My Travel Adventures

For the first time in a while, I ate a proper homemade breakfast of eggs, cheese, and toast. We started the day quite late, only beginning our drive westward shortly before ten. Our first stop was Buksnes Church, an imposing red building with white timber frames and dramatically sloping green roofs. The parking lot in front of the church was quite busy, which kept me from taking pictures. When we entered, we saw many smartly dressed people. We did not understand what had brought them there in such numbers until we were approached by a man who asked if we were tourists. When we responded that we were, he promptly told us that this was a funeral gathering, and we hurriedly left.

With great displeasure, I woke up at 5:50 this morning to catch the airport express from Stockholm Central Station to Arlanda Airport. I had many reasons to feel smug though. Firstly, I had activated my 24-hour ticket at around half past six the previous day, so I did not have to waste time buying another. Secondly, I had already bought a return ticket to Arlanda. Thirdly, I had become intimately acquainted with the Central Station over the previous days, knowing exactly where to go on this important occasion. Fourthly, I had checked in online, so I saved time once I arrived at the airport. Finally, I put off brushing my teeth and eating breakfast until I got to Arlanda, which saved me from waking up at half past five.

I started the day very early and not without apprehension. Having conducted plenty of research beforehand, I decided it would be possible for me to visit Hovgården, an ancient site on the island of Adelsö. Hovgården is notable for its large burial mounds, which reportedly date to the Vendel Period (500-800 CE) and the early Viking Age (800-1050 CE). An excavation of a mound dating to 900 CE found a man buried in a boat as was custom among many northern peoples (a similar discovery was made at Sutton Hoo in England).   

Despite the practically incessant stream of light outside my window on this warm summer night, I managed to sleep until around seven. Rather than the sun, what woke me up was a persistent mechanical noise. My hotel here is on a boat, but I do not think that the sound was of a nautical origin – unlike the squeaking of wood, metal, and rubber that followed the movement of the waves.

After my return from Oxford, I only stayed at home for a day and a half. I spent much of that time unpacking all my things and repacking a fraction of them in a carry-on bag that I would take with me on my trip to Scandinavia. On Monday afternoon, I set off. Boarding the 13:15 plane from Prague, I arrived at to Stockholm Arlanda Airport shortly after 15:15. My plan was to board one of the many trains to Uppsala and spend the afternoon there.

Reflecting on my last term at Oxford, I think I spent it well. Perhaps I should have started studying for my exams later, as I was barely even going through the motions in the last two weeks, but at least I felt confident in my answers. I took exams in two subjects: the International Relations of East Asia and Russian International Relations and Foreign Policy. I revised for the first in the usual way: I read through my notes until I was absolutely sick of them, and I copied the most important points onto a word document. Realising that I had learned practically nothing about Southeast Asia during the Cold War, I also studied a few Wikipedia pages and boiled them down into digestible bullet points. Finally, I prepared a few paragraphs of definitions that I could copy straight onto the online exam (which is perfectly within exam regulations).   

We had borrowed our car for two days, and after returning from the Cotswolds, Johnny and I made another trip, this time to the south. Our first stop was the city of Winchester, a name that carries some emotional weight for me as I have resided at Winchester Road for the past two years. The city is sometimes described as a former capital of England, but it is now generally agreed that the royal court was mobile during England’s early Middle Ages. Associated with Alfred the Great, Winchester owes its present layout to the king’s reconstruction of the city to render it more defensible against Viking raids.

My last day as a student at Oxford was a hectic one. I took my final exam in the morning and immediately began a marathon of social engagements that only ended at midnight. In between the two meals and three parties, I accompanied Johnny on a quick trip to a car rental place at the outskirts of Cowley, where we picked up our ride for the following day. While the journey was a bit annoying, it allowed us to begin the next day fresh and early – since we invited two friends from the programme, we did not dare to suggest an earlier meeting time than nine o’clock.  

It was a sunny Sunday when Luqman and I set off for the last hike of our Oxford careers. Taking the first train to Moreton-in-Marsh, we arrived a little before half past ten. Moreton-in-Marsh was very quaint. We made sure to walk through the town centre to see the War Memorial, Curfew Tower, and the Redesdale Hall, circling around Saint David’s Church on our way from the centre. All the houses were constructed using stones of a warm cream colour, including the typically austere Anglican church.