Whew, glad to finally be done with the telethon!  We called senior members (alumnae) of St. Anne's for roughly 60 hours or more asking for donations toward the Student Support Fund.  I got a lot of good contacts out of the calls, actually, though it was a bit tedious at times.  Nonetheless, I did make some good money off of the opportunity.  I also made the most individual money of any of the fundraisers... £13,000!  73% of the people I talked to gave some kind of donation, which is awesome.  A future in fundraising for me?  Well, at least I have a fall-back...

This week is going to be a bit nuts.  I have a paper due Thursday, a presentation Friday and a plethora of random things to do.  I took over responsibility for organizing the boathouse dance with two other colleges, so we're meeting to discuss that Tuesday and that'll be taking up quite a lot of time with ticket selling, place booking, etc.  I also have about three birthday or themed parties to attend and drinks with the principal of the college.  A friend I met in Barcelona may be stopping by in Oxford on Wednesday before he heads back to Australia, as well.  WHEW, full week!

My first VIII boys did FANTASTIC in our time-trial style race today on the Isis.  The first division, we were set to go first and we finished eons ahead of the nearest boat.  In our second race, we ended up passing a boat and still finished by a longshot.  It was definitely a good day for us.  We have a lot of potential for the rest of this year and we plan on entering a lot of events around England.. add that to my list of things to be involved with!  Yipes.

I'm off to start some reading for the Thursday paper.  No coxing tomorrow, hence why I'm still up at nearly midnight.  I'm going to take over the second and third men's boats for practices to teach them more technique work, then race with the first boat.  Should be a very good time.

Our blade colors

Boathouse island (we're the last on the left)

Hilary Term!

Rach & I celebrating our birthday!

Sorry I haven't updated recently... things have been crazy with people returning to college, my birthday, lots of parties, new term, etc!

Oxford is now in Hilary Term, which runs from January 17 - March 11, then we have our large 7 week break.  I think I'll try to go to some of central Europe this time around and pop around the UK when my parents visit during April.

This term I'm taking Language & Cognition, Individual Differences & Psychological Disorders and Conscious Awareness/Psychophysics.  All of my classes sum up to about 14 tutorials (which is a large amount for a psych student) so I should have my hands full.  I'm doing essentially two essays per week or one essay and one presentation per week.  I also have two tutorials on the last Friday of term.. no good!  Ah well.

I had my huge birthday party with a bunch of college friends on Tuesday.  It was a blast.  I've included a few pictures from the night... most were blurry or a bit crazy, so these are basically the tamest that I could find.  Haha.  But, it was a fantastic time.  It feels good to say that I'm 21!  Although, I won't get a new ID until I return to the states in July.  Knowing me, I'll have to redo my driving test because my license will have expired.  Good times.

My last weekend of the telethon is this coming weekend, then payday!  It was certainly a LONG time of calling, but it could've been worse. I met a few people during the call-time that gave me their addresses and emails and several invited me to shadow them, so I did get some useful career advice during it!

I also finally get to cox my first boat race with the Men's 1st VIII on Sunday!  We have SO much potential.  If you're a rower/have had experience rowing, you'll be happy to know that basically everyone in this boat can pull a 2000 meter piece under 7-minutes.. which is pretty phenomenal.  We have quite a few who are under 6:40, which is amazing.  We're definitely the team to beat this term and next, so look for updates on that front!

In the mean time, here are some amusing photos for you:

Throwing out some wicked dance moves.. wonder where I learned those from?

My friend Ilana & I... 

The birthday girls!

LEGAL!!!

21st birthday time!  Not as big of a deal in England, but still SO EXCITED!

My friend Rachael (fellow cox) and I are both 21 today, so it's quite the big deal!

I coxed this morning, then had a fantastic lunch with a bunch of my friends and tonight I'll be doing the telethon and then heading out for a night on the town!  Our big birthday bash is next Tuesday, when most of the St. Anners will be back, which should be hysterical.  Very stoked about it!

I love the feeling of getting birthday wishes from people you haven't talked to in ages, and yet you know that they still think of you sometimes.  Birthdays are fantastic ways to make you realize the love.  Thank you for the wishes!

Rach & I!

Birthday lunch!