The Beginning

Hello all! I am so glad to finally sit down and write to you about my first few days here in Oxford, England. The flight over was delayed several hours thanks to a lovely blizzard in the Chicago area, but the journey was pleasant nonetheless, with little turbulence, decent food, and my row consisted of two other girls my age who were on the way to Spain for a semester abroad. Once in Heathrow, it was also easy to catch the bus to Oxford and I must say that I was in great spirits! As we drove out of London I so much enjoyed watching the landscape as we passed quaint little towns once we were out of the city. It was when we drove into Oxford that I was really amazing - it is really the most beautiful city I've ever seen. As one may imagine, it isn't simply a scattering of beautiful buildings or scenes, it is literally entirely made up buildings and castles that are centuries old. Despite the rain and clouds, I was overwelmed with excitement as we drove to town. My first problem, however, occurred when I got off the bus to make the quick walk to the Warner's (the married couple, Francis and Penelope, which are the directors of the program)house on St. John's street. I had two rolling suitcases, one LARGE hiking backpack and my smaller (but quite heavy) backpack carry-on. The bus driver was kind enough to help me put on pack on my back and the smaller on my front, and sent me on down St. John street with a roller in hand. It only took a block of walking for me to completely lose my ability to manage this, and after much frusturation I was moving two bags at a time, walking up and back, up and back, down the street. Then a man called out to me and after noting my misery, he offered to walk me down the street. As it turns out, he's an Anglican priest and our brief walk was incredibly interesting. I told him I was Lutheran and he assured me that despite this I should give the Anglican church a try... I hope to attend a service at his church, which he also pointed out.
Anyway, once I had arrived at Francis and Penelope's, Penelope drove me to my apartment. Within the first five minutes I managed to trip over and break our internet cord, which is part of the reason this post has taken so long. It was alright though, as I have two very nice flatmates who didn't seem to be too upset with me. They are actually two boys, which is quite a different experience after my semester in the ADPi house at Mercer. One of the is Russell and the other is Pascal, both are from Hendrix College in Arkansas. We are getting along very well and I think all are in for an education on living with the opposite sex.
That first night all of us in the program met up for dinner at the Red Lion, where I enjoyed a typical roast meal of roast turkey, baked potato, and salad. Yum! Everyone I met from the program (there are 16 students from three different schools in the states) was very nice and I think we will all be getting along very well. After the Red Lion, we headed off for a drink at the Turf Inn, which is the oldest pub in Oxford and has been around since the 1300's!!! It was incredibly interesting even walking there, as we had to stop and take a moment to appreciate the breathtaking architecture as we were walking down the street. It is absolutely incredible - I promise to upload pictures sometime soon.
The next morning we had our first lectures with a few of the Oxford tutors which were over various topics regarding 17th century England. One was on Jacobean theatre, one on literature, and the other on poetry. It was all very interesting. That night we shopped at Sainsbury's, the grocery, for supplies and had a quiet night of dinner. The following day we had another set of lectures but then we went into London for a night at the theatre! This was by far the most fun I have had, as we arrived a few hours early and were able to explore. We were in Covent Garden in downtown and our first goal was to find a pub with fish and chips for dinner. Afterwards, we walked around the charming market and took in the incredible buildings and culture. As we were walking, we all of a sudden heard opera music that sounded live... and sure enough we found a flamboyant man singing opera in the middle of the market. It was quite a sight and all of us girls found it to be pretty entertaining. We then stopped for lattes and croissants on our way to the Fortune Theatre where we saw "The Woman in Black", a fairly notorious play that was VERY scary! It was also extremely interesting and entertaining.
Today was then a day of exploring. Penelope took us on a tour of Oxford so that we could continue to get our bearings in this new city, and then a few of us continued to explore and begin to procure our various ID cards and other essentials. We finally visited the beautiful Oxford Union, where we are so fortunate to be considered members.
Tomorrow I will meet with my first tutor for my Political Modern Thought tutorial. I am a little nervous, but ready to have some work to get to. I have had a bit of a rough time adjusting, but mostly just at night. I am hoping to improve my sleeping and get rid of any jet lag/homesickness soon, but please keep me in your thoughts. I miss all of you and would love to hear from you! My email is suz.bottorff@gmail.com, or Facebook is fine, though I am much worse at responding to Facebook messages than regular email. I hope that all is well with you whether you are back home, at Mercer, or someplace in between.