Day 1: 30 Aug 2007

I’ve finally arrived in Oxford. I flew out of Wichita yesterday at 2:20pm Central time. Amazingly, the flight to Chicago goes North and turns North East right over Hillsboro, so it was a very poetic moment for me since we dipped the wing just in time to look down and see Tabor from God’s Eye View. Really sweet. Landed in Chicago around 4:05pm, and then sat uncomfortably in O’Hare while everyone boarded United Flight 928 to London, Heathrow. Finally they started calling those people who were flying standby such as myself. I was really nervous as they called several names, not hearing my own. I thought I might not make the flight, but finally they got around to the “Vs”. I flew business class for 6:56:09 to finally land in London this morning at 7:45am Greenwich time… which translates to 1:45am back home. Then I took an hour to get through customs and grab my luggage which actually made it to London, I was a little worried about the whole thing. Then I walked around for quite awhile but actually found the bus station with ease and just as I walked out the airport the Oxford bus pulled into the station. So I didn’t have to wait at all. An hour and ten minutes later I was in downtown Oxford. All I had to do from there was find St George street and follow that to Hythe Bridge Street, under the railway and then find the next youth hostel on my right to be at my home for the night. However, this is the point where my seamless perfect luck in travel fell through. I found a map of the area, but instead of being based on north being towards the top of the map it was based on orientation, so I walked south instead of north. I walked about a mile looking for the streets I needed only to find another map that told me the true layout of Oxford. So by the time I got to my Hostel at 11:45am (5:45am central) I was pretty exhausted having covered about 3 miles. Oh and once I got into the hostel I realized that my suitcase had been dragging for quite awhile, rubbing one wheel to the rim. I wonder how long it had been doing that. Then I was not allowed in my room until 2:30pm and to make things worse finally once I could lay down, the hostel had a fire-drill. So I had to get up and leave again. However, all that aside, it will be easy to sleep tonight, and tomorrow I move into my new home for the next 4 months. I’ve also made a new friend here at the hostel, a young German named Nickolaus who runs the 200 and 400, we’ve spent part of the day watching track on BBC 2. We’ll see what else happens today, as of yet I haven’t eaten or slept, but I’m not too hungry.

I’m not too lonely yet. But I miss mom, dad, Shelby, Tabor, the guys, ect. I imagine this will get worse before it gets better. But it has defiantly gotten easier since I’m finally here and can sit down. I’m also nervous about the program. We’ll see.