Twenty-One

I wasn’t going to say anything at all today or ever again, but the secret’s out now, I guess.

Hold on, I’m getting ahead of myself.

I woke up in Paris this morning, half an hour before the alarm. 4am UK time, 5am Paris time. Got ready, packed my bags, and left. I took the metro, and then got on a bus, then the bus died and I got on another bus, then I arrived at the airport and checked in. I got breakfast and was charged for a cheaper meal than the one I ordered and when I pointed out the mistake, they didn’t charge me the difference. Then I stood in line-ups for about three hours or so, took a plane to Southampton, got on the train to Winchester, and took the bus back to where I live. I could’ve walked from the train station but I’ve had enough of walking this weekend.

I arrived in my room at noon and took a break for half an hour before getting up and going for lunch. After that I went to class, only to realize I was an hour early because I was still on Paris time. So I wrote for an hour in the classroom, then I had class. In class, one of the students had had his birthday recently and another student had baked a really fancy tuxedo cake for him. I was offered some but declined. I didn’t really want to eat someone else’s birthday cake on my birthday, you know?

Class ended at 6 and a couple of friends and I went to get food. We ordered and they took FOREVER to deliver. Along with my meal, I also ordered cake because it’s been a tradition for me to take a picture of and then eat cake on my birthday while in England, whether anyone knows it’s my birthday or not.

This was my cake in first year. It was individually-wrapped, mass-produced carrot cake, sold in the cafeteria.

My cake last year was a lot better.

It was red velvet with cream cheese frosting and it was in London.

This year my slice of cake was from the cafeteria, but better than the first.

Again, from the cafeteria, but the more expensive part. Chocolate or something.

So basically I was late to Writers’ Society. We were in a new room today, too, and it was locked when I got there!

And there was some messaging and stuff and I got into the Writers’ Society (thankfully, seeing as how I run it) and my friend Chioma (she’s the fellow student rep I’ve mentioned before) was there and surprised me for my birthday!

The thing was, having been awake since 4am and tired as hell, and not wearing my contacts or makeup or anything, I was ill-prepared for a photo-op. Oh well, I’m working with what I’ve got.

Because I was so tired, I planned to go straight to sleep when I got back, but then I got a message from a friend and went over to her place (which is really close) and got these from three more friends!

Chioma somehow remembered my birthday from the one time I let it slip two years ago, and I don’t know how the others found out because they won’t tell me. It could be something creepy. Maybe they asked my parents or saw my passport or something. I don’t know.

And now I’m exhausted and I have a 9am class and work tomorrow and I’ve finished writing this post, so goodnight!