something is scratching its way out.

All right, so I just watched The Happening with Crummett tonight, and I’m officially frightened of going to bed. First, you should understand that sometimes I do enjoy a scary movie, though not ones with murderers, lunatics, gore, and/or stupidity.

The ones that I like are ones that have ghosts or freaky things like that–they’re the scariest because who really knows what’s out there?

I’m only writing in this post in the hope that it will slightly assuage my fears. At the moment I have Pop and Frankie around to do the job, but when Frankie goes out again and Dad goes to sleep (Mother dearest has long since been conked out from her Zumba workout), I shall be all alone in our house in silence and in the DARK.

I’m a bit afraid of the dark.

So, I turn on all the lights, and sometimes, I’ll admit it, when I go get a midnight glass of water, I sing to myself. On my way downstairs to the kitchen, I flip on every light switch I pass, and sometimes I walk an extra two or three steps to turn on a light switch that is not on the way.

Some say this is an act of waste, an act of irrationality.

I say that it keeps evil away. When the lights are on, then nothing can get me! If I can actually see what’s going to get me, then I can decide to turn on the ‘Denial’ switch. If I can’t see what’s out there, then my imagination will come up with rather horrific things (I have quite the imagination sometimes; usually only when I wish I didn’t), and the option of flipping ‘Denial’ on is completely ruled out because it’s much harder to turn off something that started out in your brain.

It’s like…cracking open a hornet’s nest outside. You can run inside and block out all cracks to the outside. But if you break it inside, well…then you’re screwed! (I suppose you could run outside, but for the sake of the metaphor and the analogy, let’s pretend you can’t.)

But also, I think light kills evil dead.

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SPOILER ALERT: do not read past this point unless you’ve watched The Happening or don’t care if it is spoiled for you for all TIME.

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So after watching the movie Birds, I had a fear that the birds would suddenly go wild and crazy and try to kill people just because they outnumber us and they can–this is what I learned from the movie.

After watching The Happening, I now have a strange fear of plants. This is because they have the ability to do so should their morphology change and they evolve in particular ways. At one time (two hours ago), I loved the Peak District and the sounds the wind makes as it rustles through leaves and blades of grass. I loved gardens and open fields, lying in the shade of a humongous tree, the smell of the outdoors (plants and other chlorophyll-filled things).

Well, now I’m afraid that the flora of the world has the power to re-route my neurotransmitters to make me commit suicide.

The movie as a whole was interesting, but the thing that kept me hooked and intrigued was the use of scientific facts to make the frightening phenomenon plausible. I hate scary movies that exist just to scare without any explanation about how it could ever be possible. I like to know that the writers thought things through. I like the plot to be well-rounded.

I’m also a science geek and the talk of neurotransmitters, co-transporters, airborne toxins and plants’ ability to rapidly evolve just made me melt.

MOVIE: Adkslls…plants evolve very rapidly…sdlksdksld…They have no defense against humans or other animals; all they can do is change and adapt very quickly. They evolve.

MIKA: Yes, yes that’s true!

MOVIE: Alskdskld…The CDC believes that the toxin is airborne and disrupts the natural pathways of the brain’s neurotransmitters.

MIKA: Oooh…rational reasons! Scientific ones!

MOVIE: Now instead of directing the body to preserve itself from danger, they are instructing the brain to make people harm themselves.

MIKA: Seriously, you needn’t go on any longer. You had me at ‘neurotransmitters.’ You had me at ‘neurotransmitters!’

So, overall, I did rather enjoy the movie, though it was particularly frightening and also a bit gory, which is why it was understandably rated R.

I screamed in horror at some parts, in fear at others, and at the end I was already dreading going to bed. All in all, I guess it made for an ok movie.

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I’ve heard of getting culture shock when you go somewhere new, but I found it odd that the study abroad people said we may also suffer from this upon coming back home. Now that I’m here and have had the entirety of one day to be a couch potato, I’m bored to death and feel like a bum. And to think, I wanted 1.5 weeks.

I know I haven’t written about Manchester yet, but not much happened. I’ll break it down though:

- We left the Annexe.

- Our cabby was talking on his cell phone at first, and then got another call and put that on speaker-phone. I thought he’d tell whoever it was that he had people in the car, but he didn’t. Instead he asked, “So what’d you do last night?” And the guy started swearing as he told his story and the cabby said, “Watch your language. I have nice students in the car.” Turning to us he said, “University of Sheffield right?” to which we responded, “Yes.” He said, “And these aren’t just Sheffield Hallam students, these are University of Sheffield students!” Hallam is a neighbor college within the same city and is known for students who are less bright.

- We got on a train that was supposed to take us straight to Manchester Airport without changes, but there was something wrong with the train so we had to get off at Man. Picadilly and get on another train to the airport. Funnily enough, this ride reflected our ride to Sheffield.

- We found trolleys to push our luggage. I had trouble and ran into the wall about 10 times. I don’t like those things.

