New Horizons

 Hello!

I hope everyone is well!

View from the air

The final month of my time as an undergrad has been a pretty good one - emotionally turbulent as well, but I won't go into that.

I've gotten to spend time with friends, which was very nice - two of the highlights were both on the Saturday after my final exam.

In the afternoon, Josh and I went into Oxford, where we met up with Harry Potter and visited the Ashmolean. (Yes, Harry Potter. As in, one of Josh's friends, who just happens to have the greatest name ever.) We looked round an exhibition on the Labyrinth from Greek mythology, and the history of Knossos, the island where it was rumoured to be. It was all very fun!

That evening, I went to a firepit with friends. We just sat round a fire, chatted, and roasted marshmallows - I had a great time! Didn't really have a specific highlight of the fire-pit, it was just nice to hang with friends! 

A scenic view of Whiteknights Lake

I went home for a few days, which was very nice - I was able to see my dad before he went away to Africa. I spent most of my time between Thursday and Sunday relaxing at home, enjoying getting to be with Karys, Pippin, and my mum. I also dyed my hair orange, because I wanted to. It came out a few shades lighter than I initially expected, but I still like it! (It has now lightened to very pale auburn, bordering on blond.)

From Sunday to Tuesday, I looked after George and Albie again - it was nice to see them again! George is his usual exuberant self - at one point, I remarked to Albie 'Are you sure he isn't part spaniel?' I also forgot to feed the fish the first day - whoops! Luckily, at least one was still alive when George and Albie's humans came back. (It turns out that they weren't sure the fish were still alive, resulting in the tank light being off all week!)

I did my guitar Grade 3 exam on Tuesday - it went very well! I ended up getting 86%, which is a Distinction!

Also on Tuesday was the quiz night I mentioned in my last blog - it was very fun! My team ended up coming joint-second, which was a nice surprise as any team I'm on generally loses. The fundraising part ended up being extremely successful - apparently, my friends were able to raise a whopping £350 in one evening! Thank you to everyone who came along! 

Pals old and new at the quiz night! (Note, I didn't actually take this photo - credit belongs to another of my friends, who kindly let me borrow the photo.)

Not a lot happened over the rest of reading week. I spent some time with friends, which was good! One thing I did was another scavenger hunt at Small World Cafe, which was fun. This time, my group didn't win, sadly... On Saturday, a group of my friends went to Wales for a long weekend, not getting back until Tuesday. I was not part of that group, so I had a relaxing weekend in Reading. Though I only technically spent it in Reading, as on the Saturday I made my way into London, to visit Nana's old house. It was where my dad grew up, and she still lived there when I was growing up! She moved when I was 11, to be closer to us, so I actually haven't been back to her house in London for over a decade. It was nice to visit, even though someone else lives there now. (I actually encountered the person who lives there now, and as we didn't actually talk, the poor guy was quite confused to see me paying such close attention to his house!)

On the Sunday, I went to a different church than usual, largely just to visit another church. It certainly was an interesting change of pace - the service was shorter than I was expecting, for one. Actually, one of the highlights of my weekend happened there: I got accosted by a grumpy old man for wearing an England football T-shirt, because 'They never win anyway, so there's no point supporting them.' It was quite funny, because it was so completely unexpected. Also, I don't think the old man was being completely serious, because he came up to me later to explain that he had only been joking.

Scavenger hunt! (For sports this time - this sport, in case you couldn't tell, is running.)

The final week of term was very enjoyable. On the Wednesday, a group of people from the CU got together for a picnic, which was fun! We spent most of the afternoon playing catch and other games, such as spikeball (where you smack a ball off a trampoline). Wednesday was also Josh's birthday; he came along to the picnic (albeit late), so we sang happy birthday for him.

Other than that, though, I spent most of that week making the final preparations for moving out and for my Master's in September. I also applied for a job, which I ended up getting! It's a job involving catering on campus, which I'm very excited for.

On Friday, I went home again, this time to see Granny, because it was her birthday the Sunday after. (And Karys' birthday on Tuesday!) Will, Hel, Neve, and Huw came to celebrate on Sunday, which was really fun! Very nice to see my cousins again! 

I went back to Reading on Tuesday; I spent most of last week packing the last few bits and pieces up. I also watched a movie with Josh; it was very good. It was a movie about two farmers starting off as rivals, but gradually falling in love, until events conspire to temporarily drive them apart. In some senses, your standard romantic drama, except with the couple in question being gay (and farmers). I recommend it - it's called God's Own Country.

Last weekend, I went on a Wycliffe church event, a Young Adults Weekend Away. Kind of like the Youth Weekends Away of St Leonards many years ago, but for people in their late teens and twenties. It was very fun - there were quite a lot of people, student and non-student alike. There were seminars and talks, so rather like a massively compressed Word Alive. We also had activities on Saturday afternoon; I went to a place called Ninja Warriors, which is basically an inflatable/balancing obstacle course. It was very fun, though also quite tiring!

The YAWA group!

On Tuesday, I moved out of Bridges Hall. And then my parents drove me to Heathrow airport, so I could catch a flight to Chicago, America. See, my parents had been planning to visit America to see the Festens, who were in Africa with us, back in 2020, but Covid hit. It was always my plan to go a few days early, as a taste of independence, to celebrate finishing Sixth-Form. It got moved to this summer, and I again decided to come early. (Serendipitously, I've just finished my uni degree!) So I came to America on Tuesday, while the rest of my family is arriving today. My flight was delayed by a bit, but the flight itself went alright. It was long, though! I passed the time watching Avengers: Endgame and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which was fun.

Uncle Brad picked me up from the airport, and I got to meet Christi's husband and kids when we got to the house. (How time flies - last time I saw her, she had, I think, just graduated. Now she's married, with two kids!) It was very nice to meet them all, and to see Christi and Aunt Maria again! That evening, we didn't do much - just ate supper, chatted, then I went to bed.

My extra few days in America have been quite nice! I've mostly been relaxing, though I've been on several walks with Uncle Brad, which have been good. I've also gotten to spend lots of time with Christi and Matt and their children, which is very nice! Her kids, Raphael and Immanuel, are very adorable!

Me and Uncle Brad. Observe my hair!

My first impression of America...it's a lot bigger than England, or even Europe. Houses, streets, roads, parks, college campuses...everything feels scaled up. Even nature feels scaled up - there's a wood nearby (called Manor Wood), which feels very crowded - in fact, not dissimilar to the rainforests of CAR. When I was younger, I thought of America as being almost incomprehensibly vast. That's definitely something I feel to be true now. I've been here for nearly a week, and all I've really seen is a small pocket of a small segment of one city. America's also quite different culturally - for instance, walking down the street you can see quite a lot of American flags on houses. I don't think I've ever seen national flags on places of residence in England, let alone as many as I have in the last week.

Another thing is that Chicago is 6 hours behind England - so when I contact friends back home, it's generally really late or really early for one of us. 

But I'm quite enjoying America so far! And the incomprehensible vastness isn't really frightening to me - just means there's lots to explore! I'm going to be in America till mid-July, so plenty of opportunities for that! (The chronicles of my time in America will be the series of blogs, by the way.) America's gotten off to a good start, very much looking forwards to the rest!

Random stats:

-Miles travelled: About 4,000!

-Degree results: Upper second-class, and 65% in my dissertation!!

-Days until graduation: About a month (28), though I'm loathe to count down, as that's counting down on my time in America.

-Weddings coming up: 2, one in July, one in August.

-Days spent in America: 6 out of 24