The Arrival
It looks like I beat Jen to updating the blog, but I am sure you will hear everything from her perspective soon.Jen, Lauren (Jen's roommate from APU), and I arrived at about 3:30PM yesterday. I did not know this going in, but Virgin Atlantic has individual screens for each passenger and 50 movies to choose from on demand. Somehow, despite the plethora of entertainment options, I managed to get around 5 hours of sleep.
We arrived in England a day before we were allowed to get into our housing. As a result we stayed in a hostile. Getting there was quite an ordeal. Our luggage was not kind to us as we went up and down a few too many staircases. We took the "Underground" to get to Hyde Park and a taxi to the hostel. Taxis quickly became our friends.
The hostel was, as expected, less than five star quality. There came moment were we accidentally left our keys in the room. Jen let out a sigh of frustration and inadvertently hit the door open. From then on, we did not worry about locking in our key...
We didn't get to explore much of London. It was well past 6 and it gets dark before 4. We got some dinner (fish and chips for me) and went to sleep. Despite the shady lock situation, nothing got stolen.
Today we took yet another taxi to Paddington Station were we boarded a train straight to Oxford. I had fun just starring out the window of the train. Everything here is so different. I love that I'm doing this!
We got to Oxford and took yet another taxi to the Program office. Jen and Lauren got into their "flat" just fine, but my key went on strike. Myself and everyone who was with me at this point made the trek back to the program office, who sent me back to my flat to meet the guy who gave me a new key. Finally, I could set my luggage down and leave it there.
There is much else to tell. We went to a welcoming party where we took over the top floor of a pub. To save money Jen and I tried ordering a salad. While we certainly paid the price of a descent salad in the U.S., it wasn't very good.
Here are a few things I've learned so far:
-You order food to "take away" not "to go"
-Hours of daylight are roughly between 8am and 4pm
-You nothing is for "rent" but for "let"
-I heard something to this effect, but didn't realize how bad it was. Many places close between 2 and 5, and almost everything closes before 8.
Quiz yourself? A score above 0 means you probably still know more than I do.
If you've read all of this, you either really like me or really have nothing to do. Either way, leave a comment! I love reading them. Pictures should be up soon. I hope you all are doing well!
-Chris
posted by Jen and Chris at Oxford @ 3:00 PM
<< Home