Journey 3: Freedom - Life in Scotland

This Wednesday (or Thursday, depending on how you mark it), I will have been abroad for 4 weeks, basically a whole month. In that time, I've learned my way around Oxford, I've traveled to Bath and Stonehenge, I've been to London and mastered the underground, and now I've been out of England (slightly) and experienced Scotland. Yes, technically it's all the same country (though next year that could all change!), but the cultures are so drastically different. Scotland is like the Texas (or the South) of the UK, even though ironically it is the northern segment. Everyone was just incredibly friendly and hospitable. But more on that later. First, we had to get there.

There were originally 8 of us going, but we had bought plane tickets separately, and unfortunately could not all fit on one flight. So we had split into two groups: 3 flying out of Stansted and 5 flying out of Luton. Both flights were scheduled to leave around the same time, so we would all arrive in Edinburgh together. However, Stansted is about twice the distance from Oxford as Luton, so the girls going to Stansted had to catch the 1 a.m. bus to get to the airport on time, while those of us going to Luton could take the 4:30 a.m. bus. Sadly, Kimberly, one of our group members, got sick the night before we were supposed to leave and ended up not coming with us. Other than that, though, everything went without a hitch. We got to the Luton airport and on the flight with no problem. We landed in Edinburgh right on time...and then found out the flight out of Stansted had been delayed and was just then leaving. Not a huge deal. We all met up when the plane landed and headed to our hostel, not a problem. We just felt bad that in terms of travel time, it had taken the three of them 12 hours to get to Edinburgh, the first to leave and the last to arrive. But things happen.

Our first impression of Scotland greatly lived up to its stereotype. As soon as we stepped into town, the first thing we heard was bagpipes playing. We walked through a whole mob of men wearing kilts and saw many more throughout the day. It turns out there was a big rugby match going on that weekend, so all the men were showing off their pride...but we still like to think it's a regular occurrence.

By the time we left the airport, everyone was pretty hungry, so we went in search of a nice place to have lunch. We settled on a place called The Filling Station, which serves traditional American food. How's that for a first meal in Scotland? I know you're shaking your head, but really, it was an experience in and of itself to see how they view us. So hold off on judgment! The food was really good, but it was pretty obviously NOT American because we still didn't get free refills.

Then we went in search of our hostel, but it was not hard to find at all. You just look for the big castle, then look to the side and there's the hostel. It was awesome. The hostel itself was very nice. We had a room to ourselves, it was in a nice area, and the staff was so nice. Incredibly enough, on our way over, Ethan had talked about going to see the William Wallace field (located in Falkirk), but as someone who had never seen Braveheart, that didn't really mean much to me. And wouldn't you know it, they had a movie night Thursday at the hostel, and the movie they were showing was...Braveheart! So after having some quality conversation as a group over tea and coffee, we spent our first night at the hostel watching Braveheart. It's still a little unreal to me to be able to say that I saw Braveheart for the first time while I was actually IN Scotland. Who am I kidding? Just the fact that I can say I've BEEN to Scotland is unreal to me...

Our first full day in Edinburgh, we toured the castle. It was huge! We stayed there for two or three hours, and I still don't think I saw everything. We had lunch at an Italian place before doing some shopping around town and more walking. At the restaurant, they had a dessert called Dolce Elisa, which was some sort of waffle with banana and chocolate and nuts. It sounded delicious, but I was so full. I did, however, try Irn Bru, a Scottish fizzy drink that I think is similar to our cream soda. I liked it.

We did a lot of sight-seeing that day, including walking to Calton Hill, a park-monument type place. Again, the views of the city were incredible. It was awesome to see snow-covered mountains peek up over the buildings of the city. That night we went to The Captain's Bar to hear some live, traditional Scottish music. Most of our group agrees that that was one of the best parts of the trip. The band was really good, and it turns out one of the members is from California. He chatted with us a bit before we left since he heard our accents. We, Americans, are just everywhere.

