Finally, I have a little time to write, which is amusing because that is exactly what has been occupying my time. As a result I really don't have too many stories to tell since my time has been occupied by reading and writing. Since I'm planning on a trip to Ireland in a few days I knew that I had to finish my papers before they were due on Friday. As a result I decided to spend the weekend working myself to the bone. But before that we had gone to Bath near the west coast.

Bath was an incredible experience. Bath is named after the Roman Bath house and temple that once occupied town. The Baths were built above a hot water spring that releases thousands of gallons of 100 degree water a day. The spring was thought to be the dwelling place of a goddess to both the Celts and the Romans. The Romans built an impressive structure to harness the spring's heat and runoff to fill a massive bath complex. They utilized lead pipes and drainage systems, some of which are still being used to fill the bath, and carry away excess water. The design was incredibly elaborate. But aside from the Bath house, Bath's only other attraction is 19th century architecture.

The picture above is me standing on the edge of a complex called the King's Circus, in Bath. It is a Circle of homes, and the picture contains 1/3 of the complex. It had the same area as Solomon's Temple, and has 3 stories, 3 roads, and 3 sections... a representation of the trinity. Although you can't make it out well in this picture each vertical column has a different Roman style, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian... pretty sweet. Other than that Bath had an amazing waterfall in the river, and the countryside that it sat in, just south of Wales, is georgeous. Some of the pictures to the left are documenting that.

But after Bath I set to work on my papers. Friday night I stayed up until 6:30am writing about the Darwinian Controversies. The question I was trying to answer was: Would Victorian era Naturalist Clergymen find it odd to have an incompatibility between religion and science. The answer is YES! The fact that they were Victorian, Naturalist, and Anglican all meant that they held to a type of Natural theology, which depended on a close relationship between science and faith. They believed that scientific discoveries merely attempted to explain the mechanisms of God. Many were caught off guard by Darwin, but even more just adopted evolution into their faith and continued on their way. Whatever the case, the issue of evolution was not nearly the divisive issue during Darwin's day as it is today. It is a result of both scientists and Christians blowing the issues out of proportion and making their respective positions attempt to explain more than they can or should. I finsihed the paper saturday, and revised it Monday, all done.

The next paper I started Sunday and it was much more fun than I had first expected. I was writing on the British Reaction to the American Revolution, and whether social class or religion had a bigger impact on whether a Briton would support or oppose the Americans. After hours in the library I suddenly cracked the code, and figured out the puzzle. I was amazed and felt like a real historian. It was a amazing to see.

Here's how it goes: We have massive amounts of evidence saying that the merchant and trading classes in Britain supported the American cause, and the trading cities like London, Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, ect all sent huge petitions to Parliament to pursue peace with the colonies. So I knew that social class was a huge factor in supporting America, but I couldn't figure out why until I started putting the pieces together.

Of course the obvious reason is that the trade merchants and cities wanted peace to trade with the colonies, but its so much more intricate than that. 1.) Because America was a British Colony, the British had a trade monopoly with the Americans... the colonies traded with Britain ONLY. 2.) Parliament passed the Stamp Act, putting a tax on official document paper... 3.) the Americans reacted by stopping shipments of paper and destroying it, or the presses used to make it, intimidating stamp officials and eliminating all stamped paper... 4.) Because there was no stamp paper, no official documents could be legitimated. 5.) Court decisions were useless because they weren't on official stamped paper. 6.) Courts shut down 7.) No one could sue to recover any debts. 8.) Who were the only people who had debts in America? British Merchants and Creditors. 9.) The British Merchant class was in serious financial trouble because they couldn't recover their debts. 10.) Merchant cities were drowning from the lack of debt recovery.
11.) the Merchant class and big trading cities all wanted the Americans happy, because if it went to war... like it did, the debts would all be burned and never repaid. Crazy huh? I felt like a real historian after putting all those peices together.

I also discovered some amazing quotes from British people in support of America. Aside from economic interest, the intellectuals in Britain also understood that the issue was about more than taxation... it was about freedom and liberty. What the Americans started off was so pure and truly American... it makes me sick to think about what we've become since then.

Read this speech given by William Pitt. Pitt was the "Prime Minister" during the Seven Years War with France, and had made the colonies what they were. Pitt had engineered the Empire, he had bled for it, and is the person who had the most invested in it... even Pitt understood that the Americans were persuing something noble and truly British. On the eve of declaration of war with the colonies, Pitt rose in-front of Parliament to persuade them to persue peace with America, saying,

“I rejoice that America has resisted. I would argue that even under former arbitrary reigns, parliaments were ashamed of taxing a people without their consent. The gentleman asks, ‘When were the colonies emancipated?’ But I desire to know, when were they made slaves?”

Then looking to the members of Parliament bent on squashing the American resistance, certain the group of backwards farmers would soon cower to superior British Imperial Majesty, Pitt gave a clear picture of what would face the Red Coats across the ocean:

“Did their lordships not understand that in fighting the Americans, they were fighting their own ghosts, the ghosts of English liberty past? What, though you march from town to town, and province to province, though you shall be able to enforce a temporary submission, how shall you be able to secure the obedience of the country you leave behind to grasp the dominion of 1,800 miles of continent, populace in numbers, possessing valour, liberty, and resistance? The spirit which resists your taxation is the same spirit which called England on its legs and, by the bill of rights, vindicated the English constitution. This glorious spirit animates three millions in America who prefer poverty with liberty to gilded chains and sordid affluence, and who will die in defense of their rights as free men.”

