Last Update: Reflection on a Traveler's Best Moments.

It felt noble, in a way, yet liberatingly inconsequential at the same time. I knew, the moment I stepped on to the plane, that the mysteries to come would change me forever. Here I was in foreign countries without anyone, where I could disappear into thin air and not soul would notice or care. I was all alone, sitting on street corners and wandering in and out of reality. I had had two years of a wonderful family of friends by my side always, and it took so long not to feel hopelessly lost without them. Most of the time I carried my life on my back and never had a sure foot to step down on. But there is an incredible strength and nobility in that sort of freedom that nobody can touch. One learns to take it all on faith. It was a story all my own, to write and experience as I went. I wouldn't wish it on anyone, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

There were times I'd close my eyes and pretend I was home again, safely. Or that my very own Edward Cullen was coming to hold me tight and protect me from any fear or harm that might befall me. Tears often found me, a weary traveler on a very long journey, never seeming to find a resting place. But in the end I was always so glad to open my eyes to the adventures awaiting me. I traveled through country after country, seeing new face after face, learning about different lives and hearing different stories, never finding familiarity but always finding comfort in the thrill of seeing the world with new eyes, as a wildly free traveler.

Words cannot give credit to the brilliance of what I experienced abroad and, while I am happy to be back, I know that my heart and soul will always have an ache for the incredible journey I left there. I will never be the same. Now I am about to embark on my senior year at Queens with the comfort of familiar faces and love that I missed so much. Even though Europe isn't calling my name anymore, I still find liberation in being back to a life I didn't want to leave behind in the first place, a life I really loved. I take this last year of my youth in stride, with an open heart and fulfilled soul, but always remembering that not all who wander are lost.

Love Always,
Sarah.

Bye Bye to Oxford

By tomorrow I will be back in america with no more accents and buildings like castles. Exam time was a blur and I don't know if I've ever been quite so stressed, but it's overwith now and all I can do is hope that I passed them all.

I've decided to put in an application to study medicine here starting in the fall of 2010 for their graduate-entry program. I know it would be incredibly hard to spend four years away from home, but it would be hard to turn down if I actually got accepted...

Here are some photos of my last few weeks of Oxford:
The Bodleian Library (top), and teh Radcliffe Camera - Sometimes I actually try to study in these places, but never get much done...Punting on the River Cherwell:
Dreaming spires...

My meadow

Horses in Port Meadow:


celebrating exams finishing in our sub-fusc

See you soon USA!!!

Love, Sarah

Trinity Term in Oxford

Things are beginning to wind down here for me. We've had our last week of tutorials and labs and now it is meant to be two strait weeks of revision before exams begin. Yikes! It is certainly a scary time, but an exciting time nonetheless. I've got a feeling I can handle it. Hopefully I can roll with the best of 'em here. In less than four weeks I will be boarding a plane to head back to the USA. I simply can't believe that this epic adventure is almost over.

Me and the other St. Hugh's Biochemists on our Last day of Labs

Sunday night I spent a day in London lounging in the most sun I've seen all year in Hyde park, and then went to the London Tap Jam (www.londontapjam.org) that night. It was held at a fancy Jazz bar with a stage and jazz band for people to go up and "jam" if they're feeling up for it. I'd been a couple of months ago but was too afraid to go up on my own. this time I put my name on the list though, and, while I spent the entire time before my turn thinking of ways to chicken out, I managed to do it. I picture Janet Gray in my head telling me I HAD to go up there and I told the band to give me an upbeat 4-4 rhythm, and danced my way through "The girl from Ipanema" with some solo taps and drumming challenges. By far the coolest thing I've done in London. Tap dancing always gets to be a part of my soul and of my experienes wherever I go :).

The sun is beginning to shine more and more and I can go outside now without a hundred layers. I have even managed to catch a glimpse of a tan. There is a feeling of excitement and anticipation in the air with exams looming around the corner and the taste of summer lingering in everyone's thoughts. Trinity term at Oxford has many meanings besides exams, though. It means the annual MayDay up-all-night celebration to bring in the first of may on Magdalen Bridge at 6am. It means balls and events to dress up and drink as much as you can (I discovered this at the Le Cirque du Soir event for Darfur). Mostly it means playing lots of croquet, punting on the river cherwell, wearing sun dresses and of course complimenting all of it with Pimms cocktails. And I like to add a daily run through University Parks to marvel at all the flowers still a bloomin'. Of course now 8 hour study days are what I wake up to. But as of June 12th I am a free woman!
Magdalen college in the early morning, the bell tower where the choir sang from.
The Le Cirque du Soir event at Oxford Town Hall

Love and miss America Mucho.

