Up and Running.

I meant to set this up and make an "about to go abroad post" before leaving the States, but clearly didn't get around to it. So! Here I am, sitting in the Junior Common Room, watching Eddie Izzard's Dressed to Kill. How appropriate. The months running up to my departure were a little odd; since I decided to go to St. Mary's I knew I would study abroad, it was just a matter of where. For a while I wanted to go to Heidelberg, but I'm one semester short of the language requirement for the program due to my deferred semester and the classes there weren't really geared to what I want to do...whatever that may be. Oxford/the CMRS program was the only other option in my mind. But regardless of program the idea of studying abroad has been in the back of my head for 2+ years, so now that it's finally here it's a bit surreal. It didn't really hit me until the last week of class, when on the path I was thinking about where I've already traveled and where I have yet to go. So since then I've had to continually pinch myself as a reminder that I'm finally here.

The flight over wasn't too bad. Since the last time I was on a plane in late 2006 the movies on international flights have been put on demand, so you can pick from several movies and TV shows and pause/stop/change whenever you like, although Apaloosa was rather...eh. Although one odd little tidbit: apparently if a child is flying somewhere alone, they are not allowed to sit next to a male, whether the child is male or female. I know this because Kellie and I had to switch seats to accommodate a seven year-old boy returning home to Belgium. The Daniel Craig-looking flight attendant assured me that it wasn't because of previous incidents. Right. We landed in London around 6:30am and eventually made our way via the London Underground (the Tube) to our hotel in central London and promptly took a 3 hour nap. After a shower and some soup, we met up with my friend Kate, who I met on the NSLC trip four years ago! She was in London on a study tour and it just so happened that I was in London on one of her two free days.

On Thursday we eventually made it to Oxford. Between asking different people for directions to the Oxford Tube, which is a bus, we were directed to Paddington Station where we ended up just taking the train to Oxford. From the train station it was a short walk that felt a lot longer dragging luggage that had been lugged up and down too many stairs. But at long last, we found St. Michael's Hall. Since then I've done a bunch of orientating, walking around, probably not enough sleeping, a little bit of pubbing, so forth and so on.

Enough boring details for the first post! More to come, with pictures! For now, my contact info:

Matt Foerster
Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies
St Michael's Hall
Shoe Lane
Oxford
OX1 2DP
England

Note: It is inadvisable to send parcels via Courier whenever possible use a priority postal service. Certain items mailed from the USA, particularly new clothing/books and other goods, must be clearly marked as ‘used’ and ‘of no commercial value’ otherwise they may be stopped at Customs and an import levy charged against them – often a large sum of money. CMRS will not accept mail with a payment due.

Those calling from the states must first dial 011-44-1865, then 792108 or 791643 followed by x217 or x218. Please note that once the caller has entered the extension number for your room they will hear nothing, however, the phone will be ringing in your room and they should hold for you to answer. I understand that's probably a bit confusing, but I haven't called myself from the States, so good luck!