The first few days

Hi, my name is Jeff Bartosh. I am a senior at Abilene Christian
University and currently studying abroad in Oxford England. This trip
so far has been the most amazing experience of my life, and I have
only been here for one week. I will go into more depth throughout the
rest of this blog, but first I would like to thank you for reading my
blogs and hopefully someday you will be able to share a similar
experience like the one I am about to share with you.

May 31- June 1: Now, I have been on an airplane before, but as I
arrived to Dallas/Fort Worth’s Airport I immediately started getting
the jitters. I have been preparing for months for this trip and now I
am finally at the place that is going to transfer me to another
country! After checking my luggage, I hugged my parents and girl
friend goodbye, and headed through security to start the opportunity
of a lifetime. Once on the other side of security, I filled my “safety
net” of a few hours by strolling around the airport and meeting other
ACU students that arrived earlier than I did. It was a fun beginning
that gave a great omen to how the flight and rest of the trip was
going to be.

After waiting around and talking for a while, we boarded the plane and
left for England at 5p.m. We arrived in London at 8 a.m. after a
surprisingly fast flight - I recommend that you sleep on the plane to
help prevent bad jetlag, which a few students understand better now.
However, once we hopped on our bus and started driving through London
to Oxford, you could see everyone's heads popping up like prairie dogs
and constantly moving as we were trying to take in such a beautiful
scene. My first thoughts after being able to visualize the aesthetic
beauty for myself were: why haven’t I ever lived here, I’m pretty sure
I am not dreaming, and I cannot believe I am actually over here. It
was so amazing and just got better as we started seeing the
transitioning from London to smaller, quaint Oxford. I think,
personally, it was better than London because you get that small town
feel when pulling into the neighborhoods and seeing true Victorian
style houses. It was a completely different feel that you don’t
normally get to see in the states. It was as if the city itself held
its own personal spirit that radiates culture off every little stone
and brick that completes it. Finally, we drove up to two houses that
gave us the feeling like we were right at home, especially with Mr. &
Mrs. Morgan there to great us as we came in.

It was early, and since I spent some of the airplane trip sleeping, I
was able to use the rest of the day to unpack and sight see around
part of Oxford’s main historical and “touristy” spots. It was a fun
day. The people here are really friendly and helpful if you get lost,
like we did, but we asked around and found our way back soon enough. I
appreciate you reading my blog, I hope you stay in-tuned.