My flight to Atlanta was delayed four hours due to bad weather. Despite a pleasant seat mate, I felt no better about landing in Atlanta ten minutes before the London flight would take off. Seeing on the monitor that your flight is "closed" does gives wings to your feet and a lump in your throat. When the witch at the gate tells you you cannot board, things begin to break down. I held it together and asked another lady. She refused me as well. I turned away, literally this close to tears; the final gate-person grabbed my passport and checked me in. My hero!
The evil gate at Richmond, that I had to walk through twice
I ran down the jetway, and crashed into a seat by the only girl on the trip that I knew already, Alisha. The dinner was served: I chose pasta tortellini, which I thought was pretty tasty for plane food. What I could see of the sunset was absolutely surreal. Movie after movie was played: Fool's Gold, Bucket List, The Simpson's Movie. I slept through most of the last two. TV shows followed movies. A disappointing breakfast of uncut bagels was served. How did they propose we cut those durn things? With dull, plastic knives?
We landed in London under a dreary drizzle. We all breezed through customs. Though I knew the exchange rate was horrible, getting one pound for every 2.20 dollars was very rough. When I didn't find my baggage, I was just too excited to be in England to care.
The bus ride was too long. After the novelty of funny cars, the wrong side of the road and round intersections wore off, a highway is just a highway, even if it is lined by the occasional sheep pasture. Many people fell asleep. Much craning of necks occurred as we passed through Oxford for the first time, though.
A roundabout!
Sheep on a hillside by the highway
Our college, Worcester - pronounced like "rooster" but with a "w" instead of an "r" - is everything it should be, old with lovely gardens and inconvenient steps and forbidden lawns. I was mildly disappointed to hear the rooms would be modern, as I envisioned a more 'historical' experience. As it turned out, they are perfectly new, modern and absolutely comfortable: I really don't mind after all!
My room, to the right as you enter, the bathroom door is visible
My room to the left as you enter
What I did mind was the not being able to access a jacket. I had to borrow another girl's, Sarah. The weather is unpredictable. I'm pretty used to changeable weather, but England takes it to the next level! We set out on a gorgeous day and suddenly there is a steady downpour. One moment sunshine and warmth, next moment, chilly rain.
We quickly settled in, then gathered for lunch. The party splintered out, some heading for an Irish pub, others looking for cheap meals. I went with cheap and got a bacon baguette. We girls wandered about for a bit, discovering a Pizza Hut and a KFC! I expected a McDonald's, but never a KFC! Well, fried chicken is good.
We gathered again for tours and shopping. One group (mine) went on a tour of Oxford first. We were quickly oriented by a very talkative, and what you might call liberal, tour guide. I was too jet-lagged to argue with some of his preposterous statements about the leadership of our (and his) respective countries.
A college chapel, actually taken on th bus ride
As we were getting back to the college, it began to rain. Lucky for us, we were headed inside, to a grocery store.The grocery store was strictly edibles. The things I was looking for I couldn't find, namely, sliced bread and peanut butter. I grabbed juice and cookies and left. We popped over to a department store, got shampoo and other necessities, grumbling the whole time because I had all this stuff! The tour guide claimed I could get a refund for these expenses, which is what I am counting on.
We all returned and retired to our rooms. I took a shower in the most confusing facility ever. Once you figure how to adjust the water, it makes sense, but until you do, God help you. The shower is simply part of the tiny bathroom. You draw the curtain over half the bathroom and turn on the water. If you forget to completely close the curtain, then the whole bathroom gets wet. It is, I suppose, a sensible solution to a small space, but I wish the shower head were movable. The curtain gets wetter than my hair as it is now!
I sat down and suddenly it dawned on me that I had no alarm clock since my phone refuses to find the time. I wanted to go out and get one, but not so much by myself at this point. I found a professor who would go with me, but at the last minute, she disappeared. I went to a store the tour guide recommended, but it was all closed and didn't have what I needed anyway! I should've just gone to where I wanted to in the first place. I did get mildly lost, but I just kept walking and it turned out okay. I secured a clock but forgot batteries. In the end, I just asked Alisha to pound on my door when she got up.
The group gathered at 6 to hear the do's and do not's of the college and learn other info, like where classes would be. They kept saying they would let us know stuff by e-mail, which didn't help because my computer battery had died by this point!
Dinner followed at 7:45. I will just have to get a picture of the dining hall and the place settings. I just can't describe them properly! First, an appetizer of fried mushrooms. I actually choked them down, which says a lot about how I felt right then. You could read that as absolute misery or too tired to care or as complete euphoria. You decide. Then spaghetti! I think we were all ready for some kind of gross English food, and here is comfort food! Praise the Lord! Followed by many varieties of pie. Some cheesecake, others this strange, but tasty, banana caramel mixture and still others a raspberry concoction.
After dinner, most of us crawled back to our rooms to sleep. Others were more hardy/crazy and actually went out, but I was out before the sun went down.
No comments:
Post a Comment