Two Week Recap for those keeping score:

Arrived in England on Friday 22 September (British dates) and caught the hotel shuttle to Hever Hotel in Hever, Kent. The hotel was on the grounds of Hever Castle (though not as close as I hoped), the family castle of Anne Boelyn: ill-fated wife of Henry VIII. Beautiful castle from the outside but the £10 cost kept us away (that's $20 if you're keeping track). Unfortunately for Jeffrey and I, the hotel, though beautiful, was about 3-4 miles from the town of Edenbridge, from whence you could catch a train, and there were only two taxi services in the area, which were always busy and thus could never take us where we wanted to go. The nearest bus stop was a perilous mile walk away (curvey, small British roads, no sidewalks, little grass, fast cars). So, sadly, we found ourselves stuck in a community that was beautiful, but had very little to do, and an unfortunate presence of anti-American sentiment. Now I won't say that some of this wasn't expected, but I sure didn't think I would have a taxi driver reiterating an insult just to make sure we knew he didn't like us. As a result of all of this, Jeffrey and I packed up four days early and came to Oxford on Tuesday night.

I had planned on being in Oxford for the day on Wednesday anyway because of international graduate student orientation. I went to orientation and found myself in Oxford's famous examination schools, where all students go for end of term exams dressed in their traditional student gowns (you know, the Harry Potter-like ones). The rooms in the examination schools are overwhelming (of course, so is much of Oxford). High ceilings, large portraits of dead men (administrators I suppose), and annoyingly loud ticking clocks fill the rooms. It's a sight to see, and certainly helped me to realize I was in fact in Oxford, which was easy to forget surrounded by hundreds of other Americans. Yes, there are a lot of Americans here. It seems that about 10 percent of the student body is from the US, and another large percent comes from countries not in the UK. I've since met more people from Canada, Germany, Ireland, Brazil, and Peru than England, Scotland, N. Ireland, or Wales. Speaking of the student body, it's relatively small, only about 17,000 students. I had always thought there were more. Not sure why, but this number just suprised me.

After being orientated (they say that, though I'm not sure if it's really correct), Jeffrey and I embarked Thursday on our own tour of the city. We walked all over, which really isn't far. You can cross the most important parts of the city in 20-30 minutes on foot. We saw the Radcliffe Camera (which is right across the street from my college on one side and the history department on the other), the Bodleian (which I later explored on my own- let me tell you, that is overwhelming!), and many of the colleges. Christ Church is huge, Hertford's famous Bridge of Sighs is not as amazing as all the tourist books say, though very interesting. All the colleges have beautiful and overwhelming facades. It's easy to take them for granted after a few days because looking at these architectual masterpieces just becomes commonplace. We then ventured down Park Road looking for the University Parks, which I had seen from a bus window on the way to orienation. Once there we walked a while and found a seat on a bench in the middle as the sun was setting.

Now, you have to understand that our trials in Kent had been very stressful. I hadn't handled the trip very well: immediate stress, worry about not being home, missing everyone, fearing the worst. Jeffrey had endured a lot and had handled it much better than I. It was very expensive, and we didn't eat much because we couldn't afford it as all our money was going to hotel rooms and transportation. In hindsight it would have been better to rent a car, but oh well. So, even though we had planned to go to Eastbourne on the coast on Friday, we had to abandon our trip in order to afford the extra nights in Oxford. We talked about all this as we sat on this bench in the middle of University Park, at sunset. In the midst of our talk Jeffrey looked at me and stated that he had something that he had to do, reaching for his pocket as he said it. Being a doof, I said "What do you have to do?", or something similar, and then noticed him reaching for his pocket. At this point, those of you who really know me know that I began to cry. The proverbial light bulb turned on and I realized what he was doing. Five years of trials, tears, and more love and trust than ever came crashing over me as Jeffrey got down on one knee and opened the box exclaiming "will you marry me?" There is some dispute whether I said "yes" or "of course", but the sentiment was the same, and he placed the ring on my finger making the dreams I've had since I was 17 come true. With that I asked "Did you ask my Dad?" And Jeffrey replied "Of course." It was at this point that I realized that I was the luckiest person in the world.

The next day we were off to London and then to Dover to escape the very horrible hotel (hostel is more like it) in which we were staying in Oxford. We saw the sights and then came back on Sunday to move me in. My dorm room is great: very large with four big windows and lots of space (my own bathroom too!). And then we prepared for Jeffrey to go home. :( He left on Monday and since then I've been in a mix of inductions, MCR (graduate student organization in my college) events, meetings, and down time. It's been very trying, especially with the introduction of the massive amounts of course work I'll be doing today. I swear, MA students at UL in History, I'm sorry, but your degree is easy. I now actually miss semesters. But, as much as I want to pack it in looking at the four books I have to read a week for just one class, I know that this is going to be a valuable experience. I really do love the city, and I really like my college. The people here are great. They come from all backgrounds and disciplines. They are all very kind and a lot of fun. I'll let you know later about the profs. I'm just dealing daily with the newness of it all, my own insecurities, and the emptiness I feel without my family, friends, and especially Jeffrey.

So, two week inventory:
-I'm engaged!!!
-I'm studying at Oxford!
-I'm STUDYING at Oxford :(
-I'm learning to live on my own.
-I'm learning to eat things even when I don't know what's in them.
-I like lamb.
-I like tea.
-I've started to say "quite", "lovely", and "a bit" a lot.
-I might row...Samantha's working on that. We'll see.
-I miss everyone very much: I am looking forward to coming home at Christmas.
-I miss Walmart and Target. Yes I said it. But when you can't find laundry detergent, hand soap, a laundry basket, or shower curtain because they don't make specific shops for those things you just wish you had a place where you can get everything at once.
-I love Jeffrey (had to throw that in there)!!

Off to dinner now: a weird experience indeed because they serve you, there's candle light, and medieval tables and stained glass windows all around. Cheers!