DONE with classes

I got my last two seminar papers back last night. A on both of them. Got my last paper for the other seminar on Tuesday: A-. My last two tutorial papers were handed to me mere moments ago. A on the one...and A on the other.

Dare I say it, I think I may have done better here than I've done in the past at Goucher! I think I may have gotten all A's from Oxford.

Although, it was much more bittersweet than I thought, ending my last tutorial today. I thought I'd be jumping for joy right now, and in a way I am, but I'm also finally starting to become aware that this is the end. Who knows if I'll ever get to work under this unique educational system again?

And I do love my dons, even if the classes themselves stressed me out repeatedly. I got a picture with my Shakespeare don and my fellow classmates, but it's my Modern Irish Lit don that I've gotten closest to. She gave me a great big hug and told me to keep in touch, in a genuine way instead of the perfunctory "I should probably say this now so it sounds polite" tradition. Invited me to visit her if I'm in England again, and reiterated that we should email. I have a really good contact in her for any grad school applications, but it's hard thinking that I won't be taught by her anymore! There's just something that being taught one-on-one gives you that can't be replicated even in a tiny 1o or 5-person seminar.

Also: I saw the queen yesterday, while I was talking to my Shakespeare tutorial with Tara. Well, sort of...I saw her car, and what I think was the puffy grey of her hair underneath her hat as she peeked out the window. There was a huge swarm and I'm not tall enough to see over people. She came to give the grand opening to the Ashmoleon Museum. And the topic for the Shakespeare tutorial was monarchy!