Birthdays, Dinner Parties and Bed rest!!!!!

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Gosh, so now it's time for my weekly rant. The week has gone ever so quickly or slowly. It depends on what day it is, and how I'm feeling.

So last Friday night, with great trepidation I jumped on the train to meet up with people from Amsterdam. 'I will meet new people, I will try new things, this is not a silly idea just because I met them only last weekend in the city of sins.................' Oh what was I doing? This was well and truly outside of my little comfort zone. A few made text messages to Rosie for reassurance and I was on my way (with two mini bottles of vino from Marks and Spencer clutched by my side for Dutch courage). Ok firstly, when going to meet back up with people that you met only last weekend, and are potentially organising a trip to Dublin for the international rules match or future travelling buddies, perhaps not best first impression if you turn up tipsy. Even less so if you are really quite trollied! Luckily one of my new potential counterparts in crime came by and picked me up from the Ealing Broadway tube station. We dropped my things back where I was staying, then natural preceded to enjoy a glass or two of vino before heading out to check the finest and most glamorous establishments that Ealing Broadway has to offer on a Friday night............ Ok, well it's not really your uber cool epicentre like SoHo where you sip your cocktails, trying to look charmingly disinterest. Err, no it's more like inner city suburbia. So we went into the local, O’Neill’s is cool, not the trendiness of my beloved Brighton, but a fun night ensued.

Somewhere through this haze of yet another session of partying, I felt relieved that I was meeting people that I could honestly be friends with, get along with easily and comfortably, and just have a ripping good time as well! This was reconfirmed when I woke up the next morning (wooo hooo sans hang-over.... my body is no longer a temple as they say, but has been replaced by a machine capable of processing large quantities of alcoholic liquids). Finally I was enjoying an easy and slow paced weekend. Got up, was shown around Ealing in the daylight, had lunch, chatted away easily, watched cricket and dozed. That was until it was time to gear up again for a birthday party of another 'Amsterdamer' at a great Spanish restaurant, followed by partying the night away to cheesy music (oh how I love cheesy music) at a pub with Martha, Sharon and Brett..... It was a moment that night that made me realise exactly how different my life over here is/was/and will continue to be. I was having an absolute blast with this group of people I had only met a week ago, and yet somehow it all felt very natural, fun and right. Not weird at all as you might suspect. Life here is different like that. I think at home you would find reasons not to put yourself out there and do these things. Why would I need to when I had such a great group of friends? But this feels like it is expanding me, who I am, how I deal with things, and learning to let go, relax, don't stress and just have fun.

Sunday morning grrrr slightly sore throat. Relaxing repeat of Saturday’s activities (hmmm this dozing was a bit concerning) then it was time to head back to Brighton to move rooms! Urgh the agony and the ecstasy of moving. I hate packing up again, but I love my new room. Even more, love my new double bed. Starfish.......... ahhhhhhh................. It's light, airy and quite lovely, and if hang my head right out my window I can actually see the beach!

Monday morning comes and Kevin moves in. We actually both work at Legal and General, and he is a friend of another housemate, so by the time he moved in, we were both quite looking forward to the moment with gleeful anticipation! We were to have a dinner to celebrate. Oh and what a funny night! Eating, drinking and laughing with our housemates and two of Kevin's friends (one, possibly the campest gay man in the world - but terrific all the same). It was funny, it was rude, it was happy - I was home!!!!!!!! The mood since that night in our house has changed dramatically. Whilst it was great before, it just seems to have come completely alive now, and really enjoy the company of my housemates.

Over the last several days that pesky sore throat and sleepiness got worse and worse until it was unbearable. Shades of glandular fever again people I tell you. Actually on Tuesday night I was running a temperature and I suspect borderline delirious. I remember messaging people asking for hugs, but wishing I could get real ones. Sheepishly I had a lot of thanking to do on Wednesday to friends who may have thought I had gone slightly mad....... but at least their cheerful and nice words at the time mad me feel better in my rotten state. I think it's those moments when you are sick, or experiencing something mind blowing that you realise you are out here alone, doing it on your own. Not so god for tinges of homesickness when you jut want the security of your own room, your own stuff and your mum. But some ibuprofen and antibiotics, a whole bunch of sleep, early nights and chicken noodle soup and I seem to be as right as rain now! Wonder if that is also the cure to any future twangs of that silly homesick bug?

Looks like for the first time in 5 months I am going to be a homebody this weekend, but Emily from my Croatian leg of my trip is coming down to visit on Sunday. It's still tempting to go out and try to be the girl about town, but after all this time I think that the body really is trying to tell me something about slowing down and giving it some rest... so ok, I will listen.. it can have one weekend - but that's it!

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