I finally arrived in Oxford about an hour ago. Its been the trip from hell and probably a slightly expensive one in the end. Let's see...45 minute delay in Orlando due to weather, 3 hour delay in Phildelphia (including sitting on a plane for 90 minutes waiting to take off)and then a flight on the airplane with the narrowest leg room ever. My knees were in my chin for most of the flight, but I did manage to get about 3 hours of sleep, so I don't feel too bad. However, the 3 hour delay meant that today has been completely screwed up. I didn't get to Gatwick airport until 11:30 BST, and then airline baggage handlers broke the wheels on my luggage and trashed the zipper. That I discovered after waiting more than a hour for the luggage to arrive. Since the suitcase zipper is shot, I will end up having to buy new suitcases to take my stuff home. I was planning on buying one additional suitcase, but now it looks like I will have to buy two. However, my suitcase will still transport stuff, and I can get the zipper to sort of zip, but it takes a lot of work and the zipper itself is pulling away from the case. It will have to be replaced before I come home in six weeks time, and I will have to get a smaller suitcase for my trips around the country.
Other than that, I missed the tour around campus due to my late arrival in Oxford (at 4:30 instead of 1:30)and massive traffic in and around London due to the car bombing earlier this morning. The 2 hour trip from Gatwick to Oxford took more than 3 hours, so things have been snowballing all day long. I did manage to find Andrew Cudmore and Ralph Lucurcio, both of who will be staying and/or teaching here for a while. My dorm room is kind neat, a single lockable room with a shared bathroom, more modern than old, but with lots of space. Right now, I am sharing my little flat with Andrew Cudmore, but I don't know if I will get another flatmate once he leaves on Sunday I think to move to his house. I can tell I am going to have to pick up a fan because there isn't much in the way of air circulation, even though I do have a fairly large window. The weather is rainy so far, though there were spots of sun earlier today.
Time to get cleaned up, walk around for a bit, and then come back to find some people for dinner. Tomorrow will be exploration day, though it will take a day or two to get my bearings. However, the college is just a block from the Radcliffe Camera and the Bodelian Library (I found both of them earlier when I made a wrong turn). I am looking forward to exploring tomorrow and Sunday, especially once the very tired and cranky students get here. ::grin:: I also apologize if this blog seems kinda whiney, but I am working on just three hours of sleep and have had a lot of mishaps. None of which were my fault. I will take some pictures of the college tomorrow and try to get them posted here.
Write to me at my aol address, matt
Note: For those of you who don't realize why I altered my email address above, its an anti-spam measure.
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