sister power.

Before I forget, I need to post pictures from the time that two of my sisters came to visit me in Oxford. It was great having them here and they were kind to put up with me (especially as I was dead tired from a whirlwind trip to Russia and was preparing to go on another whirlwind tour of Eastern Europe and they were dead tired from jet lag).

But there was something special for me in showing Sarah and Katy "my Oxford"--a place that has become a part of me this year--and it was nice to show people from home that yes, this is a real place, and yes, it is beautiful and quirky, and yes, here are the people I've talked so much about. There's something . . . necessary in doing that, I think. It bridges the gaps between home and abroad.

Anyway. Enough philosophizing. Let's show some pictures (which are mostly silly selfies).

[Sisters! Sans Erika, unfortunately. But I don't know if England could have handled the intensity of all 4 Armknecht sisters at once.]

[Visiting Fountains Abbey.]

I dragged Katy and Sarah around Oxford, the North, and more in Oxford. So again, they were super patient with me. Which might explain Katy's face in this picture:

I'd probably want to eat me, too. Or at least my sunglasses.