I did in fact wander, and most of the time I was, in fact, alone; however, never did I find myself lonely.
My day started in a fierce anger directed toward a Mr. Jet Lag. We are not friends, and I doubt there is any hope of a future cordial relationship. This silent enemy of mine delayed my golden slumber until 2 AM! I was not happy. Then my poor friend Claire was sick during the night and around 6:30 she asked me to run next door and wake Cole so that he could help figure out how to get her well. Around eight she went to the ER and felt increasingly better as the day progressed. Now, she's out-and-about feeling great, so I am very thankful about that.
After rushing to get ready, I walked over to house 9 to meet a group headed to University Parks. I wore my new UGG knock-offs, but the ground was so puddly from the rain that soon they were soaked and my feet were once again tiny ice cubes. To make matters worse, I forgot my gloves so my poor fingers
were in the same state. We threw snowballs and took some pictures (above), but soon I was too miserable to carry on and I retreated to the warmth of the houses.I sipped tea and had some quiet time which was very nice and very relaxing. I didn't want to be too relaxed and fall asleep, so I soon donned my coat, gloves, better shoes, and new scarf and hit the streets searching for adventure.
My new obsession here in Oxford is grocery shopping! Back home I find it to be such a drag, but here it is my favorite thing to do. I listed out the ingredients I needed to make a recipe I found online for Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies as well as the ingredients for Fiesta Soup (perfect for a frightfully cold day). Off I went with a smile on my lips, money in my bag, and joy in my heart. This was what I love--exploring somewhere new all by myself. I stopped at Boots Pharmacy on Cornmarket to get a mirror for my room. Our mirrors are on the opposite side of the room as our outlets so straightening my hair was practically impossible. After leaving the pharmacy I ducked into the covered market in search of Ben's Cookies which I'd heard so much about. I did not expect the sight that was before me. It was a real market with a butcher, a produce stand, a flower shop, everything you can imagine was in that precious little covered market. Eventually I found Ben's, selected a chocolate white chocolate chip cookie then stopped at the butcher on my way back to the street. They had a special on minced (ground) beef, which was perfect since I needed that for the soup.
Again on the street, I returned to my beloved Sainsbury's to find the remainder of my ingredients. The Saturday crowd was quite hectic, but that only added to the fun of my adventure. To those who say that cooking most of my own meals will hinder me from fully experiencing the culture I say: FALSE! The grocery store is a great place to see locals--hardly any tourists go to grocery stores. Anyway, I did have to improvise on several ingredients, for example, one cannot buy Rotel Tomatoes here so I had to stick with plain ol' diced tomatoes. Since I had more ground beef than I could use in the soup, I also picked up some taco seasoning and shells. The only ingredient I could not find was cocoa powder for the cookies; however, with a shrug of my shoulders I lugged my groceries about a mile back to the house.
I was so distraught about not finding cocoa and still so hyped about my adventures, I decided to head to the next village called Summertown to scour their grocery stores. The Co-op was the first I came upon, and I had no luck with the cocoa; thankfully, there is a Marks&Spencer right next door, and they had cocoa powder. SUCCESS! Along with apples and lettuce, I trekked back home--about another mile.
Time to bake! The cookies turned out great! They were so chocolately that they were almost black in color. At first I was worried no one would eat them, but soon I found some takers. Exhausted, I rested in my room to read a bit of my textbook and rest my feet. The textbook put me right to sleep, but I woke up about 20 minutes later--powernaps are always great.
I was ready to return to the kitchen. Since Claire had been feeling so sick, she wasn't in the mood for anything too heavy, so I decided to wait and cook Fiesta soup tomorrow night. Meanwhile, I wanted to use some of my ground beef, so I decided to make myself a hamburger. I pulled a skillet from the cabinet and heated it on the stove then placed my burger patty on it for about 4 minutes. While it was cooking, I sliced some of the wheat bread we had purchased yesterday to create a make-shift bun, and I chopped some lettuce to give it a little extra flavor. I turned the patty over then immediately placed a slice of mild cheddar cheese on top while it finished cooking. By the time the burger was ready, the cheese had melted all around the burger so that you could barely even see the meat. I placed it on the wheat bread, added lettuce then bit into it, and, although I know it's rude to say, I did a good job! Since the meat was so fresh, the burger was juicy and thick, and the cheese almost tasted like Swiss. I enjoyed every bite and could have made myself another one, but didn't want to appear a pig.
I spent the rest of the evening relaxing with my fellow travelers and Skyping with my sweet blue-eyed beau who is the most supportive boyfriend a girl could ever have. I'm very blessed to have him because he makes this trip so much easier even though he is thousands of miles away.
Time for some shut eye so I'll be ready for all Oxford has to offer tomorrow! Hopefully I can find more opportunities to take pictures too.
Goodnight World!
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