I've got to admit, that makes me proud to wear the title of "American." And it makes me sick to think that we no longer deserve that title. Clearly we no longer care about liberty, and certainly have fallen prey to the sordid affluence Pitt was describing. The idea that we would support a document like the Patriot Act, which sacrifices the liberties that even our enemies understood us to cherish, tarnishes what it is to be American.

Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who would sacrifice liberty, for a little security, deserve neither liberty nor security." It saddens me to think how ashamed of our country its forefathers would be. They would have tossed our brand of tea into the harbor long ago... and our response would have been to call them unpatriotic, and aiding the terrorists... that they weaken the resolve of our allies.

I have come to the fervent belief that it is up to Historians to send this message, that at the very least we have surrendered our convictions for security, in the face of what everyone in the 18th century understood to be "American."

The fact that I'm done with my papers is a sweet gift. I've had time to enjoy life again. Reading for pleasure, and taking my time between places. I visited museums today, the Natural History museum in Oxford is breathtaking. Tomorrow I'll go to the Ashmolean. Should be fun.

Oh I also found out that I successfully played a joke on Tabor. Every year the Tabor community plays a game called, "Gotcha." In "Gotcha" (Gotch-ya) each person that signs up is given the name of someone else... the goal is to get that person wet with water balloons, water gun, or even cups of water by the end of the week. Once you "get" the person who is your target, they are out of the game and give you the name of their "target" which becomes your new "target" The person at the end of the week with the most names wins. You can only get the person who is your target, so as a result people need only fear one person, but its all secret, so you only know you're own target, not who has you. Well, I thought it would be funny, so I signed up, and apparently so I'm told, they didn't catch it that I'm off campus, so they put me in the game... Apparently a freshman who didn't know me pulled my name and asked, "So where do I find Trent Voth?" Those around him busted up laughing... saying, "This is going to be a boring game." Anyway, it all got figured out, but I thought it was pretty funny.

Well I must be off, the video below is yet another installment in the house tour. Today you'll be going from the kitchen to the dining room, and then into the living room. Enjoy.

This is the reason I haven't been blogging much. These are two seperate stacks of books for two different 2,500 word essays. One on Religion and Science, the other on the British Perspective on the American Revolution. Oh yeah, and these are only 1/3 of the reading lists. As a result. I've been pretty busy just writing papers. I finished one last night after staying up late, and I've just cracked the code on the other. Interestingly I think I've discovered why so many British Merchants supported the Americans in the Revolution. Its an amazing web to track. In any event, I just wanted to let you all know I will be writing more, but it might be a few days. Also I'm planning a trip to Ireland, so next weekend I won't be available at all, although I'll have some awesome stories when I get back.

Anyway, I thought you might want to know what I've been up to, so just play the video underneath on repeat for a week and you'll have my experience for the past few days.

I haven't written in awhile because there really hasn't been much to report. My days have been spent in the pretty typical routine of getting up at 8:45, shower, breakfast, 15 minute bike ride, 1 hour lecture on British History (huzzah!), tea, 1 hour lecture on British Literature (ok), lunch, then to the libraries studying British reaction to the American Revolution until 5:00, then home, dinner, and then read more books until around 9:00 and turn my attention to trying to relax, and talk to people. I'm discovering that I need to work quite a bit harder than everyone else in the program because I have a harder time reading and absorbing the information, while everyone else seems to fly through it. Oh well.

Today however, there is much to report. First, I got my Robin Hood paper back and the results were jubilant on one hand and devastatingly embarrassing on the other. I like bad news first so I'll lead with the critical stuff... "Sloppy writing spoils the effect." Was one of the headlines on my paper. It seems quite clear that my grammatical knowledge is desperately lacking... my writing needs vast improvement. Throughout the entire paper there are scratch marks and circles, and suggestions... however it seems that my largest mistakes aren't that bad... I consistently spelled words incorrectly... however I spelled their American equivalents, for example I was marked off for words like; honor or fiber, instead of honour or fibre. Which even now my spell check is alerting me about. I also use "British" and "English" as interchangeable and in fact they refer to different things so that was a mistake as well.

But on to the good news. All of the marks were grammatical, nothing but praise was given for my ideas, arguments, and positions. So it helped that the headline starts by saying, "You make some very intelligent points, Sloppy writing spoils the effect." So I would argue that there was at least an effect to be spoiled. Also, I suppose I'd rather be a person of intelligent ideas and arguments that can't explain them well, than a moron who is perfectly understood. Sadly, nobody marks for good ideas, so this paragraph will be substantially smaller, but none-the-less, I'm embarrassed for the grammatical mistakes, but deeply proud of the good ideas and that someone at Oxford recognized them.

Also, I'm having a horrible time writing the next two papers which are due in a week. The reading is going slowly and I just don't know how to glean two papers out of it in seven days, but we'll find a way, maybe I just won't be able to sleep much these next few days.

