5th week in a nutshell

 “To her, the happiest moments in each week were those in which letters came from home.”

                                                                            -Anne of the Island

     
      Today is the last day of 5^th week, meaning I only have to survive 3 more weeks of term! While this week was not near as disheartening as the week previous I can say without a doubt, that I don’t love Oxford, and at times I don’t even like it. Which sounds absolutely horrible I know (at least when I think of how much I’m spending to not even like it!), however while I may not be in love with it here, I am glad that I’m sticking it out. Also like Anne, my happiest moments are when I get to talk to friends and family from home, though usually via the Internet, and I do enjoy getting physical mail.

     This week was fairly uneventful, beside the never ending stream of essay to write. Also the fact that I apparently have survived some record breaking storms and that Wales is basically underwater. However, today I spent all day (apart from going to church) writing my essay due on Tuesday, for my Archaeology class. Praying that this one goes over better than the last! My essay that was due this past Thursday for my primary tutorial went well, and while Dr. Kershaw critiqued it, I really appreciated the different perspective he gave as well as tips on how to expand my essays. I also don’t have to write a full essay for him this next week! Instead I’m assigned an exercise of sorts of basically, “Who am I?” from my perspective, a Roman perspective, and a Barbarian perspective. I can’t wait to start that assignment, and I also can’t help but laugh at the “Who am I?” question popping up again!

     Like I mentioned this week has been fairly uneventful, my flatmates and I have, laughed, cried, slept, and ate! Speaking of eating, I got really hungry for Chinese food this week (the Chinese restaurants here are not good, and very expensive!), thus I ended up going to a little Chinese market, as well as the Gloucester Green farmers market to pick up ingredients for supper. I tried my hand at making dumplings as well as fried rice (with fresh bean sprouts! I got the last bag of bean sprouts at the farmers market), and the results according to my flatmates were successful and tasty. As for the crying bit- I was able to watch my grandpa's funeral, and while it was really hard to not be there in person, I'm glad I got to participate as much as I did.

     This week I have tried to be intentional with taking pictures of the everyday life here in Oxford, because I know that once I go home I will look back at my time here with rose colored glasses and forget about all the ridiculous things that everyday life here consists of. Such as, having to dry clothes on our radiators, cause the dryer doesn’t actually dry, our heat has gone out 3 times this week, having to lick stamps for them stick, and they don’t have sink stoppers so you have to wash everything one by one. The UK really is ridiculous!

     Well, that’s all I really have to say for this week, as always here are some pictures from my week.

Cheers!

(Gloucester Green farmers market)

                                                         (My attempt at making dumplings,

                                                              Not to bad for a 1st attempt)

                                                              (Finished product for supper!)

                                            

                                                           (Kaitlyn and Avrie smiling through the

                                                                           pain of exhaustion)

                                                            (My big laugh of the week, Kaitlyn

                                                                took a "Sabbath" on Tuesday

                                                                  and put this on her door)

                                                           (I wasn't kidding about clothes on

                                                       the radiator! "Crusty jeans" are a thing😬)

                                                     (Went to the Buttery- Dining Hall this week.

                                                                            It's pretty neat)