Travel Series: Barcelona

Yes, I realize that I technically have one more night here in Barcelona before my flight tomorrow morning, but at this point, the plan is to chill, have a nice late dinner and an early bed time for the next day of travel. So nothing particularly exciting is going to happen in the next 2 hours that is worth mentioning. I could be wrong, but I highly doubt it!

My journey to Barcelona started with a sad fair well to my travelling companion Sara. Her bus left earlier than mine and I needed to stay at the flat to check out with Dior (our host for Paris). As I sat in the flat waiting for the check out time alone, I was struck with sudden fear and anxiety. I was going to have to figure out where to go and travel alone. I mean, for the most part, I have done a large bulk of the navigating (more because of my own hubris than Sara's lack of navigational skills). So I shouldn't have doubted those skills, but at the same time, I knew that I was the only mind to come up with ideas and many a time I have benefited from being able to bounce off ideas and validate my ideas through Sara. Dior was running a few minutes late, but I had a good 2 hours and 45 minutes until my bus. I gave myself plenty of time because I wondered how easy it would be to find the particular bus station that I was leaving from. It turned out to be well labelled and easy to find and as a result, I had to do a little waiting around until I could check in and then get on the bus.

The bus journey was a wonderful (said sarcastically) 15 hour journey with a (1 hour stop for dinner and a 30 minute stop for snacks/bathroom). It started off a bit nerve racking though. The other reason I was anxious about travelling alone is because I felt at risk. As much as I hate to admit it, I feel vulnerable as a woman travelling alone. A kind Spanish gentleman began talking to me as I was putting my bags on the bus. He spoke only Spanish and we conversed in what was broken Spanish for me and fluent Spanish for him. I did my best but I felt rusty and hadn't expected to be confronted with the language so quickly. I tried to be nice, but there was a voice in the back of my head that was immediately questioning his motivations for talking to me out of the blue. It didn't help that when we got on the bus, he proceeded to take the seat next to me. I had a mini anxiety attack, and spent the first hour or so trying to put as much space in the seat between myself and him. Of course, these suspicions were unwarranted and he really did want nothing else than to be nice and I also got the sense that he wanted to protect me like a father would to his daughter.  The ride was long and my butt hurt through much of the journey, but I have to say, I'm getting pretty used to it.

We arrived in Barcelona a good hour early, which wasn't necessarily a good thing as that meant it was 4am. The directions I had to my new hosts, Isis, apartment required me to find the metro. There were  no signs in the bus station, but I figured I could at least find a map (often at individual bus stations) or the Metro itself. Turns out I have bad luck with picking streets and I ended up wandering for a good hour trying to find a Metro station. I would learn later that I wandered quiet far towards the centre of town. I did eventually find the metro and I was not too upset as I knew that I had lots of time and the kind gentleman had informed me that the metro doesn't really start up until 5:30 am. I followed the remainder of the directions and had no difficulty finding the flat. Isis kindly let me in at an early 6am and I proceeded to take a nap in the lovely room that she provided.

When I awoke a few hours later, I felt rather refreshed and ready to start my adventure in Barcelona. I knew the first thing was to get food and Isis, who was also up, kindly showed me the grocery store as she also needed to make a trip. I then had a belated breakfast, grabbed the remainder of my snacks from my travels and went out exploring. One of the major sights in Barcelona is la Sagrada Familia, which is a large church that is still in the middle of construction. It is a large building and has a modern/contemporary feel. It looks almost like a sandcastle (pic below). I then attempted to wander towards La Rambla and completely failed. I quickly learned that Barcelona was going to be one of the most difficult cities to navigate (in my lost wanderings I found my way back to the bus station that I arrived in from Barcelona). I don't mind the wandering too much and did eventually find my way to the coast. I didn't actually find the beach but instead went after the number of old buildings I could see. This included a stop by the Cathedral. Entrance to the Cathedral is free in the early morning and late afternoon (after 5:15pm). It was about 3:30 and I decided to wait, by reading and enjoying the sunshine, and then entered during the free hours. Before this I also stopped by Starbucks, which I wouldn't normally mention, but this time it was significant. With this Starbucks purchase and with Barcelona being the last of the "new" countries that I will visit in Europe, I can officially say that I have had Starbucks in every country (where it is possible to get Starbucks, looking at you Italy) that I have visited. This is sad, but I thought it worth mentioning. By the end of the Cathedral,I was struck by how exhausted I was and decided to head in early for dinner and some relaxing. Isis and I spent the evening chatting a bit and sharing dinner while watching a spelling bee type game show (in Catalonian of course).

