The One That Starts It All

Hello Miss Barr,  

We are happy to announce that your application for the exchange program at the University of Ottawa has been accepted .  

Oh. My. Days. This has yet to truly sink in. After months of not getting my hopes up juxtaposing a period of hoping I wouldn’t get accepted, I have, and in a just a few short months, I shall be attending the University of Ottawa. Oh. My. Days. It’s still not sunk in. Having said that, the acceptance email came after a particularly horrendous revision period on Hosea Ballou, (mental, heretical, ultra-universalist with a crazy name to match the crazy theology); and arrived just as the nerves were kicking in for attending the Teaching Awards.  

Now I’m just delirously tired and have climbed into bed without taking off the inches deep make up and planning on rising first tomorrow morning so as not to inflict the panda eyes on the housemates. And do more revision. And try and not being hyper-engaged about Ottawa or dangerously apathetic. Oh, this really needs to sink in soon…  

As a quick aside, but very much joyous aside, how wonderful were the Teaching Awards? I am literally so honoured to have been invited/hastily replace absent lecturer; and it was such a great evening. Massive shout out to Francesca and Louise for their awards; for Charlotte for being the best SSLC Chair; for Katie for being consistently a babe and for Jenny in the Humanities Office for just being her and for the wonderful hug.

I’m going to miss Exeter very, very much.  

If I’m perfectly honest, right now I’m probably most excited at the thought of being a fourth year and getting to live with Susie for my final year. Final year now seems a long way off. This time next year, I’ll probably not be in the UK. This time in four months, I’ll be in Canada! I do think that starting an email, ‘Hello Miss Barr’ reveals that my accutely-British cynicism might jar with what can only be called a sunny disposition of the Canadians in the International Exchange Office. Maybe I should endeavour to return to Exeter inherently jolly? Although, if I do return with the word ‘jolly’ as a prominent part of my vocabulary, please push me down Cardiac Hill.  



Let’s leave it there, shall we? After all, as Esther Reed reminded me this evening, one does have to be of a certain academic quality to be deemed acceptable to go abroad to study; so in order to keep up the pretence of being academically acceptable, I need sleep to bring on tomorrow’s revision. Oh dear, that means that day one of trying to be jolly like Canadians is doomed to fail already…