Made it!

I'm heeeere!

Got off the plane at Gatwick Airport in London at 5 a.m. Michigan time. Unpacked bike. Found Canadian Oxonians who helped run bike across Gatwick airport. Ran across Gatwick trying to catch Oxford bus with careening trolley of luggage and Canadians and bike. Got to bus. Told me I had to repack bike. Fished bag out of garbage, repacked bike. Got to Oxford. Tied packed bike up illegally to get keys to apartment. Two hours later, unpacked bike on side of busy street.  Bike makes it to apartment! Don't bring bikes on airplanes.

It's International Orientation week! I've met hardly any students from the U.S. (although it is the number 1 country to send grad students here); so far it's been mostly Germans, Norwegians, Estonians, Hungarians...the list goes on.  Everyone is studying something fascinating, speaks three languages and finds American partisan politics remarkably entertaining.  I told them it's not as entertaining when it's your Congress that's being held captive by the Tea Party...

I'm staying at St. Hilda's College, which is right before the Magdalen (pronounced Maud-lin) bridge on the river Thames. Streets are tightly packed with buildings here, and the traffic is crazy, although ever street seems to have a bike lane. All the Europeans find the traffic driving on the wrong side of the street as disconcerting as I do - most of the rest of Europe drives on the right side like in the U.S. We're always looking the wrong way when we're crossing a street.

Some interesting British-isms: Restrooms are toilets. I asked for a restroom and had to restate myself at the airport. We're all "Freshers," commercials are "adverts," and we're all going to go "Punting," which means to push yourself down a river with a pole in a boat. We're currently all trying to figure out how we're going to buy our "Sub-fusc" clothing for Matriculation, which involves wearing dark skirt, white blouse, black ribbon-tie, academic robes, and mortar board for women. Men have to wear white bow ties. It's going to look absurd.  I'll take pictures.

So much to do! I was homesick yesterday but am doing better today. More later.

Lisa

Off to London...

Hi all!

I'm currently sitting in the Toronto airport (reasons Canada > U.S. = better tickets to London), where my parents dumped me off at about 1:30. We just spent two days as exploring Toronto as a last-weekend-on-the-continent vacation.  Already had embarrassing public breakdown, ate some pretzels, got over breakdown, check, check, check.

Currently, the adventurous part of the journey will be getting from Gatwick Airport to Oxford (2.5 hours away).  Plus side: there's a bus! Down side: I'm carrying one roller suitcase, one backpacking backpack, one regular backpack, a purse, and.... a bike.  And I may have packed my luggage up to the weight limit. Somehow I will walk through customs with all of this stuff, and then walk from the Oxford bus stop to my new apartment with all of this stuff, which is a hike.  I am trying to remind myself that I love exercise and arm workouts and looking publicly awkward and such.

Anyways, here's a short convenient bullet list of what I'm doing in England:

• I'm in the Master's of Education (Learning and Technology) Programme at Oxford University
• It's a one-year program, with a dissertation due next July
• I am in St. Hilda's College at Oxford, and have a three-bedroom apartment through the college.
• Oxford is about a 30 minute train ride from London. 
• There are two tea breaks scheduled into my first day of orientation. Two! (insert incredulous expression). 
• Yes, they have an ultimate frisbee team.  I know you were wondering that. 

Questions?

I get to London at 10 tomorrow morning, which is 5 a.m. Michigan time.  Nothing like sleep-walking through customs, right? I have orientation starting on Thursday. I'm going to try to update this blog regularly, which shouldn't be real hard since I've been writing-deprived for a year.  Will post pictures when I get there.  Miss you all!

Lisa