The next day, Isis had offered to take me to La Castillo, an old fort that sat on a mountain near the coast of the city and then invited me to Japanese food with some of her friends. The mountain that the Castillo was situation on meant that we had to trek up it a bit. Along the way, we saw the art museum, the Olympic stadium and a few parks. There was a small fee for the Castillo but it allowed us to get a spectacular view of the whole city as well as the coast. Unfortunately, it began to lightly rain and the cloud cover made the view a little foggy. We didn't have a lot of time and went to meet up with her friends at the Japanese restaurant. Her friends were really nice and all greeted me with the traditional Latin tradition of kissing both my cheeks. Unfortunately, while I know Spanish decently well, I know very little Catalonian, and that is all Isis and her friends spoke through the meal. I made many attempts to follow the conversations and occasionally picked out enough cognates that I could get some idea of what they were talking about. But between the speed and the foreign language it quickly became difficult to pull out individual words and my mind often had difficulty separating the voice from the surrounding background noise. I didn't mind too much as it was fascinating to see how a group of people speaking a completely foreign language communicate. You could pick up a lot from body language and gestures. Also, I was once again struck by the normalcy of it all. I could imagine a similar situation in which I was with a group of my friends talking amicably and excitedly with them, full of jokes and laughter. It made me even more home sick (home includes both Oxford, Indianapolis, and Kansas City). I also couldn't help but contemplate how hard it must be for foreign students not very proficient in English to be out with people who are fluent in English and quickly jabbering away. The food was very good and reasonably priced for the amount of food. It was quite a late lunch, however, and Isis and I were quite worn out by the end. We turned into the flat and after a quick skype call with my parents, Isis did my nails and we watched a Japanese drama that her and her friends had talked about earlier. Isis and I both have a love of Japanese culture. After a very late dinner, I turned in, ready to hit much of the remainder of Barcelona the next day.

The next day, I woke up early and had a quick breakfast and then set out for a destination that I was really looking forward to, Park Guell. The park is famous for being designed and constructed by Gaudi and is the beautiful vibrancy that I expected from Barcelona but hadn't experienced yet. The park is free except for the region specifically built by Gaudi, which only allows 400 visitors per half hour. I went ahead and begrudgingly paid for it and I honestly felt like it was worth it. His architecture is so beautiful and after and hour in the restricted section and another hour wandering the remainder of the park which also happens to be on a hill overlooking the city, I was quite pleased.

I returned to the flat for a quick lunch and then finally went to La Rambla. Rambla is a main street about a mile or so long that has plenty of shops and general touristy things. After picking up the remainder of the souvenirs I needed to get for family and admiring the street, I moved on to see the beach. On the way, I passed a lot of what I saw the first day, but there was an added twist of a flea market which had hand crafted goods and number of food stalls. I avoided them in favour of the beach, at least at first. The beach was beautiful and I took the time to dip my toes into the Mediterranean (so I can say that I have been there). I read a little and sunbathed for a little as the weather was warm, but the clouds began to roll in for the evening making it a little less nice. On my way back I succumbed to the smell of warm food and the realization that after today, I would be in the US and no longer legal to drink, I grabbed a nutella crepe (because I can't seem to get enough) and a authentic Catelonian beer and sat near the marina to consume them. All in all, it was a great day. I came back to the flat, did some work out routines including archery reversals and now I am writing this blog.

Barcelona is probably the most modern city that I have visited. Most countries in Europe are trying to maintain the historical buildings they have, but Barcelona seems to want to create new history with new and contemporary art. I really admire its beauty and climate and its unique feel when compared to the rest of Europe. It was also really fun to see random bits of art in places you wouldn't expect (See below). Another thing that struck me was how political the people were. Isis and I never talked about it directly, but with her friends and the city in general, the independent vibe is very strong. I don't mind this so much, and merely find it intriguing to see another country/city that is so entrenched in its politics. I imagine Quebec must have a similar vein. Overall the trip was a good one and I had many moments of fleeting beauty, in which the moment was twinged with awe and sadness. Awe, because the beauty of the moment, and sadness, at the knowledge that the feeling would not remain. I am so grateful to Isis for hosting me. This couch surfing experience has been another good one and the housing situation is much nicer that even places that I have paid for. I am looking forward to going home and seeing my family, but this is also twinged with a little sadness. With how well this trip has gone so far, I feel a bit like a wimp for wanting to head home. Or maybe these feelings are just the beginnings of all the homesickness that have threatened to leak from my eyes over the last 6 months. Either way, the next adventure is my home. I may post in a week if I feel a particular culture shock, but otherwise, I'll post at the end to summarize my trip. I hope it will be a great trip of seeing family and friends and getting a taste of the parts of America that I love and miss from my time abroad. Until next time.

