We had session Tuesday morning on F.F. Bruce's Paul and the Mind of Christ and John Pollock's The Life of Paul. After session, Heather, Scott, and I took a bus to Oxford to visit the Kilns, C.S. Lewis' home - something we'd planned a while ago. Our tour was at 4pm, and we thought the bus would arrive in Oxford at 3:15pm (it's a three-hour bus ride), but it didn't get there until 3:45pm. Upon getting ready to depart the bus, I noticed a white string on my bag. Turns out, the white string was actually gum. Unfortunately, I happened to not have any Kleenex or tissue with me; all I had was a grocery bag I'd bought my lunch in. I got the gum off as best as I could and tried not to think about where it had been. Anyways, we had to catch another bus to get out to the Kilns, which was a little ways out of the main part of Oxford. This bus was supposed to come every 30 minutes on the half hour, so we thought we'd catch the one at 4pm. It didn't come until 4:15pm. And the driver didn't let us use the bus pass we already had, even though we'd been told we'd be able to (a later bus driver also told us that this guy should have let us!), so we had to buy another ticket. I called the Kilns on the bus to let them know we were late but still coming. We got there at 4:45pm. There was no point in joining the tour because it only lasts an hour, but the gal was really nice and gave us a tour with just the three of us. It was really cool to see the house. They had pictures of C.S. Lewis in the house on the walls that they had used to make the house look how it had looked for him. A few things were still authentic to the house, such as a doorknob, some fireplaces, and an old typewriter that belonged to his brother. After seeing the house and taking lots of pictures, we walked to his grave by his church.
The Kilns
On the bus back into town, we noticed the people behind us were Americans. Scott recognized them as being in the tour that we had missed, so he started talking to them. They're from Tennessee, and so of course, I got involved in the conversation. Turns out, the lady is the assistant director of the honors program at Union University, my second choice college! It was a weird moment, because I most likely would have done the honors program if I'd gone to Union and would have known her. And then I meet her on a bus in Oxford instead. So strange!
Back in town, we met Scott's friend, Chase, from the States who's studying in Oxford for the summer. We went to the Eagle and Child pub for dinner (where all the Inklings always met and ate!), then Chase gave us a quick tour of the city. Most things were closed by this time (it was around 8pm), but we still saw some cool things. Around 9pm, we headed back to the bus station. We thought the last bus to Cambridge left at 10:40pm, so we were sure we had plenty of time. Unfortunately, the bus schedule online had been misread and the one at the station was less confusing. The last bus to Cambridge had left at 7:40pm! The next one didn't leave until 7:10 in the morning. After researching our options online and talking to a bus driver (who was certain there was another bus leaving for Cambridge that night), Chase offered to let us crash at his place for the night. (If we'd taken a train, it would have been 50 pounds and taken six hours!) Praise the Lord I had my hair brush with me, but I didn't have much else! Unfortunately, taking the morning bus also meant that we would be late for class which starts at 9am. We called our professors, and they were understanding and gracious. At Chase's flat, we met some of his flatmates and chatted for awhile. They were all Americans studying in Oxford for the summer (and Evangelical Christians - don't worry Mom). Heather and I slept on the couch in the small living room. We also had to finish reading Wilberforce though (the one book I hadn't read ahead of time!), so we stayed up reading together for awhile. I went to bed at 1am.
Oxford
We woke up at 6am Wednesday, to give ourselves plenty of time to get to the bus station. One good thing about the situation was that I finally got to ride in a double-decker bus! The bus to and from Chase's flat. That was fun. We made it to the bus station with enough time to buy a croissant and tea (with lots of sugar) for breakfast. While waiting in line to board the bus (which we had to buy another ticket for because our return trip ticket was only for the day before), a bee decided to sting Scott right below his eye. I'm not quite sure why, but fortunately his eye didn't swell! We got to class around 10:45am. Our professors weren't mad, and everyone thought the situation was pretty funny, especially the bee sting!
Wednesday afternoon, a bunch of us went to a little restaurant called Fitzbillie's, for a girl's birthday. They served tea and scones, among other things. In the evening, we had a group dinner in one of the kitchens of people's leftovers, mainly tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. It was fun to hang out with everyone, since we'll all be leaving in two days!
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