Day 145, 31 May: The Final Flat Dinner

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 145. The Final Flat Dinner

Today the final flat dinner was served. The kitchen held the entire flat, except for Wilson, tonight. For Charlie, it even reminded him of the Christmas dinner, which made me happy to know that the Christmas picture of the flat I’ve seen time and again on the kitchen wall finally had a repeat. Since the morning, Jen had prepared the pastas and sauces; since early evening, Dan had prepared the meats; Vinnie worked with Charlie on cleaning out the dirty boxes of neglected dishes and cutlery; Laura cleaned off the kitchen table surface; Charlie, Jen, and I put on the tablecloth; Jen and Steff teamed up for the salad and dressing; Dan counted off the mini-sausage rolls and drumstick for the plates, and so much more happened up to the hour we all sat down, passing plates around to complete our meal with salad and slices of microwaved quiche.

      Matt took the timed picture and saved the moment. Then we ate. There we all were, Matt, Ryan, Laura, Dan, Jen, Steff (honorary flatmate), Vinnie, Charlie, Marie, Laura, Gemma, Alvin, Stephen, and me. The only one missing was Wilson/Gum Gum, back in Hong Kong for the summer.

      Charlie began the conversation: Who was the funniest? The most generous? The most in the kitchen? The best Yaniv card player? The one who made the biggest cooking disaster? And so many more questions were tossed around, and with the answers came stories. How Jen loved the snow, how someone burnt a pizza to a crisp, how Laura lost her Irish accent, how funny some nights turned out. And so on.

      It felt so good to see the kitchen full, perhaps for the last time, and the way we helped each other get to foods across the table, the way we took turns doing the dishes, it all made for a good memory of how we all can get along. After dinner was a break before dessert—many of us went on a group walk around the UEA Broad (not a lake exactly) and took many pictures while plucking this certain ‘sticky plant’ from the ground and lightly placing it on each other’s backs. Upon returning to the kitchen, we had dessert: vanilla ice cream, cake, and fruit salad.

      As far as the rest of the day went, I went for a slow 50-minute run—feeling a nice runner’s high afterwards—and I did a preliminary pack to see if everything can fit (success!) and I skyped Katya. The middle of the day was burdened with rain, so most of the day was indoors.

      There was a great vibe to the last flat meal together and I will miss everyone, the quirks and the fun. It has been a great semester with these friends and they have in large part made this UEA experience for me really, really incredible. 

Day 144, 30 May: Special Entry: The Untold Stories

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 144. Special Entry: The Untold Stories

I believe the time has come. Months ago, I started a post-it note list of untold stories during my time abroad. There are a mere handful of them, and none of them are horrendous. At the time that each story occurred, though, I was either scared out of my wits, confused, or amused, or a mix of those and other emotions. There is no rhyme or reason for why they weren’t told, except for maybe remembering some of them days later. Here they are: The Untold Stories.

I.      Catastrophe at Zest

In the third week abroad, I was at Zest, the diner on campus. I finished my plate of assorted meat and veggies and my salad bowl and proceeded up to the conveyor belt where the grey trays were placed. The conveyor belt has three vertical levels of metal compartments, each able to fit one tray. The belt moves endlessly around in a circle.

The Square--Zest is on the right with the lights on.

      I saw from afar every compartment filled with stacked dishes that night, but something struck my eye: a fork, of all things, too far out of a bowl, barely brushing against the wall. The next rotation, though, the fork struck the wall again and its bowl jutted closer and closer to the edge. I saw it before it happened. Putting my tray in one hand, I reached out and tried to save the bowl from falling. It was jammed. I thrust it out, saving the bowl, only to see my plate slide off my tray in the other hand. Porcelain fireworks spanned the floor around me. In the second of witnessing this, my tray again tilted and the bowl crashed to the other side of me. I looked up to a room of people in hushed silence, all eyes watching me.

      Luckily, the manager came round the corner and broke the tension. I wasn’t responsible for the damages—she understood the congestion around the conveyor belt, I assumed. At that, I quickly made my exit.

II.     Trapped

The next story takes place on Monday, the 13^th of February (Day 37). It was a night I went to UEA Choir rehearsal and as I generally did, I headed off to play in the practice rooms afterwards. The rehearsal went to 9:30 like usual and soon after, I lost track of time playing piano. It was around 11 when I called it a night and decided to leave. I pressed the handicap button, which are strangely used by and large by most people around campus, and the first door opened. Then there is the outer door. I pushed. It wouldn’t budge. I pulled. Nothing. It was locked.

      Frantically, I shook the door as if this would help, but I knew it was futile. I was trapped in the Music Hall. I had thoughts of how I would have to spend the night here, maybe try to sleep on the carpet. I looked down the corridor to what hopefully looked like another exit. It was an emergency one and looked like it had an alarm. I traced my steps back to the front and looked around. To my left was another door labelled ‘emergency exit’ with an arrow. I thought I heard the faintest sound of a band playing in a backroom somewhere. Biting my lip, I went up to the door and entered.

