And so it begins...

Oxford Snapshots

Yesterday I arrived in England, tired, a bit cranky, but ecstatic. I had planned on updating yesterday, but as I was so tired, it would have been short and completely lacking in wit. I hope this post is sufficiently entertaining enough to make up for my delay :)

The flight left from Atlanta at 5:30 PM ET and landed in London at 7:00 AM (London time...unsure of the abbreviation). The flight was satisfactory. I admit to being spoiled with Qantas on my flights earlier this summer. Delta was not quite up to par. They didn't even give me the moist, warm towelettes in the morning! I was sorely disappointed. The flight passed without event, as did Customs. I'm waiting for some trip where I actually have to convince an agent that he or she wants to allow me into the country. Every customs agent I've met has had others from my trip pass by ahead of me and I get casually stamped in. However, I presume being stopped by a Customs agent holds more appeal in theory than in reality.

We rode a charter bus from London-Gatwick airport to Oxford. The driver, of course, sat on the right and we boarded on the left. I admit, it felt a little like coming home after New Zealand. There have been several moments where I am reminded of that trip and it still brings a smile to my face. Even when the memories fade, I believe I will always feel more comfortable with right-side-driver charter buses being as how most of my charter bus experience has been in New Zealand, and now England.

On the drive, I naively tried to read some in preparation for my classes (which, coincidentally, I should be doing now). I did learn that Virginia Woolf, with her many wonderful qualities, is perhaps not the best read when very jet lagged. I enjoyed the nap immensely.

Once we arrived at the house, which is pictured in my slideshow (link above), I unpacked. I share a room with two girls in the attic. The room is small (which I guess should make it feel like home after a year in a dormitory) and in the attic practically, but it is very cozy and charming.

To avoid sleeping and remaining jet lagged, I went with some friends to look around. The nearby town of Somerville was very nice and convenient. We had meant to explore Oxford city proper, but took a wrong turn out of the house. I bought a hair dryer for 3 pounds 50 pence!! And it works on the square, three-pronged plugs here. :) After getting home, I took a perfect 90-minute nap (one whole REM cycle), took a shower, and went to the orientation meeting where they read the rules to us and made us sign, promising not to smoke in the house, have guests in our rooms, climb the roof, and several other amusing activities. For dinner, most of the group (around 20 people) went to a fantastic Indian restaurant which I cannot recall the name of. The food was delicious and the service, considering the size of the party, was acceptable. The only hitch was that, despite previous assurances, they would not bring out our checks separately. Which is not surprising, but rather annoying. Some people went out and perhaps I should have joined them, especially as it was the first night, but I had no wish to prolong my jet lag and we had a 9 AM departure the next morning.

Friday morning (today!) we met at 9 to walk down to Oxford, which is about a mile down the road (to the left, as we learned yesterday). Helen, the admissions director of the Bodleian Library, received us to tell us all about the very impressive library. Incidentally, the Bodleian library has around 12 million books. It is the first library to have an arrangement with publishing companies to receive the first copy of every book published in the UK (which would be copied by the Library of Congress among others). It also is not a lending library and sometimes takes almost a day to retrieve a book (some of the books are held in deep storage in an old salt mine). It was very awe-inspiring. Finally, I met people who are more obsessed with books than I am! We had to take an oath promising to value the books, not tarnish them in any way, and not to set fire to the library. And then, Helen tells us that the Divinity School beyond a door is where they filmed the hospital in Harry Potter! I took a picture :)

Afterwards, we found a cafe, Cafe Cremme to be precise, and I had a delicious chicken pesto panini. Strongly recommended. After lunch, we met Debbie the tour guide who led us around Oxford and talked (a lot). She was very informative and got us into Exeter College (which was closed off to the public at the time). Exeter College was the home to J.R.R. Tolkein and Phillip Pullman (author of His Dark Materials, which had just wrapped filming there in Oxford on the last installment of the movie adaptation). An hour later, Debbie let us go for free time. I found a T-Mobile and bought a SIM card. Then, we went to Blackwell's!!!

Blackwell's is a rather old, world famous bookstore with miles and miles and miles of shelves filled with all kinds of books. They had Harry Potter (in both British versions!) as well as rare volumes and cheap secondhand books! I could have wandered around for hours and hours. My passion, however, was not entirely shared by my companions who wanted to wander around across the street at the History of Science museum. I vowed to return.

The History of Science museum was fascinating. I saw a very, very old telescope, several astrolabes, and a blackboard used by Einstein. Yes, Einstein. I was floored, literally, standing there fore several minutes on end. Staring at the equation and symbols (pictured in my slideshow) did nothing for me. Einstein, however, was using simplified equations to explain the expanding size of the universe and its resultant age. It was quite an experience.

And now, I have brought you up to present time, which for me is almost four in the afternoon. I think I shall read Virginia Woolf some more, and quite possibly repeat my nap. Tomorrow we go to Stonehenge and Bath!!

This blog is unusually long. Don't worry, I doubt my future blogs will be this long. I felt like giving a step-by-step update here, but I imagine future blogs may include just a thought or revelation. I wanted to record my daily schedule a bit to give a frame of reference. I hope everybody at home will have a wonderful day. Please, if you feel so inclined, leave me a comment. :)