On a different note, two other housemates and I worked at the Gatehouse, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen tonight for the first time. We're going to try to make this a regular thing. We're trying to make connections and friends here in Oxford, and in England the rules for homeless people are quite different. England regulates the streets a lot more strictly so you don't see many homeless in a normal day, but its amazing how many showed up tonight. It was a joy working and I felt right with the world for the three hours we were there. I recognize it may not have been the best use of my time with these papers looming, but on the other hand I may argue that it absolutely was...

Tomorrow we travel to Bath, which ought to be incredible. So I'll have some pictures and stories to add when that goes down. But until then, here's the next installment of the house tour. This is from the same place in the house as before, but now down the stairs to the kitchen in the house. Bryce, my roommate, and Matt a fellow history student are there. Bon Apatite.

Today was a nice relaxing time. I've been amazed how many people in the program have put off their papers until today. There were only a handful of us that could do anything but write and research today because everyone else was working. Its been surprising to me, and I discussed it with my parents on the phone yesterday. Perhaps its due to me being older than most of my classmates, maybe its because even though I might not be the in the upper echelon of intelligence here at the program, I do have more experience. It helps having the education I do, I've written a lot of papers in book reports, history reports, philosophical essays, and finally the literary master piece, the FORRMAL. Due to all these experiences writing a 2,500 word essay doesn't give me much to tremble about. But I really am surprised that so many other people just procrastinated. One of my roommates started his first paper at Oxford University tonight, another one of my roommates will undoubtedly be up until 4 or 5 am (10 or 11pm for most of you) writing. Its crazy.

I had to throw out my milk today though. It was only a day after expiration which leads me to assume that Britain doesn't use the same preservatives in their products.

Well with my free time today I watched some television over the Internet, and wouldn't you know it I've become addicted to a new show. Guess what it is? Its Robin Hood, on the BBC, a new interpretation on the hero we all know and love... this particular Robin speaks loads to me because in this version he returns from the Crusades a pacifist. He uses his archery and wit to trick and disarm, and at most intimidate, but never to kill... rarely to maim. Its an interesting take on the legend.

I also had fun playing some ultimate frisbee. I realized how out of shape I am since not doing a sport for the first time in the last 10 years. I gotta start running. Tonight I ate spaghetti and started trying to learn basic French... its going slowly, but I'm enjoying it. Also a girl in the program Alyssa knows that I make Russian Pancakes (Bilini) and she's had me make some for her before since she spent a semester in Russia and fell in love with them. Well she realized that she could make some money by having me make Russian Pancakes and her filling them with different confections like cream, strawberries, bananas, or chocolate. She marketed it and I made the pancakes, we made about 4 pounds by charging 50p a cake. So I made around $4 American tonight because of it. But that 2 pounds can buy four loaves of bread. This may turn into a regular Sunday event.

Another thing I did today was start a video tour for you. This first installment is just showing you the way to my room on the third floor. You'll get introduced to our two WCs, Loos or bathrooms , and through to my bedroom. Should be fun so click on the video below.

Hey All, I just finished writing the first of many papers for Oxford. This particular one was over the literary history of the Noble Robber, Social Activist, and Re-distributor of wealth, known as Robin Hood... the first Comic Book Hero. It was a blast studying Robin Hood and his history. There are over a dozen men that Robin Hood may be based on, however there isn't sufficient evidence to link him directly to any of them, or even a particular place in England. Due to these factors, Robin is a pliable character and can be adapted to fit any era, to become the type of hero they need him to be. Thusly Robin has gone through the centuries from 1377 when he is first mentioned in a ballad, all the way to the twenty-first century when he is depicted in a BBC television program. Robin has certainly gone through revisions in that time too. At first he was a ruthless forester who killed bloodily and with zest. He robbed from whomever he wished and gave little away except to the church. Since then Robin has been adapted to become a dispossessed noble man fighting the good fight against oppression and tyranny. He has become the heroic Noble-outlaw who robs from the rich and gives to the poor. Fun eh? So my paper was set up to track when and why Robin has changed so much in the past 700 years. Answer: because he represents what it means to be British in each era he is in, and is continually reinvented to represent the new idea of Britishness.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun writing the paper. We'll soon find out if it is nearly as much fun to have it dissected and analyzed by the foremost opinions on academic papers. uggg. I've discovered a new musician I really like... Joshua Radin if anyone has free time, look him up. It should be a good time. I had a great break in the paper writing today though when I got the chance to finally talk to my parents on the phone. I had emailed with them a few times, but it was really nice to catch-up on the phone. However, since most of the day was spent writing on the computer or talking on the phone with the rents back in the colonies, I don't have very many neat pictures to add from today.

I did however finish the day by joining my first membership in Great Britain... Blockbuster. A group of us who were writing on Robin Hood decided to reward ourselves with a viewing of some of his movies so we made a trip to the blockbuster 15 minute bike ride away in Headington. It was a great trip only to get there and find out that Blockbuster in Headington has no copies of any Robin Hood movies. How can you be a British Movie Store and have no Robin Hoods? Its a travesty, that's the type of stuff that gets your colonies to break away from you. But it was a fun trip none-the-less.

I also started planning my fall break (28 Sep- 02 Oct). It looks like two friends, Bryce and Nick, and I are going to go to Dublin and backpack around Ireland for the week. It ought to be incredible. I'm really excited about it, and the guys are really cool... we all seem to get along well and line up theologically on a lot of issues which is rare. So I'll be eating a lot of lucky charms cereal in preparation. Well, we'll see what tomorrow brings. Have a great day.




