I am sad to say that this will be my very last blog post in Ireland. Tonight is my last night in Belfast and after a truly fantastic semester, I can say with confidence that this has been an experience that I will never forget. For one thing, I learned more about the World and myself than I ever could have guessed. I learned about different currencies, the different ways in which people live, and the things that make other countries special. One of my favorite learning experiences in Ireland, in particular, is my new-found LOVE for Rugby. I also now consider myself an expert in both Northern Ireland troubles and the Titanic after a semester in Belfast.

But more importantly, I learned that I am not done exploring the World. There is so much more I would like to see and experience and studying abroad has opened my eyes to the adventures that lie ahead. IFSA has been absolutely incredible throughout my entire time here and I feel honored that I was able to share my experiences on this blog as well. Even though I know I am leaving tomorrow, I am thrilled that I will be able to look back at pictures and my blog entries and remember all of the good times I’ve had abroad. I will miss walking past the picturesque Queen’s University and I will miss the wonderful Irish accent and the people who are so genuinely nice and kind. However, even though I’m leaving tomorrow, I know that this is not a goodbye forever. I will be back in Ireland as soon as I possibly can so for now, this is only a see you later, Belfast.

The South Island was beautiful. Every place we saw was amazing. I’ll try to give a brief summary of each place, but feel free to skim.

Day 1 & 2: Picton and Abel Tasman

After staying up late the night before to finish packing (of course) after showing Rachel around Wellington a bit, we woke up early and caught a taxi to the ferry terminal at 7 am. we got lunch in Picton which is a small and cute little town. We picked up our rental car and realized that Elizabeth and I were the only 2 who could drive it because we are 21 and Kat forgot to bring her license…

The group talked me into being the first driver. It was really nerve-racking at first but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. We took the extremely windy scenic route on the way to our hostel, Kanuka Ridge. The windy mountain roads were nearly impossible. I was trying so hard to be passenger friendly while not going too slow so as not to piss off the drivers behind us. We stopped several times for pictures but were ATTACKED by sandflies. When we finally got there, we asked the hostel owner where to get good fish n’ chips and he sent us down the road to a food cart called The Fat Tui. They sold fish n’ chips along with gourmet salad burgers. These were giant burgers with an entire salad on top. It was delicious!

The next morning, we got up early, made breakfast, packed lunches and left for our day hike through Abel Tasman National Park. The hostel owner tempted us with water taxis that could take us far along the track to kayak or play with seals, but we opted for the free option of just walking there. We actually got really far along the track that day and saw so many beautiful beaches and landscapes. When we stopped on one beach to eat lunch I just sat there marvelling in the fact that, on Easter Sunday, I was eating lunch on one of the  most beautiful beaches in arguably the most beautiful country on Earth. How lucky am I? In that moment, I just felt so grateful, lucky, and happy. The moment was very surreal. Here is a picture of Apple Tree Bay, where we spent a lot of time relaxing, walking around, and taking pictures:

Here are some other Abel Tasman pictures:

This day was my 2nd favorite day of the entire trip. Everything was just so beautiful. This is the night I taught everyone how to play Euchre which started the craze that ensued for the next 2 weeks.

Day 3

Day 3 was the best day of the entire 2 weeks. We got to Shambhala which was our favorite hostel. It was a very hippie/relaxed atmosphere. There were stone paths everywhere and little gazeebos and meditation spots. There was also a private beach but we didn’t spend much time there because the tide was in.

I was reading The Little Prince in the gazeebo with Kathryn and Rachel saying how I could sit there in the sun all day and be perfectly happy when Elizabeth came up and said she was way too anxious/hyper to sit around all day and wanted to go find something to do. We obliged. We went and flipped through the little book that the owner had made. It said something like this: ‘If you are one of those crazy travellers who only spends one day at each place and is constantly moving, then you must go see Wharariki Beach. It is just a fifteen minute walk from the carpark past the sheep fields.”

