Exuent

Bryant: Don't forget that we have to get a picture of me ordering my first drink!
Michael: At least you've got your priorities straight.

There's nothing quite like showing up in another country with no goal in sight. Ambling around with only a vague idea of where we needed to be and what we were going to do for the next week was a bit unsettling. So we did the only logical thing: head straight to the bus station. Hopped a bus to Oxford. You'd think Londoners would take pride in their educational heritage, the instantly recognizable name of the great University, alma mater of Lewis Carroll and Hogwarts, and temporary home of Jim, a high school friend of ours.
We expected the conversation to go something like:

Me: We'd like two tickets to Oxford
Ticket Lady: Certainly m'love, that'll be ten pounds sterling, leaving from post fourteen.
Me: Thanks!

Instead, it went something like this.

Me: We'd like two tickets to Oxford, please.
Ticket Lady: Where?
Me: Oxford.
Ticket Lady: Which Oxford?
Random Asian Lady Butts in to continue complaining about not getting her ticket
Ticket Lady (irritably): Look, let me service these two first, then I can finish you, dear.
Asian Lady: Ok whatever.
Ticket Lady: Now, where did you want to go again?
Bryant: Oxford!
Ticket Lady: Which Oxford?
Me: The university...?
Ticket Lady: Ah ok, that'l be 21 pounds apiece. Departs at 8:20. Have a safe journey dears!

My heart sinks. At this rate I'll be broke before I even make it to France. Oh well, at least I'll be in Oxford soon. I can tell Jim we're there, everything will be great. Bryant and I grab our tickets and go sit on the bench. Hopefully the bus will be here in about 10 minutes.

45 minutes later, it finally decides to show up. We line up to give the driver our tickets. While we wait, a couple notices my UT hat.

Guy: Where are you folks headed?
Me: Oxford!
Guy: Which Oxford?
Me: The university...?
Guy: Which one?

I am now thoroughly confused. I continue:

Me: The old one.
Guy: Ah, so not Oxford Brookes then.
Me: No.
Guy: Well since we're Buckeyes fans, I really shouldn't help you, but this is the right bus. It's the last stop.

Alright, I feel a bit better now. Go up to the driver to hand him my ticket.

Driver: And whar might yeu be 'eaded?
Me: Oxford
Driver: Well CLEARLY, but WHERE?

If I had a desk to bang my head against, that would be my preferred course of action.
Turns out we need to head to Gloucester Green, indeed the last stop. We get on the bus. The main thoroughfare up to Oxford is closed. We have to take backroads. It takes 2 hours. I get my first five minutes of sleep in a new country. We arrive. I buy a falafel. It is delicious. We wander around some, Bryant eats at a KFC. We wait for Jim to get out of class and call him up. He meets us back at the bus station and we finally get to drop off our luggage. Exploring is much, much more enjoyable without an uncomfortable burden. Oxford is Beautiful.

Jim manages to get us into some pay-for-visitors areas for free due to his student status, and shows us around Christchurch College, where much of Hogwarts was filmed.

After visiting a number of places in Oxford, we decide to head back into London to meet up with a friend, Kyle. He had been staying in London for a few days prior to us arriving, so he agreed to book the hotel that we'd be staying at. After much looking, we found a reasonable fare that took us to London where we'd be staying. We said our farewells to Jim and rushed off to the bus stop.

...or so we thought. Apparently buses in Oxford don't exactly run as straightforwardly as one would hope. The bus we decided to take was called the OxfordTube, and stopped at many different bust stops in town. Unfortunately for the two of us, they did not happen to be the stops we were outside of. We waited at a stop for 15 minutes while OxfordTube busses passed us by which begged the question "are we at the right place?"

And then the rain started.

Not too hard, as always seems to be the case near London, but enough to where we began to freeze. It was about 45 minutes before we were able to find a bus and get on it. The rain followed us to London.

And then we started having fun. We found Kyle at the station quickly. We got to the hotel and relieved ourselves of our bags, found some food, finally ate, which was nice, and got some rest.