So the library I was studying at today (Radcliffe Camera) is dark and has a small selection of forbidding wooden chairs, which presents two problems: large crowds = no seating and nasty chairs = much back pain. Also, there's no wireless and the library closes at freaking 10pm. I walk out of the damn place and feel like it's 4am (which is when I usually leave Meyer). Green Library and our proximity to Silicon Valley has clearly spoiled me. Oh, and as we neared closer to 10pm today, one of the librarians came up to me and asked me to turn off my laptop because it was nearly closing time. Um, fair enough, but why not ask me to put my books away? Why my laptop? And why was I the only one she addressed? I must definitely not look like an Oxford student, which is strange to me because Stanford and Oxford kids have a lot in common: we're all sleep-deprived and overworked. Though the crucial difference, I feel, is that we Stanford kids have far more caffeine running in our veins, because our coffee houses open past 5pm. Thank you, Moonbeans and TAP.
I decided to walk down Cornmarket St yesterday in desperate search of a cafe that was open late (read: at 10pm). The only place open was McDonald's. Luckily, they served coffee (who knew?), so I stood in line and eagerly awaited my caffeine hit. A bum comes up REALLY CLOSE to me (like, his lips were about 3 inches away from mine) and asks me to buy him chips. I'd already given money to someone who needed a bus ride earlier that day so I said no. On the walk home a couple of Arab dudes (by the way, there are a lot of Arabs in Oxford, but for some reason they all look like Hispanic drug dealers... must be the hair gel) make some comment to me about who knows what, but I shrug them off and keep walking. Later at night, around 1am, I decided to go get something from Ahmed's Kebab van (basically the only establishment that isn't a pub or McDonald's that's open til 3am). We were told not to wander around Oxford late at night by ourselves because the streets are apparently crawling with dubious individuals waiting to prey on the numerous tourists here. It was still pretty early so I didn't find this to be true. I encountered another bum who asked for money, but I ignored him. No problem there. Then these drunk guys (they looked pretty young) came up and bumped into me. Again, I ignored them while I waited for my (nasty) falafel kebab. Seconds later I notice one of these drunk boys taking a leak about half a meter from where I'm standing. That was as sketchy as it got last night, so it wasn't too bad at all. I managed to escape piss-free and was only slightly harassed, so can't complain there. One of the dudes who ran the kebab van was sweet enough to take on an almost protective tone as he handed me my take-away. Kebab van dude, your food is disgusting, but you were nice to me so I will come back to the van and buy more of your crap someday when I'm starving at 2am.
Back to my paper!
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