A Few of My Favorite Things:

Pims cup with our history professor (Catto) before High Table
Drinks before a lecture on Shakespearean England and the Globe Theatre

The Green Market in London, where I saw the most amazing desserts I have ever seen...I'll have two, please.
Seeing a Shakespearean Play in the theatre that Shakespeare intended it to be performed.

Spending Saturday afternoon with my friends...

on a pub crawl....
ending with a pint of Peroni.

Prayer for the Sick

I lit this candle for you at Durham Catherdral! This is the prayer we said every Tuesday morning at St. Paul's, its the only prayer I know (besides the Lord's prayer) and it seems like appropriate right now. Love you mom!

Lord, who doth heal the pain of the world,

Look down upon all sick and suffering persons,

Enfold them in thy love, and in the midst of pain,

May they find thy presence.

To doctors and nurses grant tender hearts and heeling hands

So that they may give health again in body and soul

For they tender mercy's sake

Amen.

My Relationship with the Kebab Stand.

Mom, Remember the summer you went to camp and gained weight from eating too many peanut butter fluff sandwhiches? This is just like that...but its 100 pounds worse. Every weekend night, I find myself wandering home, slightly over-served, with only one thing on my mind: food. I don't know why I chose the Kebab stand the first night we went out here, maybe the red awning, or ice cream truck appeal? But it was a fateful night...not only for my figure, but for my bank account as well. The worst feeling in the world is waking up to find an empty kebab box and an empty wallet on my floor. I was in denial about this almost addictive affair with late-night kebabs until none other than the owner of the stand himself said these words to me "Page, chicken kebab and cheese chips, right?"

1. He knows my name

2. He knows my order

3. I have an established regular order

4. My order costs 5 pounds

5. HE KNOWS MY NAME.

I came all the way to Europe to get addicted to chicken on a stick and cheese fries...how lame is that? But there is something so satisfying about getting my fix circa 2am on friday night though...I can smell the sauteing onions and the pungent curry as I round the block and see the bright red awning, shamelessly seducing me towards it. When I place my order, my mouth waters as I watch the little Indian Man drown a pile of steeming hot, crispy french fries

in cheese and ketchup, then stuff freshly grilled chicken and veggies into a warm wrap off of a skewer. He then tops off the wrap with a barbequey curry sauce, so much that it oozes out onto the the fries when he throws the wrap ontop of them. When I see the beautiful mass of potatoes, cheese, chicken and veggies sitting there oozing all over the place, I am practically willing to trade my liver for it. I throw what ever pounds I have left in my wallet at him, and grab my food. After one bite, theres no turning back. All of my 5 senses become attuned to my kebab platter, and I walk home devouring the mass so that by the time I get home (which requires climbing 5 flights of stairs to my room on the top floor) I have finished the chicken, and get to lay in my warm cozy bed and enjoy the steemy, cheesy, salty, savory, french fry e

ntree. But that "fantastic" feeling is denounced when morning rolls around and I wake up with a full belly and en empty wallet...all I can think is "How do I rationalize eating today, when I ate all the daily alloted 2,000 calories at 2 o'clock this morning?" and then kick myself all the way to the ATM machine and back. Needless to say, my weekend indulgences, in all their gluttony, are becoming a serious problem.

These are the leftovers i found this morning...this is the first time i've had leftovers.

TrueLife: I'm a kebab stand addict.

Welcome to Hogwarts

"Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It's a

way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life's realities.” – Dr. Suess

I have always known I was meant to be here. Well, I have always thought I knew where it was that I thought I was supposed to be, which is Hogwarts. However, it wasn't Hogwarts that I knew I was supposed to visit one day, it was everything that Hogwarts embodied, the essence of Hogwarts, that I knew I was supposed to experience in my life. As it turns out, I was very right in that belief. I am living in a world where everyday is full of adventures that open my eyes to things I have

never known, seen, heard, or believed before. Oxford University is not just an instution for learning. Here, education and experience a

re married here to produce an enrichment, or a fuller understanding of life. It is not just our own lives, however, which I guess is what makes it so magical. It seems that the lives of everyone who has passed through the university have left behind wisdom that can't be taught or read, but have to be experienced. It makes even the average nook and cranny come alive, so that we gain a greater understanding of how everything and everyone in the world can magically inspire our lives if we let them. For example: In Durham, we saw a lamp-post. (this is Cecily infront of the Lamp post)

Now, to the naked eye, a lamp-post is but a lamp-post, but to C.S. Lewis, a lamp-post in Durham inspired an entire alternate world which he called Narnia. Similarly, at a pub down the street from Lincoln College, J.R.R. Tolkien had a few beers, and wrote The Lord of the Rings. I cannot say that the beer or the pub inspired Tolkien's famous trilogy. However, I can say, I have never been inspired by drinking a beer at a pub until I visited this one. These examples are literally things that we experience everyday here at Oxford: from reading the legend of King Arthur, and then seeing the Arthurian Legend painted in 5 huge murals by Oxford students almost 100 years ago, or eating eggs and ham for the 100th time in the dining hall only to remember that Dr. Suess once ate in the same location...maybe he would not, could not, like THESE eggs and ham? I guess that Oxford is my own Hogwarts because everday here I discover something rare, wonderful, and exciting within something that before seemed boring, lifeless, or worse...normal. Maybe its not a school of witchcraft, but it is undoubtedly

filled with magic.

images: 1. Menu from our 1st High Table Dinner; 2. Will Finney, Me, and Rachel Bland at High Table Dinner; 3. The Lincoln College Courtyard (you can't step on the grass!) ; 4. I can't remember the name of this, but it is designed after a bridge in France that we are going to see! 5. The Dining Hall at Lincoln! Looks just like the Great Hall in Harry Potter....

