Scotland - Day 4

When I put my nice warm dry socks into my shoes in the morning when I was getting dressed they were instantly soaked from my sopping shoes. Not the best way to start the morning, but this ended up being one of the best days of the trip. The plan was to go and see Loch Lomond (Loch is what the Scots call a lake), so we went to church about half way between the Loch and Glasgow. We got on the bus and rode to the small town of Dumbarton. We got there and it started pouring, so we put on our trusty bright yellow £1 ponchos. We knew the general location of the church so we started walking through the rain toward it. Now here is where you are wondering – why ponchos instead of umbrellas? Well, the wind was too strong and the umbrellas starting flipping inside-out, so we thought the ponchos would be more effective. We finally found the church and I wish you could have seen the missionaries faces as we approached the building. Scooter and I were both soaked from the knees down, we both were wearing backpacks and yellow ponchos, we were pulling a rolling carry-on suitcase, and I was wearing jeans – not typical church attire. As we entered the building we said "Hi Elders!" These poor missionaries were so confused. Dumbarton seems to get few tourists - it's basically an industrial town. The ward could not have been nicer though. They turned the radiator on in the cultural hall and set up a table for all of our stuff to dry on. By the end of church my jeans, shoes, socks, and hat were all bone-dry and warm. We had dinner invitations and people were offering to drive us to the loch. We ended up letting this nice lady named Ann drive us. It was our first experience driving on the left side in a car (only buses up to that point, folks!) and it was a little unnerving. She not only took the long scenic route, but also stopped her car at numerous scenic points for pictures. She guided us around towns in her car, and even stopped her car, got out, and gave us a walking tour of a historic village. She was darling. We were laughing at the way each other was pronouncing things. She dropped us off at the lake and we climbed up to the Balloch castle for some good views. We hadn't eaten all day, so that evening we went to a grocery store and bought some things to make sandwiches with, but we didn't really have a place to make them. We didn't want to make them in the street (it was raining) and we couldn't really think of another place to go as there is no bus station (or even bus shells) at Loch Lomond. We ended up at a mall where Scooter found a table and chairs under some stairs in the corridor by the elevators. He pulled them out and we pretended to have a candlelight dinner (even though all day we had been joking that we felt and looked like we were homeless). It was one of the best meals we have ever eaten. Then we took the bus to Oban, which is on the west coast and spent the night there.

Scotland - Day 3

We got to Glasgow early on Saturday morning. The pervious day I was doing a little bit of research for things to do in Glasgow and somehow ran across the website for the National Piping Centre. There was an announcement that said that the World Solo Drumming Championships were going to be held in Glasgow the following day but tickets could no longer be purchased online. We decided that there was nothing that was in Glasgow that could be cooler than seeing that competition. So as soon as we got off the bus we found the college that it was going to be held at and bought basically the last two tickets for the final round of the competition. We went to the Kelvingrove Museum and also to the Museum of Transport.
Both museums were really neat, but the Transport Museum was just so unlike any other museum we had ever been to before. They had every kind of car, motorcycle, scooter, bicycle, trolley, carriage, train, boat, and even stuff like roller-skates. The car pictured above is from 1885 and it still works! It was really interesting. There is a designer from Glasgow named Charles Rennie Mackintosh and he has numerous buildings that he designed, both the exterior and interior all around Glasgow. It is called the Mackintosh Trail, and we tried to see as much of it as we could, but unfortunately it was pretty horrible weather. It was pouring every second of the day and super windy which made it feel so much colder then it really was. We were really excited to take refuge at the Finals of the Solo Drumming World Championships.
It was one of the neatest musical things either of us had ever seen. The entire place was full of people wearing kilts. I think we were the only tourists there, and it was such an amazing experience. The way that it works is that each drummer chooses between one and three bagpipers to accompany him. He has to play two kinds of songs – a march and a hornpipe and jig. We made friends with some people that had competed but had been eliminated before the final round. They explained what the judges were looking for, but it all sounded so amazing that we had no idea how the judges were able to pick the winner. It was really neat. Later that night we went to a play called "The Caretaker" by the 2005 Nobel Laureate in literature Harold Pinter. It was really good, but one of those plays that really makes you think. We are still trying to figure it out…