Adventures Await!

KH

Travel Series: Paris

As I sit here waiting to check out from our flat in Paris, Sara gone and feeling a little bit of fear for the first time on this trip, I thought it best to look back and blog.

After getting to London from York, Sara and I had some time to kill. So we walked around London and maybe got lost in Chelsea, but ultimately finding our way back to the bus station in plenty of time for our bus to Paris. Megabus is a wonderful thing and for only £25 and 11 hours of our life, we arrived in Paris. I slept most of the journey, now fully amazed at my ability to sleep anywhere on public transportation. We even met some fellow Americans who were studying in Vienna and travelling for Spring break. All in all it was a fairly restful journey for me.

I thought we were going to be an hour late, and had warned our host, but it turned out my fears were unfounded. We called her, from my phone, which for the first time actually worked, and then went to meet her. The directions were fairly straight forward and in less than an hour we were at the doorstep. It was pretty amazing. The woman handed over the keys and for the first time in all our European travels we had no trouble getting where we needed to go. We spent a few moments settling in and then went to get groceries. With some of the maps the owner had provided we were able to find our way to the centre of Paris. We had planned to go to the Louvre, but a quick internet search informed us that it was closed on Tuesdays, so we settled for exploring with some direction towards Notre Dame.

The first moment we stepped out of the metro was probably the most awing moment of the trip. We stepped out to see a stone lion and a number of monuments fringed in gold near a beautiful park. While it had been foggy when we arrived, the sun had come out in waves and I was actually a little hot in my coat. We walked towards the Louvre admiring its structure from afar and then passed it along the river towards Notre Dame. On the way we found the bridge with all of the locks and made note, as Sara and I had made plans in York to put one on the bridge for our undying sisterly love. We found the island where Notre Dame was and were once again confronted with its beauty and grandeur. There is sort of a soft elegance to the rich gothic architecture of Notre Dame. Sara and I also had to hold back from breaking out into "God help the Outcasts" from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. After taking plenty of pictures, we stopped to get some souvenirs and our first crepes. They were more than delicious and after only 2 hours of walking, Sara and I agreed that we were too exhausted to see anything else. We walked our way back to the Metro, remarking a peculiar street that only had florists and pet shops, and went back to the flat. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching that most wonderful Disney movie and eating dinner.

We were clearly exhausted, as we woke up the next morning after 10 hours of sleep. We had a nice breakfast and then made plans to visit the Paris Opera, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. The Opera was very pretty and only a quick stop for pictures. We had most of the afternoon to visit the Louvre and we knew it wasn't going to be enough time. The Louvre was as magnificent as most think, though the rooms and perhaps number of art pieces as actually small considering just how big it is. We saw all the famous ones as well as their extensive statue collections from Greece and Rome. We didn't visit it all, but saw more than we expected to. Getting tired of looking at art after about 3 hours, we left for a quick bite to eat and then made our way to the lock bridge before going to the Eiffel tower. We surprisingly found a place on the bridge to put our lock, took pictures and moved on to the biggest most famous thing in Paris. It was a fairly long walk, perhaps more deceiving than one might think (asside: We can walk to the Willis tower from here! No problem). Along the way we past some more famous landmarks and buildings, each as beautiful as anything we had seen prior.

As we approached the Eiffel tower, we were surprised by how small it seemed. It wasn't actually that small, but given the feeling you get from movies and such, it seems small. There are skyscrapers much bigger. We didn't go up into the tower, we had no interest in parting with that much of our money, but we did grab some more crepes and enjoy the surrounding parks. It was Sara's goal to stay until the dark when the lights of the Eiffel tower turn on. It was beautiful but at the same time, Sara and I both agreed that we didn't feel any awe at the sight. We felt surprisingly blasé about the whole affair. We chalked it up to the fact that for the most part, we must encounter what it must be like to live in the city from a native's perspective. There is nothing mystical or awing about that. I will admit though, when the tower lit up, I may have felt a little bit of awe which I felt had been lacking. We headed back to the flat and did the ab workout routine I had neglected for two days and some archery reversals. We planned for our travels the next day and checked on things. We made an attempt to go to bed early in order to get up earlier the next day.

