The End of the Beginning

During World War II, Sir Winston Churchill once said, "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." I feel that these words are true on so many levels no matter what life's circumstances bring. I am now back in Ohio, and the past three days have been a complete blur of activity.

Thursday was the last class for Shakespeare. There wasn't much on the schedule besides turning in our final essays and doing a course review. I walked to campus early to go to the library before class, and just after I had my essay printed off, the fire alarm started sounding! We exited the building and made our way to the "assembly point". We had followed the librarian to this designated area and waited for about 15-20 minutes before we were allowed to go back inside. (It must be a safety precaution that all school faculty and personnel are trained in what to do in case of emergency because all the staff I saw had neon vests with the words "Fire Marshall".) Once we got to class, we talked about what we had learned through our month abroad in the class and overall. We talked with our instructor a bit more about what he planned to do since he was retiring once Summer School ended, and then we were free to enjoy the afternoon.

I did some last minute shopping with some of my classmates, and then it was time for the Farewell Reception at the Holiday Inn. We were told that the dress code for the event was "smart casual", meaning for the ladies to wear dresses, skirts, or nice slacks and for the gentlemen to wear a dress shirt with slacks or nice jeans. (I had never heard this term before and had to look up what it meant just to be sure!) The food was good. We weren't served anything that was too out of the ordinary, but the DJ played very odd music. I guess techno is really "in" throughout Europe because that was all he played. It made dancing difficult, but we still had a lot of fun! My flatmates and I took a group picture so that we could have book-ends of our first and last days together.


On Friday, I took a test for British Art & Architecture that was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Still, I enjoyed the look back over what we studied. I took a final walk with two of my mates back to the flats along the River Thames, and it was bittersweet because I was looking forward to going home, but I knew I would miss what had become my routine.

I spent the afternoon at Hampton Court Palace, one of the homes of King Henry VIII. It was so magnificent both inside and outside. The gardens were breath-takingly beautiful, and I know I could have spent more time there than I already did.




I ventured back to Surbiton and began packing while a few of my flatmates fixed dinner. I ate and then went out to meet some other friends for good-bye drinks. It was a really fun time to just hang out before we went our separate ways.


I was up bright and early yesterday morning. KU arranged for group travel to Heathrow, and the shuttle was picking us up at 6:30AM. I finished my last bit of packing and cleaning and said farewell to one of the best experiences I have had in my 21 years of life.