All the days in between (Thursday-Sunday morning)

This past weekend was a wonderful mix of sociability, lack of productivity and marathon work sessions. Thursday I don't have classes so I sat myself down and made a list of all the things I needed to do. This, while helpful, wasn't really as productive as one would think. I ended up spending the day uploading pictures, wasting time and, eventually, talking to Courtney. We had yet another one of our extended, soul-bearing conversations. We talked about all kinds of things, our own back-stories and humorous anecdotes. I know I've said it a million times, but I love learning people so purposefully this way. I know I found Courtney unbelievably annoying back at Smith but that was only because I didn't take the time to know here and "get" her. Now I get her and she's great. She's just as socially awkward as I am and funny and a great listener. She's going to be a psychologist and she'll be great at it. She's excellent at listening, processing and coming back with a story that'll make you feel better about whatever you said.

Mike went into London to visit his godparents on Thursday evening which left Courtney and I to our own devices (Yuan having mysteriously disappeared as per his usual). We did a little shopping at the official Oxford store and wandered across the Bollywood film that's being shot here. People in the program have been running into them sporadically throughout our stay but this was our first encounter with them. Of course, the leads were just stunningly beautiful people. Sadly, they didn't film a musical number while we were hanging around. I would have loved that.

So Courtney and I paled around for the rest of the evening, getting very little done. As it got later, I started to get a tad worried about Mike coming back from London but he finally showed up just as we had hunkered down to do work. (Figures.) So the three of us hung out until the wee small hours again and then Mike and I trudged back to Stairwell 12. As I had foreseen, our relationship was completely unchanged by the sleeping together thing. I didn't know if this was weird or fortuitous. At lunch, Mike had made an awkward little overture while fiddling with his sandwich saying, "So, uh, thank you for letting me sleep in your bed." This made me snigger a little to myself, just the pure awkwardness of his body language amusing me. There was one other moment while hanging out with Courtney and she suggested we have a sleep-over. Mike sort of muttered to himself, "Already did that..." then sort of realized what he said and cut off, eyes widening. Courtney was too busy being post-1am ditzy and didn't hear. So things were materially the same except for that thing we don't talk about.

Friday was field-trip day here at the UMass Summer Seminar. As usual, the field trip could only accommodate a ridiculously small number of people (in this case, 15) so, while Yuan had made the cut, Courtney, Mike and I were left at Trinity. I woke up late on Friday (you can't keep me up until three every morning and not expect me to sleep in) and sat myself down to write my paper. I wasn't feeling very productive when Mike turned up to ask me to lunch. We went, came back and then Mike said he was going to the library and asked if I wanted to come. Saying "yes" was the best decision I think I've made in weeks. I was so productive at the library! I did loads of research, wrote more than half of my paper and taught Mike the word "schvitz." (To which he replied, "Wow, you really are Jewish, aren't you?" Hey! Yiddish does not necessarily equate Jewish-ness! It's just a fantastically descriptive language!) It was sweltering and uncomfortable in the library, but really productive. It was an afternoon well-spent.

Friday night we found Yuan (he lives!) and all four of us went out to finally see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which was quite a pleasant surprise. The rest of the program went to see it the weekend it came out and have since been telling us what a disappointment it was. I was not at all disappointed, I loved it and would happily go to see it again if it didn't cost me over five pounds to sit in a non-air-conditioned theatre for two and a half hours. I'll have to go again in America.

After Les Pirates, we went out for dinner at a restaurant cleverly named Old Orleans (har har) which had an alligator hanging from the ceiling and American cuisine. It amuses me that they have American cuisine here. Sainsbury's (local super market) has a sandwich series that is "internationally inspired." You would expect some Thai-flavored chicken sandwiches and perhaps something with Brie to denote France but, while I'm sure they have these things, they also have an American-inspired chicken Caesar salad wrap. I think we're well-represented even if they haven't quite mastered the chicken Caesar salad wrap. (I'm quite convinced that they just use mayonnaise for everything.) It's nice to be able to go into a restaurant sometimes and have a little taste of America.

So we all got hamburgers of some sort (Mike and Courtney bravely tried the bison burgers) and fries and had a grand old time. After dinner we turned back to Trinity to have some very appropriate rum, which Yuan had purchased on the ferry to Calais. I was hell-bent on drinking it post-Pirates and managed to convince everyone else that my idea was simply brilliant. So we set up camp on the lawn (it was still unbearably hot inside) and passed the bottle around since we all wanted to try it straight-up, Jack Sparrow-style first before mixing it was coke.

We had brought Mike's laptop out with the intention of watching a movie off of it while we were outside on the lawn, but that just never happened. We just hung out and Marissa/Melissa showed up and hung out with us...[I just took out some randomness about people not being themselves and Courtney having the unique ability to help people act naturally. - Corey of July 25, 2007]

It started to get cold as Marissa/Melissa spoke on about Blackadder, Monty Python and the children's fantasy book she's in the process of creating. I was lying on the grass, next to Mike, listening to Marissa/Melissa and watching the stars and clouds float by. I think I saw a shooting star. I know I saw a kangaroo-shaped cloud and another cloud that looked like a dragon. As it got cooler, I started shivering a little since I was ill-attired in one of my nicer sleeveless shirts that dipped low both in front and in back. "I'm cold," I muttered rather piteously. Mike grinned and jokingly asked if I wanted to be held. "Yes," I replied immediately and decisively and rolled into his arms. He seemed a little surprised that I had agreed but held me anyway.

