Tuesday, February 9
Basically, as usual, Tuesday was incredibly boring. I don't do anything on Tuesdays. For instance, on this particular Tuesday, I did laundry. How very exciting.
Wednesday
I only had one class on Wednesday, and it was semi-interesting. I had read the book for the week before, so nothing was due and it was a pretty chill class. We learned more about trauma theory and talked about the end of the world. The most exciting thing that happened was that I bought a guitar for pretty cheap to play while I am here. It's not acoustic, but it's classical, and I can't really tell the difference besides the fact that some of the strings are made of a different material and I can't attach a strap to it. I have decided for now that I will not name this guitar because I have to sell it before I leave and I don't want to get too attached to it.
Thursday
Thursday was pretty busy. I started off with Crime Fiction, which was very exciting but also really disappointing. I had actually not finished reading the book (I had less than a hundred pages left) because of all my other reading, but the book was super good and I was excited to see who the murderer was. So class was going along great and she hadn't spoiled it yet... and then in the last ten minutes she says, oh, let's talk about the murderer! which was really disappointing because I never saw it coming and I would have liked to have finished the book before she gave it away... I will never not finish a book for that class again. It has officially been moved to the top of my reading priority list.
I ate lunch and did a little reading until my next class, Welsh Culture & Folklore. We talked about the Mabinogion and our papers, which are luckily not due on the same day as my other five. They are due about a month and a half earlier, which means I have to get started very, very soon. Like this weekend.
The other two classes weren't that special. We talked about colonialism and feminism in Jane Eyre in Charlotte Bronte, and then we talked about Skaldic poetry in Myth & Saga.
After class, I met up with Maggie and we hung out for a bit in the centre looking for birthday supplies for Elysse's birthday. We didn't have very much luck, but then we saw Henry on the bus back and it turned out he was going to drive to the big grocery store and offered to give us a ride. After our fun shopping trip, I came back and made delicious marshmallow fondant from scratch and then I went to bed.
Friday
On Friday, Maggie and I went back into the centre to get some decorations, etc. Then we came back to UniHall, and Maggie made the cake while I dyed the fondant and failed at making a rose because the fondant was too sticky (I made a heart instead). We let the cake bake/cool and went our separate ways to get ourselves ready for the surprise party, and then came back later to decorate.
While Meghan was distracting Elysse, Maggie (and Marissa, I believe) decorated the room, and Steve and I decorated the cake. Here is a picture of the lovely cake:
I'm a little sad about the candles because they don't really match the colors of the cake, but I guess I'll live. Also, at some point Elysse's flatmate Robin switched the candles around so that it said 12... (P.S. - Mom, don't worry, the almost empty bottle of alcohol isn't mine). All of the non study-abroaders couldn't stop talking about how great the cake was... First hey thought we had made the whole thing from scratch, then got confused when we told them it was a box cake and thought we had bought it completely made at a store (and wanted to know which store). One of the Henries (is Henries the correct plural of Henry) even talked to Maggie and I about it the next night. Apparently, we made an impression.
After cake (and all of the balloons randomly popping in very fast succession, causing almost everyone to scream and Steve to almost jump in my arms), we went out to the Welsh club for some dancing and fun.
Saturday
On Saturday, Maggie, Christine, and I had really great plans to go meet up with some people at a pub and watch the rugby game... unfortunately by the time we got there, they had closed it to any new people because it was so packed... so we decided to do the opposite of watching rugby: we ate pancakes, went clothes shopping, and saw Valentine's Day.
After our day of girly fun, we split up to head back to our flats for dinner. Then Maggie and I met up with Elysse at the UniHall Pub and just hung out and talked for an hour or so, at which point I went back to my room and fell asleep.
Sunday
On Sunday, Maggie and I went to church together and then we headed into the centre to meet up with Nina, Christine, and Steve for a Valentine's Day lunch. After lunch we were planning on going to the library and doing some spring break travel planning, but it had closed at 3 and we got there at 3:30. So instead we went to the Belgian chocolate stand and got chocolate-covered strawberries and doughnuts and just hung out on a bench talking. Nina left, so Steve, Christine and I did a little grocery shopping and headed back to my flat.
When we got back to UniHall, we met up with Maggie again at the pub there and played some pool, which Christine and I dominated at (we were on a team). Then we went to Meghan's flat to watch 17 Again. Overall, it was a really great Valentine's Day.
Monday
On Monday, I headed to class. There was a sign on the door that said class was cancelled, but the door was open, so only one girl saw it. Luckily, I heard her, but then she just left and there were tons of people already in the lecture hall. So I went in and walked down to the front and used my not-very-loud teacher voice and told everyone it was cancelled. It was definitely a shining moment for me...
I didn't really know what to do with myself after that, so I went to the big public library and looked at some travel books until I got bored. I also finished the first book in that kids' book series Percy Jackson in preparation to see the movie at some point and decided I really wanted to read the second one. Unfortunately out of the two libraries and five book stores I went into, no one had the second one. Some of them had other books from the series but not the second one. So I head home (by the time I left the last bookstore, I was almost home anyway) in disappointment. It was probably a good thing because I have plenty of required reading to do anyway.
I ate some dinner and then got ready to go hang out with Maggie. She had been invited to a birthday party with Elysse for a person Elysse knew, but she didn't, so I went to keep her company. The birthday party ended up being super awkward though, so instead we went out with other people from Elysse's flat (don't worry, Mom/Kathryn, I don't have any classes on Tuesday).
We went to a pretty small place first called Lloyd's and then somehow our large group of ten got split into two smaller groups. I think the other group must have gone to anoth club, but Elysse, Maggie, Robin, Amit, and I went to Oceana into the Disco room, which was sooo much fun. They played a lot of old school music, from older (Journey, Michael Jackson's Thriller, etc.) to some party classics (Cotton Eye Joe, Cha Cha Slide) to 90's pop (Backstreet/N'Sync, B*witched) to showtunes/soundtracks (Grease, Footloose, Dirty Dancing).
So there's my week...
so today i decided i would read your blog because it is so great. it is blocked on my computer for some stupid reason so i had to use the laptop. i couldn't remember the website and i spent a really long time trying to figure it out. i was really mad because i thought i had bookmarked it. reluctantly i signed on to facebook and clicked on the link. just now after i'm closing out of the window i realized it is bookmarked right on the toolbar....i thought you would really enjoy this story. also your cake looks nice but it would have looked amazing if the ultimate cake making duo had been reunited (that's you and me by the way if you couldn't figure that out)
ReplyDeleteps don't forget my t-shirt