Very American of you...

I was told I was acting like an American yesterday by one of my new soccer teamates. I told her that I was in fact an American so would probably be acting like one quite a lot. She is not my favorite on the team... :) So yesterday was our first scrimmage (which they call a friendly). I thought we would just kick around and just wear whatever so I wore my soccer shorts and a tshirt. Well we get to the field and they have full on outfits for us. Red socks, red soccer shorts and red and black jerseys. I mean we are looking hot! And everything is huge because we are apparently sharing the jerseys with the men's soccer club. It was a good thing the jersey was large though because as aforementioned, I had worn my soccer shorts. Well, said soccer shorts have an underwear lining so I had no other underwear. Well, new soccer shorts are like net basketball shorts and have no such underwear lining. So I basically had to go commando the whole game. We all got dressed in the same room and I had the big jersey on and shimmied my shorts off and bent from the knees so I wouldn't moon any of the players. They may have said it was very American of me, but I think it was just very Jane of me. So embarrasing....

Doo be doo

So one thing that I love here is that they call parties or gatherings dos. So we have a drinks do or a bbq do. It's the funniest thing. They call bachelorette parties hen dos. (pronounced doooo) :)

Silly normal university American

So I thought I would start reading again now that I feel a bit more settled. Thought I was pretty clever figuring out how to request a book from the Bodleian Library. So I go over there today and I have to lock my bag up in a storage cube because you are not allowed to take your bag into the room. Clearly, they have some ridiculously old and ridiculously priceless books in this room where I am picking up Seabiscuit. :) So I go on up through the security checks and am like ok where is my book. They bring out Seabiscuit and say we have to keep your card. I say but I need my card. Then the guy realizes I am a silly American and that I think I can leave the library with the book. He says "you can't take books from the library". So then I think do you want me to visit my book every day? Even though Seabiscuit is no Chaucer, I cannot read it in one sitting. So I give them back the book and walk out. I just googled the public library and should have more luck there. So embarrasing! Just so you know how embarrasing this is and that I even thought I could check out a book there check out this link and fun facts: (dang Wikepedia, where were you yesterday when I thought I was so clever)

The Bodleian Library ( /ˈbɒdliən/ or /bɒdˈliːən/), the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library. Known to Oxford scholars as "Bodley" or simply "the Bod", under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 it is one of six legal deposit libraries for works published in the United Kingdom^[2][3] and under Irish Law it is entitled to request a copy of each book published in the Republic of Ireland.^[4] Though University members may borrow some books from dependent libraries (such as the Radcliffe Science Library),^[5] the Bodleian operates principally as a reference library and in general documents may not be removed from the reading rooms.

Lavender Farm!

Lavender Fields Forever

It was a gorgeous weekend! Sunny on Saturday and Sunday. It's kind of nice when it's sunny here because everyone is out taking advantage of it. It's supposed to be gorgeous all week. They are trying to get their weather act in gear for the Olympics. On Saturday we had a bbq at Kelly's house and then we played cricket in the park near their house. There were only four of us and apparently you can't play great cricket with four people. I still have no idea how to play the game. Then yesterday we went to a lavendar farm. It was gorgeous. Yesterday morning I had soccer practice (or football training as they call it here) For some reason I thought I had more time than I did. I got to the bus stop and had to wait for about 20 minutes. Then I had no idea which stop would get me to practice so I had to take the bus all the way into the center and take a bus back out. (I had gone to practice from work the first day so that was the only way I knew how to do it) At this point I'm 30 minutes late for practice. So then the bus drops me off and it's still about a 1/2 mile walk to the field. So I take off running with my backpack, looking like a total goober. I get there and we have to do sprints. I feel like I've already done sprints so am not pleased with this. Then I figure I will just walk back to my bus stop but this really fast girl on the team says she will walk with me. So I say fine and we start walking back. Well then the joker says she was going to run and I'm like sure, I'll run with you. So we aren't talking an easy pace and I'm like it's cool you can go ahead but she won't leave me!!! So finally we hit the road where she had to go one way so I slowed to a walk and then got to my bus stop. Well, the sign says I have 30 minutes until the bus comes so I figure I will stretch out and walk to the next stop. Well the damn bus sign was wrong and the S3 bus goes flying by me. So I take off in another mad sprint. I can barely walk today!!!!

Going for Gold!

