it's all over now

Today was our last day in Oxford. It's so surreal. Walking into town for the last time tonight, I just couldn't believe that it actually was the last time. Erin and I are coming back to Oxford and staying in the backpackers' hostel the day before we go home, so I'm not leaving Oxford forever, but it's not the same.

Yesterday after we turned in our last papers (woot!), I did Christmas shopping and acted like a complete Oxford tourist, which was pretty entertaining. Except that tourists don't have Bodleian cards and can't go into the Duke Humphrey library and the Upper Reading Room without supervision. Yes, it is true; after we finished our work for the semester, my roommate and I went to a museum and the library. We are special. I also got some awesome pictures from the top of the University Church tower (like the one above).

Since our tutorials ended last week (for most of us anyway), we had two more papers to write: our long essay, on a topic of our choice that we had to plan out earlier this term, and a take home exam essay, on a question related to our field of study. We decided the take home was stupid (for lack of a more intelligent word), and I wasn't terribly fond of the long essay either. Several long days in the library recently, that's for sure. The English Faculty Library and I got to be very good friends. But one by one, we got finished with everything on Wednesday night, and much screaming of joy ensued. It is very strange not to have any work to do.

Now I'm attempting to pack. I need to wait till my laundry's done to pack my stuff for our trip, and I am not terribly motivated to pack everything else. I have so much stuff. It's actually rather obnoxious. But I donated some superfluous things to the next generation of SCIO "scholars," including the main parts of my pirate costume from Halloween. I'm sure that lovely green vest will go quickly.

I'm going to miss Oxford. And all the people... especially the lovely Lodgers. Nobody's living in our little cottage next term because they don't have as many people coming. So that's too bad for them, because it's awesome out here... except one of the lightbulbs in our bedroom went out last weekend, so it's been rather dark in here recently. But I really can't believe this is over and that I'll be home in a ten-ish days.

Well, I have three epsiodes of Grey's Anatomy left to watch, and then I'll be all caught up to the present... except for the new episode that was probably on in the States last night. So Erin and I are going to have popcorn and hot chocolate and watch Grey's and definitely not finish packing yet. I don't think I'll be sleeping much tonight.

By the way, one of the weirdest things going home will be the whole driving-on-the-right-side-of-the-road thing. We're so used to the left side now that when my roomie and I were in Berlin, we definitely looked the wrong way several times, and luckily we weren't hit by any cars. Just being in a car will be weird (haven't done that since leaving home)... and driving, don't know about that.

Anyway, better get going. Pray for us... we're off to travel eastern Europe starting tomorrow, and it's gonna be crazy. :)