Ala Talebian, University of Tehran, Iran: Away in Oxford
Ala Talebian, Student, University of Tehran, Iran
UK Partner placements have started: first day in Oxford
I’m Ala and I come from Iran. Today I am responsible for the blog; therefore you will read about my busy day in Oxford. To start the UK partner placement we (Fellows Heba and Elnzeer, Ancient Egypt and Sudan rep Manuela, photogrpaher Kathleen and I) took the 8:50 train to Oxford, arrived an hour or so later and had a coffee next to the castle while we waited for our rooms to be ready. We climbed up the mound of the castle and from up there we could see the city of Oxford, not exactly the same way we saw London at the Shard but it was nice enough!
Elnzeer, Heba and myself – 2017 ITP Fellows
Our first lunch in Oxford was a nice cheesy sandwich and after that with our full and happy stomachs we headed to the Ashmolean Museum. The Ashmolean is an art and archeology museum of Oxford university and that’s where I will be based for ten days.
The Ashmolean
Liam McNamara (curator for Ancient Egypt and Sudan) welcomed us and showed us the museum. After that Heba (who is a PhD student in Oxford) showed us around and helped us to find a place to go punting!!
Ela punting, Elnzeer and Kathleen relaxing!
I have to say punting is much harder than it seems although Ela and Elnzeer (a bit) were the ones doing it while me and Heba were paddling. After an hour of intensive muscle work out we headed back to our accommodation.
We finished our first day in Oxford with tasty Thai food, where we all got the chance to practice eating with chopsticks… and I’m pretty sure chopsticks are now Elnzeer’s favorite tool to eat with!