Saturday, we took a 12 hour bus tour up to the Highlands and then back down. We toured the castle ruins of Urquhart and had a 30-minute boat ride on Loch Ness. We didn't see Nessie, and I tried to tell them that that's because she was actually the "motor" for the boat...but nobody believed me. The coolest part of the trip for me was while we were at Urquhart, there was a bagpiper playing Scottish music and one of the songs she played was the tune of my high school's song! It was a surreal moment to be standing on the grounds of a castle, dating back to potentially the 500s, singing, "Hail to the Highlanders, The Woodlands' Highlanders!"

We made several stops along the way, some for picture-taking and some for food. Here's where you can stop judging us by our choice of cuisine. We all tried haggis at least once. Some had it for lunch, and we all split a plate that night for dinner. It wasn't disgusting like I was expecting it to be. It didn't really look very appetizing, but it was just very peppery. It tasted like ground meat that had been coated in pepper. I also had bangers and mash, which in my opinion was better than the haggis. But there you go, we all at least tried some traditional Scottish food.

The next morning we had to catch our flight back to London. Luckily, going back we were all on the same flight, so that made it easy. We had a minor hiccup before we left the hostel. Without going into detail, let's just say that the previous night, we were all pretty exhausted and our communication skills were not at their best. We are all adults and we're not here to police each other, but we had some things happen that, if they ever happen again, need to be better communicated and more precautions need to be taken. But everything was fine, and getting back was not nearly as eventful.

I feel very accomplished at how well this trip went. Our group got along so well, especially because our personalities all click so well and we have a lot of similar interests. We still need to sit down and plan it, but I'm feeling really good about going to Italy with most, if not all, of these same people in another 4 weeks or so.

Sometimes I forget that this is a study abroad trip. It's easy to see it as an extended holiday, but that's all part of the challenge. We have so much freedom to do as we see fit throughout the week and on breaks. We are so much less restricted here than we would be had we still been on campus. As cliché as it is (and I'm embarrassed as an English major to be using this phrase instead of coming up with something witty on my own), with great power comes great responsibility. I have all these freedom, but I have to make sure I'm taking care of my responsibilities as a student as well. It's all about balance!

Again, thanks for taking this journey with me! If you want to see pictures from Scotland, check out Facebook. I just didn't get around to posting any here...

Journey 2: London and the Boroughs

Well it wasn't a foggy day in London town, but I must admit that the weather wasn't the greatest. Our first experience walking around was wet. Just, really wet. Our task while in London was to explore an assigned borough in groups of 5 or 6 people and be anthropologists for a day. My group went to Brixton, an area with a high Jamaican population. Brixton is probably most known for its market, which is where we spent a majority of our time while there. But another interesting thing that will pop up if you Google “Brixton” is that they have created their own currency, aptly named the Brixton Pound. We never actually got to see one in person, though. 

A sign for the market, as well as a pretty good representation of the type of area we were in.

After we were done, our group split up. A few of us went to the British Library, which I didn't know (and my ignorance may be showing here) was really more of a museum. We walked around for a while and saw some pretty neat things. I took a few illegal pictures before the "No Photography" sign was pointed out to me. There's also something magical about listening to the Beatles in the British Library, in London, while on Study Abroad. Maybe that's just me...

Morgan and I were meeting up with some other girls later that day to ride the Eye, but to kill a bit of time, we went to the Sherlock Holmes museum on Baker Street. We spent close to 45 minutes or an hour in the gift shop without actually going upstairs to the museum. But we each saved £6 and still had a good time looking at all the cool souvenirs. The London Eye was neat, especially at night. Being able to see the city from that view was pretty amazing. Afterwards we were all tired and hungry, so we warmed up over dinner, ate a good (if a bit pricey) meal, then hopped on the train and went back to Oxford.

The policeman outside the museum!

Our view of Big Ben and Westminster from the Eye

Overall, it was a great first trip to London. There were lots of things we didn't get to see, but we have at least two more trips there before the end of the semester, so we have some time.

Perspective

So I know I posted a blog earlier today, but I wanted to share some things that have happened that have caused me to think about my views. Like I said, I want to be able to keep you updated with what I’ve been doing, but I also would like to share how I’m being challenged mentally, emotionally, and spiritually as well, if you’re up for it!