      There was a dark corridor before me, but the sound of the band was louder now. I inched my way straight through and found myself at a door with a dim street light showing through from the other side. I heard the band beside another door, so maybe this was their exit. But it was an emergency one. Oh no, it’s not budging, and what if there’s an alarm and what if I’m stuck here all night and—

      It opened. I let go of my anxious breath and walked out into the night air.

III.    The Carnival Kiss

There is a small club in town named Carnival. I was there with a group of my flatmates on Friday, the 10^th of February, and the air had a ring of holiday love—er, maybe ring isn’t the right word. I’ll settle with ‘subwoofer’. This was the weekend to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

      A girl in a cardboard box came up to me and explained that she was doing a fundraiser for charity, asking for a pound donation and then allowing the donor to kiss her. She asked me and I shook my head, smiling. It came to the point where I explained that I had a girlfriend back home and so I couldn’t. She said, ‘How about the cheek?’ I still shook my head, but I held out my hand to give a donation anyway. But she wouldn’t accept it.

      ‘How about my hand?’ Suddenly I felt like a medieval knight paying respects to a lady of a castle, or in this case one made of cardboard, and I accepted. Her friend and cardboard girl thanked me and went on their way.

IV.   Getting Nowhere Closer to the Arch

It was Day 83, March 30^th, the second night Katya and I were in Paris. Today we had done so much already, from Luxembourg Gardens to the Louvre, but we wanted to visit one more thing: the Arc de Triomphe.

      We set out from the Avenue des Champs-Elyéese and made it to the street just before the arch. The yellow lights made the already majestic arch live up to its victorious title, as it stood utterly beautiful against the black sky. We wanted to get closer. There was just one problem: there seemed to be no crosswalk. Cars upon cars zoomed onto the circular street surrounding the arch.

      We concluded that maybe we just had to walk around to the next street over from Champs-Elyéese Avenue. Maybe there was a walkway there. Nope. We tried the next. Nope. Let’s try for the next!

      ‘Hey, isn’t this familiar?’ Katya asked.

      ‘Um, yes.’ I was confused. We were right back where we started. Then it dawned on me. ‘Wait…we’ve been walking in a big circle!’

      ‘Well, it is a roundabout!’

      We laughed and found an English-speaking person to tell us where to go. The walkway was underground. Oh…that made so much sense.

V.    Jumped

This one happened relatively recently. It starts with the explosive sound of the bedroom door opening and the whispers of Vinnie and a student (friend of another flatmate). I was straddling the line between dream and reality at this point, somehow stuck in this Harry Potter alleyway past midnight while hearing that the student was looking for a place to sleep that night, not liking the floor idea.

      The alleyway lit up and the voices stopped. I heard a shuffle of feet. Who was in the alley?

      Then I felt something next to me, a body, jump onto my bed, back first. The shock left me gasping for breath. The alleyway was on its way out of my mind and I was awake.

      ‘You…scared…the hell out of me,’ I managed. I heard a giggle and frowned. In another moment, the girl left for the hallway and I started to breathe normally again. It took another fifteen minutes, but I finally found refuge in dreams once more.

That concludes the list of untold stories. I hope you enjoyed them. As for today, it was a blank—mostly cleaning and purging my room of the too much stuff I have to bring back. I’ll hopefully find a way. The highlights were the lunch with Sierra, Emily N, Emily H, Marika, and Alex (a last hurrah) and my run—I  went out and managed to get to the Railway Station in the city centre in just under 30 minutes. And after all those times of taking 40-minute bus rides. Gah. Traffic on those narrow streets really does take its toll. I made it back at the same pace, squaring the run off at an hour and 26 seconds. I don’t why I feel like being exact, but it feels good. I was in a good mood the rest of the evening. Oh, Charlie also returned to the flat, another good thing to the day.

Marika, Me, Alex, Emily N, Sierra, Emily H

Day 143, 29 May: City Centre and Stay-In Skype Day

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 143. City Centre and Stay-In Skype Day

We had what should be called ‘the Pathetic Picnic’ this morning. Stef, Helen, Dave, Liam, Kurt, Me, and another guy whose name I’m blanking on. Good bloke, though. Dave brought out a loaf of bread. That was our shared sustenance (Stef used up the last of the peanut butter…and so the rest of us just ate the bread…plain), while a few of us drank pineapple juice. I parted from the group and headed just the extra bit it takes to get into the city centre, through Upper St. Giles Street and found myself at a guitar store. Yesterday, I leaned the guitar against my desk and snap! The high E string exploded in its tension and it was no longer stringed. I bought a new E string today, then a sandwich and mince meat, and sat looking over the city centre from the benches near the City Hall steps.

