Checked in at Oxford

Hi, all! I am happy to report I have checked in at Oxford and successfully made it through my first day here. The bus trip from London was rather peaceful - about an hour's ride from the city. Checking in at Oxford was a bit surreal. The college is closed to the public since classes are in session, so I felt a bit special being able to pass through the porter's gate with my cool little access card. Exeter College is beautiful - small and peaceful. There is a large chapel in the middle with classrooms and dorms all around. It is a peaceful space and hopefully full of creative energy. If JRR Tolkien found some inspiration here to go on and write the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, hopefully I can find enough to get through a three week course.

I have been taking photos here myself, but I haven't put them on a drive to send them over to the computer lab at the University. Just to give you an idea on where I am, here are some photos I found on the internet - and they adequately represent what I have seen so far. First, here is a photo of the main quad at Exter. This photo is taken from the back corner of the quad, facing the entrance of the college and of the chapel.




















The next photo is of the dining hall. So far, this is the coolest room I have found here. We had our opening dinner here tonight, and we actually have all of our meals in the space. It is definitely as cool as it appears here. Once I can post my own photos, I will!




















My classmates seem great so far - people from all over the world. There are students from Argentina, Greece, Bermuda, Australia, England, USA, India, Sri Lanka, Japan - and that is just all I can remember at the moment. I truly believe that this will be a wonderful experience.

But it is now 11:20pm here, and I should wrap up and get a good night's sleep. Classes start tomorrow, and I want to sound semi-intelligent. Hope everyone is well, and I look forward to hearing from you!