Day 2- May 20

(one of the colleges of Oxford University)

 

(Jessica and I in Oxford)

         (pub where CS Lewis met with JRR Tolkien)

          Today has been such a long day!  I tried my best to sleep on the plane and I think I got about five hours of off-and-on sleep before our landing.  Landing is always the worst part of a flight for me because it makes me feel sick, so I was very excited to finally get off that plane.

            We made our way through the airport, passed through border security, picked up our baggage (so glad it didn’t get lost!), went through customs quickly, and finally boarded our coaches that would take us through Oxford and finally to the hotel we would be staying at in London.

            We arrived in Oxford in time for a late lunch, and I had my first experience paying with foreign currency.  Then our large group was split up into five smaller groups for a tour around the city of Oxford, led by guides who live there.  We were able to not only see, but actually go inside some of the buildings of the individual colleges that make up Oxford University.  The buildings are so beautiful and the town is so quaint that we were all struck with how different it would be to go to school here instead of in College Station, Texas.  I really enjoyed listening to the history behind the university and each individual building that we passed.

            After our tour of Oxford, we boarded the coaches once again and headed towards our hotel.  After waiting in the lobby for what felt like a very long time while our professors checked eighty students into their hotel rooms, my roommate Jessica and I were finally able to go up to our room, drop off our luggage, and try to freshen up a little bit before the group had to again meet in the lobby for dinner.

            We went to Leister Square, a busy area with many restaurants, bars, and theaters for dinner.  To get there, our professors taught us how to use the Tube system.  The Tube was confusing at first, but by the time we made it to Leister Square, most of us had the system fairly well figured out.  After walking around the square for a bit, Jessica, a few others, and I ate dinner at a small pizza place.  Leister Square was super crowded and loud, so we decided to head back to our hotel, this time using the Tube by ourselves and without any professors, which was an experience. 

We’re so tired from not sleeping well on our flight and from the time change, plus we have a meeting at 7:45 tomorrow morning, so we will be going to bed as soon as possible!