Paris to Barcelona to Nice!

Bonjour everyone!

Something I've noticed is that the more I travel, the less I blog. Partially due to being busy, partially due to being sleepy ALL the time. 

So, to briefly get you all caught up: we spent our time in Paris being crazy super-tourists, seeing as much of the sights as possible. We visited the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Pantheon, catacombs (sort of...the line was insane so we ate lunch outside on the street instead), Notre Dame, etc. And our hostel ended up being right down the hill from Sacre Coeur!

After Paris, we took a 12-hour overnight train to Barcelona. I visited the FC Barcelona stadium, and got to go through their really cool museum. Other than that, I spent most of my time there just wandering around the city and enjoying the beautiful beach.
Now I'm in Nice, and will be here til tomorrow afternoon. This is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been in my life...Cote d'Azur is famous for a reason! The water is incredibly blue, and so calm. We bought inflatable rafts today and spent a few hours just floating around in the sea and soaking up the sun. Stephen and Michelle just left to get on their train to Rome (we'll miss you!), and Savannah and I are going to explore Nice a little more tonight. Tomorrow we'll head back to the beach in the morning for a while, and then we take a train back to Paris. We'll be there one more night, then we fly home Tuesday morning! This trip has flown by, but we're definitely going to make the most of our last moments abroad. I've posted new pictures on Facebook, and will be posting more later tonight. I'll also probably write a more detailed post on here once I'm a little more rested!

Cheers,

Leigh

Oxford to London to Paris!

Bonjour!
To be perfectly honest, I am WAY too tired to go into detail about our travels over the last two days. Tomorrow, after I've slept and not been country-hopping, I'll write a more detailed post. Moral of the story is that I've left Oxford (and was SO sad to go!), spent a night and most of a day in London, and traveled to Paris this evening. We are safely settled into our hostel here in Paris, and are spending the evening relaxing--mostly just enjoying the fact that we can leave our luggage in one place for longer than a few hours! As I said, more to come tomorrow...
Cheers,
Leigh

Last week in Oxford

Hello all!

This week has been absolutely wonderful so far, and I will be very sad to see it end. This week I submitted both of my papers for my two seminars. I received one of them back already, and was very pleased with how I did. I am excited/nervous to get my other paper back tomorrow and get feedback from my professor. I had my last seminar today, so all that’s left is one more lecture tomorrow. I’ve had a really fantastic experience with both of my seminars—the professors were very intelligent and well-versed in their subjects, but very approachable and enjoyable. Being able to take part in (sometimes heated) discussions with students from all over the world has been a very interesting and unique experience. It’s definitely opened my eyes to different perspectives, which I’ve really enjoyed. I have to say, though, I’m excited to be able to just travel and have fun and not have to get up early for class and worry about papers.

Since it is our last week in Oxford, my friends and I have tried to hang out and do “Oxford things” as much as possible. A few days ago, we got some very unusual and wonderful weather. We decided to take advantage of it and go punting on the River Thames. Punting is basically canoeing with a giant metal pole—much like a gondola. We had a group of 9 people, so they tethered two boats together and we had a chauffeur that led us down the river for about a half hour. It was so relaxing and fun, and we were able to just sit back and enjoy the weather and the company.

I’m looking forward to enjoying the last few days here in Oxford, before having to say goodbye to all the wonderful people I’ve met here. On Saturday morning, we head to London for the day, before leaving for Paris on Sunday morning. It’s strange, but I can’t imagine loving anywhere as much as I’ve loved Oxford. I’m almost so sad to leave that I can’t quite be excited for all the other places I’m going yet. I’m sure I’ll get over it quickly, though!

Cheers,

Leigh

Procrastination Update

Hello all!
I'm in the middle of finishing my last paper (!!!) for my classes here at Oxford right now, so I'm going to make this very very brief. I had a really fantastic weekend, taking Saturday to go visit Blenheim Palace where Winston Churchill was born and grew up. To say it is absolutely beautiful is an understatement! It is definitely my favorite place that I've seen over here so far. Pictures are already up on my Facebook page (link here: http://www.facebook.com/leigh.hinkle). Today I did a very brief presentation on regulation within economics and finance. I also turned in my first paper which was about the current American "conservative revolution", the phenomenon of values-based policy making, and the economic implications of social policy. I'm currently finishing up my other paper which is about terrorism and counter-terrorism, the effects both have on human rights, and the question of whether we should focus more on national security or the rights of the individual when it comes to the "strains of war" in the War on Terror. Yeah...sounds fun, doesn't it? So anyway, I'm going to quit stalling and bust out this paper so that I can be done and enjoy the rest of my last week in Oxford!
Cheers,
Leigh

"Thanks for our independence, England...and our warmth."