      I have to be honest. I really miss home. The activity day in and day out is pleasant in its simplicity, its absence of stress and deadlines, but there is also a greater drive to be back after being gone for longer than I’ve ever been gone. 143 days. On the other hand, it’s hard to believe I will be here…for only four more nights, including this one. I’m at the point where I’m ready to go home, but also I know that I will really miss Norwich, UEA, and the people at UEA.

      Today I saw Alvin in proper attire from placement (that is, basically work experience/internship provided through the school), tired after essentially a work day (9-5 or 6pm) and entering the kitchen to eat. Dan cooked up a rad chick pea, chicken, and onion curry with boiling rice. Gemma took breaks from revision in the kitchen. So did Jen. Vinnie was out and about playing Frisbee (most likely Ultimate) with other flats just outside on the lawn between Suffolk and Norfolk Terraces, and his team won. Marie came into the kitchen with her best friend from home, Sarah. Marika and Alex (from Day 41…more than 100 days ago…unbelievable) brought over two frozen pizzas and we shared them. Alex is finally done with finals, I mean, examinations—had one the first day of exams in the final days of April…and one today. UEA has a really long exam period, 5 weeks. Back on kitchen news, James from the neighbour flat stopped by with a shirt for Vinnie for the night, striped shirt with red and white lines. Yep, that’s the theme for the LCR tonight. ‘Where’s Waldo’ (but as he is called in Britain, ‘Wally’, not Waldo) and Smurfs—so random.

      I got a chance to make this a Sunday Skype day as well. I skyped Katya on the spur of the moment, well spur of a 15-minute moment, and we got in quality time. I also saw my parents and my brother too. On skype. In the months I’ve been gone (but not because of it), my brother picked up poi, a fun activity that can be described as…okay, using Wikipedia: ‘as a performance art, poi involves swinging tethered weights through a variety of rhythmical and geometric patterns’. I’m excited to see what it’s like. We both heard about it one 4^th of July in a small former mining town in Trinity County.

      I ended the day with episode after episode of How I Met Your Mother: Season 7. So. Good. 

                                    

Day 142, 28 May: Steady Decline

Heigham Road, Norwich, Day 142. Steady Decline

I know, it's different. I've run out of bananas, as the
cleaning lady Judy had guessed. So I give you this!

I hadn’t known at the time, but Caitlin has also left Norwich for a series of European adventures with her friends and I wished her well via text. Another person is gone, but I also saw today that Joe and Vito have returned from their European adventures. Still, very gradually UEA’s population is on the steady decline as the summer hits.

      I hung out with Marika and Morgana on Morgana’s last day. She leaves tomorrow on a four hour train ride to see her mom and brother in a town in northwest England. Then after hitting England, they go onto continental Europe for more adventures. I wish her the best, especially with her stuffed Narwhal that she got from her boyfriend on Valentine's Day this year, in the mail. It's good to know others pushing through these months of long distance relationships. Bye, Morgana! 

      On our roll around campus, I finally got a UEA T-shirt exchanged for the fourth time—the last times I somehow didn’t believe or didn’t hear the lady say it was a woman’s shirt. We bought ice cream. It was quite a hot day, after all. Dinner we had at Zest, which was quiche good.  I went for a run just before that, winding up in a different district: Cringleford. Out of the blue there was a map in a park. I ended up with a good loop for the run after all.

Me and Kate

      Towards evening, I hugged Morgana good-bye and headed off toward the city centre. Or rather, Heigham Road. Stef’s (and Helen’s and Kate’s and Dave’s and Liam’s and Adam’s) house. It was Kate’s birthday and it was a call for a celebration that evening. Helen was sunburnt, Dave was somehow considered ginger (he has brown hair), Stef is worried about her Shakespeare exam, Helen got fired up about politics (so there are two big parties: Conservatives (once Tories) and Labour Party (replaced Liberals in 20^th century, which were once Whigs) and neither of them are really liberal and both of them are mostly conservative, as Helen told me. There is a more left-wing party, the Liberal Democrats but they are more third-party than anything, based on the current seats.), Adam revealed his dedication to Doctor Who and How I Met Your Mother (good talk), I saw a friend from my 19^th century module, I was dramatic with Wes, Sophie was there and offered a new pronunciation of a word which made no sense to me ‘Californ-I-A’ (yes, pronounce the ‘I’ as ‘I’ and ‘A’ as ‘A’), I met her friends Tahnee (Native American name) and Sarah, and we all walked to the city centre a few hours into the night to celebrate further.

      I slept on the living room sofa at S-H-K-D-L-Adam’s house, asleep by the time I closed my eyes.

Day 141, 27 May: The Waffle House and Otter-Watching

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 141. The Waffle House and Otter-Watching

Yep, this is a waffle.

Outside Mary Chapman--all that white..those are words. It
was an art project on this particular building, Morgana said.

