augh augh sorry you told me I would be busy!

 Here I am! I am alive! I have been busy and too tired at night to write!
On Friday night I went out for a drink with Alison, Flynn, one of his flatmates and her friend and it was a little awkward but fun. The Roebuck was noisy and outside was cold so we came back to our flat and played cards. That night I had a hilarious three way conversation with Obi and Chris and it made me happy. On Saturday I barely did anything productive and then Emilie invited me to go check out Hyde Park, so I went with her and Michelle came. Marina met us at the park. I suggested we go to the Natural History museum so we walked the 20 min to get there, oggling in the shops (including Emporio Armani...holy shit). The NH museum was pretty cool and included an escalator into the center of the Earth. Oh yeah. We wandered around for a bit then headed back and ended up spending some time in H&M, and even though I tried pants on, none fit and I left a little deflated. By the time we got back to the park it was going on half five so we just decided to go home. I got back and Alison was prepping dumplings for the next day, so I made myself grilled ham and cheese with pesto and tomato soup and chatted with her for awhile. Then I holed up in my room for the rest of the night. I had a three way convo with Chris and Rachel, which was fun. I then shaved for the first time in over three weeks. It took over half an hour, demolished one razor and left me with frigid water. But it needed to be done. At one point after that, I ducked into the kitchen to make hot chocolate and Shubha was bored so she, Charli, Charli's boyfriend Matt, and I sat around talking. I got Alison from her room for more cards and it was a good night.
On Sunday I woke up early to meet everyone to go to Camden. For those of you who don't know, Camden is like the alternative place--home to punks and sellers of other alternative clothing. We got the tube there and when we emerged, it was like we weren't in London (it's SO big!). We wandered around a bunch of shops but I didn't get anything and was slightly disappointed. There was a huge selection of food from around the world, so I got Peruvian food for lunch. That included rice, black beans, red onion, mushroom, and specially grilled chicken with a spicy sauce drizzled over it. Pretty freaking good. We went back to gdsa to regroup and then headed out to Oxford Street for some shopping, mostly to go to Primark. Primark is an insanely cheap store (and sometimes the low quality shows) that sells clothes and shoes. This Primark was a zoo. It was fucking insane. The line to the dressing room took me nearly ten minutes. And then the jeans were like really bad. So it wasn't the greatest Primark experience. I walked away with a pair of metallic flats for four pounds but, as Winnie said, they're going to fall apart in a few weeks. We hit M&S and then got waffles and then went home. I had forgotten to buy champagne for the cocktail party so I dragged my ass out again to the Cost Cutters and got a bottle. Then I read for an hour in order to be productive.
When I was done reading, I showered and did my makeup and everything for this cocktail party. Everyone said I looked really cute. I hope they post pictures soon. Alison was an amazing cook and her dumplings were DELICIOUS. There was every kind of alcohol--well, the major groups were represented). Not all of us were present, and Hari was sick, so we started without everyone. White Russians were not bad at all. And I liked my drink when the sugar was actually distributed throughout. The problem was I was so tired that alcohol was not a good idea, so I didn't drink that much. Arun got drunk for the first time which was slightly funny (and good that he was in a safe environment!). We played Never Have I Ever and it got dirty and nasty and we learned things about each other that we might not talk about again normally until the next time we drink together. At one point I decided I was going to my room for the night but everyone implored me to stay a while longer so I did and then called it a night. I encouraged Arun to drink lots of water before bed. They had 9am lectures the next day. Later, when they all quit the kitchen, and I was skyping, he knocked on my door saying, "Go to bed, I can hear your tv!" Ha.
Yesterday was my hw day. I read three plays and it took me all day and was painful, literally and mentally. There was something about the chili that I made that made me feel sick (so I've just thrown the last helping out) for most of the evening and this morning. But I got things done and watched Peep Show and generally chilled out. I cleaned my bathroom and vacuumed my room and organized my desk. All of these things make me feel a little bit better in general. I went to bed early and still woke up too early.
I talked to Ellen first thing this morning. The idea of her still being up at 3:30am writing a paper kind of killed me inside but it was nice to chat. I love starting the day with Jacobean theatre. Gordon is such an engaging professor and very fun. Also, the people in that class I've come to talk to are quite nice and one girl might go to Cardiff with her friends to see the Doctor Who exhibit and I can come! Squee. I really must figure out a place to study during my two hour breaks cus I always just kind of plop in one place then kind of wander around. The rest of my classes were fine. I did go to office hours for Irish Lit to better understand the extra reading situation, and I'm afraid I might've given him the impression that I don't enjoy the class fully, but that's not quite true. We only had two weeks of it thus far! But I like him a bit better now that I realize that he's quite shy. I went to the poetry reading he told us about after classes today and it was nice. Made me think a lot.

Speaking of thinking, yeah, been doing a lot of that lately. Since I was feeling sick (from the chili) last night, I began to finally feel a bit homesick. I think that was heightened because I've finally reached a point where I'm really starting to reflect on my life at home and where things were when I left. I guess I'm starting to feel a little bit like I'm moving on while also at the same time rooted in place. I don't know if that makes sense. I am censoring myself. One thing I can say for certain is that, a million times over, this experience thus far has proved my best friendship with some people and pretty much severed the ties for me from that one group I was somewhat at odds with (not severed for real, but made me realize who really counts). This realization means a lot to me. It means that I have found people who I mesh with despite the fact that we're all changing and growing constantly. Good people in my life, I can tell you that. :)

Oh, one more thing, so I was gone 11 hours straight today and when I got home I went to the kitchen to fill my water bottles and Arun, Shubha and Katherine were in there talking about HP fanfiction. Honestly, the subject is getting quite old to me and I was getting annoyed until Shubha just broke from that convo to tell me that she had read some of my erotica and it was really good. Apparently, Arun had read it with her, Katherine, too, and they just began to praise my writing, noting especially one line that was perfect. I couldn't help but beam. I told them it had pretty much made my day...which it did. And I am gearing up to start writing again very soon.