Just a word of warning, though, this is a long post, so feel free to read as much or as little as you want/can.

Sunday I went to Latin Mass at St. Aloysius, which was my first time to attend a Catholic service. It was definitely an experience. The format was not something I was used to, but it wasn't that hard to follow along with everyone around you. I’m not sure it would be something I could do every Sunday, but it was a sensory experience for sure: the repetition of phrases, the continuous standing, sitting, and kneeling, the overwhelming scent of incense. It all added to the introspective nature of the service. This is partly due to the fact that as a non-Latin speaker, I didn't understand 75% of what was said, so I spent a lot of time in personal reflection and prayer anyway. But I think that’s something everyone needs from time to time.

It was very personal in terms of reflection, but rather impersonal in terms of the interaction you have with the people around you (which is basically nonexistent). The more I think about it, the more I realize that that was how I felt at St. Aldate’s as well, but it was just an overall different atmosphere. There was a very set structure for the order of worship, what the clergy did and said and the congregation’s responses. Non-Catholic churches have an order of worship as well, coupled with routines, but I feel like the Catholic liturgy is a lot more rigid than the order of worship at my Baptist church back home. However, something that my friend Ethan said helped change my attitude towards that. He commented on how cool he thinks it is to be able to say things that have been said for thousands of years and feel that sense of connection to a long line of past generations through worship, by speaking those same words. Again, I don’t think it’s something I could appreciate every Sunday, but it does give it a new feel for me. Their prayers were also very world-aware, like at St. Aldate’s. I just love the global prayers they have here. Not that we don’t in the States, but it seems a lot more prominent here.

Not only am I learning to respect and appreciate the ideas and traditions of denominations other than my own in Christianity, but the Cross and Crescent class that I’m in is also working on shifting my attitudes towards other religions, specifically Islam. Dan McVey has such an appreciation and respect for the Islamic community and is trying to share that with us. Don’t hear me say he’s trying to convert us because he is not a Muslim himself. But we are learning about Islam and Muhammad from a non-negatively biased source, and it is fascinating. I am being stretched (in a good way) to consider the beliefs of others and how to deal with that in my own faith and translating that into my relationships with others. I have had Muslim friends in the past, but we never really talked about religion. I feel like I could have a more informed discussion with them now, which is always something I value.

Yesterday was probably my favourite day of the semester so far, though. Dan and his wife, Brenda, are taking French with the 6 of us students, but they missed class on Friday because of a prayer meeting they went to. So to make up for it, they had us over for dinner last night, which I thought was really sweet. I hadn't had a chance to talk much with Dan and Brenda so it was good to get to know them on a more personal level. They are both very sweet people, and I’m looking forward to getting to know them even more over the semester. Our discussion was really easy, but more personal than I’m used to with faculty. I love that about the community we have here. We aren't restricted to traditional boundaries when you’re living with the same people. And while that can be a challenge in and of itself, it is also incredibly satisfying to delve deeper into getting to know people.

A really great example was what happened right after dinner. I went to Kimberly’s room to chat, and we must have talked for at least three hours. She is such a sweet woman, and I am so glad she’s on this trip with us. I don’t think it’s weird or uncomfortable at all having a woman in her 40’s here with us. There may be others here who feel differently, but Kimberly has been such a joy to get to know. Our personalities are very compatible, she’s so nice, and we have a lot of the same travel interests. Sitting in her room tonight, just sharing our thoughts about the semester so far and life in general, was such a wonderful experience. I feel like I've gotten to know her so much more and I just like her all the more for it. Plus, being in different stages of life but experiencing a lot of the same thing brings new perspectives to the table that we are able to share with each other. It’s pretty crazy how similar those perspectives are, though.

I think I mentioned that there is a small group that I've gotten to know really well so far as well. And seriously, if I don’t get to travel with any other people but them, I will leave at the end of this semester completely content, without regret. Where I travel is so much less important than who I travel with. And so far, my travel group has been very successful and fun all around. Traveling in groups can be a challenge because the more variables there are, the more the possibility for dissent arises. Yet that’s just another challenge that we’re all learning to overcome. Compromise is all a part of growing up and learning how to love the people you’re with, sometimes over yourself.