The sun wasn’t unbearable today, thanks to the cool breezes in the fields and streets of Norwich. Marika and I walked to the city centre (passing ‘Morning Glory’ flowers, as Marika pointed out), got lost, and finally found Morgana and had breakfast at The Waffle House, a place that serves almost anything…on waffles. I had a really good hummous (as it was spelled on the menu) and advocado waffle. The three of us proceeded to Morgana’s flat in the city—dorm housing through UEA, but quite far from campus—in the complex named Mary Chapman. I appreciated Morgana’s ‘Don’t Break the Chain’ activity calendar sheets pinned to her wall. Basically, the object is to write on the top of the sheet the name of the activity you want to keep up and every day you do it, you cross off that day. The object is to not miss a day. I definitely want to try this out for myself.

On the Walk

      Marika and I walked back to campus, knowing the shorter way through the city this time, and stopping at Tesco’s for sports drinks to quench our thirst. I miss Gatorade, of all things. Powerade was sold there, but I just have a thing for Gatorade. I tried the British sports drink called Lucozade, the orange flavour, and it was fair.

Second food pic on this entry! Woo!

      Later in the day, I watched How I Met Your Mother once more, and skyped Katya earlier than usual—a 4pm/8am date instead of 6pm/10am one. She was eating breakfast while I was an hour or two away from dinner time. Much later, I cooked up a random assortment of foods from onions to chicken to potatoes to mushrooms and put it all together, topped it off with tikki masala sauce, and put it all over basmati rice. Strangely, almost everyone in the flat had pizza tonight—it really was a blah evening during the sun’s final crusade to keep the air warm and dry.

      Yet finally the air cooled outside and the shade covered the grounds. Marie, Jen, and I decided to go for a walk around the Norfolk Terrace Lake—well, apparently, it’s a ‘broad’ instead of a ‘lake’—and it turned out to be really exciting. We spotted an otter and stood on a jetty/dock for fifteen minutes tracing out the bubbles in the water and predicting when the next time the otter would come up to breathe. We got lucky a few times, but not lucky enough to capture a picture of the otter. Still, we caught a glimpse of the body, the head, and the tail of the otter at various times. Finally, we had to move on.

'Haha, Nettles. Stingy, stingy!'

      Marie mentioned how it feels weird that we all are nearly at the end of our time here. And it really does feel weird. By the end, I will be here for just under 150 days, a bit over a third of a year, and yet I feel like much more of my life has taken place here than that. I feel at home but not in the sense that the home back in America is any less—these are just different homes, different phases in my life: before England and after. Maybe there hasn’t really been that much of a transformation. Maybe I’m just a better cook and night owl through all this. But maybe I’ve learned a few more things that I don’t even know that I know. By the end of the walk, where we saw baby ducklings—well, Marie believed they might’ve been teenagers, rebelling from their parents—and where Jen said, now-famously, ‘Haha, nettles. Stingy, stingy!’, the sun was setting over the broad and the reds and oranges of the sky struck a line over the horizon. It was a good day.

Way out in the distance is Norfolk Terrace. This...is the broad.

                                           

Day 140, 26 May: Wilson's Goodbye and Eurovision

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 140. Eurovision

I couldn’t believe it. Just two nights ago I typed ‘early bedtimes are really my greatest weakness’ and…okay, they still are, but last night was different! 10pm bedtime. As in, asleep. I got up at 8:30 and did all the morning activities and finished at 11. Around this time I skyped Katya in her late night and then went off to the kitchen to say my good-byes to Wilson, or ‘Gum Gum’ as we called him (his name actually has some resemblance to Gum Gum in some odd way that I forget). It feels really odd saying good-bye, but I knew the time was approaching.

Here is finally a[n incomplete] flat picture (Alvin, Charlie, Ryan, Laura, and Laura are missing:
(left to right) Dan, Wilson, Me, Marie, Matt, Gemma, Jen, and Vinnie

Wilson and Me

Eurovision: Lithuanian singer singing 'Love is Blind'

                                 

Eurovision: THE RUSSIANS!

Alvin, Me, Marika, and Morgana

      The day glided by after that and at 8pm, Marika, Morgana, and I headed to the blue bar to watch Eurovision, a singing competition among the European countries and each country has one performance. Russia was by far the most adorable—four Russian old ladies dressed in traditional dresses sang a tune while baking—on stage, mind you—cookies which were done right before the end of their performance (might’ve been already baked, though). The three of us were sitting with Annie, an upstairs neighbour above my flat, and flatmate Laura with her Lithuanian friends. We cheered on Lithuania when that performance came on.

      Morgana, Marika, and mixed our own enchantments for the evening, played card games at first, and then went over to Tom’s flat where I had good talks with Caitlin’s best friend Fiona and others. The night ended at the LCR, perhaps for the last time in my case. I fell asleep the minute I lay on my pillow.

Day 139, 25 May: Short Day

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 139. Short Day

It was one of those days where I didn’t finish morning activities until 1pm. Abs, running, emails, etc. It was a nice day, as it has been most days this week. Wilson, my flatmate, told me after my run that he was leaving tomorrow. The first flatmate to leave. He’s going back to Hong Kong for the summer.

