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| Some church on my 2 mile walk to Sylvia's. |
I am presently sitting safe and warm in a hostel in Oxford. How I got here though, is a bit of a story.
On the flight I was sitting next to a sweet little old British lady. She and I had a nice little chat before we both started watching in-flight movies before our dinners arrived. (These are free on international flights - yay!) After dinner I took a Benadryl and tried to sleep - however, our plane was new and the space between my window seat and the wall of the plane was larger than on the old planes. This made it difficult to prop a pillow between my seat and the window on which to lean on - instead, when I tried to do this, my head just fell through the space and into the space of the guy sitting behind me. I'm sure he loved this.
So, needless to say, I didn't sleep much at all. Upon arrival, the customs lady was just delightful and totally made me feel like a criminal. Why does it seem so unusual that a person would come over here just to visit? Good grief. Then I got my BritRail pass validated at the train station and missed the next train to Oxford by about 2 minutes - and had to wait for an hour. I did get myself a Cornish pasty (chicken and onions in a sort of gravy inside a flaky crust shaped like a half circle) - but my body was very confused as to why I was eating this at what it felt was the middle of the night.
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| Typical England - probably built in the 1600s. |
When I finally got on a train to Reading (where I would transfer to Oxford), it took a whole hour with all the stops. THEN, I missed the train to Oxford by one minute, and had to wait 20 minutes for the next one, which, even though Oxford was the first stop, took about 30 minutes as the train was going about 5 miles an hour.
So, I show up in Oxford feeling rather nauseous from a combination of motion sickness and exhaustion. I thought it was 12:30, but I think it was actually 11:30. I then walked .8 miles dragging my 50 lbs rolling suitcase, wearing my heavy backpack and carrying my mini-backpack in my hand. I arrived at the woman's house who was supposed to host me through CS, but I knocked and knocked and no one ever answered. I seriously considered sleeping right there on the front stoop, but decided against it. I walked another .5 miles to the nearest coffee shop where I bought a fruit smoothie and used the internet to send Pandora (the woman who was to be my host) a message. I waited a bit, but didn't hear anything. Then I went to a Virgin Mobile store to re-activate my old UK cell phone. Turns out, my old number wasn't good anymore, but I got a new one - so if you have to get in touch with me in an emergency, you can call my UK number (which I think is free for me to receive calls - at least while I'm in England): (011 44) 079 0631 8602.
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| Lovely colleges in dusk. |
I then messaged my new number to Pandora, but I unfortunately didn't have her phone number. I walked all the way back to her house, another mile, knocked again, and still no answer. By this time, I was on the verge of passing out, so I gave up and went to a hostel that was right near the train station (another mile). The night cost me 19 pounds, which was about $34 today, plus an extra 5 pounds for breakfast, and another 5 for internet. It's pretty ridiculous which you start doing the conversion. Anyway, so I got a bed in a four-bed room with three other girls who weren't there yet. This allowed me to take a bottom bunk and after a shower I got a nap - about 2 hours. When I woke up, I felt much better. Also, by this time (5 pm) the sun had come out (it was drizzling when I was walking earlier). After checking my mail, I walked the 2 miles to visit Sylvia - this is the 94 or 95 year old grandmother of my friend Matthew. I visited her several times when I was last in London. Anyway, she made me some tea and bread and jam and biscuits (which are actually little cookies). This was very nice since I'd actually just walked over 2 miles as I got a little lost on the way. It stays lightish until about 9 p.m. here, so we visited from about 7 to 8, then I walked back into town and took some photos of the buildings in the twilight. Everything seemed so quiet compared to when I was hauling all my crap around earlier and all the streets were packed with people I was trying to avoid running over with my bag.
I got very lucky with the weather this afternoon - it was so lovely to see blue skies and not have to worry about rain while I walked. Anyway, all told, I probably walked 9 miles today - my feet hurt. lol Before I returned to the hostel, I got a tuna, mozzarella and mayo panini. I know, this is very strange - that's English food for you. I asked for fruit, but they didn't have any left. Go figure. I did have an apple at the hostel though.
When I returned to my hostel, I met two of the other girls in my room. They are traveling around the UK for 9 days from Japan. If I speak slowly, they pretty much understand me - and even when they don't, they just smile and nod a lot. Quite typical. haha
Tomorrow I plan to visit the two museums here (museums in the UK are free) and maybe make a return visit to Magdalene College (which I visited with Sylvia last time I was here). The grounds at Magdalene are wonderful with many flowers and deer. :)
Well, this is already longer than I figured it would be for my first blog post, so I'll go. Much love from Oxford!
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