Saturday was quite a busy day for me. First, I went with a group of 11 other students to tour The Kilns, C.S. Lewis's home. We met Mr. Mackey there, and he showed us around the house and gardens, as well as a library that was added after Lewis's death.
The interior of the house has been painstakingly restored, a task which was made much easier by the abundance of photos from Lewis's lifetime. Even though a great deal of the original furniture was sold after Lewis's death, quite a bit has been recovered thanks to those photos.
Lewis's desk:
Lewis's typewriter:
Joy, Lewis's wife, made this afghan:
After World War 1, Lewis took in the mother and sister of one of his Army friends who had been killed during the war. He chose the less convenient of the two upstairs bedrooms for himself - and because to get to it, he would have had to go through the ladies' bedroom, he instead used the fire escape to access his room. (You can see a better view of the fire escape in the picture of the front of the house.)
Somebody had a sense of humor, I think. (Or is that humour?)
By the time C.S. Lewis married his wife, Joy, she was an invalid and unable to manage stairs. This was her room, on the ground floor.
A couple of pictures of the garden:
And one picture of me in the garden:
After we got back to the city center, I decided to wander around and take advantage of Oxford Open Day, which just so happened to be that same day. A lot of places not normally accessible to the public were open, and a lot of places that typically charge for admission were free. From what I understand, the colleges that had been used in the filming of Harry Potter movies were an absolute zoo sometimes, but I steered clear of them.
Instead, I decided to visit New College, where I'll be enrolled once term starts. Technically, I don't have privileges as a student until then (the beginning of October), so I wasn't sure whether I would be allowed inside under normal circumstances. That meant that I got my first good look at the college yesterday.
Let's just say, I'm really excited. I basically just wandered around by myself, so I'm not entirely sure what everything was. I did later find out that New College incorporates part of the old Oxford City wall, which is visible in a few of the photos. It actually has towers and a walkway along the top and arrow slits in it - although I wouldn't particularly want to use the walkway. It looks nice from the ground, though.
I also went by the official University Shop and got myself an Oxford University keychain and a New College pin. I didn't take a photo of the keychain, but here's one of the pin:
The interior of the house has been painstakingly restored, a task which was made much easier by the abundance of photos from Lewis's lifetime. Even though a great deal of the original furniture was sold after Lewis's death, quite a bit has been recovered thanks to those photos.
Lewis's desk:
Lewis's typewriter:
Joy, Lewis's wife, made this afghan:
After World War 1, Lewis took in the mother and sister of one of his Army friends who had been killed during the war. He chose the less convenient of the two upstairs bedrooms for himself - and because to get to it, he would have had to go through the ladies' bedroom, he instead used the fire escape to access his room. (You can see a better view of the fire escape in the picture of the front of the house.)
Somebody had a sense of humor, I think. (Or is that humour?)
A little attic space in the house is set up to recreate a room where Lewis played as a boy, along with his brother. The two of them invented a land called "Boxen," which influenced Lewis's Narnia books, and the attic room reappears in Polly and Digory's adventures in The Magician's Nephew. A sign on the door reads, "This attic recreates the little end room in Ireland where, as boys, Jack and Warnie entered their imaginative world of Boxen."
By the time C.S. Lewis married his wife, Joy, she was an invalid and unable to manage stairs. This was her room, on the ground floor.
A couple of pictures of the garden:
And one picture of me in the garden:
After we got back to the city center, I decided to wander around and take advantage of Oxford Open Day, which just so happened to be that same day. A lot of places not normally accessible to the public were open, and a lot of places that typically charge for admission were free. From what I understand, the colleges that had been used in the filming of Harry Potter movies were an absolute zoo sometimes, but I steered clear of them.
Instead, I decided to visit New College, where I'll be enrolled once term starts. Technically, I don't have privileges as a student until then (the beginning of October), so I wasn't sure whether I would be allowed inside under normal circumstances. That meant that I got my first good look at the college yesterday.
Let's just say, I'm really excited. I basically just wandered around by myself, so I'm not entirely sure what everything was. I did later find out that New College incorporates part of the old Oxford City wall, which is visible in a few of the photos. It actually has towers and a walkway along the top and arrow slits in it - although I wouldn't particularly want to use the walkway. It looks nice from the ground, though.
I also went by the official University Shop and got myself an Oxford University keychain and a New College pin. I didn't take a photo of the keychain, but here's one of the pin:
Congratulations on your semester abroad! I am very envious, and am rooting for my favorite debater. I trust you will have a wonderful experience there!
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