I'm a cute American!

On a lighter note, I did two Americanisms today that made Alice happy. One was when I said I was hoping to lick this cold. She looked at me like I was nuts. Later I'd said I'd done something funky to my knee. She said, "Funky?" and laughed. Makes me happy that I can repay the British in kind... Later that evening, Nathan said something about seeing a professor in his vest. I said, "You mean vest as in undershirt?" I sort of thought that was what he meant, because a sweatervest or something didn't suit the tone of voice he was using. In other linguistic news, I unconsciously told Andy over the phone that I'd "ticked" a box--and then marveled at my own Britishism....

Oh, and the best thing this evening: I bought a round at the pub for Alice and oh-dear-I-think-his-name's-Matt, who had each bought a round for me last week. So I managed to pay them back without actually buying a drink for anyone else! For the rest of the evening, bore in mind that when people offer me a drink it's very nice of them but it's still ultimately buying a drink myself because I must buy them a drink eventually. With that in mind, I bought a pint for myself initially, and just nursed it through the evening. Still, we were at the pub from about five thirty to eight thirty... am contemplating smuggling in a sandwich next time because A) it's kind of late for dinner at past 9 when I get back to my flat and B) I have difficulty holding my alcohol at the best of times, least of all on an empty stomach. With this pint I did manage to smack my hand on the table in an animated gesture and to kind of fall over a chair when racing around to look at a third edition of Finnigan's Wake. But I think--hope--those could be attributed to simple klutziness. Trouble with the English dept. crew is that a lot of them know each other already because most of the masters students went here for undergrad. So lots of gossiping about profs I haven't met and/or talking about funding packages that I don't understand... But it's good to be hanging out with people. Gets me out of my room, which I was in for the rest of the day.

Have no classes tomorrow (because my Tuesday class is meeting Friday) but am thinking of A) going to the library and B) going to the City Centre with Alicia and Tanja. Good to get out of the house.

Oh, forgot to mention. Part of the reason for the untoward silence last week is that I met with Gillian (my programme coordintor) and asked her exactly how much reading I should be doing a week--600 pages, 400 pages, what--and she said I should do about 30 hours of independent work a week. So I've started keeping a log. It's difficult for me to work the 5 hours a day I've calculated I'll need to work--giving myself a day's worth off for the weekends.... So far the most productive I've been was yesterday, when I worked 4 and 3 quarters of an hour. But I did four and a half, plus the postgrad seminar and the pub today, so I'm pleased with myself.