Thankful

I have so much to be thankful for.  Seven weeks ago I came to a country where I literally knew no one.  And a month and a half later I celebrated Thanksgiving with twenty fantastic Americans and Europeans.  We spent the night cooking, eating, drinking, playing games, laughing and sharing stories, and marveling at the fact that almost none of us knew each other just a few short weeks ago.  I am thankful for this beautiful city and this beautiful university and the wonderful, brilliant people here who make me feel like I’m at home.  I am blessed beyond belief.  

A&A Thursday!

First of all, I want to wish everyone a very, very Happy Thanksgiving!  Despite being in the UK, I plan on celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow with a bunch of lovely Americans and super excited Europeans.  It’s going to be a wonderful day.  We even managed to find a turkey!  (You would not believe how incredibly difficult it was to find a turkey here.  You could find guinea fowl, pheasant, and partridge all before you could find turkey.)  But anyway, let’s get on to A&A Thursday, which you’ve all been waiting for with bated breath. 

Awkward

• Using words that are perfectly acceptable in American English but completely inappropriate in British English.  This usually results in my English friends sniggering at me and then having to awkwardly explain what the word “actually” means.
• The ONE TIME I make food for one of my housemates and I (accidentally) heavily over-salt it.  Thankfully he was such a gentleman he had TWO helpings!
• The amount of times I go into Hardy’s Candy Store.  The young guy at the counter (who is incredibly cute…another good reason to visit) must recognize me by now (if not by face, by accent) and he probably thinks I’m the biggest pig in the world.  What can I say?  I love my British candy!
• The first night my American friends stay over they’re super tired.  And, of course, this is the one time my usually anti-social housemate has like five people over until 3:00 in the morning making a ton of noise in the common room (which is right outside my door).
• Me: Who’s that guy?  Rob: He lives with us.  Not recognizing my housemate whom I’ve lived with for two months…well, in my defense I don’t think I’ve seen him since the first time I met him two months ago. 

Awesome

• Having American friends visit for the weekend!  We ate good food, saw a good play, wandered the city, chatted about people at home, and generally reveled in our American-ness.  (See a teaser photo above.  Awkward: our squinty-ness.  Awesome: Us in general.  More awesomeness to follow in a full blog post.)
• Not having an essay due this week.  And then my DoS cancels the essay he was going to assign me!  Yippee!
• Thanksgiving approaching!  I’m so excited for stuffing and rolls and sweet potatoes and turkey (if we can find any…apparently there are no turkeys in England).
• Getting a package of sweaters from my wonderful Madre.  I’m totally prepared for the chilly English days ahead of me. 
• Getting three cards from my friend, aunt, and mom within two days.  The porter asked if it was my birthday and I had to just tell him that I know some pretty amazing people who always brighten my day with mail!

A&A

Yeah.  It's Friday again.  In my defense my whole week is off.  I keep thinking yesterday was Friday and today was Saturday (which I guess is no excuse because then A&A still wouldn't have been posted).  But anyway, here it is.  Enjoy!

Awkward

• The photographer was right by us the entire pre-Matriculation photo and I knew he was taking pictures of me.  Of course, the one that gets put up on line is of me with my eyes closed.  Le sigh.
• The couple that is always making out in the alleyway near my hostel.  It would all right if I didn’t have to walk through this alley to get to college.  “Oh, excuse me…can I just…yeah…pardon me…”  Get a room!
• When my housemate does this creepy laugh “heh heh heh” every time he walks into a room that I’m in.  And then I say hi and he says NOTHING.  Um…okay, sir.  What?!
• When you know something really scandalous about a person but they don’t know you know, so every time you look at them you’re thinking, “Ah!  I know this scandalous thing about you and you pretend to be all proper and such but I know you’re not!”  And they just give you strange looks because you’re giving them strange looks.
• When I walk into my hostel, run into a housemate, have a twenty-minute long chat, go into my room, and realize my hair is insanely windswept and sticking out in seventeen different directions.  Oh dear.  

