I Have Friends!

A few weeks back, I had the lovely privilege of seeing some fantastic friends as they came to visit [me] London (in my world they were just visiting me, k?). And of course, as life tends to work out sometimes, they all chose the same weekend to come, leading to happy chaos. First the lovely Steph came in Friday night from Edinburgh. A big group of us celebrated and went out to O'Neills, a fairly famous pub with 3 or so floors. Oh how I've missed that girl :).

Saturday both Shelby and Kelsey flew in, and after some chaotic struggles with out-of-service underground lines and incompetent phones, we finally were all three able to meet up for lunch. Oh how I've missed these kiddos! And it was also very exciting because I'd been telling both of them for years how they needed to meet each other because they remind me of the other - how perfect that we all three got to meet up in London! After lunch, we walked around for a couple hours, stumbling across some familiar sites.

Can't you tell how excited Kelsey and I are to see each other again?

The next day, Shelby and I ventured off to Oxford together! And unlike my last time there that was unfortunately largely academic, this visit I instead got to geek out through nerdy touristy things! I found a nice itinerary of things to do, and you'd be impressed to know we saw everything on that list! Look, I even made a pretty map so we could stay organized.

Along the way, we stopped for some good 'ole English tea and scones at this place called Vaults & Garden, which was Oxford University's "Old Congregation House." Our next major stop was when we got to Christ Church. Exploring around was a wonderful nerd moment, because one of the halls in Christ Church was what inspired J.K. Rowling's vision of the Great Hall in Harry Potter. We maybe got a bit too excited... Ultimately the highlight of our evening though was even more nerding out when we met up with Kelsey again at the Eagle & Child Pub. This pub is famous for being the meeting ground of some literaries that dubbed themselves the "Inklings," notably C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. And for those of you who know Shelby, Kelsey, or myself even slightly, you can only imagine how exciting this was for us. All in all, it was a wonderful day.

Only fitting that our train to Oxford would be at Platform 9... and 3/4.

Yes, I forgot to put my hands through... as if I couldn't already look any awkwarder. (at Oxford Castle)

Shelby and I next to Oxford Castle

Outside Vaults & Garden, where we got tea

Nim, Ace Oxford student inside the private grounds. 

Shelby outside Christ Church

Shelby being pretty inside Christ Church

ZOMGGGZ WE'RE IN THE GREAT HALL HARRY POTTER GRYFFINDOR AHHHHSODIFJ

More Christ Church - it's pretty, okay??

The Eagle and Child pub = happiness

So perfect I want to cry

That week I continued to meet up with Shelby during my after-work hours, where we had lots of fun exploring and such. And a great highlight was, our last night together before she travelled off to Cambridge for a few days, we went to a play together. We saw One Man Two Guv'nors, a comedy that was pretty funny. 

This band played before the show and during set-changes.

This is my "I'm at the theatre!!" face

But alas, after a wonderful week of getting filled up on the love of my wonderful friends, I had to say my final goodbyes. Back to having no friends again.... that is, unless you (yes, I mean you whoever is reading this (presupposing that if you're reading this you're probably my friend... if you're not you probably have better ways you could be spending your time...)) come visit me - yes, that's a challenge. Come.