Finished!

I can't believe the semester is over! I came back from Italy last Thursday (Italy needs a dozen blog posts of its own because it was amazing!) and then had an exam on Friday and another on Monday. Now I'm finished! I'm not so sure how the exams went as I didn't really know how to prepare for them and so spent far more time traveling than studying, but they are OVER! It's such a relief to be done with school, but so sad to know I'm leaving. It has been a great semester and I really love England and all of the wonderful people I've met here. Despite not being crazy about my courses, I've learned so much, mostly outside class, about everything- history, politics, culture, traditions and just people and life in general. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to live here in Norwich because I feel like I was really able to experience and enjoy England in a way you can't when you are simply visiting on vacation. It was great seeing so much of the country as well as just taking part in the day to day things like grocery shopping and riding the double decker buses to and from town. I am definitely going to miss it here.

Tuesday was my birthday and it was a wonderful day. I went out for breakfast in the morning with some friends and finally had a "traditional English breakfast" because I knew I had to do it before I left. It was complete with eggs, toast, baked beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, sausage, bacon, and of course tea. And since it was my birthday, my friends insisted that i top it off with chocolate cake : ) Throughout the day I received so many birthday greetings and cards from people both here and at home. I even has the pleasant surprise of getting several phone calls from family and friends back home whose voices I haven't heard since I left in January. In addition to the more mundane like laundry and packing, I met up with friends through out the day and that night had a barbecue by the lake which was a lot of fun. I even learned (well, was taught) how to play cricket. Later that night we went to a cowboy and indian themed party that the university was hosting and I was obligated to keep my "birthday girl" hat on in addition to the cowgirl hat. It was a great day and thank you to all of you who made it special.
Now I am preparing to leave on the second half of my Europe adventure...