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Jul. 22nd, 2004
Life at Wadham College
Jul. 22nd, 2004 10:26 pmI think I've mentioned that we're being housed at Wadham College for these 2.5 weeks. It's a beautiful campus. It was founded in 1609, the first (only?) Oxford College to be founded by a woman.
The main building is pretty much original - there's been some restoration, of course, but it's fantastic. There are statues of the Wadhams, and crenellations and all sorts of other fun stuff. The hall, where we eat breakfast at the head table every morning, really does look like something out of Harry Potter. Fantastic vaulted ceiling, portraits of important people on the walls. Really famous alumni and people who give lots of money get stained-glass windows with their name & heraldry in the Hall. (Buffyverse geeks will appreciate that there is one set of windows that consists of two Wyndhams and a Price.) There are a number of quads, and a campus bar, and a library. The buildings vary in age, from the original to some that were built in probably the late 19th or early 20th century, to the most recent ones (including my dorm) which were built I'd guess in the 1970s or 1980s. I haven't been to see the gardens yet, but apparently they're quite lovely. I will, of course, take pictures.
Meals at Wadham are ... English. Breakfast consists of:
Breakfast is served from 8:15 until 8:45. Hot breakfast is brought to you by a staff of east- and south-Asian "waitrons". I think the only non-ethnic one I've seen is the head lady. Some days they are really prompt and courteous, other days it takes them 20 minutes to bring you your hot food. When they think you should leave, they turn off the lights. Some days we have to ask repeatedly to get things like more toast, other days they show up promptly. And asking for things like more juice will be frowned upon. A managed to get more today, but we think that's because the waiter thought she was cute.
Dinners, of which we've had two in the Hall, are slightly less predictable. The first night it was chicken kiev, which was actually half-decent. The vegetarian selection that night was veggie lasagna. Dessert was a bowl of whipped cream (real cream, not the stuff that comes out of a can) with a little bit of fruit on the bottom. Last night the primary entree was meat lasagna. The vegetarian selection was various vegetables in tomato sauce (no noodles, no nothing else. A vat of vegetables in tomato sauce). Yeah, I don't see the logic either. Dessert last night, however, was an absolutely heavenly chocolate mousse that made up for me having had to eat vegetables in tomato sauce. (Vicki looked at what they'd served me and offered to take me out to dinner afterwards.)
There's a small bar down in the quad nearest my room; I can usually hear the people sitting out on the patio when I go to bed. It serves relatively cheap drinks (I know you can get a can of soda for 50p and a glass of wine for L1) and they don't seem to care if you bring in your own food to eat at their tables.
There's a "Shakespeare in the Park" company that uses one of the gardens for its productions. I've gotten used to the gunshots that ring out in the first hour of their production of Love's Labours Lost every night. Some folks went to see the show the other night and said that it was pretty good, if modernized.
The main building is pretty much original - there's been some restoration, of course, but it's fantastic. There are statues of the Wadhams, and crenellations and all sorts of other fun stuff. The hall, where we eat breakfast at the head table every morning, really does look like something out of Harry Potter. Fantastic vaulted ceiling, portraits of important people on the walls. Really famous alumni and people who give lots of money get stained-glass windows with their name & heraldry in the Hall. (Buffyverse geeks will appreciate that there is one set of windows that consists of two Wyndhams and a Price.) There are a number of quads, and a campus bar, and a library. The buildings vary in age, from the original to some that were built in probably the late 19th or early 20th century, to the most recent ones (including my dorm) which were built I'd guess in the 1970s or 1980s. I haven't been to see the gardens yet, but apparently they're quite lovely. I will, of course, take pictures.
Meals at Wadham are ... English. Breakfast consists of:
- A selection of cold cereals
- canned fruit - lately it's been prunes, but some days there are oranges and grapefruit, and someone actually managed to get peaches the other day.
- Croissants and toast with butter and jelly
- juice
- tea
- coffee
- "hot breakfast" which consists of one fried egg, boiled ham, and one of the following (on a preset schedule it seems):
- boiled mushrooms
- fried toast (I swear I want to take this stuff home and use it as a sustainable construction material)
- boiled (?) tomato
- sausage
- baked beans
- boiled mushrooms
Breakfast is served from 8:15 until 8:45. Hot breakfast is brought to you by a staff of east- and south-Asian "waitrons". I think the only non-ethnic one I've seen is the head lady. Some days they are really prompt and courteous, other days it takes them 20 minutes to bring you your hot food. When they think you should leave, they turn off the lights. Some days we have to ask repeatedly to get things like more toast, other days they show up promptly. And asking for things like more juice will be frowned upon. A managed to get more today, but we think that's because the waiter thought she was cute.
Dinners, of which we've had two in the Hall, are slightly less predictable. The first night it was chicken kiev, which was actually half-decent. The vegetarian selection that night was veggie lasagna. Dessert was a bowl of whipped cream (real cream, not the stuff that comes out of a can) with a little bit of fruit on the bottom. Last night the primary entree was meat lasagna. The vegetarian selection was various vegetables in tomato sauce (no noodles, no nothing else. A vat of vegetables in tomato sauce). Yeah, I don't see the logic either. Dessert last night, however, was an absolutely heavenly chocolate mousse that made up for me having had to eat vegetables in tomato sauce. (Vicki looked at what they'd served me and offered to take me out to dinner afterwards.)
There's a small bar down in the quad nearest my room; I can usually hear the people sitting out on the patio when I go to bed. It serves relatively cheap drinks (I know you can get a can of soda for 50p and a glass of wine for L1) and they don't seem to care if you bring in your own food to eat at their tables.
There's a "Shakespeare in the Park" company that uses one of the gardens for its productions. I've gotten used to the gunshots that ring out in the first hour of their production of Love's Labours Lost every night. Some folks went to see the show the other night and said that it was pretty good, if modernized.