Last night I played trivia with a new friend. They call it pub trivia here. She was kind enough to invite me to her work event. We played Olympic trivia. I brushed up on my Olympic knowledge via Google yesterday so was a trivia genius. Well, only on the 6 or 7 questions they asked that I had actually seen on Google. There were about 8 teams of 5 and we ended up tying with another team. So there was a sudden death and this ridiculously smart guy on our team shouted out the answer. I hadn't even processed the question by the time he had shouted out the answer. The guys had named us Team USA because two of us are American so when we won they started shouting "USA USA USA". I have no idea why we get a bad reputation abroad. But, we each won a 2012 Olympic mug. It's actually really cool! Then I got a taxi home but figured I would get some food while I was waiting from one of the food trucks that are always out at night. It was mostly kababs and curry sauces but I figured I would go for the cheese pizza. It took him about 10 minutes to actually make it while he was throwing sausages and curried fries at all kinds of people with no wait. Serves me right! I made my taxi driver wait for me while my pizza cooked. :) He said my southern accent was genius. Or some adjective like that. I prefer to remember it as genius. The sun has finally decided to come out here. Sunday and Monday there is an actual sun on the forecast and 0% chance of rain. I am convinced that they lie to us though. They put it a couple of days out and think you will forget that it was supposed to be sunny. I'm not falling for it weather.com....

A day in the life...

I figure I would give you a run down on a typical day for me here. Today is actually a really good day because it's sunny out and I'm actually wearing short sleeves. Mind you, it is a short sleeve sweater but my arms are getting to see the sun today. Am i encouraging visitors yet?! :) I walk to the bus station and then stand out in the rain typically waiting for the bus. It's a double decker bus so it's kind of fun and I'm a total American and always go to the second level and sit near the front so I can see everything. It's a weird feeling because I feel like people should speak another language since I am living in another country. It's like I'm shocked when I can understand them because they are speaking English. Not sure when that is going to wear off for me. So then I walk to work and walk through the front quad where every other day they are mowing the lawn. Then we have tea time at around 10am. Then we have our free lunch in the hall. We get to eat in the hall which is like a smaller version of the Harry Potter dining room. I am going to be as big as a house if I keep eating the desserts. Each day I tell myself that I won't eat the dessert that day but then they come up with something I can't resist. Yesterday it was cheesecake with raspberries! I can't wait to see what it is today. Then we have tea time around 3pm. Then I take the bus home around 5:30pm. Tonight I'm going to soccer practice. It's my first time meeting the team so I am excited. I'm really excited to move into my new place so I can just walk to work. Anyway, hope everyone is doing well!!

This and that...

I don't really feel like I have much to report. It continues to rain here. That is starting to get on my nerves actually. :) I went running two nights ago and was having a lovely run through the meadows at Christ Church. Then all of a sudden the bottom fell out. Here I am in the middle of a damn meadow and nowhere to go. So I went next to a really big tree and just started laughing at myself. Some jokers were still running in it. I was happy just hanging out by my tree. Then it started to hail. No lie... middle of July and I was stuck in a hail storm. What the heck!?! It passed fairly quickly though so I just resumed my run. It's weird what you miss over here. Like I would give anything to have a Target in Oxford. I realize it would take away from the poshness and grandeur of the place but man it would be nice. There is no place here where you can just go in and get random things you need. Kelly and I are going into London this weekend for a concert in Hyde Park. I actually have to go buy wellies (rain boots) on my lunch break because it is supposed to be very wet. I thought I was going to be so fabulous over here and my first two purchases are going to be wellies and a rain jacket. And who cares what you wear b/c you have to put a rain jacket over everything. Ok, enough ranting!!!! Hope everyone is doing well. Not so jolly ole jane without the sun. :)

Hip hip hooray

We just had a little retirement party for the Rector who is leaving soon. The party was at 11am and champagne was served. Not only was it served, it was also reserved. A guy was walking around refilling our glasses. Totally acceptable to be drinking champagne before noon. You have to love the European lifestyle!!!

Mind the torch!

I had an awesome morning today. I went to an Olympic torch event that Kelly helped organize. Met the Vice Chancellor of Oxford and then met a bunch of Gold Medal athletes. Two were from the 1948 Olympics that were held in London. Hung out with those twins from Facebook (really nice actually) and had my picture taken with Roger Banister. I also shook the hand of Seb Coe who is apparently the head of the whole London Olympics. Also, I was in charge of the replica torch so I had people waiting in line to take their picture with the torch. At first, I thought I was a famous athlete and was getting in the picture. Then the guy in charge came over and said "um, you can let them hold the torch" Oh,...right. My bad! So embarrasing! It was an amazing morning. Oh and on an embarrasing note, our alumna, Steph cook is a Gold medalist and we were saying goodbye and I literally almost kissed her because I don't have the two cheek kiss down quite yet. All is all it was a ridiculous morning!!!!

