Greetings, England- Day 23: Cambridge and the Botanic Garden

So, today is another day of intensive walking and adventure! Who's up to some trekking? Me, myself, and I, apparently!

I was woken up by my host dad at eight in the morning. We had breakfast, I changed, and he took me to the nearest bus station around their house in Milton Keynes. I am going to Cambridge!!!

Greetings, England- Day 22: Farewell, Oxford and Going to Cogsworth (Is That So?!)

I sighed...
It is 8 o'clock in the morning, and I didn't bother to go for breakfast. The revelation itself was too hard to digest already.
Today, when the alarm set off, it was 6:10 a.m. I urged Fran to wake up and the rest of the moments passed by with little exchange of words. I insisted on helping him carry his luggage downstairs. Outside the reception of the bus of his group, his bus leader greeted him and acknowledged my presence. We stood side by side as silence lingered between. When he was about to leave, he said goodbye and I pulled him into another tight hug. No, I didn't cry; the hug itself conveyed everything. We had fought, we had shouted; we hadn't spent a lot of time together, but he is a dear friend indeed.
Fran, you are irresponsible, arrogant, annoying and are a troublemaker; but I will miss you.

The sunrise in the early morning.

Thinking of all the other goodbyes I am about to make later gave me shivers. I had handed out my keys and got the 30 pounds of the deposit back. Thus, the next time I shut my door from the outside might be my last time ever to enter the room. Determined to stay as long as I could, I am staying in, typing and keeping myself busy on the Internet. The warden said that we have to leave the dorm before ten in the morning so that the domestics can clean up the room for the coming new-comers.
~~~
It is nine o'clock now. On second thought, I might as well leave the room now. Maybe I can still spend some time with my friends. And also that it might sound braver if I walked out by myself instead of being asked out. Might. I am going to check all the drawers and cabinets again in case of anything I have forgotten to pack, and with a possibly vulnerable look, I am going to leave the dorm.
Later.

Because of the books, I have a big extra weight to carry with myself.

~~~
I am now on my host family's car now. They are going to take me to another place for some more touring. Those I can save them for tonight, just typing to wrap up the whole deal with St. Clare's.
I packed my things (three heavy bags ugh), hesitant of unsure about leaving my dorm. Twenty-one days can form a serious bond. With a couple of more pictures, I left Staverton Road, the place I had called home for three solid weeks.
I walked into the corridor next to the reception. My host family said that they would arrive at about 10:20. I spent some time sitting there with a blank mind; some time walking around in the corridor. I saw some of my friends also waiting. They also gave me hugs, and I seriously asked them to let me know if they were going to come to Taiwan anytime. I hope they do.

The corridor I am going to miss from today.

About 10:15, I walked out to the sidewalk and I heard my host dad calling my name. I took a deep breath, looked at the exterior of the building with a last longing glance, and followed him to the car. It was a sad parting, and I wished one day I would be here again.

Farewell, my dorm.

