The Oxford Experience - Day 1

I actually have absolutely NO idea where in Oxford this is, but when I woke up from the bus ride, this is the sight that greeted me. 

I’m finally in Oxford, United Kingdom (yeah I know, I’m so amazed and wow-ed) and can I just say that the pictures don’t do this place justice. As soon as we entered the Heathrow Airport in London and we began driving, I was amazed by this quaint and picturesque sort of view of London, which I’d previously imagined to be as hustling and bustling as the grand New York City itself (Note: I was also a little bit freaked out, because I’ve just started learning to drive and over here everyone drives on the left side of the road which scared me so much, I was actually like “Wait, oh my god, we’re going to all die.”)

Do you see that little doorway? That's the doorway to Pembroke and all my memories.

This is definitely not one of the busy roads, however it's a little sneaky alleyway that I'm probably going to use more often

Oxford, however, has a sort of grand, ancient beauty to it; it’s buildings are so baroque and ornate, each one has little gargoyles and beautiful designs, which are almost enough to make any passerby want to study art. The college itself is vast; I found myself getting lost the entire day and in different areas of the city. The diversity of this place, with it’s chapels and stain glass walls, to the pubs in the little corners of the street and beautiful little flowers decorating the area... it’s spectacular, and I just cannot do it justice with any of the words in the English language. The parks here are well-trimmed and the grass never fades from green, and the buses on the road seem to never stop appearing. It’s nearly impossible to go around a corner of the street without meeting some Oxbridge student that I’d met earlier on in the day.

Is it just me or is that field BEAUTIFUL? If our lawns looked like that...

The city itself has a great diversity of restaurants and stores; from little book stores and pubs, to cafés and malls and Poundland (the dollar store of the UK). Just across from the part of the college that I’m staying in is a store called M&S that has not only a currency exchange (if you have the actual dollars it’s free, so Ipsita Tip #DollarSign$ is to find the nearest M&S and convert all cash into pounds) but also a grocery store and clothing store. I swear, it’s like the Target of the United Kingdom. In this country not only do they have a wide diversity of stores, but they also have amazing and lush green parks where people are free to sit and socialize, have picnics, play sports, or read and enjoy themselves.

The most difficult part of this trip was definitely socializing and getting to know people who’d come from all across the world, and trying to find similarities. Bonding with the people in the program was, and still is, essential to being happy here. Despite the vintage little dormitories and the strange bathrooms (both of which I will elaborate on later), there’s not really much you can do in the city other than shop and eat on your own which doesn’t require you to have your friends. Making friends here, although daunting because these people are from so far away and have so many different experiences and may not have anything in common with you), was already an amazing experience. Today, I quite literally went around introducing myself to EVERYBODY, and wow were they all so friendly. I mean other than the occasional stuck-up person, who will always be present in life no matter what, the people here are so friendly and amiable, and so easy to get along with. When I’d arrived, I only knew one person who was on the plane with me. When I’d gotten off, I suddenly expanded my friend circle to a group of 5 girls, all from different states in the US. When I finished cleaning my room and headed outside, I even met 2 Parisian twins who were so kind and amazing, and I actually went out to lunch with these newfound friends.

The dorm room itself is actually reasonably big; it’s around the size of a spacious room, and has all the necessities: lamps, outlets, a bed, closets, drawers, shelves and mini-fridges (which me and my friends plan to put to use). It’s got large windows, which allow me to see the really bipolar UK weather (it was sunny one minute, and then the next minute, people were walking into the common room soaking wet).

Welcome to my lair *coughs* sorry, my dorm?

I’m so stoked for tomorrow, and I can already feel myself speaking with a more British accent (it’s really annoying, I thought I was speaking normally but I can feel some sort of an accent creeping in). There are quite a few cute guys, so swoon (#operationgetsmartcuteguys) and I’ve already made a large amount of friends, and I’m doing subjects I’m passionate about. I couldn’t be more excited for an entire month of living like this!