We haven’t even been here quite two weeks and I've already experienced more emotionally these past 12 days than I did all last semester. I've gone from feeling socially inferior and unwanted to finding that group with whom I can just be myself and not worry about coming across as “cool”, from freaking out about being in a foreign country without my normal familial support to learning how to navigate transportation to different cities and planning without going completely mental. I’m already growing so much, but I've got to give credit where credit is due. From a young age, my mom taught me a lot of the essentials of life (basic cooking, laundry, planning for the unexpected), basically teaching me to be self-sufficient. I’m feeling very proud now that I actually get to put that into practice.

Sometimes I forget or brush it aside, but so much credit also goes to God, Who watches out for me, even when I’m not paying Him attention. Sometimes (and really, if I’m being honest, most of the time) I don’t have a servant’s heart, but that’s why I’m loving these worship services I've attended. They’re providing me that much needed time to reflect on all that He has done (and is continuing to do) for me. It’s hard not to love life right now, and it’s only Week 2…

Thanks for reading (if you made it all the way through), and I’m really excited to continue to share my journey with all who want to take part. I hope to be able to bless someone or simply be an encouragement. Again, feel free to comment or start a conversation. I’d love to have a dialogue with any who are interested!

Journey 1: Bath and Stonehenge

At the train station, getting to see
the sun rise (our first time to see the sun since we've
arrived in England)

This weekend was such a blast. I went with a small group out of Oxford to Bath. It was our first trip out of the city and our first experience with the train station. For the most part, it's really simple and we didn't have any problems. The only word of note I have is the way they list the trains: you have to know the final destination of the train you need to get on, not just your own stop because they don’t list the individual stops of each train. We had to ask around to find our right trains to get out to Bath, but coming back we were pros.

You can see the steam rising from the baths

We left the house at about 8 a.m. and walked to the train station, took the 8:37 train and arrived in Bath around 10 a.m. Our first mission was to find where the tour bus taking us to Stonehenge later that day was going to be and then we headed to the Roman Baths. That was a really neat place to see. (I’ll put a couple pictures here on my blog, but most of them will be on Facebook, so feel free to check that out if you feel so inclined.) Touring around was interesting. We split up and walked around more or less individually, which is sometimes the best thing for me. I like to be on my own sometimes. The really cool thing, in my opinion, was that Bill Bryson did some of the audio commentary. (For those who don’t know Bill, he’s an author who has lived in England for 20 years, but moved back to the States a while back. He’s written several books, one of which I started before heading to Oxford. He has quite the sense of humor and a really easy writing style.) Anyway, so for personal reasons, that was really exciting. We all got to have a sample of the Bath water to drink, and I’ll just say that I’m glad I did because it wasn't as terrible as I had been told it was. It has a high mineral content and it just tasted strongly of iron. I didn't feel the need to spit it out though…

This is supposedly where they
filmed the scene in Les Mis where
Javier jumps off the bridge.
We thought about reenacting it,
but decided against it.

At noon, we went to the Abbey courtyard to eat the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches we had packed. While we were there, a guy came and started playing classical guitar. It was really soothing, and I could’ve stayed there all afternoon. But we had a bus to catch.

Our view from the bus

We were able to get closer
than I though we would

The 6 of us were the only ones of our group that were able to go to Stonehenge that day, which for me made the trip that much more special. The tour we took to Stonehenge was well worth the money we spent, and the bus ride was excellent. We saw Bath from atop a hill and drove by some gorgeous countryside. I saw the Chalk Horse, which was neat. Stonehenge itself was fun. I had been told it was kind of lame in person, but we all had a great time walking around. I took so many pictures from different angles… The only downside was that it was super windy, so I didn’t listen to most of the audio tour just because I didn’t want to hold it up to my ear. But the coolest thing was that in the last segment, they mentioned the TARDIS. (No, it didn’t have any connection to Doctor Who as far as I know, but it was a pleasant surprise!)

Photographic evidence that
I was there!

