Week 5, Trinity Term

It’s a little after 11:00pm here and I’m about to head to bed, but then I realise: I (seriously) owe you a blog post.

When I last posted during 1st week of our last(!) term here at Oxford, I had just returned from over five weeks of traveling across Europe (plus a quick stop in the United States). Four weeks later and we are officially in 5th week, now over halfway through Trinity term. I know it’s just about the most cliché things study abroad bloggers say, but it truly has flown by. My friend Sarah arrives in Oxford tomorrow after finishing her final exams at the University of York, which is just a few hours north; when I called her tonight to confirm when I would be picking her up at the train station tomorrow, the first thought that came to my mind was: “remember when we were flying out of MSP, and the entire eight-hour flight we talked about how nervous and excited and terrified and thrilled we were about going to live in England? You realise that year of our lives is coming to an end, right?”

And so it is. Eight months after landing in the London Heathrow airport with bags in tow (both those holding our belongings and the ones lurking under our eyes), the preparations have begun to pack back up those same bags and head back to the grand ol’ US of A. I’ve written out a bucket list of things I would still like to do before I leave England: punting on the river, winning a game of croquet (something, I ashamedly, have yet to do), visiting the Tate Modern in London, seeing a production at the Globe Theatre… Time may be running out, but I’ll happily run along with it over the next couple of weeks, packing as much life and as many experiences into this last month in Oxford as I can.

This week, however, may be the most important of them all this term: Summer VIII’s. Tomorrow, we, along with all of the other student rowers at Oxford, will begin the four-day regatta that we have been training for since before Trinity even began. This regatta, like Torpids last term, will operate under ‘bumps racing’ rules: essentially, physically bump into the boat ahead of you before the boat behind you catches up and does the same, every day, and you’re a winner. Admittedly, most of my free time has been spent either at the boathouse or in the library, so there isn’t much to report in terms of recent study abroad adventures. However, there have been a few fun and special things that have happened since I last posted, including: celebrating May Day (at 6:00am, no less) with the entire Oxford community as we listened to the Magdalen College choir sing from their tower; seeing John Kerry, current U.S. Secretary of State, speak live at the Oxford Union; attending formal dinner at another college for the first time (thanks to Piotr, another HC student studying at St. Edmund Hall this year!); and baking. Lots and lots of baking.

Needless to say it’s been quite a ride, and there’s still more to come.

Stay tuned for updates about Summer VIII’s!

Cheers,

HRH

P.S. Below I’ve included a video made by the Union of Kerry’s entire address along with the Q & A session following his talk. I highly recommend watching it to anyone who is interested!

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New Words of the Week

blimey (informal) – an exclamation of surprise*

bungline (n.) – [in bumps racing] a rope held by the coxswain and someone standing on the river bank to keep the boat in the correct position before the starting cannon is fired

*funny enough, I first encountered this word this week in the title of a book I had to read for a tutorial (on contemporary art…)

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