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Published: January 12th 2006
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The more I hang around England the more I wonder whether we are actually in fact, HATED by the rest of the world and everyone is out to get us or whether the people we have run into just seem to be ignorant and not know what is going on.
The other evening we had a very nice welcome dinner at one of the neighboring colleges, St. Hughes. It was a 'business attire' event with catered food and fancy table settings. The food was really very good, especially the chocolate torte that it ended with and because we were divided into tables we got to meet with various other students at St. Clare's. I would say we all had a good time and made a couple of new friends while we were there. The dinner ended fairly early so after that we headed to the local pub in Summertown, 'Dew Drop', where we all got a chance to just be together (it can be hard to do a lot of times when the houses are divided so much).
Anyway, by the time we finished hanging out with the gang in Summertown the regular bus lines had stopped running so
it was time for us to take the 24 hour line. Our house managers had told us exactly how to take these busses home so we felt pretty confident in our journey. To start off the evening we spent 20 minutes out on the cold and rainy street waiting for one of these puppies to come along (aparently they don't run as often as we would like). Finally, when it did get there, in order to be safe I politely asked the bus driver if this bus went to 'Evans Lane/Mills Street'... already unsure of what I was talking about and claiming to have never heard of such a place in his life I mentioned hte nearest main street, 'High'. He said he knew where that was and would inform us of the closest stop.
So the three of us are riding along (Emily, Elizabeth, and I), and we are instructed to go off and go THAT WAY (as he demonstrates by pointing straight into the darkness). We say okay and recognizing the street name 'Banbury Road' feel that we are on the right track. After dark, cold and windy streets... pained feet... moist business attire... and many complaints
later we find a street that has our town 'KIDLINGTON' and an arrow. And guess where that arrow points? The opposite direction that we had just been walking from for 45 minutes. Ready to cry and bundle into balls on the street the three of us troopers turn around and in high hopes head for home... After another 15-20 minutes of walking we see a taxi coming up the road with his light off... Sad and desperate I run to the side of the road where I flag him down and beg him to take us to SIX BELLS (the pub and local landmark accross the street from our manor). He agrees... most likely rips us off... and returns us to the safety of our six person living home 😊
The funny thing is that this is not the first time this has happened! The day before that we were trying to stop home after a meeting and before another back at the school. There are only two bus lines that run to our manor which we now know are 2A and 7B but before that we would simply ask the busses if they traveled there. We asked this one particular bus if he ran to Evans Lane/Mills Street and he said yes. We got on and road quite a distance until he parked the bus and was ready to get off. He told us that the bus behind him would take us where we needed to go. He even WALKED to the other bus and TOLD him where we needed to go before we got in. Then... as you would have it, it did not take us home but only took us an alternate route BACK to the school where we had originated....
All I have to say is... THANK GOD FOR FREE BUS PASSES.
Anyhoo... although I'm glad that orientation is finally over unfortunately that means the beginning of classes. I have had two already this morning and am waiting for one more this afternoon. I have one religion class with Emily that is scheduled to have seven students in it and the funny thing is that this will be my largest class. One of my classes this morning had three students including myself and the other was just me with one other student. It doesn't even feel like a class... we don't meet in classrooms or anything like that. Both of my morning classes met in the same room that consisted of a large conference table and rolling chairs. Although I'm nervous about the closeness of these courses I must say that I'm excited as well.
The next couple of days should be fun... Ben's birthday bash tomorrow and mine on Saturday. Exciting, Exciting!
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