The movie is of the inside of the Upper Radcliffe Camera part of the Bodilean Library where I did most of my library work this week.

Hey all, not much to report from today. Went to class, went to the Library, studied, studied, studied, started a paper on Robin Hood, and bought and later consumed some food. Pretty basic day for any Oxford Student. Doing well.

I started a doing a couple of things today that I want to keep up. First, I bought groceries today, and they give us 35 pounds a week for food... so far I think I've spent about 10pounds a week for food. I've found if you're willing to suspend eating out, or buying name brand, you can actually survive on about 2pounds a day in food costs. And if you're willing to eat bread only, even cheaper. Well bakery bread that is sold at the end of the day, when the libraries close, is about 50p ($1) so today I started buying my $1 bread (which is like a subway footlong, but two feet worth) and giving it to the homeless. I'm going to keep this up.

Secondly, on my fifteen minute bike ride back to the house I ride through a beautiful park that has a river run up one side and circle around it and then down the other side where many people feed ducks and go row-boating... its a gorgeous place. Everyday at lunch I pick up an orange and everyday I've been stopping in the park half-way home to eat the orange under a tree and think about anything but education... its peaceful and rewarding. There's a great waterfall there too.

I've also been finding a lot of time to be with God. I suppose that is a benefit of living apart from everyone that I had relationships to invest in, and around people who are busy working. Its been nice too. Anyway, I'll have more to report once the paper is finished. Have a great one.

First off… Happy Birthday to my favorite set of twins and closest of friends, Kyle and Kevin Larson. Secondly, I just realized that due to Britain’s moist climate, bread molds much quicker. The loaf I bought last week is now a fresh specimen of penicillin… oh well.

Finally, what an amazing day. We took a field trip to Winchester in the South of England. Winchester, just like St. Albans has a lengthy, rich history, starting off as a Roman settlement but going through its paces eventually ending up in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Wessex, the most powerful realm in England and later the capital of all England for several generations.

Like last week Winchester has a Cathedral at the center of its town and the reason Winchester became such a powerful city is because the Bishop of Winchester, for generations was the guardian of the Royal Treasure Chests. Winchester was the Fort Knox of medieval England. Several Kings had their coronations at Winchester Cathedral which is the longest Medieval Building in the World (although the world’s longest nave is in St Alban’s). In fact, legend has it that King Arthur and Camelot existed in the region, and in the great hall of Winchester, hoisted on a wall is the fabled Round Table of King Arthur.

The Round Table is enormous, probably close to thirty feet in diameter, and although we can tell that its not actually from any time period close to Arthur, but it does date back to around the 12^th century which is still pretty impressive. In the 16^th Century Henry VIII had it repainted to impress the visiting Holy Roman Emperor Charles I. He painted a large two colored Rose in the middle representing the two Houses of the Tudor dynasty that fought to war of the Roses over control of the Crown, and he had his own face painted onto Arthur’s body. However, its still an impressive sight.

The Cathedral which would’ve taken up a whole quarter of the town , has some amazing facets to it as well. For example, several of its Bishops started Colleges at Oxford, including Corpus Christi, New College, and Magdalen College. Cardinal Beaufort, who presided over Joan of Arch’s “trial” and execution, is buried at the Cathedral. And Thomas Wolsey who was chief Minister under Henry VIII started Christ Church at Oxford.

The Cathedral is also home to a unique set of six boxes containing the bones of the early Anglo-Saxon Kings. While most Kings after Edward the Confessor were buried in the Abbey he had constructed in Westminster in London, before Edward, many of the ancient Anglo-Saxon Kings (before 1066) have the bones at Winchester Cathedral. In some pictures you may see a large stained glass window that has no discernable pattern. This is because during the Civil War, Oliver Cromwell’s troops smashed the window. A dedicated church member painstakingly collected all the bits of glass and hid them away, then after it had passed remade the windows, but it was impossible to recompile the images, so the glass is the original glass from the 12^th century.

In the basement of the Cathedral is a Crypt, and the Normans who built the Cathedral were so anxious to get it up that they did little work surveying the land, thus they built it over a bog and river bed. As a result for the past 900 years the Crypt fills with water during the winter thaw, this was a continuous cycle until modern technology allowed pumps to be installed to keep it dry. As a result, no one has ever been buried in the Crypt. Although this has persevered it in its original design, and in the middle of the crypt stands a statue that was designed to be in water up to its knees, looking at his own reflection… pretty sweet. This had another effect on the structure, in the far south east corner of the Cathedral the bog and marsh has led to a sinking of the foundation, just like what has occurred to the leaning tower of Pisa. As a result the SE corner is leaning, in fact, to a greater degree than the tower of Pisa. The problem took a man five years in pitch black bog water, without any light, taking out rotten wooden support beams and replacing them with bags of concrete, in Scuba gear. He now has a statue in that corner, praising him as the protector of the Cathedral.

Winchester was such an important sight that Norman the Conqueror built a Castle here after his successful invasion of England to become King in 1066. Making Winchester his town. Its also where Jane Austen died and is buried in the Cathedral.

