finally connected...!

So finally on day six I am able to connect to the internet from my room - no more late trips to the internet cafe on the High Street! What a relief, and what a process.

I've taken a few pictures so far. Here is a photo of my house (85 Iffley Road, Oxford, OX4 1EG) - it's the striped one, and my room is the one with the two windows on the top floor (sadly no fun bay windows, but still a good sized room).

Here also is a photo of the view from my room. I've got quite a nice view of the university sport grounds and the countryside beyond - better than the view of the neighborhood some others have, though I pay for it by having to hear all of the cars and busses on busy Iffley Road!

As more people continue to arrive in Oxford, I've met a few more of my housemates over the past few days, and it looks like a bunch of us are heading out to dinner tomorrow night. I am looking forward to learning more about them. There are definitely some things we are already thinking of to try to improve the house, but these things will take time. It's definitely an interesting building, and not in as good of shape as any of us had expected! Part of the adjustment process, I guess!

Finally got my University card yesterday, so I can use some of the spare time this week exploring other colleges around the city (there are about 38). Walked to about 4 today, so there are many more to check off of the list! Also hoping to schedule a trip out to Blenheim Palace one of these days, as it is pretty close and supposed to be really pretty; just need to figure out how to catch a bus out there first!

That's the update for now; more to come soon. *K