Stratford

July 25, 2005
I woke up and went to breakfast (where I had English tea with milk and sugar). It was really good! I went to class and then called my parents. In class, Dr. Horsewood explained the British way to give people “the finger.” Instead of one finger, they use the first two; kind of like the sideways peace sign. The origin was from the old wars when the archers would pull back their arrows with two fingers. It basically means “I’ll kill you”. I thought that was weird.

After lunch, we left for Stratford (William Shakespeare’s home town). It was about an hour drive. I listened to music and slept on the bus. When we got there, we went on a boat “cruise” up the river. The captain of the boat was fun. He had a beard and a pipe and he talked kind of like a pirate. He just needed a parrot.

We also saw Shakespeare’s birthplace and home as a child. Then, we went to Holy Trinity Church where he was buried along with his daughter and son-in-law. Then, we went to find food. We had to meet at the theatre at 7pm to see Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors.”

I really enjoyed the play! It took about 10 minutes to get used to the old English, but the play was really funny. It was about a man who was indebted and supposed to be executed. In his plea, he tells a story about his wife who gave birth to twin sons and another poor couple who gave birth to twin sons as well. Because the second couple was poor, he and his wife bought the couple’s sons to be servants for their sons. They were travelling to some place they were moving to when they were shipwrecked and separated. He had been looking for his wife and second son ever since. After the setup, we meet both the sons, one who lives in the town where the play is set, one who is visiting and constantly being creeped out because people seem to know him. Both men and their servants (the other set of twins) are confused and get into trouble over and over again in the play. Finally, at the end, the entire family meets. One brother is married and the mother has become a nun. The father’s debt is forgiven and everyone is happy. The play was well done and the acting was superb.

After the play, we went out to the buses to go back to Oxford. We ended up waiting for three drunken guys who had decided not to see the play. They finally came back and joined the rest of the group of drunken guys on the bus. The ride back to oxford sucked!

When we got back, the drunken group went out to the bars. I took a shower, wrote in my journal and went to sleep.