See! It's tiny!What a LONG FREAKING day. No seriously. It's been so strange too! Hey there jet lag, nice to see ya again.
So, let me rewind real quick and go through the last 30ish hours.
Yesterday, September 8th at 1:30, my mom, my dad and my boyfriend Jason left my hometown of Gainesville for the Atlanta airport. I met up with my wonderful roommate (with an equally wonderful name) Anna and her parents before we headed into security around 3:30. I didn't cry as much as I thought I would - I kept myself together but it was a strange feeling saying goodbye to the people you care about most and knowing you won't see them again for another three months.
We boarded the plane around 4:45 and took off at 6:00. I was very excited and, fortunately, was sitting next to a new friend who is also studying abroad with UGA named Graham - nice guy, we had some good conversations and found a common interest in purple Sprees candies. Anyway, the flight was LONG and I'm glad I brought my fleece pullover along because it was also cold. After about 4 hours, I felt like I was breathing in the nastiest air and it was kind of gross. I was also not impressed with the dinner selection, so I was hungry, tired, cold, grumpy, etc. But, greater than all these was my brewing excitement! After about 3 hours of kind of good-ish sleep (thanks Dramamine!) we were served breakfast (again, not great) and landed at the London Gatwick airport at 6:30 am (which felt like 1:30 - ROUGH).
After being slightly and nicely interrogated by a lady at customs, the next challenge began - carrying over 100 pounds of luggage to the coach. I felt like I was pulling about 4 small children. My arms are actually still aching right now. Also, after walking all over the place, we were told we had to relocate because the coach had to move. So we had to retrace our previous steps and go to a new location. Ridiculous. But it was cool because I got to use a sweet toilet that flushed just by waving my hand over a sensor.
This is getting really long so I'll just post some pictures I took on the two-hour coach ride from the airport to Oxford. Oxford, by the way, is beautiful and the weather here is really perfect (in my opinion) compared to the heat of Georgia. I love it! It feels like fall and it's amazing.
We arrived at the UGA at Oxford house/center and it looks like a building from Hogwarts. So beautiful and comfy and just awesome. Again, I'll post pictures.
I'm basically all settled in my room with the other Anna and really enjoying being here so far. I have a bit of reading to do before Monday, but other than that there is a really fun weekend planned for us. Tomorrow, we have to get sworn in to the Bodleian Library (which also creates a card that will allow us to eat - so obvs I'm going to do it) and then later we'll get a tour of campus. Saturday is a group excursion to Wales and then Sunday we're having a group dinner.
I'm really looking forward to all the amazing things that are going to take place here :) I'm living with a great group of people in an amazing place.
Oh, and we bought a refrigerated pizza this afternoon at the grocery store, some fresh berries and some juice! Then Anna and I had it for dinner. I also had a cup of hot chamomile tea with sugar (of course, can't ignore my sweet tea cravings). Ah, so British...I love it!
Now I just need some sleep. In a bed. Ahhh, yes.
xoxo
Anna
