england so far: the city of dreaming spires

landed in london heathrow at about 7 am (7 am here, 2 am at home) on june 29th. i took a long bus ride from the airport to oxford-- one with very enjoyable scenery that i didn't enjoy because i was so exhausted and jet-lagged. it almost looked like western mass, but infinitely more beautiful-- lots of cows and sheep grazing, but quite a bit more picturesque, all surrounded by a low mist that lolled over the grass. a few girls from my program were on the bus with me, but none of us were really motivated to speak to each other. we arrived in oxford at about 10 am and my first order of business was to almost get hit by a bus. a big bus. i hadn't thought to look a different way when crossing the road (they drive on the left here, obviously, because they're nuts)...and the rest is history.

i'm exhausted now as i write this, still not completely adjusted to the time change and still fairly shocked at how beautiful this place is. i didn't expect so much to be so different from home. i went grocery shopping today with some friends-- even the food is completely different. one of the most jarring things is that they heat treat their eggs (or they do something to them) and in grocery store's they're not refrigerated! same goes for some milk. ew.

i've been meaning to write in this for the past few days, but between meeting everyone and sleeping and unpacking etc etc, i've been incredibly busy. so, i'll just fill y'all in on a few key events that have occurred.

i'm living at trinity college (one of oxford university's 39 colleges), which is absolutely and easily the most beautiful school i've seen in my life. my room has a fabulous view of the garden quad. my roommate, genevieve, and i got really lucky-- we have a huge common room that we share, with a fabulous view. off of the common room, we each have our own bedroom. between our bedrooms we have a private bathroom with a sink, toilet, and shower. to lock the door to the bathroom, you have to pull on a red cord hanging from the ceiling. it's pretty badass.

one of the weird things about living here (and it's something i feel really weird about) is the fact that we have what is called a scout. A scout, at oxford, is a person who comes into your room every morning to check on you/clean up after you. they make your bed for you, vacuum your room, take out your trash...i haven't met our scout yet, but genevieve has. apparently he is a few years older than us and is from poland. i'm looking forward to meeting him-- maybe he can teach me some polish! anyway, i feel really weird about someone having to clean up after me, so i've been trying to do it myself...

oxford is a beautiful city and a beautiful school. i've loved everything about being here, but there are a few strange things that i find highly amusing and somewhat odd. for instance, if you vomit on campus, you have to pay a 27 pound (equivalent about 60 US dollars) vomit fine. yes, we get charged for vomiting on this beautiful campus. my friend izzy got sick and had to go to the hospital on our first day here, and i feel bad (but secretly am laughing at the fact)-- she has to pay the vomit fine.

we're not allowed on any of the grass, ever. except the quad i live off of. we're not allowed to carry red wine or hot liquids on it-- red wine could stain the grass, hot liquids could burn it. my mother would love this place. a guy from georgetown that i met said he saw a guy edging one of the lawns with a pair of scissors, but i won't believe it until i see it.

we had our first high table dinner last night. we have this formal dinner every tuesday, and we are joined by our professors (tutors, they call them here) and are served food and wine by candlelight in the great hall that looks like something straight out of harry potter (some of harry potter was filmed at oxford, but more on that later).

anyway, plans for the weekend include a hike to wytham (a small town about 3 miles from here) that will take us through the cotswolds (which are beautiful), a pub crawl friday night to celebrate the fourth of july (we americans are assholes and want to rub our freedom in their british faces), and a trip to london, possibly saturday-sunday. i have to give a presentation on yeats's drama on monday, and i have a 12 page paper due in a few weeks for my modern irish literature class. FABULOUS. i'll try to update this as much as possible, but until then...happy trails! i'll post photos later!