So we spent quite some time, hours, wrapped up in each other on the lawn while Courtney and Marissa/Melissa talked. Occasionally one of us would contribute but we also talked to each other in quiet undertones. It was still cold, but at least my upper body was slightly warmer. It was a strange feeling of extreme comfort and awkwardness. The awkwardness came all from me since I'm just not normally a very touchy-feel-y person so I was at a bit of a loss as to what I was supposed to do with my hands. Short of that, it was wonderful.

As usual, time flew by and before I knew anything, it was 2:30am. I never mean to stay up so late but then I always do. It's a new running joke among us that Courtney and Mike are a bad influence on me. One of them will inevitably turn to me at any point after 1am and say, "Geez, I'm such a bad influence on you!" Which is, quite honestly, true but there really isn't anywhere else I'd rather be than hanging out with them. That's my problem really: I get completely zonked but I just love hanging out with them so much I don't want to leave or miss anything.

Marissa/Melissa was still waxing poetic about her upcoming novel which was in all honestly pretty brilliant but it was also late. So she "quickly" wrapped it up (this was after a good hour of telling us that it was almost the end) and we all headed off to our respective stairwells. Mike and I had a little moment before I returned to futzing with my keys and he, after one last look at me, fled up the stairs to his room. I honestly don't know what to think.

We all decided that Saturday was the day to go to Christ's Church. Mike had been for his architecture class and said it was well worth whatever they charged to see it. Of course, as with most of our plans (e.g. punting on Friday), this didn't happen. Rather, Courtney and I set out to shop in town, got caught in a torrential rainstorm, missed Mike and Yuan altogether and ended up dancing in the rain instead. It had been unbearably hot in Oxford for weeks and it was finally raining. The streets immediately became deserted and it was just me standing there as it rained harder and harder. It was magical, the way the streets emptied and it was raining so hard so fast. We skipped and danced and twirled and jumped in puddles and kicked up water as we walked since we were so wet it didn't matter anyway. I've never been so gloriously wet in all my life. We ran up and down the huge lawn next to the Garden Quad and twirled about in the air as we jumped up with joy and lied in the grass since it didn't matter anymore. We weren't hot anymore and we relished the cold feeling seeping under our skin.

I returned to my room as the rain let up a little, thoroughly drenched and wonderfully sated. Lauren, who had also out in the rain with us, and I ditched our wet clothing in the shower and then just hung out wearing towels for a while yet. We huddled by our open window as the rain started up again, torrentially pounding into the cobblestone outside our window. Thunder would rumble every so often but we never saw any lightening. Reports of flooded streets, fire alarms going off with no provocation and power going out in stairwell 15 circulated quickly despite the fact that no one was going outside. It was a great moment of community and wetness.

Mike turned up, thoroughly drenched, about two hours later and refused to come in because he would have inevitably dripped on everything. As it was, he only had to fling a hand in my direction to splatter me with water. So he went up to his room to dry off and shower and I tried to hunker down and do work. Unsurprisingly, I didn't get much done but I read a little bit for law and decided I would go to library that night to get more done. Courtney pulled out all the stops at dinner to try and convince me not to do work on a Saturday night (she brought in watching The American President and everything!) but I was fairly adamant. Mike eventually came up with the compromise that we would do work for two hours and then reconvene at 10:30 to watch a movie of Courtney and Yuan's choosing. (Yuan, meanwhile, had nearly died a death by Corey's death stare since he professed that he really disliked The American President and wasn't really nuts about The West Wing either. Die Yuan! Somehow he made it alive through dinner, we'll never know how.)

So we watched Batman Begins on Mike's laptop up in Mike's room. Something with Mike and me changed at some point and now we're a lot more cuddly. Previously, we would just kind of sit really close but now he's okay with putting his arm around me which is extremely comfortable from my perspective. Since I was basically falling asleep as we watched the movie, it was nice to have someone to lean on. It's much more comfortable than just letting my head fall back onto the couch's back. That strains my neck. Unfortunately, Batman Begins is quite an engrossing movie so, despite my sleepiness, I stayed awake for the whole thing. I "rested my eyes" (Grandpa style!) a few times, but I was awake throughout.

For once, I was in bed before 2am which was quite pleasant. I'm in the middle of being annoyed with Lauren and also asserting myself to her which I could probably write another page about but this is probably long enough. Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the e-mailing, I'll try to do better in this coming week so you don't get these epic e-mails. I haven't heard anything from guys, either, so I hope all is well and Mum got back to Williamsville all right. I love you both so much!

Hearts,

Corey