In four days I shall have completed the first half of my year at Oxford. 40,000 words and a million books later (ok maybe more like 50 books), I am... half way done. Most of the people in my program are celebrating being completely done. But I get to come back after 3 weeks of traveling and do it all again. Oy. Don't get me wrong, I love this place. It's just... well, it's Oxford. It's a lot of work.
Speaking of work, the 'homestretch' for me always means the hardest little bit at the end which is 7 million times harder because I just don't want to do anything anymore. When I was in high school, it was basically the only time my parents had to encourage me in my school work. "You can do it, Maria! You're in the homestretch,"my wonderful Daddy would always say. I'll be honest, I love school. I love learning, I don't mind working, and writing essays aren't that big of a deal (especially now that I've discovered I can write a 6 page paper in two hours!). But when it comes to the end of a term, or, even worse, the end of a year, I just want to be done. I'd so much rather do more work at the beginning. Why do they always make you do the big things at the end? Why do I struggle with it so much?
We have our "Long Paper" due this week. Why they chose to call it the LONG paper and make it sound even more daunting, I don't know, but right now, it's kicking my butt. It's only 4,000 words on a topic I chose and, therefore, like, but I am simply unmotivated. I'm ready to lounge by a fireplace (there's one down the road in a quaint little hotel that you can go to for tea) and read for fun. Or go around singing Christmas Carols (I heard some being sung when I was in the library yesterday) or buying things to send back home for my beautiful family! Thankfully, I'm not alone in this. There are about 50 other students experiencing basically the same thing as I am. There's nothing like a good ol' common enemy to bring friends even closer together. My dear friend Felicia and I have created a battle plan which includes an all-day work day on Monday and... tea. We will succeed. And we're gonna have a great time doing it. That's all there is to it.
On another note (he he), my a cappella group finished up for the term with our Christmas concert this past week. We sang a couple songs, attempted some dance moves, scantily decorated a theatre with Christmas decorations, and had a grand time. It was the first time I performed (as a beatboxer) in front of anyone I knew, and I was surprisingly nervous. I'm a ham, I love performing, but I was basically throwing up from nervousness the entire time...or at least, I was in my head. But it was so good to have my friends there. It meant the world to me. For those of you who are wishing you could've been there, no worries. You probably live in New York and/or are currently residing in New England. So that you don't feel left out, I'm attaching a video of part of our Christmas concert here! Merry Christmas! :)
Oh, and I nearly forgot. I went swing dancing this week! I had nearly forgotten how much I love it. I danced a bunch of lindy that I didn't know I knew how to do, a little charleston (with a guy who afterwards told me he didn't know how to dance charleston. Ha! Yah right, he was amazing.) and a bit of blues thanks to a lovely new friend named Al who has hair longer than I do and who dances like a god. It was wonderful to be dancing again. I miss my swing dancing friends, both in Rochester and in Boston. But now I get to say I have swing dancing friends in Oxford. Yah... I think that's kinda cool.
Well, I will have more stories after this week, but right now I have to go help prepare our last family dinner. Yikes. That's a sad thought for me. I'm going to miss the family I've made here so very much. I've been blessed more than I ever could have imagined. And now I'm going to go spend the evening enjoying their beautiful company (and their delicious cooking!) Ah, so blessed!!