- Got to our hotel and took a short nap.

- Went to use the pool and jacuzzi. Had to pay 2.50 pounds to get in! Nice and relaxing evening :o) On the way out I was talking to Catlett and walked into the men’s locker rooms! I was deaf to the “Excuse me! Excuse me!” of the facility official and apologized profusely when I finally registered where I was. He laughed a bit at that, and I was rather horrified.

- We had dinner in the hotel and it was nice chatting for a while. Then we grouped together and watched a Sex in the City episode, and watched Hannibal. That night there was a wedding reception taking place so we heard the loud music outside–this too reflected our trip to Sheffield! The first night we were in the Grosvenor Hotel, there was a club outside with ridiculously loud music.

- Then we went to sleep and left the next morning. Elizabeth and Whitney ended up being on our plane as Catlett and my plane to JFK was delayed, so they put us on the one to Atlanta. Our flight pattern also reflected our trip to Sheffield (Dulles->Atlanta->Manchester)!

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Home

We finally touched down in Dulles and it was so nice! We saw Catlett’s dad first, and he led us to the rest. It was so weird and wonderful seeing the parents again! They looked good and happy and it was so great! I was a bit disappointed to see that Frank wasn’t with them, but I didn’t think much of it at the time.

We chatted a bit and told a few stories, and then we realized that our bags weren’t coming. We got that settled and they were delivered the next day.

Frank wasn’t home when we got there so we went out to dinner at a Korean place. Yum. I was disappointed in Frankie though for not joining in for Fathers’ Day dinner and for not coming to greet me! He was at a graduation party and called briefly to say so:

MIKA: Hi, Frankie! I missed you!

FRANKIE: I’m not coming to dinner. You’re eating Chinese and…I don’t like Chinese so I’m not coming.

I found that odd, but I was too elated at the moment because I was finally home to care too much. Later, however, we got home and soon after that Frank came over with a few friends. It was nice to see him having friends over, but he said they’d all come over after the graduation party because they’d been bored. Maybe I was/am overreacting or being oversensitive, but if he’d been bored, you’d think he could’ve come home and hung out with the family–I’d been gone for four and a half months and it was Fathers’ Day. I was disappointed in him.

I went upstairs to just lie down and relax away from the still-high-schoolers (gosh, I’m a snob aren’t I–shame on me!), and as I went to get my backpack and bring it up, Frank walked in through the small walkway between the table and the wall and wouldn’t move, so we ran into each other. I thought we were joking around (we probably were kind of) and tried to push through, and he pushed back harder (and WON because he’s bigger and stronger now, damnit!), and said, “Are you kidding me?” And I was so offended and hurt by that somewhat condescending comment and attitude that all I said was, “Are YOU kidding ME?!” and walked away.

I suppose I was a bit tired and sad that he didn’t want to hang out after I’d been gone so long, but I got upstairs, was talking to Stu, and just was really sad! I started crying! Goodness. I swear I must be pregnant. Or it’s that time of the month. Umm…I think I’d prefer the latter.

Anyway, talking to Stu:

MIKA: My brother’s changed! He used to stay at home and watch soccer and play with me! Now he goes to parties and drinks all the time and is never home!

STU: Well, that’s good!

MIKA: Well, I’m glad he has friends, but I also liked being one of them!

STU: Aw, I’m sorry, lady. [He calls me lady, but he doesn't use proper punctuation. I added that myself.] Do you want me to beat him up?

MIKA: Haha, no, but thanks

And his offering, even in jest, was still sort of a blow, because no one had ever had to protect me (physically or emotionally) from my brother before (well, not since we were younger and he used to chuck hard things at me). It was an odd realization, and that made me start crying. I tried to calm myself and so I called Cow because she’s always there. I’d told her she could call me the following day as I wanted to sleep that night, but I wanted to talk to someone. She was nice and said it was probably a phase, she’d had a similar one too (of wanting to go out all the time and not be home), and we talked about the behavioral differences, and then, surprise! — Frank came into the room.

He asked if I’d been crying and of course I said no and said my eyes were still hurting, but he sat down and talked to me a bit:

MIKA: I missed you Frankie! And I’m so proud that you’re graduating tomorrow!

FRANKIE: Yeah, so the girls are fighting.

MIKA: What? Now?

FRANKIE: Over the phone. The other group of girls is mad that we didn’t invite them. They’ve been arguing for about half an hour.

MIKA: Why don’t they just come over then?

FRANKIE: Because they’re girls. If they were guys, we’d just be like, ‘Sorry,’ and they’d say, ‘Ok, see you tomorrow.’ And also, the girls have groups–The Core, The Elite, and two other groups. I used to be in The Core, but I got kicked out because I was the only guy and they wanted it to be all girls.

MIKA:…

FRANKIE: I know, it’s weird.

MIKA: It’s middle school-like.

FRANKIE: I’m not going to lie. I’m popular.

