settling in

Woke up to rain today. So now it really feels like England. I'm not sure if I could ever live here permanently, I miss the sun already! Rain around here isn't like storms or showers, it's just there all around you, and an umbrella is merely an extension of your body. So anyway, busy day today. We had meetings in the morning on living in Oxford. Took a break for lunch. On Wednesdays there's this open market in the center of town. You can get anything from fresh fruit to CDs and shoes. We came back to more meetings on art and architecture. Then they took us out on short tours of the city. Oxford University is actually made up of, I think 14, colleges. So the city is pretty much just these colleges with streets and shops in between them. There are just so many old buildings it's hard to keep track of all the names. Its a crowded city, but there aren't many cars. Just people walking everywhere. And the streets and sidewalks are narrow. So you've got a ton of people, all carry umbrellas ... yeah, things get tight sometimes. We got to take a quick peek in New College, which is the college I'm going to. And the Bodlein library (that might not be spelled right) which is where I'll be doing most of my studying. We also saw gardens, a formal dining hall (where they will be filming Harry Potter, Christ's Church (another college in Oxford), the Thames River and cows. Yeah, right outside of the city. It was kind of weird. Apparently Madgelan College raises deer in their park for the students to eat too. After our tour we all went back to the office for snacks and, of course, free drinks. Then we went to yet another pub (the city is pretty much made up of them) for free appetizers and yet even more free drinks. The weird thing is we go out at 5, so at 7:30 we don't know what to do. And most people are drunk by then anyway. The pubs close at 11 during the week so I'm assuming there's not much late-night life. Which suits me just fine. Another group went back out tonight, but I decided to just spend the evening back at the flat, since it's the first time I've been here all day. We found a grocery story, unfortunately it was closing in 5 minutes, so I had just enough time to grab milk, cereal and bread. We got back here and finally met our British flatmate. She is adorable, and contrary to what they say about the Brits, very friendly. She's not even a student or from Oxford. I guess she's already graduated and teaches primary school from 8-6 every day. My roommate arrived today, she's from Eastern. And the other two girls have apparently been here for the whole month and are traveling Europe with their group this week. Their from Azusa Pacific, which is a Christian school, and as Sophie (my British flatmate) describes them "very nice, very Christian, they don't drink." So Mom you will be pleased to know that 3 of my 5 flatmates are from Christian schools and we may even assume are Christian. And with that I'm going to close.