Arrival

Well, yesterday I finally moved into my room at Oxford. The study abroad program actually started nine days ago, but we were all kept in London for most of last week, sightseeing and hearing orientation lectures. Classes officially begin next Monday, but meetings with departments and individual professors begin over the next few days.

Space is in high demand around this city; the streets are narrow and the buildings are closely packed. St. Edmund Hall (my college) has enough room on its main grounds for only the first-year students. The rest rent housing around Oxford or live in a group of dorms about five minutes' walk away. The visiting students are all staying somewhere in this group; like most of the newer structures here, they're tucked between older buildings (actually, one is an older building, a converted hotel).

There's no campus as such; the colleges and departmental buildings are embedded in the city. This feels a little odd after spending two years at IU, with all its open space and fields. It's a beautiful city, though, with medieval and Renaissance architecture on every street.

I still have a lot of exploring to do, so that's about all I have for now.

Cheers,

Joe

P.S. "Cheers" is a versatile word. So far I've heard people use it to mean "Goodbye (and see you soon)," "Thank you," "You're welcome," "Have a nice day," and "Good luck."