LONDON, OXFORD, and Home!

What a great weekend! My experience in London was outstanding - stayed in a great hostel downtown near Waterloo, where I immediately met people and spent the day (and night) with - we saw Tower Bridge, St. Paul's, and some other things, then got Indian food (London specialty), and went out for drinks in Piccadilly Circus, where we stayed out til 3 chatting, dancing, making shenanigans, etc.
Next day was an early wake-up call for morning train to Oxford (about 1 hour by train), the famed university where my friends Brendan and Chi are doing a summer program. We walked around the town (which is surprisingly large), saw a lot of old buildings, went out to lunch (twice) and participated in a mini-pub crawl sponsored by the program directors haha. Overall a lovely day - though I was reeling from the lack of sleep the night before.
Then it was back to London for Monday, when I said goodbye to my new hostel friends (mostly Aussies and Americans) and saw a bit more of the city - the Imperial War Museum (pretty cool), Westminster Abbey (awesome, but packed with tourists), and Covent Garden. I met up with Max (from Georgetown) for lunch in Covent Garden, where I had the classic fish and chips. :) After that, it was back to the hostel to pick up my bags and then I took a train to Clapham Junction, where I met David (from the Tours program). We stayed at David's uncle's house for a nice chill night - a nice break from the running around.
Today began at 5:50am, when i woke up for a train to London-Gatwick airport, where I caught a train to Charlotte, where I am now. It feels eerily strange to be back in the States - not sure if I like it. I will miss Europe...a lot. It has been quite a summer full of experiences I will never forget.

Proficiency Exam Tomorrow!!

Ahhh! It's just one day away: the light at the end of the tunnel - the test that could lift a great weight off my shoulders - the School of Foreign Service language proficiency exam in French. At 11:15 tomorrow, it will be just me, Professor Spielmann, and an article - and for 20 minutes I have to talk about the article, answering questions about French politics, society, etc. and formulating arguments in response to the article.
Well, the weird thing is...I'm not really nervous. I figure this: I have been in France for 6 weeks now and have been speaking it almost every day for most of the day and have been reading Le Monde (French newspaper) every day - so there's not really much more I can do. Plus, I am thinking maybe the test will be easier because it is monitored here by a professor who normally doesn't monitoring them and is rather relaxed and easy to understand. So on the whole, not too stressed. But only time will tell how I will do...
After the test, since I have the afternoon off and a bunch of free train tickets remaining, I have decided I will be visiting the nearby towns of Saumur and Angers. Not sure why i picked them - but they both have large chateaux and a good deal of nice churches and whatnot. Since I only have less than a week in Europe left, I might as well take advantage while I can, eh?
On that note, I am also planning the final few days of the trip, when I will be in London from July 31-August 3. I just booked a hostel near Waterloo station (unfortunately not the station I get into from Paris on the Eurostar, so a connection is necessary) and am in the works of planning a day trip up to Oxford University to visit Chi, Brendan, and compnay on August 1. Also, David was kind enough to offer a place to sleep for August 2 with his uncle in Chapham Junction, so the two of us will hopefully have a little last hurrah (pub crawl, maybe? haha) that night before my flight the next morning out of Gatwick Airport.