And Then, Everything that Went Wrong, Did, but it All Had a Happy Ending (So Far)

Once upon a time, there was an unfortunate girl who had the very fortunate experience of traveling to the UK.  This girl, usually organized under most conditions, found herself to be particularly flighty under these stressful circumstances.

Let me begin with the Flight from Hell.  Okay, so it wasn't that bad but the almost-but-not-really sinus infection I accumulated two days prior to adventuring to London didn't fair well on the acceding and descending flights.  By the time I arrived at Toronto, I was too sick and confused to know right from left and the Canadians I surely thought to be friendly were the most unhelpful bunch of tourist-craved nimrods I'd ever come across.  I was so stressed out that I managed to realize I was no longer carrying my coat.  Yes, I lost my beloved AE coat.

London was far worse.  By then, my ears were so pressurized it felt like someone had released me into Outer Space with no fish bowl full of air over my head.  I thought I was going to implode.  I sucked it up, found the Arcadia group at the airport, and we headed to the hotel.

The next few days were a high-speed flash of various tourist activities through the eyes of the aforementioned unfortunate girl who was drugged on Sudafed the entire time.  But, I had a blast (see examples below):

The view from my hotel window (Kensington Gardens)

 

 

My first ever Guinness (I was unable to hear the whole night so I kept shouting at people to speak up)

And then, I won.  Won what, you ask?  I won Rachel.  That's right, I found Rachel! 

Don't worry, it's still the first Guinness and Rachel's first apple juice

 After the first night of the Arcadia orientation (majority Oxford students, one going to York, and three of us off to Lancaster), I put on the puppy-eyes and begged for a doctor.  After two hours of getting lost in West London (quite frightening when you don't know where you are going and have to pretend that you aren't lost), I finally got to see the doctor.  After an interesting appointment with Dr. Stereotypical Old British Man, I got my meds and was good to go.

As an English major, I fulfilled my life duty by traveling to the Globe and seeing a play preformed called Mysteries.  It was an amazing experience, being a groundling and all.  It was everything that Maria Teresa Prendergast had drilled into my head back at Wooster.

We received flowers because we are so beautifully awesome

Introducing the then-future students of Oxford...And me.

After a three hour train ride in which I realized I left my wallet at the hotel, I finally got to Lancaster!  But that's a different story, one that is still working on an ending.

Cheers!