(note the A-Team shirt)
A lot has happened over the course of the day. I'm actually writing this while all the rest of the Freshers (or, as Hagrid likes to call them, "firs' ye'rs") are in the JCR, drinking a lot of alcohol/fruit drinks. I can't believe they're already out drinking again after already going to the bar together, but I guess that's England for you.
I personally have not had any alcohol. I did enter a pub as part of the week's events with the rest of the Freshers, AND I ordered my first drink from a bar, but it's not what you think; I ordered pineapple juice :)
I really enjoyed hanging out with everyone in the bar, but the problem is that I had to practically shout to be heard because of all the people. No way to tell jokes, apart from through facial expressions and mime.
My loving parents, sister Rose, and grandmother helped my carry all the luggage into my new room (there was a particularly large suitcase to which we refer as "El Gordo" that I had to heave up two flights of stairs). There are NO roommates at Oxford (unless you ask for one specifically).
We also went to an amazing church this morning. I thought the churches in England were going to be all stuffy and partially in Latin and stuff, but as it turns out, I enjoyed it even more than Open-Door Church, which I attended in Los Altos. Although the rest of my family was tired after an entire hour of unfamiliar songs.
Today was a giant broohahaey-fest of everyone trying to learn everyone's names (I'm SO going to be BFFs with the hilarious old weekend porter here, Mark). Yikes. With over three hundred people at Oriel this year, it's going to be the hardest battle since...well, since the battle of the 300 :D
It was unbelievably exciting to finally be let loose from my parents and finally TALK to non-family members after the ~1 week we'd spent on this trip so far. I was so excited I talked at a rapid pace that's extremely fast even for me for the first hour or so! When I finally left my parents, I was in a hurry, since I didn't want to miss a Fresher's meeting I thought was going on, and I wanted to get my room sorted out and talk to people and get a blog set up and EVERYTHING. I don't like long goodbyes as a general rule, so we didn't make it longer than a minute. Because why do goodbyes have to be sad? It's not a permanent goodbye. And as I ran back towards Oriel from the Old Bank Hotel, I knew that God has big and exciting (or mathematical) plans for me here at Oxford.
Love,
John Khouri, Pineapple Juice Drinker
Whoot! You're across the pond!! I'm sure you'll thrive in college life, John! Keep up the good work of not drinking!! :D :D
ReplyDelete