MIKA:…

FRANKIE: Ok well, I’m going back downstairs now.

MIKA: Goodnight.

So…brother-dearest, you’ve changed, and I can’t honestly say for the better. Though I’m glad he does have friends and is going out and stuff, I worry that he’s becoming even more shallow than he already was lol — I admit that he was a bit silly before, kind of a bit callous and a bit of a bully sometimes, but never to me! And I love him because he’s my brother, and I always will, but it never crossed my mind that I might not like the person that he becomes. He’s always been my best friend. We’ve argued a lot–perhaps every single hour of the day since we were little, but that changed when I left for college. We became more civil! And I think this is hitting me even more because it all changed while I was gone–I didn’t get to see the gradual change, which I may never have noticed, but I do notice it, and that’s the problem.

Over the past year he’s gotten more sarcastic and silly–it’s quite hilarious, but I think it’s going over the top. Especially in the way he acts around Mom and Dad, especially Dad as they’ve never had a good relationship once Frankie passed the age of six. He also uses their credit card for everything. We’re supposed to use that card just for gas and groceries, but he uses it to buy food all the time–and he eats every meal out, so it’s really just abusive. He uses his own money on alcohol, and that’s all he buys! Silly boy. They should take away that credit card. It’s going to max out, and I will never be able to get gas with it.

OH YEAH.

And he’s also using my CAR! He put the key on his lanyard and never drives the Honda anymore! My poor car! The Honda used to be mine, but then Frankie needed a car so I got Dad’s and he got mine. He played penny wars with it at school–he and his friends would throw pennies at one anothers’ cars–how HORRIFYING. He says the Honda’s a piece of junk, but it’s an ‘01 Civic with maybe 40,000 miles on it! And it’s nice! Urgh. That makes me scared about what’s happened to my car. I’m going to inspect it tomorrow, granting that he doesn’t steal it.

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Separation anxiety

Since I was young I’ve suffered from a mild case of separation anxiety. I was talking about it with Mom today when I told her I was missing everyone from the Annexe, and she said I’d always been like that. When we used to go to my lola’s (grandma’s) when I was really young, she said I’d burst into tears and walk around blindly with my arms held up, and she’d laugh incredulously saying, “Don’t be silly! I’m not leaving you!”

Because Dad works at the World Bank, we get what’s called ‘Home-Leave.’ It’s a benefit through his bank that lets him take his family to the Philippines every year with an allowance that they give him. They changed it a couple of years ago to every other year, but we’d usually go in January, and we’re going this summer as well.

Anyway, I’d always end up missing three weeks or so of school for this vacation, and whenever we came back, I could never sleep because I’d be up all night crying. Seriously, it’s the oddest and silliest thing ever, but I’d feel just horrible, even with them just a room away, at the thought of leaving them. I’d hate to go to school and be separated after being with my family every single hour of every day for those three weeks! I honestly do understand that there was no reason to feel like I was being pried apart from them by having to go to school, but the thought of it made my insides wrench and it made me sick and scared and sad.

I missed the first few days of pre-school because I couldn’t let go of Mom.

I’m not so bad now.

Going to college was hard–I was homesick toward the beginning, but then it became so much fun. I was also worried about going abroad because of this, but I think I’ve somewhat grown out of it. Though I do find it difficult being away from everyone at the Annexe–I miss them all so much and still remember what it’s like to have those 50 or so people there at all times somewhere nearby. I miss knowing that around 5:30-6:00pm, we’d all slowly trickle out of our rooms to head to The Edge for dinner, and I miss having that to look forward to after a long and boring day. It was a moment of socialization and a break from work or boredom that I had every day.

I miss that, and I miss everyone, and I feel the urge to walk around aimlessly, crying with my arms held up and my eyes shut, wishing all of the people at the Annexe were still around to say, “Don’t be silly, I’m not leaving you!”

But I am, and they have, and gosh, it’s still that hard.

It’s10:13pm, eastern time, whaaaaaaaaat? Yup! I’m back in the States again, loving the smell of clean air–not that I ever thought that air here was particularly clean, but in comparison to the walk down Fulwood Road, Sheffield, with a bus passing by every two minutes shooting enough exhaust fumes to blacken a person’s lungs with one inhalation, the air here smells quite nice.

All right, so this post has two main parts (it had four, but it got too long and I got too tired of writing):

1) The last day in the Annexe: Annexe Wellfare (farewell haha) BBQ

2) June 14th, the day everyone got kicked out of the Annexe

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The Annexe Wellfare BBQ: goodbye Manics, so long Poundtown

Steve, our BBQ coordinator and host, created the invite for the BBQ with a wonderfully heart-felt description that seriously brought me close to tears. It was funny because he called it the Annexe Wellfare BBQ, not realizing that he hadn’t written ‘farewell’ — I’d thought it was a joke, but apparently not! It’s endearing now.

