A Peculiar, Uncanny, Bizarre, Spontaneous, and Ridiculous Life of an Adventurer: Back home again, in Indianaaaaa....

I've officially been home for about a week and a half now and really, I don't know where the time has gone this summer. I know that I've been traveling but that's about it. I'm currently working to pay the bills and also playing catch-up on all the technical stuff that I fell behind on while I was gone. Currently my schedule consists of graduate school orientation all next week and then school beginning on September 2nd. My, does time fly! Since it has been such an incredibly long time since I've written an update and so much has happened since my last posting, I will attempt to write a summary of all of the excitement.

For starters, I survived my final for my Oxford classes. We were alloted eight hours to complete the final and I used all eight. I have to say that it's probably the most intense and painful final that I have taken since I used up all of the time. Oh well, it's over now and time went on. Following the Oxford completion I spent the day with two friends in London and had planned on taking a bus from London to Edinburgh, Scotland that evening. Since I never plan or book anything in advance, unfortunately all of the buses were full that evening and the train prices were about three times that of the buses. Needless to say I didn't go to Scotland, instead I returned to Oxford for the evening since we didn't have to be out of our houses just yet and instead frantically attempted to get ahold of my parent's friends in southwest England. At the last minute before I had to leave Oxford, I received an email that I was welcomed sooner than planned and not long after I bought a train ticket to meet my parent's friends in Spaxton. It is because of outcomes like this that it is important to not get upset if something doesn't always go as you had intended it because there are always alternative ones that turn out to be better than the first plan!!

I was lucky enough to spend six days with the Mann family at their amazing home in Spaxton. They are currently renovating a church that was formally a part of a bizarre religion called Agapemone. If you care to read more, you can go to: http://www.utopiabritannica.org.uk/pages/abode%20of%20love.htm It's an amazing story and incredible that such a religion could exist just over a hundred years ago! The Mann family was an amazing host and Jan did an incredible job showing me around the beautiful surrounding area of Somerset, Exmoor, and plenty of other regions. I was also given the special opportunity to ride their beautiful Section C Welsh Ponies Poppy & Po! Riding the English country side was such an opportunity and an amazing opportunity when you compare the horse world there to the world back in the states. It's difficult to describe, instead you will have to check out my photos on Flickr because the photos will be the best way of describing the beauty! I was also able to attend a National Pony Society show that had in attendance the twelve native pony breeds to England! I know that isn't too exciting for the non-horsey people, but seeing some of the pony breeds in their original looks was so cool and nothing like what we have here in America. Plus, the classes were huge compared to pony shows here in the US. I think the US has moved to using horses more than the ponies, meaning low turn-out for pony shows or just pony appearances in general. It's a shame, the loss of pony power!

After six wonderful days in Spaxton I found myself journeying back to the US. My plane landed at 11pm on the 8th and the following day I found myself working at Bannockburn Farm preparing for our annual kuering. The kuering was on the 10th and it was the biggest kuering in the BWP history. It was the biggest turnout for both the people in attendance and the horses entered. Afterwards, I spent time recovering and getting back into my normal work schedule. Yesterday I attended the Grand Prix horse show in Indianapolis where I watched Margie Goldstein, an Olympic veteran take 1st, 3rd, and 4th on her four entries. Again, sorry to bore you non-horsey people!!

It's been a busy yet rewarding week and a half home, but I can't help saying that I miss England! It was an incredible experience and it was definitely worth every penny of it! It is good to be back home with family, friends, and especially my horses! Now it's time to move on to more important things, such as graduate school. I'm sorry if this entry was a bit scrambled, so much has happened since I last wrote that it was difficult to pick out the highlights!! Wish me the best of luck and keep in touch!

The Oxford group all dressed up for our farewell banquet at New College