This morning I enjoyed taking my breakfast with a friend that was already in Oxford for two weeks. It was great to have her opinion on the activities she experienced during her first week and we  eventually ended up talking about today’s event : the punting.

 

I never heard about it before coming to Oxford. It is a small boat, quite similar to a Venician gondola, which floats on rivers and undeep streams and is pushed by a long pole. I remember hearing at the Welcome and Orientation meeting that none of the delegates ever felt on the water since the begining of the program. It was quite reassuring for everyone.

 

 

We met at 10:00 at Sommerville college and our group joined Madgalene Bridge very quickly. Then, we got separated in several groups of five per punting boat.

My danish friend started doing the punting and was actually very good at it. I seemed so easy and half way of the tour we changed places for me to try it. I got to admit that this was much more harder than I expected. My arms are still hurting right now and it was very phisycal. We met many other punts and got often blocked with them. I think it was a perfect way to socialise with people. We all had to help each other and figure out how not to impede the passage of the boats. This activity happened to be a lot of fun for me and we took many beautiful photos of the cute ducks who were sleeping or passing near by our boat.

 

 

Going back to my room, I still had the time to go through my notes one last time for the afternoon test. The multiple choices quizz was quite difficult as some of the questions were about things we did not see in class. But the time was more than manageable and I was able to answer all the questions and finish early.

After a quick dinner, my friends and I went out for the evening pub crawl event. Many people were there and we met at the Eurobar. There was good music, everyone had a good time and was able to see other new delegates. It was really fun !

 

Coming back to the dormitory, I feel really tired but also very excited because of next day’s excursion at Bath. I think it is a good opportunity for me to discover another english city and I can’t wait to do so!

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