The time has come...

Hello All!

I'd like to welcome you to my official blog, title pun included (obviously). Read my posts to stay updated on my travels and adventures in Europe this year!

I'll be leaving for Oxford in a few short days and I cannot wait. Everyone else has started school, gone to their study abroad programs and I am ready to be school-bound as well. I'll be flying to London on Sunday with my dad and staying in the city for a few days. Ever the British aficionado, I'm sure my dad will show me all there is to see in the city, and more. I'm most excited for the show that we'll be seeing, Les Miserables (my theater geek roots are showing). Its the 25th anniversary of the show and there will be a special performance going on for two weeks and somehow, we got tickets!

After London, we'll head to Stratford Upon Avon for a few days. More theater viewing and general tourist activities will ensue. And after Stratford, its on to Oxford. I'll be living in a single room in a dorm off the campus of Mansfield College. The dorm, Ablethorp, is less than a mile from the center of town, and very close to Oxford's most famous library, the Bodleian. More to come on the dorm situation after I arrive.

And now for the educational portion of this post. At Oxford, classes are known as tutorials. These differ from the standard American college classes in a few big ways. Instead of a class of 10 or 15 or even 100, tutorials are set up to be one on one or at the most, three or four on one. This means that it will be just me and my tutor (professor) discussing a specific topic. I'll take two tutorials per trimester. Each tutor will assign me a reading list, I'll do the reading for the week, write a paper, and discuss the paper with my tutor.

This term, called Michaelmas term, I'll be taking a tutorial on C.S Lewis and one on christian thought. I'm really excited and nervous about the tutorials, I hope I'll be able to rise to the standards that are expected of Oxford students.

But enough worrying, this post is getting far too long. Thank you, whoever you are, for reading this blog and for caring enough about me to stay updated on my year abroad. I'm sure I'll have many stories to tell and pictures to post, so stay tuned! And now, let the packing begin!