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 Happy Birthday Maria!

Had a lovely time celebrating the birthday of Maria - a friend and neighbor!

The best part was that I only had to go down two doors to get home

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Celebratory dinner with the girls at the "fancy" restaurant on campus before partying it up at the Copper Rooms (the campus "club") until the wee hours of the morning

And yes, the air quotes were necessary

Saying Goodbye

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
From Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

Just about everyone has turned in their final essays and dissertations.

The Library is almost empty.

People are starting to pack up and head home or wherever they got a job (if they were lucky enough to get one already).

It hit me that this was the end when my first housemate moved out today.

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After staying up all night printing, then standing in line for 3 hours to get them bound, the proud WMG students show off their beautiful Dissertations!

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I have accomplished my final task . . .

The dissertation has been submitted! 

Enjoy this stop action film of the event

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Our prison

AKA the Library

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The deadline is creeping frighteningly close

To make matter oh so much better, today is a Bank Holiday and the university felt it was acceptable to close the library, and the PG Hub, so we had to work in the Learning Grid - with everyone else who has dissertations due. In other words it was packed and loud, not a good working environment. 

Surprisingly there was only one meltdown all day and it didn't happen until after 10pm, so that's something.

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Real Italian espresso made by a real Italian 

in a tiny cup (the espresso, not the Italian)

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So relaxed . . .

Why you may ask? Oh, he's almost done with his dissertation

Some people (such as Anni, as seen in the background) aren't so carefree 

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For the past two weeks we've been ordering "Indian" food

(it's in quotes because it's really Pakistani but other than Dolly none of us know the difference, don't judge) 

Panic and Stress

"'I like the cover,' he said. 'DON'T PANIC.' It's the first helpful or intelligible thing anybody's said to me all day.'"
From The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

It's setting in. The panic. All assignments have it, of course, but there's something about the word "dissertation" that makes everyone's lungs seize and hyperventilation set in.

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Dinner and drinks with the girls during a dissertation writing break

One week more and we're free (their deadline, but I'm adopting it!)

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Some of us went to Oxford for a day out and to visit the lovely Emily

We had Chinese for dinner

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At least when I get to go outside the weather is nice so I can enjoy scenes like this!

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Please just take a moment to enjoy the pictures...

This is just a taste of the wonder I experienced today

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It was raining (hard) so Anni and I decided that we were going to wait for Manu to drive to campus.

We made it as far as the bus stop and Pippa died.

We had to push her so she didn't get run over by an incoming bus.

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Flatmate Zain

As you might guess from the few pictures I've taken of my roomies, we spend most of our social time in the kitchen

Don't ask what the fingers about, I didn't know then and I certainly don't remember now!

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I helped out a friend with his dissertation and got chocolate! 

I'm a fan of this

I do love the packaging of the Russian chocolate (on the right)

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Manu's Birthday Celebration

The Housemates

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Out my window

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Just over two weeks until dissertation submission

The wear is starting to show

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With the WMG crew in front of The Kazakh House 

(Really The House Formerly Know as the Kazakh House)

Don't worry, I'll tell you why it's named The Kazakh House

I'm pretty sure it's not going to be as funny to you as it is to us, but oh well, so is the effect of any inside joke.

"Not that long ago, in a place within walking distance there was a house..."

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We went to Birmingham to celebrate Kena's birthday (the cute young lady with short dark hair on the right)

Sahil surprised her with everyone coming to dinner and she almost ruined it by keeping wanting to try different restaurants instead of the one we were all waiting at! Ah, the stress of being in charge of a surprise!

The food was amazing and the company was awesome

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Do you see it!

The light at the end of the tunnel!

(so close!)

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I have no idea what they are talking about, but since our lives revolve around dissertations and Sandra and Anni have sour faces, I can only guess it is related to that

Please note the time on the clock - I left "early" today (at 8pm so I could buy groceries)

That would make our days on average 12 hours long, so much fun

Four Weeks &Counting! - 

We Can Do This!

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Waiting for the bus

Sometimes we check the bus times, but others we are so eager to get out of wherever we are studying that we just go, and end of waiting 15 plus minutes

At least we've had decent weather to wait in recently!

The Moth

I thought I'd give you a little bonus today: A Video!

Here's the set up - 

We have poor air circulation in our house so in the evening we often open the door and the window to get better air flow while we're cooking dinner. This, however, leads to the inevitable moth attack. Zain and Ting have this thing about moths. I'm not going to say "fear" but you get the idea. Usually I'm the one who kills the buggers. On this occasion I left them to their own devices.

I know you want to know - were they successful in getting their enemy?

I wouldn't leave you hanging!

They are so ridiculous!

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Sandra had some of us to her place in Stratford for dinner

She mad a 4-course meal (well, the dessert was store bought) but didn't use a single recipe

If I did that everyone would starve because the food was inedible - that was not the case here, it all tasted amazing! 

Plus we had a relaxing time. Probably because we were able to spend four hours without talking about our dissertations a single time.

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There are benefits to the sun not setting until after nine...

Once in a while we escape our dissertations and see the sky

after slaving over books and computers for upwards of ten hours

The English Language

“We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.”
From The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

For good, bad or otherwise,  my language and vocabulary has slowly been altered since arriving in England. There are three categories where I've discovered the greatest change. Below are a few that I've noticed recently. I shudder to think of the ones I'm doing of which I am completely unaware.

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How Amazingly funny is this!

We might be getting a little punchy from the heat on the fifth floor of the library...

It all started when we were arguing about what my eye color is (I said hazel, Anni said green) so she took a picture of my eyes. 

It went down hill from there, ending with Yerkish opening a "mouth" app (already downloaded on his phone for some unknown reason)

I conceded that my eyes are green (though I swear they used to be hazel!)

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Felipe did not dress for the hot weather (it almost hit ninety, which is beyond ridiculous for England)

He wore jeans and a long-sleeved light jean button up - really man? 

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I broke my usual knitting cycle and made this baby blanket for a friend back home who's having her first baby in August.

Potentially I was using it as an excuse to avoid real work...

and cleaning my room