Since we were exactly those crazy travellers and only had one day, we decided to follow this man’s suggestion since asking the locals had not let us down so far. So we grabbed our shoes and walked down the gravel driveway towards the carpark. We found a sheep field and wandered through it looking for this beach. There was nowhere to go, though. It was just the same hostel beach we had already seen and the sheep field was fenced in. We gave up and went back to the hostel and called the owner to ask how to get there. It turns out that you have to DRIVE somewhere first and then walk 15 minutes from the carpark. This crucial detail was left out of the instructions in the booklet. He told us it was a quick drive down the road and that there would be signs to follow. We hopped in the car and drove for about 20 minutes and never came to any signs. We were considering turning around but instead we stopped at a hostel and asked for directions. It turns out that this place was a ways longer down the road and on the other side of Farewell Spit. We decided to take a vote on whether to continue on or not. I voted no because we were using up so much gas and it was inching towards sunset. Luckily, I was outvoted and we went. Thank God because Wharariki Beach ended up being the most beautiful place in New Zealand.

The pathway to the beach from the carpark was a sandy trail through the wind-blown trees. The sand leading up to the beach was in waves that made us feel like we were in Aladdin.The sun was slowly setting behind the rocks causing beautiful reflections on the water.

The best part was group of seal pups playing in the small pools of water on the beach. They came right up to us and even played catch with a piece of seaweed one little boy was throwing to them. We spent most of our time with the seal pups.

It really doesn’t get any more beautiful than Wharariki Beach. The water was so blue and the sand was so perfect – it made crunchy footprints after each step. It was prettier than any picture of movie. If you travel one place in your life, it must be to this beach when the tide is out. There were hardly any people there which made it feel like a hidden gem. I don’t need to go back soon, but I would love to go back in 10-20 years and see how it has changed. I hope it never does. I felt like the luckiest person on Earth when I was there.

More posts about the rest of the trip to come soon!

Well, I’ve been back in the good ol’ USA for about two weeks now and even though I do miss Dublin, it really is good to be home. A little weird though, too.  Sometimes it feels like this past semester was a dream or something. Like everything I did happened to someone else and then told me all of their stories.  Either way, dream or reality, my time in Dublin was an experience of a lifetime. It has left me with some incredible memories and some great friends and I hope that I’ll be able to go back as soon as possible. Of course, I am going to have to work to replenish my bank account if I want to do any world travelling any time soon.  Or national travelling. Or local trips for that matter.

Being home has been really great.  Somehow, I managed to avoid a serious case of jet lag. It could have something to do with the fact that I didn’t sleep a wink on either of my flights and then when I landed in a time zone five hours ahead of what I’d been used to, I did not go to bed at a semi-reasonable hour and instead stayed up for a full 24 hours straight. On the bright side, I got myself on a normal sleep schedule right away and woke up at a decent hour the next morning. On the other hand, I was exhausted for the rest of the week. Small price to pay at the end of an amazing four months I suppose!

It honestly hasn’t been too much of an adjustment getting used to being back in America. I haven’t experienced the culture shock that study abroad students sometimes say they come across upon returning to their home country. In fact, I don’t think that I ever experienced culture shock or homesickness to begin with. Perhaps because I was in a country that spoke English and the culture wasn’t as drastically different as it would have been in, say, China. But I think I was lucky. I was well prepared for the trip and knew that the IFSA-Butler offices were always there if I needed anything.  Anyway, while I miss being able to hop on the 46a to Dun Laoghaire for a Sunday afternoon at the farmers market and the different shades of green grass viewed from the window of a Bus Eireann coach on a trip to Cork or Galway, it’s nice to be back in the driver’s seat of a car on the right side of the road. Although I do admit, I almost started driving on the left side of a deserted road one night.  Fortunately I quickly came to my senses! I’ve also been able to enjoy snacking on Cheez-Its, using a dishwasher and an oven, bonding with my dog and listening to the Cincinnati Reds on the radio. There are definitely things that I missed while I was gone!

