Exploring Oxford Colleges: Lincoln

Some more photograph's from my trip to Oxford at the start of April. These are from leafy Lincoln College! Lincoln is located in the centre of Oxford and is super pretty! Lincoln College was founded in 1427 by the Bishop of Lincoln, and the college today still has a great deal of medieval features. I loved the quaint architecture and buildings with ivy clinging to the exterior. A well known Lincoln alumnus is Dr Seuss (Theodore Geissel) who was a Rhode Scholar here in the twenties. Lincoln has a more intimate feel to it than some of the larger colleges, and is nice for a quiet break from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding streets. Well worth a visit!

https://www.linc.ox.ac.uk/

Exploring Oxford Colleges - Balliol

~ Balliol College ~

You have probably guessed by now that I am a little bit obsessed with Oxford. The city is just unbelievably beautiful. I love spending time exploring new areas, wandering down Brasenose Lane to catch a glimpse of the Radcliffe Camera at dusk, eating pasta from Il Principe (my favourite Oxford eatery) and popping into the Christ Church meadows to spot squirrels. At the moment I am slowly (very slowly) ticking off adventures on my Bucket List, one of these adventures is to visit every Oxford College! A daunting task at 38 Colleges in all, but I am determined to visit them all! My last weekend in Oxford was spent partly listening to papers at the Medieval Language & Literature Conference. Niall was giving a paper at the conference on Godfrey of Bouillon! The latter half of the weekend was spent exploring four new colleges - Balliol, Lincoln, New and Keble. All quite different, with their own characteristics and pretty architecture! 

The first college we visited at the weekend was Balliol. Balliol was founded in 1263 by John Balliol and his wife Dervorguilla of Gallaway and is one of the oldest colleges in Oxford. An interesting fact I found on the Balliol website is that about 1% of entries in the British Dictionary of National Biography are Balliol men and women! Every college in Oxford has a list of distinguished alumni, from presidents and prime ministers to writers and rock stars. Balliol has a nice Hall and the garden is pretty, and includes a really cool silver globe. The globe was put in place to celebrate thirty years of women at Balliol and is engraved with the words 'About Time' across it. Inside the globe is a time capsule containing a list of the women who were the first to be allowed in Balliol in 1979. 

Spring has definitely sprung in Oxford, and all the colleges I visited were covered in beautiful bright flowers and luscious green plants. The mini daffodils and cute purple primroses stood out in Balliol, as did the apple blossom petals falling to the ground like fresh snow. All in all I had a great day exploring Balliol!

Check out the Balliol website for more info!

I'm Back!

I'm Back!

I have been missing from the blogosphere for quite a while now, mainly due to working loads and being too tired to update. Terrible excuse I know! I am just back from a delightful five days in Oxford, which has now taken over as my new favourite city. Niall was speaking at his first conference, so I went over to see him, like the fangirl I am! I feel really privileged to be able to spend so much time visiting this small city, from it's cute Narnia style lane ways to discovering new areas and colleges. When I compiled my bucketlist, I really put down everything I want to achieve, from the tiny to the huge (Burma). One of the things I wanted to achieve was to visit every Oxford College before I die! There are 38 colleges in Oxford so this is quite the feat but so far I have visited eight! Trinity on my first visit a few years ago, Christ Church twice, Magdalen & Oriel a while back, then Balliol, Lincoln, New & Keble on my recent visit. It is great getting to tick off items on your bucketlist, and I think by compiling a list it makes you go out into the world more and find new and exciting experiences. Which leads me to my other news.....

Another bucketlist goal was to get into an MA programme that I really want to do. So when  I got an unconditional offer from King's College London, to study Modern History from September I was pretty ecstatic. However I am still waiting to hear back from a few other colleges before I make a definite decision on where to do my MA, but King's is pretty special! I have been spending loads of time planning for next year, like researching where I will live etc (London is seriously expensive when it comes to flats (sob)). 

What I have been listening to:

• Loads of Best Coast, especially The Only Place
• Thirteen by Big Star (on repeat, favourite song at the moment)
• Digital - Joy Division (A song that I repeatedly played as a teenager)
• The Passenger -Iggy Pop
• No Surprises - Radiohead
• Harvest Moon - Neil Young 

What I have been reading: 

• Monuments Men - Robert M. Edsel, is such an amazing book, extremely accessible and interesting. I am really interested in researching the moving of art during WWII so this book was especially interesting for me. 
• My Little French Kitchen - Rachel Khoo & Donal Skehan's Home Cooked are really exceptional cook books, with beautiful recipes for every occasion. I have been reading both religiously for months and cannot wait to try some new dessert recipes once Lent is over. You should check out both their websites which will make your mouth water! Also Donal has a fascinating Instagram account!
• It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be - Paul Arden - Great motivational book!

What I have been Making:

• I just bought a new notice board for my room and had fun decorating it with lovely material tape from Tiger and then attaching my newly acquired trinkets.  

What I have been watching: 

• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is my new addiction whilst waiting for new episodes of The Good Wife. Both shows are great, for totally different reasons. It's Always Sunny is hilarious, seriously shocking but hilarious! The Good Wife is officially my favourite show of all time, it breaks my heart but it is amazing!! Will Gardner, be still my heart!

What I have been eating:

• Sasi's Thai - The Covered Market Oxford - I am currently compiling a post on Oxford so I wont go into great detail, however I have to say, this is probably the best Thai food I have had in years! Delicious!
• Bison Bar - another great meal at this quirky pub! I love the onion rings, they are delightful, also love all the great sauces you get with your meal, I found it hard to choose which to use so I used them all, and I enjoyed every single one! Portion's are huge, staff are friendly and the quality is great! 

 Where I have been visiting: 

• Oxford Colleges - Balliol, Lincoln, New, & Keble on my last visit

Dreaming of: 

• Travelling as usual! Dying to visit California and San Francisco at the moment - a girl can dream! 
• The perfect Chelsea Boots, which are real in my mind but which I cannot find in any shop!