After the play we were supposed to go see Ben and James' band, the Infamous Flapjack Affair, but unfortunately there was a mixup with the venue and they reached capacity much sooner than expected. Instead, we went back and watched the end on The Netherlands killing Spain in the World Cup and then hung out a bit at New College before going for dinner and then to Wahoo for some dancing. It was POURING rain when we went out dancing and then we walked home as well, so naturally rather than go home and dry off and warm up, we decided to go to Dennis' for an after party. Poor Rob couldn't stay awake, but the rest of us played fives and charades until 8:30am when I finally crashed and went home to sleep.
Since I went to bed at 8:30am, I slept until 2:30pm and then got up, did some reading and ate a late lunch. I worked through the afternoon and then got ready to head to Kellogg for formal dinner with Katherine, a few of her friends from Lebanon, Dennis, and Louis. I finally got to wear the bridesmaid dress that I should have gotten to wear in Amanda's wedding had I not had exams. Formal dinner was really delicious, except I had the dress altered by a very talented tailor and it fits like a glove... only that means I also can't eat much in it.... at least it's beautiful.
After dinner we hung out for a bit and then went to get changed to meet more people at Freud. It was a good night but around 2:30am I was exhausted from the previous all nighter and decided to head to bed. Others went out dancing (impressive) at Plush, but I just couldn't manage.
This past week has been quiet. Lots of reading, lots of watching the world cup, and packing. One of my friends has a car and is nice enough to help move my stuff out to Brittany's for the summer (where it will then get picked up along with Brittany's stuff and be kept in a storage pod and then delivered to our new house next year). I don't feel like I should have that much stuff, but it adds up... pots and pans and plates and bedding (pillows, duvets, sheets), and towels and desk stuff (paper, hole puncher, etc), and a few clothes/winter stuff, plus a clothing rail/rack and spices/herbs and cleaning supplies.... it adds up quickly.
Monday night I went to latin dance for the first time in awhile and really enjoyed the lesson. It was Katherine's last night in Oxford and it was the perfect send off for her. From there, I went to watch the U.S. v. Ghana match and was so happy/excited with the outcome.... if we can just beat Portugal... there is still hope that we will make it out of this round.
On Thursday I got notice that I received some grant funding for my field work, which is really exciting, especially because the grant is normally for PhD/DPhil students, so it was nice to get money from my application. I've talked to other MPhil students who were also awarded funds, so I was not the only one, but it's still a really good feeling and also really helpful in terms of funding my travels for research.
Thursday night I went to a cocktail place with someone for a drink and then from there was supposed to cycle out to Old Marston (about 3 miles and where I am living next year) to Juliana's goodbye party- but they decided to come into Oxford to go dancing so Dennis and I hung out at St. Antony's and waited on them.... then it turned out they went straight to Cellar to dance and we tried to meet them but the queue was crazy long and we couldn't get in.... fail. But as I told Juliana... I am refusing to say real goodbyes... even for those people on the one year program who won't be here studying next year, I am confident our paths will cross again and that this is not goodbye.
Friday I really buckled down on the packing and my entire room is ready to move to Brittany's. When I was pulling boxes out of our attic/storage area, I must have also brought out a GIANT spider... which found it's way on to my ceiling before I noticed it. This thing was the size of a large garden spider (those black and yellow ones) only it was brown and looked hairy... like a small tarantula. I am not scared of small spiders and will generally ever catch them and put them outside rather than kill them (the same for pretty much all bugs except roaches...ew)... but this one... I was terrified of. I called mom on skype, yelled for my roommates, called Andreas (no answer) and Louis (afraid of spiders) to come kill it for me before I realized I was just out of luck and was going to have to be a grown up. After missing it the first time, lots of screaming and a few tears, I came out on top.
Then Friday night, my friend Austin arrived for a visit. We went to high school together and he's now doing field work in France for the summer while working on his Masters degree so he decided since he'd never been to Oxford he would pay me a visit. We had dinner and then watched the World Cup game last night and then Saturday we checked out Christ Church Meadow, the Botanic Garden, Hertford College, Braesnose College, St Edmunds Hall, New College, and Saturday night we had Kellogg Ball. Originally Keble was the only ball I was going to go to, but the Kellogg one is cheaper than most, I already had a second dress, and a group of NSEP is going... since Austin was visiting I figured it might be a fun Oxford experience.
