Let's begin by coming clean: I should be reading a commentary on Marlowe's Edward II right now. But I'm listening to instrumental Christmas music, having a cup of coffee, and blogging instead. Also, the essay isn't due until a week from tomorrow, so that's wayyyy much time. Also, Vince Guaraldi and coffee don't go well with a stuffy academic essay on Marlowe. They do, however, go great with reflecting on the weekend. :)
Thursday night: finished primary essay an hour late, then stayed up and frantically finished the ridiculously long and detailed proposal for the long essay due at the end of term. Spent pretty much the whole day being really homesick. I'd really rather not talk about it.
Friday: Slept in a bit, made it into town for my tutorial at 2 (in the rain), ran some errands. Spent the later afternoon/early evening preparing for "Half-o-ween", along with the rest of the Vines. That night: we partied. The first half hour was a little awkward because nothing had been quite planned and the food wasn't all ready yet. But it wasn't long before things got going, and we played a succession of games, which got progressively more fun, culminating in a game of Zombie Live Mafia. Imagine the game Mafia (you know, with the cards) being acted out in a three story pitch black house, plus zombies. We had a blast. Then we had a costume contest, a dessert contest (aka eating time), and piled into the living room to watch Psycho. Most people went to bed, but a few of us stuck around and put in School of Rock, then even less of us stayed up talking until around 6am. It was great. :)
Saturday: Guy Fawkes Day (5 November). Ginger and I went into Headington (the suburb that's a bit closer than Oxford to our house) for some foodage/drinkage and groceries, watched some fireworks, made some delicious mom-food (poppyseed chicken), and joined the others in watching V for Vendetta, because that's what Americans do on Bonfire Night (since the bonfire itself cost 6 quid).
Sunday: Ginger and I were going to hit Starbucks for the last day of their two-for-one holiday lattes deal and get some English Renaissance reading done, but we both were a little late getting up. The only negative was that the reading didn't get done...instead we made it to Starbucks an hour before they closed with three other friends, and had a lovely (albeit rather short) time there, before heading back. Ginger, Sarah M, and I then spent our time between Starbucks and church making plans for our trip to *drumroll*....Edinburgh! Sarah S is going to, but she was working on school at the time. We'll still need to book everything, but we're heading up a week from this Friday night for a long weekend in Scotland, and it's all coming together nicely and very exciting. :) We had to put a pin in that, however, around 7, and make our way to church, along with Tara.
Sunday night: Church was splendid, although communion got a little confusing at one point. The message was one I'd apparently been needing to hear, and my mantra for this week (if not much longer) is Mark 9:24- "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" The pastor made the great point that this is more a matter of faith than what we immediately think of as belief--and it was the reason the disciples couldn't cast out the demon. They had stopped relying on God (believing) and begun to rely on their own strength. Never works out, but sometimes I forget that; I think everyone does. It's been a while since a message at church really hit me, another reason I think I didn't realize I needed this. More prayer, less self-reliance.
Later Sunday night: Had a Skype date set up with Karson--that was marvellous, as always. He's so wonderful and encouraging and kind of my favorite person to talk to (no offence to anyone else ;). I love how we can kind of just talk about whatever, and it always makes me that much more impatient to see him in person--in just 37 days! I skyped with Mom and Dad after that, which was also great. Mom thinks she needs to make a list of things to ask me, but I'm happy just chatting a bit. I miss them a ton, too, even if I might not say it as much. :)
Sunday night/Monday morning: Um...may have stayed up until 5 talking with Ginger, Sarah M, Hannah, and Jonathan. I'm not quite sure how we started out, but the talking easily lasted 3+ hours, and we covered everything from the psychology of the self to the Catholic view of feminism, delicacies of race relations to how society has screwed up the way we see gender issues. Best conversation I've had in a long time, and it was totally worth the weird sleep (or lack thereof). I'm so thankful to be living in a house where I can have these genuine, respectful discussions with my friends. <3
So, while I might not have gotten much essay-writing done this weekend, it was time well-spent, and these will be the things I remember years from now when I think back on my time in Oxford, not the effects nationalism had on German unification in 1870. (Although with all the reading I've done, that will likely stick with me a while longer than I'd like. :P)
The homesickness is pretty up-and-down at this point. The depression doesn't really hit unless coupled with a late essay, but the general homesickness is a bit more acute and constant now that I've been here over 2 months. However, Oxford is still lovely (even with the increased rain), the people are still wonderful (even though they keep me up all night), and I'm that much closer to coming back the States (35 days). <3 -Hayley
**A note after seeing this posted....It's not 8:51am. I don't know what timezone this site thinks I'm in, but it's actually 5pm. Whatever. :P
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