Lively Landings and First Impressions

They never tell you that you can see the stars from airplanes. Floating in this space between stars and city lights, it is hard not to find peace. Sure, the universe is not discovered on the kind of airplane I fly in, where harried travelers and starry eyed dreamers scribble notes in the dark while glancing wildly out into the inky expanse of space between the night sky and the land far below. But it is a place I do not mind, a place where I am truly under stars and over seas.

***

I boarded a plane Monday evening for a flight that would carry me to another continent, country, and culture in a short matter of ten and a half hours.

That being said, I haven't had any sleep since getting on that plane, and as it is now almost nine pm in England (almost 1 pm back home), I can honestly say that I have been up and moving without rest for over twenty-nine hours. Functionality is no longer a thing. So bear with me if some of this doesn't make sense.

And yet, before I crash into the flowery print that is my bedspread for the next several months, I felt I had to at least write something, to let people know I survived my trip over.

So here it goes, my first day in England:

The streets themselves are so different. And not just because they drive the other way (though I did have a minor freak out when I got on a bus today and thought half the cars on the road were going to hit us). Everything is so green too, just flat expanses of trees and other plants. It was a huge change from the mountains I'm used to seeing in the distance. We got every kind of weather today too, from sunny to cloudy to rainy (and I hear we may get snow later this week).

I got to meet the two other girls my roommate and I will be sharing a flat with, and they seem like lovely girls. There was a small welcome party for all the American Oxford students, a first impression I'm afraid may have told people that I'm not much for talking. Rather what happened, was that at that point my eyes had ceased to work properly and were stuck rereading the title of one of Chaucer's works until someone physically pulled me away. The people I interacted with understood though, when I told them my flight had landed only a few hours before said party, between which I had gotten my luggage, made my way through a foreign airport, purchased a SIM card (which I have still yet to insert as apparently I am not a singularly capable human being), found the bus station, bought a bus ticket, rode in a bus for an hour and a half to Oxford, checked in with the study abroad programmers, hauled my luggage my flat, and then scoped out a small grocery store before the welcome party had even begun. Just writing that makes me feel exhausted; of course that may just be the vertigo I'm suffering from lack of sleep (and possibly food, though I am eating as I type this).

My upcoming weeks are packed with tours, talks, and how to's for surviving in a town like Oxford. For example, pedestrians don't have the right of way here, so I need to learn to be aggressive and keep with the crowds that move. I have plenty to learn in Oxford beyond just my academics.

I'll keep it shorter this time, as I am in desperate need of a shower and a lot of sleep. 

Good night England, good afternoon California.

Sam