Why’s she going to Exeter? 🫤 bit of a trek during a intensive masters degree
Ruby would throw her nan down the stairs for a free can of kombucha, so there's no way she'd turn down a free trip somewhere, regardless of how impractical or poorly timed it is. But it's equally likely she wanted a trip to Exeter to drag Blakeney back to the past, so sponsor-begged some hotels for a gifted holiday to sweeten the deal and avoid paying for anything.
She's had her ego stomped on by Oxford and is completely miserable, so a weekend trip so she can REMAMBER THEEE GYUD OWLD DYAYS AT AXATAR UNIVARRSITY WITH HAHHR BASST FRAND BLAKENEEEEEEY probably sounded irresistible. Now she can spend yet another week regressing to a time when she got rewarded and praised for doing no work instead of having to think for herself, getting handed appropriately bad grades and being reminded daily of how she's just an unremarkable student of questionable intelligence.
Wildcard tinfoil hat theory based on nothing at all: She's planning on going back to Exeter to start her theology undergrad degree again to delay the real world for another few years and lower the academic stakes after the ego-crushing experience that Oxford's been for her. She had a meeting/interview, begged a free trip out of a hotel and dragged Blakeney along because her BASST FRAND can't suffer a day of her company without a free holiday/event/gifts to sweeten the deal.