Oxford Graduation and North Wessex Downs

On 3rd November, 2017, I graduated from the University of Oxford, completing MSc in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics. I flew from San Francisco to London just to attend the one-day ceremony and to meet my friends — Jan, Ragnar, Diego, and John. We went through the all Latin procedures in full cap and gown at the ancient Sheldonian Theatre, had formal lunch and dinner, took lots of photos, and even got to see a talk by Jocelyn Bell Burnell, discoverer of pulsars, at the newly completed lecture theatre at Mansfield College. The day began in foggy weather, but cleared up towards the end to beautiful sunshine. I could not have hoped for a better day to graduate.

I planned an extra day after my graduation to make a final day trip somewhere in England. After some insufficient planning, Ragnar and I decided to go to North Wessex Downs. Not knowing that it's a big patch of land, we went where Google directed us — near Hungerford. It having rained in the morning, there wasn't much scenery to begin with. Disappointed, we wanted to head back to Oxford and spend the rest of the day there. As a last attempt, on our way back, we stopped at Goring and Streatley and walked along a path up a hill. We were so impressed by the panorama at the top of the hill overlooking distant fields and Didcot, that we stayed there taking photos and playing Hanabi for the rest of the afternoon. The sun shined through between the clouds and created a rainbow right in the middle of our view.

As another highlight to my short visit, it happened to be Guy Fawkes night. Like a year before, we saw fireworks and a huge bonfire. To top it off, all this was in front of a bright full moon. We ended the night with a short stop at Hanan's house party and a bar gathering with some MMathPhys friends.