Back to Oxford

Ok, so the day came when I had to finally go back to Oxford. Did some revision in the morning we all ate together outside in the garden. In the afternoon we all went to an Open Garden in Richmond as, not only was it a lovely day, but I knew that staying indoors would kill me. The house backed onto the river and had the most beautiful gardens filled with different types of fruit trees, delphiniums, lavender, roses and every type of bright English flower imaginable. The house belonged to a number of tenants so the garden was divided up among them. You could see this by the fact that each section had a different layout and style. Chesca and I wandered around and talked for ages about all these different deep ideas. I love talking to her as she understands me. Everytime I see her I realise just how even more amazing a person she has become since I last saw her!
In the evening mum and Chesca dropped me off at the Hillingdon bus station and waited with me to get the Oxford Tube. Of course, they waved goodbye and pulled faces so the other passengers got confused which made me laugh. It was nice to be back in Oxford although I would prefer to be home (esspecialy with the looming exams). However, I know that in order to go home I have to get this out the way and do well in it. I'm so glad I spent that weekend at home...
I now have some lavender from the garden back home which Chesca gave me before I left..I also took Bambi with me :)

"There's no place like home" (cheesy but true)

Felt very straneg but comforting to be home and sleep in my own bed. Chesca was VERY surprised to see me yesterday - mum and I met at South Ealing tube station and we walked home together. Chesca was already back upstairs and mum called her down as she said that she'd brought a treat home. Of course Chesca was expecting something like some strawberrys from Sainsbury's and was extremely shocked to see me there sitting in the front room. We hugged and cried for ages.

The day I went home

Decided to go back to London for the weekend to get a break from the Oxford bubble. Wanted to surprise Chesca so didn’t tell her although mum and dad know. Did some plants revision in the morning which was wasn’t too bad ^_^

Cycling break with Alice

8 hours of revision in the day. Went to the plant sciences department to do some plants revision. Was really noisy there as they had building works on. So, i asked the librarian at the desk if he knew of any other quieter places to work. He showed me to these reading rooms whose shelves were neatly stacked with journals and magazines on forestry. It was completely empty and I had the whole series of rooms to myself! The only problem, he said, were the protestors which sometime stand outside of the building and shout stuff at the new science building opposite (its been very controversial as they do lots of animal testing there...). Managed to do 4 hours of work before getting bored so I explored the library/reading rooms. It seems that they’ve been using them for storage as some of the rooms contained random cabinets stacked high with old Ryvita tins (from the 1930’s?) and inside these were tons of old letters, slides and photos (one annotated as being taken just outside Oxford in 1938). I then had a look at the various journals etc which were ordered alphabetically. Managed to find a whole section on Mexico and its forests dating from 1965-1975ish...had a quick read through and smiled at the 60s diagrams. Went back to college around 5ish and found Alice who had been working and was just as bored. We decided to cycle out OF Oxford towards Brookes. There’s a park just past the Cowley roundabout where we went for bonfire night. Getting there was really tough as it was up a really steep hill (my bike has no gears and I could hear it groaning under my weight...thought it would fall apart!). I wish I could say that the view at the top of the hill was worth the cycle but it really wasn’t. Of course I’m sure that it would be a lot nicer if the sun had been setting or also jus after the snow in February. It was a cloudy, rainyish day so the city spires didn’t look as impressive as they could have. Cycling down the hill, on the other hand, made going up it all the worthwhile...I followed Alice as we sped along the grass on our bikes and I misjudged when I was going to stop so nearly rode up a tree (literally!).
Went back to college to eat. Then did more work. Met up with Ben and G&Ds in Little Claringdon for some ice-cream and to relax. I like talking to him as he seems to think that I have a relaxed attitude to life. He’s also a very analytical person and tries to understand people. I like that :)

The day I started to go a bit crazy..

Spent doing 8 hours of work in the library sitting next to Hamish the physiologist. He seems to work so hard! Went to the college communion for the first time at 6pm, which was followed by a meal in the old library. The service was almost identical to the ones at St. Peters so it was really nice to have something to ground me. I feel bad that I’m only closest to God during times of stress/sadness/need.

Invertebrates are so boring they make metabolism fun

Today was another dry revision day. Trudged through the dryness that are the invertebrates >_< and then gave up in exchange for starting some metabolism stuff. It was exciting in comparisson. Thats how bad its getting. Had supper at Wadham with Jeremy and then met some of his friends.

Revision: How am I going to learn it all?!

Went to the library today to revise....slept really badly so found it hard to wake up in the morning. Jeremy came round in the evening and we ate pineapple and strawberries in Marja's room with some of her dance friends.