Hi everyone!

Mom and I landed around 6:00 AM local time in London (for my friends and family on the East Coast – that’s around 1:00 AM!), spent what felt like forever getting through the queue (the British word for line – see, I’m already picking up British slang and I’ve been here for less than 48 hours!), and finally ended up getting to my aunt’s and uncle’s house in Southfields (a small, quaint district in London) by around 9:30 AM.

Once we got to Southfields, the rest of the day was pretty relaxing…until Mom and I woke up at 1:30 AM to watch the presidential debate live, which was set to start at 2 AM local time! The debate ended around 3:30 AM, and Mom and I finally crashed around 4:30 AM. Are we crazy? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Today, Mom and I decided to take a day trip down to Oxford so I can get a first look at the place I’m going to call home for the next year. The journey from Southfields to Oxford took hours (no, I’m not kidding – hourS). We took the tube from Southfields, had to get off early at Earl’s Court due to a signal error, got back onto the tube after a short delay, got off at Paddington Station, then transferred to the Great Western Rail to get to Oxford, and finally, took the bus from the Oxford Rail Station to Queen’s Lane, Oxford, which is where St Edmund Hall is located. The whole trip took just over two hours.

After nearly getting lost, we finally found our way to St Edmund Hall, and were instantly amazed.

This is the first thing we saw when we walked past the lodge – the beautiful main quad.

See the smaller tunnel to the right of the big door? If you go through there, you’ll find the library and many of the residential areas, including the building where I’m living, which is called the Besse building. Work was being done there, so I didn’t take any pictures, but it’s a small townhouse-like building that’s tucked away towards the back of the Hall.

After, Mom and I came back to the quad and went to explore a few other parts of the Hall, and ended up stumbling into this graveyard! It was creepy in the best way possible.

We then enjoyed lunch at a café around the corner, and ran into two elderly sisters who flew in from Oxford to watch their grandniece / granddaughter respectively graduate from Oxford at the end of this week! Funnily enough, we mostly ended up chatting about the presidential debate – they are as disgusted by Trump as my mother and I are, so it was a wonderful conversation.

After lunch, Mom and I stopped and checked out a couple of hotels for my Dad (he’s going to come visit in the spring) and wandered around the streets a little bit more before making our way home.

No idea what the plans are for tomorrow – Mom and I are planning on traveling around London a bit, but I guess we’ll figure it out along the way.

Right now, however, I’m back in Southfields watching my mom teach my uncle how to cook. I think I’ll sign off now and go join them.

Much love,

Tasha