Hey! That said!! Not blogging and being “in the dark” was successful. I think I’ve learned a lot about just working through my writing difficulties and just… aiming higher. So, I’m blogging. But hopefully not as much as I used to. ahaha. But really, sometimes…. sometimes, you just need to blog. ;]
Okay, I couldn’t stay away. It was a nice break, though.
I remember being so nervous to get to London. London, the mysterious and big— and then my heart would nearly stop, I’d kick my suitcase underneath the bed and I’d try to concentrate on the last bit of internship work before I set out for Oxford.
And now? Now, Oxford is coming to an end. It’s Wednesday night of 8th Week. Tomorrow, I have my very last creative writing tutorial. In the afternoon, I have my 2nd to last thesis meeting. On Friday, I’ll have my final primary tutorial. And then it will be done. I will have completed 16 weeks of the most rigorous academic work of my life— but that doesn’t quite capture the method or the madness.
The Method:
Wake up as early as possible (9:30 last fall, 7:30 this term).
Go to the library (any of all the amazing ones I have access to— The Bod, the Camera, Taylor Slavonic, Taylorian, faculty libraries…)
Sit for hours. Get lost. In my brain.
Eat. Consume caffeine in all its forms.
Read, write, laugh. Sleep.
The Madness:
I tried to go crazy but I was only inspired and then I was confused but I capped it over with a serenity I don’t usually possess maybe it’s anxiety so extreme that it is still, or stolid. I don’t understand any of it or if I’m further or closer to my goals or dreams and then I remember how fuzzy my goals and dreams are so then I can only lie here on my bedroom floor and type away with the hope that my chattering fingertips are like the birds that sing prayers into the clouds and tell God, “Thank You lots.”
Basically, I think I’m not going to blog. I’ve been wanting to stop for a long time and just never did, but I think I’ll really quit this time. At least for the rest of this academic year.
There are just things that need more quiet space and less access to light before I have people read them. Connecting myself to the internet this way isn’t helping my patience (which is already in small supply). Tootles— maybe until April.
i miss you so much already. but i’m working hard so maybe i can forget you.
That Clinton Joke
That Clinton joke worked! Someone at the airport gave me VIP treatment and upgraded me to Business Class! Just Tumbling from the lounge, no big deal.
I couldn’t find the photo for the exact lounge I’m in, but yes… it looks stunning. Kind of this like other British Airways lounge:
Okay, enough of the bragging. (I hope that photo worked: basically it’s colorful and plush. There’s a fountain.) I’m honestly grateful because today was as hectic as a day could get and I was/am not feeling the best about having another semester abroad. Also, I’m feeling super awkward. That means that I’m trying to be suave, which makes my hands and feet sweat profusely, and I end up dropping things and being way more awkward than usual.
Hilary (Clinton)
Well, I’m off for another term at Oxford! I’m somehow finding the time to write this between submitting my Met Museum application, last-minute shopping, and packing before I run out the door.
Here’s to 8 weeks of voluptuous life, a vacation in Holland, and 4 weeks of art history class (post-term).
I honestly chose a random photo because I don’t get a preview when I look at my files. Here’s a demon’s foot from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford— enjoy! hahaa.
I crack myself up. I was feeling especially motivated in early Summer 2010 and made a 10-year plan for myself. It’s a pencil-written brainstorm of some petty and some meaningful things piled together like trash on a barge. I really only projected like 4 years into the future because 10 years was more than half of a lifetime. (I was 19 1/2.)
I’m nearly 21 now— just about 2 months shy of it— and I think God likes to write jokes into me. The title of my 10-year plan reads: 10 Year’s From Now
Must edit! Haha. You can’t have “Become a professional writer” written underneath that. Nor other things like “Pass Mandarin”, when those petty logistics were resolved with SAT II transcripts… that assess Korean Language proficiency.
I am happy to say, though, that “Study at Oxford junior year” is working out wonderfully. And sophomore year did hold some completed goals, but I may have been cheating when I wrote this up the summer before sophomore year.
Anyway, all that is to say, I think I am way more prepared to make a GOOD one this time around. Ask me who I am when I turn 30; I hope I refer to this “10 Year’s From Now”. I’m keeping the title, didn’t you know? Haha. This time with quotation marks.
(by pruginko) G&D’s! By Hilary Term, the baristas here would give me free coffee and ice cream. (And one of them was a massive dreamboat. Always a welcome distraction from studying.)
Sadly, I never get free coffee or ice cream at G&D’s. But this is a rather nice photo of a favorite shop of mine. The church I attend in Oxford, St. Aldates, is right next it (See the stain-glass windows?). Almost every Sunday night consisted of church and then shuffling into G&D’s for unnecessary and copious amounts of ice cream. Sometimes on a waffle, with whipped cream and chocolate sauce and nuts on top.
One night, I just listened to Tala and Andy discuss Aristotle there. Another night, Justin explained some theological point with metaphors of pregnancy. Other times, we girls just sat and ate and breathed big breaths because our pants were too tight or we were stressed or tired or whatever. I feel like it rained whenever I went back home from a G&D’s stop.
(Source: withanchorsforhereyes)
Selexyz Bookstore in Maastricht, Holland. The bookstore is installed in an old Dominican church.
Drink a coffee in the Bookshop by Jan Allaerts.
Tala? YES?!
