Updates? What are those?

I've been neglecting this blog for awhile now.

And I only have a week left. It's so surreal. I feel as though I've gotten to know this city, its charms and its faults both. I can give you directions to the park, the train station, the shopping centers (or centres, as it were). Oxford and I got even more acquainted when Jordan came, because then I had the excuse to do the "touristy stuff," which until his visit no one at 104 Banbury seems to have bothered with.

As for the rest of Jordan's visit - we went on a bus tour, we tried (and failed) to see Oxford Castle, we ate at a couple pubs, we consumed way too much Thanksgiving food at the house dinner, and we met some of his geektacular online friends - who were incredibly nice! We went inside Balliol, Christ Church, and Keble. We went to the Ashmolean Museum, which was incredible and much more extensive than I thought it would be.

We also managed to come up with Christmas gift ideas for people, hallelujah....Oh, and Jordan got the experience of a formal hall dinner, robes and everything. Well, he didn't get to wear robes, but you know what I mean.

I also had to do a ton of work while he was here. And the stress of it was so painful. I've been trying to figure out why I'm in a constant low-grade "funk" recently, and the principal reason is so simple and obvious, yet I don't want it to be the answer: Work. I'm burnt out, more than I ever have been, and I've definitely been burnt out before. I don't really relish the idea of leaving behind the friends I've made here, and I do enjoy the opportunity to be in another country on the dollar of my exceedingly generous parents, but I'm ready to come home. Right now. No more papers, no more reading whole books in one night; I might cry with relief when I got off the plane.

The funny thing is, I've been so successful. And for that, my ego may never deflate. I got an excellent mark on my last Shakespeare paper, my highest yet, and my Modern Irish Lit. don was ecstatic with joy at my paper on Seamus Heaney. She nearly made me float through the ceiling with her flattery. Even so, the backbreaking labor it's taken to sustain this positive feedback is too much. There's a reason the terms are so short here, any more of this and the students would either violently revolt or just break down crying and fainting in the streets.

BUT, I do get to see my Aunt Louise tomorrow. I'm a little nervous because I don't exactly have a concrete plan about what I'm going to entertain her with, but I feel a mixture of pub/shopping/site-seeing will suffice.

To top this post off, here are 10 things I'm going to do A.S.A.P. when back in the states:
1. Eat at Baskin Robbins
2. Take my horsey gal for a spin over some jumps
3. Experiment with cookie recipes and whip up some fan-tastic free-range-based delights
4. Pet my puppy
5. Mourn my bunny
6. Clean my room, thoroughly and ruthlessly
7. GET DECORATIONS - I envision an embarassing number of lights, a decked-out tree, mistletoe, lawn ornaments, multiple advent calendars, holly, candles....
8. Shop for gifts, no last-minute searching this year
9. Get in touch with people I haven't seen in way too long
10. Hug Mom and Jordan as many times as they'll let me