Back in the Saddle

Since Oxford is a university with as many (if not more) student clubs and groups as Stanford, I've taken the opportunity to get involved. I've joined the boat club for my affiliated college, Corpus Christi, super early and cold mornings out on the water and all. Now, my two years in the Bay Area haven't quite dispelled my native New Mexican wonder at actually seeing water, much less substantial quantities of it, and I'm also not the most coordinated rower - but oh well. It's been an exciting new challenge, and it gets me out of the library.

More excitingly, though, I've had the chance to go out and play polo! I've missed the horses a ton since I've been here (to the extent of having frequent riding-related dreams), and although the polo club here is rather loosely organized and my schedule's often packed full, I've been able to make it out to ride twice so far. My questionable ability to connect mallet to ball notwithstanding, it's been a lot of fun, and today we even played a mini-chukka three on three! Granted, it's an entirely different kind of riding, but pulling on my boots, getting back in the saddle, and coming back smelling like horse: almost nothing makes me happier. Especially when I also get to enjoy the idyllic, sprawling green fields and fall colors of the English countryside. The polo ponies are so agile and clever, too, I can't get over it. Now those horses know their jobs!

I had the wild notion that it'd be fun to go foxhunting, too, but I think that idea will fall through...

- R