The Arrival!

So here I am, finally in Oxford!  Arriving was an adventure.  My first leg of the flight was fine, there were some good movies to watch.  My layover in Toronto was uneventful, except that I got to eat ketchup chips, which I love so dearly.  I wanted to sleep the entire leg of the second flight (7 hours from Toronto to London) in order to have enough energy for the upcoming day, but alas it was not to be.  In fact, I think I only managed 2 hours total of the entire 7.  So that was quite miserable, and by the time we landed I was uber tired and had a massive headache.  Rachel picked me up at the airport, having recently become a pro at left-hand driving.  It was so great having someone there to pick me up that I knew!  It was so great getting to see her right away!  The drive to Oxford was super lovely too!  It was so green!!  The first thing that I noticed the instant I stepped off the plane was that it smelled like rain, which for me, having grown up in Oregon, is a very wonderful smell indeed.  So my tiredness and headache were forgotten for a bit.

When we arrived in Oxford, there was some confusion at the accommodation office, because I was actually checking in a day earlier than the allotted check in times.  I had gotten permission beforehand to do this, but somewhere along the line there had been a communication breakdown.  They were still going to let me check in, but not until 8pm with another group of students checking in early.  It was okay at first, because some nice people let me store my luggage in their office at a different location that was not my dorms, and Rachel and I went out to eat some food. 

After eating, Rachel dropped me off to try my luck at a few errands and she headed back to Chippenham.  I then proceeded to find out I couldn’t quite open a bank account yet, and I couldn’t get a phone because I had no bank account.  I did manage however to buy my bedding, and made the trek back to the office that was holding my suitcases.   Unfortunately it started to rain on the walk back, which was only slightly annoying at this point.  It became uber annoying 2 hours later as I waited for my taxi for 8 minutes, to take me to my dorm to check in, soaking all of my suitcases.  The taxi also was unable to drive all the way up to my dorm, because the road was blocked, so I had another 5 minute walk in pouring rain.  By this time ALL of my luggage was absolutely wet, and I think I looked like a drowned rat. 

I did manage to get checked in though.  By the time I got to my room, I basically just made my bed, took a shower and crashed.  I was starving, but all I had for dinner was some ginger candy from Jennica.  I also had no toilet paper, which is quite a trial.  I perhaps wasn’t in the best mood by the time my head hit the pillow, but I did manage to sleep (even with the window open, in an attempt to dry off my suitcases, but that attempt didn’t go so well since it was still raining outside, and only let in cold air into the room). 

My dorm room is small, and I did have a moment while looking around where I thought “I am a few months shy of being 30.  Don’t I deserve more from life than this?”  I’ve been spoiled the past 10 years of living in real apartments instead of dorm rooms, and have gotten used to a bit of comfort.  Alas.  The bathroom/shower will probably be the hardest to get used to.  The kitchen is nice though, and really large.  And so far almost none of my other flatmates have even touched it, so I might really luck out with that.