Everybody's Working for VA-CA-TION!

ahhh... finally...
a nice Subway wrap in my tummy, my head feeling better from my freak two-day sinus infection, a ticket to Lancaster to see the Mz. Hunter tomorrow, and Modern Warfare 3, with my bffl, on a comfy couch.

So much has happened in the last two weeks, and now, it's all done. I can't believe it.
I have completed my first semester at Oxford.

And my "grades"?
They're solid.
Yes.

Anyway, let's start with the Sunday of Eighth week, yeah?

My parents left the day before, and I worked all day in the library to try and catch up. Come dinner, I was ready to have fun.
We all put our nice clothes on, our gowns, and made our way to Wolfson. I was sitting between the Americans and all my new English friends :) Except Fez, he was sitting with the Christian Union :( but that's ok, because Tom and I threw little peas at him throughout the meal to remind him of his poor choice in seating, it's a lot harder to throw peas at someone right next to you.

The dinner was amazing, and we had twice as much wine as usual. And, we all know wine tastes better when you're wearing those little Christmas crowns you get out of the Christmas poppers and everyone around you (besides Sam sitting next to you) is speaking in a British accent.
After our really amazing food, the principle smacked his gavel and stood up on his chair, drunk as a skunk and said: "This Christmas dinner, we will not be departing with our usual graces, but instead, in song. Everybody!" and with that, the moment Matt had been bracing me for for weeks came:

the singing.

We all stood on our chairs with our extra bottles of wine and belted out Christmas tunes like, Good King Wenceslas and We Wish You a Merry Christmas but the best, the best of all was yet to come: Teddy Bears Picnic. Matt had been complaining about having to sing this for the past two weeks, so, naturally, I couldn't wait. Apparently "Teddy Bears Picnic" is a beloved nursery rhyme that many and many a drunk generations of Teddy Hallers love to sing. So, what do we do?

We BELT it!

And what does Bjorn do? (The JCR chairman and good friend of mine)

He puts on Teddy Hall's Teddy mascot costume and dances and pelvic thrusts up the aisles of formal hall, dancing with Josh (JCR VP).

Matt, obviously, is horrified, and refuses to sing and downs his wine. But, us Americans, and Tom, we're diggin' it! We're dancing, laughing at Bjorn and signing about Teddy Bears dancing in the woods. It was jolly good.
And, of course, we ended it all with a cheer led by Bjorn and Josh:
TEDDY TEDDY TEDDY!
HALL HALL HALL!
TEDDY TEDDY TEDDY!
HALL HALL HALL!
TEDDY!
HALL!
TEDDY!
HALL!
TEDDY TEDDY TEDDY!
HALL HALL HALL!

After dinner, we all went to the Half Moon for a few and retired to my room to finish off the wine. Nothing like good company in small spaces. Fez, Tom, Matt, Sam, J and Janosz, thanks for being in my Michaelmas term. I love knowing you guys :)

Monday through to Wednesday was just awfully busy.
Rugby practice extended forty five minutes, I was getting sick, and I just didn't have enough in me to finish my essays. I mean, they were finished, it's just, I could not convince my mind to work harder, to take that extra hour in the library, to reread a source, or even my essay. It was tough.
I thought I had been mentally exhausted at the COW during finals, or that one inevitable week where all your projects and readings and essays are due within a day of one another, but, nothing, NOTHING compared to this. I just couldn't think anymore. It was the weirdest sensation. I would randomly stick periods in the middle of my sentences. I would forget to do things like put on socks. I felt like Garrett Thomson. Or like in hockey, when you skate so hard you can't feel your legs anymore, except, it your mind.

Anyway, I've had a day of rest, and tomorrow, I'm headed off to see ANNIEZ! (my turn, Clint! :P )