Shakespeare, talks about Madison and Jefferson make for a full trip

Another update from Rutgers student Denise Letendre:

The past few days have been busy as usual but wonderful!  

Tuesday after classes we drove to Stratford Upon Avon to see Julius Caesar at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.  I'm not much of a Shakespeare person, but I ended up really enjoying it! The acting was so good that I understood what was going on even when I wasn't sure what was being said.  The theatre and scenery were also pretty neat.  Unfortunately, our bus broke down on the way to pick us up after the play so one arrived about an hour late.  We found a way to entertain ourselves though by playing camp games.  

Last night we went to the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford for a performance by the Oxford Philomusica.  The performance featured a trumpet player who was fairly well know and extremely talented.  The theatre itself is also just beautiful!  After the concert, a few of us met up with a fellow Rutgers student some of us know that is also studying at Oxford though an unaffiliated program.  It was great to see a friendly face overseas!  

Today, we attended a workshop about constitutions sponsored by The Foundation for Law, Justice, and Society.  The workshop featured two talks given of Madison and Jefferson given by American professors and a roundtable discussion that included the professors present for our program as well as other experts.  It was interesting to hear what experts had to say about such revered historical figures in American history.  

After lunch, we went back to our classroom and had our own debate/discussion about Madison and Jefferson.  The discussion really helped solidify the concepts the speakers from the workshop discussed. Tomorrow is our last full day here so we are going to enjoy it as much as we can! 

Front-row seats at Wimbledon for 8 pounds

An update from Denise Letendre:

The past few days have been absolutely crazy!

Friday we went to the High Courts as a group and then I went and saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, The National Art Museum, and Westminster Cathedral. Saturday we went to Blenheim Palace and then celebrated the 4th in Oxford.

Yesterday's experience tops it all though. Cat and I decided we were going to try to go see the Wimbledon Championships. They were selling grounds tickets for 8 pounds which let you set on Henman Hill and watch from a screen. So we traveled to London, took a tube to Wimbledon, and stood in the queue for about 45 minutes waiting for grounds tickets.

Once we got in, I had to use the restroom so we asked where one was and we were directed to center court. After using the bathroom, we decided to sneak a peak at center court. Since it was hours before the game started, we were allowed in and some guards took our picture.

Some former players were signing autographs down at the court's edge so we decided to go down there. After that we took a seat in the front row just to soak in the atmosphere. We thought we would sit there until someone told us to move or claimed the seats we sat in...that didn't happen until during the 4th set of the match! All of the seats around us (and throughout the entire stadium) filled up except for ours and we were never asked for tickets!

We got to sit in the front row of the Men's Final at Wimbledon for 8 pounds! It was surreal! Eventually, someone did come and we had to high tail it down the row and out of the stadium but it was spectacular while it lasted and for sure an experience I will never forget! I checked the BBC news website this morning and there is a photo of Roger Federer with me in the background which is absolutely crazy!

Exploring Oxford from botanical gardens to a dining hall

Another post from Denise Letendre:

The past few days have been exhausting but fun! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to sleep very well because Oxford is going through a heat wave right now so our rooms are extra hot. Also, my room faces the East so when the sun rises at 4:45 every morning it shines in my room. On top of all of that, birds congregate on a field directly outside my room and instead of chirping, they make this loud squawking noise early in the morning! Luckily, I have had time to take naps during my lunch break.

Yesterday Professor Lisa Miller (from Rutgers) gave one of the lectures and I have to say it was the best one yet (not that I'm at all biased)! We had a debate on counter-discrimination claims and eminent domain.

After class, Cat, Vanessa, and I went to the Botanical Gardens. They were a little bit of a disappointment because there weren't that many flowers but I think this heat wave may have killed some of them. Then we went back to Christ Church College to take more pictures and we walked along a path that ran along the river and around the whole campus. It was beautiful!

