Enter England

I'm finally here! This week has been an insane rush of setting up my room, going to course orientations, and meeting people. A few random observations from my first days in England:

- There are NO pickup trucks. I didn't see one on the whole trip from Heathrow to Oxford.
- The UK really needs Fred Meyer. I've been running all over Oxford to find bedding and kitchen stuff.
- People in England and Ireland don't refrigerate their eggs. Seriously, I was at the grocery store today and the eggs were on a shelf with the cake mixes.

There's been so much going on I haven't had much of a chance to properly explore Oxford. We didn't have internet for the first several days so it's a bit hard to drag myself off the computer right now. But I'm going into the city tomorrow and will take lots of pictures so you can see my new home.

There are 80 students in my publishing program. Only about a third of them are from the UK, with the rest coming from the EU and elsewhere (I am one of five Americans). I was very excited to meet someone from South Korea last night who has also worked with InterVarsity Press and is interested in Christian publishing. We've been informed that "publishing is the booziest industry in the UK" and there are plenty of social events to attend! Our modules (aka classes) don't start until next week, but we've already met the tutors and had IT workshops. Everything looks uniformally challenging and exciting.

It's been easy meeting people since we're all in the same boat starting at a new university. My flatmates are splendid, and I already found a church thanks to a wonderful former publishing student who befriended us newbies. So life has been good.

My goals for the year are to become a competent and employable member of the publishing world. But more so -- to get out of my head and relish this amzing place and people.

Soli Deo gloria.