It’s been a while!

It's been a while since I've felt this purly physically tired, or since I've had a bruise on my body that felt like it was slowly swelling to the size of a small country.  This morning was worth it though – it was my first time playing touch rugby.  Margaret used to play in Ireland, and finally found a group of people who play every weekend in Preston Park.  At first I was a bit intimidated since there was only one other girl (besides me, Margaret, and Kat), but they were all really nice, patiently explained the rules, and didn't mind passing a lot to try to get some of us newer players into the game.  It was a GREAT workout, and the only real hazard was the wet grass and trying not to fall while running (for those of us who didn't have cleets).  It was really fun though, and I may try to make it a regular habit of going.

So, I haven't posted anything in quite a while, but things have been fairly busy lately.  I'm trying to really start working hard on my dissertation, but that has been quite a challenge on the days when we've had exceptional weather in Brighton.  Just a few days ago it got up to 23 degrees (over 70 in Farenheit!) and campus was completely transformed.  Everyone was outside on the grass talking, eating, reading, or drinking.  I hadn't seen campus like that before, and I felt justified in taking the afternoon off, talking to some of the girls in my program, and enjoying the sunshine.  

Also, I failed to document a major milestone on this blog – my 25th birthday!  Because I knew I would be in Oxford on my actual birthday, I had a group of people over to my flat last Wednesday to celebrate.  I made apple crumble (which was really yummy, especially with vanilla ice cream!) and it was a lovely evening.  Afterwards, Sam, Margaret, Kat, and I went to Casablanca's, but I had to make a relatively early night of it because I had a bit too much wine!  And, that night convinced me even more that Kat is an absolute angel, and the best kind of friend anyone could hope to have 🙂

The next day I headed to Oxford for a long weekend, getting there earlier than usual in the week so that I could go to the Greek Easter Feast.  It was a definite treat and a huge meal!  Thad had various things he had to do over the weekend, but that meant that I got to mingle with St. Cross people at jazz night while he was behind the bar, and spectate at his baseball practice (at the St. Edwards school, where he's helping to coach a team). 

For the most part the weather was great, until we woke up early on May morning (my birthday!) to attend the various festivities in Oxford.  We heard the Magdalen boys' choir sing, and then spent about an hour watching Morris dancers around town.  I still don't quite understand Morris dancing, but it's a lot of fun to watch!  After a lovely, greasy breakfast at the St. Giles Cafe we went back to sleep for a couple of hours.  Originally we had planned to go punting, but the weather just wasn't quite warm enough, though it did clear up later in the day.

The rest of my birthday was spent eating, mostly!  We went to lunch at Thad's college, and then I opened my cards and presents before Thad and I went on a short bike ride around Jericho.  I got to try out the bike he fixed up for me for my birthday present, and I really like it (though it took some getting used to at first, since I'm more used to mountain bikes than road bikes).  Afterwards we spent some time walking around town, making a stop by Krispy Kreme so that I could get a birthday doughnut!  After meeting several of the archaeology people who had just finished with their exams at a nearby pub, Thad and I went to Bistro Je t'aime for a wonderful dinner.  I really enjoyed the food there, especially the duck and the scalloped potatoes – yum!  Then we went to a movie, and had a pretty quiet evening in.  It was a great birthday, and I spent most of the day trying not to think about the fact that I'm a quarter of a century old.  At least people seem to still think I look much younger than I am!

Thad wrote an entry about May Day on his blog that you can take a look at, along with photos, and I posted some photos of my own here. 

It feels a little strange to be in school but not have classes.  I guess the next four months of working on my dissertation will be pretty telling – how much self-discipline do I really have, and do I have what it takes to get a PhD at some point?  Because I need to find funding, it will probably be a while before I get a doctoral degree, but I am looking forward to working or volunteering somewhere next year.  Anyway, back to being productive for a bit!

Advertisements