Awesome

• Homemade mojitos + homemade chicken/peppers/onions + homemade tortillas = a fantastic night of food and friends.
• Getting my paper done at 2:30pm on Wednesday when it’s technically not due until 8:00am on Thursday.  Yay me!
• Leftover Halloween candy.  It’s probably why I got my essay done so quickly: sugar high.
• Swing dancing with a random guy in the SBR.  I know I mentioned this via facebook and Twitter, but I love swing dancing and it’s been so long.  And the best part was that he was really good so I didn’t have to think at all and I just had to follow the step.  No work involved.  Can’t wait to go home and swing dance at The Ale House!
• The new Hunger Games trailer.  I got chills, seriously.  It looks soooo good!  The only way it could have been better is if Robert Downey Jr. had played Haymitch. 

Woo Hoo! It's Actually Thursday!

Guess what!  It's Thursday!  And I'm actually posting it ON Thursday.  Aren't you proud of me?  Well, I'm pretty dang proud of myself so I guess that's all that matters.  Okay, I admit, it's eight minutes to midnight, but it's still Thursday (technically) so I'm good.  

Awkward

• How long it’s taken me to do my dishes.  Like five days.  My housemates probably think I’m the biggest slob in the world.  Which I feel like I am sometimes. 
• Telling my dreams to people.  I get really excited.  And they probably think I’m crazy.
• Being at an SBR committee meeting where I and a handful of other new committee members are being inducted.  President: “All in favor of these new members, raise your hand.”  So I, of course, raise my hand.  And I’m the only new member to do so.  President: “Actually, only current members are voting now.”  Yes.  Yes, that I can see.  Duh.  Because why would you vote for yourself, Deanie?  *facepalm*
• Playing trivia games and always getting question about geography or capitals or famous people…all things good Cambridge students should know…but I don’t.  So then I just look like the idiot and everyone’s thinking, “Dear Lord, how did this girl get in HERE?”
• Also being embarrassingly bad at pool. 
• Forgetting (somehow) that I was brushing my teeth and leaving my room to go to the kitchen and bumping into (of course) my most awkward housemate in the hallway.  And then having to say hello through a mouthful of toothpaste before I scuttle off into the kitchen (To get what?  I’m brushing my teeth!). 

Awesome

• Going to H&M and buying a crap ton of clothes and not having anyone tell me not to.  I got a gray cardigan (I think I’m going to sew the Cambridge crest on it), a white sweater, a chambray shirt, and a pair of uber-cute, semi-dressy navy blue skinny pants.  I want to wear of all of it at once! In layers! Happiness!
• Going to the Fitzwilliam after hours and getting free wine.  And wandering around looking at paintings, drinking wine, and talking to European guys about art.  I felt super pretentious.  It was great.
• Not having snow.  Poor, Milwaukee.  Sorry guys.  J
• Thursday in general.  I’m always busy but by the end of the day, when I have all my supervisions, lectures, and classes done, it FEELS SO GOOD.  I go to dinner.  I go to Compline.  I drink hot chocolate and attempt to play pool and laugh with friends.  And the weekend seems long and life seems good.  It’s a great feeling.
• Having my supervisor point to a section of my paper and say, “See these paragraphs?  They’re perfect.  I wouldn’t change anything about them.”  Big sigh of relief.

Remember, Remember...

Ah, Bonfire Night.  Also known as Guy Fawkes Night.  You know, the guy wearing the V for Vendetta mask who tried to blow up Parliament.  Or something like that.  Most Americans have a very stylized understanding of who Guy Fawkes was and what this whole holiday is really about.  So…are we supporting Guy Fawkes?  Or are we celebrating his demise?  Probably the later since people like to burn effigies of him on Bonfire Night.  Or does that really happen?  Honestly, the holiday is a bit confusing and the origins weren’t really explained to me.  But you know what, that didn’t stop me from taking my Saturday night off to enjoy the Bonfire Night carnival at Midsummer Commons.