Unfortunately, the alarm I set was an hour off as my iphone did not change time zones for some reason. As a result, we woke up a little late, but this was not overly problematic. Our check out time is at Noon and my bus leaves at 2:45. Sara had to leave earlier around 10am, as her Megabus back to london is at 11:30. So, here I sit in the flat waiting to start my next rather long trip to Barcelona. I will hopefully arrive at 5:45am and in doing so successfully navigate to the woman that is hosting me. To be honest, I am terrified. This will be the first time I travel alone and for four days I will need to fend for myself until my flight home on Monday, which I am looking forward to with all my heart.

Paris is a beautiful city and I may come back before my time in Oxford is done. I understand why people say it is a beautiful and romantic city. It also helps that it is well accustom to dealing with tourists, the language barrier didn't come up once. Maybe one day I can recapture my sense of awe. Be warned, the next city, all the pictures must come from me, so there will likely be fewer images and slightly lower resolution. But I will try my best to present the beauty of Barcelona.

Until Next time,

Adventures Await,

KH

Travel Series: York

So once again starts the travel series blogs on the places that I will be visiting (largely but not entirely with Sara) this break. Anxiety leads people to prepare extra for the coming weeks, though I will admit that most of my focus was on surviving the first week before being able to fly home.

Sara and I set off our journey at 10 am with her friend John, dropping him off at the airport. We then met our friend Heather in London to chill before our megabus trip to York. It soon became clear that with my bow and everything that I stuffed in it and my bag which for some reason seemed larger than usual, I was carrying around a lot more weight than last time. My arms were screaming and I was quickly becoming fatigued with our travelling. I avoided complaining about it and looked forward to not having to carry it around at the hostel. While hanging out with Heather, I looked at my watch and all about freaked, thinking that we had only 30 minutes to get to the bus station. We rushed to leave and it was about the time that we hit the underground that I realized I was off by an hour. Deciding that it was best to continue on at this point and certainly a good thing that we now had an hour and a half to get to the station, we continued on our way. It turns out that for part of the megabus trip, we would be on a west midlands train and then pick up a bus that would take us the rest of the way to oxford. Our train left at 3:15 and we arrived in York around 7pm.

It was a Saturday night and there were plenty of young people out and about looking to party. We followed the directions to the hostel that I had reserved in advance and asked for directions once. We found it a good 15 minutes later. We were pleasantly surprised to find the hostel to be a gorgeous townhouse and a historical sight in itself. The micklegate house was practically a mansion and it included a generous free breakfast and a very nice and cozy atmosphere as well as a kitchen. We settled in for the night, pleased that we had found it without too much trouble. The wifi wasn't the strongest, and the lounge was more crowded than we would have liked but for the most part it was great.

After a semi-restful night (how much sleep can you get with 10 girls in one room), we had breakfast and set out to do some exploring. York is a small town. You can walk from one end to the other in about 30 minutes (this is specifically talking about the historic part of town, anything included in the wall). We went towards the York Minster cathedral and walked along the wall around its gardens. The cathedral was gorgeous in its gothic architecture and very similar to many of the churches we had seen before. Walking along the ancient ruined wall was particularly fun in that it provided a uniquely historic perspective.

Once we had finished following the wall, we continued to monument park and botanical gardens, which was a beautiful sight to behold. The ruins of some old churches and the oldest known hospital still remained. Not to mention it was a gorgeous day in the sun. The flowers were in bloom and the air was warm and crisp. No matter who we ran into, they were helpful and friendly. This was a pleasant surprise which led to a comparison of Yorkshire individuals being the Canadians of the UK.

We continued walking through town and passed by a large mound with fort atop it and the palace museum. Both attractions had a fair fee, but given that we are poor college students, we merely admired from afar, particularly the numerous daffodiles that covered the sides of the mound. We found the Viking museum and had a nice picnic lunch outside it. At this point, we realized that we had covered most of the ground of the city and so we headed back to follow up on some advice and visit Betty's tea house. There was a line stretching outside and it sold some of the cutest desserts and chocolates. We each got the house tea and shared some french toast and the famous scone.

