Greetings, England- Day 3: The Central Oxford and The Blackwell Bookshop

Okay, so for the third day...
THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS TO TELL!

First of all, we had a test on English to see how good you already are in the grammatical and lexical level, and I think it was not really THAT difficult.... So I handed in the test papers early and went to Sugar House (a cafe in St. Clare's) for an expensive sandwich.
Then we all gathered in a room and were explained about the courses we are going to take. For this week, we are going to learn about literature (I cannot contain the excitement blooming in my heart! And also there will be a show "Much Ado About Nothing" by Shakespeare on Thursday and we have to go watch it!!!!) and for the next we are going to do science (with experiments in the laboratory!) and for the third week, there will be humanities (there are geography, history, economics, and psychology to choose from, and I chose to take psychology because it has always been intriguing) And right in the beginning of this three-week-course, I knew that there will be a lot to learn!
Then we had a tour around the St. Clare's campus, and my thoughts were stuck at the library even after I had finished my lunch, so I individually visited the library again, greeted with the friendly librarian right there and started my merry tour around in a mythical realm of fascinating scents of paper and ink.
There were four floors of knowledge, and basically, all the fictions and foreign works are kept on the first floor. There are also movies you can bring back to the dorm to watch! However, since some of the collections of the books inside the library are about specific subjects, sometimes they are rare, which is why a 50-pound deposit is required if you are to borrow any books. On the second floor, there are books with different subjects, for reference material, for example, there are philosophy, chemistry, biology, etc. On the third floor, it was all about history. Shelves and shelves of historical biographies, atlases... It was breathtaking! Then on the fourth floor, there weren't many books, but there was a computer room, isolated, and it felt a bit creepy, so I didn't stay too long on the fourth floor. Here are the pictures:

Entering the region of knowledge

bookshelves with a nice studying space

Every small room has a big window with a view and light

Bookworms will take over the world.... as soon as we finish one more chapter.

At two in the afternoon, we were taken out of the campus for a walking tour down Banbury Rd, into the center of Oxford, it was an hour walk into the Center, and we didn't stop for watching the buildings much, but we did saw the former residence of J.R.R Tolkien, and the Oxford Park, the Natural History Museum, etc. And then there was the Weston Library, which is a really old library and is served as a monument now. Right after we reached the center, we began to head back to St. Clare's. Which was a pity, with all the exquisite shops around in the center. So actually to make up for it, after getting back to the campus (which was 4:30) I went back to the dorm, get packed, and got myself ready for a small adventure.
Oh yeah, there is something I haven't mentioned about this summer program, is the freedom they give us. We have courses every day, but only until 4~4:30 in the afternoon. After that, we can choose from a variety of activities, for example, sports, arts, games, and so on, but if you choose not to sign up on any of the activities, the time you have is absolutely yours, as long as you come back before eleven o'clock curfew.
I got packed, and hopped up on the bus towards the center for one more time (the bus tickets are expensive!) and started my personal trekking.
With the help of Google Map, I managed to find some souvenir shops, and out of impulse, I bought some small stuff to bring home. It was like a small gift shop called Oxfam. It was then I saw a flyer about the Oxfam second-hand/old bookshop, and since it was just on the next block, I had no second thoughts and went for it.
And this is when things go wrong. (Don't worry it was nothing serious)
It was closed! Apparently, it gets closed at 17:30, and it was 17:39 when I got there....
That means I would have to come back another day.

Antiquated look? Check.

Closed at 5:30. Fine...

Then came the main course: Blackwell Bookstore.

It was a nice, exquisite place, with three floors and one basement floor. Let's start from the bottom. The basement floor was called the Norrington Room, and it has stairs linked to both The Blackwell Bookshop and The Blackwell Music. The whole floor was flooded with books, scholastic books of all fields.

Gorgeous view...

One the first floor, there were a lot of fictions, and there was a thing I noticed about England, but let's hold it off until later. I bought three Harry Potter books at the price of two and headed upstairs.

Good bargain!

For the second floor, there is a cafe called Nero, where I bought a bottle of Coke and sat at the tables and thought about how much money I had spent so far. Then, deciding that I had spent too much already, I made my way to the stairs and that was when I saw the path to the third floor. I won't talk about this now, just see:

I was struck speechless. Literally. How elegant the design of the room was, how every book has their own description and their historical value, and how they are valuable: because of their being the first edition, because of the autograph, or the methods of how they were preserved or what kind of torments they have been through... They are almost like humans, every with their unique stories to tell, and that is what made them so treasured and praised and cherished.
And then I bought two more books (despite all).
I know! But it was buy one get one free and the (charming) clerk was really polite and graceful! What can I do? Here they are, one comedy, one tragedy, both written by Ancient Greeks.

one for two!!!

And then I decided that it was time to head home, or money will be spilled even more. However, since I skipped dinner at school to be out for such a long time, I had to walk for approximately 15 minutes to the nearest Tesco for a sandwich, some fruit, and some drinks. On my way (thanks to Google Maps again) I thought about the walking tour and the fares of a bus ticket, and there came the idea of walking home.
No, it was not just plain walking; it was also a tour of the streets of Oxford, for who knows how much longer it will take for me to come back to this place again? Make the most of it as you can! A, so I got take the pictures I wasn't able to during the walking tour since little stopping was made.

Old Weston Library

This is so different from Taiwan.

Old-looking buildings everywhere. WOW.

This was really a nice day, and I was surprised at how vast the amount of freedom this course gave us; without, it none of the trips would be possible! Some may say this unorganized, but I would say that more self-decision and self-planning has to be made.
I believe this is the day that would be memorable: the first time of traveling alone, the first time setting foot into a rare books section... so many monumental moments that should be meant to be managed with merry care. This is for today.
07/03/2017