Anyway, June 13th was the last day everyone in the Annexe would officially be in Sheffield. June 14th was the day we all had to move out of the Annexe by 10am, and almost everyone was leaving that day, some were staying, some were continuing to travel, but overall, everyone was going on their way and our days as the Manics in the Annexe/Poundtown would be over.

I had finished packing the night before and ended up getting up at around 8:30am because I couldn’t sleep and felt sick still. Additionally, Stephan was leaving at 2:30pm so I wanted to hang out with him as much as possible on that day as well. He came up and hung out in my room while he wrote messages in Heat and Frannie’s journals, then we walked Heat to The Edge, and then continued and went to the union where I wanted to buy a T-shirt and Stephan wanted to find a Sheffield present for his best friend’s girlfriend’s birthday.

I ended up making three separate purchases at the union shop:

- T-shirt

- Lanyard

- Teddy bear

I suppose I’m a bit of an impulse buyer, but mostly it’s that I think I wanted pieces of Sheffield to bring back home. Stephan got his friend a T-shirt.

We got back to the Annexe and I napped for a bit before going outside with some people at around 1:45pm. It was so strange saying bye to Stephan so early! His sister’s graduation was the next day, otherwise he said he’d have wanted to stay longer. As it was, his cab came to get him and because it was the beginning of the BBQ, there was a crowd of perhaps 15 people outside to say goodbye. He hugged every one of us, even Brandon NM who came speed-walking up the Annexe driveway from Somerfield just in time.

Just before he hopped into the cab his parting words were, “I’m going to blitzkrieg the stewardess!” And then he was off. After he left there was an obvious wilting of everyone present, despite the good weather and bright sunshine. He was a favorite.

Soon, however, it began to liven up. The grills were heating, people from Opal 2 wandered over our way, the Annexe kids wrapped up their packing and headed outside, and the clouds (of course, because it’s England and our last day) rolled in. Just as the first round of meat was set on the grills, it began to rain. Holly, Anders and I were sitting on the couch and made a mini-tent with a sleeping bag to keep the rain off, but soon it started to drain through the seams and we were forced to join the others under a canopy of trees in front of the Annexe and in the Annexe itself.

I alternated between watching some of the Euro Cup matches and chatting outside on the couches, which were moved under the canopy.

After we ate and it began to get darker and everyone became drunker…that’s when the real festivities began.

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We thought someone was going to end up in the hospital, or perhaps the graveyard

Fireworks

When it got dark, Steve and Troy wanted to break out the fireworks, but the group was worried about the repercussions of setting them off as they weren’t allowed.

EVERYONE: Someone might get arrested! We might get charged for burning the Annexe down!

TOM: We should burn the Annexe down. It’s shit.

STEVE: If we don’t light these fireworks, the terrorists win!

That pretty much decided it, and we planted them in the ground and lit them in two rounds. There was a huge ring of people around it, cheering, and it was glorious. Everyone’s spirits were lifted, the fireworks were beautiful and shot off into the sky, and to me the sound and sight of the fireworks going off always reminds me of special days at home. Now it will also remind me of our last BBQ on the lawn of the Annexe, everyone crowded around to watch them shoot up into the air, hugs and cheering. Some people started singing the American national anthem, which kind of took away from the experience as it wasn’t about the US (Heather was quite angry about that and tried telling them off, but you can’t stop them singing the anthem once they’ve started of course!), but about the Annexe and all of the international students together. It was still so great though.

Steve, Troy, and the others seemed to be a catalyst in that they set off much more than just fireworks. After the light show was over, then it seemed like everyone was suddenly so much drunker and more excited and hyper and determined to make the night the most memorable one possible.

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Bush #1

Here comes the craziness:

First, Catlett finally fulfilled his desire to go bush jumping. Apparently he’s a pro, and he showed everyone it was true by demonstrating his expertise on two occasions that night. To begin with, he taught Brandon NM and Craig how to properly be a lunging stepping stool to launch him into the bush, and the set-up was that of a cheerleader being prepped for a jump. Heat has pictures of that. He did that a lot and it was pretty terrifying.

He drew quite a crowd–I don’t know if it was the craziness of such a random act, the excitement of a possible death on the last night at Ranmoor, or the fact that everyone was merely drunk and was joining the circle because of the crowd mentality. Anyway, I’d never seen anything like it, and he definitely got some mad air. There were flips and jumps and twirls.

After one jump, there was silence, and then we all heard Catlett’s voice call out of the middle of the humongous bush:

CATLETT: (in a small voice from within the bush) I’m not touching the ground!

And then there was a mad dash of everyone with cameras to the small hole that Brandon and Craig opened up so we could see what had happened and what in the hell Catlett was talking about and if he was still in one piece. There he was, sitting folded in half with his head and his feet pointing up, cradled in branches, not touching the ground just as he’d declared.

Some people thought he was drunk, some perhaps crazy, but I know it was a bit of both and also because he gets hyper because he’s a child.

