The Final Stretch (Almost)

We just finished the sixth week of the eight week Hilary term, so things are winding down. Once the term is over, we'll have a travel week and then seminars, a huge essay, and a two-hour final exam, so things aren't quite as complete as we are ready for them to be.

Friday was shaping up to be a crazy day. I spent the morning and early afternoon writing an eight-page paper on sublime ecstasy in Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan. I had to quit at 2 to get ready for our Shakespeare seminar, for which I had done none of the reading. But the tutor was ill, so it was cancelled, and my Gothic tutor was in the office and asked if we could meet early. My paper went over really well, and we had a great conversation, and I was done two hours before I thought I would be, which was awesome.

Friday night we went to David and Debbie's for dessert. David is a professor from Azusa Pacific, the college that organizes the program we're here through. We had a great time. It was wonderful to spend some time with another married couple.

Saturday we read all day and rented some movies at night: Interview with the Vampire and My Little Eye. The latter was a really creepy independent horror flick. The ending was a little disappointing, as the endings to many horror movies are, but the scares are genuine and it's not just a slasher movie. I recommend it for horror fans.

Today we had roast turkey at the Raddy and splurged on dessert. I got a huge piece of chocolate fudge cake. I think they accidentally (or intentionally because I'm such a great guest) gave me two pieces, because it was twice the size of every other cake we saw served. I ate it all as a matter of principle, but now I feel gorged.

Christine finally got me to take a leek at the market. Well, from the market. Four actually. We bought a cookbook called New English Classics, so when we go home, we can show everybody why we rave about the food so much. It has a recipe for leek and potato soup that we decided to try. We've had it the past two nights in a row. It's really good.

I'm reading The Iliad this week for my Greek tragedy tutorial. It's such a great story and so sad. I love it. For my Gothic tutorial, I'm reading Arthur Conan Doyle's horror stories, which should be fun.

Next weekend we're going to Portsmouth.

Oh, and Rachel, I heard someone say, "Bloody hell" this week. Thought you'd want to know.