139 Banbury Rd

Okay. The whole "typing on car" thing is making me car sick once again. I am going to leave all the details of the upcoming trips when I get back to my host family's house.
~~~
Hello for the fourth time today. My host family took me to three towns in a place called Cotswolds. I know, it was not how it was spelled in the Heading, right? Yeah. Cogsworth is a kind of clock, the kind that appeared in The Beauty and the Beast. That was the name I heard when I heard them saying "Cotswolds". We went to three towns: Stow on the Wold, Bourton on the Water, and Burford. First of all, Cotswolds is home to a lot of the most historical and bedazzling villages and towns, where all the buildings, no matter new or old, share the same traits: honey-colored brick walls, the same type of roof placement, and it radiated a sense of harmony because of that.

Buildings in Burford

Street sights of Burford.

It was raining when we were strolling around in Stow on the Wold

Houses in Bourton on the water

Also, there is no way you can walk down the street and not see any antique shops. Most of the time we spent in the towns were for them. One after one, every of the shop displays was eyes-drawing in their own way. Especially there were a lot of shops that sell plaques for you to put around in your house, like "man cave, do not disturb or severe injuries might occur" or "It is always wine o'clock", you know, all the classy humor and satires. I like the atmosphere over here as it indeed felt like walking in the towns in the past.

One of the anitque shops

The Small Doors

My host mother said that when the weather is nice, kids would dive into the dinner.

I had a really nice day, overall. But I couldn't deny the fact that I still couldn't get over with leaving St. Clare's, especially when I realized that I had been wearing the badge until I got home since I had my jacket zippers up for the whole day...
This is all.

Greetings, England- Day 21: Last Day of Class and the Excursion to London

Ah...
How unimaginable is this?

Greetings, England- Day 20: Punting and the Unsteady Paces

Today after class, upon stepping into my dorm, one of my housemates, Thilo, the guy who invited me to the Parks a while ago, was about to leave the house when he asked me if I want to go punting with him. It had been twenty days in England already. It was honestly a shame that I hadn't tried punting. Mostly because of the conflicts between my schedule and the time of the activities, so I didn't sign up. So, without further ado, I followed Thilo out the dorm once more, didn't even bother to leave my bag inside.

Greetings, England- Day 19: The Casual Talk and a Presentation on Population and Resources

Today, as foretold as yesterday, I went to the admission office to see the guy named Chris.
I was still somewhat nervous because he was like a director of the school or what. But unsurprisingly, he was trying to convince me into the IB course in St. Clare's, which basically was like a two-year preparation for university. With due all honor, I said no, for I have never thought of leaving Taiwan for such a long term at such age. Also, it would mean leaving my family, leaving my friends, leaving EHP, leaving all the teachers who have been so kind to me throughout my strugglings of different phases of my life, at the age of 16! Not to mention about the high expenses here. True, there would be scholarship, but who knows if it would be enough? It has always been my dream to study abroad, but the dream has also been set to be accomplished in my university years or after university. Never has it been high school times, where life has just started. Trust me, this offer was atrociously tempting, in which I could explore the amazing city as much as I want to, with all subject taught in English, with subjects chosen by my own fancy... But, no, I think this is not going to happen. Attracting or not, I am not going to leave my life in Taiwan so soon. Just look at Lawrence, the guy who had just gone back to Canada to study after a mere two-week spent in Taiwan. He did have a great time, I know, but I could not imagine being so young and abroad and getting nostalgic. I was a nice offer, but I would pass. Afterward, I met Sophie in the hall and she asked me what did we talk about. She said that she understood why I said so, but she also asked me if it was nice to be required like this. She did have a point, though. :D
In the Current Events class in the afternoon, we talked about Malthusianism and Boserup's Theory. It was a topic of population and resources. Malthusianism was offering the idea of controlling birth rate, for he believed that while population growth was increasing exponentially, food production was only growing linearly, which indicated that one day, food production will not be sufficient to feed all human. Here is a small graph to illustrate the idea:

On the other hand, Boserup's Theory was more supportive about the saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention." and hence believes the hypothesis where food production rate will alway be a step ahead of human population with the innovation of technology on agricultural or farming. Another small graph here:

Then, we were put into two groups and everyone has to prepare a small part about either supporting Malthusianism or Boserup's Theory. It was interesting, as our presentations got turned into some small debates...
After dinner, I saw Amanda again. She asked me if I was going anywhere for the evening. I thought for a while, and it struck me that I have to go to M&S for the food I'm going to bring back to Taiwan. I got a whole bunch of snacks. Good luck to me for bringing them home.
This is all for today.

Greetings, England- Day 18: A Peek into the Weston Library and Some T-shirt Buying

Today, between classes, Sophie said that someone in the admission office wanted to have a chat with me. It was about the essay I wrote, she said, he only wanted to have a casual talk.

Greetings, England- Day 17: Psychology Classes and Acting Workshop

The last week in St. Clare's starts... NOW!
For this week, we have humanities as our topic, and the subject I chose was psychology. Before class, I was studying my timetables and saw the name of our teacher: Christos Halkiopoulos. It was pretty obvious a Greek name, as I have been listening to Greek songs. I grabbed my phone and typed in his name.