      Today was my brother’s graduation from Christian Brothers High School and I wish I had been there for that. I sent my congratulations.

      I skyped Katya, second day in a row, and that really sums the day up…at 10pm I suddenly was exhausted.

Day 138, 24 May: Ten Days' Notice/ The Photo Shoot

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 138. Ten Days’ Notice/ The Photo Shoot

It has been confirmed. I leave in ten days, not sixteen. Sunday, June 3^rd at 11am I will be leaving London’s Heathrow Airport for Sacramento, California in the US.

      I’m leaving earlier than I initially intended for a few reasons. One, I’ve been done with exams and school for 16 days and my Edinburgh trip was designated to be my last. So the two big reasons for studying abroad, studying and traveling, have come to an end. Of course, there really is more to studying abroad than that—there are the people you meet. But many are leaving. International friends of mine are leaving, one by one (i.e. Days 134 and 135), and my flat will be coming to its last breath as a full flat in the next week. I have other friends as well, but even they are beginning to head home for the summer too. And by leaving at the same time as the flat’s Continental Drift (ha, but really: Wilson to China, me to US, Jen to Wales, Dan to another part of England [Devon], etc.), I feel like I can leave on a strong note before more people break off and go their ways (around the world).

      There are also other reasons, of course: Katya. Family. Being home for a month instead of three weeks (that is, before summer school July 2^nd in Berkeley). I couldn’t help but think about all this when my dad told me yesterday on the phone that he and Mom had discovered that the ticket was refundable. As much as I have grown to really love this place, UEA, the people, Norwich, England, I know that even good things come to an end and that the friendships I have made won’t be that much changed if I leave a week early. They are made already.

      Now the clock is on. Time to make the most of ten days.

Photo Shoot Team

Like yesterday’s celebratory fun, today had a good beat to it. I did abs, ran, showered, shaved, and did errands. Check. I was ready for my photo shoot. Marika was my photographer. The setting consisted of various areas around campus: in the square, outside the library, on the lake, next to the terraces (yup, Norfolk Terrace), and in the wild with trees and baby bunnies in and out their burrowed holes. Sporting my navy blue UEA T-shirt, which I am still wearing as I type this, I smiled and seemed to take better photos with my hands up or animated than down and stiff at my side. I really appreciated Marika’s willingness to help me out. As much as I probably would do this sort of thing without cause, I actually needed photos of me on campus for my scholarship testimonial. At the end, Marika and I grabbed smoothies from the fruit bar in the Hive, above the Union Pub/adjacent to the LCR, and then headed back to Norfolk Terrace. She showed me her window view from her room, and then I returned to my block.

      Tonight I got to meet Marie’s date, from a few nights ago, Steve. Now I need to explain a little background. There is a Stephen in the flat and she dated this Stephen weeks and weeks back, but they had a falling out. This Steve is…I’m afraid I did not learn what he studies, but he is a football goalie and gets along great with people, from what I can tell (I mean, hey, I got along great with him). He made a good first impression.

      I skyped both Katya and my dad today—it felt like Sunday Skype and I was loving it.

      Only bad thing is the late hour upon which I type this in Microsoft Word. Early bedtimes are really my greatest weakness. Good night.

There were moments like this where I just had to take a picture.

                                      

                              And this too.                    

Day 137, 23 May: New Carpet Celebration Day

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 137. New Carpet Celebration Day

Oh, you KNOW it. I was ridiculously happy. (Photo Courtesy of Marika)

I had sent an email to accommodations two days ago, keeping my anger in ettiquette’s grasp. 35 days without a carpeted floor. Yesterday. the response had been more than I had hoped for: they would actually come promptly. My email left on the note ‘please have the contractors come at the earliest possible date’. I don’t know if two days later really is the earliest, but they came just the same. 9 o’clock this morning on the dot. Vinnie and I had to scoot out of the room for two hours, but once it was done, it was…beautiful. New carpet smell, cushion beneath my feet, colours in continuous pattern, ah. Finally.

At Lucky Star with Marika and Morgana

      This carpet was to be the centrepiece of today’s fun, but the fun began elsewhere: Marika and I strolled out of UEA and thanks to Marika’s navigation skills, we found our way to the city centre. We met up with Morgana and made the quick walk over to Lucky Star, a Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet in town. As good as it was for £6.50, I was severely disappointed in the chewy yet indigestible sweet and sour pork. But what really struck me in an odd way was the music. Marika and Morgana made definite note of my degeneration back into a child. The best way to describe the music’s effect would be a fusion of The Wizard of Oz’s poppy fields and The Odyssey’s Lotus-Eaters’ island. I got sleepy and hyped in an odd mix.

