Catz Meow

Eesh. Sorry for the pun. Had to. I have to keep the family heritage alive and well while abroad. But seriously, folks, I'm finally in Oxford.

After a few hours of not-packing this morning (I compulsively repacked everything yesterday), we jumped on a bus for about an hour's ride into Oxford. Dara and I sat in the back like the cool kids we are, and listened to my iPod speakers. Her iPod mostly, and now I have Fleetwood Mac stuck in my head. But like I said, the ride wasn't too long, and before I knew it, we were pulling into some modern-looking building complex. We left our bags outside, got our room assignments and ID cards, and started dragging our crap to our staircases.

For those of you who don't go to Yale (or some comparable school), staircases are like mini buildings all squashed together, so there are four doubles and four singles on the top two floors, and I think one or two of each on the ground floor. As it turns out, all of the abroad students are housed together, and I'm rooming with Laura, who goes to Johns Hopkins. We got into the room and found a tiny double bedroom and a common area, and (once we determined that there were ethernet jacks in both rooms) quickly claimed one room each. I took the inner room, knowing from my Gund-dorm days that I do better with the inner room (especially as Laura, like my first-year roommate, is early to bed and early to rise, and apparently sleeps like a rock). Pros: bigger than the other room, comfy chair, and nightstand; cons: absolutely NO storage. I have one drawer under my bed. That's literally it. However, Laura's room has tons of shelves, half of which she graciously donated to my stuff. I figure, if I'm getting up later than she is, it's not a big deal to go grab clothes from her room. There's also no door between our rooms, something we hope to remedy with some kind of curtain in the future.



Again, the first few hours were kind of lame. A bare room isn't exciting for me, so I threw posters up as quickly as possible, before unpacking (as much as possible, (as I said, no storage space means my shirts live on the floor for the moment). But we were invited to the dining hall for coffee and sandwiches, which we pounced on, and one of the abroad coordinators from Catz was wandering around, asking if we had any questions; she seems extremely nice.

We then had a meeting with the academic director for the abroad students, who was just SO enthusiastic about the school, she infected us all with it, and the mood noticeably lifted. Two things learned: Oxford has the oldest museum in the world, and every ten minutes, there's a coach (bus) to London from Oxford. Also, there are just so many resources for us to take advantage of here, and I do plan on getting my (parents') money's worth.

First thing on the list of things to send me, mom and dad: a comforter cover. Seriously. Any one will do. The quilt I have on my bed is beyond ugly. See Figure 1.