Adventures Old and New

Its hard to believe this journey is so close to being over. In just two weeks time, I'll be departing Oxford for the last time; headed off to Italy and Paris before heading home. The last few weeks have been stressful at time, but have also encompassed some great experiences as well.

The Oxford term has ended, and it was definitely a challenging last few weeks of tutorials, to say the least. In international relations we covered several very complex issues including global trade and state sovereignty. Papers on apartheid in South Africa and the end of white rule in Zimbabwe for African history also proved to be immensely challenging and quite often overwhelming. Despite the stress and anxiety associated with researching and writing on these subjects, the conversations that I was able to have with my tutors made up for any sleepless nights to get to that point. Overall, I learned so much from each of them, not only about the subject itself, but how to better approach academic research and writing on the whole.

For these last three weeks we are doing seminars in British Politics in groups of four of five students. It should be much more laid back, but I just have to make sure I stay motivated and get through this last bit.
The last few weeks haven't only been work and papers though! A few weeks ago we took a day trip to London to celebrate Katie Shore's birthday with Katie Haz, Kiley, and Kristin and had a blast. We ended up spending most of the day wandering around to see some of the major sights including Trafalgar Square, the London Eye, London Bridge, and Tower Bridge.That night we went to experience London theater via the musical Chicago, expecting to sit in the nosebleed section, but were surprised when they moved us up to the second row! It was a great show and overall made for a fantastic day trip and a nice break from the books.

We also had another trip with OPUS to see the picturesque town of Cotswolds and the historic city of Bath. The cottages of Cotswolds looked liked something straight out of a movie, but I just wondered how warm they could possibly be. The Roman Baths of Bath were awe inspiring, not only for their beautiful architecture, but the level of detailed engineering that when into the various rooms and pools as well. The Katies, Kiley and I spent the rest of the time exploring the city and relaxed with a nice cup of tea. It was a beautiful day, mostly because we weren't freezing and we got to enjoy England while avoiding the stress of tutorials and papers.

Most recently, we had our spring break, which I spent with Kiley, her parents, and my APU roommate Greg. We spent time in London, Oxford, and Scotland, but I'll make that another post all about it, since this post is running long as it is. Needless to say it was so nice to get out and explore some of this beautiful country, especially the Scottish Highlands.

In other news, I recently found out that I will be an resident advisor (RA) for freshman guys in Trinity Hall next year and I am so excited! No doubt it will be a difficult experience, but I am really excited for the people I am going to be working with, great RARs (like Carrie Kunzmann, Sean Rollolazo, and Cody Moran), and the amazing adventures which will ensue. Plus training which includes a 10 day backpacking trek sounds pretty appealing too!

This summer, I'll be living in DC for the months of June and July, doing a program through The Fund for American Studies and Georgetown University. The program combines classes in comparative economics and American foreign policy with an internship. I recently learned that I will be doing my internship at the Peace Corps headquarters in DC. Its not a glamorous job, doing filing and data entry on applications for most of the time, but it will no doubt still be a great experience. More than anything though, I am worried about going back to a schedule and lecture classes. It will definitely be a change of pace from independent and unstructured Oxford.

However, before I head home, I've got one expedition left here in Europe. After the semester ends, the Katies, Kiley and I will be headed to the Continent for 12 days. We're keeping it simple and spending time in Paris, Venice, and Rome, which will hopefully allow us to really take in the culture of the places instead of just snapping pictures of all the sights. It should be a relaxing end to a hectic semester.

After that though it will finally be back to home (at least for a bit), but for now I have one tutorial and one paper standing in my way to freedom. This adventure has been great, but I can't wait for the next ones to begin!

Cheers!
Matt

ps. More pictures on Facebook soon!