It's hard to believe that I landed in the UK less than 36 hours ago... I feel like I've been here forever!
So, I landed yesterday morning at 7 am (which felt like 2 am to me...and unlike normal, I didn't sleep much on the plane). I took the bus from Heathrow directly to Oxford, and it dropped me off about two blocks from the Stanford House. I should take a picture, it's a big red door and maybe the only residence that's actually on High Street; there are a lot of cafes and restaurants and shops...dangerous.
I got to the house and got taken up to my room...and I do mean up. On the fourth floor (third by British standars, which starts with ground floor, then first floor), and there are two flights of stairs to every floor, because there are landings in the middle. I have a single room, though, assigned by lottery. It's not giant, but there's a decent amount of space for one person. My window looks out over the garden out back. It's cute :)
There was some orientation and tea and scones yesterday, and I went to the grocery store and Boots, a pharmacy, with a friend for some stuff. We took a short tour around Oxford to see the important things (grocery store, post office, banks, etc), and then went out to dinner. We went to a pub but weren't impressed with the menu (no shepherd's pie!), so we finally found a Chinese restaurant. My food was good, but others weren't as impressed. After we came back, I tried to stay up for a while, and actually made it until around 11:30, though I fell asleep watching the episode of Firefly I started to stay awake. I slept really well and woke up this morning at 9.
Today we had some more orientation, then walking tours of the city. It was fun to hear all the stories about Oxford, and I was amazed at how many dates the woman knew off the top of her head. There is so much more to memorize than any city in the US, things like, "oh and this college (one of Oxford's 38) was founded in 1313, but taken over by this person in 1456 and then restored in 1678" (I made all those dates up...). So much exists here that exister long long long before any part of the US was even dreamed of. It's crazy.
Afterwards I ran some more errands and now I'm hanging out in my room. At 6:15, we're leaving for formal dinner, because they're starting to serve sherry at 6:30. According to Stephanie Williams, a wonderful (and wonderfully British) woman who is in charge of the House, they don't encourage us to drink too much, but sherry is something they feel we should experience. It's "fortified wine" (read: wine + harder alcohol) that is supposedly really strong. I guess I'll see what it's like. Dinner is three courses (breast of duck for main, I've heard), all served to us, with wine provided ("but certainly not enough to get you plastered!" said Stephanie). I'm excited for it!
I should actually head to shower and start getting ready and figure out what to wear...but I'm sure I'll be updating again soon. Stanford classes start tomorrow but I don't have one until Thursday, and tutorials don't start until the 11th. So I'll have plenty of time.
Love to you all! I'd love to get mail/phone calls from the people I love. I won't post my number and address here, since it's public, but send me an email if you'd like either.
I'll put up links to pictures when I've started putting them up on Facebook.
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