Due to all these many facets of English life going on in Winchester, and that it has been a place of historic Kings, including Arthur and Norman the Conqueror. Winchester became one of two towns that Hitler gave specific orders not to bomb during WWII. The other, interestingly enough was Oxford. Hitler planned on leveling London and as a result, was going to require some capital cities to help regulate life in England. One would be Oxford, in the center of England, and the Winchester would be the other, in the south near the cost. The other reason Hitler didn’t want Winchester bombed was because it was the town of the last successful man to invade Britain, William the Conqueror.

Due to the writing of papers, this has been a more lonely week. I spent a lot of my time in quiet libraries and in my room writing. I’ve been keeping busy with work, which I suppose is better than just sitting around. But its been tough being away from friends, both back in the colonies and even here in England. I had a frustrating day yesterday with class. In my history seminar we spent 2 hours discussing the philosophy of History, and I tried to explain my position on issues over and over again, and I’ve always felt like a competent communicator, but I just couldn’t get my ideas across to my professor, but at the end of it, he repeated my philosophy to the class. It was frustrating because I wanted to say, “That’s exactly what I was saying!” So it was comforting to feel vindicated in my thoughts, but I felt foolish for not being able to communicate it, and to his and everyone else’s eyes, I didn’t.

So today was a special time. Nice to get away from all the work and see some sights and refresh friendships, get some good pictures. Relax, in the middle of the day I just sat under a tree, read Mark, ate lunch, and took a nap… cheers.

Day 13: 11 Sep 2007

Well the wave of work that up until this point had been safely out to sea has over the past two days come crashing down furiously upon all us fun loving beached students. I’ve been frantically reading articles in preparation for the History seminar I’m a part of tomorrow, while at the same time searching through dusty pages of 15^th century ballads of Robin Hood, trying to ascertain whether anyone cares that he’s a criminal… no. It’s a lot of fun, but its looking like my time to write the blog will be shortened from now one. Sorry. Now I see what Doc Kyle (my history professor and mentor back at Tabor) had been working so hard to prepare me for.

The past couple of days have just been full of studying and reading. Not much to report although I’m still floored every time I walk past a security check-point that is turning away visitors, but letting in students like me. We did go on a field trip today, but only through the streets of Oxford learning about the Oxford Martyrs. Three Protestant Bishops from the Church of England that were burned at the stake by Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) in 1555-6 here in Oxford. A Monument stands to their memory in the center of town. It probably helps their legacy that Mary didn’t reign long and Elizabeth quickly reestablished the Church of England, thus making them Martyrs instead of heretics.

We also learned about John Wyclif, whom Wycliffe Hall (where I’m attending these early classes) is named after. I had prior knowledge of him due to my History of the Reformation, and History of Christianity classes, thanks Doc. But I was reminded that I really would have gotten along with this guy. He disagreed with the church about transubstantiation, aural confessions, priestly power, papal authority, Only using Latin, and church wealth and property all on the basis of scripture… what a guy! He also did all this in the 1360s, a 100 or so years before Luther.

I don’t think many people know this but my family is going through a very difficult time back in the colonies. My Grandfather Denys is quite ill and slowly slipping away. This is really hard for me being so far from everyone and its especially painful for my grandmother, mom and her sisters. So I want to leave off with an incredible story that I'm hoping can be an encouragement to us. It goes like this:

Off in the late 1300s, 1364 to be exact, there was an old woman living a secluded life in an abbot in the shire of Norwich. She was known to those around her as Julian of Norwich and had suffered greatly losing her whole family in the Black Death that had struck England first in the 1340s and then had taken her second family in the second wave in the 1360s.

Julian of Norwich had dedicated her life to prayer and reflection on God and as she was coming to the end of her life she began to see visions of Jesus being crucified and the torment and anguish he experienced. In her visions (which she relates to a scribe beside her bed) she explains what Jesus says to her.

"Then our good Lord Jesus Christ said, 'Are you well satisfied with my suffering for you?' 'Yes, thank you, good Lord,' I replied. 'Yes good Lord, bless you.; And the kind Lord Jesus said, "If you are satisfied, I am satisfied (paid= totally fulfilled) too. It gives me great happiness and joy and, indeed, eternal delight ever to have suffered for you. If I could possibly have suffered more, I would have done so."

I really like this reflection about Christ. Julian of Norwich is expressing an aspect of Christ's love for us that is starkly different than what was going on in the world at that time. With the plague and so much death, war, and famine around them, everyone saw God as a vengeful, wrathful, unmerciful deity that was done with mankind’s unholiness. The thought may have been that this was just a second flood, but Julian kept an eye on the love of God. Jesus' love will see us and especially Grandpa through this... and I don't think that needs to mean that we'll all live through it. We can make God's Kingdom reach new hearts through this and if we further the kingdom then we'll have accomplished something that can not be taken away or diminished.

Day 12: 10 Sep 2007

Since being sick Friday life has really spring boarded back to business. The weekend was a great time of rest and reflection. Saturday most of the group went to London, sadly I felt like I should make sure not to miss any more classes so I stayed home and caught up on work and grocery shopping. I’m finding out that since I’m not that picky about what brand I buy in the super market that I’m making my dollar (pound) go a lot further. That’s been nice to know. Sunday most of us go to an evening Church service at St. Andrews which is on the far North side of town with one of our professors, Jonathan Kirkpatrick. It’s an Anglican (Church of England, Episcopal) Church which, at times, is only one step (papal submission) away from being Catholic, but St. Andrew’s runs a night service that is very popular with students and youth. It is much like any Evangelical church back in the colonies (U.S.A.) with a contemporary worship band and livily preaching, there was a little bit of liturgy in there, but little of the theology that I struggle with was present. They even did some hymns which were great!

