Of Birthdays

Well, dear readers, I am 21 years old, which means I can go home in a month and legally indulge in everything I'm already legally allowed to do here.  Huzzah?  I find it hard to believe that that baby in this picture ever actually existed, but I suppose both grandmothers would beg to differ.

Seriously, though, my birthday was lovely.  Sunday night the choir sang me happy birthday in full harmony at Formal Hall, and in my birthday itself TJ and my fellow William & Mary'ers surprised me at lunch in hall with a bottle of champagne, balloons and sweets.  I should have taken a picture, but honestly I was so surprised I completely forgot.  It was absolutely charming, and made me feel quite loved indeed.  Monday night TJ and I went out to our favorite restaurant in Oxford, the Riviera, which is run by a Lebanese family and makes the most excellent food if you order the right things.  They also have cheap takeout deals for lunch and are right across the street from my dorm, so I've gotten to know them quite well.

Wednesday TJ went home.  The process was quite smooth, and we got him there in plenty of time and with more than enough for me to get back to Oxford for my tutorial later in the day.  It's sad to see him go, but it was a fantastic visit, and I'm glad he came.  If anything, I think being able to share Oxford with him enhanced the trip for me, because I got to play the role of tour guide for once, and show him all my favorite things.

I also had my second tutorial with David Wednesday, and that went very well.  He's not scary at all, really, and our conversations are very interesting, particularly because I know nothing whatsoever about drama, so I'm almost starting from square one.  He's very patient, though, and I feel like I've learned a lot already.

Thursday I received my birthday present from home!  It was the most ridiculous little package full of strange and wonderful things, and it made me happy.  Inside were three birthday cards, scrunchies, hair elastics, hair claws, Obama magnets, little pins with birdies on them, a set of Burt's Bees beauty supplies, and some lovely emerald earrings.  Emerald is my birth stone, and I don't have any, so I really like those especially.  Thank you, Mom, and thank you Nana for mailing it!  I actually like that it came a bit late, let me stretch out my birthday over a week instead of just one day.

Friday I finished up the first of my three tutorials, Victorian literature focusing on the detective novel.  For that tutorial, I read: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, Bleak House by Charles Dickens, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles, both by Arthur Conan Doyle.  That's rather a lot of reading for six weeks worth of work, and I'm proud of myself.  I'll miss my meetings with Helena, though. I think she's my favorite.

Lesbian literature is progressing apace as well.  Thus far our works there have been "Christabel" by Coleridge, Carmilla by Sheridan LeFanu, The Well of Loneliness by Radcliffe Hall, and The Rainbow by DH Lawrence.  We have two more weeks, focusing on The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson.  David and I have only done Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice and Love's Labour's Lost thus far, but we'll have three more plays before the end.  We're planning on finishing up a week early, though, by doing a two-hour tutorial in 8th week rather than progressing through 9th.  That'll give him a chance to go on vacation earlier, and me a chance to travel more before I go home.

Speaking of traveling, I'm starting to solidify my plans for the end of term.  I plan on meeting up with two friends from William & Mary who are studying in Bath and London respectively.  Starting on the 23rd, we'll spend three nights in Rome together.  After that, though, I'm on my own, so I plan on spending two nights in Paris followed by two in London before I fly home.  Details are still being ironed out, but it seems like quite a ride.

Today I saw a one-man-and-dog band.  He was playing the guitar and the harmonica, singing, and beating a drum with his foot while his dog howled in time.  I didn't have my camera, which is something I think I'll regret for quite a while.   I gave him all the change I had.


That's all, I believe; to conclude, some more Things I've Noticed:

• British people love to congregate in doorways.  If they are in any open space that has an archway, door or passage, they will immediately flow toward it as if magnetically drawn and then block it as fully as they possibly can.  There are rarely exceptions.

• Apparently it's baby waterfowl season.  I saw 10 ducklings today of two different species.
•  Most people are really bad at punting (propelling yourself down a river in a flat boat with a long pole.)  There's usually a good deal of screaming involved.