One of my favorite parts about being home is being able to share all my pictures and stories with my friends and family. If you’ve followed my blog at all, I’m sure that you can tell how much I love talking about all the amazing opportunities that I have had. I mentioned in my first post that I get my Irish blood from my grandmother who passed away last fall.  I only wish that I had been able to share my experiences with her, and my other grandparents, because I know how much they would have loved to hear all of my stories. Living in Dublin for a semester has been the most amazing experience. I loved every minute of my trip and I can’t wait to get back to Ireland. If you’re a student, and you ever have the chance to study abroad—even if just for a three week summer program or a spring break trip—take it. Getting out of my comfort zone and throwing myself into a different world has been the best thing I’ve ever done.  It has opened my eyes to the world and it is something that will play an important role in shaping my future.  And it’s not as hard as you might think. Family and friends from home can always be contacted through Skype and email. And you can meet a lot of great new people by going through a program.  Going through IFSA-Butler was definitely the right choice for me.  I always felt like I had all the information I needed and the advisors were always welcoming and helpful, without being overbearing.  And the Northern Ireland and Killary Adventure weekends were both fantastic trips. I also met most of my friends through the program and while parts of my trip were about independence, I always felt like I had a supportive community to turn to.

I had the time of my life in Dublin and I have loved sharing all of my experiences with anyone who has been willing to pay attention. If you’ve followed any of my journey, thanks for listening. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my stories as much as I’ve enjoyed telling them!

Slán !

Hello my glorious blog readers!  Welcome to another addition of my spring break abroad.  Destination: Milan, Italy.  On this part of my journey, I traveled primarily alone, which was a unique and unforgettable experience.  I was in Milan from April 15-18.

Before I departed for Milan, I spent a few days at Palma de Mallorca, Spain.  This was intended for a nice relaxing few days on a beach, but it was mostly raining and chilly.  Palma is an island located in the Mediterranean Sea.  It has a beautiful cathedral with a nice city centre.  I wish I was able to get outside of the city because it has pretty views and great hikes.  I also realized how much Spanish I lost since I stopped taking it in high school.  Whoops.

View of the city centre

A beautiful walkway along the city centre

Cathedral de Mallorca

Sunday, April 15 – I flew into Bergamo (about 45 minutes northeast of Milan) at seriously the smallest airport I’ve ever been in.  I was in and out of there in about 15 minutes, and without an immigration check.  Since I was in Spain before I arrived in Italy, I bypassed all immigration thanks to the Schengen Agreement.  The Schengen area comprises of 26 European countries that eliminates border controls with other Schengen members.  You do need your passport when first arriving into a Schengen country, but then you have free control to travel for 90 days in those 26 designated countries without stopping at border controls.  The United Kingdom and Ireland are not part of the Schengen Agreement, so whenever I enter the UK and enter/leave the Schengen area, I have to go through immigration.  It’s kind of a shame because I go to so many cool places, but I have very few passport stamps to show for it.  But quite honestly, it is a massive time saver.

After arriving at the hotel, I went out for my first Italian dinner: penne arrabiata with pane, a glass of white wine, and a glass of champagne.  There was quite an interesting mix at the restaurant.  The two waiters were hilarious older men both fluent in English.  They both made me feel welcome in my first night in Italy.  The restaurant customers were also international, which added to the interesting mix of Milan.  I found out very early that many Italians spoke English pretty well, and it could be that way because Milan is Italy’s industrial city.

Monday, April 16 – I checked out a travel book of Milan from the Cardiff library, and it had guided walks that I spent the entire day walking on.  I walked to many different cathedrals, parks, ancient infrastructure from the Roman Empire, and castles.  I stopped for a slice of pizza and ate it at the Santa Maria delle Grazie, the church that holds Da Vinci’s Last Supper.  The great thing about Milan is that it is easy to get around; the city is not that big.  You can walk everywhere, and there is an underground train system for fast travel.

