I'm Here and Not Dead!

Hey, everybody, so I finally arrived in Oxford today. It took an eight hour plane ride with some jet-lag, but everything went well. I sat next to this really genial British couple on the plane, and they asked me why I was going to London. I told them I was going to study in Oxford, and they were very excited. I asked them what they were doing in Atlanta, and apparently they went on holiday to the South, catching some sun, seeing the CNN center, and then visiting Charlotte, SC.

After the flight, and after customs, baggage claim, a two hour bus ride, and navigating the center of Oxford with my three heavy bags, I found a taxi that took me to the Spencer House. My fellow students and I had a little more than two hours before we had to meet with Dr. Robson, one of our Oxford tutors and the director of study abroad at Regent's Park. We were pretty hungry after our trip, so we went to this market right around the corner--The Co-op. It was this small place will relatively inexpensive food. We have to shop for groceries about every other day because British refrigerators are smaller that those in America, plus seven people have to share the one in the Spencer House. Well, we brought our own bags (the respectable way to grocery shop in Oxford) and perused their goods. I kind of freaked out a little bit because I felt so out of place. I felt like I was in the way of everybody else, and I was so ready to just run back and hide in the Spencer House. But, I didn't! We stayed and shopped and checked out and kicked Culture Shock's butt. Yeah, I feel kind of proud right now--proud, and kind of jet-lagged. Tomorrow I'll take on more British shops as I learn to navigate Oxford! Wish me luck!