You're Off to Great Places, You're Off and Away!

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know all that there is to be known" - Winne the Pooh

I believe Pooh said it best, that when you stop for a minute to look at what is happening around you, only then do you realize how wonderful it is and how quickly its passing you by. I can't belon my trip to Europe, but what a great 2 weeks they were! First, we landed in Edinbh, Scottland and spent two days just hanging out there. I would love to return because the only thing I really got to experience was the Cidar, though that was quite a treat! But the real excitement began in Durham. We stayed at Durham University, which is situated on the little island that is the City of Durham. Upon the Island, there is the Durham Cathedral, housing the relics of Saints Cuthbert and Bede, and the tomb stone of 3 members of the Neveille family (the rivals of the Percy family in the Wars of the Roses). Also, there is the Durham Castle and Durham University, which now owns the castle. While in Durham, everyday we had lecture from 9-10am then we went on a day trip to various parts of northern england. We saw Hadrian's wall, Lindisfarne Island, a bunch of churches including Hexham and Escolm, the monastary Jarrow Wearmouth, "Bede's World" museum in honor of the Venerable Bede, 3 medieval castle ruin cites, the Castle at Bamburgh that still stands, the Castle used as Hogwarts in Harry Potter (!!!!), and Hardwick Hall (an Estate home built by Bess of Hardwick, good friend of Queen Elizabeth 1). It was alot of fun, but very tiring. We didn't get home until around 5 everyday, but it was worth it. Now we are at Oxford and had our first formal "High Table" dinner, and all 4 courses were delicious!

The Castle of Bamburgh

Durham Cathedral!

Margaret, Me, and Cecily in the Cloisters at Durham

Hogwarts!!

Margaret, Lauren, Me, and Cecily

Margaret, me, and Cecily infront of Hardwick Hall

Cecily and me in our Monastic home at Jarrow...

Patrick, Will, Meg, Mary Francis, me, Will Adams, Rhett, and Spender at our first High Table!

Summer's Here and the Time is Right, for Dancing in the Streets

First stop: New Orleans! Statistically, Louisianna, and more specifically New Orleans, has been home to the happiest population in the Nation since a poll taken in 2005 by US researchers....though I'm not sure if that statistic remains after the hurricane and oil spill, but the people down there are still wonderful!
There were 9 of us down in New Orleans on Thursday - Tess, Charlotte, Isabel, Parham, Mary-Stuart, Layne, Catherine, and Juli. We went to a bar called Fat Harry's, and drank plenty of Abita beer (any maybe some other drinks as well..) The next day, I went to Cafe Du Mond and ate way too many Beignet's, then walked around the French Quarter! We shopped a little bilater that day, and ran around Bourbon Street....actually Catherine and I walked down the entire street to the end! Saturday was the big night, we went to lunch at Lucy's and watched the US play england...Tess wore an American Flag bikini to lunch to show her support. That night was so much fun, especially once the rest of the girls, and a few boys, showed up that afternoon! Molly, Annie, Faith, Oise, Jack, Henry Farley, and George Shea were a great addition to our group. The party was awesome, there was a great band (though, they were no Doug Clarke and the Hot Nuts) and the drinks were named after Rachel and her Family. I may have been served one too many "Rachel's Blushing" vodka drinks, but we ate tons of fried softshell crabs and shrimp cocktail to soak up the drinks. After the Party we went to a bar called F&M's, lucky for us it was a bar that served late night food...something we all love very much. The next day we filtered off to the airport and went home, but the slight hangovers were totally worth it! I wish you could have been there mom, you would have LOVED it! And I thought of you everytime I took a picture, I even told my friends to wave to you in some of them!

Above: Me, Jack, Tess, George, Henry, Molly, and Annie at the Deb Party

To the Left: That is Isabel, Jack, George, Parham, and Henry waving to you

To My Mom

My mom, Mary Carpenter, was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in May of 2010. She is currently battling her cancer with chemotherapy and will have surgery in the fall. I am so proud to be my mother's daughter, and so this blog is for her:

Mom, because I can not be there with you through this process, I am going to take you with me! I will document all of my adventures this summer and fall so that whenever you're having the worst of days, you can escape with me to New Orleans, Oxford, Paris, and more. One day, you will visit these places in person, I hope you are looking forward to that as much as I am! Love you more than anything in the world...

"And when you’re in a Slump, you’re not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself is not easily done....
Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying.
You’ll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing.
With banner flip-flapping, once more you’ll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky...
Oh! The places you'll go!"

-Dr. Suess, Oh! The Places You'll go!