A bridge at Parco Sempione

Alter at the Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio

The best known Roman ruins in Milan, Colonne di San Lorenzo, date back to the 2nd Century

Naviglio Grande, a canal that used to be important for trading is now home to cute restaurants and bars

Tuesday, April 17 – I went on a walking tour of Milan that included going into the Duomo, stopping for a café break, and checking out The Last Supper.  The Duomo was very impressive, but I wish I had a chance to check it out longer.  I would have liked to walk up to the top of the cathedral; the views are supposed to be amazing.  There were large stained glass windows with tapestries everywhere.  After the Duomo, we went to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, which is between the Teatro alla Scala and the Duomo.  The Galleria holds designer stores with extremely overpriced restaurants.  We later stopped at a café where I had a cannoli and some tourists had tiramisu.  I met tourists from all over the world, but my group consisted of mostly Americans.  After walking a bit throughout Milan, we ended up at Santa Maria delle Grazie where we saw The Last Supper.  You need tickets in order to see the fresco, and they sold out.  Luckily, the tour provided tickets, and it wouldn’t be a trip to Milan without seeing The Last Supper.  The fresco is held in the most unbelievable room ever: it is completely pollution free.  They are very strict about the amount of people seeing the fresco at one time, which is a huge change from years ago when tourists could walk right in without a problem.  The painting underwent a massive restoration that took 21 years to complete, and it seriously looked stunning for a 15th Century wall painting.  There is another massive fresco on the wall opposite to The Last Supper, but no one noticed.  It is quite unfortunate because it is a beautiful fresco, but people overlook it because of The Last Supper on the opposite wall.

The Duomo

The stained glass windows at the Duomo

Inside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

With my cannoli!

At the Santa Maria delle Grazie on my way to see The Last Supper

Once the tour was over, I found an amazing gelato place that specializes in chocolate gelato.  After a quick break at my hotel, I went out to dinner with a mutual acquaintance who was studying abroad in Milan.  We went out for pizza, espresso, and cannolis at night.  It was nice to see a different perspective of Milan through the eyes of a local student.  We walked to the Duomo, and it was packed with people trying to sell you things.  One thing I hated about the tourist places: it was crowded with foreigners trying to sell you useless things like stupid toys, umbrellas (even though I had one), sunglasses, etc.  I found this everywhere I went, and I was always worried this was some elaborate scheme for them to steal my wallet.

My amazing gelato

At a chocolate bar enjoying a wonderful espresso

Wednesday, April 18 – I had a few hours to kill before my flight to Barcelona, but it was pouring.  I toughed out the weather for one last gelato, and at the shop, I noticed two Americans ordering a gelato.  They totally stood out with their massive backpacks and their mannerisms.  At the airport, I ran into the same Americans from the gelato shop while in line to get on the airplane.  I found out they were in a group of five students, all of them studying abroad University of Iowa students, and all of them from the Chicago area.  It was completely unreal.

Italian word of the day:  Bar.  When we think of bars, we think of parties, alcohol, beer, whatever.  When you see the word “bar” in Italy, be prepared for coffee drinks and desserts instead of ale.

This week was an exciting week for all Bristolians! On Tuesday evening the Olympic Torch made its way into the via the harbour. I was lucky enough to be able to take part in the festivities going on that night in Millennium Square, and of course to show my Team Great Britain spirit! Here are some photos from the evening:

Then the next morning, the Olympic Torch Relay continued – from College Green, across the Clifton Suspension Bridge, finally making its way up to where I live. One of my flatmates joined me early (relatively speaking) that morning to see the action in person. It was a blast to see everyone out there lining the streets and waving their Union Jacks! We scouted out a great spot to see the runner go by:

In other news, as you can probably tell from these photos, summer has FINALLY arrived in the UK! It has been sunny and gorgeous all week! Later today I’ll be heading out to the Downs for a BBQ and some frisbee with friends as a break from revision. Hopefully the sunshine sticks around for my last few weeks in Bristol!

