I can say with confidence that my Study Abroad semester in Oxford has been unlike any ever experienced by ACU faculty and students. Consider all of the extraordinary happenings here! It is November, and the United Kingdom is on its third prime minister since the start of Fall. We’ve witnessed the death of the beloved queen Elizabeth and the ascendance of new monarch, King Charles III. And on Sunday, the World Cup began. The World Cup? In November? Fall 2022 Study Abroad in Oxford will be a semester to remember for so many reasons. Last night I watched the USA-Wales match with a large group of ACU students in the commons room of our house. It was a lot of fun pulling for the USA. The match was exciting, though a bad tackle led to a late penalty for Wales. The USA was the stronger team overall, but the match ended in a 1-1 draw. Watching the mast was a blast.
This week is also Thanksgiving week for us. The holiday is not one that locals celebrate here. Yesterday Tara shared with me a hilarious Youtube video of English high schoolers trying different Thanksgiving dishes for the first time. Their reaction to some of the food is priceless. Because most of our students are traveling away from Oxford this week, we celebrated Thanksgiving together last week. Some of the students are already gone for the holiday. Others are leaving today. Tara and I are leaving tomorrow for Dublin. We’ll be spending the entirety of our Thanksgiving break in Ireland. Tara was kind enough to suggest that we do a tour of the Guinness brewery, something I am keen on doing if time permits. However, I told her that the only thing I am really hopeful we can put on the schedule is a trip to an Irish pub to watch the England-USA World Cup match on Friday. I’m curious to see how Ireland football fans will be rooting during that game. Will they be cheering on England, or will they be joining me in rooting for the USA, a true underdog in this match? That will be an experience to remember.
Best wishes to family and friends. I’m bringing my computer with me to Ireland, but I’m uncertain how much blogging I’ll be doing. Stay tuned!
Return home…
The video is hilarious! Thanks for sharing. Happy Thanksgiving!
So much excitement ahead! We can hardly wait to see you!
Unless you end up in an English expat pub, there is zero chance that a gathering of Irish punters will be supporting the English.
That game will be so fun! there was a very mixed reaction here when Argentina lost this morning and it was FASCINATING.