KK’s Blog

Wednesday, I finished my second to last exam, but two other girls in the corner of the building where I live finished their last exams, and the other two had been done for a week. So now I’m the only one of us who still has to study, which makes it very hard. Not that it’s loud or anything. I’m usually the only one in the flat, but I just wish I didn’t have to study. Although it is stuff I actually enjoy, and I don’t think it will be too hard. But I am so looking forward to Tuesday at 5:30 pm. How crazy it will be to actually be done with Oxford!

I’m more than halfway through my exams. Yay! I celebrated yesterday by taking the afternoon and evening off because after 4 straight days of exams, when I have a 4-day break to study for the next 2 exams, I decided I deserved it. And at least right now, I’m not going to write about the actual exams except to say that I think I did pretty well, no breakdowns or not knowing any answers or anything, and I wrote the whole time, so I think that’s a good sign. So yesterday I went and had Mexican for dinner, hung out in the JCR on the new, very comfortable couches, and then went to G&D’s for ice cream. Now I have to convince myself that I must start studying again this morning. Joy!

Until I start studying for the actual exams. This week I’m sort of recreating next week. I’m going to study for each subject the night before and then take a practice exam the following morning. So Monday (or I guess Sunday afternoon) through Thursday, I’ll be absorbed in “exams.” I’m starting to get a bit nervous. But I know I can’t let myself get stressed out or else I’ll get sick. So I just keep telling myself I’ve been through things in life that have been a lot harder than Oxford exams. I’ve been told I need to do a lot more work, but I don’t know if that’s really possible, as there are seven exams and I can’t exactly focus on one. I’d like to get a 2:1. I don’t have much hope of getting a first. But I think I can get a 2:1, but if I get a 2:2, I don’t think it will be the end of the world. But anyway, I just thought I’d write a quick entry, because the next four weeks I may not have time to write anymore entries. But once I’m done, June 3, I’ll write again. And then soon after that, the England blog will be no more because I will have left England. I may still write, but the name will have to change, and my life won’t be as interesting. We’ll see. Well, keep me in your prayers starting May 19. I’m trying to think positively. I keep saying, “I’m going to do well.” And I will. I’ll do the best that I can, and that will be that, and I can stop thinking about Oxford for the first time in 5 years. That will be a good day.

So people tell me I don’t sound like I’m from Kentucky. I don’t think I do, but my brothers tend to tell me differently. Though many people have said I sound like my brothers, so if I sound like I’m from Kentucky, then they do too. But I tell people my family is from Ohio, so maybe that’s why I usually don’t have the southern twang. Since I’ve been in England, I’ve been asked if I’m from Ireland when people realize I’m not English. Usually these are people from England or somewhere in Europe. I’m not sure why they think I sound Irish. I guess they just realize I’m speaking English, but not in an English accent, and there’s something to do with our “r”s sounding like Irish “r”s. But when an American doesn’t realize I’m American, that’s pretty crazy.

My British politics revision tutor, who is American, came up to our tutorial room after making some copies and said to the three of us, “I just realized something.” And turns to me, “Are you American?” I said yes, and he said it hadn’t really registered before. The two other guys were shocked. They obviously think my accent is quite different. And it’s not like I’ve been completely silent in these tutorials. I don’t talk as much as the other two, but I talk more than I have in some tutorials. And last week, we talked about the fact that I don’t know the prime ministers, and I said, “I know the presidents, just not the prime ministers.” I’m not saying my accent has changed. I’m sure it hasn’t. It just surprised me. Although I guess there have been times when I’m not completely sure if someone is American. I know there is something different about their accent, but with all the accents I hear in Oxford, sometimes it is hard to tell where they’re from.

It will be strange when I get back to the US and have American accents all around. Just like last summer when I went to restaurants and expected our waiter/waitress to have an English accent. The people I know having American accents isn’t strange. It’s when the people around me, whom I don’t know, also sound like me. Then it’s strange. I often don’t think about the fact that it will be an adjustment moving back to the States for good. I just think it will be great and don’t consider the fact that it will be different. I’m looking forward to coming home and not taking overnight flights to a different time zone every one to two months, but I guess I might miss it eventually. And I might miss having lots of different accents, and languages, constantly around me. We’ll see.