Scotland - Day 2

First thing in the morning we decided to head up to the highest point in Edinburgh for some great views of the city. The hill is called "Arthur's Seat." It is so interesting that they have such a huge wild area so close to the downtown city. It is not a park because it is not landscaped or groomed at all, but they have just never built anything on it for some unknown reason. The landscape was exactly what I had pictured Scotland to be - craggy, grassy, mossy, and very wild-looking. It was super windy (you can't really even tell in the pictures, but a few times it blew so hard that it moved you a few steps) and cold, but it was just so beautiful. Edinburgh is next to the Firth of Forth (say that 10 times fast!) and there was a beautiful view of the water. It was so windy that the clouds were moving so fast which was good because it would sprinkle for a few minutes and then just seconds later be bright and sunny. There were numerous rainbows almost the entire time we were up there.
We made a friend, Niclas, on the top of the hill from Stockholm that had the same camera as us. He had a couple lenses that we hadn't beeen able to buy, so he let us put them on our camera and snap some shots with them. I want them now - of course! We hung out with him for a couple hours. He told us that Scooter's Swedish ancestors name means "spear" in Swedish. He also had a good laugh at Scooter's attempt to sing "Happy Birthday" in Swedish. Scooter had the words right, but the pronunciation was so terrible that it sounded like a different song when Niclas sang it. It was just a fun and interesting conversation with him. That is one of the things we really love about travelling is meeting people from all over and getting to talk to them. We didn't mean to spend the entire morning on the hill, but it was so beautiful that we couldn't leave! We eventually went back to the Scottish Parliament because it was closed the previous day when we went. What an amazing building. It reminded me how much I love architecture.We went to the National Gallery of Scotland which had some really amazing paintings. We took the long way home from the National Gallery and got some great views of the castle. We went to bed early because it was raining a lot by the evening and we had to catch a bus to Glasgow the next morning at (or was it before?) the crack of dawn.

Note: To enlarge the pictures just click on them. Sorry we keep making collages, but it is the best way to get numerous pics onto the blog in the smallest possible space.

Scotland - Day 1

We got home from our trip to Scotland yesterday. We had a great time and are looking forward to going back again in May to see the parts and regions we were unable to see this time. We are going to split up the posts by each day so they aren't too long. We took an overnight bus on Wednesday from London to Edinburgh. Not the most comfortable way to spend the night, you say? True, but at least we didn't waste any daylight/sightseeing hours. We also figure that this is really one of the only times in our lives when that kind of travel will be an option (I don't think I will ever want to do that with kids) so we need to take advantage of the cheap tickets while we can. We got to Edinburgh on Thursday morning and went to the National Museum of Scotland which had some great exhibits about Scotland's beginnings and history. Then we climbed the hill up to the Edinburgh castle and spent some time touring it. Honestly, I can't imagine a better place to build a castle. It is high on this cliff in the middle of the city. On three sides of the castle there are huge, vertical, naturally present stone cliffs. You'd have to be crazy to attack it. We saw the Scotland crown jewels and the Stone of Destiny (which has an interesting history that the Scots are still really bitter about). We watched them fire the cannon at precisely one o'clock. We thought it seemed like a strange time to sound a cannon that is used for the city to set their clocks (why not noon?), but our guide explained that the Scots are cheap and they realized that if they waited one hour they could use just one blank cannon charge instead of twelve, so they changed it to one o'clock. We saw the castle prisons that held American prisoners of war during the American Revolutionary war. One of the POWs had even carved the Stars and Stripes into his cell door. It made me cry.

As we were walking to our next activity I saw a sign that was advertising that Mary Poppins the musical was touring with the London cast, so we ran to the theater and got great cheap tickets for later that night. My sister, Andrea, had just seen Mary Poppins in New York and had told me how great it was so we thought we'd see it. We went to see the Scottish Parliament and the main cathedral in Edinburgh next. Then we went to the musical, which ended up being even more amazing than Andrea had described. I have never seen such awesome stagecraft as I did in that play. As far as I'm concerned the techies for that play deserve just as much credit as the actors themselves.

