The weekend

Another very eventful weekend has flown by in Oxford. We thought that we were going to go into London on Saturday, but me and my two friends, Emily and Courtney, decided to stay in Oxford and do our own thing. We all slept in until about 12 in the afternoon, and then we went into town to get some food. I'm not sure if it was a big holiday this weekend, or down town was packed because of how gorgeous the weather was, but all of the lines were extra long and there were street performers left and right playing music, juggling, singing, etc. When we went into McDonalds (I know, a very american choice) there was no where to sit. It took us about 10 minutes of walking around to finally wait for someone to get up and grab their seats as if we were diving for our lives.

After that experience we decided to go to the boots pharmacy and purchase some hair dye. Mainly because we are all blondes and our roots were beginning to show because we are unable to go to a hair salon over here without having to pay an arm and a leg. I had only dyed my hair out of a box one time other than this and when I did it, my hair came out as red as a firetruck! So needless to say, I was a little nervous to try it out again. The moment we got home, Courtney put the dye in my hair. I had to let it sit for a half an hour or so and then wash it out with just warm water. As I was waiting for the half hour to come around, the color of my hair started turning pink! I freaked out and ran right into the shower to wash it out before it got any worse, but when I finally blew it dry, the color came out perfect! It was such a relief and I was happy to say that I can now save a lot of money by dying my hair out of a box!

Later that night we decided to try a new club called Propaganda because my friend from my Communications, Culture, and Organisations class told me that it was the place to be on a Saturday night. After buying the 6 pound tickets online and attempting to navigate ourselves to this strange new place, Courtney, Emily and I found ourselves walking into some sort of a hard rock concert. Keep in mind, none of us listen to that type of music, and we were definitely not dressed like the majority of the people that were there so we sort of stuck out like sore thumbs. We tried to make the best of it and have a good time trying to meet new friends and such, but everyone seemed so mean and pushy. It was as if they knew we didn't belong there and they wanted us out! About an hour later we decided to give up on trying to "fit in" for our 6 pounds, and hit up KFC, which I don't think i've had since I was about 5 years old, but it was good nonetheless and held us over for the cab ride home.

Today was more of a lazy day. We went into the city centre once again to get some food and starbucks coffee, and ended up seeing this amazing group of street performers playing some music. There was 2 guys and a girl and one of the guys had a stereo set up and connected to about 3 different instruments and he would play one and then press a button and the sound would keep playing while he was playing a different instrument until they all came together to a very rhythmic beat. Then the other guy would chime in and start rapping while the girl would stand on the side and try to sell their CDs. Eventually the girl and the guy singer would switch and when the girl got on the microphone it was as if I was listening to some sort of famous celebrity! She had an amazing voice and she would sing while she was rapping and keeping along with the beat of the music all at the same time. They were so good that we decided to walk back towards them so that we could hear another song before we left to go back to Clive Booth Hall.

Back at home, the three of us made some pasta salad with a bunch of vegetables and this really yummy italian dressing. Ever since we have been here I have rediscovered my love for cooking. Cooking used to be one of my passions and I actually almost went to college for it, but then changed my mind my junior year of high school. The pasta salad tasted amazing and hit my craving spot on.

For some reason I feel so exhausted here recently, as if the days are flying by and I'm not doing much but at the end of the day, when my head hits the pillow I have no problem going to sleep. I don't know if it's the excitement of being in another country that makes me so exhausted or if its all the walking we do here, or if it's just because I'm still not very used to the time difference over here, but I almost always feel exhausted by the time that I go to bed.

This weekend I have realized a lot about myself, my friendships, and how I handle a lot of things in my life over here. I know that whenever I feel uncomfortable around someone or a certain group of people, I distance myself from them. It's just the way I am, I run from drama and uncomfortable situations. It's as if my mind automatically shuts down the whole "trying to make things seem different" or understanding their perspective part of my brain just shuts down. I have realized who my true friends are that are here and who I want to spend the most of my time with while I am abroad. This is my one and only chance to be able to explore Europe at this time in my life and I want to make the best of every minute of it. Sometimes I do wish that everyone could get along more and just put their differences aside. But like my mom always says, you cannot be liked by everyone and the only person that can make yourself happy/not happy is you. That has been some of the best advice that I have ever gotten and although sometimes it is definitely easier said than done, it is SO true, and I need to acknowledge that and stop just blaming myself.

In one of the articles that we read this past week was about always just telling the truth and being honest about what you're thinking and feeling and just write it out in your journal. That is what I tried to do in the last paragraph. It was hard, at first, to think of something to blog about because that has been on my mind so much lately. I just wish that once I wrote it down it would be out of my head. I mean of course it takes 2 to tango and i'm not pointing any fingers at anyone, but I just do not last very long in situations like that filled with drama and constant back stabbing. Anyways, I am falling asleep at this computer like I said I was going to so I am going to go to bed nice and early tonight. I think I might be narcoleptic or something because recently I have been falling asleep in the oddest places, in the oddest positions, and at the most strange times. Unfortunately it happens a lot to me in class, but I've been working on that since I was in the 5th grade.