Mid-terms and the Weather

I have not blogged in a while because I've had a lot of work recently. For some reason in America there are tests halfway through the term (appropriately called 'mid-terms'). The closest there is to study leave is Fall Break, which is basically having one day off, in which I only have one fifty minute class anyway. Mid-terms are, nonetheless, weirdly relaxed. One girl's phone went off halfway through the exam and she wasn't told off, let alone disqualified. The professor handed out cookies. We also have to write short answers as well as an essay, and it was the first time I've written a short answer to anything since GCSE, so that was interesting.

In other news, some personal bizarre highlights of the past couple of weeks were an American named Colton asking me if I was dating Harry Windsor, a definitely close personal friendship I now have with a girl from LA whose dad is in Breaking Bad, and has been in Modern Family and Parks and Rec*, and a girl in my 20th Century British Fiction class giving a presentation about The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro and making it entirely about Voldemort and Quirrell (don't ask.) I also made friends with some really nice Americans and ate pumpkin bread, because Halloween seems to last the entirety of October.

The most bizarre thing I have seen on campus is the singing abortion man, who stood outside the lecture hall one afternoon and sang a song which went 'It's a baby not a blob' over and over again. He also had an abortion van with giant pictures of foetuses on it. This was bizarre, not only because nobody was having abortions in the lecture hall, but because he, like all the other religious protesters, isn't a student, just an old guy.

The weather has changed dramatically, to the point that it's gone from shorts and t-shirt weather where it's unbearable to be outside to hoodie, jumper and scarf weather where it's unbearable to be outside. People are still wondering around in shorts and t-shirts because they are crazy, and also because they are used to this weather and it's going to get a LOT colder.

A thing that I significantly miss about the UK (as well as all the people) is the cheese. I was asked what type of cheese I wanted in my burger yesterday, and the options were American, Colby Jack or Pepper Jack. Not a clue.


*By 'close personal friendship' I mean we have hugged and she said hi to me and stuff.