That night Scooter got to have his first hostel experience. It started with us getting back to our room and having our random roommate describe the bugs/bug eggs that she had found all over the room. Needless to say, I knew I would never sleep a wink in that room after her descriptions (thanks lady!). So, my kind husband helped me haul our stuff to another hostel at 11:30pm. Luckily they had a room that seemed cleaner and we slept well (even if at my insistence we did have to remove all the blankets which they provided). What can I say, the microbiology classes and hospital experiences I've had since the last time I came to Europe have only enhanced my trepidation about hostels.

When did I stop shopping at Gap?

Today I got a job at the Gap on Cornmarket Street, which a great street that is blocked off to cars and always packed with people. I am pretty happy about it because:
1. the manager is really nice
2. she is going to let me work exactly the hours I wanted
3. she is going to let me take all of Christmas off if I want
4. she is going to let me come and work in January after Christmas is over
5. she is trying to get a higher-than-allowed salary approved for me

Sounds like the perfect job for me, right? All I have to do is wear exclusively clothes from the Gap to work - sounds simple, right? That's what I thought too. I figured that among all of the clothes that I brought with me I would at least have a couple outfits that I could throw together of Gap clothes. Nope! Not a single item of clothing with a Gap label in it! How did this happen? I used to shop practically exclusively there. Now, when it is essential for me to have Gap clothes I'm coming up empty-handed. So, now I'm going to have a buy a couple outfits I don't need and, more importantly really can't afford (which is why I'm getting the job in the first place), which leaves me asking, "When did I stop shopping at Gap?!"

Matriculation

Scooter matriculated at Oxford on Saturday. He got to wear his subfusc for the first time. Boys wear a dark suit, socks, and shoes, a white shirt and bowtie, their academic robes and they carry their mortarboard. Girls wear white shirt, black skirt or trousers, black nylons and shoes, a black ribbon tie, their academic robes, and they carry their mortarboards as well. Oxford students wear their subfusc for ceremonies, formal events, and to take their exams (yes, this is what Scooter will be wearing when he takes all of his exams). If a student is found to be missing a part of their subfusc (for example a boy is wearing white socks instead of black) then they will either not be permitted to attend an event (which is unfortunate if this happens to be your exam) or they will pay a hefty fine. All of the students from Lincoln College met in the quad and had their group photo professionally taken. Then they checked in and we all waited for a while. Then they gathered all of us together and we trooped across town (with tourists snapping pictures of us the whole way) to the Examination Schools. I wasn't allowed to go into the ceremony, unfortunately. Some of the ceremony was in Latin. When he came out he was officially a member of one of the most elite student societies in the world (the Vice-Chancellor's words - not mine). It was a dream come true. We were both thrilled. We celebrated by running off to a neighboring town where they have an American size grocery store. It was heaven!

London!

On Friday we went to London for the evening. We found bus tickets for 1 pound per person so we decided to go. The bus took about two hours because of all the stops. We bought tickets to see Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical at the Adelphi theatre. Then we had a little time so we went to the British Museum. It is such an amazing museum and could have spent hours in there, but our favorite things we saw were the Rosetta Stone (the most exciting tax-related document in history) and the Elgin Marbles (which are about half of the original sculptures and friezes from the Parthenon in Athens). We got back to the theater and watched the play, which was so funny to hear with the English accents (click the link to watch a couple clips). They really had a hard time with the Western-themed scene "One More Angel In Heaven." I mean how can you say yee-haw properly with an accent? I have to be honest - and I know I'm biased, but I thought Tuachan's production a few years ago was better. I know it is hard to believe, but when you have a huge stage like that you can just do more with the play. It was also a little funnier at Tuachan because they didn't rush through the scenes. Don't get me wrong though, I loved seeing it here as well. It is just a great high-energy musical. After the show we took a late bus back to Oxford. We were thrilled when we got back to Oxford to find out that the city bus was still running even though it was 2am (by the way, the streets were still packed with people), which saved us an hour walk back to our flat. It was Scooter's first London experience and he loved it, of course. He was most impressed I think by the underground. Every time I ride the tube I am struck by the amazing feat that the system is. The city could never survive without it. About 4.25 million people ride it daily. It just makes London so much more fun because it is so easy to get around. Just like it does every time, going to London just makes me want to go back!

