I spent most of today limping around Oxford. I did something to my right foot yesterday with all that walking, so today I've got a stupid limp. I sort of ventured from pub to cafe, and back to the pubs again just exploring. Oxford is set-up as both a city and a town. You'll find the bus station next to a hundred year old college right next to a trendy cafe. It's so much fun to explore. Especially when you can take your time and really just wander.
Anyway. I spent most of the day eating. Turns out I love English grubb. It’s boring and hearty, filled with carbs- YUM! So much for my attempts at being a vegan. Turns out without my juicer there’s no way I can manage that. And the food’s way too good here for me to live off of leaves so I’ll be suspending vegan/vegetarian diets for at least the next 3 months.
(Aunt Cyndi- I hope you are loving juicing in my absence! Has Mom given you my juicer yet? Please take advantage of the yummy veggies I willed to you. The avocado, cucumber, and apples should be good still if nothing else!)
So today I’ve done nothing but wander around and sample different pubs and cafes. It’s been lovely. First I went to a pub called Three Goats Heads and got a meat and veggie filled pie topped with mashed potatoes with veggies on the side with gravy. YUM!
Then I headed off to the King’s Arms. For 350 years it was a gents only pub until 1973 when some "radical" feminists convinced them to open it up for them as well.
The place winds around inside itself revealing small side rooms with comfy couches and armchairs.
It's quite impressive. I met some friendly "chaps" there. It got pretty crowded when some fancy "football" game came on. I haven't been around here long enough to know what the big deal about that was, but then again it's football so that should be enough-
After a couple pints started to head back to the hostel but stopped at Hertford College (right next door!). I've been admitted to Hertford for term, although I'm not allowed in yet because I'm not officially a student until Thursday. Hertford is right in the middle of the city, and just a half block away from Kings Arms. Of course, when I walked past I noticed half of a front door was missing. -I couldn't help but wander in past security, putting on my best "I'm a student here" face. 
Hahaha I think I’m such a badass because I snuck into a library at a fancy college. A college I won’t have to sneak into 5 days from now because I’ll officially be a student. Wow. That’s a new level of nerd I didn’t know I’d reached yet, but whatever, it happened. It's so pretty.
Afterwards I limped back to the Hostel, expecting to just blog for the rest of the night but they were having a party! One of the lads they call "Irish" was having a birthday, so half the hostel was on the back patio drinking and having a good time. I forced myself to go out and join them. It was really fun! It's hard to tell who works at the hostel and who's just staying here, but everyone was really friendly and introduced me to everyone else. Turns out most of the people out there are people who work or have worked at the hostel, and they were all invited by Chelsea who manages the place and is absolutely wonderful. She gave me a free Australian beer, saying, "You're the first American I've ever given a free beer to!" I decided to take that as a compliment...
Anyway, everyone was really nice. Most people here are from somewhere else, so half the time I don't understand everything that's being said. A lot of Spanish. It's funny how much you learn about your own culture when you're in someone else's. From what I've learned, Americans are known first as friendly, and second as absolutely obnoxious. I'm trying not to be obnoxious. I really want to represent my country well while I'm here. I can't help but remember my own qualms with America while I'm here though. There's a lot of great stuff I'm noticing is here that would never be accepted back home. And that's too bad.
It's hard to meet people when you're in a completely different place and have virtually nothing in common with anybody. I stumbled upon a party tonight, and had a lot of fun. But everyone here is coming or going. They're temp friends. Actually finding things in common with people is going to be hard, especially when I'm not taking normal classes with 30+ people to hang around. I'm not the type of person to go out and TRY to make friends, but I guess there's the challenge.
Here come 2 more people into my 12 person room. yayyy. I've been wondering why I can't hear terrible club music yet- it's Sunday. Thank god. Hopefully I can get a good night's sleep.
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