Looking back on this summer

(Left:Sea View from Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth)
(Right:Stonehenge in Salisbury)

• How time flies! More than 4 months have passed since I wrote in the last entry on June 17th. July, August and September were mainly spent on writing up the dissertation. On September 30th, I could manage to submit it, and finally I have finished the course on that day. Now I'm waiting for the result. I'm told that the stuffs are going to have a meeting in November, in which they will decide whether or not the students are entitled to get a degree by judging chiefly from our dissertations. To be honest, I'm very anxious about it. Of course, I did try best, but I don't know my work is good enough or not. However, since I have handed it in anyway, I cannot help it now.
  
• I think, instead, it's better to reflect on my experiences I have had for these four months. Most of the time, as I wrote, have gone for the thesis, but still I could travel to some places. Here's the overview. My friend 'D' came to see me on June 24th, and stayed with me till July 13th. This time, we went to Madrid in Spain from June 27th to 30th after I had showed her around Greenwich and the central London for the first few days, because she wanted to see her sister who had been learning Spanish in that city. Her sister 'J' had finished the course, so we could come back together to London. About eight hours later we arrived at Heathrow, 'J' went home by taking another flight to her country early in the morning. Returning from Madrid, I and 'D' made a few journeys to Brighton, Howarth and the Lake District. Each trip has made many episodes, which are worth while noting down here.
  
• So I will write them in this blog from now on for the next four days. From September 9th to 21st, my father came to England for his annual field work, that is, visiting the places relevant to English literature, so I also joined his first 3-days trip to Portsmouth from 10 to 12th. We were blessed with fine weather during all the time our sightseeing there, so this was also very enjoyable. After leaving Portsmouth, we parted; my father went to Exeter, and I went back home to continue the dissertation writing. However, we saw each other again at the Globe theatre to see Troilus and Cressida. I said good-bye to him at Paddington that night, and the following day, he left for Japan.
  
• After submitting the dissertation, I became just a Japanese tourist. First of all, on October 3rd, I watched the movie in Leicester Square, Dorian Gray, the latest film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel. I posted the trailer below. Next, I went to Bath and Salisbury, the former for Jane Austen Centre and Roman Bath and the latter for Cathedral and Stonehenge. I stayed two nights for each place from October 6 to 10th, and on my way home from Salisbury, I decided to go to Oxford and Gloucester for the next round. The plan was carried out soon; I visited Oxford on 15th and stayed 3 nights to 18th. The purpose of this short trip was, of course, looking around the famous colleges, seeing Christ church and joining the Bodleian library tour. I could do all these things, and I've learned a lot.
  
• In addition, before going to Oxford, I went INSIDE Kensington Palace on 13th, which means I paid the expensive admission fee and enjoyed seeing the rooms, exhibitions and halls inside the palace. That was what I had hesitated to do when I was living in the college hall in Paddington, even when I could go there by several minutes walk. So even though I've seen it many times, I just looked at it from outside. On second thought, however, Kensington Palace was still important to me studying the Victorian culture because Queen Victoria was born there. That's why I visited it. The last one for this month was Stratfor-upn-avon from 20 to 22nd. I saw Twelfth Night by RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) at the Courtyard Theatre on the night of 21st. Watching the RSC's performance in Stratford-upon-avon where Shakespeare was born had been my dream since I read his comedies in the first year of my master class in Japan. This dream was also realized, and visiting Shakespeare's birthplace and his wife Ann Hathaway's cottage was amazing. I got so absorbed in my literary sightseeing this month so I decided to take rest this week. Now I have the time to look back on my experiences this summer and autumn by writing them in chronological order on this web diary. The journeys I mentioned here were full of episodes, which I do like to record. That's all for today.