We were pretty stuffed by then and had about 2 hours to kill before a performance that was being held at York Minster that Sara and I had decided to attend. We went back to the hostel and Sara practised her violin while I did archery reversals with my bow. We then set off for the recital performance/religious service at the York Minster cathedral. The men and boys choir sang pieces accompanied by readings of passages for lent. The service was very beautiful and calming and largely relaxing. After the performance, Sara and I went to cook some dinner and settled in for a night of relaxation.

The next day, Sara and I had time to kill before our bus and so we walked along another portion of the wall and came across a park. We then visited an old monastery which had an exhibit talking about the life of the monks and nuns in the area, their founding and religious persecution as well as numerous aspects of their culture. It was quite a neat exhibit and someone was practising the organ the whole time which provided a nice atmosphere. We collected our things from the hostel before waiting at the bus stop for the 5 hour return journey to London and the continued travel to Paris, but I will leave that for the next travel series.

York on a whole was a lot smaller than I expected. The city itself was quaint deeply historical but also a bit monochromatic. The people were very kind and that it probably the biggest and best impression that York left on me. We had fun, and in many ways, the city served to ease us in to bigger travels to come. I hope you enjoy the many pictures. I'm sure Paris will have even more. Until next time.

Adventures Await

KH

Phobias

This week was another week of business. I barely had a moment to myself until Wednesday, but then, a certain amount of busy is preferable. Between archery, role playing society, my remaining essays and other social obligations, I was stretched thin. Add that to the anxiety that I had acquired about travelling and it left me a bit shaken.

The week started off fun but busy. I went to see the Lego movie and dinner with some archery people, which was fun and the Lego movie was great. Then on Monday, I had my last philosophy of mind tutorial, which was similarly fun and also bitter sweet. I will miss having tutorials on the topic. Monday night fitness was also fun and had the special surprise of boxing gloves and pads adding some variety to the work out. I really loved cardio kick boxing when I did it for soft ball fitness in high school.

On Tuesday, I continued work for my next tutorial, had archery in the afternoon and then the debrief for role playing society's society game.  It was walking to archery that I was suddenly crippled with an anxiety attack. The days had already flown by and the anticipation of travelling again and perhaps subjecting myself to the same struggle and stress that had afflicted Sara and I last break made me terrified. I got some reassurance from my lovely archery team, but at the same time I was frustrated with myself. I knew that this fear was irrational, but in my gut and brain, vast amounts of hormones were switching my body into the fight or flight mode and I just wanted to cry. I tried not to think about it too much, but over the next couple of days, I would be struck once again with the same irrational fear.

Wednesday was the first day I had a little time to myself. I got my final essay of this term on Tuberculosis written and began watching parks and rec (setting in my home state of Indiana). I have been watching it on and off for the last month but in this last week I have become quite hooked. I think part of it is home sickness. Whenever they talk about Indianapolis or other Indiana specific references it makes me very happy. It also helps that it is fairly clever and the characters are quite interesting. I am ready to go home and I am to some extent honestly counting down the days until I get on my flight home for the first time in 6 months. There was also a pancake social that evening with Archery and I may have enjoyed a few too many thin crepe like british pancakes with nutella, chocolate, whipped creme, bananas, marshmellows, lemon and sugar and even bacon (not all at once).

The remainder of my week was a mix of anxious packing and planning (of which included making about 10 pounds of trail mix...I was worried about being able to cook during our travels), and hanging out with the people that mattered. The unfortunate side effect of my anxiety was a lot of stress eating and a bit of a falling off the horse in terms of my exercise regime. I was also under pressure to eat anything perishable remaining in my flat and that only exacerbated the problem.

