After an absolutely hellish weekend, life has once again improved (as I hoped it would). Saturday and Sunday were spent locked in my room researching and writing my two 3000 word papers. 3000 words is not that much to write (12 pages), but I've been having the worst writer's block this term. What happened to being able to easily whip out a paper in 4 hours? Is this a sign that I am getting older? Perhaps my writing talent is just drying up as we speak. It is a depressing thought, but not one that I intend to dwell on since I have little to no control over it.
The moment that I handed in those papers on Monday to the undergraduate History office, it was if the day had suddenly gotten brighter. I went to my Popular Religion seminar in a daze due to sleep deprivation afterward and was relieved to find that most people seemed to be in a similar, if not worse, state. The rest of the day was spent attempting to catch up on my sleep, but to no avail. I was so exhausted that I barely made it to Pleasance to work on Retrospect, the history journal. Oddly enough, the keys to the newspaper office (where we are laying out) had disappeared and so we settled for grabbing a few drinks. It proved to be just what I needed because I woke up on Tuesday completely refreshed and stress-free.
Today, I head south for my spring break/research trip. For a little under a month, I will be spending my days in the library researching my senior thesis. I have a preliminary bibliography of roughly 50 books that should get me started. I am taking this project incredibly seriously and intend to be on the ball the entire time. Still, my break won't be spent working the entire time. Plans are in the works to visit Cambridge, Cotterley, and Wells (again). The Oxford-Cambridge boat race is being held in London on the 29th, and so a few of us are going to head down and make a day of it. I'm off to Dublin in the first week of April with Veronica and, perhaps just as exciting, Tristan and I have entered into a regatta the second week of April. Double scull. It should be quite interesting considering that I've only sculled less than a dozen times in my life. But I suppose that is even more motivation to get up each morning to practice. I just hope that my knees can hold out.
I must admit that I am quite impressed with myself. This spring break plan started off as a faint idea the weekend that I returned home from visiting Karen in Oxford. And somehow, despite being incredibly busy these past two months, I've managed to successfully plan out my entire trip. I have a place to stay and a reason for being there. Perhaps I am not as hopeless as I had thought?
Anyways, this is probably the last blog entry for a bit until I get settled.
ADDENDUM: Also, Brad told me that he plans on taking the Foreign Service Officer Test in October. This is amazing news, since I plan on taking it then as well. Now I have someone to study with/freak out with.
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