Arrived safely

After a long bus ride to Boston I boarded my flight to Heathrow. During the entire process of applying and getting me here I felt rather detached from the reality of what was happening and so it was only in the last 48 hours that it has really hit me that I was indeed going and that it was happening right now.

The flight was long, made longer by cramped leg room, two crying babies, and seats not built for sleeping. But I survived and made it through customs without a hitch. You have no idea how happy these blotches of ink make me.

The bus stop was not hard to find and I snapped this just before it arrived. A thousand apologies for the lack of focus, but that's about what my mental state was at the time too.

One of the passengers was a fellow student, which we discovered when we got off together. Our residence was just an easy walk away and we unpacked and had the afternoon to ourselves before our first round of orientation. Another student and I took a meander around the town.

The first thing that really struck me about this place is how old everything is. You can fake 'old' in architecture by using the appropriate building materials and style but you cannot include "centuries of decay" on a building material list. One of the ways that this is immediately apparent are the plants, specifically the roses, that fill the front gardens of the little brick houses that line the extremely narrow streets.  

The other thing that struck me was this shark: 

Our meander took us past the almost complete Islamic Studies building. There they have used the same stone as the surrounding buildings and will just have to let it weather properly.

After coming back I tried to get some logistics worked out, including directions to my church but fell asleep at my desk. We all met up for orientation and got bikes for those who wanted one. Since we were free for the time being, my roommate, another student, and I biked down into the city center where we found a delightful pub, The White Horse. It is set down into the pavement with one window that looks out over the cobbled streets. Dark, aged wood interior and worn tables seated by locals in for a nightly pint helped complete the English pup atmosphere. We sat quietly in the corner enjoying our drinks before heading back.