I made it to Oxford, England, visiting the brothers here at Blackfriars Hall. I love this community and its great mix of study, prayer and common life. The brothers live together in a charming neogothic shoebox, and while their prayer is a bit more formal than I would care for (they are English, after all), I love the fact that they all show up for it (or mostly, I suppose) and all pitch in to put supper on the table and to do the dishes afterwards. There is something very essentially Dominican here that always challenges me to embrace our life a bit more fully.
My room here is also classic—a bit time-worn, but with a nice chair next to the window to sit and read, a sink to wash up in, a few holy pictures on the walls, and even a fireplace were it winter. Everything a proper scholar would need to keep hold up in, lost over old books.