Last night we had a big Thanksgiving potluck, which was about 2 months late in Canadian terms and a week-and-a-half late in American terms, but fun nonetheless. There was a heap of us, so we convinced Ben to let us use his flat (very easily done - we can mould Ben like putty). Of course, this introduced its own difficulties. The guests were: all our flat (meaning me, Carrie, Geeta and Anita), Arnaud (Carrie's french lover) and Michiel (Carrie's Dutch friend, and as of this weekend also Geeta's Dutch lover), Anna, Maya and Helen, Caroline and her boyfriend Mark, Ben and his flatmates, and a group of 5 Texans, all friends of Geeta's, who are temporarily sleeping on our living-room floor. So, tons of people. The four of us chez Fraser Court plus the European boy-toys brought food, as did Maya and Anna. That is all. Everyone brought booze. So booze outnumbered food. Plus the 5 Americans were an unexpected last-minute addition, who arrived empty-handed and extremely hungry. In addition to the numbers-problem, we also had to figure out a way to transport six people and about twenty dishes across the city in one teeny-tiny car, without getting arrested. And then there was the kitchen-cleaning, which was epic in and of itself.
Yet despite all these various and sundry technicalities, it was a blast. We spent all yesterday afternoon cooking in a kitchen far too tiny to allow six people to cook simultaneously, having to constantly wash and reuse dishes because we have so few, scrambling around each other for room and generally making a giant mess. I made amazing vegan pumpkin pies, one of which we left here and Carrie and I devoured greedily for breakfast (at noon). Also, one of the 5 Texans (I don't know their names which is why I'm not naming any of them) is on exchange in Prague, and so brought us a bottle of Absinthe, and we convinced Michiel to set it on fire in his mouth. That was kind of the highlight. After dinner we went out to a Czech-themed bar (called Pivo, which is Czech for Beer) and formed a giant dance circle in which people (both our friends and total strangers) systematically made idiots out of themselves. Good times.
Speaking of times: the time is fast approaching when I'm not going to know most of these people anymore! I'm actually really depressed about Carrie and Geeta going away, though I have high hopes for my new flatmates. As it is, we're having a goodbye flat dinner this coming weekend, and then it's all over. I'll see Carrie again, but not Geeta, and never again will we sit around in our tiny livingroom drinking red wine instead of writing essays, or sit around our tiny dinner table drinking red wine and discussing the precise location of the clitoris, or stand around in our tiny kitchen making equally pathetic student meals usually consisting of inexpensive carbs and something in a bottle. My heart, she is breaking.
My real hope is that at least one of my new flatmates is NOT American, which would be very cool. Not that there's anything wrong with Americans, but it would be fun to meet some more Europeans. Also, any day now I swear I'll meet an actually Scottish person - I've heard rumours they exist, but I think they've all migrated North and just let Edinburgh be taken over by English people, and supposedly Scottish people with suspiciously English accents.
As for me, I have one exam (one!) then I am free as a bird and heading for Germany. Good thing I speak so much Germany... hey Lexi, little help here?