While describing graffiti in NYC Lorraine Wechsler stated, “Graffiti – the term comes from both the Greek term “Graphein” meaning ‘to write’ and the word ‘graffiti’ is plural of the Italian word “Graffito” meaning ‘scratch’ and its history can be dated back to prehistoric cave man wall drawings, it can be seen as a human ‘need’ for communication – “Graffiti represents man’s desire to communicate” [http://www.graffiti.org/faq/pamdennant.html]

Man’s desire to communicate is loud and clear from the walls of Valparaiso. I am continually impressed with the natural beauty of this country in all of its parts that I have visited. One thing I have yet to share is some of the beauty I see nearly everyday in Valparaiso. Enjoy!

“This life has been a test. If it had been an actual life, you would have received instructions on where to go and what to do.” –Angela Chase (Claire Danes), My So-Called Life

Even before the IFSA Butler orientation—even before I was done applying to British universities for study abroad—I’d heard the same thing about the educational system here so many times that I felt qualified to teach it: it’s a lot more independent, instead of having lots of small assignments spread out over the year a few big assignments or exams are responsible for your whole grade. (Ultimately, though, judging by the crazed and frenzied approach I took to my exam period, it probably wouldn’t have hurt if I’d had all the explanations repeated to me a few dozen more times.) It logically follows that updating this blog thoroughly now, now that I’ve handed in the last of my finals (I’m still at UEA, though!), is just the most ‘British’ approach I could take.

Okay, I hope that I don’t start giving the impression that I’m unaware of how obnoxious that sounds. However—and I’m not sure if this makes it better or worse—it was one of the actual explanations I gave myself when I was taking a long time to start writing here. My main excuse was that I would keep writing once the semester started. So, I arrived in London for IFSA Butler orientation. Semester hadn’t started. I moved into my room at UEA and emptied my suitcase. Semester hadn’t started. My unpacked suitcase started to fill again with random things like plastic bags because soon I’d been living in my room long enough to accumulate clutter (admittedly, for me this isn’t usually very long). The semester hadn’t started. My internal clock began ticking on Greenwich Mean Time. Classes, people, and the campus became familiar. But the semester hadn’t started, really.

Now, I can count the days I have left on campus. Classes, then finals, have finished and people started going home weeks ago. It seems like the semester may be starting.

It’s not (just) that I was lazy, it’s just that I was waiting to get used to something that has proved to be much too exciting to get used to. Spoiler alert, for anybody who intends on reading later entries (which is happening, I have them written out): this was a really great experience. I am really grateful to IFSA Butler, Amherst College, and University of East Anglia for letting me have this opportunity. Before I left home, I was really curious to read all the archived student blogs on the IFSA Butler website and I found them all very interesting. I hope that writing here about my experience with the study abroad process will give me a chance to offer something to people in the same place that I was.

Hey everybody,

Well this blog comes with plenty of good news! First off, I was just recently accepted to stay another semester in Melbourne. For those of you reading this that have any intention of spending a semester in Australia or anywhere abroad, I will say for one last time… DO IT!! Another piece of the good news is that my parents were here in Melbourne last week. It was a lot of fun to see them, especially for the fact that I now won’t be able to see them until December. They spent a few days doing touristy things and then I got a couple days to show them around my favorite parts of Melbourne. They really seemed to enjoy their time here and it was fun to have them stay with me and meet all of my friends here! One final piece of good news is that Yogi (our Butler rep) took our study abroad group on a winery tour last weekend, and we had a blast! Over the course of the day we visited three different wineries and tasted a great selection of wines, champagnes (officially called “sparkling wines” outside of France), and ciders. The tastings definitely raised my appreciation for good wines, although most of us couldn’t afford the $20-35 bottles that we were trying. Since the wine tasting fell on last Sunday, which happened to be Mother’s Day, a few of us decided to make a little gift for our mothers during the day. We took a good amount of pictures and recorded a few video clips to create this masterpiece. Here is the video, enjoy!

