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!