On our way to Christ Church, we saw someone with a Big East tennis shirt on so we decided to ask him where he went to school. It turns out he goes to Georgetown and is from New Jersey! What a small world!

For dinner, the Rutgers crew went to Noodle Nation which was a pretty good Chinese restaurant and then came back and tried to read a bit.

Today, on my way to the pool, St. Magdalen's College was open. Every other time I have walked by it has been closed to the public so I was excited to see it open! I decided to take a look around. I actually got to go into the buildings and saw the dining room. Let's just say it's quite different from Brower! I looked like an old fashioned library.

I'm about ready to go to dinner now. We are planning on getting Indian food and then it's off to London bright and early tomorrow to visit the high court!

Pinch me, I'm at Oxford

From Vanessa Vander Wilt, a political science major and upcoming senior at Rutgers:

Killing time for breakfast on the third morning in Oxford, a song called "Pinch Me" started playing randomly on my iTunes. This is appropriate for a lot of reasons but mainly because I'm still in disbelief that I am here in Oxford-- a totally great city and incredible university-- with peers who impress me constantly while we enjoy every moment.

The professors we've been spending our classes with are, as I expected, in a league of their own, successfully navigating us through discussions on whether there is a prima facie obligation to obey the law, as well as things like the rule of recognition and judicial independence.

When my fellow students and our professors aren't blowing my mind, we get to explore Oxford which, for the record, I recommend to anyone who ever has the opportunity. It might actually be cooler than Harry Potter's Hogwarts (which was filmed here, at least in part). The colleges are gorgeous and I can't wait to see more of them. Maybe this afternoon.

Read all about the Rutgers' trip to Oxford University

From left, students Sandeep Chhabra, Ben West, Denise Letrendre, Associate Professor Lisa L. Miller, student Sujata Rajpurohit, and Rutgers alumnus John W. Adams.

John W. Adams worked for two decades as president of an investment firm, but always harbored scholarly interests beyond finance.

One subject that he finds particularly compelling is the role of law in society. “Law has really been my window to look at the world and to understand how it works,” the 1965 Rutgers College graduate said.

Now Adams, having left finance for academia, is providing a group of Rutgers undergraduates with an unusual opportunity to share the view from that window.

On June 28, six students majoring in political science flew to England for an intensive, two-week fellowship at the University of Oxford that will bring them face to face with leading scholars and law faculty while exposing them to topics ranging from the workings of the British legal system, to the role of international courts, to crime and criminology.

The fellowship is being underwritten by the Foundation for Law, Justice and Society, an Oxford-affiliated group founded by Adams after he left the investment firm in 2004.

Read all about the trip in a recent Rutgers Focus article.

Check back with this blog for more updates.

A trip to the pool allows student to explore Oxford

From Denise Letendre, a political science major and upcoming Rutgers senior:

Yesterday I went on an interesting adventure through Oxford. I am on the varsity swimming team at Rutgers and need to stay in shape while I am here so I contacted the Oxford swim team to find out about pool availibility. I was told I could get a 10 day swim pass so yesterday I set off after class to find the pool. It ended up being about a 20 minute walk.

Like Rutgers, the city of Oxford is intermixed with the different colleges that make up the university so along with seeing other colleges on my walk I also got to see the town of Oxford. I noticed a lot of bikes zooming by me. Most people on bikes were dressed in work attire so I'm assuming they ride their bikes to work and back. After walking down the wrong path a few times, I eventually found the pool. After a refreshing but a bit confusing swim (I had to swim clockwise in my lane, while in the U.S. we swim counterclockwise or as they say here anticlockwise), I changed and set out on my way back home.

Unfortunately, as I got to the door, I noticed the torrential downpour that was occurring outside. Even though it was sunny, the rain was really coming down and since I didn't have an umbrella, I got a snack and waited it out. I finally got fed up and started walking back in the rain. Luckily, it stopped moments after I stepped out! The rest of the walk was rather muggy but I'll take that any day over rain!