Cows, Cream Teas, and Medieval History

Cow gates at each bend in the path

I've spent this past week in Oxford, soaking up all of the civilized society I can before living in West Africa for two months. Seb and I have our usual outings that we've been doing together during my Oxford visits for what we realized has been the past seven years -- afternoon tea at the Rose Tea Room, shrunken heads and artifacts at the Pitt Rivers Museum, formal hall dinner at Teddy Hall, muddy walks through Port Meadow, and sushi night (Thursdays!) at Edamame restaurant. This magical place, with its spires and well-dressed students and private gardens, feels like home now.

Tea time at the Rose

Today is my last day in Oxford. On the agenda: chicken curry sandwiches at the botanical gardens, visit to the Museum of the History of Science to see the Eccentricity exhibit, one last afternoon cream tea, art opening at Modern Art Oxford, and French food for dinner. Throw in spotted sun and a few rain showers and you've got a perfectly typical and wonderful Oxford day. Tomorrow I fly to Ghana, where I'll meet up with my NYU Wagner class and spend two (very busy) weeks in Accra, Kumasi, and Cape Coast studying food security and hunger. I'm looking forward to a major change in scenery and culture, although I'm going to miss the lazy lifestyle of being an Oxford student.