I started to give you readers a little taste of what I've been up to since starting my year in Oxford, but that wouldn't really be starting in the middle now would it? You'll just have to piece things together as this blog progresses. It's much more fun that way! I've already given you a few lovely tidbits, and I may have a recap of them at the end of this post.
Moving on...
This morning (well more like this afternoon because I rarely see morning if I can help it) I was standing in line at Greens Café to get a smoothie, I was only sort of aware of my surroundings because I still had that dizzy foggy sort of feeling in my head and was hearing the lunch crowd in the cafe as white noise. Occasionally certain things would pop out at me from the buzzy blurriness, a woman was getting upset at the ladies behind the counter because they had forgotten about her soup, and were taking a very long time to put her apple cake into a takeaway container. I finally got to the cash register after what felt like years, and the ladies ignored me, they were busy helping the other people in line who were ordering sandwiches and things. So I stood there looking like an idiot, while the people behind me were paying for their foody whatnots. The more eager I was to pay and leave, the more aware I was becoming of the hideous music and the loud chatter of people who were probably reaching the middle of their day by that point. By the time I shoved my way out of the frightening throng, I was actually quite awake and ready to start a completely uninteresting day.
My mornings in Oxford are no longer filled with elated heart palpitations brought on by new scenery and my outlook is no longer optimistically anxious. Instead I grumpily wrench myself out of bed and stumble down cobblestone alleyways in search of caffeine and reading material. But on the upside, I am no longer living under the assumption that every English person I pass on the street is giving me a disapproving look because they can sense my Americanness! Nope! I can say with some confidence that I know my way around a bit now and can kind of appear to know what I'm doing!
In Oxford, and maybe all of England, couldn't say for sure, people in shops and restaurants seem to really hate their jobs. Not all of them, but it is definitely a majority. For the most part going to cafés or into shops is not a pleasant experience, so you try to get in and out as quickly as you can with the fewest possible words exchanged. You must mentally prepare yourself for cold and awkward interactions with people before you leave home. It's not so bad once you get used to it actually. It's nice not having to force conversations with strangers, especially when you've just woken up!
Last night I partook in a wonderful American tradition, (that I found out is only 45 years old!) the Superbowl. I don't really like football, I actually find it quite boring and ridiculous, but I still really enjoy watching the Superbowl. Any excuse to eat, drink, and be merry is likely to be a good time. I also really enjoy watching the commercials and making up my own little rules because I don't know the actual ones. My favorite one is every time I see a pile of men I get to eat a cookie. Another is every time a person runs for more then 15 seconds I yell something like 'whoa!' to imply that I know what's going on and that I saw something that nobody else did. Then I mumble to myself like I'm really impressed with what just happened. I don't think people notice most of the time, and if they do they probably politely ignore it.
Half time this year was ridiculous. The Black Eyed Peas performed and it seemed like everything went a bit wrong. Fergie was off key and too loud, part of the light display that was supposed to read 'love' read 'Loie' because part of the 'v' was not illuminated. Usher made an appearance but I don't think his mic was on, so he mostly just gave an impressive dance performance, and to end the big finale, one of the dudes, I guess the main dude, whoever he is, said "that was mega." Or at least, that's what we thought we heard him say after watching the end of the performance twice. So we, we being a few of my housemates that didn't run off to bed at like midnight to be super studious and I, decided that the new hip catchphrase for 2011 is going to be 'megaloi.' There are a few ways this beautiful phrase can be incorporated into every day language; one is "Dude I megaloi you." Another usage might replace the phrase 'much love' with 'megaloi.' If you wanted to find a way to sing the phrase you could replace the words to Mongoloid by Devo with "megaloid he was a megaloid..." which changes the meaning of the song a bit, but in a really upbeat way I think. Finally, possibly the best and naughtiest way to use this phrase is as a pickup line "Let's megaloi" or "is that a gun in your pocket or do you want to megaloi!"...if you wanted you could add "baby" to the end of either of those, but that's of course based on personal preference.
On that note, I will say goodbye for now because it's gotten a bit late. Sorry this was a bit of a long post, I wasn't sure when to end it, but I think I chose a really excellent spot! Hope that was somewhat enjoyable, and here is the recap of tidbits I promised earlier:
I said I was in the fourth week of my second term of the one year I'm spending at Oxford from America. I live in a house full of people who are also studying in Oxford for the year in my program. (That was a little extra tidbit that I didn't really explain in the post). Well join me again sometime for my tales of pursuing cats in grape trees, and maybe at some point that name will make sense. I promise these posts will get more interesting!
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