Although it’s hard to find anything negative after all this good news, we do happen to be coming up on the dreaded exam period. This coming Monday starts week 12, which is the last week of teaching this semester. After that, we have a week called SWOT vac, which stands for study without teaching vacation. This is basically a 9-day period of (ideally) non-stop studying to get prepared for our exam period. Final exams at Melbourne Uni are taken a lot more serious than at many US Universities. For example, 2 of my 4 subjects have a 60% weight on this exam, with the entire rest of the semester worth only 40% of our final mark. This is the case in many subjects and it definitely helps to have this extra week to prepare for these grueling exams. After SWOT vac the three-week long exam period begins. In week 10, exam timetables came out which is when we found out when each exam would be during this period. Two of my subjects have take-home final exams, mostly consisting of long essays or big projects, while my other two have exams with one on the 15^th and the other on the 20^th of June. These are both towards the end of the period, which will be good for studying purposes but not so good for traveling plans! Since I am now staying for another semester, I will have a one-month break to travel or work before our next semester starts at the end of July. I still don’t have any concrete plans for this break but I will keep you posted on here!

Below are a few pictures from both this blog and the last. There are a few from my trip to Rochester and Bendigo, as well as a few from our rainy days in Cairns! I threw in a few extras from other events too, enjoy!

This past weekend my friend Mary Kate and I FINALLY made it to Galway, Ireland. We were actually supposed to head to Galway, which is in the West of Ireland (close to Killary fjord) earlier in the semester, but the weather was too bad so we cancelled our trip. Luckily for us though, our finals are very spaced out throughout the month of May so we were able to fit a trip in during a long weekend!

The first time I ever heard of Galway was when I watched the movie P.S. I Love You when the main character sings the song Galway Girl to his future wife in an Irish pub. From the moment I saw that scene, I knew I wanted to see Ireland but I had no idea that I would some day be living in Ireland, let alone seeing Galway for myself! Very cool.

To get from Belfast to Galway, we decided to take the train so that we could officially cross that mode of transportation off our list and the ride (which took us about 6 hours) was actually really fun. The train was a fun event, in and of itself, so we had a great time looking out the window at all the beautiful Irish scenery and the sheep. As we got further and further into the countryside, I remembered yet again why I love Ireland so much! While in Galway, we dined on traditional Irish food (lots of potatoes) and wandered around the shops looking for souvenirs for our families and had a very fun “traditional weekend.”

Of course, our main reason for visiting Galway was to see the Cliffs of Moher. Featured in movies such as The Princess Bride and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Cliffs of Moher are fabulous cliffs that really show how picturesque the Irish landscape is. I have included pictures below which are nice but cannot even come close to capturing how wonderful the cliffs are. Someday, I’d love to go back again and spend an entire day just sitting on the edge of the cliffs and looking at the Ocean. It’s THAT beautiful!

After we got back from our wonderful mini-vacation, we headed back to Belfast and were finally able to score tickets to the Titanic Exhibit. Since April was “Titanic month” due to the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic voyage, the Titanic Exhibit in Belfast (the largest Titanic viewing experience in the World)  opened its doors. Due to its insane popularity, it had been booked solid since the day it opened. Luckily though, we were able to get tickets for last Monday!

And the exhibit did NOT disappoint! It was absolutely spectacular and quite moving to follow the Titanic all the way from being built in Belfast to its voyage across the Atlantic. Since I’ve seen Titanic (the movie by James Cameron) about 4,000 times (twice in 3d in theaters), I considered myself quite the Titanic expert. However, I had no idea that everything in the movie was so accurate right down to the characters (apart from the 2 main characters) and I was shocked that I learned so much from the museum. It was a great day and I’m glad I got to experience it while I live in Belfast, the birthplace of the Titanic!

