And so it begins...
I have to admit, I probably wasn’t nearly as excited as I should have been when departure day arrived. I was constantly stressing about different things I had yet to do for pre-trip preparations. Packing was finished up Wednesday night (the 12th) because Brad and I left for the Woodlands on Thursday the 13th. His new house is awesome by the way! haha. In a way, I was sort of dreading today because of having to say my goodbyes to Brad. I never knew it could be so difficult to leave someone, but I suppose when you're truly in love and that person feels like your other half, it seems more gut-wrenching than you'd expect. Tears were shed at the airport, but it was important for me to go inside to check in to start this amazing journey with all my fellow Aggies.
The check in line was horrendous, seeing as it took about an hour and a half just to check in. Somehow we still had 2 hours to kill once we got to our gate. A last American fast food meal was had (Wendy's was the best we could do) and then we boarded the plane in the nick of time... seriously. A massive squall line of thunderstorms was about to roll into the Houston metro, and we would've been sitting on the IAH tarmac for well over an hour I'm sure. Amid some turbulance and clenching to the arm rests on my part (nervous flyer over here), we became airborne. The flight seemed like it took forever... especially considering the longest I've ever previously flown is about 4 hours from DFW to Calgary. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to sleep much at all on the flight which made me both anxious and annoyed. I knew it would come back to haunt me after the jam-packed Saturday that lay ahead of me. To pass the time, I settled into the movie marathon mode, watching whatever would keep me entertained. Sherlock Holmes and the Blind Side were the movie highlights for me... most definitely. Oh, and I got to watch my favorite show, Friends.... which is always an EPIC win! haha. I finally drank a small bottle of wine, and it was just enough to make me groggy. I was then able to get about an hour and a half of sleep before I was awoken (much to my dismay) for breakfast. But you can’t get too mad at the nice British Airways flight attendants because their accent is just too endearing not to get a smile out of me. We touched down at Heathrow amid giant Airbus aircrafts that dwarfed our measly Boeing 777. After making our long journey through trams, escalators, moving sidewalks, and the like, we made it through customs and out to meet Dr. White, his wife, and Dan. A new morning was breaking in London, so it was time to overcome the jetlag and start our amazing European journey.
Once we boarded the chartered bus they had reserved for us, we learned that the other half of our trip’s flight experienced a very lengthy delay getting out of Houston because of severe weather. They had just taken off not but an hour before we landed. Crazy stuff! So unfortunately that half of the group didn’t get to experience Oxford like my group did. Immediately when we left the airport that’s where our driver took us. It’s about an hour and fifteen minutes west of London. I got minimal sleep on the bus but attempted once again.
When we got there, I was pleasantly surprised at what we saw. I was expecting it to be just a college campus, but it was an actual quaint English town. Our tour guide gave us a wonderful tour around the area of campus and explained to us how the Oxford University system works. I have to say it’s quite different from anything we have in America. At Oxford, there are 38 colleges in which one can be admitted to, and you take classes within your college. Students take a more well-rounded assortment of classes for their degree, which isn’t normally as specialized as our degrees in the United States. While we were walking around Oxford, several of us in the group noticed all of the Harry Potter sights that were around us. Much of the filming for the movie was done at Oxford, such as the Great Hall, the library, and the outside courtyard corridor which is seen in many of the films. After a quick bit to eat it was back on the bus and back to London to check into our hotel for the week.
We stayed at the Holiday Inn London Kensington Forum, located in west London, in the city of Westminster to be more exact. Although the rooms weren’t what I was expecting at all (twin size beds and barely room to put a bag), it didn’t matter because it was a place to sleep. However, we couldn’t sleep off our jet lag just yet. The group hen left for Leichster Square so we would know how to properly use the tube for the week. We explored on our own, walked around Picadilly Circus, Chinatown, and parts of SoHo before we settled on eating at a little pub in an alleyway. We were determined to try some fish and chips, and it was delicious I must say! Ben’s ale, aptly named Spitfire, wasn’t as good. Haha.
After our dinner, we went to a free wifi café and were able to download Boingo internet service, which is how I’m staying connected to the world back home. It’s been a lifesaver so far! Finally, it was time for us to head back to the hotel to turn in. What a long day… or should I say 2 days!
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