What a difference a week makes...

After returning from the land of the Dutch (and thoroughly washing our clothes, to remove any lingering stank of whatever likely-illegal-in-the-uk-substance fannypack-adam breathed all over us), we realized Will only had 7 DAYS left in Oxford. So, we jam-packed every day full of fun (and definitely not full of school work -- however, if you are either of our supervisors and are reading this, that's just a silly American joke; please skip to the next entry about how all I do all day is write my dissertation) and of things that were on Will's 'to do before leaving Ox' list. And thus, the countdown began...

The countdown board outside our dorm door...

Me and The Vic were not pleased.

So, Day 1: After a lovely Italian meal with two of my closest girlfriends (see hot girlfriends below)...

...the boys met us at Grand Cafe for some margaritas! Then, to keep the party rolling, we had a big beer pong/flip cup tournament in the Linacre CR (see partay below)...

Phase 3 of this madness involved swimming in the Linacre fountain - a not-to-miss tradition for any Linacre student. There are no pics of this (at least not ones I'm going to post), but I have seen the CCTV video of our antics (those video monitors must love their job), and I can assure you, it was quite the scene. We are now legendary at Linacre.

And on to Day 2: After a brilliant day at the park, in the sun, with a bunch of our closest friends, and a few matches of survival-quadruple-frisbee (that's right - for Will's last week, we busted out the big guns: the fourth frisbee... It made survivor-triple-frisbee look like child's play. We don't mess around), we had a farewell BBQ/beer pong/flip cup/party at the place of so many fun times in Oxford -- Kev, Anna, and Mark's pad, the infamous 108.

The crew, and Rob's bizarre bruise.

The tourney, where the guest of honor rained the pain.

Day 3: Of course, this was filled with World Cup! After watching basically every game in the tourney (again, attn supervisors, disregard this 'wild' exaggeration), Will had to see the final. We had a great time yelling at the telly with our buds.

Day 4: We went to the Lamb and Flag, a famous 17th century pub where The Inklings (a literary group including C.S. Lewis) used to meet, to play some card games and laugh with Will's closest friends.

Day 5: Will went into London for the final time (for now) and then we had our last date night (for now) in Ox.

Day 6: Me and my girlfriends on the rowing team (again, see hot girlfriends Jeanne, Kine, and Erica below), took Will out to row for the first time!

What a blast. He was a natural, as I knew he would be, and we had a fantastic outing in a IV, which is very easy to tip. Will's natural athleticism, enthusiasm, and desire not to fall into the dirty Isis water and catch a strange rash, allowed us to row ourselves steadily down the river (with guidance from Andrew, of course, our designated coach, and picture-taker, for the day, who hollered every time another boat was about to ram us. What a multi-tasker.)


Then we spent the night at the Royal Oak drinking Sangria, eating ourselves stupid (the food was so mmmm), and playing Things. Perfect day.

The dreaded Day 7: After tearfully saying goodbye to my best girlfriend, Jeanne, who happened to leave for the States that day (talk about your double-whammy) and running after her bus yelling 'don't leave me!', I spent the rest of the day hugging Will, tearing up, and then wiping mascara off of his shirt(s). We did our last tours of Oxfordy things, seeing the Duke Humfrey's Library was a highlight -- it was built in 1488 and is the most beautiful library I've ever seen... painted, wood-carved ceilings, walls covered floor to ceiling in shelves of ancient manuscripts... it's no wonder Harry Potter was filmed there. Unreal. Then, we had the final dinner at Aziz, a cool Indian restaurant, with Will's buddies.

The Last Supper.

After dinner, we headed to the location of so many hits to our bank account: The Oxford Blue for Thursday poker night.

Will has played tons and tons of Thursday night poker with these British guys, and made some lifelong friends. From what I saw at that pub that night, it looks like they're really going to miss their yank mate. As he walked out of the pub for the final time, they showed their love.

To them, and to me, he's a legend.

Will is on a plane right now headed home for South Florida. Aside from not having to worry about falling into the toilet (again) during my 3am bathroom break since Will won't be here to leave the seat up, the next 3 weeks are going to be very tough without him. Oxford won't be the same. To our Florida friends: please take care of him (and as I stressed to our guy friends already, that doesn't mean to take him to a casino or a strip club) until I get home. To Will: I love you, sweetheart, and I miss you terribly already. Call me. PS) The Vic says Hello.