I guess I should write now.
Rita left this morning, and I haven’t written anything about her visit. I’ve been exhausted the past few days. And when I could have written, I decided just to sleep or relax a bit. But here’s a quick rundown. Rita and Dani arrived Thursday evening. The bus from London didn’t take as long as I thought it would, so I was a little late picking them up. But then we came back to my room and had pasta and garlic bread for dinner, with double chocolate chip muffins for dessert. It was fun to talk to them and eat good food. The next morning, I got up early and finished my essay and went to my tutorial shortly after they got up. Then I came back and we had Regent’s fish and chips for lunch. Then we walked the long way to the river, so I could show them a bit of Oxford, though half the stuff you can’t go in unless you’re a student, so mainly they took pictures of the outside of buildings. We arrived at the river quite a bit before my race, because I’m required to. So after I showed them where we were, Rita and Dani went exploring a little more. Then they came back and cheered me on and took pictures. So I’ll have to post those soon.
The race went really well. Matt, the boys’ captain, said we looked really controlled and calm and even asked what rate we were going because we looked really good and he thought we might have been going slow. We went 29-30 strokes per minute most of the course, winding it up at the beginning and the end to about 35 strokes per minute, which is really good. We qualified second of all women’s crew, one second behind the first crew, at 3 minutes and 16 seconds. It’s crazy how tired you get when it’s just that short amount of time. We have another race today, but it’s head-to-head and a longer stretch. I’m not really looking forward to it, though I’m sure we’ll all feel good about it after it’s done. Then the big races start on Wednesday. Looks like we’re actually going to finish a regatta this term.
So after the race, Rita, Dani, and I took our time making it back to Regent’s, taking more pictures of buildings, going in a couple bookstores. But it was starting to get a bit chilly, so we headed back to my room to get ready for formal hall. Dinner was decent. I was sitting in between Rita and Amanda, two people I haven’t seen in ages, so I was trying to divide my time between them. Then afterwards we went up to the JCR and had strawberries and a drink called Pimms. I’ve always heard people talk about this drink, but had never tried it. So I did, just a couple sips. Nothing spectacular, but it didn’t taste much like alcohol, more like ginger ale, so I didn’t hate it. But I still just don’t have a desire. I ate lots of strawberries, though. We left early and went to the Eagle and Child, just to look. Then we came back and relaxed in my room and had another late snack of garlic bread.
Yesterday, we woke up a little after 9, and got ready to go to London. Rita put some pictures up on the internet so she could clear her memory card. Then we headed out. The weather wasn’t too bad, but the sun kept going in and out so it would be warm and then chilly. We took the tube all around, only got caught going the wrong way once. And Rita ran into a girl who graduated with Nicholas and went to Bellarmine on one trip on the subway, which was pretty crazy. We went to Hyde Park to see Peter Pan, which I had never done before, so that was cool. Then we went to the British Museum for a little bit, but didn’t stay long because we wanted to see other things. We ventured to St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London and Tower Bridge (saw London Bridge too, but it’s not nearly as impressive), Westminster, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and then back to Victoria Station. We didn’t go into many places because they were either already closed or we would have had to pay, but we saw all the architecture. So then I showed Dani and Rita where to catch the bus back, and I headed on back to Oxford because I was going to go to this museum thing with Ula. But the bus back took a long time because a road had closed, so I didn’t get back until 9:45, and the thing was over by 11. So I’ll just have to enjoy Jennifer’s pictures because she ended up going with Ula. I also had a headache and hadn’t eaten much, so I made some pasta.
I woke up at 1:15 to go let Rita and Dani into Regent’s, and they came back and slept for a few hours. Then we woke up again at 5, so they could catch the bus back to London and get to the train station to get the Eurostar to Brussels. So now they’re gone, and I have two stripped mattresses in my room again. It was fun to have them here, really weird having people visit me just because that doesn’t normally happen. Sort of sad that they’re gone, but Amanda is still here, and Melissa and Christi will be coming soon, as will Brendan, hopefully. And this week is going to be crazy trying to get my essays done and being down at the river so much for Summer Eights. But hey, I only have one lecture this week, so there’s a bright side.