More Christchurch!

A few friends have come to visit Oxford recently, and of course the place to take them to is the ever so popular Christchurch, or the so called Harry Potter College.

The Dining Hall (where the film was shot)

But there's more to Christchurch. This is the garden where Lewis Charles, the author of Alice in Wonderland, saw 'Alice' fell asleep under the tree and entered her dream world. It's the Dean's private garden, so not even the college students are permitted to enter. But fortunately my friend's tall enough to place his camera over the gate to take this photo! This is the interior of Christchurch's own library. Lots of books older than New Zealand history were kept there. The shelves of the university Bodleian Library are quite similar to this, but it doesn't have as fancy decorations and carvings on the walls and ceilings.

Summer Eights

Guest Dinner at St John's

On top of the daily informal and formal halls, there are about two guest dinners per term organised by the MCR. They're probably the most formal dinners in the college that everyone has to wear a suit or a dress. It's supposed to be a black tie event, but fortunately St John's College is not too strict about those things. There are also themes with each guest dinner. The photos are from the first guest dinner of this term, which was themed 'A Night at the Opera'. Although the guest dinners are really quite expensive, approximately 20 pounds per person, there were drinks served throughout the dinner. It's also a four course meal of much better quality than what we usually get from the kitchen. The MCR also organises predrinks and postdrinks. So, by the end of the event, one would usually have drunk at least 1 champagne, 2 white wine, 2 red wine and 1 port/dessert wine. Hence, I got horribly drunk. The worst one was probably when I took my supervisor to the second guest dinner of the term, themed 'Murder Mystery'. I made the mistake of drinking 2 champagnes and the result is that I couldn't quite remember whether I was talking to him in English or Chinese! Mind you that I think he was a bit drunk as well. I was so drunk that on the way home there was a lady on the street asking me if I was alright! I must have been a bit wobbly, but I did manage to stopped for cars when crossing the roads and got home safely. But things didn't go quite so well at home. I had a terrible hangover, and let's say that I basically wasted 20 pounds worth of food...

My guests from the lab

Predrinks at the MCR decorated for the theme

The set up of the table - the napkin was supposed to be in the shape of Sydney Opera House!