Happy New Year!

I don't want to end the year with a post on identity fraud (thank you, by the way, for all your advice, lovely readers!), so I thought I would take a moment for a nice end-of-year message.

While I continue to love Oxford every day that I'm there, the latter part of the year has been full of hurdles: laptop stolen, visa delayed, cancelled email/library card/phone when I arrived, injury, illness, broken glasses, death in the family, and now this credit card fraud. But as my friend Seth said, maybe this is all out of the way now to make room for a fabulous new year.

Despite all this crap, I am still very happy. I am so thankful to have been given the chance to stay in Oxford for another year, allowing me to see my lovely old friends and to make some lovely new friends. I love the fact that I sent just as many Christmas cards to Asia this year as I did to the United States. As I've said before, the people I've met in Oxford are the people with whom I'll want to stay in touch for the rest of my life.

I am excited about the chance to pursue a doctorate in Oxford, which I hope will open up opportunities for me when I am looking for a teaching position. And I love having the chance to play such an active role in the college life - while planning parties may not seem very scholarly, I feel like I've learned so much from it.

I hope I get a chance to travel in 2007, to get a good chunk of my dissertation done, and perhaps to write something for a conference or publication. Things are very optimistic in terms of finances and scholarships for 2007-2008, which will take a lot of pressure off of me and give me time to focus on my studies.

I wish you all, wherever you are, a very happy and healthy 2007!
Much love,
Kaitlin
xxx

PS - Keep your fingers crossed for me as I start teaching on Tuesday. It's a new course for me teaching-wise, but it's a course I took as an undergraduate. I'm very excited (finally, no more intro course!), but very nervous...wish me luck!