I let Morgana play with my
Primark-bought finger lasers!
(Photo Courtesy of Marika)

      After lunch, I grabbed a Starbucks coffee, medium roast (thinking of Nick, Day 132), and then we all walked back to campus in the heat. I pointed out flowers and asked Marika what they were because she had worked at a flower shop back home. Morgana reciprocated the dancing and singing I began while Marika scolded us. All the while, it was a beautiful day, walking through the crowded parks and passing folks on the pavement.

      On campus, we went to my room and celebrated the new carpet! By napping on it. There was enough room too. I didn’t really sleep because I remembered to email Katya at this point, and then we all watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs on my laptop. For awhile after that, we just tossed Vinnie’s mini-soccer ball (fine, football) around the room and talked about life and the fact that everyone has or is leaving to go home soon (Rebecca left this morning, Winnie left yesterday, Mo is gone, Anna left—by the way, she has a blog too and I recommend it: http://anniebe3.tumblr.com/; Oh and Morgana leaves next Tuesday). It’s sad but the reality is, we are pretty much done with the term (yes, some—like Stef in a Shakespeare module—still have an exam unfortunately in early June. Yeah, the uni’s exam period for 5 weeks is no joking matter).

      I cooked a meal in the kitchen, and Marika took pictures as I made it, so unlike the usual photos of my finished product, here’s one of the process, thanks to Marika. Then we gathered into my room, shared some of the food (but the girls weren’t really hungry) and watched Milk, a movie I have been meaning to watch for a long time. It was fantastic—watching Harvey Milk fight for gay rights in the 70s in a politically active role, continuously trying to win the election as city supervisor for district 5 in San Francisco. I have never seen so appealing a movie about political activism as that one.

      Afterwards, I walked Morgana and Marika outside and said good night. It had been fun today.

      In my room, I checked my phone. I had one missed call. Dad. I called back.

      I hung up and one thought lingered: I may be coming home earlier than I thought.  

Um, this is the product of fooling around with
finger lasers, but yes, I know I didn't plan this
well. You see an evil picture of me right after
reading 'I may be coming home early'.
But don't worry. I won't bite. Muwhahaha!

                                                      

Day 136, 22 May: Play Day In Verse, Eh?

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 136. Play Day In Verse, Eh?

The sun came out and so did they

And in the fields they all did play,

Marie and Rach went on a walk;

I joined along for fun-filled talk,

Learning the red of Marie’s hair

Was not in fact always there (once brunette).

Frisbee I played with Caitlin, Vin, and Tom,

Square, then circle, then…something oblong;

James from the flat over, with racket and ball,

Decided the next game for us all:

Throw the ball, swing, next person catches is up

And Ollie joins in and Vin catches the ball, hands cupped.

I play awhile, then head in,

Emails to read and send;

How I Met Your Mother too,

And guitar and reading ‘Towers, The Two’ (Lord of the Rings).

The run grilled me but refreshingly,

The dinner turned out incredibly,

And skype with Katya was quite great

Until the goodbyes that we belate.

I scared Alvin in the hall,

And we laughed about it all,

Bedtime pending at eleven,

Or should it be :07?

Oh yes, and Vinnie once came in

dressed in just one sheet pinned

and here’s the photo

down below.

That is this, a day of playful bliss,

This is the dinner I did make;
My brother Johnathan will say, 'Oh heaven's sake!'
(Another photo of food?)

Here is Vinnie in a blanket white,
LCR is 'Anything But Clothes night'.

Day 135, 21 May: Another Goodbye--Or Two

Norfolk Terrace, Day 135. Another Goodbye—Or Two

Winnie, Rebecca (With her definitely Rebecca 'I <3 Roma' jumper) and Me

I wish I’d had more time—well, we all do, but I wish I had had more time with the people here. My two main activities have been studying and traveling (would blogging count?), which are exactly why I’m here, but there’s something about good-byes that sting. In Berkeley, you can say ‘I’ll see you next year’ and ‘Have a good summer! Tell me all about when we get back!’ That softens the blow. But the four words: When we get back. Even those words are a safety net that doesn’t exist when one studies abroad. The ‘going back’ for internationals is the return to our lives back home, back at the home uni.

       Today I got to say goodbye to Rebecca and to one I’ve just recently met but who is great, Winnie. Marika and I walked over from Norfolk Terrace to the bar to see them. We were at a booth one over from where I said goodbye last night to Mo, which added to the whole impression of one goodbye after another. Rebecca’s mom was there; she flew in today and after so many long hours traveling, Rebecca asked her when she arrived if she’d like to take a walk around the lake. Her mom told me this and I found it funny but great. She did take that walk. As I was on the other side of the booth, I was next to Winnie, and we got into a great conversation about Hong Kong—the tallest building is 110 floors! But there’s something even more impressive about Hong Kong, as Winnie insisted: it’s really small. But that’s deceiving. It’s one of the most densely populated areas in the world! And the 110 floors of one building easily tell that it’s a city that has grown upwards. It was great to hear from her insider’s perspective of the place.

