Excuses, excuses.

I was trying to think of a good reason for why I haven't updated this since February, but I couldn't. Life has been hectic, of course, but I've had plenty of time to do other things. Ooops.

Finally term is over. Its actually been over for almost two weeks. I was going to total up the number of essays written, pages written, words written. Unfortunately I didn't feel like doing the math. Suffice it to say, I wrote a lot this term, again. As Emma pointed out the other day, we have written approximately 32 essays so far. We have only 16 to go.

Highlights:

--Orchestra concert: Haydn's Nelsonmesse. An amazing piece of music featuring full orchestra, full choir and four soloists. Apart from one movement falling to pieces, the performance was amazing, the audience huge and the music incredible.

--'Swan Lake' at the Royal Ballet. Emma's grandma has contacts at the Royal Ballet and she got us fabulous seats to celebrate Emma's birthday.

We decided that not only is the Royal Opera House more beautiful than the Met (not that it takes much...) but it also beats the Kennedy Center. We were also pleasantly thrilled when the Black Swan did her 32 fouettes. Youtube it if you have never seen them...its absolutely incredible.

--Emma's 21st Birthday. Since Emma turned 21, we obviously needed to have a party to celebrate. We decided it was going to be fancy dress because we definitely wanted an excuse to dress up. Massive success. The girls wore dresses, some of the boys wore suits, it was amazing.

--An essay on Arnhem: I was again studying the Two World Wars and I had asked my tutor if I could do a bit more work with individual battles and strategy stuffs. She set me an essay on Arnhem, one of the Allied failures in Operation Market-Garden (which was itself an overall mess). I thoroughly enjoyed reading about it and have decided to take a day trip to visit the city and the Bridge while my friends and I are in Amsterdam.

--Day trip to Bath: The Roman baths are absolutely beautiful. The city itself is beautiful. I wandered around the abbey and the baths with my friend Kate and had a marvelous time. I fully intend to take my family there when they come to visit at the end of the year!

Euro-tripping Agenda

Since I have more than a month until my next term starts and because I certainly won't be doing any work AT ALL over the break, I am traveling around Europe with various friends. Emma, Molly and I went to Dublin on St. Paddy's Day (and I celebrated by drinking a Guinness) and got back on Sunday. I am hanging out in Oxford by myself until Thursday when I board a plane at 6 am and fly to Paris. The final destination: Arromanches, a small town in Normandy, a hop, skip and jump from the beaches. Yes, I am a WWII nut. I get that a lot.

The order of travel is:
Arromanches
Venice
Rome (with a possible side trip to Anzio)
Vienna
Prague
Amsterdam (with a possible side trip to Arnhem)
Nice...to sit on the beach or in a cafe and read books in the sun for a week.

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

Okay, its official. I hate slush...and that is what is covering the streets of Oxford. The Brits are so funny about snow. It hasn't snowed here in about 2 years and in the past week we've had 5 inches. This means life as we know it has come to a halt. Libraries are closing early, essays are not getting written, tutorials have been canceled and many, many, many feet are getting wet. Its not actually cold enough for the snow to stick properly so its doing this funny melt-into-slush-on-the-sidewalks-but-nowhere-else thing. I've never realized how annoying it is to have snow and slush without proper waterproof boots. This is something I've never had to deal with and since I didn't expect snow in Oxford, I gave the extra space my boots would have taken in my suitcase to my supply of macaroni and cheese. Therefore, I have cold and wet feet.

Nevertheless, if I though Oxford in the fall is beautiful, it is also incredible in the snow. All the buildings covered in snow, everyone in their hats, the millions of snowmen that have sprung up. Its wonderful. There is an 8-foot, three tiered snowman on the lawn at Wadham that had a carrot nose and was wearing a cap and gown. Someone also dared the wrath of the porters (and a hefty fine) by assembling a snowman on the front quad--where you ARE NOT allowed to walk. I say assembled because they obviously brought the parts from elsewhere to minimize the time they could be exposed on the front quad. Its pretty wonderful.

One Day in the Life of Ashley Getting

Okay, since it is mid-afternoon and I'm procrastinating, I'll start with yesterday.

Afternoon: read about Verdun 1916 and took notes. got bored and stared at the ceiling.
Dinnertime: went to Chez Gaston, a French cafe with the other flat; had a ratatouille crepe that was delectable.
Evening into Night: walked to the Kings Arms with the girls to have a drink; Amy, Alex, Michelle and her friend left and my flatmates and I stayed and met up with some of the people from Iffley. Much hilarity ensued. Wandered slowly back to Merifield in the rain.
After Midnight: played online until I realized it was almost 2 am. Went to sleep.
This Morning: ate breakfast and walked in to the city centre to spend the afternoon in the Radcliffe Camera; read French General Henri Philippe Petain and German General Erich von Falkenhayn's records of the battle for Verdun. Got bored. Left, walked to the porter's lodge to check if my suitcase had arrived and....IT DID!!!!!!!
This Afternoon: Trekked from Wadham to the bus stop with my errant suitcase who has now been named Philippa. Thought that an appropriate name for a suitcase that took a side trip to Ithaca, NY. Went back to my room and unpacked while watching Center Stage and dancing around my room. Am now procrastination.

Such a good 24 hours. No lie.

Not all who wander are lost...but sometimes their baggage is.

Well ladies and gents, I'm back in Oxford. After much panic and ado in Minnesota because of the three plus inches of snow dumped on us on Monday causing my flight to Newark to be delayed, I have made it across the ocean only slightly worse for the wear. I managed to sleep most of the plane ride and the entire bus ride to Oxford so I only slept for 10 hours today instead of the expected 12!

Here's the thing: as I am the poster child for Murphy's Law, it would be far too easy/convenient/lucky that everything turned out perfectly. Fortunately, my life did not disappoint. I got off the plane, went through passport control, didn't get lost in Heathrow, etc, without any problems. Then I got to baggage claim and waited...and waited and waited and waited and waited. No suitcase. At first I didn't panic. I figured it was just running late being removed from the plane or something. Then my imagination took over and I was terrified that somehow, because it was overpacked, a seam split and all of my stuff was scattered all over the cargo hold of the plane. With that semi-entertaining image in mind, I went to the baggage claim desk, gave the lady my claim thing and waited. She checked in the computer and told me that my suitcase had not even made it on the plane in Minneapolis. Not cool. At this point, I dissolved into tears (being short on sleep, hungry, stressed, thinking all my worldly possessions had been lost....). The lady at the counter has probably seen it all so the tears pouring down my cheeks didn't seem to bother her. She told me that they would get my bag on a flight to England as soon as possible and then they would have it sent to my college in Oxford.

So now I wait. I bought a toothbrush and I have enough underwear to last me a while; I'm just really really worried that my bag will never make its way back to me. I miss my clothes!!! For now I wear the clothes that I don't really like (because thats what I had left in Oxford before Christmas) and do laundry more often--which I think is one of the worst parts of this whole ordeal!