Oxford- The City of Dreamy Spires

Post date: Sep 22, 2018 8:1:41 PM

They say that the truest bonds of friendship are forged in times of struggle. Grad school is a time of prolonged and intense struggle. So it makes sense that the friends I have from graduate school are the best friends ever.

Katie is no exception. She finished at the same time I did, and moved back to England (where she is from). The entirety of our PhD she was dating a english gentleman named Andy. After she returned home, he proposed. So, naturally, I started making plans for the hen do and wedding. Obviously.

Which is how I ended up in Oxford in a lovely house, dressed for a 1950s party with this lovely group of ladies for a weekend.

Katie isn’t really a “get wasted and order strippers” kind of lady, so the hen do was delightfully fun without straying into raunchy. We watched the worst romantic comedy I have ever seen, had delightful food and played a game of miniature golf (I won), drank some prosecco, and generally had a lovely time. Here are some highlights.

Lizzie, Katie’s older sister, has just produced this adorable little man ~ 6 months ago. While this was an exclusively girl weekend, her husband, Michael, diligently delivered Teddy (the blue eyed gentleman in the sweater) to various locations around Oxford for feeding/cuddles.

Here he is in the pub.

After getting dressed up, we went to a cocktail making class, which was oddles of fun. At some points it involved fire, which was… scary. I choose life and had the bartender set my drink on fire. Some things are best left to the professionals.

We went for a lovely dinner and ended the night in a piano bar.

I’m truly terrible at flirting. Some guy came up and commented how lovely we all looked, and how we should dress up like that more often. I thanked him, and asked him what he was doing in Oxford. He danced about using terms like “genetics” and “epigenetics” and “you probably wouldn’t understand” until I told him I have a PhD in evolutionary biology, and currently work at a fintech doing machine learning. So he could try me, he might be surprised. We then proceeded to have an animated conversation about his MS research and the 6 months he’s spending in Oxford in an attempt to predict diabetes in humans.

However, Lizzie KILLED it.

I saw this sign and couldn’t help but wonder: how does one “misuse” a punt? Mr. Bond went to Oxford, so naturally, I contacted him to ask. He reminded me that students can be very creative.

Once the sheer exhaustion of sitting in a delightful boat propelled by someone else (great job Lizzie and Izzie!) I was exhausted and in need of a snack.

Luckily Lizzie and Orima had planned for such an eventuality, and packed a picnic. It was a truly lovely weekend, and what a great group of women! Don’t tell Nicky but I secretly adore her and can’t wait till we hang out again.

Also, shout out to Orima and Lizzie for organizing such a wonderful bash. It was my first, and definitely the best Hen Do I’ve ever been to.

Because the wedding was the following weekend, I spent the week working from Oxford. Because Lizzie and Michael are lovely, they let me stay at their place. And they are a wonderful pair (+ Teddy makes 3!) to hang out with. Michael and I had a number of interesting chats about statistics, and I got a ton of work done. Also, they made relaxing in the evening and hanging out eating dinner and watching cooking shows the exact right balance for a productive and lovely week. We even had cultural fish and chips!

Which then brings up the the question to “where” did I get the work done. As I mentioned above, Mr. Bond educated himself at Oxford so he gave me a list. It was a long list and as a result I needed to detox from eating and drinking too much while out of town. But, in an effort to complete the list (I LOVE LISTS) I spent the morning working in cafes and afternoons working in pubs. Surprisingly, the pubs had better wifi!

I had never spent any appreciable amount of time in Oxford, but it was lovely! I can see myself wanting to come back and settle there someday. Not today mind you, for the moment Berlin is the right place. But maybe at another time. If for no other reason than to see Lizzie, Michael and Teddy, and to continue falling in love with the dreamy spires.

Finally, the following weekend was the wedding. It was simply lovely. Penny was my date, and we failed to get any photos of the two of us dressed up.

But we weren't the ones that really needed to be photographed, and one of my favorite photos is the one below. Katie was simply stunning and I've never seen Andy express so much joy! I was thrilled to be able to be there for their special afternoon.

I mentioned when I went to visit Katie and Andy in Malmesbury (pronounced “Mom’s Brie”), I’ve never seen Katie happier. And for the future, I wish her nothing but happiness indefinitely and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Also, I’m now a huge fan of this one. Hope to see you soon Nicky!