After a loonng and painfully quiet summer break, I am heading to Oxford in a little over a week! I'm flying over before my classes start to do some travelling with my sister, Holly. This will be Holly's first time travelling overseas, so my goal is to avoid a major travel fiasco. Unlikely, but I'll have my fingers crossed.
We arrive early on the morning of June 24th (after an overnight flight, joy) in Gatwick Airport and plan to meet up with our London hostess, a student named Rachael who I found through the Couchsurfing website (www.couchsurfing.org). Needless to say, my mom is not a big fan of lodging based on a random person's website profile, but I used the site in Amsterdam and had the best travel experience of my life. Basically, you contact people on the site to see if you can crash on their couch for 2/3 nights. This way, you connect with a local who can steer you away from hangouts where 98% of the people are foreign. Rachael seems really cool--she studies Public Health and has an interest in Economics and French (I figured we'd really hit it off). The coolest thing about Rachael is that she happens to live two blocks from Westminster Palace. :) Convenient...
The next morning, after adjusting a bit to London time, Holly and I are meeting up with Baroness (yes, a REAL baroness!!!) Liz Barker in the House of Lords for a tour and some coffee. Neither of us can believe we actually get to do this! THANK YOU MARTY!!!
After London, Holly and I will head to Salisbury to see Stonehenge. Unfortunately, we are missing the Summer Solstice, when thousands of people are allowed to camp out near the site. We are still pretty lucky, however, thanks (again!) to Marty who knows some Salisburians. They have offered to give us a tour of Salisbury as well as a free place to stay (which in the land of the pound is a HUGE help). We can't wait to meet them!
On Saturday morning, we head to Oxford. Holly will spend a few days in Oxford before she heads off to Sicily to study Mediterranean conservation and eat lots of gelato. I'll be spending six weeks in Oxford studying under Dr. Ken Addison, and I can't wait! If you'd like to get an idea of what I'll be studying, I found a course outline (though Dr. Addison assured me we will be straying from it) at: http://www.spc.ox.ac.uk/text/149/option_3.html. I'll be writing much more about Oxford when I get there.
I plan on updating this blog as much I can, mostly with pictures. Feel free to leave comments and to contact me via email (eburchf@clemson.edu).
Finally, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU TO THE DUCKENFIELD CLAN! This is
such an honor, and I'm sure it will be the experience of a lifetime. I have been looking forward to this experience since November, and I can't believe it is almost here. It definitely would not have been possible without you all.
Hope to update you all soon!
Emily
4 comments:
Yes!!!! I get to comment first. ;)
I'm so so thrilled for you. You have no idea. Your travels with Holly beforehand sound fantastic! I've never been too keen on the Couchsurfing idea, but after hearing about A'dam and this new setup, I could be conviced. I just wish I could make it over to Oxford before I head back to the States. If you feel an unnatural desire to visit Maastricht again before you spend a semester there, I won't stop you. :p Either way, see you in the Fall. Love you!! (And be thinking about you know!)
Emily I'm way excited for you! The UK is going to be so amazing AND... we get to talk at that happenin philosophy bar. Oh man. I hope everything goes well with Holly's first time abroad (I'm sure it will)--oh, and I am soo going to have to try out this online couch service. Thanks for the heads up.
PS I'm going to find some way to hack this site and make my comment come before Kelley's. Just you wait, Jonkoff.
Oh... and... I'm not sure why it put my user name instead of my real name... buttt foufga=david :)
YAY!!! Can't wait to read about all your travels and adventures. I miss traveling. Maybe the more you brag, the more it will motivate me to do something about it. (fingers crossed)
Enjoy!
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