The New Digs

Welcome to my home for the next year. I'm afraid I have not taken any pictures of the outside yet. It was another busy day full of running around getting papers stamped, buying necessities and having orientation for International students. I did, however, meet two fellow students, one from the US and the other from Canada. They are going for masters in International Education and Political Science respectively. I also got a bank account step up with minimal difficulty, so over all a successful day. 
Now on to the pictures. The room is on the third floor of a row house along a fairly busy street. We share a kitchen with four other people.
Here is the view from my doorway, see the love seat to the left!

My laundry/book corner

My tea corner

 My big bed, with a the little sink in the room--very handy!

The wardrobe and my little fridge!

Hope this satisfies some of your curiosity. I'm off to London tomorrow to pick up some stuff shipped to my friends' flat. I arrived on the train but now I am going to try the bus service (which stops right outside my house) instead.


Cheers!

Safe

Hello Friends and Family,
I am safe in Oxford. I arrived in England yesterday morning (London time) and spent the day with my friends Elise and Jason. They showed me the ropes on a couple things including getting a pay-as-you go UK cell phone. They also kept me awake (mostly) until bed time and let me sleep as long as I wanted this morning. :)
This afternoon I hoped on a train here to Oxford and my kind landlord picked me up, took me on the scenic view of the city on the way home and helped me with my heavy bags up to the third floor.
The room is very nice and even comes with..wait for it...a love seat! Not a couch, but given space limitations just as good. By the time my landlord left, it was getting on toward dusk but that didn't stop this fearless, couch-loving explorer. I headed out and found where my college is located. It has awesome architecture. I'm very excited to visit it tomorrow (and take care of all my paper work). I also stopped by the local Sainsbury (grocery store) to pick up some dinner...which I am currently eating.
In some ways, I am already feeling at home. As I wandered tonight, there were many young adults dressed strangely (as in getting close to Halloween strange) and multiple pairs of people taped together at the ankles walking around. Its like Kalamazoo when the  frats come out! Most of the pairs were young bucks, but one lucky young gentleman had a girl taped to each side of him. I am unsure of the reason for all this body to body taping but I'm hoping I will learn soon. Suggestions are welcome.
Unfortunately, I did not grab my camera for this excursion since it was getting dark out but I will try and post some pictures of the various things I have spoken about soon. ( I am certain there will be other random weird things that college age kids around here will get up too!)


Cheers, Pax, Goodnight and God Bless!

Mary's Last Day in Kzoo

Mary has set out on her new adventure. After saying goodbye to Ash and Finn we headed to the airport.

Last summer Mary went to England to present at a conference. 

This time around she decided to rock some boots to the gate.

A final self-portrait.

And best of luck from the cats.

We'll miss you. Good luck in your first week. 

Last Night

Well, I will be getting on a plane to England tomorrow. Direct flight from Chicago to Heathrow, thank goodness! The last day has been filled with packing final items, foodball (the American kind), and wandering around Kalamazoo. We ended up going for sushi tonight, always a good time. :) We heard the Lions pull out an amazing (or astonishing depending on how you look at it) which I found very exciting and hubby smiled at indulgently. Its been a good day. Here are a few pictures of our temporary abode for the last two months. A fine example of "nomadic chic" if I do say so myself.

As you can see there are only 3 chairs--one for me, one for Jakebob, and one for the cats. :P As previously mentioned I am no longer in possession of a couch. Still, we have made do with what we have and it has been a good temporary home. Now I am off to spend more time with Jakebob.  

I love you all and will miss you terribly but I am excited to start this new chapter in my life.

Family Gathering

We drove to Lansing for my nephew's birthday. It was a final family gathering before I take off for Oxford. Hubby and I were able to give away some of our stuff that is in good shape but we have no use for in the next 3 years. We can't take fans and coolers to another country. :)
It was my nephew Dominic's first birthday and his father (my brother Steve) really wanted him to enjoy his cake. His mother wisely removed his clothes as you can see below.
                                               
                                  He started slowly

       
                         but quickly got into the spirit of things

While he was busy with his cake and presents, Dominic did take time out for a quick picture with Uncle Jakebob

And I got to spend time with my grandma, mom, and sister. We also got to see my dad, my oldest brother Dave, and his daughter. It was lovely to see everyone one last time. To the South Dakota Raiches and Melissa we will miss you!

