I don’t know if I can call myself an Oxford grad yet.
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!