I don't want to overwhelm you; I had told myself that I would keep entries pithy, entertaining. But I find myself challenged to keep to that resolution as I, myself, am completely overwhelmed.
To begin with, I hardly fly-- certainly never internationally before. The boarding process went well. Liz and I met up with about five other girls, all told, and chatting made the wait time go faster. On the long flight over we were separated back into smaller groups. Most were resolved to attempt sleep.
The man in front of me almost immediately reclined his seat after take off. He remained that way the entire 9 and a half hour flight, even when he was eating or obviously awake. Sometimes he would even bounce a little, as if he meant to recline still further. Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for me as he was already nearly in my lap, those chairs are singularly unforgiving.
Despite the fact I found sleep difficult, there were plenty of movies and TV shows to watch, and we received two meals: a late dinner and a light breakfast, with plenty of water in between.
Our flight left on time around 6:30 yesterday, and arrived on time, though we circled London for a while after we got here. It then took us nearly two hours to navigate Heathrow and find the proper bus-- but, in the end, we did.
The bus ride from London to Oxford only took an hour. In the middle of the drive, I looked up to spot, through blurry, jet lagged crossed eyes --
"ARE THOSE SHEEP?" I cried.
"Where?" Liz demanded. We turned on our cameras in nearly the same instant to snap photos as Rachel, the girl who was sitting behind me, muffled laughter.
The hunt for Brasenose Hall took way more sweat than any of us had expected. We straggled along an extremely crowded Oxford version of the Drag (think Guadalupe with an extra couple hundred people of all nationalities swarming it and a much smaller street), like ducklings, lugging gigantic suitcases and heavy backpacks and bags. You either got out of our way, or we rolled our heavy rolly luggage over your toes. The Texans had arrived.
Unfortunately, we were also completely lost. Surrounded by unfamiliar buildings and backwards traffic, buffeted by crowds of foreigners, it was up to us to find Brasenose. We had all had the unfortunate impression we would be within eyesight of the college when we stepped off the bus in Gloucester Green-- uh, we were wrong. And there are ancient buildings all over; Brasenose does NOT in any way stick out. With the help of a friendly bypasser, a middle aged man with a shaved head and a good sense of fashion, however, we found our way.
Without further ado, I refer you to my pictures above.
