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Ok, this will probably be a short entry, I really need to get to work on my essay(s).
I literally cannot believe that it is the 5th week! I don't know where the time has gone, and I feel like I have close to no time left here.
Big news, today is election day and the excitement here is palpable (yes, I said palpable). It's funny because here people would never dare ask what religion you are, but I have been asked by more people than I can count who I voted for. It's interesting to see those small differences. I'm really excited for tonight, but I think that it helps that I haven't been surrounded by the ever increasing political ads, I'm sure if I was at home I would just be ready for the whole thing to be over. It also helps that all my friends here are really excited for the election as well, and it's really fun to be surrounded by people who, although they have no direct stake in this election (I say direct, because it's pretty obvious that the rest of the world has a stake in this election), but yet are still really excited about it. I printed out electoral college coloring maps, like the ones I did in elementary school, because my guess is that my English friends have never filled one of those out before. We will be heading down to the bar that's closest to us (lucky us, because it is COLD!) and joining what I expect to be a very large crowd waiting out the results of the election. Because of the time difference we probably wont be heading down there until midnight or so (I am going to be so tired tomorrow! Lucky I have nothing but studying... and who needs to do that anyway, just kidding mom and dad :D)
What happened this week? I met with a group on Friday for a presentation, ran out of checkoutable books, Friday was also Halloween, Saturday we hosted a murder mystery dinner party and Sunday I convinced my flatmates to go to a pub quiz with me...
The presentation was for my gender studies class, I did the presentation today and I think it went really well. Unfortunately it's the first of 3 that I have to do, so I still have to prepare for 2 more. Ugh, presentations are my least favorite parts about classes. Oh well, it's a part of life right?
The thing that I am finding out that I hate the most most most, is the library set up. So I'm expected to write 3 essays that all need to be in by the 10th week, one of considerable length in which I am supposed to cite quite a few sources, and the limits they put on the amount of books you can check out is annoying. You can only check out ten long term books (three week loans), I think that's how many I'm supposed to use in my one essay! And you can have 4 short term loans (one week loans). Ok, at Western there was never a limit for how many books you could check out and that is what I use when I write papers now; surround myself with books and then decide my idea from there. Unfortunately I have to be better planned, and I definitely spend more time in the library. It's all part of those small differences that I'm discovering; some are more accommodating than others.
Halloween was pretty boring, I spent a lot of the day doing homework. Then I was hanging out with Athena and my flatmates when our friend upstairs said that children were coming around to judge their flat (they decorated for a competition) and she wanted us to dress up and come up and scare them. So we threw costumes together at the same time. I was really scary! I went as Sarah Palin with a sticker that said "Prez Palin", frightening!! I know the children would have been scared, but they never came! Emily (the girl from upstairs) was really disappointed. We decided then to go to the bar near us (it's called East Slope, I've referenced it twice now, I guess I can call it by name) and there was live music so we sat and listened for a while. But I was exhausted and not feeling great so Athena and I came back here and watched tv on my computer. A very quiet Halloween.
The next night we hosted a murder mystery dinner party. Sarah and I were the hosts so because their were too many and not enough parts, we also shared a character. In order to fulfill our host-ly duties we made homemade hummus (hard without a food processor, but not as hard as I thought) and I attempted to make mom's orange tapioca salad (did not turn out well...they have NONE of the correct ingredients here. They asked what Jell-o and cool whip were, and pudding refers to all desserts). Oh well, the hummus was really good, it was completely gone in no time at all. Then Hannah made a corn-mince (like ground beef, but made with corn, it's actually quite tasty and 100% vegetarian!) lasagne with white sauce. It was very tasty! The only thing is that we were going to be ultra healthy and make steamed veggies to go with, but forgot until we sat down to the table, ooops. Lasagne and rolls was what we had. I think everyone really enjoyed themselves!
The scene for the murder mystery was set in England in 1912, and the butler of Sir Douglas Eton. Sarah and I were Agatha a suffragette, niece of Sir Douglas (played by Emily from upstairs, she was fantastic! A little wary at first about being a man, but I think she really got into it) a wealthy, and crazy (literally) older gentleman, and engaged to Bunny Mandelson (played by Ed), who turns out to have a massive gambling debt. Athena was Mary Anstoldt something who was a German diva, Rachel and Amy from next door played Oscar Hemingway III (a loud American, her American accent was hilarious) and Sister Morticia (a fake nun and sister of the killed butler). Jannick was Herr Schnapps, a German spy and arms dealer, whose accent was also hilarious! And finally Hannah was Georgette Michelle, partner in crime to the butler. Most of us tried to kill him (including Sarah and I, trying to help our engaged out), although Sister Morticia was the final killer. Ok, that was a little complicated. Sorry, if you didn't understand what I just said, its not you, its me. Anyways, then we played the telephone paper game, which everyone really enjoyed, although it was much cleaner than playing with my Western people. Then we played trivia and hung out. I have pictures from this that I will post shortly.
The Pub Quiz on Sunday was for the society I'm in (RAG). Pub quizzes are really common here, you get in teams and as a team answer trivia questions on paper and then scores are tallied and prizes awarded. We didn't win, but we did come in 4th or 5th out of about 15 teams, so we were quite pleased with ourselves. It was really fun, although a little slow at first, which was a little irritating being that it was Sunday night and we all had work to get back to. But it was a fun way to earn approx ₤150 in a few hours (around $250).
Yesterday I watched Casino Royale for the first time and that was much better than I expected it to be. I also think we are going to try and see the new James Bond in theatres. I guess if I can't see Harry Potter in England, I can see something almost equally English like James Bond.
Ok, now I'm going to try and get some work done before Athens comes over to make muffins for the RAG cake stall tomorrow.
New pictures coming soon! And talk of my ::cross my fingers:: hopeful travel plans!
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