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Bush #2

Then he decided that the huge pine tree beside the stoop of the Annexe was another bush he wanted to jump into, and flipped into that one twice (he smelled like pine trees afterwards; I suppose that’s one way to smell nice). Because it was surrounded by concrete, he got some genuine worriers (Gazaleh and Martin) to step up and try to talk him out of whatever craziness he was going to attempt next. He did not use Brandon and Craig for this one, which was a blessing, but he decided against using them only after the protests:

CATLETT: Bush number two, here I come!

CROWD: Crazy American!

GAZALEH and MARTIN: Please don’t do it, that’s concrete you’ll fall on. That’s hard stuff!

GARRETT: Catlett, you are a golden god!

CONCRETE: I will eat you when you splatter yourself on me.

MIKA: You’re not the one who’ll have to tell your parents why you didn’t make the flight home! And why you’re in a hospital! Or dead!

CATLETT: Bush number two, here I come!

And he did go. And then he went on to another stunt. Well, a few more.

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The Master-Blaster

Ok, I’d never heard this term until Stu related its meaning to me. First, I’ll explain what it is. It’s from Mad Max (the weird movie with Mel Gibson), and the Master-Blaster consists of two people. There’s a little guy (the brains/Master) sitting on the shoulders of a humongous guy (the brawn/Blaster). All right, so Catlett gets on top of the pedestal at the end of the stoop’s staircase and beckons over to Swedish Anders.

Anders is 6.8 feet tall. Do you see where this is going?

Now, I should also mention that Anders had four bottles of wine, and though there is quite a lot of him height-wise, he’s a rather skinny guy, and he’d eaten only a cup of yogurt and two baby meat-sticks all day. So saying he was drunk is a bit of an understatement. To clarify his state further, he played frisbee not long before this Master-Blaster fiasco and looked like a baby giraffe what with his slipping, sliding and falling over on the wet grass.

So up Catlett goes onto Anders’ shoulders and Anders takes off, walking around, tilting and wobbling and goodness, I swear that CONCRETE was going to get another chance at eating Catlett. And perhaps Anders as well.

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Taking Romeo and Juliet to the next level

This story too involves Catlett. I was chatting with some people and then Heather spins me around and there Catlett is on the balcony of the second floor. This balcony stands above the door of the Annexe, connected to nothing and essentially just decoration. And there’s Catlett standing on the outside of it, knocking on Marta’s window, utterly shocking Marta and her friend, and then opening the window, and climbing through.

To make matters worse, he was rewarded with generous applause. I swear the world was going crazy on this night. Either that or everyone was completely off their rockers with booze, or…well, those are really the only two options that are logical to me at the moment.

Anyway, he came down, was still greeted with applause, and then he went and did it again. Yeah.

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Slip ‘n Slide

There was a red blow up couch on the lawn, it had rained…of course that means people would somehow fashion a quasi-slip ‘n slide. It was cool! I even tried it! And Teja, and Amanda, and of course Catlett started it, and some of the other boys too.

And then I walked away when they said, “Let’s make a ramp out of the table!” They did so, Catlett did it over and over and got some air with this one too.

I forgot to mention that Ben recorded all these crazy escapades on video too, and we hope to see them on YouTube soon.

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Surfin’ USA

While I was at Padrino’s for the last time with Garrett and Freyah, Heat, Craig, Steve and Brandon NM apparently did a bit of surfing. They used the picnic table, carried it to the top of the manor’s stoop, got on the underside and held onto the legs for support.

Then they proceeded to launch themselves down the steps for some Stoop Surfing.

I don’t know how much more ridiculous and awesome that could get.

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End of the night/break of dawn

Anyway, the rest of the night involved awesome music (70s and 80s music) that everyone sang along to and danced to (we had a huge circle of dancers and Craig and Brandon OK were dancing like crazy all night). It was so fun and wonderful and just the best night ever that will always be etched in my memory, crazy, frightening goings on included. It’s probably because of all that that it will always be in there.

Some people stayed up to the crack of dawn. I saw it light up and and tried to beat the light by shutting my eyes before it hit me.

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For Good: last goodbyes on June 14th

I didn’t think I’d cry, I really didn’t. That morning I woke up feeling sick still, tossed all my trash, and then brought my suitcases outside.

RALPH: Mika, are those your bags?

MIKA: These bags I’m pulling? Why yes, yes they are.

RALPH: They’re bigger than you. You could fit inside. It does not make sense because your clothes should be smaller than normal.

MIKA: Hmm…I suppose that is true, Ralph. I have no idea what is going on. They’re also both overweight.

We got kicked out at 10am, so that morning on Saturday, June 14, everyone was outside in front of the Annexe, watching as cabs pulled in and took us away one by one. It was as if we were all being hauled away to war or prison, each one of us. Or (as Dad said after I told him about this morning) it was like an MTV’s The Real World goodbye/finale episode. So very true. Spirits were down, faces were wet, tissues were soaked, and boys were laughing.

