Tuesday, November 13 – The Last Day

Despite a slow ferry offloading and a very close, sweaty connection with my train, yesterday’s travels went very smoothly. Annie was waiting for me in the Oxford station. It sure was great to see her and to know that I would be spending my last days with someone so wonderfully easy to get along with. We returned to Annie’s graduate housing, which looks exactly like that at Cambridge. For dinner we went to the Big Bang, a bangers and mash joint, for Annie’s friend Zoe’s birthday. There I met many of Annie and Zoe’s friends, including James, Andrea, and Agostino. They were all very nice, and though the dinner was a bit long, a good time was had by all.

Annie and I returned home for an early bedtime because we had to get up for a 7am run with Annie’s crew team. Despite a very cold night, the morning wasn’t too bad, and it was great to get an early start and see Oxford at sunrise. Though very similar to Cambridge, Oxford doesn’t seem to be quite the twilight zone that Cambridge is. Restaurants remain open after 8pm, and one doesn’t feel unsafe walking around at night. The colleges here are very similar to those at Cambridge, though there seems to be more open space and gardens etc.

After showering, etc, Annie and I went out for breakfast and a walking tour. We saw many colleges and walked the fellows’ garden at Magdalene (pronounced “Mawdglen”…I think). We attempted to go into the Bodlien library, but were unsuccessful. Still, we did see shrunken heads at the Pitt Rivers museum. We ate lunch at the covered market, which was unbelievable as well as brimming with avian flu. Afterwards, we attended one of Annie’s lectures on the interactions of aid organizations on public health. Most interesting was the information on the Bill and Melinda Gates’ foundation. After lecture we returned home for me to have a brief power nap and find out that I was invited to interview at UVM. HOORAY!!!!

I met up with Annie at a nearby coffee shop to use the internet, but was unable to post my blog before they closed due to a slow connection. After coffee we returned home before beginning the relatively long walk to one of the best Indian places in the country. It was, of course, amazing, though a bit sad because we both knew that it was my last dinner of the trip. Annie was such an amazing hostess. We always had something to talk about and got along extremely well. And so I slept my last night in Europe. Honestly, I was much more excited about leaving a few days ago. Now I feel rather sad about the whole thing. Still, I’m looking forward to getting back on a bike and doing all of my interviews. Hopefully traveling during the holiday rush won’t be too insane or often.