First off, we arrived in Manchester Airport (after the captain telling us 'welcome to England, it's 3 degrees...') and I had the surprise of my life when Emily and Raph appeared! They'd come to surprise me and it really was a surprise! So Raph drove us back to Lancaster, where the first port of call was Greggs for a pasty, then Diggles, then the Learning Zone (I really know how to live the high life!). I said hello to all the usual suspects that were working in there, then me and Steph went to see Olga at 2.40ish, only to find her there with José saying 'oh you're early'! Just to be polite me and Steph had been 10mins late anyway to prove we were working on Spanish time! So we went back at 3 (well, 3.10 to be on the safe side) and had a good old chin-wag with Olga. It was lovely to see her and get some perspective and advice. After that I went to Emily's for a fix of Favourite Pasta, then we all went to Gabby's 21st birthday party in Chorley, which was good fun.
Saturday became the strangest day of my life so far, and that is saying something! First on the agenda was lunch at the Borough with the Learning Zone people (which is a fairly extended family thanks to the ridiculous numbers of hours we spent together last year). It was amazing to eat real food with lovely people! Then I went to Beth's and helped her house put up their Christmas tree and eat cookies (om nom!). I went to have dinner cooked by Rachel, which was nice, then things started to get strange!
She cut her finger and it refused to stop bleeding! So after a call to NHS direct ('we are experiencing a high volume of calls... we'll call you back in 4 hours or hold to speak to an advisor' - needless to say I held!) we all had a student trip to A&E. We were booked in to see Soulrigg perform in Grad Bar, so Emily and Zoe stayed with Rach, Laura and Gabby went to sit in the White Cross to wait in case it was a long job and I headed to a standing-room-only gig. It was amazing, but I don't think the band realise that the true victims of their success are their fans who never get a seat these days! Anyway, I then went back to town to find everyone was sat in the White Cross drinking vino! So I decided it would be rude not to join. We were kicked out around 1.30 so we went back to 1 Stanley Place for a coffee...
Literally, we were talking so much that we never got the coffee. In fact, after 3am I lost all concept of what 'just another half an hour' meant, and the next thing we knew it was 6.30! Rach had been sensible and gone to bed, and the rest of us were sat gossiping. It was only Emily's declaration of 'hang on, I'm sober now' that made us realise time had passed! But then we decided we couldn't go to bed at 6.30, and we wanted brekkie, so we waited till 7 and went to Wetherspoons! As it was pitch black outside and we were a little hyper from lack of sleep, it honestly felt like we were going for a night out. So we had brekkie, then came home and went to bed - hence the title 'the night that happened in reverse'. I got two hours kip, then had to get up to go for even more food.
I met up with Fiona and Eric (at the White Cross - so I had the distinction of being the last one out and the first one back in again!) for a Christmas dinner, then I went to number 1 again for a chat before heading to campus.
I have never seen so much food as Raph's flatmates managed to put together! In fact, we had to go for a walk before pudding, to wake us up and let everything rest. So it does feel like I've had Christmas now, and it's been a lovely few days. Thank you to everyone who made it so hilarious, wonderful, and beautiful :)
I got to York today, and now it's time for some more English-ness. Hasta luego Blogueros! xxx
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