With a large group of fellow Johnians at my side, I stepped out into the drizzly night (an improvement from last year’s Bonfire Downpour).  Terribly excited to go to an actual carnival (I kind of have the impression that Cambridge is stuck in the 19^th century, so modern inventions like roller coasters and bumper cars have yet to be invented), I couldn’t stop talking about all the fantastic carnival food I was going to eat.  My number one need: a burger.  With lots of ketchup and mayo.  *drools* 

My burger dreams were delayed because I suddenly was dragged on a handful of rides, each more nauseating than the one before.  When I did get such a weak stomach?  At that point the thought of a burger made me want to barf.  Thankfully we were able to take a break when the fireworks started.  

While nothing compared to Milwaukee’s Fourth of July bonanza of aerial explosions, I must say it was lovely watching their display.  Bundled up in my St. John’s scarf, chatting with an Australian about celebrating Christmas in the summer, it struck me how crazy cool my life is: I was in Cambridge. Watching fireworks. Cambridge. England. I was with people from India, Ireland, Australia, Switzerland, America, and England.  And we were all just having a good time at a carnival in Cambridge.  Sorry for the rant, but sometimes the awesomeness of my life just hits me at weird moments. 

Anyway, after that I thought I was done for rides, but I go pulled into a bumper car fight which was quite hilarious. Want to know something weird?  Most of the rides made us pay once we’d been seated.  So we’re spinning around and around on these crazy machines and this guy pops up next to us asking for our money.  Um, sir, I’m trying to keep from vomiting.  Could you wait like two minutes?  And there aren’t really lines so when the ride stops, everyone just bolts onto the ride trying to get seats.  Which I guess then becomes a game in and of itself.  Do I knock over this eight-year-old girl to get a bumper car?  Yes.  Yes, I do.

After that I was dragged—yes, literally—onto a terrifying ride known as Oblivion that had a random sign with a half-naked guy and girl embracing.  Um…okay?  The ride was actually the most fun out of all the ones I went on.  Here’s a picture of it:

Scary, no?  Super scary!  But also scary fun.  I must admit I probably would have gone on it again if it hadn’t been £5. 

Finally, FINALLY, I got my burger at the end of the night, but alas, it wasn’t what I was hoping for.  Still, I ate most of it, and the rest was gobbled up by these two Australian garbage disposals.

Yes, it was the night of the never-ending bowl for the two of them.  I think they must have sampled at least one bite of everyone’s food.  

Poor Devyani only ate three bites of her own candy apple.  (Okay, I'm not going to lie, I had at least three bites of that candy apple myself...)

What a good night.  Hung out with people I hadn't seen in a while; made new friends.  It felt good to step outside the academic confines of Cambridge, where even hanging out at a pub or club ends up including some sort of scholarly debate on plasma or American politics or pure vs. applied mathematics.  *sigh*  

But Bonfire Night was blissfully all about eating crappy food; and not wanting to go on rides that we eventually went on and (sort of) enjoyed; and being incredibly thankfully that Guy Fawkes didn’t blow up Parliament and unleash anarchy upon dear old England. 

PS: Most of these photos were taken by Chris or Devyani.  My camera is afraid of the dark and won’t take pictures if there isn’t sufficient lighting, but thankfully these trigger-happy photographs did the job for me.  Thanks, guys!

Yeah...it's Friday...so what?

Do you know what yesterday was? Apparently it was Thursday.  I kind of forgot about this because the whole day I was under the impression that it was Friday (and hence today would be Saturday).  So, apologies for no Awkward and Awesome Thursday.  I’ll include some A&As below, but first I mention how lovely my day was today.  I went to a café, ate a delicious sandwich, had a cup of tea, wrote some letter and postcards, read some of Richard II, and generally had a great time hanging out by myself.  Then I went to the Cam market and bought three books at a used book sale (bad Deanie!): The Man in the High Tower by Philip K. Dick, The Stories of E. M. Forester, and Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne (which I have to read for next term).  The weather was gorgeous: sunshine and cool breeze—I only had to wear a cardigan, it was that warm out.  I have vegetable soup for dinner and another market to look forward to tomorrow.  Life is good.

Now, on to the A&As.  It’s going to be brief this week because I don’t know how much I’ll remember.

