I went to Oxford for the weekend, for a conference hosted by RIBI (Rotary of Britain and Ireland). Highlights included seeing the hall that inspired Harry Potter, the womping willow, and hanging out in the pub where Tolkein wrote The Lord of the Rings. If you've heard rumors that Oxford is beautiful, they're true, and I promise to post pictures as soon as I can figure out how to get them off of my BlackBerry and onto my computer (Tyler, are you reading this? I know you can help!)
For now, here's a group shot of most of the Rotary Scholars from the UK and Ireland this year. We had some great discussions about our host club's efforts and brainstormed ideas for service projects we can get involved in while here.
The ultimate highlight of the weekend was a barn dance hosted by the Rotarians. If any of you have seen the traditional country dance scenes in Pride and Prejudice, I actually learned how to do that! And surprisingly, the guys weren't horribly reluctant to participate. Shout-out to Jay for some particularly accomplished moves.
I was staying with two other scholars at the home of an incredibly nice Rotarian and his wife, who live in the kind of charming English country house you always fantasize about if you were to move to England, make your own preserves and use quills. The morning after the country dance my hosts took me for a walk in their back garden, which was actually a sprawling green space of countryside overlooking Oxford. I have never been so close to feeling like Elizabeth Bennet in my life.
The last few days have been spent with new friends and working my way into our course. I'll expound upon this later, but for now I'll say that it's tough, but in a good way. I was concerned that having been trained as a journalist at Northwestern, parts of this course might prove redundant, but this is a true professional agenda and they are really asking us to step up our reporting. As overwhelmed as I'm starting to feel, I'm really looking forward to this year.
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