When we got back to Bath, we were all exhausted so we didn't stay much longer. We went back to the train station and headed back to Oxford. A rugby match had just ended on our way back to the house though, so the train was pretty crowded. All around a really great first travel experience. I’m ready for London this Friday.

The Week That Felt Like a Month

This has been one of the longest weeks of my life. As of Thursday, we have been here for one week. Yet I feel like we've been here so much longer than that. But despite all of that, I survived my first week of classes! I love them all so far. It’s weird only having one or two classes a day since I’m used to having more like four a day. A neat component of the course load of Study Abroad, though, is that some of the work we have to do involves outside traveling. This next Friday (1 Feb), our INTS class (which is everyone in the group, all 34 of us) is going to London for the day, and while we’re there, we’ve been split into groups to each investigate a specific borough of London. How incredible is that? My group got Brixton, so I’m excited to do research and explore our borough! Then in late March/early April, our group is going on a week-long trip to France to do some work as well as explore. I absolutely love being here!

So you might be interested to know what a typical week will look like for me, with my classes and exploring the town (and if you’re not, well feel free to skip down to the next paragraph, but I’m not sure why you’d be reading my blog if you weren’t interested…). On Mondays I have the Cross and Crescent (a Bible Missions class focusing on the relationship between Christianity and Islam, a really fascinating class so far) at 10 am. Tuesdays I have INTS (International Studies: Intro to Great Britain) at 10:30 am and French at 2 pm. INTS is good so far, but we haven’t gotten into a whole lot yet. However, this next week will be leading us into our London trip, so I’m sure Jacque will have lots of interesting things to tell us. I have English (Major British Writers II) and the Cross and Crescent on Wednesdays, but this is my longest day, in terms of being in class. Since we only have English once a week, it’s a 3-hour long course. I was really excited about taking it (and still am, especially since it’s our only class taught by a British professor), but it’s going to be a lot of poetry, apparently, and, well, I’m not a huge poetry fan… Thursdays I just have INTS at 11:30 am, which is great because I get the whole house to myself in the mornings while everyone else is taking Core. It’s marvelous. Unfortunately though, since I’m taking French, I do have class on Fridays at 2 pm while everyone else has the day off. There are 6 of us in the class, which is great because I really like all of them. And being a more introverted person, I prefer smaller class sizes in general. But it is a bit depressing to have to head to class while others are headed out of the city. However, I’m enjoying French. I love language classes, even if French is so complicated. But seriously, pronunciation in French makes no sense. Absolutely no sense. I am also taking two online courses (Message of the Old Testament and Walking for Fitness), but I don’t think either of them will be really intense.

When I’m not in class, my friends and I are either playing games (Bananagrams is a popular choice), or doing homework, or walking around Oxford. It’s been pretty cold outside though, so we've mainly wanted to stay inside, but we force ourselves to go out and about at least once a day, sometimes to Tesco (the local grocery store) or to get a sandwich or something. Oxford is just a gorgeous city. The architecture is magnificent. I personally just love to walk and look around. It snowed most of the early part of this week, but it’s been melting these past couple of days. I’m ready for it to warm up at least a little bit. Or at least just have the clouds dissipate a little so I know the sun is at least still in the sky. I've barely seen it since getting off the plane…

Natali and I made a snowman on our way back to the house one night. We wanted to add arms, but the twigs were too soggy...

This is a church just a street over from our house. I pass by it almost every day and I think it's the church we can see from our kitchen window. I think it's beautiful.

My favourite part of this week though was definitely Thursday night. A group of us went to Student Night at St. Aldates, an Anglican church here in Oxford. They had a really nice dinner at 7 pm, and then we went into a time of worship with a short message/sermon in the middle. It was a freeing time of worship for me. The songs were wonderful and well played. I knew most of them, which always gives me a sort of sense of comfort. I think it’s natural to look for the familiar in the new. Even in a room full of roughly 100 people, it was a very personal type of worship. The lead guitarist/singer at one point simply stopped singing and just played, but as he did so, everyone else kept singing. Some sang the same song, others did their own thing. I just closed my eyes and listened to the multitude of voices all harmonizing around me. None of the individual voices were distinct to me; it was all just a hum of music in my ears. But the incredible thing, in my opinion, is that God heard every one of the songs they sang. God hears the cry of our hearts, and it doesn’t matter if we’re English or American or any other nationality. We are all united by our Creator, and I don’t know about you, but that thought always brings a smile to my face.