Awkward

• Being the only underdressed person with a group of fancily dressed people.  Fail.
• Having to scurry out of a massively packed lecture so I can go have a coughing fit out in the hallway.  And having the door situated at the front of the room right next to the professor so that everyone (including said professor) can give me the stink eye as I rush out of the room and then try to sneak back in five minutes later.
• Sitting in a really quiet café and crunching on a really loud toasted sandwich.  “Oh…don’t mind me munching over here like a dog eating dry dog food…” 

Awesome

• The Compline Service in the St. John’s Chapel.  Such a relaxing and inspiring event.  Plus, there’s hot chocolate afterwards! 
• Getting a package in the mail from my mom that contained (among other things) my adorable brown boots, new Halloween socks, and a ginormous bag of Halloween candy.  My mom is the best.
• Getting another letter in the mail from my dear friend, Michael.  So exciting!  Actually, just getting legit mail in general.  Postcards, cards, and letters keep cropping up.  You guys are the best and those notes always make my day.
• Making pasta bake, Italian rice with spinach, pumpkin cupcakes, pan-fried chicken, roasted vegetables…the list goes on.  I am so impressed that my previously non-existent culinary skills have suddenly appeared.  

Yeah, okay, that’s all I can think of.  Sorry guys.  Hope your week was more jam-packed with awkward and awesome (but mostly awesome) moments.  In the meantime, enjoy this picture of the delicious dinner I made myself the other night.

Be jealous.

Halloween in Cam

I just busted out 1,000 words of an essay in about four hours (all right, that’s not too impressive, but give me a break here!) so I’m taking a little rest from Shakespeare.  In the meantime, I wanted to grace you, dear reader, with another blog post.  Technically this post should have gone out yesterday, since it’s already November (November! Yikes!) but we all know how slow I am.  So here it is: my first European Halloween.

The grad students at St. John’s had a hostel crawl, which is a bit like a pub crawl but cheaper, more exclusive, and with nicer bathrooms.  I was very excited to have a real Halloween party to go to (I don’t think I’ve every been to a seriously intense Halloween party where everyone dresses up).  As usual, I went to my wardrobe for the base of my costume, and ended up using this awesome $11 red dress, an Express belt, and Nine West heels for most of my costume.  The horns I (obviously) didn’t have lying around, so I had to purchase them.  You may think that I was a simple devil for Halloween.  Don’t be fooled.  You can’t tell in the picture, but I put Prada labels on my belt and shoes.  So…I’m the Devil Wears Prada!  “How cheeky!” one student remarked.  I know, right?

I also took the opportunity to bake cupcakes for the occasion.  I never have a reason to bake 24+ cupcakes (who’s going to eat them besides me?) so I was very excited.  I had to go on a massive hunt to find cupcake tins and pumpkin puree, but I finally succeeded.  In the end I produced fantastic pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  I used THIS recipe if anyone is interested.  They turned out marvelously, but stupidly I forgot to take a picture.  Oh well. 

The hostel crawl was tons of fun.  We had hard cider and lots of candy (my one friend will be jealous that we got to eat bags and bags of Strawbs).  I talked to people about amphibian diseases, the Wisconsin accent (one guy made me say “and” about twenty times), dating in England versus Germany, and how to make a s’more.  I tangoed in someone’s kitchen and almost killed myself tripping over my own heels.  I questioned Minnesota Mike about why he was dressed like a cow and I wasn’t. 

Later we went back to the SBR (graduate union) for drinks, mummy wrapping, and bobbing for apples.  My group dominated in the mummy wrap and we came away with a bottle of wine!  Props to Julia for being such a good mummy. 

After a porter politely asked us to wrap up our party (no pun intended) and get out of the SBR, a group of us went off to Kambar, a Cambridge nightclub.  We were practically the only people dressed up (does no one else in Cam know how to have fun?) but we didn’t care.  We danced the night away and got home at an outrageous hour. 

I must say, Halloween in Cambridge was a major success.  Now, even more than this last holiday, I’m looking forward to the next one.  You know what it is…Thanksgiving!  I’m already wrangling in various Americans and Europeans to help me create the most extravagant and fun Thanksgiving ever.  More details to come about whether any of us actually figures out how to cook a turkey.

PS: In the comments below, tell me what you dressed up as for Halloween?  Was your costume as “cheeky” as mine?