The First Day… a long one

Our wake-up call yanked us from our “slumber” at 4:50am. Even though we tried to get to sleep as early as possible, you just don’t sleep soundly when you’re anticipating the alarm going off at an un-godly hour. We quickly showered and headed downstairs to check out and catch our taxi: a small, yellow sporty thing with leather seats. It only took about 8 minutes to get to the airport and check-in was breeze. Our plane took off, on time, at 6:40am after going through the “de-icing bay”. An hour later, we were on the ground in the UK, but it was still 6:40. We went back in time, to the land of GMT.

After breezing through customs – well, I breezed through, but Kristen had to fill out a form and answer a lot of questions – we were soon sitting in our 4-door, black Peugeot. Me on the right hand side, behind the wheel, and Kristen on the left. It took me about 15 minutes to get used to driving on the left and the learning curve had us back-tracking, u-turning, and circling roundabouts. But when we finally got on the freeway, we made pretty good time. Until we realized we somehow had gone the wrong direction when we got on the “London Orbital” (the road which circles London). We should have gone west, but we went east and ended up circling around the bottom of the city rather than over the top. Added about a half hour to the trip, so it wasn’t a huge deal. Though it was drizzling and cloudy most of the way, the drive was actually quite nice. Lots of beautiful English countryside. We got stuck behind a couple of slow trucks when we were on the two-lane A303, so that set us back a little.

About an hour behind schedule, we reached Exeter at 12:30 and got a bit lost there before winding our way through the hills to the university. Kristen missed her first appointment and I didn’t make it to the research seminar I had been invited to. Despite this, we both were able to meet up with at least one of our contacts. Kristen spent a couple of hours talking to Dr. Lyons, a professor of Film, Literature and Visual Studies, as well as 20 minutes with Dr. Helen Taylor, the head of the English department. I met with Dr. Higbee, a professor of European Film Studies. He gave me a quick tour of the department and some of the facilities. When Kristen and I met up again, I showed her some of the things that he had showed me, including the library and film history archive. Through all this, there was a steady flow of soft, English rain and the campus was covered in low-hanging clouds. Even though the day was a bit dreary, we really got a good feeling about the university and the campus. However, by the time we got back to the car, I was thoroughly drenched (corduroy jackets are not very waterproof).

By this time, it was 4pm, so we headed over to the Clocktower Hotel to check in (their site). The room was quite small, but still cozy. After drying of and taking a breather watching “the beeb” (BBC) for a little while, we headed out to have drinks and dinner. Dr. Higbee recommended a pub called The Wellhouse. A great little pub with big windows facing a 850-year-old gothic cathedral. I had a couple of cask ales and Kristen had a blue drink the bartender made up. He said they don’t really serve mixed drinks, so he just threw something together from their shots liquor based on her request for “a mixed drink that tastes good”. It was a hit (she had two), so I told him he should put it on the menu. Post-drinks, we went up the street to a pizza place, which seemed to be a franchise. England’s answer to California Pizza Kitchen. They serve personal pizzas with oddball toppings, but they don’t slice them because people eat pizzas with a knife and fork over here!

So, having logged about 300 British miles, been up since 4:50am, walked around in the rain, and filled our bellies with pizza and chocolate fudge cake, it was due time to turn in for the night. We wandered back through the cobblestone streets to our hotel - feeling like it must be 10:00 or 11:00 o’clock. But it was actually only 8:00, which meant we could even catch the evening’s episode of EastEnders, a popular cheesy-yet-really-enthralling British soap opera that we watch regularly.

It was a good day.