Portugal!

In two and a half weeks, I am going to take off for Portugal. This will be my last big trip before coming home. I'm really excited. I'm hoping it will be warm and sunny and that we'll be able to just hang out and relax. I know that, no matter what job I get, I'm going to have to do some real work this summer (unlike what passes for work here in the UK), so it'll be great to have a week or so to just hang around and do something cool at the same time.

We're actually going to go to Oxford first, so I will have completed one of the major life goals I have set for myself. I will have been to Oxford. If you know me at all, heck, if you've ever looked at this blog, you know I adore pretty much anything J.R.R. Tolkien ever wrote. I am ridiculously excited to go the the city where he lived, wrote, and taught for so long.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I should tell you about last week. Last week, my dear friend Whitney (another Ole) came down to Norwich to visit for a few days. We didn't really do anything amazing--just hung out, which was amazing in and of itself. It was really good to see her and talk to her again. Since we're drawing to the close of our time abroad, we talked a lot about going home. It had been far too long since I had last talked with another Ole.

Life has quieted down quickly though. Registration and roomdraw for next year are done, and the year is winding down. I go home in four weeks or so. Norwich has been my home for such a long time, it feels. It's hard to imagine I have a home anywhere else. I may not be 100% happy here 100% of the time (but is anyone, anywhere?), but it's where I live! It'll be so strange to leave and know I probably won't be back.