well.

This post is dedicated to Smooth Joe. For more info, read on. :)

I'm here, after a 10-hour plane flight, one-hour bus ride, and a 10-minute walk (while lugging two 50-pound suitcases). And it's actually going fairly well. Phew.

Today, after sleeping in, we did a little bit of exploring of Oxford-- found the supermarket, bought a hairdryer and a planner (which is called a "mid year diary") and laundry detergent... it costs something like 1.40 (in pounds, of course, but I don't know how to put the symbol in) to do a load of laundry here, so 75 cents at Dordt doesn't seem so bad.

And tonight, eleven of us went to a nearby pub for dinner. Apparently it was karaoke night, and this cute little old man sitting near us got up there and dedicated his song to "the girls in the corner." It was awesome-- he sang "I just can't help falling in love with you." Sooo cute.

Picture!

My flash didn't reach to the front of the pub, so you can't see him very well, but he's up there with his mic. They called him Smooth Joe. We laughed sooo hard when he got up there.

And it turns out, that instead of being in the 40+ person house, I'm in a little cottage (the Lodge) with three other girls. We're right next to the big house (called the Vines) but we have our own kitchen and bathroom and two bedrooms. It's pretty awesome.

More pictures!

My roommate Lauren at her desk.

My side of the room... the desk chairs don't rock back like the ones at Dordt (although they do have more cushion), so hopefully I don't fall over backwards too many times this semester.

So I tried to upload more pictures, but it's deciding not to work. And I don't really have the patience for that, so no more pictures for the moment. (A minor complaint: the wireless internet here is actually pretty slow. But I guess that will curtail the aimless web surfing, although it may make it harder to watch future A's playoff games on mlb.tv if the streaming video doesn't work very well. And yes, I am (pretty) confident the A's will be going to the playoffs, with an 8.5 game lead over the Angels right now. Good times.)

Oh, and Dayna, if you're reading this-- I have that picture of you and Karyn from James's barbeque on my wall-- the one from the swing and you're making this crazy awesome face. It makes me smile every time I look at it. :)

Ok, that's all for now. I should probably get some sleep. This time difference thing is weird, man.