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Monday, I finally had TEA AND CRUMPETS!! Officially feel like I am immersed in the culture now ;P Ellie’s parents have been wanting to do a family trip to Spain for a while, so they came to meet up with her here before heading off to Barcelona! They were very nice and it was good getting to talk to them. Obviously, no one could ever even come close to comparing to my parents, but it was comforting to talk with them just because of the fact they were parents. I guess, I don’t know how to explain that one… but yeah a lovely afternoon with them (:
Tuesday I went to mass for the feast day of Saint Charles of Borromeo! This was also at the Franciscan Study Center so it was really cool. As if that wasn't enough to give me flashbacks of Rome, I talked to some Italians! After mass they had a dinner of soup, traditional baked potatoes and mulled wine to do a pre-celebration of Guy Fawkes Day. After dinner, we watched a short (hilarious) video about the strange holiday. Found it on YouTube actually! It's pretty well done so check it out if you 'fancy'. (http://youtu.be/EMLHau_rBJ8) It was good to watch too to get a little more background about the infamous day.
As for actual Guy Fawkes Day, I spent the majority of it with Charlemagne. I had an essay due and (if you are my parents or a teacher, you can skip this next part) I procrastinated on it pretty bad...It was due on Friday but I was leaving for Scotland Thursday... So, I could not put it off any longer. I went into town to one of my favorite cafés with the intention of pumping out the rest of my essay (I got a tea that made me feel like I was at The Merch!). I found my focus and was gettin stuff done when I got a message from Christian Bale. I had left my coat in his car on Saturday when he chauffeured me across the country. He said he was going to come and return it to me so I had it for Scotland.
Welp, coat delivery led to a whole afternoon of Batman instead of Charlemagne. He insisted on taking me to lunch and I was making good progress on my essay so I agreed (only I didn't agree to him paying so I snuck down and paid before he could muahaha because technically I still owe him). Just when my nice act started to repay my debt, he made me it so I was back to negative. I'll save you the story but long explanation, short- he had a weird desire to buy me something. For some reason, this something had to be shoes. Why? I really don't know but I'm telling you guys he would not take "no thank you" for an answer. With the exception of my great grandma (love you Grandma Riska. Miss you <3), I don't know that I have met anyone more stubborn. He was so set on buying me new shoes before Scotland, so we went into what seemed like (or maybe really) all the shoe shops in town. Because I wasn't planning on caving and accepting this unnecessary gift, I was just walking into these stores and not really looking at any shoes to seriously get. He was getting frustrated with my difficult-ness and was ready to just pick a random pair of (£120) boots. This really would have not been okay with me so I caved and picked out a pair of high top Vans looking shoes that were significantly cheaper. In all honesty, these would be much better for Scotland than my regular Vans but I still felt bad he bought them for me…
By the time we got done with our ridiculous shoe shopping, the cafés were starting to close. So I headed back to campus to try to get it done there. I was kind of bummed I didn’t get it done earlier though because, of course, that night there was a big Guy Fawkes Day celebration in town with fireworks (There would be a bonfire on the weekend). It was my own fault that I procrastinated and now I was taking the responsibility for it. However, my sweet friend Kotryna (who is secretly very stubborn as well) somehow convinced me that I could not possibly NOT go to one of the biggest nights in England. Plus, I was getting very forceful, boarder-line scary snapchats from Mariah telling me I better go or she would be eternally upset with me (and couldn’t have that as she was already mad at me for taking one of her favorite sweatshirts with me…) So, yet again, I left Charlemagne and went into town. Here is where the story gets very anti-climactic. By the time we got down there, the event was well under way and you had to buy a ticket to even get in. Given that I really couldn’t stay down here long because I seriously had to get that essay done before 8 o’clock the next morning, we decided for plan B. Instead of going to the actual event, we got some burritos (because Kotryna had never had one before!!) (oh and PS, nowhere near as good as Taco del Sol burritos). We awkwardly ate our burritos while walking around attempting to watch some of the fireworks. I know, kind of a lame Guy Fawkes Day story :/ So put it on the calendar for next year- bonfire at my house!
Got back, packed, and wrote a very sad excuse for an essay before resting up for the long weekend ahead of me.
Keep Calm and Don’t Procrastinate!
Keep Calm and Burn Down Parliament.
Thanks for reading!
Elyse