Day 6: Are they going to have sweet British accents?

"Lawrence is absolutely lovely, you will love him." That's what Alice and Ben told us yesterday when we asked how our lecturer would be today... they were right.  He spoke to us about University life at Oxford, the application process, the lack of Lucky Charms cereal and Denny's restaurants in the UK and woke us all up with some self-guided discussion.  He was a big fan of John D. and proclaimed that John will be famous some day, nobody disputed that idea.

Our afternoon was spent mingling with elderly people at a day program for senior citizens.  Some people were paired with very chatty partners and others struggled a bit more to keep the conversation going.  Margaret and Minerva were 96 and 97 respectively and they were lively and young at heart.  Margaret had a flirtatious crush on Grenville and he has apparently been over to her house for tea (83...a younger man, Margaret, nice job! *wink wink*).  Grenville is from Wales and sings in a choir - which goes to further the point made in yesterday's lecture-humor about the Welsh and their singing.  His favorite songs are from The King and I, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, and The Sound of Music.  There was an effort made encouraging him to join in and sing Edelweiss but he just chuckled and listened as somebody* made a fool of herself.

 

(Grenville and Minerva)

The quote of the day was thrown out by Robert in reference to his lack of luck with Margaret.  He said, "I knew I was struggling when I asked her how well her walker worked."  (Rob, I overheard the other questions you were asking her and I can't imagine why a 96 year old English woman wasn't jumping at the chance to tell you about her favorite sports teams... nice effort buddy)  Kieran admitted that he has a way with the elderly after we had to drag him away from their conversation... his partner LOVED him!!!

It was "hot" today (76 degrees maybe) and ice cream was on the brain... so, ice cream we found!  We went home for a bit to play more croquet and badminton (it's become a tradition) and got ready for our big night out at Toy Story 3!  We've been excited to see TS3 together since the first day so this was quite a treat.  After the show we grabbed dinner... a few of us went on a kebab jog around town and found a kebab-truck that made the "spiciest" and messiest kebabs Tom has ever seen.  

Tonight was another relaxed night of croquet until dark and card games in the common room until bed.

Tomorrow morning is our creative writing workshop followed by a "Goodbye Oxford" party in the garden.  There should also be some time for shopping, packing, and a few final rounds of croquet in the afternoon.  The 3 photos posted in the blog are the only ones we have from today's activities, it wasn't really a photo-op kind of day.  

Cheerio, pip pip and tahtah for now!  

-The ACUK Crew

*Edelweiss was the third song I attempted, he wouldn't take the bait... and I was left singing by myself... only slightly embarrassed.