Ashmolean Adventure

So something pretty neat happened today that I totally didn't expect, and it could only happen in Oxford. Last night I received an e-mail from Amanda inviting me along to see the special prints collection at the Ashmolean Museum. I wasn't really sure what was involved, but figured a bit of culture wouldn't hurt. Apparently she and her mom (who's visiting from the States) went there a couple days ago and found out that if you book an appointment, they'll let you in to see these special collections for free.

I met up with Amanda and her mom at the museum, but on the way there I ran into some colleagues from work. The two of them are from central Russia and are working on our company database for a few months before they go back to Russia. I spotted them examining a map, and stopped to see if I could help them find where they wanted to go. Turns out they had just planned to walk around Oxford, so I invited them along to the museum in the off chance they'd let some extra people into the print room. I'm so glad I did, because 15 minutes later we were all in the print room looking at original sketches from Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and (no not Donatello), Rembrandt. Pretty crazy! It was so cool to see their little doodles and sketches. I think the most impressive was Rembrandt's portrait of his father. It was just a sketch with a little color, but the detail was so lifelike! The woman running the place had to use special gloves to take each of the sketches out, and didn't want all of us looking at one picture at the same time since just breathing on them could damage them!

We could have stayed longer and looked through pretty much whatever we wanted to in the rest of the collections, but I think we all were ready to move on. I'm so glad Amanda invited me along because it's not the kind of thing I'd go looking for on my own, but it's really cool to see.

Winter Light: White Night Oxford

Last night I went out with a group of friends to check out the Winter Light: White Night event in Oxford. It's an annual event where some stores stay open late (7pm!) and museums and art galleries open their doors for free.

I met up with Janick, Karen and Kaori at Gloucester Green, where some artists were setting up for an art sale. We went to the Ashmolean Museum first to check out some harpsichord music. Here we are in front of the museum.


Later we met up with Nina and Vinita for dinner by Oxford Castle. There were some neat ice carvings out, and we even saw one ice carver in action!


Here are some of the finished ice sculptures:


Then we went and checked out the Broad Street area where they had some kind of giant light-up inflatable cones on display. There was weird music/sounds playing from underneath each of the cones, and they changed color from red to green, yellow and blue. We weren't really sure what to think of them, but I suppose it was something to see!

We ended our night at the Museum of Natural History, with a glass of "hot squash", which we found out is half juice and half hot water. It's not bad, especially if you've been walking around the the cold for a while! The museum had some really great stuff on display, so I'd like to go back when it's not so crowded!

This is going to be a tough week for everyone, as it is exam time! All of the students are pretty stressed out, especially since most of them have been away from school for a while and aren't used to taking exams. Everyone I have talked to has said their husband or boyfriend has started growing a beard because they are spending so much time studying!