Sarah

New Zealand

Another whirlwind adventure under my belt. Sadly, it is likely to be my last big traveling fiasco of the year. It was like all of the fun things I have done this year building up to one epic and final adventure. It was so different from all other trips I have taken. The country was the most beautiful place I have been. No matter where we went, there was something beautiful to see. It kind of got ridiculous after a while. Like every pretty thing I've seen in America crammed together on one island with no room for ugliness in between. From rolling hills to staggering mountains to rivers and lakes and oceans, the wilderness never stopped taking my breath away. And the people were wonderful. It was such a nice breath of fresh air for me.

It was a LONG amount of flying - from London to Dubai to Bangkok to Sidney to Christchurch, about 34 hours total. But the flight was comfortable and I even got a phone call mid flight (you can call other seats on the ariplane from your seat) from a Pakistani fellow who wanted to comment on how much I ate. Some kind of pick-up line I just didn't get maybe? who knows.

I spent the first weekend in a beach house with my favorite walking G friends - Kat, Kathleen, David and Ethan (and Andrew and my new Kiwi friend Morgana!) on the westcoast in Greymouth. Waves crashing at the foot of the house with applause-worthy sunsets to watch every night. We rolled in the waves while those that knew how did some surfing one day, then did a little kayaking/canoeing near Punakaiki (which is mostly just really fun to say) the next. It felt so good to catch up.

After that we made our way back to Christchurch, stopping to do a little boulder-hopping and camping along the way.


We hiked part of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. We spent our first night sleeping on the beach under the stars with the waves rolling in at our feet. It was warm and golden up there, with endless green canopy breaking open only to shoot us glimpses of the captivating sea.

(us asleep on the beach)

When my dad came, I had to gear up and master driving on the left side of the road. He spent the first few minutes in the car with me convinced I was still on the wrong side. But even he got the hang of it eventually. In then end it made driving all the more entertaining. But it was hard not to stop and gaze out at the overwhelming beauties that spread around the road. We first drove to Banks Penninsula for the day, stopping literally evety thirty seconds for a photo opportunity, including a mythicalesque one of a rainbow shooting over the greenness. Then we drove up to Kaikoura, saw a seal colony and hiked a little, i got barked at by a seal (which scared the bejeeeses out of me), then we headed to Hanmer Springs for two nights. It was wonderful to spend some real time with my dad catching up and contemplating life together. Our second night in Hanmer, we stayed at a lovely B and B and got to know the owners and other guests over some wine. Too much wine. Then we drove to Greymouth to meet up with my friends for a ngiht, and then headed down to see the Glacier for a night before making our way to the happening Queenstown for our Mildford Trek to begin.


The Milford track was certainly the climax of the trip for me. 33.5 miles of endless rain, waterfalls, and overwhelmingly wild views. It was like being swallowed by the wilderness for three days of magic. It was hard to care about anything but mother earth. We stayed in lodges along the way, as we had to do it thorugh a company that guided the trek, but that was just fine. It was nice to come back to friendly company and warm meals every night. The first day of walking was rather warm and flat, but the second day brought on heavy downpoor. It was that day though, in the morning as my music played in my ear and I looked up to see giant rain-made waterfalls pooring down on either side of me, that I felt truly infinite and lost in all of it. It was then that I realized I would never be the same.
- (Me atop mckinnon's pass)

The rain did stop that day when we made it to the top of Mckinnon's Pass, enough for the sun to shine and us to see the vast valleys on either side of us. Then when we made it to the lodge that day we did a quick hike to see Sutherland Falls, the fifth highest waterfall in the world. The last day of hiking was quite long, a whole 13 miles, but we made it happily and got to our final lodge for a good meal and a night out to the pub in Milford. The next day we did a cruise of Milford Sound which is probably the most beautiful thing I saw in New Zealand. Words and pictures don't do it justice.

We spent one more night in Queenstown after that with my walking G friends and I spent some time with the guides and friends I met on the track. Then we went to Dunedin for a night where we watching sea lions flirt and caught three little penguins waddling around and rock -hopping. Then it was back to Christchurch. I spent my final night in New Zealand in true walking G fashion, adventuring to some old army battery and spending the night snuggled in between some of my favorite people.

And then I came back to Oxford to be welcomed by warm weather and spring blossoms. Although I can't say I care much for exams!

