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.
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