ANATHEMA

is the word that is stuck in my head- inexplicably- and preventing me from concentrating on my paper about whether the manor system was a stabilizing force in society or not (it was!). So while my brain is on an unauthorized and indefinite vacation, I might as well blog. It is good to deal with words in a nonthreatening way.

On the brink of week seven of eight. On the Friday of week eight, I will be speeding under water, over fields, and across other geographic obstacles to Rennes, France where I will join Carmen, Erin and Bjorn for an extended weekend. Before that, Joe is coming for a week (arriving this Saturday!). All of this is wonderful, except that it means I will be up to my eyeballs in it for the next five days. Despite the exciting reunions and relaxing break from work on my very immediate horizons, I can't get away from the feeling that the work I have to do right now is physically crushing me. I will refrain from listing assignments (for your sake as much as mine), but its a lot. Five papers left. And one is enormous. I have promised myself that I will wait to do an official post about the Oxford education system until I am a full week out, so I will stop short here, but just say that for now I am feeling oppressed and saddened that the system is cramping my style and curbing my enthusiasm for the subject with excessive doses of stress and deadlines.

In these times of unbearable academic pressures, I find myself thinking about Olaf more than usual, wishing I were there with my good friends, who make any amount of work seem manageable. In fact, I would even go so far to say that Cinderella is to the ball as I am to Olafia right now. One honest wish haunts me as I work indefinitely, in under an oppressive authority, feeling more and more like I will just simply never get where I want to be. I was thinking about this on Friday in a very small unoccupied corner of my brain... listening to Disney Cinderella soundtrack in the background while I closed up all the windows on my desktop. It had been ages since I shut my computer all the way down, usually I just leave all the word documents up, and the email tabs, and on top of that is itunes... but Friday I finally ex-ed out of them all for the first time in days. When I closed the very last document, I could finally see my desktop picture- the gang at Olaf, posing with their nerf guns. I admit that the picture made me succumb to despair, but only for a moment. I rallied, and checked my email.

There was one message in my inbox from a fellow Ole who I've seen around, but never really gotten to know well- I didn't know he was about to become my fairy godmother. Kaleb Sutherland had written me an email- he's studying in London! and visiting Oxford for the weekend. Would I like to meet up? Oh yes fairy godmother from Olafia! It was almost too good to be true. The prospect of seeing another Ole within 24 hours brought happiness back to my extremities. We set up a tea date for this afternoon (Sunday) and I am happy to tell you that we had a wonderful time at a tea place, thumbing our noses at the rain, and sharing an umbrella like the oldest friends. We dropped Olaf vocab left and right: "Cage" "Mellby" "El Con" "Cheruwatick" - it had a really fortifying effect. I love Oles. Even the ones I don't know very well. Its like- oh you're in a foreign country feeling lonely and overwhelmed? Here, let's set up a coffee date, I'll make you feel better and give you a hug, no questions asked. Kaleb even bought my groceries when Tesco refused my debit card. He is the best fairy godmother, and I would not trade him. With his good company, I feel like I will make it to the finish line (March 11th) alive. In fact,  I am feeling pretty good about making it to this Saturday and Joe's arrival with most of that big paper done... as soon as  I get the word "anathema" out of my head, that is.