Cold, Cold, Ground: It's snowing in Oxford!!

It's January when I arrive in England for the first time. My initial impressions of London is that it is expensive and cold, and the language sound like English...yet I still fail to understand every fifth word. I only spend two days in London before I have to head to Oxford for mys studies.

Brrr... it's nearly colder inside than out here. This due to the very old buildings with inadequate heat. If you are planning on coming in the winter months bring lots of layers and clothes for the chill to the bones kind of damp weather and utter lack of sunshine.

This dreary weather meant i got sick quite often my first month, it also adversely affected my mood :(

That said, Oxford is magical, even in the wintertime I feel like I'm walking through a Dicken's novel (but if you have the option of when to come, choose late Spring or Summer). One thing I did experience that occurs rarely in Oxford: Snow!
The evening began at a local club, Clems: the music is good and it can be fun to run into randomly costumed characters but do not even get me started on the inadequacy of Oxford night life. After sweating inside we leave to be greeted by pretty white flakes. While some of the crew opted for a taxi, others stayed behind and enjoyed the beautiful snow-glistened nature interrupted occasionally by drunk people slipping and sliding through the peaceful winter streets on their attempt to return home.
While snow may have turned up the chill factor, it made the newly white buildings appear even more magical.Tom Waits Cold Cold Ground

http://www.oxfordcityguide.com
http://www.oxfordcity.co.uk/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLyHHwDXw5Y

Introduction to the Oxford Bop

Life in the UK has not felt like the leisurely days of a Victorian romance novel, but rather like the long--fascinating but exhausting--life of MiddleMarch. I blame the delay and infrequency of travel--and blog posts-- on the intense demand of Oxford academia. Now that the term is done I am left with more time to update you on my whereabouts. I am backtracking from Jan 2009.
One of my first parties at college introduced me to what would become "my crew", my close group of fellow overseas students that I would travel with on weekends. But first, a weekend at Oxford and my first "Bop" ( I believe that term is still used in the U.S. by those who danced in the Fifties. Here at Oxford this term is not reminiscent of the good old days of pigtailed girls and bobbie socks. Nope, it's more like a good old American frat themed party (though much less fratty) with the inclusion of wacky costumes. The Brits keep Halloween to a day of ghosts and gore and use all other occasions as an excuse for "fancy dress" (dressing creatively) and lots of drinking.
 My first introduction into this was our college Bop "SEH," for "St Edmund Hall." Students had to dress up as a thing that began with an "S": Shadow, Sheep,  Superhero, Satan; "E":Edgar Allen Poe (me),; or "H": Homeless person, Harry Potter character, Hippie. What I love about these bops is it is not about being pretty or looking cool but rather how creative and/or silly one can be.
 http://www.seh.ox.ac.uk/index.php?section=1