England Journal

In case you didn’t know, I made it back to the US safely with my blade in tow. Both my flights were delayed so I got in later than planned, but that’s okay. The bus from Oxford to the airport and my plane allowed me to bring my huge oar without charging my extra. Sarah and I wrapped it in many layers of bubble wrap the night before I left. Total it is about 13 feet, I think. It was cut in half, with the slightly larger half right at 80 inches. So I thought I would get charged quite a bit for checking it as luggage, but they allowed it as special baggage, so yay.

I was home for four days, with a third interview with E.ON the morning after I got in. And now I’m in Hawaii, which is 11 hours different from England time. So my body clock is completely off. But we’re having fun with Ian. Went snorkeling yesterday in Kona and then made it back to Ian’s place in Hilo. Not sure what’s on for today, but I’m sure it will be great. Soon I’ll be home for good rather than just a couple days. And hopefully then I’ll get to see people more often rather than mainly communicating by blog.

I went to Italy last Sunday to see Melissa while she’s studying in Florence. I got back Thursday to a rainy England, although it actually rained quite a bit in Italy, at least in the afternoon. I managed to get some sun though, actually more than Melissa because she has classes every morning when the sun is out, and in the afternoon, it starts to rain. So anyway, we met up in Pisa on Sunday and climbed the Leaning Tower. Then we were both pretty tired, neither of us having gotten much sleep the night before for various reasons, so we went back to Florence and had a lazy evening in.

Monday, I walked with Melissa to her classes and then sat outside and read “Under the Tuscan Sun” under the Tuscan sun. Haha. This old Italian man came and sat down next to me at one point. And he kept trying to talk to me, while I was reading, even though he spoke no English and I spoke no Italian. I told him I didn’t understand, but he kept trying. Finally, I got up and left. Then on Wednesday, he found me again, but this time, it wasn’t too long before Melissa got out of class, so he didn’t have much chance to talk to me. I didn’t look up when he sat down to ignore him. There was another old man who stopped and tried to talk to me in Italian on Tuesday, but he didn’t sit down, only said I was getting “bronze” from the sun. So for some reason, I attract old Italian men, but it wasn’t too bad.

Monday afternoon we went to a couple parks, and after we got comfortable at this one, lying in the shade reading, it started to rain. The sun was still out, and we were still in the shade, but it started pouring. We tried to wait it out under a tree, and eventually headed back to Melissa’s apartment, huddled under her little umbrella. We had Chinese that night, and then got some pineapple gelatto, which was amazing.

Tuesday we went to a little old town called San Gimignano. We still don’t know how to pronounce it, but they call it “Medieval Manhattan” because it has a bunch of towers. We climbed up one to some amazing views. There were some complications getting there and getting back (at one point being told that the “fat man” was not good, but then not knowing which bus was his). But we made it, and we had a good time. And made it back to Florence in time to get some coffee gelatto (I had chocolate with mine too). Then we watched “Roman Holiday” on my computer, which seemed fitting even though we weren’t in Rome.

Wednesday I went to the Academia Galleria where Michaelangelo’s David is. It was amazing to see in person, as were some of his other sculptures. Sculptures just amaze me. I can’t imagine ever being able to do something like that, and it’s so beautiful. When Melissa got out of class, we went to the Duomo and climbed up to the top to look out on some amazing views of Florence. One girl said any city looks pretty from this high up, but Melissa and I disagreed. We’ve seen quite a few cities from that high up that weren’t as pretty (Athens, for example). The church was huge, and climbing up to the top took some energy, but we powered through our fourth (had to climb up in the Boboli Gardens Monday to see another view of Florence) and final climbing trip in as many days. Our legs got a workout this trip. We had planned on doing the Uffezi that day too, but I ended up wimping out because the line was really long, and I didn’t think it would be worth it to wait and then only have a little bit of time to spend in there. So instead we went to the Ponte Vecchio, got some good pizza, and went to the grocery so I could get my last thing of Paprika Pringles (though Melissa and I might petition the company to sell them in the US).

It was a good, busy trip, with many more stories that I have left out and will have to tell people later when I’m reminded of them. Unfortunately since I will soon have to work at a job and pay back my student loans, it will probably be my last fun trip to Europe for a long time. Ciao, Italia.

But I have finished all the exams. On Tuesday morning, it was raining really hard. By the afternoon, it wasn’t coming down as hard, but I still carried an umbrella. After my exam, the rain had stopped, so I said the weather was nice, but I guess it’s in relative terms (still gray and cool and wet, just not raining). My exam went pretty well, I think. I had trouble deciding which questions to answer, and I probably spent too much time debating, but I got them all done. Then I had to walk all around the perimeter of exam schools to get to this tent where I had to leave my umbrella. And then follow the signs to get out the back of the building where all the finishers go. I came out and was nervous I wouldn’t be able to find my friends, but there they were, right in front waiting for me. They said they were there 15 minutes early and were the first ones there. Aren’t they great?

Jeanne, Allison, and Sam (all Georgetowners) as well as Sarah and Ula (Celia’s been sick) were all there to greet me. Jeanne and Allison brought me pink flowers and balloons and a tiara. Ula brought me a yellow lei and sprinkled glitter on me, and Sarah brought me yellow roses. So I didn’t get trashed, except with glitter (which I told them they would trash me with perfume (almost like flowers) and glitter, so I was pretty much right). So after that, we went to the Turf (the pub supposedly where Bill Clinton did not inhale), and I had a drink, which is tradition. I had a pint of pear cider, which I drank all by myself, though much more slowly than anyone else.

Then we took the bus back to Sarah’s house, and they had decorated and made dinner for me with a Congratulations Caitlan sign. It was so pretty and so nice. Dinner was wonderful - lamb, which I normally don’t like, but I always like the way Sarah makes it, so she made it just for me. And then they brought out chocolate cake with a sparkler for a candle, and sang “For she’s a jolly good fellow.” After dinner, exhaustion had set in, so we had tea and watched a movie rather than playing a game. We watched Lethal Weapon, nice and girly for us. Then Tim drove us back to Regent’s. It was so nice and the perfect way to celebrate and end my educational career at Oxford. I have such great friends here.

That night, I stayed up late because I could. I tried to sleep in the next morning, though I was still up by 8:30. Then I came out of my room in jeans and a tank top because I was meeting Jeanne to go shopping, and Elsa and Emmeline were in the hall. They said they were just talking about me, and asked how it felt to be done. And Elsa said she thought that was the first time she had seen me not in sweats in a long time, which was funny to me. I’m still in sweats a lot, but not as much now that I can go out and not study constantly. Then I had leftover chocolate cake for breakfast because I don’t need to eat healthy brain food anymore. So now I’m doing fun things just because I can. No commitments. It’s wonderful!

I’ll write more about it tomorrow, but as of now I never have to study ever again, unless I want to.