Typical Days

We have been trying to really take advantage of all of the unique opportunities offered to us while we are here. We keep trying to remind ourselves that one of the purposes of us taking a year out of our lives was to come and experience everything Oxford has to offer. Well, so far, I think we have been doing pretty well.

Schedule for Wednesday, October 15, 2008:
6:30am – women’s rowing practice for Jessica – doing the classic Oxford sport on the Thames at sunrise.
8:30am – class for Scooter at the hospital
3:45pm – meet at Lincoln to coordinate the remainder of the day and to check Scooter’s pigeon-hole
4:00pm – men’s rowing practice for Scooter
5:00pm – join the Oxford Walking Club and sign up for a weekend hiking trip to Wales
5:45pm – free flu shot (“jab”) for Scooter (one of the only good things about socialized medicine that we have discovered so far)
6:00pm – join the Society of Change Ringers and learn how to ring bells in old churches (like Quasimodo) – much harder than it seems by the way!
7:30pm – head to a pub to join the Oxford Caving Society and sign up for a spelunking trip to Bristol
Schedule for Thursday, October 16, 2008:
9:00am – go on the all-day double decker bus tour of Oxford
4:00pm – rowing practice again for Scooter
4:15pm – photography class with the Oxford Photography Society for Jessica
7:30pm - go to the Oxford Playhouse and see Agamemnon (part of the only surviving example of a trilogy of ancient Greek plays – it was originally performed at the Dionysia festival in Athens in 458 BC, where it won first prize) performed in Ancient Greek with surtitles

Schedule for Friday, October 17, 2008
12:00pm – Scooter has a meeting with his program advisor
2:00pm – got on the bus and go to London for the evening – see a play and hopefully a museum

Schedule for Saturday, October 18, 2008
2:00pm – rowing practice for Jessica
4:00PM – matriculation for Scooter – in Latin!

Next week:
Scotland!

Mind you, this schedule is very much narrowed down from the wide range of activities that we could be participating in. We had miss debates with national political leaders, celebrity lectures, etc, but luckily all of these fun events are basically repeated weekly so we will have the chance to go some other time. (Also, just so all of you know that Scooter is actually studying – he is ¼ of the way through his first text book. One almost down – only about 20 left to go.)

Overheard Conversation

Situation: we are sitting on the bus on our way home from the city centre. A man is sitting quietly on the bus and then as some people get on apparently spots someone he knows...

(this is funnier, of course, if you picture all of it in heavy English accents and clothing for middle aged English men)

Man 1: Hey there! Wow! You must have gained 50 pounds since I last saw you!
Man 2: (Awkward silence...)(By the way, this was a HUGE man)
Man 1: What do you weigh now? 280? 300? You must!
Man 2: (Nervous chuckle... but still no reply)
(the bus starts moving and Man 2 sits down where Man 1 would need to make a great effort to converse with him)
Man 1: (Man 1 makes the effort...)I'm trying to remember - aren't you from Europe somewhere?
Man 2: I'm from the Carpathian Mountains.
Man 1: That's right. The Carpathian Mountains....hmm...
Man 2: It's where Andy Warhol is from - well, his family anyway.
Man 1: Now he was gay wasn't he!
Man 2: Stammers... (in amazement at the tact of the other man probably)
Man 1: Yes, I'm sure that he was bisexual.
(at this point Man 2 pushes the button to get the bus driver to stop the bus and he's been on for maybe 10 seconds)
Man 1: Wow! You really have gained a lot of weight. I mean it must be at least a full 50 pounds.
(the bus stops)
Man 1: Really! You must weigh 140 kilos!
(Man 2 tries to escape as quickly as he can get people to move aside)
Man 2: Well, goodbye then.
(Man 2 gets off)
Man 1: (muttering loudly) He really is a big man!.... We could put him a zoo and charge admission!... Carpathian Mountains....mutter, mutter, mutter... at least 50 pounds!...Carpathian Mountains....

