Pitt's River Museum

As Promised, I will catch everyone up (in detail) as to what I have been doing the past couple of days!

On Tuesday, we went to the Pitts River Museum. (If you have read the Golden Compass, this is where Lyra meets Lord Boreal in the Subtle Knife! Can you tell how much I LOVE this series?)

Now, Ladies and Gentleman I have a story to tell you. Once upon a time, in a land over the pond of the Atlantic Ocean, an Emory student named Jordan went with her class to the Natural History Museum of Oxford. While she was at the Museum, she met Alice's White Rabbit who's very late for his very important date!

She also found the Tae Kwon Do-do Birds (who attacked)! (Ice Age)


She was successful in escaping the tae kwon do-do birds, so she did a dance, accompanied by music when that blowfish blow....(the Little Mermaid)
As she partook in the dancing, she suddenly grabbed an ostrich as her ballet partner! (who are taller than ME! wow!)...(Fantasia)
All the animals peeked out of their displays and watched with glee.....


When suddenly, a crocodile attacked! Crocodile Dundee saved Jordan's life as he wrestled the crocodile into submission.....
...Jordan wondered what would happen next, when all of a sudden:


The raptor's head came through the wall towards Jordan and her classmates! (Jurassic Park) They ran and ran through the Natural History Museum until they finally made it to the.........and they all lived happily ever after. The End!

Before you scroll down, though: WARNING THE BELOW CONTENT IS NOT SUITABLE FOR YOUNG IMPRESSIONABLE CHILDREN.



wait for it......





wait for it.....

!SHRUNKEN HEADS!

The Original Orc- They do exist!

Someone had a bad hair day when they died....

For a little perspective, that's my pinky next to the head. Yes, all the heads were about this big. Apparently, you were supposed to boil all the heads in boiling hot water for a number of days immediately after chopping it off your enemy's neck. I got sick at the thought of all that flesh boiling off the head as it was being shrunk.... :-*


Being the musician I am, though, I found this section very interesting:
basic flutes....

basic English pan flutes...

Primitive oboes..... (*cough* Sarah *cough*)

These were labeled as horns in a generic term...but some of them looked more like trumpets while others are the beginning of the French Horn (like the conch shell).....but that's nit picky details :-)

Primitive Clarinets! yay!


Then we got the section on magic and warding off the evil eye!

The oldest voodoo doll known to be in existence. Beware, it's still full of powerful South American magic!

Different voodoo dolls from around the globe. Creepy!

Afterwards, we went to the accessories department and looked at all the hats and the jewelry. These were the biggest fads! What do you think?

(Yes, those are two hummingbirds on top of a fan...)

(the most fashionable hats...)

the best jewelry set from Morroco or another North African/ Middle Eastern country.

The "it" item from England....

This is all the rage in the heart of Africa....






Then we saw all the guns used in England beginning in World War I. Imagine all the pictures below as a Panorama, stitched together....this case was MASSIVE! Anyway, I thought it was very cool. As a result, I started looking at places where you can shoot clay pigeons on the internet when I got back to my room. I didn't find any near Oxford, though. No shooting clay pigeons while I'm in England :-(

...and that was what we saw in the Pitt's River Museum!

Today, Friday, July 10, I took it easy. I went to class this morning from 9 am- 11am. After that I started to lay down for a nap, and then I heard someone playing "I Can Only Imagine." Of course, I hunted around the campus to find where the music was coming from. As a result, I found a group of three people hanging out in the Baptist ministry room. (aside: Regent's Park is originally a Baptist park that was located in London. It still partly is. Anyway, it was the first college accepted to Oxford University that was not Anglican. The only parties that usually come here are Baptist looking to further their theological knowledge. Back to my story:) These three people are on a trip with their theology program from school in Texas! So, we jammed for about an hour before lunch. They are all really awesome people!

After lunch, I went adventuring through the city. I took the back (albeit VERY SAFE) way to Sainsbury, the market, where I bought some water and sodas and chocolate milk. :-) I also bumped into Regent's Park's Chef! I don't know if I've mentioned him before, but he is AMAZING! He feeds us only the freshest of the fresh food! He's very picky about the food he cooks and the conditions in which he cooks it. Anyway, he's been really sweet to me. When I got sick, he made sure I was drinking lots of fluids and taking care of myself. :-) He makes some of the BEST fish and chips! He also picks out the most delicious Dinosaur fruits. (Not Dinosaur eggs, but Dinosaur fruits!) The really good ones are yellow or red. Anyway, everyone here is so nice and takes such good care of us! I would think it would be nice to live here for a little bit.

Tonight, he is making us salmon of some kind with chocolate eclairs for dessert! I must leave to go get pretty for our formal dinner tonight! :-)
Cheers from Oxford!
J.

P.S. I'll be making the post on our London trip tomorrow! It was BEYOND FABULOUS!