Samhain

Last Wednesday was Halloween, or as some people know, Samhain. Halloween originates from the ancient pagan celebration called Samhain, when the boundaries between this world and the spirit world were open. Christianity assimilated it later on to gain the cooperation of the Celts. And it is still celebrated to this day; not as much in the UK as in the states but still a fair amount. I went with Dr. Schweitzer to  the Pitt Rivers Museum to start my day off, and it was fantastic. There was so much stuff! They literally had drawers you could pull out that was overflowing. The museum itself is very family oriented and invites you to touch and explore the exhibits, and boy did they have a lot. everything from dinosaurs to dolls, from weapons to jewelry and ceremonial robes made entirely out of bird feathers! My personal favorites were the weapons and the jewelry exhibits, and when my family gets here I am taking them straight back there, it was fantastic.

               After we spent a good while exploring the museum and dodging kids in costumes we decided to head out for lunch and we found this great little place called Turl Street Kitchen where I had free range chicken and Dr. Schweitzer had some sort of bake (I forgot) . Tucked in the side of a back street it was a cozy place with friendly people and perfect to relax and get our energy back up. By the time we got out it was drizzling a bit but when you are in England you get used to it, so hoping we would not melt we decided to do a bit of shopping. We perused through a few department stores, a few boutiques, a print shop (that I will be taking my mom to) and the covered market before catching the bus back to campus.  It was a great outing and whoever said you can't have fun with a teacher is terribly mistaken, Dr. Schweitzer is a joy to be around and I love going places with her.

               That evening after my British history class I threw together a quick dark witch costume and went with friends to a club called Fuzzy Ducks. The costumes were great, my company was excellent, the music was horrendous. I have never heard a DJ talk so much! He talked more than he played, and it was extremely annoying. However I managed to have a good time (I went out with my British friends Libby, Georgie, her boyfriend Jonty, Minty, and Charlie the Greek). I was happily exhausted by the time I got back.

               Thursday was no time to be lazy however. I had business class for most of the early afternoon and I took the bus back straight away to the library and worked there for a good solid five hours. I got a lot of work done but I only hit the tip of the iceberg, so now I am back in the library today writing all of this

Yay! Pitt Rivers!

Rocks!

Gorgeous hand beaded foot stool

Glass knives. 

Horse!

Flint lock pistol inner workings

Beautiful rifle. 

Bullets from when the Spaniards invaded South America  in the 16th century

Broadsword.

Throwing rings that were sharpened to a deadly point
on the outer rim

mummified hawk...kind of creepy to see on Halloween...

A Monk's robe made completely out of human bone 

This cross is said to contain a piece of the original  cross on which Jesus was crucified. 

There was an actual Mummy...I was so getting out of there before nightfall.

Halloween!