I’ve found more and more people being curious about Mennonites and as such I’ve spent many walks and nights trying to explain Mennonite Theology to the group. At times people are shocked, other times bewildered, but it seems like people want to know more. This has been a lot of fun for me to live out and explain. Interestingly, many people here (90%) would call themselves pacifists, but I seem to be uniquely suited in having a solid theological reasoning for it. That has been the subject of a little debate with the other 10% who disagree, although I’m trying to adopt a position of sitting back and letting other people talk (hard for me to do) since there are so many educated people here who are willing to take up the discussion.

Today (Monday 10 Sep 2007) has been an incredibly busy day so far and it isn’t nearly over yet. We had class as usual which went well. We watched a movie for our British Landscapes class, had tea, and listen to a lecture over the rise of Women in literature and Christianity that came to pass after the Black Death swept through England in the 1340s. It was fascinating to hear the stories and lessons of the English people who went through the plague and the new social order that arose out of such desolation.

Afterwards we ate lunch and set off to the libraries of Oxford in search of materials for our respective papers which are due in a week. My first paper at Oxford is over the British hero Robin Hood, whose legend grew in the Greenwood forests, just a few 100 kilometers north of Oxford near York and Nottinghamshire. I will be making the point that in British History it has at times been advantageous to have a hero who is also a criminal and to explore how this has affected real and fictional characters since the 13^th century when the first reports of Robin Hood appear… characters like Guy Fawks, or Han Solo… exciting eh? Most of the day was busy deep in libraries exploring these aspects of history and literature.

I also spent time in our main building at Frewin Court catching up on a program I missed due to the illness on Friday and on the way back home acquired a bike helmet (rest assured mom and dad) and exploring an used book store with some fellow students. The discussion fell on my personal theologies again which took up the whole 20 minute ride back home. What a blast!

I made some quick soup and gobbled it down, and have returned to the studying. But there was one thing I wanted to relate before I go. As I understand it, this blog is now on the Tabor College website and I want to thank Vance Frick and Will Enger for doing the work to put this up.

My first message to any Tabor students or prospective students who might be reading along is that (and I know this will sound forced but) you are actually getting a great education at Tabor. I know that you might not think so, since it’s a laid back, small environment, that’s exactly what I thought. I wholly expected to be blown away by Oxford University and all the intelligent people I’d encounter, but I’ve found that, while I might not possess the vocabulary these intellectuals do, I often have the knowledge and ideas that are respected by the group for their insight. My point is, at Tabor I wasn’t sure that I was getting a great education or just great connections, but the fact is what I learned at Tabor is going the distance here at Oxford… so far so good.

Day 9: 7 Sep 07

Its been a very busy couple of days, and I’m sorry if any of you (mom) wanted regular updates over that time. Today, has been especially rotten due to the fact that I must’ve eaten something that made me sick, which has had two consequences. On the one hand I’ve been in bed all day and really haven’t left my cell, but on the other hand, I’ve finally found a little time to update the page.

Part of the decrease in writing has been the result of starting classes, so I’ve had a lot of reading and a few things on the plate to deal with and sadly the blog must take a back-seat to such things. Also yesterday the whole group went on an all day field trip to St. Alban. The St. Alban trip is probably the most interesting news of the past three days.

St. Alban is a city located a few miles North of London and while it may seem small by today’s standards, back in the first century St. Alban was the Roman city of Verilium and was the third largest city in Roman Britain. So part of the field trip was set up to see the Roman Ruins which are probably boring for most, but I found it all fascinating. For example they have preserved a Roman Theatre and Mosaic Floor in quite stunning standards.

However, St. Albans is also home to some other major historical occurances. It is named after the first Christian Martyr killed in Britain. Alban was a citizen living in Roman Verilium and late one night a Christian Missionary arrived on his door step, being pursued by Roman Soldiers (this is in the 3^rd Century AD when Rome was fiercely persecuting Christians. Alban took the Christian into his home, and through conversation, converted to Christianity himself. When soldiers finally arrived asking for the Christian’s surrender, Alban walked out instead, dressed in the missionary’s clothes. Alban was led outside the city, up a hill and was killed at the top. However, on the trek up the hill Alban converted one of the soldiers with Christ’s message. As a result the Roman Soldier was also put to death at the same place, after Alban. The Missionary didn’t escape either, and in fact within a day, England had its first three Christian Martyrs.

The place where Alban died then became a place of worship and not long after Christianity became “safe” a small shrine was built. In fact, a town began to grow around the hill away from the Roman Ruins, in the 11^th century an enormous Church was built over the site of Albans death, by this time a Saint. The church was built out of the very stones and bricks used to make Verilium. The tower is one of the few Norman structures still standing in England, and the Nave of the Cathedral is the longest in Europe. It’s a gorgeous Cathedral. Not long into the 14^th century an Abbey of Monks grew around the abbey, and as a result the City of St. Albans is also home to England’s Oldest pub, the Fighting Cocks. Interesting how everything falls together isn’t it?