The first couple of cabs hauled Teja, Miriam, Alli, Holly and Gazaleh away, and as soon as the cabs pulled up and I saw Teja and Holly begin grabbing their things, I was surprised to find myself starting to cry. It snuck up on me.

Then I went with Elizabeth, Michal, Catlett and Luca to go drop off our keys and swipe cards at The Edge, and I cried all the way down there. It was weird. I stopped when we got there, but we ran into Garrett at the top of the hill just before reaching Fulwood Road, and we were going to leave before he got back from breakfast, so we had to say goodbye.

GARRETT: I guess we need to say goodbye now, then.

MIKA runs in for the hug.

MIKA: No!

GARRETT: Yup, I’m sorry, Mika, but we have to.

I swear that my protest sounded like I was five, and Garrett’s response sounded like he was a parent enforcing the ‘eat your vegetables’ rule. I didn’t care. I’d started crying again, and he was staring at me a bit so I think that shocked him. You’re not the only one, buddy.

MIKA: Well, don’t get yourself killed in the Middle East.

GARRETT: (nodding thankfully) Oh right, thanks–I’d better write that one down. Anything else? What about my things? Should I let people just take them or…

MIKA: Haha, smartass. (starts crying again)

So sad. I’ll miss his wit and quick, clever banter. He did promise me quite a few times toward the end there that he’d make it to the States in a few years.

Then we passed by Martin, Lukas, Pearson and Corey, and I cried again. Seriously, these waterworks were ridiculous. I felt like an exploding faucet every time someone new showed up. Oh! There’s another person! Water spraying all over the place.

And then we were up and loaded onto our cabs, and that was that.

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Can’t beat it.

I’m going to be cliched, but I’m going to explain why too. I’m going to put in lyrics, but they’re from a song that some of us thought reminded us of the Annexe–this song in addition to Frannie’s “Giants in the Sky.”

I’ve heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don’t know if I believe that’s true
But I know I’m who I am today
Because I knew you…
I have been changed for good

- “For Good,” Wicked (Original Cast Recording)

Ok, that’s over.

Anyway, this entire experience has made me Wicked Happy (Catlett’s term). I’ve heard from a bunch of different people that studying abroad is an amazing experience, but that really doesn’t do it justice. It’s been the best time of my life. I’ve gotten to know people across the nation and all over the world, and having connections and friends who are so different, who’ve been brought up so differently, getting to know these people, is an inexplicably wonderful thing.

Tito Darren emailed me toward the middle of the term saying, “Hopefully this won’t be the trip of your lifetime, but I am sure it already has been memorable.”

I hope it isn’t the climax of my life either, but it’s going to be an extremely difficult experience to beat.

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Goodbye, Ranmoore House Annexe (so formal).

Goodbye, Manics in the Annexe (so dubbed by Garrett that first week).

Goodbye, Poundtown (misunderstood word by Steve).

Goodbye.

Whoever said ’sorry’ seems to be the hardest word? (It was Ray Charles, but who’s name dropping?)

Saying goodbye, part 1

It was weird going to Dublin Wed.-Thurs. at this time because we’d had to say goodbye to Frannie and Amy the night before. I’ve been exhausted and a bit sick, and of course not sleeping enough makes me sicker. However, I had to stay up to say goodbye–I couldn’t not do so!

Franny and Amy were pretty much the first batch of my closest friends here that had to go. Stephan leaves today (Fri.) :o( and everyone else pretty much leaves tomorrow. It’s so awful! Someone was saying it was almost like people falling off a tree one by one and I can’t stand that image. Urgh–it’s too utterly depressing.

I know I’ll see Franny again–we’re all going to have a reunion and I’m going to go to Chicago and they’re coming to Virginia Tech, but it’s so sad to watch her leave! She said goodbye at 6am the next morning and woke me up (I wanted her to!), and she was crying and it was the saddest thing to see!! I’d only ever seen her cry once before and that was horribly sad too.

Amy was also very emotional on Tuesday–we watched a bit of Pride and Prejudice together for old times’ sake as we’ve been movie buddies, more so toward the end of the semester, and it was so sad–not a very lively or chipper movie at all, and it rather seems depressing in such a circumstance. I do know, however, that I’ll see her again as well–in September she’s coming to the states to watch the Virginia Tech vs. UNC football game (American football match, yeah? haha) and all the Tech people are going down to UNC to watch it as well :o) I at least have that to look forward to. And also, I’m hoping to go to Toronto with Pop when he goes for his annual World Bank conference up there.