I have eight more weeks here. It has gone by so incredibly fast. While I am so excited to have the heavy weight of my finals taken off of my head, I am so not excited for this time to be over. It's like I feel the ticking clock ready to strike midnight on my fairy tale. But I won't think about it for now. For now, I'll just enjoy my life in the sweet deliciousness that it gets to be for the moment. I love and miss you all!

Love, Sarah

From a London Coffee Shop...

I just returned from a lovely trip to Santorini, Greece to spend a few days in London. It has been a rather lonely few days seeing as most of my friends are elsewhere. But Notting Hill is certainly my favorite bit of London and the Saturday market on Portobello is wonderful. I'm sitting in a nice coffee shop eating the most expensive glass of orange juice i've ever had, and it feels like I am drinking a pure orange. The little girl on the table next to me is asking her father in her cute British accent where Babies come from, and I have a stack of books and notes next to me I'm meant to be studying. But all I can think about is the epic New Zealand adventure looming in the days ahead. It's a wonderful life...


Greece was spectacular. Everyone spoke English so I never had to worry about that, althgouh I am ashamed to say the only words I know still are Kalimera (hello), Yiamas (cheers), and OPA!.

The island of Santorini was so incredibly picturesque. It's every bit of what I imagined in my head, with the little white houses and with blue doors hugging the cliffs overlooking the sea of caldera. I stayedin the capitol of Fira, but went every night to Oía to watch the sunset. I would sit on the ruins of the old village on top of the cliff and look out in to the endless see as the spectacular sun (far brighter than any sun I've seen since the summer) fell beyond the horizon. A perfect end to every day.

I took a boat tour one day to the volcano near the island, then they took us to swim in the hot springs. And by that I mean they stopped the boat about fifty yards from the "springs," tell you to jump off and swim to them - so you jump into water so cold it takes your breath away, then swim frantically to get to the springs only to find it is barely even tepid water. But I guess it was worth the adventure.

I spent St. Patrick's day at the one open bar on the island, Murphy's Irish Pub (go figure), with a bunch of American tourists and a few greek people as well. Made friends with some Americans studying in Switzerland for the semester, and met Christos and Angel who were greek folk my Queens University people said they met there before. What a coincidence!

And then I found myself back alone in London, people watching and soaking up the solitude as best I can. But in not long I will be on a plane to New Zealand for the best 21st/62nd birthday celebration ever!


Love, Sarah

Updates!

Greetings world! Apologies again for the lack of updates. Sometimes I forget about this, or forget if anyone ever reads it...

It is the beginning of 8th week here which means that Hillary (aka 2nd) term is coming to a close. So I have just six weeks of travel then one more term and I am finished with my time here. It seems to close now. It still feels like I just got here. I am not going to be ready for it to be over. I am spending as much time as I can soaking up the British accents and the people I love here.

I had a classic 21st birthday here, except that it didn't mean much of anything special as I am already legal to drink here at 18. But it was nice to celebrate the occasion with friends who were all ready to have a wild and fun time.

Last weekend I played in the biggest soccer (aka football) game of the year, the Varsity Match against Cambridge. The varsity match is as big as university sports get - there is one in every sport. Men's sports are much more prominant here, but it still felt like a big honor to get to play. It will certainly go down as one of the highlights of my time here.

We spent the whole weekend in Cambridge for the game. My team was full of laughs and banter up until and after gametime. First we cheered for the second team, the "Furies", singing songs like "We'll shove our dreaming spires up your arse" and "I'd rather be a lepper than a tab" (tab is our word for Cambridge person). And other profanities. There was no holding back. And they won! Then it was time for the blues to play...

When I stepped out on that field, with my new Oxford Jersey on with my name printed on the back, I felt that same rush that I used to feel when I would come to play a big game for Queens. I remembered it with a huge rush of comfort and a fire in my heart to fight hard for my Oxford Blues. Cambridge had quite a few more fans that we did (seeing as it was their home court), but we still had some hardcore cheerers. And most importantly, we "did the double" and won 2-0. It was a hard-earned victory. After the game, there was an awards presentation and then later a banquet with both teams, which was full of heavy drinking and banter. All in all, a wonderful weekend. And I got my "Full Blue" which means something big I am sure. I owe alot of the great experiences in my life to soccer, this definitely counts as one of them.

After we won!

This holiday I am only going to be in three different countries, but its going to be another whirlwind adventure for me. I begin by going to Santorini, Greece for five days, then I'll be in London. And then I am going to join some friends and later poppa Joe for some crazy adventures in New Zealand! I am so excited it's not even funny...

I'll put pictures up soon.

Miss you US. Lots of Love.

Sarah

Christmas/New years photos

Photobucket Album