Posh Nascar

Kelly and I had free tickets to the Formula One race this weekend. It was an extremely random day. It started with us waiting in traffic for about an hour and then the security guards telling us to go a certain way which was basically the opposite way on the highway so we pulled over where some other cars were pulled over. Two other guys were as confused as we were so we decided to all be confused together. We started working towards the race grounds and it started to rain (shocking) and we were told it was about 4 miles so I threw my thumb out for a ride. This really sweet couple stopped and gave us a ride to the VIP parking. Apparently they were special guests of Ross Brawn. Kelly and I were not very savvy race goers so asked who Ross Brawn was. Apparently, that is asking a tennis fan who Nadal is. So then we were inside the VIP parking and Kelly's friend met us with the tickets. So then we went and watched some formula one action but it was so gross and rainy. Luckily Kelly's friend got us into the paddocks where all of the drivers and their crews hang out. We got to see two of the cars that were racing and saw the pit crew working on them. We saw people that were apparently famous but we had no clue. We just started taking pictures of people you were getting interviews. I think we embarrased Kelly's friend. :) We had gotten a ride in a golf cart to the vip xection but weren't quite as big time after the tour so had no idea where we were. Eventually two guys on a golf car came by and we asked them for a ride. They said, "where would you like to go" We said, we have no idea ...maybe to a beer cart? They said where are you from? And I said AMerica. They kind of chuckled and said "we know" but where in America. Oh, what gave it away?? HA! Then we watched the end of the race and went home. Very random day but very fun.

The grass is always greener...

no, really it is! The grass here is on steroids! It is so gorgeous and green. Mind you, I rather have normal looking grass if it meant it wouldn't rain as much. Literally, the guy on the radio this morning said "we are going to have a month's worth of rain in 24 hours". The grounds guy where I work mows the grass into perfect rows every other day. That's right, he mows the grass every other day. And you aren't allowed to walk on the grass. They have an area towards the back of campus where you can walk on the grass. It has a sign that says "croquet only". I'm working in a fairy land! And we have a butler. That's right, I said it. A butler. It's so crazy! Anway, this weekend Kelly and I are going to the Formula 1 Grand Prix race. And then on Sunday we are going to Christ Church to go watch an Alice in Wonderland race. It's celebrating 150 years of Alice in Wonderland. It started here in Oxford!! I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Love ya!

Holy shirts and pants!

So I just realized that pants here are actually underwear. They call pants trousers and underwear pants. I've told everyone here that I only have two pairs of pants and that I'm going to have to wear the same pants over and over. So what they heard was "I've only got two pairs of underwear so will have to wear the same pairs of underwear over and over" Oh crap!!!! I have to set that straight tomorrow.

pictures

USA USA USA

Too much? I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! Nothing says Happy 4th of July like having a Peroni in an English pub. I wanted to share some pictures with you. These were taken on the roof of one of Lincoln's buildings. Our sweet IT person took me up there today because it was sunny for about 20 minutes. We had to go up this really small winding staircase to get there. But the views were so worth it!

In the words of Ice Cube...

Today was a good day! It started with me checking in at "the lodge" and signing up for a hot lunch. We get free lunch at work. We can choose from the hot meal of the day (spaghetti and meatballs today) or a baquette/sandwich. You can also choose a salad. I mean, I will give up some dental care for a free lunch! Am looking forward to what they will serve tomorrow! Then after lunch I went to check out a flat and found one that didn't make me freak out. I put down the deposit and am supposed to move in August 6. For anyone thinking about visiting, it's right on the River Thames and is across the street from an awesome pub. I'm just thinking about my visitors! And it's a 5-10 minute walk from work. Now, if I could just get a sunny day...Outlook is not good on that front though!

Big American in a Little Flat

Today was my first day it work and honestly it was a little weird going to work somewhere new after 9 and 1/2 years at MC. My coworkers are so nice though and they made me tea twice!! I went to look at another flat today during lunch and I had a bit of a panic attack. It was the smallest thing I have ever seen! I'm hoping the search goes better soon. Right now I just seem like a snobby American but I couldn't help it. Also I get free lunch at my new job. You walk in in the morning and there are two boards. You put your name down and sign up for hot or cold lunch. Or you can ask for a boxed salad or sandwich. It's pretty awesome! They have a chef and everything.

Compliments of the house

Last night I went to an Indian restaurant with my new friend and had the best meal. The Indian food is amazing over here! Apparently, the Indian restaurants are mostly Bangladeshi families. Anyway, it was delicious and at the end the little waiter came up to us and said "we are so lucky to have you dining with us that we would like to buy your next drink". Am not sure if it was because we are Americans but I am loving the American card if so. I made sure we tipped well so we would keep our reputation up and receive this fine service in the future. :) Kelly and I tried to look at two flats yesterday but it was a big mess. The first realtor just didn't show up to the appointment and actually there were 3 yes 3 number 14s on one road. There was a 14 on the left and then a couple houses down there was a 14 on the right and then a little farther down there was another 14. I'm not sure how mail is delivered or how people know where they live but it was quite confusing. The realtor was not to be found at any of the #14 abodes. So then we drove to the next one and it looked awful so we called and cancelled the viewing. There are two really cute flats that I'm looking at tomorrow during lunch. They are on the river! Also, yesterday, Kelly and I thought we were going to have a casual pub lunch and went to this awesome place called The Perch. Turns out it was a fancy affair and I had duck and she had the scallops. Nice $60 casual lunch! Ha!!! I'm including a picture of the pub. It was so gorgeous out back! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! First day of work is tomorrow. Have to figure out what I am wearing... I don't have much that is warm enough. They are about to see the same outfit for the next couple of weeks until my boxes get here!