The trip was a lot of fun and full of interesting finds, and great conversations. What else is new? I bought grocieries for the first time and may actually be able to survive here… although right now I feel terrible. I also found that while everything else in England may be extremely expensive, clothing is not. I found a store selling Jeans for $16 that would go for $80-$100 in the states. I cooked Russian Pancakes the other day which was a huge hit with the other students, and about 12 men including myself have started a weekly prayer group. This all should be helpful in getting through the difficulties that lie ahead. By the way, if you have questions or want to know more my email address is trentvoth@yahoo.com, and I would be happy to talk if you don’t mind some delay for work and time difference. Thanks for reading.

I’ve also got skype to work, even with video and have talking with Sam Flaming and Shelby. Its been great. Hope everything is going well in the colonies.

Day 5: 3 Sep 2007

I’m beginning to realize that I won’t be able to keep this blog updated everyday, its just going to be too much work. But on the bright side for those of you who don’t like the historical outline of each day that I have been putting up. I will try to write more about my most amazing experiences and less about every facet of everyday. I’ll try to put it into a one paragraph message.

Today I woke up at 7:30am. Went to orientation which lasted all day but was pleasantly interrupted by tea every couple of hours. Then we proceeded to spread throughout the city for a scavenger hunt, which was doubly joyful due to a carnival that Oxford has been putting on for two days. As part of the Scavenger we visited several different sites, but often got distracted by the fact that, as University Students we gain access to places that no one else can get into. So we explored the Bodleian Library and Christ Church, while amazing in their own rights, you may also recognize them from the Harry Potter movies. Joe and I then went out searching for bikes and air pumps. The day drew to a close at The Turf Tavern, a pub, located in a dark alley near the Bod. The Tavern is also the local of the infamous incident in which Former President Clinton was reported to have smoked but not inhaled an “illegal substance.” The night ended by watching Spinal Tap with the group

… but here’s some of my insights…

This has been such an amazing experience. I can't begin to explain all the intricacies and multitude of experiences I'm having. So far, I've never had more fun just living some place. My mind is blown almost every second and I know that I must be the most annoying person in Oxford right now because I constantly walk around with a look of awe and of a total tourist... but then it hits me that I actually live here. I'm a local, in the seat of wisdom and learning for the western world.

These people are incredible and they are all geniuses and I feel honored to be counted among them, but at the same time at home with them. Like yesterday, I walked into a room full of sorrow faces and asked, "What's wrong team?" They replied, "We're just mourning the loss of the Library of Alexandria." And I was taken back by the outright nerdiness of such a comment but also a peace that I too could join in the mourning and be okay in their eyes.

Today I made the mistake of correctly answering a question, and revealing that while I may be the bottom of the pecking order, I do actually know something, my fear is that this will translate into me being viewed as a threat, when actually I just guessed... as always.

Yesterday, we were walking around the old city, and by old I mean 1000 old, more than 5 times older than most U.S. cities. And we came upon the Bodleian Library, the oldest, largest, and most prestigious University Library in all the world. The Bodleian, or Bod, contains the original handwritten works of Shakespeare, Aristotle, any western philosopher, or artist, or scientist... the notebooks of both Sir Isaac Newton, or Yeats, Bede, or C.S. Lewis... ect. Quite simply the most amazing collection of knowledge that mankind could assemble. The very stuff that separates us from the animals and the thing that distinguishes humanity for whatever shortness of time as a legitimate collection of cells and souls...

The Bod's spires scratching the clouds and inspiring, dreaming of new ideas and old pages... tour groups of all nations and languages walking through the cavernous court yard snapping photos and being reminded of the Kings, Presidents, and Prime Ministers, the Authors and Poets, that had been educated right here... and amidst all the jumble of humanity and history, in I strode. Walking up to the security check point trained to refuse access to all but the 13,000 University faculty, staff, and students that are the only people in the world allowed into the halls and rooms of the Bodleian... and yesterday, I was one of them, humming skyline drive.

Something that has become pleasantly obvious is that I would never be in the position to do these things or grasp these opportunities if not for you and all my other loved ones back home, encouraging me.

Day 4: 2 Sep 2007

So I slept in again. I got up, showered, and started searching for bicycle parts. I need a light, a helmet, and mud flaps for riding in the rain. Around 3:30pm we left for Crick Road, the other house in the program for afternoon tea. The walk to Crick Road is about 30 minutes but stretches through many of the same parks that we go through to get into town. On the walk I got in a conversation
Walked through the Parks to Crick Road.

On the way I got into a conversation with a fellow history student about political ideologies which, of course, led to a discussion about Iraq. He began discussing the reasons for going to war and the legitimacy of WMDs in Iraq. Come on you all know me, I couldn’t let it go. About 20 minutes later the conversation drew to a close. It was a lot of fun, and interesting. For perhaps the first time on this trip I felt like I had a place in academic discourse… of course it helped that some young kid stumbled into a subject that I’ve payed close attention to for some time.

The best part was that after the conversation we had a great time moving on to other conversations. It is so nice to be around people who engage in debate but don’t have to take it personally. As the conversation took a different turn, I discovered that I was talking to a real life Dwight Shrute, a character from NBC’s The Office. We got on the topic of bears, discussed pirates, and finally man’s most feared enemy… the Hippo. All fun conversations. We did this while having tea at Crick, which brought the whole group together again for about an hour.