One of the things that I hadn't expected to experience upon coming to the UK, happened this week. Xenophobia or general negativity/dislike/insult towards the US. I recognize that the US has a somewhat shaky world persona. That being said, I don't generally blame individuals for the presence of their government. Sara's friend John came to visit from the US and he has a habit of wearing cowboy attire, the boots, the hat, the whole nine yards. While at one of the meals, a waiter came over and informed us that he needed to take off his hat because some of the other people in the hall were offended by his american attire. I would have been fine if it was about respecting a dining hall and not wearing a hat, but from the way the waiter described, it seemed specific to the American nature of it. I would have let this moment go and counted it as just an odd situation, but then later in the week, while Rebecca (flatmate also from Jewell) and I were sitting at dinner, the guys next to us (older gentleman and faculty) blamed us for taking the extra appetizers when they were late for dinner. Now yes they used joking tones, but it was the immediate assumption that we were at fault when honestly it was primarily the other Regent's students at dinner and that this assumption was made based on our American status was frustrating. When I pointed this out, he made reference to how it would have been fine if actual Regent's students took them, insinuating that Rebecca and I don't count because we are visiting. I was extremely offended but just took the opportunity to ignore the group for the rest of dinner. These sort of xenophobic comments and alienation was disappointing and I didn't really expect to experience them in a respectable and scholarly university such as Oxford.

So break has begun and I have made it to York. I will likely do what I did last break and post at the conclusion of our time in the city (with pictures). I will leave discussions of our travels to York in the future.

Until next time,
Adventures Await

KH

Balancing Act

This week was in some sense, relatively mundane. I didn't have a lot of work, as my two remaining tutorial papers were due this upcoming week, but I did do work. The remaining time I spent doing archery, role playing society and a little rest and relaxation.

Archery this week was continued minor improvement with a little bit of frustration. I started using the clicker this week. A clicker is a small metal bar on the riser which you put on the outside of the arrow (relative to the riser), and when you reach full draw and the tip of the arrow slides passed the bar, it makes a clicking sound and signals you to fire. It is a very useful way to ensure that you always get to a full and consistent draw length. And it did wonders for my consistency. I was shooting 52-53/60 fairly regularly. The downside was that it forced me at full draw and at least earlier in the week I was confronted with the poundage of my bow. I have gotten stronger and it is better I do it right.

On Saturday (yesterday) was the final BUTTs competition and the BUTTs ball. I shot ok. I was shooting consistently well until I kept having random bad arrows. I also had one really terrible round, where I was doing something wrong, not sure what, and dropped way too many points. As a result, despite should being able to, I did not break the 500 score barrier but got continuously closer at 496. This was still a good score but considerably frustrating. On the plus side, given that only four of the novice team archers were there, I was on the team for total score and with the three other gentleman scoring 506, 515, and 527 we made a new Oxford novice team record of 2044! So I was proud of all of us in general. The ball was also fun, with some of the bigger awards being handed out and a nice dinner. Plus there was dancing and it made me happy to dance as a team! Of course this meant we got back late (2am).

In role playing society, the final round of Ragnarok Society game came to an end. There was a bitter sweet feeling in the air as everyone's characters talked of the future and fair wells. While I recognize this is a fictional universe, these characters were very much alive in the sense that Ragnarok was a game of many plots and relationships and drama. I look forward to the next week when we debrief and I will get to know exactly what was going on. In the meantime, most of us are looking forward to the society game next term and some character concepts have been tossed around. I am excited.

We also had the role playing society banquet on Friday. It was a wonderful time and it was great to see everyone dressed up nicely for another tasty meal and socializing. The fun didn't end until 3 am, but it was most enjoyable.

So, I had a lot of good happen to me this week and particularly at the end. But, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was just not right in terms of balance. I didn't like the fact that I had more free time than normal. I get some fulfilment from having work and there was an actual point in the week where there was nothing that I could do academically to get ahead or do the work that I knew I would have. Similarly, I'm not satisfied with this work out regiment. I can tell that I am losing some of the progress that I achieved from Jillian Michaels. I can tell that it isn't a regiment that is intensive enough to counteract the eating habits that I co-developed with the Jillian Michaels routine and with the stress of break looming over me, that I may be compensating for.

All of these things make me realize the importance of listening to yourself and finding balance. When something works, it works and I may need to alter my behaviour to suite my life style as it changes. Here's hoping I can find some way of doing that in the last week of term. Also, here is to hoping that break goes as smoothly as possible. I am looking forward to being home and to go on the Archery Isle of Man trip, but I still fear the uncertainty of the rest of my travels and my inability to plan some of it due to information I don't have yet. But these worries are but a minor backdrop to a pretty good thing I've got going.

Until next time!

Adventures Await

KH

Risk Management

This week was another week of highs and lows but on a whole, another pretty great week. After resolving to do what I love and not try to fill unnecessary expectations, I think I have found a system of taking care of myself and being with others that really suits me. The break is still looming ahead (there has been a set back but I'm problem solving), but the present is actually quite nice.

