We're Here!

Christine and I have arrived safe and sound in Oxford. Our trip was eventful as have been the last 31 hours. I am writing this at 7:45 on Friday night, but we don’t yet have Internet access, so it will be posted later.

We were scheduled to leave O’Hare airport at 9:20pm on Wednesday night, but we decided to go to the airport early with security being what it is. We reached the British Airways desk at 5:35pm where we were told that our flight was delayed in Houston and would we be willing to take the 5:30 flight which would be held for us. The flight was full so we were moved up to business class where there’s room to stretch out and the seats fully recline. We were well fed and had a decent selection of movies to watch on our personal screen. I started watching “A Shark’s Tale,” which bored me, but later I watched “We Don’t Leave Here Anymore,” which is the saddest movie I have seen in a long time. I highly recommend it.

Neither of us slept at all on the plane, which we regretted the next day. In the morning we received a continental breakfast which included a bacon roll. For those of you unfamiliar with the finer points of British cuisine, a bacon roll is an entire pig which has apparently been salted to death placed on a roll that has been soaked in said pig’s grease and toasted to a golden brown. I had two bites. Christine finished hers.

We arrived in London’s Heathrow airport at about 8:30am, went through passport control, and were on a bus to Oxford by 10. At the bus terminal, our bags were unloaded and we dragged them to a taxi, which then took us to the Oxford Study Abroad Programme (OSAP) main office where we picked up the key to our flat. After conferring with another cab driver to figure out where he was taking us, our driver took us to Castlemill House which was surrounded by a fence except for an open gate behind several dumpsters that led to flats 25-35. Ours was flat ten.

Our driver having gone, I left Christine with our bags and walked around to the front of the house where, by happy coincidence, I met Fiona, the Scottish woman who was supposed to be cleaning our flat, except she didn’t have a key to get in. I had a key, so I opened the flat for her and then we went to get Christine and bring the bags up to the first floor (which, in England, is the first floor above the ground floor). So we were in, but the flat still had to be cleaned. This was at 12:30, so having not slept or showered for 20 hours, we went to have coffee at a café up the road. We had a vague idea that having coffee in a café in England is something that we have dreamed of for years, but we were far too exhausted to enjoy it.

At 1:30pm, we returned to a clean room, and Fiona informed us that our flatmate was sleeping in the room next to ours. Our flat has a living/dining room, full bathroom, two bedrooms and a kitchen with a washing machine in it. There is no dryer. Apparently you air-dry your clothes on this cold, damp island. Our bedroom is spacious compared to the storage bins that Cornerstone calls married housing. We each have a dresser, a wardrobe (Christine insists that she had tea with a faun in hers, but I don’t buy it), and two twin beds pushed together and covered with a duvet (which is a comforter).

We unpacked and then took a nap which was very fitful because our bodies insisted that it was morning and time to be waking up, plus there was a stranger in the apartment whom we couldn’t see, which is a bit disconcerting. We got up around four, decided not to attend the introductory party at the OSAP office (we were exhausted and besides, we didn’t come all the way to Oxford to hang out with American college students), and discovered that our flat had no toilet paper (which is a problem).

So once again, now more exhausted and uncomfortable and unwashed, we went in search of toilet paper. We found a pharmacy that carried every kind of toiletry imaginable. Except for toilet paper. So we continued to search and finally found a little grocery store where we bought toilet paper and some bread because Christine thought eating would be a good idea. I will probably have an appetite again after we’ve settled in a bit more. We came back, ate some bread, and at 8 decided to go to bed.

The nap situation repeated itself because now our bodies were telling us it was 3 in the afternoon and time to be doing whatever the heck we do at 3 in the afternoon which, more often than not, is not sleeping. So at 10:30 we got up, had some more bread, and decided to see what was on TV.

Our TV has six channels. Three were news, one was a documentary, and one was a reality show called “Big Brother” which consisted of several ugly people of various ages and races (by which I mean one was black) drinking, smoking, and blathering in a language that sounds occasionally very similar to English. The weather on the news channels predicted gale force winds, rain, and very cold temperatures for the next day.

We went back to bed, tossed and turned for an hour, and finally decided to watch “Star Wars” on my laptop while we slept. As soon as Luke started whining about Toshi stations and power converters, I was out. As soon as the end credits were over, I was awake again. So we put in “The Empire Strikes Back” and the same thing happened. “Star Wars” in our only source of comfort while trying to sleep with city noise outside the window, bodies telling us we should be watching “Friends” on channel 8, and a stranger in the next room, a stranger who, apparently, can go for 15 hours without emerging or making any noise at all.

After 45 minutes of very sound sleep, we got up at 7. I finally decided to throw propriety aside and look in on our flatmate who, for all we know, could be dead. I discovered an empty room with blankets on the bed that were rolled up in quite a good imitation of a sleeping form. They fooled Fiona anyway. We bundled up (freezing rain and gale-force winds, after all) and stepped out into weather that’s downright balmy compared to what we left In Grand Rapids and Chicago. I guess weather men are the same all over.

At 8 we had breakfast in a little café that we had seen while hunting for toilet paper. I had a full English breakfast that consisted of one fried egg, two sausages, bacon (which is what the English call ham), toast, tomatoes, mushrooms and baked beans. Christine had an egg on toast and most of my beans. We also ordered coffee (as necessary as it was delicious) and were asked if we wanted it white or black. Having no idea what white coffee is, we ordered black which was as you might expect it to be. I paid, and received as change several coins, none of which I know what they are.

We left at 9 for our first session at 10 at the OSAP office, which, from the looks of the map we received, was about 50 miles away from our flat. We arrived at the office at 9:15, informed them that our computer and internet connection were not working, and took a seat in the back of the lecture room, which by 10 was full of little kids. We forget sometimes that as 5th year seniors who both took a year off after High School, we are much older than most college students. I don’t think we’ll be doing a lot of socializing.

We had several very helpful orientation and history of Oxford lectures and now feel much more comfortable here than we did yesterday. On our way home we picked up some fish and chips for dinner, not realizing that a serving included a whole fish and a bag full of French fries, most of which is now in our refrigerator. In the future, I think we’ll split one.

Our flatmate was actually here when we got home. He introduced himself as someone whose name begins with a vowel sound (I looked it up, it’s Andrew). He’s now in his room listening to techno music and entertaining a lady friend (I sense the potential for awkwardness). Adjusting to living with another man in the house will be strange, but I think it will be fine.

We’re in a very cool part of town. Everything in Oxford is in walking distance, and we live by a street with several cafes and shops and a pub on every corner. We went on a walking tour today and saw many of the colleges and historical sites in Oxford. Later in the term, we will be visiting Warwick and Warwick Castle,

Both of us are pretty homesick, but not nearly as much as we were last night, and we will soon be able to throw ourselves into our studies, which will help. So know that we miss you but are having fun and enjoying each other’s company very much. Once our internet is hooked up properly, we will have wireless on our laptops which will help us stay in touch more. Please leave a note to say hi. Pray for us. We love you.