Day 6 – Parade and Women’s World Cup finals: A first-hand account of studying abroad

By Catherine Carter

Good morning Huskies! I am so excited to share more of my adventures with you! It has been a full weekend here in Oxford. After Alice’s Day on Saturday, there was a street carnival and parade on Sunday. The parade started just a few blocks before my dorm, cut right in front of it and went about a mile past it. Safe to say we were right in the middle of all the excitement. The parade started at 12:30, and we were close enough to touch the performers! There were all kinds of groups – schools, bands, cultural groups. You name it, a group was there to represent it. Each of the groups were also given a theme: science. It was fun to see different interpretations of science and to see how creative their costumes were. I was also able to wander around and play carnival games or get on carnival rides.

Later in the afternoon, a group of NIU students went to a restaurant to watch the Women’s World Cup finals: USA vs. Holland. For the previous game, USA vs. England, we reserved a table and watched the game from the back room. (It was a little risky given the opponent and where we were, but luckily we made it without a scratch!) We did the same for this game, except rather than being apprehensive with our cheers and celebrations, the whole place celebrated with us! Congratulations to the US Women’s National Team for another great World Cup win! Or as they say over here, cheers!