Welcome to Oxford

Hello all!

Well, I've finally made it to Oxford. The past 72 hours have all been a surreal blur. I'll try to recall the highlights for you as best I can:

The flight from Philly to London was surprisingly smooth. All five of us (Mike who sat next to me on the plane, Torey, Kathryn, and Clair) were very impressed by the service. They even offered us complementary wine with dinner! (Not very good, but very free, which is always good!) Getting through customs was a bit difficult. I actually got held up there for a bit. They kept asking me questions regarding what I planned to do in London, and the immigration officer was obviously frustrated that I didn't have more specific answers. He asked to see my acceptance letter to Oxford, and almost didn't let me pass! Thankfully I was let through after a few minutes, but it was the scariest moment of my trip! (The British have a very high unemployment rate right now, and are very suspicious of foreigners coming in and trying to take jobs away from Britons. Anyone coming from America is especially suspect.)

We landed in Heathrow around 6am London time, took an hour long bus to Gloucester Green, walked to the Porter's Lodge at Hertford college (with all our luggage), picked up our arrival packets, and finally took a cab to our flats. It was a very long first morning, which I spent the rest of unpacking and meeting my flatmates  - all eight of them! A few of us CUA students met up downtown to buy toiletries and things (we decided not to sleep, to get used to the jetlag quicker) and then we met our advisor Tanith downtown for a walking tour of Oxford. Afterwords she took us to a traditional British pub called "The King's Arms" for dinner. Naturally, I ordered a steak pie and a cider.

Yesterday we had our program orientation. We spent the whole day in St Catherine's College with all of the OPUS students (there are about 60 of us total). We went over key dates, clubs/societies we should join, etc. At one point, we had a guest lecturer come in to give us a sample of what an Oxford seminar was like. The lecturer was Dr. Martin Holmes, a research fellow at Oxford. He was a very quirky old man, who gave the most hilarious lecture on the royal family. I found out later  that he is going to be my tutor for my group tutorial in British politics! That afternoon we "dined in hall" and had lunch in St Catz' JCR (their dining hall). The food was actually pretty decent, so I'm hopeful! When Orientation was over, we walked around Oxford for a bit and headed over to Jesus College to see that side of town and meet our friends from CUA who were living there. We spent the whole night reviewing what we had learned that day and revelling in the fact that we've finally made it here to Oxford after all these months of dreaming about it.

Oxford is absolutely beautiful. And HUGE! The city of Oxford is based around the University. (Well, there technically isn't an "Oxford University" per say - the town and the University are essentially one in the same. There are 35 autonomous colleges and 20,000 total students which collectively make up "Oxford"). It feels like I'm living in a James Joyce novel - mostly because I actually am living in a James Joyce novel! (Joyce was a Oxonian, and based quite a few of his stories on his time here). Because Oxford is so large, most people ride bicycles or take the bus - I keep having to remind myself to watch out for the dozens of cyclists zooming about the city. I can only imagine how busy it's going to get once the term starts in early October, but the cobblestone streets, the pubs, and the people all add up to the city's very charming personality. I'm already starting to learn my way around (like where the grocery stores are, and how to get to the department stores) but there is a lot to get used to (like paying in pounds and pence, looking to the left before crossing traffic, and using military time). I'm learning quickly, but I still have so much to grasp.

Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. More updates and photos to come soon!

My flat, 224 Abingdon, is on the left. (The one with the bright blue door.) Torey lives with me, and Kathryn and Brett live next door on the right!