Oxford at Last! <3

I am finally an official resident of Oxford, United Kingdom! After a very early flight, short bus-ride (most of which was spent sleeping), 5 hours of registering, and the last 24 hours of running numerous  errands all over the city… I think I am, at least in part, finally settled… I managed to acquire temporary internet access in my college (St Cross) and a cell-phone… So now all I have to do is figure out how to get internet, hot water and heating in my house and I should be good!

Oxford is magnificent… I don’t now if it’s all the ancient cathedrals and castles or the essence of academia that permeates the town…   But I’m certain to be in love as soon as I catch up on sleep enough to really relax and take in the experience of living here… I found it funny that there actually is a very busy “Broad Street” in Oxford (For all my fellow RIchmonders!)… And although it, much like Richmond, is the center of hubbub in the city centre… Here it is lined with gorgeous architecture and quaint hidden gardens… Quite a contrast from the  Broad St I used to know… :-)

I’ve also had another small reminder of my previous home at VCU… I literally hadn’t been in the city for 5 hours yesterday when I ran into an old friend from VCU! I was just standing outside my college waiting for a taxi to take me and my luggage over to my flat, when I heard someone shout my name… And sure enough my friend Kunal from the VCU Honors College came running over! :-) Apparently he’s in town studying abroad for a semester… Crazy, right?!

My house on 2 Bradmore Street is the iconic old-style British walk-up…  When I first saw it yesterday, it actually gave me pause because I literally thought that the 7 dwarfs were bound to live on the other side of that very old looking door…. Needless to say, they don’t but I now do! Of course, I got the room on the very top floor, three flights up… My room couldn’t be more cliché if they’d tried… It is complete with slopping ceilings, window desk overlooking the lane, built in bookshelves, skylight, and the freezing temperature to top it all off… I felt like Cinderella living in the attic there for a few minutes… I can’t for the life of me get my heater  working (so that’ll make for some cold nights until it gets fixed) or get hot water in the wash basin… So yay for cold showers to wake up from a cold night! So far I like the 3 of my 7 flat mates that have moved in… We all went down to the college bar last night to get to know everyone, and all the students seem incredibly nice… The college seems very tight knit because it’s graduate-only and so small… The  bar seems to be the definite nightly hangout, so at least until I get settled in and find some buddies I’m having to pretend to like the night-life a little more than I usually would… Haha

This week is mostly just running errands and getting everything straight… As my luck would have it my University contract seems to have gotten lost in the mail, so I spent all day running around trying to clean up the mess so I can finally get a university card, meal card, in ternet, and email address… I can’t seem t o do anything, no less register, until it’s sorted out… So that’s been a little stressful, but it should be worked out soon…

Well I’m headed home which is about a 10-15 minute walk from the St. Cross lodge… I’ve got a backpack full of a few fresh vegetables for dinner… I’m craving a home cooked meal but my kitchen is now pathetic, and freezing of course… Haha So I’m being creative about coming up with meals day-to-day until I can get a meal card… :-) It’s been an adventure already and it’s only been 24 hours! I’ll try to send out my new email/phone/address to everyone as soon as I get it all sorted out!

With Love from OXFORD!… ~Mary Elizabeth