Then I also realized that I had to say goodbye to Melanie as she was leaving on Thursday before Teja and I got back from Dublin. It was so sad to see her cry! For some reason, my mind never pictured Melanie being the sort of person to cry at goodbyes, but as Amy and I watched Pride and Prejudice, Melanie sat down in the hall to study (the light in her room was out), and she started to cry because she had to study in the midst of goodbyes to everyone. I completely understood her frustration, and it was just the saddest thing seeing her cry there in the hallway with her laptop on her lap and notes scattered around her. She’s a UNC girl, so I will see her in September as well, but still, very sad saying goodbye. She cried too the next morning before Teja and I took off for Dublin :o(

Though I know I’ll see these particular three girls again eventually, it was still very sad knowing that it won’t be in the same situation–we won’t be living together again, won’t do all the things we do together again. It’ll be a short meeting to catch up, and I feel like that’s all it’ll be from now on with everyone, just meetings to catch up. It won’t ever be the same. Even if we do set up a reunion, there will be some people who don’t show up or who have prior engagements or something. These are our last days together like this. It really is an end.

Teja and I were talking about saying goodbye to those three yesterday and how depressing it was–many tears were shed. It was also the girls’ slumber party, but we spent time in the hallway upstairs with the boys too as the girls said their goodbyes. Anyway, we began our trip to Dublin exhausted and with goodbyes bringing us down.

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Dublin: charming accents, seeing the city, chit-chat over coffee, a sex in the city experience, and meeting up with garrett and cousin

Yesterday Teja and I got back from our half-day trip to Ireland. We left in the morning on Tuesday, arrived at around 1:30pm, and left at about 10:30am yesterday (Wednesday)–got a bit of heat for it, but I don’t care, I just wanted to see Ireland before I left for good.

Dublin was fun! Despite going and arriving with goodbyes making us sad and goodbyes looming over us toward the end of the week, we touched down in Ireland, walked to customs and decided this trip was good after all! Yes, we were leaving at a crucial time, but Wednesday was a halfway mark in the week and all we were really missing out on were more goodbye sad faces and being in the Annexe when a couple of people are already gone.

It ended up being an awesome day! It did rain, but I suppose we got the full Irish experience that way. We got off of the plane and walked towards customs and were momentarily stopped when we heard an Irish construction worker within the airport. We turned to each other and both about melted to the floor haha! Their accents really are just that charming!

The next taste of Ireland we got were from the customs officers themselves!

CUSTOMS OFFICER: And how long will you be in Ireland?

MIKA: Um…just one night.

CUSTOMS OFFICER: (looks up from passport and stares) Just one night?

MIKA: He…he…yes…please don’t think I’m a terrorist or drug dealer.

CUSTOMS OFFICER: I don’t think I can let you in then! Only one night in Ireland! (shakes head)

And a similar conversation was had with Teja as well by another officer too haha! He was funny.

We went around to see all the sites in the city–Trinity College, Grafton St., Dublin Castle, ate at a classic diner, saw the Medieval Quarter, the Law Quarter, and some other stuff. It was funny because looking at the map of Dublin Castle, we saw that there were gardens and in the middle looked to be a maze in the shape of some sort of celtic symbol. We went to that because we wanted to frolic in it, only to find it was a circular lawn with brick laid down in that shape! Then it began to rain, we became cold and miserable and found a little coffee shop to chat and gossip a bit about the Annexe.

We then walked around until we had to meet Garrett and his Irish cousin at 9pm, and earlier in the day we’d seen a long line outside of Clery’s, a department store, and disregarded it. However, as we had tons of time, we walked in there as we passed by just for kicks.

A lady with a clipboard approached us and asked, “Are you girls on the list?” to which Teja replied, “No.” The lady smiled and sort of shrugged saying, “Oh that’s all right, you can go on in!” We looked at each other, shrugged and walked past her to be greeted by a man in rather formal waiter attire with a tray in one hand with champagne twinkling at us. “Champagne?” he asked, and after glancing at each other in excitement, we both thought, hell yes, champagne! and got a glass each. We then saw a bunch of people serving other mixed drinks, Irish coffee in little shot glasses, and an assortment of food! There was also a dessert bar with little desserts :oD

It was an event for make-up companies, and it took up the entire first floor of the store. All make-up was 15% off, and they were doing demos on people! Teja and I jumped on that after we ate a bit. I went to Smashbox and they did my foundation, eyes and gloss on the lips. They did this cool thing with an anti-shine and moisturizer that kept the foundation on for a long time and kept my face from getting oily and the makeup from melting off–I want to go buy it at home. They sell that stuff in Sephora as it’s a Los Angeles-based brand.

Afterwards we met Garrett and his cousin on the O’Connell Bridge. That was fun :o) We went to a pub in the Temple Bar district and met up with one of the cousin’s friends. Those two plan on opening an Irish pub in New York and apparently have a failsafe name for their pub that they wouldn’t disclose. They had to leave around 11pm to catch a train back home, so Teja and I walked around a bit more and ate food. Then we slept and had a horrid day getting back to Sheffield as our plane was delayed by an hour and I was feeling absolutely miserable with a sore throat, headache, tired eyes, and just overall fatigue.

