I'm sitting in Oxford right now with a free afternoon, and I thought it was about time to make good on my promise to give occasional UK updates. So, here you go.

International flights are, as a rule, nightmarish, and the trip from Dallas to Chicago, and then from Chicago to Dublin wasn't much different. Lots of delays, holding patterns, alternate routes, screaming babies, turbulence, sleep deprivation... you get it. But we arrived safely, with all our baggage, and in relatively good spirits.

Dublin was absolutely wonderful. I don't like cities generally. I don't like tall buildings, crowds, or traffic, and am perfectly content to do without the unique urban culture that goes with pretty much any metroplex you visit. But I really enjoyed Dublin, and I hate that I only had three days there.

What struck me the most about Dublin was the preservation of the culture. The entire city was seemingly built around commemorating the Easter Rebellion in 1916 and the subsequent achievement of independence. The outward reverence the Irish have for their revolutionaries, their saints, their writers, and their artists is astounding to me. Virtually every street contained a statue of an Irish hero. How much of this is in the consciousness of an average Dubliner, I can't say, but at least externally, the city was draped in quiet gratitude.

Most of our time in Dublin was spent doing whatever we wanted. I probably walked the length of Dublin three or four times (it really isn't that big). At night, groups would go to pubs or shops, or just simply wander the streets looking for something to do. And there was always something to do. I'll list off a the highlights:

- We saw Riverdance, which was making the final stop on its 25 year world tour. I never saw the show anywhere else, so it's hard to tell, but I got the feeling that the Dublin shows were really special, to both the audience and the performers. The Celtic music and step dancing are, as far as I know, uniquely Irish, and there was a sense of pride covering the whole show. The performers and the audience had a lot of fun with each other. Someone in the audience would give a yelp during a dance, and one of the performers would yawp back. On the occasional number where the musicians would take center stage, they would stamp their feet until the audience began to clap along. It was playful and beautiful, and I had a blast. I loved the music, of course, but more than that I just had fun. I had fun watching the performers have fun and watching the people next to me have fun. I'm sad that I'll never get to see it again.

- One night, four of us went to see Tom Stoppard's play Arcadia. One of my friends here is a theater fanatic, and this happens to be her favorite play. It was fairly spontaneous. I decided to go about two hours before the show started. It was a truly fantastic play. I thought it was even better than Stoppard's early masterpiece Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Like that play, this one had a great sense of humor and also delves into some very interesting philosophical questions. It's about love and jealousy, obsession and genius, chaos and order, determinism and freedom. I was very taken in by all of it. Go see it, if you can, or get your hands on a copy and read it.

- I went to the Writer's Museum with my friend Brittany. They had a very thorough and interesting history of literature in Ireland, with an audio tour. I was especially delighted by the exhibits dedicated to Oscar Wilde, Yeats, James Joyce, Flann O'Brien, and Samuel Beckett. After we made our way through the museum, Brittany and I sat down and talked for a while, which is always a pleasure. After about an hour, we went our seperate ways, and I went to the James Joyce museum by myself, which was great. I love paying my respects to writers!

Sunday morning, we rode to the airport and flew to London. Once we arrived in London, we took a bus to Imperial College and got set up in the dorms there. I wasn't too crazy about London. It's so big and so crowded, and so stressful to try and get around. Everything we did was interesting, but it was just too much.

On the other hand, there were some bright spots:

- Seeing Henry IV: Part I at the Globe. I didn't know anything about Henry IV other than it's Shakespeare and that it is considered one of his best histories by Shakespeare fanatics. It was a brilliant performance. It was amazing how well-preserved the Globe is. Much of it has been redone, and I doubt there is much original left, but the performance itself was very faithful to the way Shakespeare's plays were originally performed. Other than electric lighting, there was no technology aiding the performance. The seats were crude wooden benches (though I purchased a cushion for a pound). The play had an opening act - an absurdly filthy little scene done by actors in wild masks. Scene changes were done by actors in the open and often covered by an actor singing a short song. At times, the play was bawdy and lewd, and the actors reveled in it, knowing that those lines would get the most enthusiastic responses from the crowd. There was a great deal of interplay between the audience and the performers, as there would have been in Elizabethan England. One thing that's interesting about the Globe, and about Shakespeare is how they were meant for the more common elements of London. Shakespeare certainly had a following with the nobility, but he wasn't a snob. In his time, Shakespeare was something of a populist, and that spirit is preserved to this day.

Anyways, the play itself was wonderful. Very, very funny, which I wasn't expecting. If I had to pick one thing to do in London, I would go see a Shakespeare play at the Globe.

- Poet's Corner at Westminster Abbey was the place I wanted most to see in London. It didn't disappoint. I love how the English truly venerate their poets. The fact that authors' memorials and graves are in the same place as kings and queens is astounding to me, and it's as it should be. We don't do that in America. I mean, can you imagine Robert Frost having a memorial in the Washington Mall? The closest we get to the kind of noble respect we generally reserve for Presidents may be with old baseball players (I'm thinking Ruth, Dimaggio, Gehrig) and a select few musicians (Elvis and Dylan come to mind). Maybe it hasn't been long enough. For some reason, though, England loves its poets in a way America never will.

- Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral. St. Paul's is a work of art. It may be the single greatest feat of architecture I've ever seen. I attended a short evening service there. It was a beautiful service.

- Leicester Square. This was maybe the only place in London where I felt the city was alive. It was the only place where I felt like I was in London. I went there at night with a few friends. It was vibrant and loud and very bright, and I was enthralled. Go there, if you can.

- The Prince Albert Monument. It's a beautiful monument right outside the Royal Albert Hall. In addition to being a memorial to Victoria's beloved husband, it is a statement of purpose for the British Empire. It's large and gaudy, but at the same time pristine. Absolutely fascinating.

After five days in London, we finally drove to Oxford. The University is beautiful, of course. The town is wonderful. I can't get enough of this place. I will blog about Oxford more later. I'm trying to let it sink in.

Anyways, feel free to ask me any questions in the comments!