The Long Awaited (by our parents) Flat Video

Here's a video that shows our flat. It is part of the University housing for married graduate students at Oxford (which, turns out, is pretty rare here). We were on a waiting list for about four months, but luckily a flat became available shortly before we came here. We like it - hopefully you will too!

Click here to view the video!

The River Isis

We decided to take a walk by the River Isis (which is really the Thames, the same river that runs through London, but everyone calls it Isis. We still haven't found anyone that can tell us why they call it that...). The picture below shows the row of college boat houses on the river. The boat houses are where they keep the boats for the crew teams. Our college boat house is the one with the blue garage doors. We are so lucky that we have had nice enough weather to keep taking walks like this. Everyone keeps reminding us that it won't last...

Christ Church Continued

Christ Church College

The above video shows a little bit of our afternoon exploring Christ Church College. This is one of the largest colleges at Oxford. Parts of the Harry Potter movies were either filmed here or modeled after its architecture. It also has many famous alumni such as the philosopher John Locke, religious leaders John Wesley and William Penn and the writers W.H. Auden (a poet) and Lewis Carroll (who wrote Alice in Wonderland). Christ Church has produced 13 Prime Ministers including William Gladstone who was Prime Minister 4 times during the 1800s. In the dining hall as shown in the movie and in the pictures below there was some impressive stained glass including a window that had characters from Alice and Wonderland (we started making this in our editing program and got a little carried away...)

A Walk In the Park

Yesterday we took a walk through the University Parks with a group from Lincoln College. It was a beautiful park and the people we were with were so interesting. None of us were from the same country (except for Scooter and I, of course) and there were only two other native English speakers there. The multi-cultural atmosphere is one of the things we love most about being here. Scooter ate at a Lebanese restaurant last night with his mentor. Lebanese! Who would have thought there would be one of those here? (Notice the sign in the upper left - how British!)

Lazy Day/Crazy Day

Sunday was a super nice day. It was very lazy because we mostly just stayed home and watched General Conference on our laptop. Technology is amazing! The lds.org website had this player that didn't constantly pause while it buffered. We really felt like we were watching it on a TV. It was great to hear the words of our leaders. They are so inspired and inspiring. I always finish watching Conference feeling happy and motivated to improve my life. Today has been a crazy day. We practically ran to the bank to open our bank account (finally! - it is a big process here if you are international) then to the hospital to meet the Director of Scooter's program. After that we rushed from store to store trying to get the rest of the things for our flat (bath rug, pots, dishes, silverware, cleaning supplies, closet rods, etc.). It was hard to spend money buying kitchen things like dishes and cooking supplies when I know that I already have perfectly good things at home. Oh well - it's cheaper to re buy it here and throw it away then to ship our things from the States. We did get to pick up our living stipend check from Scooter's scholarship today and I must say that after spending all of that money it was a happy sight. Later today we went to a meeting at Scooter's college with all of the graduate students. We are just so happy that we chose the college that we did. Everyone is so nice and it seems like it is going to be a tight-knit community. Another testament to how international the University is - only about one-third of the leadership of the graduate students is from an English-speaking country. We also heard a rumor that there are a lot of jobs at the science job-recruitment agency in town. Maybe we'll actually be able to find me something when we finally get around to looking. The picture above is a picture of the Lincoln College dining room where we had lunch today. Fairly cheap, pretty good, and definitely authentic English food. If Scooter wasn't married then he would live in the dorms (called "living in" here) and eat every meal there. If you eat dinner there you have to wear a gown (think Harry Potter robes). The next photo is Scooter in front of the doors of Lincoln. Note in the next picture that all the ivy on that huge building is coming from that one tree-like branch. It must take 100 years for ivy to grow that big. The next picture is of the street where Lincoln is located.