The Cliffs of Moher

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This post was going to be about how happy I am.  Well it still is, but interestingly I am writing it to a song which was on the River Island soundtrack.  *twitch*

So yeah, I AM SO HAPPYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.  This country is exactly where I want to be, and I currently have a surprisingly fantastic work/exercise(well this part is slightly questionable)/sleep(!)/friends ratio going on right now, and it’s just brilliant.  Plus I still fell insanely lucky to be going to Oxford, along with a million other things.  And I have excellent (though annoyingly unspecific) travel plans for this summer, and I’m even excited to go home for a month before going back to Kenyon.  So life is really, really good right now – and this term is flying by.  (The weather, though, has been abysmal.)

Some highlights from this term so far have included the Blues and Colours football awards ceremony and Oxford Holi.  You know how in period movies when they’re at parties you always see those footmen holding trays of wine?  THEY HAD THOSE GUYS AT THE FOOTBALL AWARDS CEREMONY.  In a spectacular show of history nerdiness, I freaked out.  And drank wine.  The ceremony was more like a cocktail party with speeches and certificates, but it took place in the beautiful, glass-ceilinged Natural History Museum.  I was milling around next to the last dodo skeleton in the world for a few hours.

Holi was even better.  For those of you who don’t know, Holi is an Indian holiday where you get loads of coloured powder, mix it with water and throw it at people.  Everyone wears white, so you get extra colourful.  It was seriously the BEST THING EVER.  It was mad…people running everywhere…colour still stains the ground where it took place and it’s been weeks.  It was really funny because I’d see someone who I’d met only once, and they’d be like “oh hi again” and then chuck green water in my face.  Best holiday idea in the world.  I would do it every day if I could.

What else?  A week ago today I was at the Warner Bros Harry Potter studio!  It was the actual place where they shot everything with a set, and they also had props from the films.  They had everything from the cupboard under the stairs to the Burrow to the philosopher’s stone to the Gryffindor common room to the Ministry of Magic to Diagon Alley.  Overall it was really fun to go there, but at the same time it was kind of depressing.  I guess I just expected a film set to be more…epic.  But in reality it was basically one ENORMOUS building with tons of different places from my imagination stuck into corners.  It just goes to show how freaking amazing the human imagination is, and how much better books are than films.  Anyway, I bought a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard and resisted a Slytherin scarf and flag.

Ohh, I feel like I’m leaving so much out!  I guess I’ll just go on to more everyday life stuff.  So, academics.  They’ve been great this term, as usual.  Children’s literature is my primary tutorial, and I can’t tell you how fun it’s been.  Just an example – two weeks ago my assignment was the first Harry Potter book.  Also, I care about children’s literature way more than any other kind of literature, so it gives me way more personal satisfaction to study.  My tutor is REALLY COOL – she’s from New Zealand and she’s a DPhil student.

My secondary tutorial is also going very well – it’s the “The Troubled Reign of George III” with Kate Watson, the same tutor I had for French Revolution in Michaelmas.  I still really like her, and last time we spent like half of my tutorial talking about my story instead of the American Revolution.  She kept saying how interesting it was, and how she couldn’t stop thinking about it, which obviously made me want to cry with happiness.  She’s going to give me much-needed sources for historical research, and she gave me BRILLIANT ideas about the origin of the house.  BRILLIANT.  I can’t even write about this anymore because I am getting too excited.

Again, I feel like there should be more…but there isn’t, I guess.  I was worried about this term because football is over, but that has been a surprisingly easy adjustment.  I’ve been going to random friendlies and college practices anyway, and I’ve been running with Rosie (my football friend and summer travel buddy) too.  Also, Asiyla is back in England so I’ve been hanging out with her.  LIFE IS GOOD.

Well, I guess this is my second to last post about Oxford!  Amazing.  See you next time…

Ari

P.S. I now have my official plane ticket home – July 25.  It’s exactly two years from the day I went to England for the first time. :’(  SOMEONE WILL HAVE TO DRAG ME CRYING ONTO THE PLANE