Oxford, Here I Come!

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Well, I made it to Oxford, but it was a bit of a challenging day. I had to check out of my hostel in Cardiff by 11am, but my train wasn't supposed to leave until 12:30pm. The hostel there was SOOOO nice, and the guy running it, Charlie, was so nice, that I thought I would give away some of the Canadian souvenirs that I had brought with me (to give to Anna, Ayaz, Ade and Sara, and promptly forgot each and every time that I saw someone!) and they were thrilled! I asked if I could hang out in their TV room for a bit before leaving, and I was happily allowed to stick around and watch a rerun of Dr. Who. Some what fitting, if you ask me! 😊

The train ride to Oxford was okay, but I had to change trains twice before ending up in Oxford. Not really a big deal, but a little worrisome when the first train was running 10-15 minutes late. I made it onto the connecting trains fine, but couldn't really nap on the train for fear of missing my stop.

The hostel here in Oxford is nice and close to the train station, but I ended up having to wait about 20 minutes to check in and I was dying to pee!!!! Then they didn't have a key card for my room for me. Then my bed wasn't ready for me. How frustrating! I also was desperate to do laundry, and found out that they would do it all for me, including the drier portion, but of course, I'm such a pain because I didn't want some of my stuff to go into the drier for fear that they would shrink. I ended up having to wait around at the hostel until about 7pm (when I arrived at 3:30ish) because of all these issues.

Finally, I was able to get out and walk around. Of course it was raining! I took my umbrella and my rain jacket and walked into the town centre anyway. I got some photos of Queen St./High St., but I have no idea what I took photos of. Neat gargoyles on some of the buildings though! I grabbed a quick meal at Burger King (not much else was open) and headed back. I decided I was too cold to hang out in the rain to see if they light up the buildings here, and I don't have a tripod anymore, so it would be a balancing act with the camera and umbrella and trying to stabilize the camera for night shots. Too much work for tonight!

They were having a BBQ at the hostel tonight, but I decided to pass on it, since they didn't have much that I like (or wanted) and drinks were not included in the price. Besides, I was not in an overly social mood. Meeting 50 new people when I'm tired and headachy is not my idea of fun. And the music they were playing kinda sucked, so I think I made the right choice. Hopefully the music will be quieted sometime in the next hour or so, and I'll be able to sleep tonight. 😊

Hope it's sunny tomorrow!

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