Corpus Christ: The Body of Christ

Before I go into a photo frenzy, here's an interesting story behind the coat of arms of Corpus Christ College in Oxford. The coat of arms bears three pelicans - that's right, the bird. Why is the pelican the mark of Christ when we all know that it's the cross?

Well Corpus Christi means the 'body of Christ', and most certainly the cross can't represent the Lord's body, can it? But why then the pelican? Well, the story goes like this - Oxford bird lovers observed that pelicans feed their young; at that time, no one knew that pelicans stored food in their mouths to give to their young, so when the academics saw food come out of the pelicans' beaks for their young, they thought that the pelican gnawed its own flesh for its young.

Such sacrificial spirit they thought, and this reminded them of the Lord's love for us. And so now the mark of the pelican is upon Corpus Christi College to remind us of how the Lord Jesus gave us His blood and flesh.

Coat of Arms and College Mascot, Corpus Christi

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As usual, I won't be blogging much so I'll let the photos do the talking. And so I woke up later today to get more rest - I had a hearty breakfast of sultanna croissants today:

Sultanna Croissants

I made my way down to Ben's Cookies at the Covered Market to get a tin of the famous cookies everyone's been telling me about; I got a tin of 8 for £11 (quite a hefty sum for cookies!) and I intend to share it with my coursemates tomorrow:

 

Ben's Cookies at Covered Market

Busy Baker Lady

Cookie Selection

Then I met Benjamin and David, who brought me to Corpus Christi for lunch; it's David's college and today he treated us to lunch! What a nice guy eh? And on the way we stopped by his old college apartment where he used to live when he was an undergraduate 7 years ago (he's a PhD student now):

David's Old Apartment at Corpus Christi

Magpie Lane

Merton College Entrance

Merton College is where all the really smart undergraduates live - apparently only the elite with high 'A' Level scores live here, haha! And then we made our way to the dining hall, much to the snapping delight of Benjamin:

Benjamin in a Photo Frenzy

David and His Cutlery

David was more calm and composed and laid out his food calmly, haha! And he commented on how much the both of us take photos everywhere:

Benjamin (left) and David (right)

We had this pork loin served with brown sauce and zucchini (they call it corgettes or something) for lunch with roasted potatoes, quite a delight:

Roasted Potatoes and Pork Loin with
Corgettes and Brown Sauce

David's Pudding

David had a pudding, which I traded for a banana, haha - it's too rich for me! But after lunch, I took out the cookies and shared it with them:

The Cookies

Cookie Tin

Cookie Monsters!

Peanut Butter Delight

Benjamin's Triple Chocolate Delight

Benjamin chose the richest cookie of them all, the Triple Chocolate Chip Delight! And I got a wet, moist and lovely peanut butter cookie:

Peanut Butter Cookie

We took a stroll around the courtyards, which was lovely; we made our way into the gardens eventually:

Courtyard, Corpus Christi

Garden, Corpus Christi

Autumn Leaves

Autumn Tree

Benjamin the Photographer

We managed to take a group shot (a.k.a. zi pai - 自拍):

Benjamin (left), Yong Kiat (middle) and David (right)

And cool, you can study in the gardens:

Garden Bench

And much of the hour was spent walking through some nice scenery:

Garden, Bush View

A Garden of Christ Church

Aerial View, Garden of Christ Church

Benjamin was in a good mood today:

Clouds Above a Man

And well, the trees are all turning brown and nicely yellow:

Advent of Autumn

And this my friends, is Oxford Cathedral, which is the chapel of Corpus Christi:

Oxford Cathedral, Corpus Christi

The blue skies were really nice, and I took a snapshot of the mascot of the college:

The Pelican, Corpus Christi Mascot

Some random girls were hanging around the pillar:

Random Girls

And the tour ended when David went to check his mailbox:

David and His Mail

Well, that's all for today folks! Toodles!