It’s at about this time every year that I get horribly nostalgic. Facebook and Instagram are flooded with those “remember what you were doing X years ago” posts—all photos from my time studying abroad in Oxford, England, three years ago. It’s not so much wanderlust that compels me to be mopey and stare at my Oxford photos for an hour at this time of the year; it’s missing the quotidien of living in another place, the same melancholy I get thinking about Kentucky now that I’m in Minnesota. It’s missing eating Nando’s at least once a week, going to lectures in beautifully old stone buildings crawling with ivy, hot chocolate and millionaire’s shortbread from Caffé Nero, the Marston footpath being flooded from the relentless rain, and waiting for my creative writing tutorial on a bench beside the river.
Read MoreMy junior year of college, I studied abroad with one of my best friends. It was one of the best experiences of my life, but also very difficult. Not because of Kayla or homesickness or missing my then-boyfriend—but because I didn't truly understand one of the core aspects of my identity: my introversion.
Read MoreThis was our last day of the first "leg" of our trip, when we would finally have a chance to have a proper look around our base city. Despite having lived in Oxford for four months last spring, I'm sad to say that I spent more time studying than being a tourist. But this did mean that there were so many choices for things to do! I decided to mix nostalgia and adventure by revisiting some favorite sites from my time there and seeing some new ones as well.
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