Marika trying out an inhaler

      Earlier today Rebecca invited me over to Zest and I had my last Zest gathering with her and Marika. I’ve had several with them through the course of this semester and it’s mostly been happenstance, seeing them and waving and sitting down to talk. Today was on these topics: the news of Marika’s mild asthma, dreams (strangely Rebecca broke her glasses at the bridge recently and this reminded me that last night I had had a dream where my glasses had broken…at the bridge too), and the meaning of life, of course. Deep stuff. It was fun and I remembered to eat while I was there.

      Otherwise, the day was spent finally catching up on blogging, starting up again at the bookmark I have in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers, taking a walk-run with Dan before the goodbye at the bar, bonding with Marika at the flat above mine (meeting Star and Annie too), and hanging around the flat.

      And so today marks another goodbye and another. And sadly, there’s more to come.

Day 134, 20 May: Another Break Day and A Goodbye

Norfolk Terrace, Day 134. Another Break Day and A Goodbye

Finished Hunger Games.

Made surprisingly two big dishes today: chicken fettucine and beef stroganoff (from canned beef, not as impressive).

Skyped Katya briefly.

Skyped parents.

Blogged SO MUCH but it was the first day where the catching up, I knew, would take longer than a day to do.

Stopped on by the Union Pub to say bye to Mo, yes, I thought last Friday, Day 125, was to be the last day to see him but luckily I got to see him again. Great guy. I miss Dublin. And the swag.

Day 133, 19 May: Traveling with 'Hunger Games'

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 133. Traveling with Hunger Games  

The night was awful. Really awful.

Phase 1: realized my body isn’t adjusted to a ten o’clock bedtime. Stayed up reading.

Phase 2: fell asleep by 1…then a strong Spanish accent keeps going on and on at 3am. I hear a chorus of ‘shut up’’s in the room. Realized I wasn’t dreaming.

Phase 3: Windows were open to air out the 30-person room (and most of the beds were filled). Heard drunken singing and talking from the street. Guy below me closed windows. If there was a smell, I didn’t notice anymore.

Last Look at Edinburgh (and the Hostel) In the Morning

 And to bed. Until 8am. That was four hours of solid sleeping. Luckily, I managed to do well all the same and after a decent breakfast of Scottish oatmeal, toast with jelly, and orange juice, I bore the cold all the way to the Waverley train station situated between Old and New Town in Edinburgh. A glimmer of possibility had arisen this morning that maybe I should go inside Edinburgh Castle, but I waved it away. No offense, but I had seen many castles and having to face the cold (which makes me shiver even with four layers on) for a long time just wasn’t desirable. I felt the first symptoms of a cold today.

            After the initial disorientation, I was on the train at Waverley (I thought of Sir Walter Scott and really, somehow literature appears everywhere on these trips) Train Station and was off.

            The entire time, both the train to Peterborough and transfer train to Norwich, I never slept. I read. At the first hostel, there was a book swap area and one book caught my eye: The Hunger Games. Yes. I traded Jane Austen’s Emma for it. On the train, after finishing the last forty pages of Stephen King’s Different Seasons, I read The Hunger Games. I found it eerie looking at the ad in front of me which said ‘Watch the Games!’ (meaning the Olympics but still).

            Once I made my way to the door of my flat, the first face that greeted me wasn’t human. It was a dog. Gemma’s dog was there for a day and it made for a nice greeting too. Then I saw Gemma, Marie (she heard my voice from the ‘laundry drying’ room), Alvin and Dan. I talked to Matt later in the kitchen about Edinburgh and how it felt like being in Harry Potter, in a way (J. K. Rowling actually wrote her books at the Elephant Café in Edinburgh, but I didn’t see it). Later in the kitchen, in comes Alvin and Dan, fresh from the pub and teeming with excitement that went down in the Champions League Final (football game) between Chelsea and Bayern Munich. Chelsea won and wherever Vinnie was in Edinburgh (he went up today), I knew he was just loving it. After that, I settled down for the night and read more Hunger Games.

Day 132, 18 May: Edinburgh Museums and the Underground City

Budget Backpackers Hostel, Edinburgh, Day 132. Edinburgh Museums and the Underground City

The Royal Mile (Matt was right: I DO feel like I'm in Harry Potter.)

The day began late morning, within the hour before check-out. Caitlin was sleeping on the floor of the 6-bed (3 bunk beds) hostel room, Joseph snoring, Vito sniffling, Nick as quiet as a dormouse, and me lazily having a vivid dream with a tense music atmosphere and odd architectural archways across a city half-resembling Edinburgh. Showered and packed and breakfasted (bread with jelly), we roamed the streets of Edinburgh—Caitlin, Joe, Vito, and I (Nick slept in a bit more since he’s not checking out of this hostel today). Caitlin and I decided to continue up to the Edinburgh Castle in the hellish wind and rain while Vito and Joe stayed around the shops. Once up at the Castle, we took pictures of the front and then walked back down. Paying to have a tour in stone-cold conditions wasn’t desirable.

