Day 5 - Oxford and Harry Potter!

Today, we had the luxury of a few extra hours of sleep. After breakfast, we headed to Oxford. It took us an hour and a half, but it was all worth it as we got a first class view of the countryside. We knew we were approaching Oxford when we saw many ancient and brick buildings. They had very intricate designs and we were definitely impressed by the immersion of modern shops into these ancient buildings. It was definitely an eye opener to see so many varsity shops selling the same oxford sweatshirts and jackets. We saw all these and more, whilst walking around the shops. At 1:20, we proceeded for our tour of some of the nearby colleges, during which we learnt about their customs and history. We were amazed that Oxford University was not just one university but a university consisting of many colleges! Also, the landscape and architecture at Oxford University was breathtaking. I believe that the amazing history and view, and the very informative information from our oxford guide, Nula, have ignited the flame within us to study hard and achieve greatness to study in oxford university. Thereafter, we said goodbye to the countryside and hello to the city! During our journey to the hotel, we passed through the so called “Orchard Road” of London, Piccadilly Circus. We went by many awesome shopping malls, like M&S, Topshop, and Harrod’s ,where they had display windows a big as our rooms! With Angela’s vivid description of the many shops, we were able to highlight them and compare them to that of Singapore. On the bus ride to our hotel ,we had a minor “accident”, but all went well , thanks to our very efficient driver, Pat. Sadly, he had to leave us that day to be the driver for another tour group. ):

For dinner, we turned to comfort food in Chinatown, where the dishes came with surprising speed and disappeared just as fast. After our satisfying meal, we walked our to the Criterion Theatre at Piccadilly Circus to catch “The 39 Steps”. The play was impressive because it only consisted of 4 cast members who played a multitude of roles. The plot was well-paced and the storyline interesting, if a little predictable, but it was generally a good experience. After the play, we took the London Underground for the first time! The journey was uneventful and most of us felt that Singapore’s MRT system was more efficient. How patriotic! We had a short walk back to our accommodation and everyone turned in for the night.

Reporters for Day 5 of UK Trip:
Denyse Chua, Liew Yuwei and Eunice Liau