I'm back in a normal routine, more or less, which means that I'm back to drinking copious amounts of tea and sitting in cafes for study dates and doing a lot of reading and glaring out at the rain falling steadily from grim skies. It's been pretty incessant over the last few days, along with some gusts of wind -- this is the UK, after all. Nothing new about complaining about the weather here. Even if I've been entertaining myself with all the adjectives with which to describe it, mostly consisting of words such as hideous, gross, disgusting, soul-crushing, etc.
But how good normalcy can feel, even normal complaining about British weather, and even if I'm not 100% to "normal" yet. (I'm accepting 90% as close enough at this point.) I'm a bit worried about catching up with all this schoolwork, getting ahead on my reading again, and writing a few big term papers and starting my dissertation, and have also not been feeling so great about avoiding physical activity/intensive exercise as I attempt to rest up and let my back recover fully -- working out is one surefire way to beat the winter doldrums with all this rain, after all! I've been feeling fidgety and at times annoyed with my recent need to take it easy. The good part, though, is I've had continued good company and plenty of things to keep me busy. This past week and weekend, that meant our very own Oxford episode of House Hunters!
Right now, I am living in a college room at St. John's, which has easily the best and cheapest student housing in Oxford. It's a nice room in a very nice, new building on the main grounds of the college, with my own bathroom and a little kitchenette down the hall. I haven't gotten a bike yet because everything around Oxford is nearby and easily walkable. And, once again, it's very cheap especially compared to other college housing options and/or nearby lease options… considering all of this, why would I want to move out of college for next year?
The answer: community. Friendship. Company. Having my own house and couch to lounge on and kitchen to cook in. Not feeling like I'm in a dorm room again (I'm so over that). I've enjoyed living in St. John's this past year, but am even more excited about the prospect of living with friends in a house in Oxford next year -- so, starting last week, a group of Rhodie friends and I set out to look for a place in Jericho, a nice neighborhood in northwest Oxford, near St. John's and also near many of our other friends. I'd never really needed to sort through a serious housing search before, since all students at Stanford live on campus and the housing draw (even if much-hated and full of "drawma") took care of our room assignments, year after year. Same for the summers; I just lived at Stanford or elsewhere. So it was pretty exciting to head out and view different houses in Oxford with friends, to discuss priorities and location and amenities and rent, and also to anticipate having some of these people as roommates. Long story short, we soon discovered that many houses available in Oxford for student letting span the spectrum from run-down and gross to nicer and more expensive. After a few days of searching through too many listings and going to too many so-so viewings, we finally found a good compromise between nice and affordable and signed a lease this past Tuesday. It'll be five Rhodie women (including some of my favorite people here in Oxford) living together in a nice five-bedroom house at the heart of the Jericho neighborhood -- photos coming soon, maybe. I'm excited! And still cannot believe how quickly the time is passing here. Soon it'll be next year already, Year Two at Oxford. Eeeek.
Now, off to class! (And off to more walking through the rain. At least I can walk, hey?)
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