after lunch: SCAVENGER HUNT in Oxford!! Woohoo! Another 45/50m walk to town... in the heat. On the sunny side of the street. As always. Yay.

30m SCAVENGER HUNTING and the rest 'hamburguing'. Not documented activity

Activity for tonight: DISCO!

Playlist for tonight:

String Quartet #1: II Andante Cantabile in D Op 11
Dance-Intermezzo Op 45/2
Symphony in D Op 24
Orfeo & Euridice: Dance of the Blessed Spirits

Or... we could always ask for MACARENA!!! Anyone knows it?

Have a look

END OF DAY 9 (at last) fffff...

DAY 10

This is the general mood after 8 days of hard work

And this is what the classrooms look like when you oversleep...

THIS is what you look like when you arrive after class started. :(

And this is what you look like when you haven't a clue of what class you belong to!

Evening activity: POKEMON HUNTING! Seriously?

END OF DAY 10

DAY 11

Maybe it's good to remind the readers that we DO have classes every single day:

the whole morning
performing tasks
writing
reading
But above all: speaking english!

Do not underestimate the effort they're doing! They do it it willingly but it still is hard work. Our blog just shows the easy part of the whole experience and how pleasant this is!!