The week started off with a great high. My bow came in and I don't think I have ever felt so much love for an inanimate object. I imagine it is a lot like getting a brand new car that is all your own. It is beautiful and sleek and shiny and it handles like a dream and you just want to find excuses to drive it everywhere. Unfortunately, when I put up the bow on Tuesday, (which ended up being more work than I initially expected), we, all the wonderful experience archers helping me and myself, discovered that one of the spots on the mount for the riser had not been properly sunken in, such that the screw did not make contact with the riser and could not be mounted onto it securely. That was certainly a moment of frustration. I have worked it out with Merlin and the replacement part arrived on Friday. So no harm no foul. Also, on the next Thursday, we hooked up the sight from the club bow that I used. After two days of trying it out, I shot with my beautiful new bow at BUCS indoors, but more about that later.

The week also brought with it some bipolar weather. On Tuesday, I walked through 4 different descriptions of rain, light drizzle, heavy downpour, rain mixed with hail, and blistering wind blowing sideways rain. It was not pleasant, and then later in the week it was 50-60 F weather and a pleasure to jog in! I had been keeping up with jogging and doing strength and core training. One of the days I went jogging, I off roaded a bit more than I intended and scratched up my leg pretty badly. But on the whole it was a nice relaxing jog. Also with my new bow comes a heavier draw weight. I'm still getting used to that, and the last couple of days has made me very aware of my back muscles.

Role playing society is still plenty of fun and I am sad to see the society game wind down this next week. My character has really found her own as we reach towards the end and is actually a part of some of the drama (she managed to fly under the radar for most of the first half). The plotting and scheming is enjoyable and the people are just loads of fun as well. Now comes the planning for the Society game next term.

I also got information about my character for the Gencon larp that I will be participating in. She has a snooty (I'm thinking posh/southern) British accent and wields a bow. She is a winter Sidhe (fairy lord) and her name is Lady Lenneth. I'm actually considering naming my bow after her...as the character is almost made for my british bow of blue and silver.

On Wednesday night was the general meeting for archery. The meeting consisted of motions and elections and afterwards to dinner and the club (though only a few of us actually went). Despite not being here next year, I went to show support and also help to meet numbers should it be necessary (Most clubs and societies need a certain number or percentage of people at meetings to pass motions and hold elections). As I throw myself more and more into archery I am recognizing the borderline obsession as it is most of what I talk about it, if not role playing society. I guess passion may be the kinder and more appropriate word but really where is the distinction between passion and obsession?

Finally yesterday, and the reason that this post didn't come out yesterday, was that I was at BUCS indoor championships. Another beautiful day brought us to Telford, about 2 and 1/2 hours from Oxford by mini bus, and the largest archery hall I have ever seen. I believe there was between 45-60 bosses out across the length of the hall and 3 shooting times. So you can just imagine the number of archers. There was something exhilarating about being at such a large competition. It reminded me a lot of my days as a competitive swimmer at some of the larger meets where there are just loads of people in such a massive space ready to compete with one another. The shoot went ok. I, like anyone, have high expectations of myself, and in particular, high expectations for how I do when I feel like I've recently acquired a new edge, this case my bow. But as many are want to remind me, I did get a competition and overall PB, it was just a slightly frustrating one. I scored 492/600 which is really quite great and in a lot of ways, if the nerves hadn't gotten me on the front end, and then, the beginnings of muscle fatigue on the back end, I could have broken that 500 threshold. All that being said it was pretty good and only 4 points shy of actually being part of the scoring team (I was 4th of our team with only the top 3 scores contributing to the team total). It seemed like all the experienced and novice alike were having a bit of an off day, with poor Sarah retiring after only a few ends. The nerves were definitely a lot higher. The experienced team took 2nd place overall narrowly loosing to Nottingham, and the novice team came out 7th. I am proud of us, but at the end of the day, I was exhausted. Still, there are few places I would rather be on a Saturday than at competition with a load of people who brighten my day.

So that has been my week. Full of ups and downs, but I am left feeling strangely secure and pleased with my current life. I have two weeks for both my tutorial essays and so more effort needs to go into planning break. There is still plenty to do, but I have confidence that I can do them. Until next time.

Adventures Await

KH