It Should Be Fairly Obvious By Now

The sun doesn't rise in Oxford until after 8:00. To catch a glimpse of the rising sun you usually have to wait until closer to 8:15. The constant cloud presence doesn't add much to the light either.

It's not enough to make me really miss the California sunrises and blue sky terribly, but I do wish that it was warmer here. Some of the British people seem to think similarly--they're bundled up in as many layers as I am (four on a good day, five on a bad). Others walk around in t-shirts or lightweight hoodies, and I can't help stare at how either brave or incredibly stupid they're being. 

There are more people than animals here, and while that doesn't really surprise me, I was expecting more of...something. Not too many people have dogs, though I suppose that's hard in the city areas, and there are more birds in London, making Oxford seem rather uninhabited with animals, at least further from the Thames. Swans are enormous, by the way, and completely terrifying.

Even with very few birds, I'm surprised to see seagulls here, as Oxford is completely land locked, but perhaps they like the Thames just as well.

I was expecting rain every day, and while that hasn't happened yet, I dare not get my hopes up due to the constant high chance of showers. 

There are fewer cars here than back home, but there always seem like a lot because of how narrow the streets are. Buses roll by and it feels like you're going to be sucked right off the equally thin sidewalks. Re-learning how to cross the street has been...dramatic. You've got to remember that not only are the cars coming from the other direction than usual, but that you've also got to look over your shoulder for cars coming from behind you. And if the cars don't hit you the bikes sure will.

The majority of people seem to walk everywhere and take the public buses, or coaches as they're called here. The rest ride bikes at a ridiculous speed and will run you down without remorse.

I walk everywhere (which is a great leg workout--the amount of stairs I have to climb almost daily is wild), with the exception of my first solo coach expedition Monday morning. 

Now, you have to understand that at home there is a certain negative connotation with public transportation. Death is feared and probable on buses at home, so some apprehension on my part was perfectly acceptable, countered only by my juvenile excitement at getting to ride in a double-decker.

It went well though, and I made it to my stop and back home with a small glimpse into how the bus system works here (complicatedly). Fortunately everywhere I need to get to on a regular basis is within a thirty minute walking distance of my flat. I don't even have to workout while I'm here, the distance does it for me.

The coaches weren't the only things to get used to though. The money is weird, and I'm slowly getting used to the idea of pence rather than cents. The workers in places I've shopped at have been patient with me, so I'm not completely horrified at getting something wrong. I am a little worried I'll accidentally hand in an American coin, but I doubt they'd get very upset with me. Beyond that everything's labeled with its amount, so as long as I don't mind looking like a complete knob standing there reading my coins I'll get by just fine. There's a two pence coin the same size as the fifty pence one, but luckily the colors are different so I'm able to figure out rather quickly by sight if not by touch.

The tea section at the local Tescos (a grocery story here) is huge, taking up an entire aisle by itself (which is saying a lot because it's not a very big Tescos). That's not really a surprise though. Neither is the fact that everyone smokes here. It's just a rather smelly inconvenience, but nothing I can't deal with.

The weather is a constant topic here, with it's ever static 'cold' with the occasional 'colder' making for fine conversation. It's apparently not usually this cold around this time of year (it was in the 30's this past week) so I have hope for some days in the 50's eventually. My standards have lowered significantly.

My standards for food have also lowered. A fact that is not at all helped by our over-eager but very effective fire alarm. Nearly every time we light the stove (that's right, 'turn on the gas and flick on the lighter and send up a prayer that you don't lose your hand' light up the stove) it's serenading us with it's out of tune shrill voice, only stopped by someone grabbing the nearest pillow and fanning the air around it. We'd open the balcony doors, but with the weather absolutely freezing outside we'd rather take out chances with the smoke detector.

I'm living on a diet of primarily potatoes and pasta, with the occasional bit of chicken and a near constant peanut butter and jelly sandwich thrown in. I was eating toast for a long time before I finally caved and bought the slightly more expensive cereal, which I have appreciated immensely the past few days. The fire alarm still hasn't forgiven for the one time I tried to make eggs.

I have eaten in the New College dining hall for lunch, and while the food was good I was more intimidated by the fact that this temporary tent-like structure we'll all eating in has mini chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and portraits on the walls. The temporary dining hall is fancier than most restaurants back home and ridiculously intimidating. But it's inexpensive and nearby one of my tutorial rooms, so I have plans to brave the hall once again, if only to escape my own burned quesadillas.

I've been doing a lot of paper writing as of late, as well as going to my first tutorial. It was a bit intimidating having my paper torn apart right in front of me, but my tutor did it in a polite way and I agreed with nearly everything she said, so I feel it went very well. Unfortunately, I'm once again remembering that my home dog Willie Shakes is not my favorite thing to read, but it's only for a few weeks so I think I can deal with reading a few plays like 'As You Like It' (which was actually a really good play, as was 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. 'Richard II' and 'Richard III' were brutal though, and I do not recommend them).

My next upcoming tutorial is my creative writing one, the tutor for which I met with my bus excursion on Monday. The third one, astronomical mythology, I have yet to meet the tutor for, but he seems nice from the emails we've sent back and forth. The research for that paper led me to a book called "A General Theory of Magic" which makes me feel more and more like I'm at Hogwarts.

Getting into some sort of routine will probably take time, as I'm used to a schedule of 'be here at this time every day'. It's not like that here so I'm almost going crazy with the sheer amount of time I've been allowed to decide what to do with (when I'm not reading or writing papers of course). I have plans to go to a science and history museum tomorrow, so maybe I'll make a habit of visiting different buildings when I don't know what to do (or when I've been reading so much Shakespeare my brain is falling out).

And so with that insight into how my life has been progressing in this new but incredibly old city, I say goodnight Oxford and good afternoon California,

Sam