Bustling City

Well, we have had such a great day getting settled. Until today we have not felt very moved in. We had no food at our house, we have been walking hours everyday because we hadn't decided on a transportation method, we had our pillowcases stuffed with sweatshirts and sweatpants, etc. Little things that made us feel like we were vacationing here instead of living here. Today we bought pillows and more sundries. We also got library cards at the public library - Scooter will probably never use it because he has access to many of the best libraries in the world through the University, but I know I will use it because they have a great selection of travel guides. My friends will be happy to know that I checked out a Greek Island Hopping book today. We then had a very interesting experience. We were given a tip of a place where we could find a cheap alarm clock called Argos. The store contains no items just pallets of 1400 page catalogs. You look though the catalogs and then enter the catalog number into a computer and it tells you whether they have it in stock or not. Then you go to the register and pay for your item and you are assigned a number like at Crown Burger. Then you wait until your number changes from red to green on a screen above a counter labeled A-C. The screen directs you to the correct letter which corresponds to a stockperson who has fetched your item out of the back room. Basically you buy something without looking at it which is scary but our new alarm clock actually makes an audible sound so we are happy. We also bought bus passes that give us unlimited rides in town for a month. Less walking and more time is a really good thing. I just love the fall colors here and today I gathered some of the red leaves from the ground in Scooter's college quad in hopes that I could figure out something to do with them to make our flat look more like home. Well, here is the final result made entirely out of duct tape (cut without scissors because we still don't have any) and leaves. We also had a very enjoyable experience at the grocery store today. We bought an amazing amount of food for less than 35 pounds. The bell peppers are even half the price that they are in the States. We are going to be able to live here without starving!

Really Old Stuff

Well, today we woke up late. Our awesome Walmart travel alarm clock has not turned out to be a smart purchase. When the alarm goes off the clock screen flashes but does not make even a peep. Effective, yes? Well after going to the store we have decided that waking up on time tomorrow is not worth £50 ($100). That was the cheapest alarm clock folks. We are not talking ipod dock, cd player, radio, tape deck - nothing but a clock with an audible alarm. Waking up is just not that high on our priority list. After that we just checked out the city. Explored Scooter's college - Lincoln College (you can read more about it here). Just to clarify the whole college system. College are just like houses in Harry Potter. What you are studying has absolutely nothing to do with your college. You just basically apply to any college you want. Scooter applied to Lincoln College because it was one of the oldest (we basically knew nothing about this whole system so truly was what our decision was based on - luckily it has turned out wonderfully). The main entrance building of the college was built in the early 1400s. Here are a couple pictures of the grounds. Today we found out the the rumor is true - I may be treated like a second class citizen because I don't go to Oxford. I guess that whole "supporting your husband" role is really seen as a cop out here. We tried to go into the multi-building Bodleian Library today, which is one of the most famous in the world. Scooter showed his ID card at the door and they let him right in but when he asked if I would be able to see inside they told us that I would never be allowed to go in. Ever. I would be allowed to view the inside of another building for 15 minutes, but I would never see the inside of the camera (the coolest, round building pictured in our last post, rumored to be the most amazing). Sad. It made me miss BYU a little where I could come to pretty much anything I wanted to. We went to visit Scooter's college after that and they told me I was welcome to come to anything college related and that the University was pretty fussy about students only. Some committee is even going to vote on me becoming an Associate Member of Lincoln College. We went to an International Graduate Students dinner tonight and it was pretty fun. We met people from a bunch of countries. It is going to be quite an experience. The rest of the day we saw a bunch of other really old stuff, pictured below. Scooter also had his first pasty. The last two pictures are the inside of the Lincoln College library, which used to be All Saints Church. You can read more about it here.

Can You Believe It!?

Caution, this post is really, really long - skip the reading and just look at the pictures if you want. Bottom line: we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it here!We will try to keep our next posts shorter...sorry.

