How Casey and Emily came to be addressed as a plural.

So I suppose now's as good a time as ever to recap the past week and a half, now that I'm recovering nicely (at least, I hope so) and officially don't have mono. (THANK GOD!)

Emily got in last Monday afternoon, and after an epic trip back from Luton, we made it back to home base. We introduced Emily to Ifor Evans cuisine (which was, as usual, just this side of edible), then met up for some hardcore American-style pregaming. We all piled into Kelly's room and drank heavily (hey, we're cheap, what??) before heading to the Boardwalk on our beloved 29 bus. Em and I spoke French the whole way there (I'm so smart!!) and eventually we piled out and got on the queue. After accidentally getting Josh in trouble with the bouncer (Casey: haha, that doesn't even look like you on your ID! Bouncer: *starts asking questions about Josh's name, etc.*) we all made it inside. I talked Em into Long Island Iced Teas (well, she IS from Long Island) and the two of us, Kelly, Josh, Soumitro, Laura, Sumit, Bailey, and Jesse all piled around a table to drink, giggle, and take photos. Emily busted out her Japanese cigarettes, and, to everyone's surprise (myself included), I ended up smoking my first two cigarettes (well, with the help of Jesse and Josh. What good friends!) Post all this pre-debauchery debauchery, we all headed down to our traditional corner of the dance floor and danced for, like, three hours. Highlights included the Arctic Monkeys, numerous dance-offs, dancing w/ Emily to old-school Strokes, Justin Timberlake (of course), and the Jay-Z / Sean Paul Em and I requested. Needless to say, it was one of the best nights I've spent at UCL yet...really made me appreciate my floormates, and, of course, my lovely Emily.

The next day, we went to the Tate Modern (which was closed due to a strike, except for the slides, so of course we went sliding!) and Brick Lane (delicious, as always). Then we hopped a bus to Oxford for drinks with Kelly's friend Dan-el and dinner w/ Em's cousin Jessica and her boyfriend; we had pints @ the pub where Tolkien and C. S. Lewis met and hung out, then went to a great faux-French restaurant and drank really yummy wine. I'm officially in love with Oxford now, and think I may have to rethink my grad school plans.

Then it was off to Malta to meet up with our darling Matthew. Malta was five days of pretty old things, colder weather than expected, and, unfortunately, me dying of the plague. Kinda put a damper on our fun.
It was wonderful to see Matt again, though, and to hang out with the two of them together. I've really been missing the group dynamic from spring of sophomore year (those lazy weekends where we'd have the best of intentions to do something 'exciting' but instead would just sit and drink in 711 and listen to Belle & Sebastian--"was anyone ever so young?") and it was great to hear the same old jokes, to see faces I've known for more than a month...you know.

Anyway, back to the touristy angle and away from the nostalgia: highlights of Malta included fucking kick-ass cappuccinos, hanging out in Calypso's Cave (yeah, THAT Calypso, Columbia kids!), dancing on platforms to the worst 90s trashy electronica at "Malta's best club," Matt's cooking, the view from our first hotel room, the fact that people actually speak Maltese, our passeggiata to multiple Maltese playgrounds, and, of course, the fact that wherever you turned you saw something breathtakingly gorgeous. Lowlights included the day I spent sick in bed. Fuck.

But: I'm better now, and it just so happens that there's a 90s party at the Watershed tonight. Of course we're all going. Of course Bailey and I are desperately scouring our closets for costumes. We'll let you know how it goes.