theatre of dreams and two months abroad: week nine

you may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, i'll rise.
[maya angelou.]

five weeks left...

daily updates:

17 november.  went to class during the day, and studied for my french test. at night, max, kat, lindsey, john, and i went to the hobgoblin. they got to meet john-the-bartender. i cant believe it but i have been forgetting to mention the main thing about john-the-bartender. he has five jobs. one of them is as a stunt double. his current gig? a death eater in the final harry potter movies!!!! i couldn't believe it when he first told me!! one day, he came over to mine, bruises all over his chest and face covered in fake blood [which looked quite real, in my defence], looking all sorts of dodgy. i asked, what happened to you? he said, harry potter kicked my ass. i thought he was just taking a piss but he was serious! i was just sat there, in shock for a bit. then i annoyed him to no end with incessant questions.

well tuesday he came in to the pub [remember he lives above it, hes the one i went upstairs with] wearing his death eater blood make up and i greeted him with a kiss and a hug like usual. we chatted for a bit, and he left to say hi to john. then max and lindsey decided to politely ask me why i am so close with a homeless man. i explained his career choice and they were very excited and made me call him back, so they could question him.

18 november. john and i went to the drum and monkey, to watch the ireland v france football game. as must as i love france, i must admit they cheated with a very blatant hand ball and a blind refferee. afterwards, we went to the rocket to see megan's dance/cheer troupe perform. it was a jocks v nerds fancy dress party. but i didn't dress up or take any pictures :(

19 november. i went to the hobgoblin with john. john-the-bartender is stateside right now, so noel was working. we hadn't talked to noel too often, usually we stick to john.  but he's in the states for thanksgiving with his american friend who is also an actor. guess what movie he was recently in? the dark knight! do you know the guy who has a cellphone implanted in his chest that blows the prison up? that was him! i met him!

anyways, that night we taught noel kings and played drinking games until way past close. they closed the pub, but we all stayed on, drinking and smoking. well, john and i didn't smoke. but you can smoke inside the pub as soon as it's closed! it was a really good night. the drinking games got us really drunk, which is fine, cause the hobgoblin is so close. even better, noel comped all my drinks.

20 november. max and i had a relaxing day. we went to a couple of museums. we went shopping and i helped him pick out outfits. then we went to gourmet burger kitchen and he bought me a meal, in exchange for my help. the burger was amazing!! the best i have ever had. i had a pesto and mozarella burger. it was heaven inside my mouth. afterwards, we went to wimbledon; back to the pub on the river.

21 november. what a great two month anniversary of being in england! we went to manchester!! the day before, johns friends from back home had surprised him with a visit!! they came in the 20th, unbeknownst to john! it was so cute, and not something i would have expected boys to do! but john and i had been planning a trip to manchester for aboout a month, and they decided to come along with us. they came into my room completely pissed out of their heads at four in the morning. luckily, my roommate was in dublin. i woke up and decided to stay up with their drunk asses until it was time to board the train. they bought me a round, and i figured i needed to catch up, so i started drinking at seven, once we were on the train. they kept buying rounds, and i kept drinking them, so i was pretty much comfortably buzzed the entire trip.

upon arrival in manchester, we went to the hostel to drop off our bags. i had left john in charge of finding us a hostel. in fact, he pretty much planned the whole trip. but upon arrival, i realized it wasnt a hostel, as i previously had thought. turns out john had booked us a room at a bed and breakfast! it was such a cute small english hotel, possibly the cutest hotel i had ever been in. there was a small breakfast room on the ground floor, which was flooded with light. the main room had a fireplace and comfy worn leather couch. our room was on the top floor, and it had a slanted ceiling and the most comfortable bed i have ever been in in since i left the states! john's friends slept on the floor that night, we had to sneak them in.

after going to the hotel, we went to a pub and got breakfast. then we went to the bishop blaize. the bishop blaize is only for mufc members, so we had to sneak his friends in. john and i had planned this trip for only two people, not knowing they would be in town. but once we got them in, it was so packed. the entire place was a sea of red, the sound of waves crashing was replaced by the chants of manchester united pride. the man who wrote all the songs, pete boyle, was there leading them! it was absolutely amazing.

after the bishop blaize, it was time to go to the game. we met up with megan. nial had given us his season ticket for the day. megan has three season tickets though, so we gave nial's to her dad and we all sat together in her section. johns friends didnt have tickets and were left to themselves for a few hours. it was an exciting game, united won three to zero!

after the game, megan took us out around manchester city centre. we went to printworks, which was a mall, only instead of shops there were pubs and clubs! it was great! i fought with john, for the first time ever. we're still dealing with the tension, because neither of us like to talk out our issues. but other than that, it was a great night. the picture below is how i let him know the fight was over and i wasnt livid at him anymore. that is how little we talk about our feelings.

22 november. we checked out of the hotel and tried to get back to city centre. we ended up taking a bus, but we got back too late to go on the stadium tour. we walked around manchester for a bit, then caught the train back. after that, i grabbed max and met up with john and his friends at the hobgoblin, of course. i went back early cause i was exhausted. 
 
23 november. did some homework during the day. i also rode the buses around for couple of hours, just to see some of the city i havent seen yet. that night max had a friend coming into town from america. so lindsay, max and i met him at kings cross and went to get thai food. we then went back to nido and pregamed. after that, we went to the lexington until it closed. kat met us there, as did john and company. it was great fun, until john got mad at me for calling him 'racist' and not 'acting like his best friend anymore', when i had done no such thing. like i said, tension is leftover from saturday night.

24 november. went to class, had a very boring time. i bought a sudoku puzzle book, so i ended up just doing those during class. i need to not do that anymore haha. john&co, and myself met craig and his visiting girlfriend at the hobgoblin again. liam and noel were quite drunk by the time we got there so it was great fun. i had a very long interesting conversation with brad, one of john's friends. john, of course, got mad at me again, this time for 'acting completely different than the anna of last week'. he took it a step further this time, and walked away from me multiple times, threatening to leave the bar, until brad calmed him down. we then went to the lexington, where a boy from albania stared at me all night and made me extremely uncomfortable. so we left, after much persuasion given to angry john. apparently, he was enjoying watching me fend off the albanian's awkward advances.


weekly highlights:

dates: 17 november - 24 november [days 59-66]
sights seen: old trafford!

somewhere new: manchester!
someone new: countless :) notably, mark and brad. [john's friends from america]
something new: i saw manchester united play!! there was something else, but maybe i'll post about it eventually, but for now, i'm keeping it to myself :)
new venue: 'gourmet burger kitchen' in london and 'the bishop blaize' in manchester

what i love: football!
what i miss: a comfortable bed.
what i am not so sure of: money :|