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Packing, and last day in Sheffield

I finished packing last night pretty much and today is the Annexe Wellfare BBQ (hosted by Steve) and everyone sort of has mixed feelings about it–BBQs are so fun, but at the same time, this is our last day all together so everyone’s going to be so sad and depressed :o( And Stephan is leaving today — booooo!

Ok, I really don’t know what else to write except sentences that will contain the words ’sad’ and ‘depressed,’ so here’s the end of this post. Perhaps there’ll be one later.

Goodbye :o( what a sad word.

I say continent because I won’t be in England for a day–Wednesday to Thursday Teja and I are heading to Ireland, my last attempt at seeing the entirety of the UK before I go back to the states.

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Today:

I woke up this morning (“and the sun was gone…”) and my eyes were still red. It was the reason I got little sleep last night, as I’m paranoid and perhaps something of a hypochondriac in addition to being a partial germophobe and suffering from OCD. Is this my hypochondriac-ism in play?

Anyway, I got up at around 10:40am (WOW, right? Everyone was shocked, just shocked. It was funny) and looked up the university health service. They’re closed, as is everywhere else in England on Sundays, so I called the NHS hotline that they recommended on the website. After answering a number of questions about my possible ailment, they told me to go to the pharmacist to get an over-the-counter drug. Encouraged (at the fact that they did not immediately have me set an appointment), I got dressed and walked to Boots, which was of course closed.

I bought, get ready for it…food. What else would make me feel a bit better? After going to Somerfield I came back. Frannie and I went to go get tickets for The Last Laugh, which plays in the Raynor Lounge in the union tonight, and then Amy and I watched Interview with the Vampire.

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Yesterday: Pemberly, Leadmill

Elizabeth, Melanie, Amy and I went to Pemberly for a day trip yesterday to see the Chatsworth House, where the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire live. It is a famously grand and enormous estate and via bus only takes 45 minutes to get to. It is also famous for being Mr. Darcy’s estate in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice with Matthew Macfayden and Keira Knightly. I LOVE that movie!

It was cloudy that morning and a bit chilly when we arrived, but it was still so exciting and exhillerating being on this glorious estate. The mansion was humongous and so stately-looking, exactly what I pictured a good old English mansion would look like! The grounds were so well-kepmt, neatly mowed without a trace of litter!

We got into the house and gardens for 8.25 pounds (with our student discount, a bus ticket and voucher). The house was humongous with countless rooms, and those were just the ones we were allowed to see. The furniture was classical-looking, the red carpet making it all seem so classy and expensive, and the wooden floors were so grand! The chandeliers were all very detailed, and one in particular was the cavendish one with the deer heads and antlers–fake of course, or so I hope. We now have a greater appreciation for our favorite bar down West Street, The Cavendish, where a deer head and antlers decorate the sign up front. We learned a bit more about the Cavendishes, as well as the Duke and Duchess.

There was also a room with statues, the white sculptures that are reminiscient of Greek or Roman ones, and in that room was Mr. Darcy’s bust. Lovely! I think that was my favorite part of the house, because I am a complete geek and love the movie and therefore love its props. The statue was only there because of the movie, but I think also because it makes me happy being there. We took a number of pictures with various poses of us looking up at him dreamily and pretending to kiss him, though after looking through pictures once again and reading comments, I believe I was in dire need of a stool to reach his face.

Afterwards we went into the gift shop where I was determined to purchase a copy of Pride and Prejudice, but the only copies available were with pictures of the film on the cover, which I didn’t want. I instead got postcards and fudge. Yum. We then picnicked on the lawn, did cartwheels and took silly pictures, and then we hiked up the water cascade. The water wasn’t too cold and it was gorgeous and slippery. Tons of fun!

Then we walked through the gardens in search of the labyrinth. On our way we saw the vast fountain beside the mansion, the setting in which the last scene of the movie took place. Absolutely breathtaking! It was funny because there was a duck who kept dunking the top half of its body into the water to eat something down there, and he apparently had a bit of trouble because he did it over and over again, his rear end sticking vertically up in the air and his legs almost coming out of the water! It was so hilarious!! I took a few pictures of that, though I wish I’d taken a video as it was so funny to watch him do over and over!

On the wayt ot he labyrinth, there was this humongous cup and, feeling like I was truly in England, I linked the cup with the trophy in the middle of the maze from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I ran to it and there are pictures to show that I WON!

We then made it to the labyrinth, got legitimately lost when we didn’t plan to do so as we had only 30 minutes left before our bus arrived, and finally figured out the trickiness of the landscape architects who designed it. We also pretended to be in Harry Potter again, gosh, that made me so happy haha! And found sticks to use as wands, pretended to duel in the middle of the maze, and made our way out.

Great times were had by all and it is now one of my favorite places in Europe :o)

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That night we went to the Leadmill, my first time there, and it was dead empty when we arrived, but it soon filled up with people and was lively, loud, stuffy and fun until early the next morning. :D Good times.