The next two days flew by in a blur. I started off by visiting Oxford, which was even more impressive in person than it looked when I checked it out online. I filled out some forms, got a student number, and was told that for first years, course registration online began in four days.
My next stop was London, where I quickly got lost in the Bohemian markets in the east end. There were so many great finds, I could definitely leave the giant shopping malls, this was phenomenal. Then, when I was tired of shopping, I could get Indian food that rivalled even the best in New York from random street vendors. Maybe this city wasn’t too bad after all.
I had a car and driver offered to me, and while I took the car to Oxford, I decided to take the train to London. After all, as a New York girl, I’m pretty used to the subway. It was a quick hour long trip, which wasn’t too bad, all things considered. My homesickness diminished greatly when I saw that as different as it was from New York, London had its own charm, its own vibrancy that made me feel at home.
Meanwhile, I was getting used to life as a princess at the Alcott family estate. Anita assured me that the staff were happy to make me whatever I wanted for breakfast every day, and to bring it up to me, but I insisted on going down to the kitchen myself to get the food, although I did allow them to make it for me most of the time.
The cook, Sam, seemed horrified the first day I asked for just a couple of pop tarts for breakfast, then had to inform me that they did not, in fact, keep pop tarts in the house.
Instead I was given a glass of freshly pressed orange juice and some back bacon with eggs, and a promise that the next day they would have pop tarts.
Lunch and dinner were largely on our own. We could request for the cook to make something, of course, and the cook would prepare the food and leave it in the fridge to be heated up whenever we wanted. Generally, however, I would wait for her to leave for the night and then make my own dinner. I was just too used to cooking for myself, it felt weird to let someone else do it for me all the time.
The first day that it was available I registered for my courses online. I had a list of subjects I had to take in order to graduate, and so I signed up for three English courses, one journalism class, and one business elective, a human resources course.
John set me up with a credit card in my name linked to his, which apparently had no limit. That came in handy when it came to buying textbooks and books for all my classes, and I thought to myself that if I’d gone to school in the states I surely would have come out of it with some hefty student loans.
Time continued to fly past, and before I knew it, I was scheduled for my first day of classes at University.
“Look at my darling daughter. Nineteen years old and off to Oxford. All grown up. I’m so proud,” my mother told me as she held me at arm’s length at the front door. It was basically the exact same thing as my first day of kindergarten, and my first day of high school.
“Thanks, mom,” I answered, wriggling out of her grasp as I’d done those other times. I didn’t really like my mom fussing over me too much. “I’m not that grown up yet though.”
“Oh you are. I remember the day you were born like it was yesterday. Time flies so fast,” she told me, tears beginning to well in her eyes.
“Ok, well, I gotta go. I love you,” I told her, planting a quick peck on her perfectly made up cheek and running out of the house before the waterworks really started.”
“I love you too,” came the tearful reply from inside the house, and I got into the waiting Mercedes, the door held open by Michael the driver, the engine already running.
As we sped towards the university, I could feel the nerves building up inside of me. My first day of university! What was I going to expect? Was Jack right? Was everyone there just some rich prick trying to get in and out before getting a good job through family connections? No way, that just couldn’t be right.
What if everyone was so much smarter than me? I was just some kid from New York who had never read Wuthering Heights until a few days ago. This was Oxford the place where Tolkien worked when he wrote Lord of the Rings. Edmund Halley, Lewis Carroll, Oscar Wilde, Edwin Hubble, TS Elliot, CS Lewis, Dr Seuss… the list of people, writers and otherwise, who attended this University was just so impressive. What if I didn’t fit in? What if I was just way, way too dumb for this place?
Suddenly, before I knew it, it was too late to go back. Michael dropped me off at the front of the campus and I walked to my first class, Introduction to English Literature.
I entered the room, a big hall in a semi-circle, already about half full with students, with ten minutes to go before the class was scheduled to start. It looked surprisingly modern, I was half expecting the classroom insides to look like something out of Harry Potter given the exterior of the campus, but it was well lit, with light wooden tables and modern chairs. A projector in the ceiling shone on a screen that dominated the far wall of the room.
Looking around, I spotted a couple of empty seats about halfway up, and made my way over. They were near the aisle, too, so I wouldn’t have to awkwardly crawl over people to get to the seat.
I sat down shyly next to a girl with short black hair and a nice smile, then reached into my bag and took out my laptop.
“Hi, I’m Annie,” the girl next to me said with a smile and an adorable English accent that wasn’t quite the same as John Alcott’s, but also not the same as what I’d hear in the East London markets. There were so many nuances and different accents in this country, it was crazy.
“Julianne. Nice to meet you.”
“Oooh, you’re American! Where from?”
“New York,” I replied. “How about you?”
“I grew up in Manchester,” she replied. “Moved down here for University though.”
“How long have you lived here for?”
“Just a couple weeks. My mum didn’t want me to come at all, she wanted me to stay closer to home. My father insisted though. He thought I needed to get out and see the world.”
“It’s different for sure. I lived in New York my whole life until a couple of weeks ago. I never thought I’d leave, really. Then my mom got engaged to a guy here, and here I am.”
“Well, welcome to England! I hope you like it. You get used to the rain, I promise.”
“As long as you don’t get storms the media starts calling “snowcopalypse” every winter, I think I can handle a bit of rain.”
Annie laughed. Just then, a tall, balding man walked to the front of the room and cleared his throat while dimming the lights with a remote control in his hand. The projector came to life, shining a powerpoint presentation titled “English Literature” with the subtitle “An attempt to teach you 1000 years of history in five months”
I could hear Annie giggling at the title, and I smiled to myself as well. A similar thought had occurred to me when I saw the course name, but seeing as it was a mandatory course for my degree, I signed up for it nonetheless. Besides, going back to basics couldn’t hurt.
For the next hour and a half I took diligent notes as the professor – Dr. Andrew Gillespie – outlined the course and jumped straight in with a lecture about one of the earliest and most influential works in English literature, the Canterbury Tales.
Right at 10am the professor wrapped up and let us out to go to our next classes.
“I have Journalism 101 now,” I told Annie as I got up to leave. “How about you?”
“Some science elective, I’m awful at science so I figured I’d get it out of the way quickly. Genetics or something. My older brother told me it was easy. But I’ll see you for our class on Wednesday for sure, right?”
“Yeah, you will,” I replied, and she waved goodbye to me as we parted ways. I smiled to myself. I thought I made myself a friend!
Before I knew it, I’d finished three classes, and my first day of University. Michael came by to pick me up when I texted him, and on the way back I sat excitedly in my seat.
“Good day?” he asked. I was surprised, Michael never really made much conversation in the car.
“It was, actually. I didn’t know what to expect.”
“I’m glad. It’s a great school.”
“Yeah, I was just worried I’d be way too dumb for everyone there. I mean, I might still be, but at least they seem like normal people for the most part, you know?”
“I do. You’ll be fine, Julianne. Don’t worry.”
With those words of support I made my way back into the house when we got back, and immediately started on my reading assignment for the English Literature class, where we actually had homework on the first day.
Maybe University wasn’t going to be as bad as I’d feared after all.