It's Not ALL Fun and Games

TGIF! Happy Friday! Hope your week has been awesome, and that your upcoming weekend is even better! So today, I figured that I will give a slightly humorous account of several of the less-than-sexy occurrences of the the past week or two so you don't all seethe with envy every time I post. ;) Not to worry, all is well, but here is a list of a few things showing the less shiny side of my life....

1. Last Sunday (at my friend Sam's Super Bowl party) I sliced thru my finger AND my fingernail. There were no band-aids to be had, so below is the best we could do to stop the bleeding. Let's just say that I'm with Buddy the Elf on this one: my finger had a heartbeat.
   
   
2. Itches!! I came down with what seemed to be hives more than a week ago! Doesn't help figuring out what caused it when literally everything in my life is new, so instead I've been itchy (and embarrassed by the rash) for quite some time. (No picture with this one...lucky for you!)
   
3. Finance-induced tears. This may sound dramatic, but it's sadly true. I got so frustrated this week that I maaaay have bolted from class immediately after to the bathroom and burst into tears. Sigh... let's just say that accounting and analyzing financial statements are not my forte. I think we know where I will not be heading after graduation.
   
4. I had my first terrible tube experience. I was literally shoved into an already-too-full rush hour tube. Picture my face against the window like Steve Martin in Father of the Bride 2 (because I know you've all seen that as many times as me). On top of that, the train seemed to be basically backfiring while moving causing a start and stop motion. It was a lovely ride. And you thought the El was bad!
   
5. Poor English. Ha! I'm pretty sure that the down side to hanging out with a bunch of non-native English speakers is that my English skills are actually deteriorating.  It's like instead of picking up a sweet British accent, I've started speaking with incorrect grammar and using unnatural phrases like a lazy speaker. I'm sure I'll sound way more intelligent by the time I get back to the States with this Masters degree...
   
6. The weather blows. Seriously, this week it has been exceptionally terrible. Yesterday it was sleeting. Somehow I decided to walk to a bar nearly a mile away without realizing just how heavy the rain was. I showed up drenched. And this seems to be the norm. (Although as I sit in my room typing this, it's lovely and sunny out, so maybe I should stop blogging and get outside!)
   
7. The WORST cell phone experiences. Seriously... AT&T, Verizon and T Mobile are like angels in my mind. I switched providers this week because I was so fed up with the customer service at O2 (my last provider). I'm sure they will really miss my £20 so I'm sure I made a big statement by switching. Either way, I was trying to port my old number over to my new provider and it wasn't working for who knows what reasons. So I finally just resigned myself to taking on a new number and told all my "friends" here. Next thing I know I'm getting calls to one number and texts to another. I'm still not entirely sure how this is possible, but there was an hour in time when I didn't know which number was actually working. Seems they were actually successfully porting my number, which is great. But for that hour, things were getting a bit crazy.
   
8. Saturday class. Ok, not just Saturday class. Saturday class with the MOST boring instructor ever, teaching us 7 hours of Business Research Methods - the most pointless topic ever. Last week we spent an hour practicing how to reference properly. I wish someone would've given me the memo so I could've skipped that class. But anyway, now we apparently need a whole day to discuss devising a research plan. I'm fairly certain given how long-winded this instructor is (last week he also went into depth about his Dyslexia), that I could cover the material in an hour max. So I'm meeting a classmate for bloody marys before class and taking my laptop. If you seem me facebooking tomorrow, just assume I've zoned out in class. 
   
   
   
   And while this week was one of the first that I spent hours studying, I'm confident I'll get in a zone and things will start feeling a bit more normal. 
   
   
   On a lighter note, I went to an awesome authentic Indian dinner with school friends on Tuesday. I still don't know what I ate (Randi, Jen, Emily - you still will have to order when we get Indian), but everything was outstanding including the Mango Yogurt smoothies we got to help temper the spiciness. I ate so much I think I could've been rolled out of the restaurant and down the street to my house.
   
   

   

   Veronica passing around one of the many dishes

   
   

   

   Some of the girls in my program. Shamama is the one from Saudi Arabia that ordered most of our food for us.

   

   Mitesh (our other Indian host), Natalia, me and Jan at dinner

   
   

   

   Shamama trying to show us some after dinner weird-tasting food they eat.

   
   
   Also, this weekend is the Chinese New Year which apparently is a huge deal around here. I'm going to have to check out Chinatown again to see what these festivities are. 
   Sunday is live Blues (obviously something I'm looking forward to), and then next week is..... the dreaded 30th birthday! EEek! 
   
   
   Ok, off to go make some coffee and study for me! Enjoy your weekends!