We headed over to Kellogg, which is only about a block from me and met up with Anna, Sophie, Andreas (who didn't have a ticket but came to see us all dressed up) and Dennis. The group of us headed to Dennis' so we weren't the first people there (fashionably late and all) and then we finally headed to the ball around 8:30- just in time to watch the ballet performance. The theme of the ball was Swan Lake and although it was less formal and had less to do than Keble's ball- it had it's own charm. There was a bouncy castle, a fully buffet of food, ice cream, homemade fresh donuts, a pick and mix candy thing, a person making balloon animals, face painting, the ballet performance and a performance by Out of the Blue which is an amazing a cappella group here at Oxford.
While watching out of the blue perform, Andreas showed up, followed by Cato and we continued the evening by eating too many donuts fresh from the fryer, playing in the bouncy castle, and dancing the night away. It was a much different experience than the Keble ball, but I had a really good time and it was so good to have a last all nighter with some of the amazing people I've gotten so close to this year.
NSEP girls in the bouncy castle! Cody, me, Anna and Sophie
Andreas and me
Andreas, me and Dennis. Love these boys.
Our group for the night: Austin, Anna, Sophie, Dennis, Cato, Andreas, Cody and me
Cato and Dennis. Most Dutch photo ever taken.
Andreas, Cato and me dancing the night away
The ball ended at 4AM and me, Austin, Anna, Dennis and Sophie were there to be in the "Survivor's photo" and then we headed to Dennis' to "after-party" (more like unwind). We stayed until about 5:15 or 5:30 and then everyone decided it was bed-time... except Austin had a 7am bus to the airport so we headed back to get him packed and then on the bus.
There is no rest for the weary- Lizzie was coming the next morning with her car to drive my stuff out to Brittany's (I dont have my room for the summer and have bedding, towels, pots/pans, shampoo, etc etc to store over the summer). It was really nice of her to take her moving to help me move and I still had some packing to do so I didn't sleep... Just moved and unloaded and then repacked some of Brittany's stuff, got organized, did a bit of work, etc.
That night I had dinner and ice cream to tell Cody goodbye with Louis, Rob, Andreas, Sophie, Cody (of course) and Cato and then we headed back to St. Antony's for foosball and to watch USA v. Portugal. I finally crashed at halftime and went to bed, so I missed the second half of a really exciting game. Yesterday it was more work, more packing/moving prep, watching The Love Life of the Octopus with Sophie who very kindly translated, and having dinner and watching The Mindy Project with Louis. Tonight a group of us are having a goodbye dinner in Andreas' garden since Louis and I leave tomorrow and Dennis and Andreas leave Thursday.
It's hard to believe that my first year at Oxford is just about over. I look around and my room is nearly empty, the pictures are down and about 1/2 of my good friends have already left. The school is emptying out and the tourists are flocking in. It's a weird feeling. I've loved almost every minute of this year and while parts of it have been a roller-coaster (thinking I didn't want to do academia and then changing my mind, changing between three different dissertation topics, being lonely when I arrived to having made friends for life...) it's truly been one of my best years ever. In Houston, I didn't enjoy my work very much and it was a hard adjustment to the real world, and Prague was cold and gray and as much as I loved my kids I was sick ALL THE TIME, but here, I love what I am studying, I have good friends, I feel interested and engaged and I've been mostly healthy. It's the first place that has truly felt like home since I lived in Philly. I don't think I can really ask for more.
That said, I've missed animals terribly over the past 2 years and I can't wait to be in a place where I can ride, or even groom regularly, and maybe have a dog to come home to :). I'm looking forward to spending some time at home (much of will be spent in the Morgan County Library) and spending time with Mom and Dad and hopefully Pam and Ed and other friends and of course, lots of time out at the barn with my ponies and second family. I am a little worried that the heat will be hard to adjust to (the high here has been 68-72 with maybe a day or two of 75 as the absolute hottest) so that might take me some time to adjust, but regardless, it will be good to be home.
I'm not sure how much I'll write over the summer, but I'll aim for an update or two and will certainly go back to regular entries once my fieldwork gets underway.
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