Orientations: Left, Right, and Center

Parliament, Big Ben, and the River Thames

Since leaving Ohio two Fridays ago, life has been pretty much non-stop, hence the (excruciatingly) long wait for another update for such dedicated readers as my family. Sorry guys! Not to mention the complete lack of internet… never the less, here I am!

 Despite being away from home for 10 plus days, I’ve only been out of the country for 5 due to the lovely stay my family and I had in New Jersey with our cousins at the beginning of the New Year. That well-timed trip allowed me to take literal baby steps out of the country: step one – leave my dog and my house, step two – say goodbye to Dad and Caroline, step three – say goodbye to Mom and the USA. It was a fairly easy process, actually, and quite preferable to going cold turkey on leaving the comforts of home, family AND country for the first time by myself.

The phenomenon of meeting new friends is fascinating to me. Having gone to the same school from K-12 prevented me from ever having to do that until Kenyon came along and I found that it’s actually kinda fun. The same seems to go for meeting my fellow IFSA-Butler (Institute for Study Abroad through Butler University) students. We’re from all around the country, majoring in various different subjects, all extremely nervous about going abroad, and as a result, we’re very chatty and quick to engage, preferring nonsense above letting any moment of silence slip through our constant chatter. The result: amazingly fast friendships (or, perhaps more realistically, acquaintances). The 11 Oxford students quickly found one another and haven’t left each other’s sides until reaching our two Colleges this morning: Lady Margaret Hall and Hertford College.

But woah, I’ve gotten ahead of myself – did I mention that we had our orientation in the wonderful city of London?! We had many MANY hours of orientation informational meetings, including the very useful information that if a gypsy ever throws a baby at you (to distract you in order to pick pocket you), DON’T catch it. Rather, drop it, kick it, or more realistically, push it back. No but really, we did have a good and useful set of days dedicated to orientation which included several meals out on the town and even theatre tickets! The Lady Margaret Hall and Hertford College kids ended up having an extra day after orientation and before leaving for Oxford, so my group of friends got to explore the city on Sunday. 

Waterfowl at St. James' Park

Believe it or not, that Sunday brought out the sun! Encouraged by the warmer weather (in addition to the widespread tube closures due to routine maintenance), we chose to explore the city by foot. While this may seem daunting, it really was not nearly as large of a task as one may imagine - we were able to make it to iconic Trafalgar Square, the Royal Horse Guards, St Jame's Park, Buckingham Palace, Parliament (and Big Ben, of course), Westminster Abbey (and an evensong there later in the day as well - literally surrounded by beauty - architectural, acoustic, aesthetic), the London Eye, bought Tube Passes, and ate at a very good Indian restaurant called "Masala Zone." Fun Fact: Chicken Tikka Masala has replaced Fish and Chips for the official/favorite food of England. As you might expect, I was in heaven.

Oh so very much more to come about my new town of residence: Oxford, Oxfordshire. Much love and until then, adieu!

I should be packing...

I'm usually a good packer. In fact, I pride myself on the fact that the night before my family leaves for any vacation, I'm the one finished packing everything appropriate for the trip and reading a book by the time the rest of my family has even begun. Today is not the case. I started packing this morning alongside my parents and sister (who are accompanying me to Newark to see our cousins before I head out to England) and have successfully ignored my earlier attempts at packing by creating this blog. See? Procrastinating with something productive - my specialty.

I know I'll feel so much better if I would just go ahead and get everything neatly folded and packed. First off, my room would stop being a mess if I just went for it and decided to bring that pink sweater rather than the sweatshirt. I even made it "fun" by challenging myself to fit everything I will possibly need into a single bag... but it's not working. I blame it on this pile up of emotions within my brain/gut (not really sure which): inability-to-think excitement,  about-to-puke nervousness, a continued sense of how-in-the-world-did-I-get-accepted-to-Oxford? disbelief, and inexpressible happiness that comes at the thought of my dream to live in England come true. Oh, and the whole: right I'm not just studying abroad, I am going abroad to STUDY at OXFORD. Yikes. Part of me would rather not, but I can do this. Watch me!

... I just have to pack.