DAY ONE!

FLIGHT

I left at 7:30 PM last night from Logan. Loving how it's still light out! See how excited I am?! :D

I arrived in Ireland at 1:14 AM but since Ireland is five hours ahead, it was 6:14 AM and bright as fuck outside… I should’ve slept but when the flight attendant told me I had my very own personal TV, I couldn’t help but watch movies for the whole trip. I even had the whole row to myself. At Shannon Airport, I switched over and went through immigration. Someone had to wait for me to get off the plane and take me there himself, like a personal guide. Teehee, I'm important. :b

Ireland is beautiful.People say that all the time, but you have to see it for yourself. I can’t wait to explore it! On the flight from Shannon Airport to London Heathrow, I tried to catchup on my Zzz’s but the flight only took an hour. I had the row to myself, too. I guess no one really wants to sit next to me. Haha.


ENGLAND

I finally arrived in England at around 9:30 AM here (4:30 AM US time). My original plan was to see London for a bit before taking the coach bus to Oxford, but after not really having any sleep, a 50 lb suitcase, and two heavy carry-ons, I did not think I would’ve even made it to the train to get to Central London.

I exchanged money at the airport and totally got ripped-off. I only got 30.52L for $60. I knew exchanging money would be horrible. I should’ve gone to a bank but I definitely needed to purchase a ticket to Oxford right away. I ended up sleeping for most of the ride to campus.

The first thing I did when I arrived in Oxford was find the campus. The campus is gated, I’m guessing to keep out Voldemort and the Deatheaters. Hahaha. I was extremely sad to find out that the world premiere of HP 7 Pt. 2 was on the day of my flight, so I couldn't even be in the same country as the premiere! :(

Anyways, I got into my dorm and despite the putty that’s still left on the walls, and the dust everywhere, it's pretty nice. I have my own sink, mini fridge, a huge closet, and a huge desk. The only bad part is when the light turns on, it flickers, so it’s kind of creepy. Everything seems nice except for this horrible smell in my room... Hopefully it will go away...

I’m the first student from Umass here! I got my own welcome commitee! Not really, but it was nice to be greeted by the Junior Deans. I hope they don’t think I’m weird for being so awkward. Haha. No lie, I was really awkward, probably because I was soooo overwelmed. There was soooo much I wanted to do and it still hadn’t hit me that I was in ENGLAND.

After calming down a bit, I decided to explore the area around the college. I walked around for a while. Oxford is fucking beautiful. I was so excited, (I still am!) that I didn’t even care that I was only had two one-hour naps.

Here’s the first thing you see after you enter the gate, minus me.

Every time I hear a British person speak here, I scream with excitement inside. Haha, yeah, I’m a freak. Hopefully I’ll get over it before I make a fool out of myself and scream out loud. I chose the wrong months to study abroad, though. There are way too many tourists here. I’m already sick of fobs in the US, what makes me not sick of American fobs in the UK? No offense to my friend, Long. Hahaha. There are so many smokers here, but I don’t mind as much. The smoke here smells different; it smells healthier? Haha.

I walked around and tried to exchange money at a bank because I heard that was the best way to get the most out of USD, but nope! I could only exchange money at a bank if I have an account there. -_- So, I was directed to a sketchy alley to exchange money. Sketchy, but definitely better than the airport. I got 45L for $82. I walked some more and got dinner. Yup, you guessed it, I had some British Micky D’s. Haha. I returned to my room around 5 PM here and I’m pretty sure I napped for five hours. Now its almost 11 pm and I’m debating whether to upload pictures already or just sleep… Ehh, I’ll probably sleep.

Until next time!