So I know that the last time I wrote an entry in this lil blog o' mine, I said I would write about the concentration camps. Truthfully, I don't know if that's going to happen. It was an extremely personal experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. I can assure you though, that it was beyond terrifying to be there, but incredibly powerful too.
Updates, shall we?
My first time in England
Last weekend I went to England to visit Becky. For those of you who may not know, Becky is my best friend of over 20 years. We met in pre-school, and from there it's history. So, Becky is living in England with her boyfriend Chris, who is awesome, as she works on independent research of prison arts programs. Interesting stuff, eh? So, I took the train from Reims to Paris, Paris to London. I have to say, the trip was surprisingly smooth, with no hiccups whatsoever. I arrive in London, and then managed to figure out the "underground/tube"/whatever they call their metro, to get to a Paddington Station (like the bear!), where I then hopped on a train to Oxford. 45 minutes later, I'm off the train and maneuvering my way through Oxford. As I walk along the sidewalk, I realize how odd it is to be someplace where English is spoken. I speak English all the time with my friends here in Reims, but when it comes to something like asking a stranger for the time, I've trained myself to think in French. So, I'm walking down the street and from a distance I see a very familiar face. Indeed, it was Becky approaching. Seeing her was just such a sigh of relief. While I have developed amazing friendships with people in my program, they are in no way comparable to seeing an old friend. Becky might as well be family to me. Without trying to sound sappy and exorbitantly cliché, my heart literally filled with warmth. We walked throughout part of downtown Oxford to find the right bus stop to go to her house. The town was alive with students. People were drinking, laughing, enjoying themselves. We passed bar after bar after bar, all of which teemed with life and energy. We eventually found our bus, and went back to her apartment. I made myself a cozy little bed of arranged couch cushions and blankets, and passed out.
I can't remember what we did on a day to day basis, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself there. Oxford is a great town. The architecture is incredible- all of the buildings looked like mini-castles and medieval manors. We went to a fabulous natural history museum, went to her friend's lecture on higher education in prison facilities, had tea, walked around, bought tons used books (in English! jackpot!), did a little thrift shopping, went to Friday night services at a synagogue, saw Harry Potter 7 (which was awesome because HP is filmed in Oxford at Christ Church), went to Christ Church, went inside ridiculous libraries (I went in one that claims to have ever book ever published, or something like that... The Oldest Round library, perhaps), walked around more, invited friends over for dinner, and went to a bar. The bar itself was quite cool. It was in the middle of nowhere, literally, right on the Thames river. We had to take random footpaths and cross very old bridges to get there. It was a restored boathouse and if someone didn't tell you about it, you would never go there. It was quite nice to sit back and enjoy a pint. Going to Shabbat services was also really great. It was so nice to be in a Jewish community that had similar traditions (from experience, the Jews in Reims are mostly Sephardic), and to be with Jewish students my own age. The weekend in Oxford was really incredible. Being with Becky is exactly what I needed. I honestly cannot wait to go back and visit.
Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving arrived, and it was just an absolutely, no good, very bad day. I was working on a huge group project and things just really weren't going my way at all. It's weird to be someplace for a holiday such as Thanksgiving where no one celebrates it, let alone knows what it's all about. The day itself was just awful. I ended up in tears, sobbing to my dad on the phone, homesick. Boo hoo. However, Saturday approached. I had been organizing a huge Thanksgiving dinner at my house with all of the Americans from the grade below mine, and also some of my good non-American friends. Saturday came, and I organized all of the tables and desks in the apartment to form one, giant table to fit at least 15 people. I went grocery shopping, purchased my ingredients, and began to cook. I made a baked macaroni and cheese, meatloaf, 5 liters of mulled wine, and apple crisp. Guests began arriving with a dish that they prepared, and soon enough we had a table covered with assorted dishes. In addition to my meatloaf and mac n cheese (which, sorry if I'm being biased were the STARS of the show), we had parsnip and carrot mash, Shepards pie, cauliflower/broccoli with cheese sauce, turkey (cutlets, not a whole turkey), stuffing, mashed potatoes, a rotisserie chicken (symbolic... in lieu of having a whole turkey), green beans, and corn bread. It was truly an incredible spread of food. We gathered round the table, and took turns saying what we were thankful for. We ate ourselves stupid, drank hot wine from a pot, and laughed so hard we cried. All in all, it was a really, really great day.
School:
I know this will come as a shocker, but yet again school is kicking my ass. I just finished the last of my group projects today, and now its T-7 days until exams. I have 9 exams to take in the course of only 3 days. I wonder how many I'll pass... Speaking of studying, I really need to get back to that... and by "get back to that" I actually mean "start"
On a side note... HAPPY HANUKKAH!
Funny story-- the other day I went to the grocery store to raid the "kosher" section to see if they sold any Hanukkah candles. Turns out, they actually replaced the "kosher section" with Christmas stuff... and left 7 boxes of Matzo meal. This year, I actually made my own menorah (out of clay, naturally). It may not be the best looking menorah around, but by darn it gets the job done!
Hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work I go.
Thanks for reading :)
