Clearly Slacking...

I've been in Oxford 18 days now and this is my first blog post. I know, not off to a great start. So the next few posts will be a bit of a recap to get everyone up to speed.

I arrived on Monday, 24th September (feels so long ago now!). It was, of course, raining when I got to Oxford and then had to carry my luggage around until I found my college, St Cross.

I went through all the necessary registration, which lasted a couple hours, before moving into my flat. I'm living at the St Cross Annexe, in a flat with four other people. We all have our own rooms, but share a kitchen and two bathrooms. My room is pretty big, and I even have nice bay windows to look out onto...the large tree. Oh well. I don't live with other freshers, which was a bit disappointing, but I've made friends quickly enough.

We had roughly two weeks of Freshers' events, which was great because it helped me to make friends almost immediately, and to get used of Oxford. It's a small town, pretty much everywhere is walkable (sometimes 20 minutes, but those are places I'll probably never have to visit). Friends had told me Oxford was small, but I didn't realize just how much so. It's really great when you have to walk everywhere (although my feet were not happy after the first week, believe me). 

One of the best things about Oxford that I didn't initially think I'd appreciate so much is how the University and the city blend together. Academic and administrative buildings are on the same street as your favorite cafe or across from clothing shops. There isn't the "gate mentality" like at Rhodes, which is pretty refreshing. Granted, there isn't an Honor Code, but nothing's perfect.

During the first week we had some great events - Pimms and croquette at College, for instance. Those Freshers events were key to me making friends. That was honestly by biggest concern about moving to England, and thankfully it turned out to be nothing to worry about at all. St Cross is a relatively small college, and it's very international, so I've met people from all over the world. Several of my friends also went to Oxford for their undergraduate degrees, so it's been really cool (and helpful!) to hear their stories and their advice on Oxford. 

I think that's a good introductory post for now - I think they'll be a bit more thematic from now on, instead of "I did this, and then this, and blah blah blah."Because that's not very interesting, is it?

And because I've now been at Oxford too long to take touristy photos, I leave you with the only one I bothered to take, whoops: 

P.S. Also, if there's anything in particular you want to hear about whilst I'm here, please just comment and let me know (although I really doubt anyone is actually going to read this or care enough to make requests, but I thought I'd at least offer).