Week 0 — I am finally in Oxford and have settled in. Has been almost a week. Boy its been a crazy one !! Being here is almost like being in a time warp. 800 year old buildings, week long wait to open bank accounts, seperate taps for hot and cold water, beautiful colleges, awful weather, great students, some uptight locals, great pubs and expensive drinks. I love it!!!

I know that was too cryptic but it was what first few days were in a nutshell. I have been meeting current batch mates who are already here. Bunch of great people. We ve been out bonding over drinks pretty much every day this week. Attached is a snap @ a pub called ‘Kings Arms’!

Also visited business school and my college ChristChurch. ChristChurch is one of the oldest, popular and one of the most beautiful colleges at Oxford. Oxford has a collegiate system. Every student at the Said Business school has to be member of some college.

Christ Church has traditionally been seen as the most aristocratic college in Oxford. It has produced thirteen British prime ministers which is more than any other Oxford or Cambridge college (and two short of the total number for the University of Cambridge, fifteen). The college is the setting for parts of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, as well as Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. More recently it has been used in the filming of the movies of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series .

I got my keys to the GCR (graduate common room) which every college has and is accesible to all members of the college. I am though still waiting for my student id — which is something the college provides to the student and not the business school.

Over the weekend, visited my cousin in Birmingham. Being in birmingham after a week in oxford was like being back to the ‘real’ world. Birmingham is the largest of England’s core cities, and is often considered to be the second city of the United Kingdom. I thought the city was like any other modern day city from what I saw of it. I visited the famous SOHO road — a strong indian community base. Had some decent desi grub at a aptly named place — ‘Chandni Chowk’!

More coming next week. The oxford ride is just about to begin and I cannot wait!!