The we all went back home, about a 30 minute walk. I worked on my bike, which had a flat tire for most of the night. That work progressed until about 10:30 when a few of the guys, Bryce, Nick, and Scott sat on a back porch playing guitar. I just sat and listened and enjoyed the college life for awhile. The night ended by joining a group watching movies in the living room. A great end to another great day.

Day 3: 1 Sep 2007

I kept pushing this morning back. My alarm went off at 9:30am, but with nothing to really get to I just turned it off. It was a nice feeling and probably the last time I’ll feel that for 6 months. In the end that was a mistake, because today was both the most packed and longest day so far. As a result I have a ton to cover in this entry and not a lot of time to pull it off. So I finally woke up around 11:00am.

The first thing I did was check my email. There I found an email from a local man named Bob. I had been emailing him about a bike that he had on dailyinfo.com, an Oxford based website for selling bikes. After a few replies I found out that he was located on the outskirts of Oxfordshire. By outskirts, I truly mean way out there. In fact Bob lives in Sandhill, which is the village, that is beside the suburb, that sits beside Oxford. However it was a pretty straight shot and an easy home to get to. So I started walking… 5 miles and 50 minutes later I darkened Bob’s door. I gave Bob 40pounds for a bike and a lock.

Then began the trek back… I had about 20 minutes to get back for a BBQ at the house. Unfortunately, even though its almost a straight shot down Headington Road/M40, except for a single round about half way. I had to navigate an extremely difficult set of pedestrian crossings, and well, I ended up going down the wrong direction for about a quarter mile. I realized the mistake when nothing looked familiar, but it didn’t take much to get back on track. After some hard riding I made it back just in time.

We were joined at the house by the other students from Crick Road for a BBQ. We were scrambling to learn names and put this with faces. I met two other history guys, Josh and Matthew, both from JBU. We had a great time talking about Frank Hubert III (my old youth pastor) and Brian Bollinger (an old school friend from Halstead at JBU). We also set hard at work to plan history trips to different museums and around England.

We had a lot of fun talking and decided to sit down with Dr. Rosenberg and Jonathan Kilpatrick, the director and history professors of the program. We talked at length about the difference between British and Americans, Oxford, and Wycliffe Hall. It was great. But afterwards everyone decided to play some ultimate Frisbee in the backyard. The students were divided into about 5 teams. One of my roommates Bryce, who has turned out to be a pretty laid back and witty guy, and I along with Matt from JBU, a 6’ 4” guy, a couple of gals and Clint, our RD at the house, became the dominant team around. Unlike other teams, we decided on playing a zone defense for ultimate Frisbee instead of the typical manned defense. Bryce and I are both runners and fairly athletic guys so we just ran around and dominated the other teams. We played each game to 5 points and not only went undefeated, but were not scored on the entire tournament. Pretty sweet… it probably helped that we were playing against teams of a bunch of brains.

After awhile we all began to talk about heading into town. So about 10 of us did just that. We took a new path into town, taking a path through a bunch of gardens and along a canal. We crossed several bridges and everything was green and beautiful, just what you’d see in any English postcard. I can see now why Tolkien thought up the shire. Into the center of town we went, and walked around, shopped, and generally tried to fit in as locals.

As a few others went into a shop to buy groceries, Michael and I were leaning against St. Mary Magdelen’s Church in the middle of town. It’s a gorgeous 500 year old High Anglican Church that sits in the center of Oxford, in fact the street splits around it, making a cat-eye piece of land that contains two graveyards bracketing the church. Michael and I heard singing coming through the ancient stain glassed windows and around the stone walls. We made our way around the front of the church and slinked into the sanctuary. A choir was practicing for the Latin, High Church mass that would be tomorrow morning. We sat in the pews and listened to the glorious harmonies for an hour. There something deeply moving and truly reflective about ancient cathedrals. It was a time of deep reflection and it was a very spiritual moment for me. I don’t think that I’m much for high church theology, but the feeling of reverence is undeniable.

Afterwards, those of us who had remained the whole time in the cathedral decided to go to Frewin Court, the program’s headquarters in the center of downtown Oxford. This is also where our mail goes, so you can mail me at:

2 Frewin Court
Oxford
OX1 3HZ
UNITED KINGDOM

Since both houses are on the outskirts of Oxford, Frewin Court is our home away from home. In between classes and lectures many of us will go to Frewin Court to hang out instead of trying to make it home. As such, our keys open our homes, our rooms, and Frewin Court. We sat around and discussed all sort of things like traveling and nerdy things like Elvish, Klingon and Star Wars. We also ate leftovers we had around since the BBQ that we had brought with us. Finally we walked home.

Once home, I ran an internet cable out my window and around to an internet jack in the hallway. After working that out I wrote some emails. Clint came up to the room and asked if I wanted to play Mafia. Of course since no one here knew me or could tell if I were lying I thought there is no better time to play than now.

This turned into a huge mistake. There were 20 of us playing. And since we are all intelligent people who analyze, think through, and try to make all decisions with logic, it took us 4 hours to finish the game. It was ridiculous, but tons of fun. It turns out that I was a townsperson and even though there were intense moments, I came across as a very trustful person. I suppose that will be helpful throughout the semester. But that meant I didn’t get to bed until 3am. A great day.