Most people think (and this is what I was always taught) that England (and Europe on a broader scale) is a rather God-less place. They don’t take religion or Christianity as seriously as Americans, or that it’s just not as big a part of their culture as it is in the States. Yet, though parts of that are fundamentally true, there are so many churches here (such as St. Aldates) with thriving evangelical programs to spread the Word. There’s a big revival movement growing, and I’m excited to see it happening.

I have also been participating in Morning Prayer with a few people in House 10. Kelli, a sort of RA here, is going through the Book of Common Prayer in the morning and invited any of us who wanted to join her. I did it most of this week, and at first it was a little weird for me. Sometimes reciting things as a group seems cultish to me, but after giving it a week, it’s been a nice way to start off my day. I’ve adjusted my attitude towards it as well. I feel more like it reinforces a sense of community among our small group, which is something I think everyone needs.

Speaking of community, though I haven’t connected with everyone in the group, there is a number of people here I’ve been consistently spending time with and I am so blessed to know them. I’ve grown so much closer already to my friends I came with as well as getting to know some pretty awesome people I didn’t know as well beforehand. It’ll be interesting to see group dynamics once we start traveling, but I think I have a pretty good core group right now that have similar interests. I know I keep saying this, but it’s just because it’s so true: this is going to be a great semester!

Well, I’m off to Bath and Stonehenge in the morning with Natali, Morgan, Laura, Ethan, and Josh (and several others as well, but the six of us are for sure traveling together) and I’m absolutely stoked! We bought our tickets on Thursday at the train station. I feel like such an adult. I’ll let you all know how it goes after we get back tomorrow night, and I’ll hopefully have some pictures to share. For now, I should get to bed. Got to get up early in the morning. Again, thanks for reading!

'Snow' Day Like Today

There is nothing quite like waking up after your first real sleep in two days, walking into your kitchen, and finding a view like this. 

Snow outside our kitchen window

I am a born and raised Texas girl, and yes, I realise there are some places in Texas that get snow. But honestly, nothing like this. It’s been snowing since Friday, and despite what you (and I) think, this is not a usual occurrence here. All the locals are talking about it. It’s not supposed to snow for much longer, so I’m definitely enjoying it as much as I can.

Today I went out for a walk by myself around town. It was my first time to go out alone, and it was rather enjoyable. I didn’t do much, except for a couple errands I had to run. I just rambled for a couple hours as it snowed. I went out pretty soon after taking a shower (and for those who don’t know, I rarely, if ever, blow dry my hair). Obviously not the smartest thing to walk around in the (literally) freezing cold with wet hair, but the falling snow just got my hair even more wet, so it’s not like it mattered. Plus, I’ve mastered this whole layering thing. I wore a long sleeve shirt with my sweater and my raincoat, along with my Wellies and gloves. To be honest, I actually was a bit uncomfortably warm, if you believe it!

I also went to Port Meadow with a few friends, the open fields of pure white just stunning. There’s still more of it to explore, but I’m excited to see it after all the snow has melted away as well. It’s apparently one of the prettiest parks in the area.

Someone had just left this in the middle of the field!

These past few days have been very relaxing. Everyone has just been orienting themselves with the city. It’s pretty easy to navigate, and I already have certain routes memorized. I’ve been to several pubs, but I’m putting the brakes on that for now. It’s just too expensive and not as healthy to be eating out as much. I need to plan out my meals, but I’m excited to cook for myself!

One of my favourite places we visited these past few days was Blackwell Bookstore. I am such a bookworm (and with not being able to stream video in the house, I’m sure I’ll be reading a lot when I’m not traveling, working on homework, and hanging out with people), but that’s not the only reason this place is fantastic. This store has not one, not two, but FIVE floors. Yes, five whole floors. The ground floor has most of the books I’m interested in, but there’s a basement that in and of itself has several small staircases leading to different levels, and then three more floors above the ground floor. I didn’t even get to see it all when I was there, and, kind of embarrassingly, I got lost… Not lost lost. I just ended up in a room that didn’t connect to the main part of the building, so I had to do a lot of backtracking. It was fine. I’m sure I’ll be paying the shop another visit in the coming weeks.