We live in England! Can you believe it? We got here after much adventure yesterday. We of course had WAY to much luggage and every bag was about 15 pounds too heavy. After hearing what the fees were going to be we opened our bags in the airport and tried to think about what things we could take out. We really couldn't think of anything. When you are moving to a cold country for a whole year thick clothes are needed, all things computer related are needed, some household items are needed, etc. Four suitcases, two carry ons, two backpacks, and one purse is not enough space! While Scooter and I were sitting on the floor of the airport on the verge of tears (only me of course, Scooter would not cry about something so trivial and having to remove half of his clothing options) my mom decided to intervene. She went to the Air Canada counter and must have had fire in her eyes because when she came back to us our fees were cut in half. Then the nice lady at the counter only charged of half of what she had agreed to with my mom. Thanks for being such a good negotiator mom. I have benefited from your skill more times than I can count. After that the only hitch with the trip was all of the people giving us dirty looks and talking about us in French because of our large amount of things we were carrying on. We just wanted to shout at the waiting area full of people "We are moving people! Not just travelling! We are not crazy overpackers! We are just trying to fit everything we will need for a year into these tiny bags!" Luckily, we did not have any stewardpeople (what is the politically correct way to say this?) get mad at us or anything. We didn't really sleep on the plane which was not the best, but we were too excited I think. We flew over London about half and hour after the sun came up and luckily our plane had to circle a couple times before it had a clear runway so we could see all of London out of the window of the plane. We will try to post some of those pics later, but you could see the London Eye, the Thames, the Tower Bridge, Parliament, St. Paul's, the Tate Modern, and Millennium Bridge. We were so glad that we got to see it all. When we got to baggage claim we went to get a couple carts, (like I mentioned we could barely carry our carry on items - between disembarking the plane and the baggage claim area we had to stop 5 times to rest/shift bags) and found out that the carts were FREE! Wow! Something free in England! We found all our bags (a miracle since we had only 45 minutes for our connection in Montreal) and pushed them to the Heathrow bus station. We easily found the bus we needed to take - all the buses were red except for ours and it said "Oxford" in huge letters a bunch of times. The driver let us put all our luggage into the bus without a fuss or fees (we were expecting both) and it was probably a 45 minute ride before we were in our new home! We just couldn't believe what it looked like. It was pretty different than we were expecting. It was such a cool juxtaposition of old and new. All the old buildings, but with modern stores inside. We got off the bus and there were these cute girls holding a sign that said "Welcome International Students!" We told them that was us and they helped us find a cab big enough for all our stuff. Scooter went to pay and sign for our apartment and the cabbie took me on to the flat. I sat on the bags and waited for only a minute or two before the really friendly property manager found me and said "You must be moving into flat 32!" which was of course true and he helped me carry some of our bags up to the flat and gave me the keys. Just to assure the parents, the apartment complex is like a compound it is so secure. You literally can't get into any part of the property without an access card (even the yard), there are gates that you use your card to open to get to the stairs, then you have to use a key to open our door, and there is a chain like at a hotel and a peephole. Scooter finally made it to the flat a couple hours later and we went and explored the town. We went to his college. It was more beautiful then any picture can even show. We immediately found his pigeon-hole (which is apparently a mail-slot) full of mail which was a great comfort to us to know that we were expected. We went and got him registered with his college and he got his ID card, schedule for this week, etc. We ran around town trying to open a bank account, buying stuff for the apartment, and eating dinner. Then we went home and took a shower and fell into bed and slept for 14 hours - no problem. We just love it here and hope some of you will start saving your money to come visit because we know we could never explain how great it is - you're just going to have to come see it.

And it only rained for 10 minutes yesterday! Can you believe it?

Our committment

We apologize yet again for being such inconsistent bloggers, but we promise that from today onward we are going to post much more frequently. Our goal is to post every other day. Scooter has even promised that he will start posting as well. Our family and friends are going to want to know more about our adventures living in England and travelling, and will probably nag us to death if we don't post with some regularity. Don't worry family! We are going to post so many things about our silly lives that you are going to be sick of hearing about our adventures. We promise!