            Once back down, we joined the boys in Primark Edinburgh—I found what I was looking for, a beanie. The tips of my ears had felt as frozen as  ice for the past hour. As we waited for Vito to finish shopping, I decided to run back first since it was nearing the hour I had planned to meet Nick back at the hostel. A quarter after one, I found Nick in the common room and another quarter hour later, we said our first round of good-byes to Joe and Vito. Grabbing our bags, we all left, parting once we made it to South Bridge: Joe and Vito to the bus stop for a ride to the airport (and then off to sunny and warm Barcelona—I learned later from Caitlin that there were to be thundershowers! Karma for bragging!), Caitlin to her High Street Hostel, and Nick and I to my new hostel, Budget Backpackers on Cowgate Street (there was no room for another night at the previous hostel). There’s a bit of a sting when it comes to farewells, even temporary ones. But I’ll see Joe and Vito again in Norwich.

St. Giles Cathedral

On our journey, Nick was the one to realize that we had passed Cowgate Street—without having seen it. We looked to the edge of the street: we were on a bridge and below us was Cowgate. Edinburgh, in a sense, has two floors.

Once at the hostel and my bags stowed away, I let Nick pick the first tourist sight to see—we decided to team up today since we both wanted to see the city’s museums. First was St. Giles Cathedral. Similar to a conversation I had with Katya in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, we talked about religion and the sense that it’s societally important but also that neither of us cling strongly to doctrine. Still, there is a spiritual vibe encapsulated there within the stained-glass windows and walls of a centuries-old church, the walls holding lists upon lists of war veterans particularly from world wars.

Nick playfully took a shot
of me doing the habitual
unbuttoning-of-my-coat-before
-a-camera-photo. This is in front
of the Writer's Museum sign.

Next was my pick: The Edinburgh Writers’ Museum. It’s located roughly in the area that the celebrated Scottish poet Robert Burns once held tenement oh so long ago. The other two writers exhibited were Sir Walter Scott (he wrote Waverley, the first book I had to read for Nineteenth Century Writing class this semester) and Robert Louis Stevenson (he wrote The Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in less than a week—utterly incredible). Nick found it amusing how all three of them had distinctive pipes and canes; the actual ones they carried were on display. Sir Scott’s was the longest. What a guy.

Museum for the Common Scot

We made a short stop to a fudge shop—Chocolate Peppermint was a good choice. It was now time for Nick’s remaining two sites: The People’s Story and The Edinburgh Museum. I found them vaguely interesting. The People’s Story was a museum devoted to the common man of Scotland. Apparently, as seen from the inscriptions and wall texts, Edinburgh has a rich history of labour unions and civil unrest especially in the industrializing eras—and a strong printing press culture that evaporated by the 1950s. As for The Edinburgh Museum, it seemed oddly organized and nothing stuck out to me as I recall it. Oh except for the wicked rifle rack which Nick pointed out and I joked, as if it was a household object of pride, ‘Oh, have you SEEN my gun rack?’

It turns out this was a Nicholson's Restaurant, like in Day 128.

We met up with Caitlin and her newly made friend Leah, who is at her new hostel. She is apparently from Canada near Nick’s province—small world. She has spent the last few days at her friends’ ranch in southern Scotland, and she told us grisly tales of animal stillbirths and then jolly ones (to make up for it) of a calving she witnessed. We all ordered our food at the famous pub, Deacon Brodie’s Tavern. Deacon Brodie is the real-life Jekyll and Hyde, the one Stevenson based his character off: he was respectable in the day and a thief by night (until he was caught and executed years later). Dinner was food (haha, I’m gonna keep the typo in), but I veered from the healthy path and went for the dark (or medium-cooked) side of a chorizo and boar burger with chips (fries).

We all decided to take the Underground City tour, a tour that shows the real Mary King’s Close. As Nick and I discovered earlier that day, a ‘close’ is a narrow alley and many are located on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. The modern Mary King’s Close has literally been built over the original. The tour guide had a quipped tongue, clipping speeches of the city under the city. It was impressive: the stone rooms were kept in incredibly well-preserved conditions, there was a haunting wax figure of a plague doctor with a beak (the herbs inside the beak supposedly helped the doctor from getting the plague from the air), and just as Caitlin did NOT want to happen, there was a ghost story. The sudden striking of a stick at the end scared the living bejesus out of Leah. Overall I really found it interesting. These vaults are said to be possibly the most haunted in Britain, according to BBC in 2009. We all got a picture near the Close.

At this point, we all had to say goodbye. I won’t see Nick or Leah again in Europe and it made me sad, how people can come in and out of your life in a span of days or hours. But I never doubt that it’s worth it.

Leah, Caitlin, Nick, and Me