One afternoon, I left St. Michael's Hall with the desire for a cookie and thought I'd pick one up before heading back to the Bodleian. The shop around the corner was sadly out of cookies, but I wasn't giving up. I passed a building where John Wesley had preached, poked my nose into a French bakery on George Street, walked by the Oxford Playhouse and down the crowds of Cornmarket Street and into Starbucks. There, staring at a rather disappointing array of pastries I could have purchased in the U.S., I paused. I was in Oxford. I should really try something new. So I kept on walking and found the Covered Market, a gourmet's paradise on a student budget. Hidden in the back, I discovered Ben's Cookies and the best cookie I had ever eaten in my life.

But that's the CMRS experience for you: once you start looking, you never know what you'll find or where you'll find it. I look forward to returning to Oxford -- and Ben's cookies -- as soon as possible.