Beginning-ish.

Well, after hearing for a week that I should start a blog, I decided to do it! I'll just start by saying, it took me about an hour to figure out what I should call it and all the colors involved and a screen name and a web address and all the ins and outs that no one really knows about a blog before they try to start one themselves. I can't decide yet if I like any of the settings I've chosen so they may all change, but right now I'm putting off the mound of homework waiting for me and this was all I had time for. It's actually a lot of work if you can't really make decisions. Which I can't. On that note, I can't promise pictures because I can never decide what is picture worthy so of the few I take, an even smaller percentage is actually good and after that, only one or two are upload worthy and so I just never get around to that. However, maybe we'll be lucky on here and I'll find some actual motivation for a picture display or two. Also, I'm going to try very hard to post something on here everyday or at least most days. Travelling is going to make it hard sometimes but then I'll have really good stuff to write about and it'll be worth it. Maybe. So, I guess, without further ado, here's the blog...my blog, I guess.


So, I'm in Oxford. I'm studying abroad with a group from my school in Texas and we've been here for almost a week now. Hence the title of this post. I woke up early (9:00 AM) on Wednesday, January 19th 2011 and then got on a bus at 10:00, boarded a plane at 5:00 and then de-boarded (right?) the plane at about 7:30 England's time which means at my house in Colorado, it was 12:30 that night. I was starting to get tired. We got onto another bus from the airport in London and then arrived at our houses at 9:00 on Thursday the 20th of January. Then came the tricky part, staying awake. We were strongly advised not to sleep until at least 8:00 that night. The people living at the houses already, two couples that turned out to be our teachers for the semester, took us on tours of the city and showed us where to get money and buy groceries and where all the best pubs are, though they made it very clear, NO DRINKING! Though, unless they're going to watch each of the thirty students all day everyday, then let's be honest...people are going to take advantage of that lower drinking age. Whatever.

Anyway, after my tour of the city we had free time and I didn't know what to do so I just started walking back to the house and ended up running into my roommates and they had a plan of action so I just went along with that. We walked into this HUGE bookstore that's three stories tall and takes up about four stores worth of space. On the second floor there's a coffee shop, costa coffee, and we sat in there and had warm drinks to counteract the cold weather outside. I think it feels really nice outside because it's the same weather as Colorado right now, but these Texans I'm with are all dying of hypothermia (self diagnosed of course). After coffee we went to a pizza place for dinner, imaginative, I know. We really wanted to dig our heels into this new culture...*eyeroll*. It was really delicious though and they had a lot of weird options for toppings. I don't remember them, at that point I was literally falling asleep on my menu. My roommates had to keep shaking me and speaking loudly to me so that I wouldn't fall into my food, which I almost did. After that it was just back to the houses and then off to bed, I managed to stay up until 10:00 which was a miracle.

Then the next few days are kind of a blur, I don't really remember doing much of anything. I kept waking up late and then people were either already gone or getting ready to leave to go sight seeing or to a pub for lunch.  One night I had dinner at the Eagle and Child which is the pub made famous by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien for their meetings/arguments in the back room. It was really good, my meal came with a side of chips and salsa but when I ordered it, I completely forgot that here, chips are actually french fries. I think in the future, I'm gonna stick to tortilla chips with my salsa, but it was an interesting taste. One of the days I walked with some people to the Natural History Museum and that was really awesome. There were three floors jam packed with all sorts of things from all over the world. One floor was devoted to guns and swords/knives which actually encompassed the 'boomerang' displays as well; apparently those are more dangerous than I thought. One floor housed actual shrunken heads in a display case, complete with instructions! There was so much to see that we may be going back again just to have a chance to take everything in. Then one meal I went to this sandwich shop called 'On The Hoof' and I have no idea the ethnicity of the people who run it but the sandwiches they make are fantastic. Of course, I have a hard time saying no to sales people so when asked if I wanted to upgrade my plain chicken and cheese sandwich for an Indian chicken and different sauces...I said yes. It turned out to be pretty good! I couldn't eat all of it so I saved it for dinner that night but then heated in the microwave it didn't taste as good so I didn't end up finishing it...so that was a bummer. I'm definitely gonna go back though and get a different kind of sandwich.

I already tried to do laundry and I felt like an idiot. I put the money in the machine and I put my clothes in there and then I spent about 15 minutes looking for the tray to put the detergent. There was a sticker of instructions that said there was a tray and I looked and pulled on different things and nothing was ever the right thing so I just ended up putting the detergent straight onto my laundry and starting the machine. Then the dryer was more than I thought and I didn't have the right coins for it so I couldn't dry any of my stuff and I had to bring all of it back to my room and hang it up all over the place so it could dry. So far...most everything has dried except my jeans, which I guess I figured would happen. Um...I'm trying to think of what else I did. OH! I went to Church yesterday. That was good, but for some reason, I got really really hot and I almost threw up (on an American...so don't worry) so I sat down. Then I almost fell asleep while the guy was talking which was disappointing because I really thought Church here would be different than back home. Just kidding. Kind of. Sunday nights we have something called 9@9 and we meet in one of the houses we're staying in and have a group devo and take communion and all that and I was awake for that, so I did get some Jesus time in. I've watched a couple movies in the common room with some people. First I watched one of the Austin Powers movies. I've never seen them before so I was told it was necessary and I've gotta say...I really don't think it was. Oh well, I guess I had to see it someday. The next night we watched the movie "Snatch" which I had heard of before but never really thought about seeing. IT WAS SO GOOD! I mean, Brad Pitt kicks butt. And it was way funny!

We started class today and I've got class on Monday from 1:00-5:30 with little 15 minute breaks here and there but I didn't eat so I was really hungry after and I went to this pub called 'three goat's head' and it was really good. I had bangers and mash which is just sausage and mashed potatoes. I did get lost on the way there though, everything looks so different at night and when it gets dark at about 5:00 in the evening it's hard to go anywhere during the day...since I sleep till about 12:00. I'll just have to stop doing that and start doing homework. Yikes! I've got six classes and so far I've got to read for 4 of them. And that's what I should be doing right now!!!!! I know, excessive exclamation marks...bit literary no-no, but that's how I feel. So, with all that said, I think this is the end of this post. I think I've given whoever is going to read this enough to last them until I can post again. Just for kicks and giggles, I'm going to try to have something exciting happen to me everyday...hah, good luck, Hannah.