Last Thursday in Kzoo:
Nothing much to report here in Kalamazoo. Still sick, although I did go out to the store today for medicine and a couple of those vacuum seal bags that are suppose to squash down bulky clothing items. Have never used them but figured it was worth a try. Sweaters are nice but like to take up room. 


I made a big batch of tasty chili today for supper, used up several things in our pantry, always a good thing. Plus, Jakebob will have some in the freezer for those late nights he'll be working while I'm gone. Also some pretty good chocolate chip cookies were baked in our oven. Our friend, and hubby's roommate until December came over for dinner. It is always a blessing when you can say a proper good-bye to someone. While I am typing this my trusty partner Jakebob is busy writing a list of things that need to be done before I leave. Here is hoping that they all get taken care of ! :)

Still sick.


Today progressed much the same as yesterday (staying in bed) with more reading and less netflix watching. Also making plans to see friends one last time. Unfortunately, this means I need to do some cleaning of my apartment which is currently styled in what I have termed "nomadic chic". In other words, there is not a lot of furniture and quite a lot of boxes, suitecases, and random bags. Some packed and stacked neatly, most spilling out with all those things you keep meaning to sort through and still haven't quite managed to, so they keep getting moved from place to place. The current lack of a couch enables no hiding space behind said standard of home furnishings.


Hubby and I just finished watching the TV show Dollhouse on Netflix tonight. It is definitely not for everyone and the last few episodes feel very rushed since it was cancelled in its second season. Still, it poses some interesting moral questions concerning technology as well as the link between the mind and body. We both enjoyed it. Plus, it has Alan Tudyk, who is always an enjoyable actor to watch. 


Off to bed, tomorrow is a big day of cleaning, cooking chili and baking chocolate chip cookies.

Sore Throats and Packing


Well, the day of take off is getting closer and closer. For the past week Jacob has had a cold with a very runny nose. I thought I could avoid getting it but alas I woke up yesterday with a very sore throat which has continued into today. Still, getting a head cold now is better than next week as I settle into a new country.


Due to the sore throat and runny nose, I curled up in bed for several hours (due to my lack of a couch) and watched random things on Netflix streaming. In the afternoon, however, I repacked my two bags and then repacked them again. Finally, I think I have them balanced with enough room for those items you can never put in until the last minute. It will be an adventure getting my heavy bags everywhere, but I shall persevere. :)

Couches


My sister tells me that the name of this blog makes me sound lazy. I disagree. Even if it does sound lazy, I don't know how lazy I can be considering I currently do not own a couch (sold it 3 months ago). I also have no idea if I will have a couch for the next year in Oxford home. My skeptical nature (which hubby assures me is a good thing in a historian) also doubts that there are any libraries in Oxford that have couches worthy of curling up in. As a matter of fact, I may be looking at a veritable couch-less future! Will do my best to report on this important issue as things develop. However, have no fear that I shall try to update the blog with or with-out the lazy inducing-ness of a couch.


On another note. I have now reviewed and taken two online language placement exams. According to said exams, I am at the intermediate level in German AND a low intermediate level in French. German I have taken sometime in the last two years. The last time I took French was senior year of high school. Based on this fact and also that I spent maybe a half hour reviewing French pronouns and basic verb endings this ranking seems somewhat bogus to me. And while the French score was based on intelligent guesses....still!! I blame Latin. Ridiculous, dead language that teaches (read forces) you to learn a) how to learn a language and b) to recognize patterns in languages. Anyway, I will see what Dr. Foot has to say about these scores but I may well be taking some sort of language class this first term. We shall see.

Hello Friends and Family,


The hubby and I will try and keep this updated on a regular basis in order to share our experiences in Oxford. T minus 8 days until I leave!