Finishing My First Year at Oxford

I definitely overprepared for my final exam. By the time I sat it, I was exhausted, and I had to resort to copying many of the answers I had written on my mocks. As I was assisting an event at the European Studies Centre in the evening, I could feel an illness coming over me, which would manifest in an incessantly runny nose on the following day. I spent the rest of the week drinking tea every twenty minutes in a desperate attempt to quickly nurse myself back to health. As my tests came back negative, I assume I did not have covid.

By the beginning of the following week, I was back to full strength. Several of my housemates and I made an excursion to Blenheim Palace, which at times became shirtless because of the unbearable heat and the similarly unbearable urge to show off gym gains. By the time we got to Blenheim, we were so exhausted that we walked a little and then simply rested until we packed up and took the bus back. The year, though uncharacteristically cold, has finally reached the point at which people would rather stay inside or become lethargic when exposed to the outdoor heat.

After many sweet goodbyes, I left Oxford on the 25th of June. Due to the widespread rail strikes – the largest we have had in some three decades – I decided to take the taxi. Little did I know that our departure would be delayed by over an hour, which rendered moot my anxiety about getting to the airport on time.

A Caucasian wingnut
Some kind of nut
A lungwort
The same
More of the same
Some kind of yellow flower
A giant allium
Another two
More giant alliums
Foxgloves
More flowers
Red poppies
The canal north of Oxford
A houseboat, a house, and a lock
Saint Bartholomew's Parish Church in Yarnton
The Old School Room in Yarnton
A house on Cassington Road
The same
Another house on Cassington Road
Fields on the way to Blenheim
Wheat
More fields
The path to Blenheim
Another field
A lonely tree somewhere above Bladon
Lambs looking at me
Lambs looking at each other
A forest path
A street in Bladon
More of Bladon
The Parish Church of Saint Martin in Bladon
A view of Blenheim Palace from the south
The same
A lawn at Blenheim
A house by the entrance to Blenheim Palace
A house in Woodstock
A sign in Woodstock
A Woodstock Town Hall
A street in Woodstock
Flowers in a garden at Woodstock
Vanburgh Birdge at Blenheim Palace
The same
The lake as seen from Vanburgh Bridge
The entrance to Blenheim Palace

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