Another fun thing I hope to experience while here is something Natali, Morgan, and I are trying to do: get a milk man. It would be so unreal to have glass bottles of milk delivered to our front doorstep every week. I’m not sure we even still have milk men in the States. However, apparently someone else has already signed up House 9 for the delivery route. We just don’t know who… It’s a mystery we need to solve. And soon. Also, the three of us will hopefully be starting a “Mystery Solving” blog, recording all the mysteries around town and in our house that we solve. We just need to find some good mysteries first…

Tomorrow we start classes. I’m feeling really pumped. I just want to have a steady schedule and get going with everything. This is already a great semester, and I can’t wait for it to get even better!

Missing you all!

Stick the Landing

Today has been an extremely long day. I woke up at basically 6 a.m. on Wednesday morning and have yet to go to sleep officially. I’ve had a few short, kind of restful naps, but I will be so happy to lay down and sleep on an actual bed. From bus rides, to airports, to surveying our new surroundings, it’s just been one thing constant thing after another. Fortunately I haven’t felt very tired because, really, there’s been no time to be tired.

The flight was relatively uneventful. I didn’t sit by any ACU people, but I sat by a very nice British-Indian man who I chatted with when I wasn’t trying to squeeze in a few moments of shut eye. Plus, they served us dinner and breakfast, and I must say that British Airways treats their customers right. I was impressed by the food. Once we landed, it was pretty smooth sailing. Getting through passport check was simple, though it did take quite a while for the bus to Oxford to come pick us up. But nothing leads to bonding more than freezing in -5ᵒ weather!

Our bus driver, David, was very friendly and funny. I think my favourite thing he said was, “We had a beautiful sunrise this morning, which probably means it’ll chuck down raining or snowing later on today…” It’s cool when things you always hear about certain people actually turn out to be true!

House 10: the cool arch!

It's pretty, but boringly rectangular

For those who don’t know, ACU owns two houses in Oxford: house 9 and 10. Both have their pros and cons. I (some would say ‘fortunately’) am in house 9, the house with the pretty blue door. Honestly, though, while it is cool that the door is blue, I think house 10 has a cooler door. I have a thing for arches though.

I am on the top (3^rd) floor. Our room view is not anything spectacular since it simply faces the construction going on in our backyard, our kitchen view is gorgeous. As my roommate has already gone to bed, I am actually sitting in our kitchen by the window as I write this. In terms of architecture, it’s probably not the most interesting house, but I think the house across the street is adorable!

Our kitchen view!

We were discouraged from napping at all during the day. It would only make any jet lag we were experiencing that much harder to overcome. In an attempt to prevent this, we were shown around the city of Oxford this afternoon. There are a lot of really neat areas just a few streets from our houses, and City Centre is only about a mile and a half away, a really easy walk. We had our first sandwiches from On the Hoof today, though I don’t believe any of them were the Cole Bennett variety so that’s still on my list. As we toured the city, we passed by the Eagle and Child pub, famous for hosting J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis back in the day. The coolest thing though was when it started snowing as we walked around. It didn’t “chuck down” as David predicted, but a very light drizzle made the walk gorgeous. My friends, Natali, Morgan, Laura, and I went grocery shopping today. I’m still getting used to using the credits cards with chips that you don’t swipe, but I’m learning.

Along with learning how to navigate around town, I've almost met just about everyone studying abroad with me and know most of their names. They seem like a good group of people, but it’s definitely going to take some getting used to being around the same 34 people every day. It’ll be a good growing experience.

We have class orientation tomorrow (I believe we officially start classes on Monday), and I am ready to actually have things to do. I think having something productive to do will also help this place feel more like a temporary home, instead of vacation. Plus, it will help me to get to know people better.

For now, I’m going to crash. Cheers for now!

Of course I got in

P.S. I saw several phone boxes while wandering around! Still looking for that police box though…