Hello all!
I'm super tired and really getting into the hard work of writing my papers for my seminars today, so I'll be keeping this post short.
Being halfway through the second week of classes, I'm really starting to learn a lot here at Oxford. Strangely enough, the thing I've learned the most is how to appreciate good weather. For anyone who's been to jolly ol' England, you know that the weather is seriously bipolar. We've been told by locals that the past two weeks have been worse than they've seen in a long time. Perfect. It will be cool and cloudy in the morning, sunny and warm and beautiful for two hours in the afternoon, and then all of a sudden be pouring down rain (again).
I had a great surprise yesterday when my good friend Hannah Long-Higgins came to town for the afternoon to visit! We walked around the city, took pictures, and had a great time catching up. Fortunately, the weather was stunning for our visit, until it started pouring right as she started walking to the bus station to leave.
I'm still having an absolute blast, enjoying my classes and enjoying hanging out and getting to know more people. I'm not looking forward to leaving at all! I fully plan on living it up every second of this last week and a half. Anyway, more later when I'm not so tired.
Cheers,
Leigh

Getting in the swing of things...

Hello again everyone!
As the title of this post would suggest, I feel like I am really getting in the swing of things here. I've got a full week of classes under my belt, I'm starting to work on my papers, and I've formed some really great friendships that are lending themselves to a fabulous social life.
Every morning, all of the history/political science program students attend a lecture together. Each one is on a different topic and is taught by a different professor. So far, the lectures have covered British politics, media use in the Arab Spring and Northern Africa, international development, modern British and American military  strategy/analysis, and recent political economy. I'm also taking two seminars that each meet twice a week, that we have for the entirety of the program. The first is called "political economy in a globalised world" and the second is on human rights. The lectures and the seminars have all been really interesting so far, and I absolutely love both of my seminar professors.
Now, on to the social aspect...this weekend, most of the students went to Bath together to see the Roman baths. I got my ticket late, and the queue to get in was insanely long, so I ended up just sort of exploring the city while everyone else did the tour for about an hour. A group of us went to this adorable little tea room for lunch and tea (although I didn't actually have any tea, of course). Then we spent the rest of the day wandering and checking out little shops and enjoying the city (despite the horribly cold rain). Today we all decided to sleep in and then we walked to a pub in a less tourist-y area of town to get lunch and watch Wimbledon. We ended up getting really into the game, so we came back and watched the rest in the common room at Exeter afterward. I've never really watched tennis before, but it turns out I really like it. Of course, it helps that it was such an exciting game. All of these little details are probably really boring, but I figure that's the point of a blog. Tonight I'm looking forward to skyping my family and getting some work done on my papers. Looking forward to another week of enjoying Oxford! And hopefully we'll be getting some better weather :)
Cheers,
Leigh

Oxford!

Hello again!
I've finally gotten really settled in here at Oxford, and I am absolutely loving it! Yesterday we got here in the morning after taking the train from London (no mishaps this time around!). We got all checked in and then spent some time just walking around the city before the opening reception and formal dinner. The reception included mingling and champagne in a little garden area, and then we had a very formal (and delicious) 4-course dinner in the "Great Hall" as we call it. Everything here is so old and European and absolutely beautiful, despite how touristy that sounds! I've had such a great time meeting everyone else in the program so far, too. There are people here from all over the world--Australia, Israel, Ukraine, Angola, China, loads of other EU countries, some from Ivy League schools in the US, etc. Oxford is such an incredibly unique place because it is so old and prestigious, and brings in the most brilliant minds from all over the world. The history of the people who have been students and teachers here presents a very daunting challenge and an unspeakable honor at the same time. As dorky as it sounds, being in the presence of such rich history and intellect--and being considered an equal--is one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had, particularly as an academic. Today in my first class, my professor was telling us of all the things he's studied and all the jobs he's had, and it's absolutely mind-blowing. Literally, Oxford is the very best of the best. I'm being so obnoxious right now, but I can't rave about it enough!
Anyway, the city of Oxford is a really great place to be too, apart from the University. There are 39 colleges within the University, all located throughout the city. Each campus is stunningly beautiful, as is the rest of the city as a whole. There is such a cool mix of people from all over. And the food has been FABULOUS so far! I'm really glad that I'll be here for three weeks and will be able to really explore the city. I have so much more to say, but this post is getting lengthy and I'm ready to go to sleep after a lovely skype session with my family :) I'll try to post again tomorrow, and more pictures will be up on facebook soon!

Cheers,
Leigh