The English Game

So I've reentered the life of an Ex-Patriate. I've left the country to study English things for the summer, which I then plan to reinitiate myself, upon return, into being an American by reading an American History Textbook. Not because I have to, nor because I actually will, but because it's a lame joke. And I thought it fitting to put a very lame joke right here.


Now.

There are a lot of funny things to tell about my journey to Oxford, some of which I'm afraid I can't repeat because I don't think it appropriate so I'll water them down a bit. However, Here's some interesting things that have happened thus far:

1.) When I got here, I was almost denied access into the country, because one of my friends thought it a funny prank to sticky note a really inappropriate drawing onto one of the pages inside my passport. The lady at the immigration booth thought I had placed it there, and was highly unnerved and slightly menacing because of how offensive the image was. I had to apologize nearly 4,000 times and tell her with a really worried look on my face how inappropriate I thought it was, and that it really wasn't me cause I wasn't laughing about it.

Later, although I was really upset about it initially, I laughed about it because no one else has that story (And you, Don't take so much credit for that. You know who you are. You're only apart of that story). If anyone wants more details, you'll have to find me later.


2.) I went to a sandwich shop called "On the Hoof" that I use to go to all of the time. I haven't been in over 2 years. Tuesday morning, while it was raining the way that feels like there's a pipe that's spitting out water at you when it shouldn't because a very tiny hole in the seal has emerged, I walked into "On the Hoof" with an umbrella huddled tightly over my head because of the low doors and no joke... the moment that I let the Umbrella down and shook it out, the lady at the front counter looked at me and said, "Oh, You Came Back!"


This kind of thing can make you smile.

3.) I was doing some research, finding some more sources for my paper at some secondhand book shops, when I came across a very old version of "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis. It was a seventh edition printing from 1942 just 7 months after the first printing had happened. On the front it reads, 

"A new book by the author of 'The Problem of Pain' one of the most widely read and discussed works of recent years."

I bought it for about $5.

4.) Someone asked me if I use to be the SA President at ACU.

That's a joke. A very sad, sad joke.

Real #4.) I still have a shot at seeing Coldplay for Free and I'm really hoping it'll happen.

5.) The research I'm doing is interesting, though I'm still learning to handle all of this properly. I'm heading off on Sunday to a conference in London that pertains to a good bit of what I'm researching. I'll get to stay with some ACU Alum so that'll be pretty cool.

6.) Also, I've been working out a lot. I think I'm gonna have to stop though, cause my arms don't fit in my shirts anymore and I can't afford new clothes with the exchange rate over here. 

7.) I think tonight is my final bout with Jet Lag. Let's pray cause it's killing me.

8.) This is not really a highlight of anything. Just a note to say to all my friends and my family that I miss you all very much.

Feel free to write me at:

Matt Worthington
9 Canterbury Rd.
Oxford, United Kingdom
OX2 6LU