a blustery day

Last night's dinner was roast beef and it was the 1st time I had tasted it, needless to say people all around me were shocked if not mortified that this was new to me. I had a few bites - I was not all together impressed!
After that we went to the debate the man who was for the war had prepared like 20 pages of typed out speech noting all the UN resolutions that had been broken. At one point he compared Saddam to Hitler- a groan went throughout the room. The against side spoke and then the sparring began. Sometimes I wonder how people can be so ignorant... One woman insists we went into Iraq because they planned the 9/11 attacks- oh yeah, she voted for W. I practically choked on the lovely orbit gum( it's fabulous) I was chewing at the time when the words came out of her mouth. Another young bloke from U Maryland stated that the whole situation is like a bar and to avoid barfights you have to intervene, to which the woman arguing the against side retorted, but the world is not a bar! It was intense and stimulating - afterwards we went to the pub. =)
We hung out there for quite a while although none of us had anything to drink. Go figure...
I have decided against doing the papers here. Although it is tempting to lock my self away in the library for hours of research I think I will abstain. Yesterday I did make it to the Bodleian though. It is the main library, in which parts of Harry Potter are filmed. The Divinity School is the hospital wing and the Duke Humpreys reading room is the library in the HP films. They had alarms on the book so you could not touch them. I hate to say this but after seeing Trinity College's library in Dublin, I wasn't nearly as impressed as I had hoped to be. Although I did feel quite special when I went up the special staircase to the 2nd floor of shelves. Many books in there were ancient and being tactile all I wanted to do was touch them.
It is interesting the public opinion here on London getting the Olympics there is more of a relief since they beat out Paris, than excitement about the whole thing. The animosity towards France and the French in general is huge- I never would have imagined it but at least 2 or 3 times daily in Lecture or Seminar, there is a jab at the country. Although many seemed to agree with what Chirac had said about British food... Question of the day why is Yorkshire Pudding called pudding???? It was not at all what I had expected! Tonight's meal is lamb and I just can't do it so I will be eating elsewhere this evening...
It is quite blustery this morning and cloudy- the weather had said it was supposed to get nicer here but who knows. It is nice to be cold; and I can't complain since it has been in the upper 90s in Orlando. Please don't make me go back!!! Today I have a lecture and seminar on the European Union. I actually really enjoy that class so I am almost looking forward to it. If I get a chance I will report more later.