DONE!!

I just finished my last Oxford essay!!! It seems like it was just a few weeks ago that I was handing in my first paper a week early (whoops...). It's really hard to describe how much I feel like I've gotten out of the process: it's been the most rigorous, thought-provoking, academically stimulating six months I've ever experienced. I'm utterly exhausted from the process, but couldn't be more thankful. I've had highs, lows, and a few tears, but have come out of it a better writer and a better thinker as a result. I'm going to miss it, but am also excited to apply what I've learned to my writing at Stanford when I get back.

Because I'm a huge nerd and, despite being totally not math-oriented for 99% of my life (I was called out this fall for taking legit 5 minutes to figure out how to divide 1000 by 200... it's 5, right?), for some reason love statistical reviews of things, I decided to make one for my time at Oxford. It's not as intense as the one I did on my year off, where I actually kept a page at the back of my diary that I dutifully updated every day with the number of stalls I'd mucked (that stat got depressing rullll fast), horses I'd ridden, books I'd read, movies I'd watched, states I'd visited, miles I'd driven, etc., but it still sums up my six months abroad pretty succinctly, I think:

Words written: 73,264
Pages written (double spaced, A4 paper): 302
Libraries used: 10
Books read/consulted: 163

Nationally published articles written: 2 (well, will be after Luhmuhlen)
EN articles: 4
Blog updates between here GBE: 101 (with more to come!)
Pictures taken: over 10,000

National Hunt Races visited: 3
CCI****s: 2
CCI***s: 2
Countries: 6-8, depending on how our itinerary works out in Finland

Played polo on a grass pitch
Went to a Formal Hall
Went to a Ball
Danced the night away on May Morning
Made new friends
Ran 14 miles in one go, and over 250 miles total
Played Squash

...Man, it's a good life.

I have a few more updates (I realize I never really talked about the formal hall I went to, which I think deserves a post of its own) and will try to do a better wrap up post than this a bit later on when my head is a bit clearer, but in the meantime I just had to write something. My junior year of college is officially complete!! Just in time for another adventure to begin =)