"What's at Taco Bell?" "...Tacos."

I'm scared to mention the amazing weather again for fear that I will jinx it, but man it's been nice out. I should have done work outside today. Instead I froze in the library. I had a break between my two classes from 10 am to 3 pm, which dragged. And I always forget the library treats us like penguins in a zoo. I think my toes were going numb. And my fingers felt frozen no matter how long I buried them in my sweatshirt pocket.

So one lecture and one seminar down. One more tomorrow, and then two out of three classes will be finished. Can. Not. Wait. Mostly I can't wait until Thursday, when I hand in the paper I have yet to write. The mere fact that I have zero motivation to write it slightly depresses me. Giving us a three week break was not a good idea. Isn't it summer already?

I did get one paper back today though, for the evil English class, and got a 69! Which seems kind of awful in American grades...in fact at Wellesley I would cry over this grade...But here apparently that's really good. Anything 70 and above is apparently a "first class" grade, which is the best you can do. And hey, I wrote that paper between the hours of 11 pm and 6 am. So take that UK.

We just had our first "tea" back in "uni," meaning everyone's back and we just ate dinner. It actually wasn't too bad. Chicken, broccoli, carrots, mashed potatoes...that's normal, right? Everyone asks how different the food is here and it really is hard to describe because the differences are so subtle, and I don't know what British mums are cooking for their families. Wellesley certainly doesn't serve meatloaf or steak but my mom will. So I'm sure I'm missing out on some things. But tonight my British friend Becky was asking, "You guys eat the exact same things in America, right?" which is a very difficult question. In general, I suppose so.

Eventually we all just sat around and compared cultures, a favorite pastime over dinner. It's extremely amusing. Veronique and I gave our American input, Emma, Becky, and Helen gave British, and Kozue and Moka Japanese. We discussed fast food:

"You don't have Wendy's?"

"What's that?"

"It's like McDonald's and Burger King."

"Only bigger?"

"No, it's exactly the same."

"Oh I think I've heard of it! On TV! I think it's in Friends! And I've heard of Taco Bell. You have that right? What's at Taco Bell?"

". . .Tacos . . . . And burritos."

"What are burritos?"

"What?! They're like Mexican wraps."

And stores:

"You guys don't have Primark do you?"

"No. We have...Macy's?"

"Is that cheap?"

"Uh. Kind of. We also have TJ Maxx. Like TK Maxx."

"Oh, but TK Maxx isn't cheap."

"TJ Maxx is pretty cheap for us."

"I spent 77 pounds at Primark today! It's awful. You go into Primark and there are such great deals and you go mad! And then you get to the till and spend 77 pounds."

And Easter:

"Do you celebrate Easter in Japan?"

"No. Just Christmas."

"You celebrate it in America right?"

"Yeah!"

"It's just a great excuse for eggs!"

"And candy and presents!"

"Haha. Candy. That's so funny."

"What? You don't say candy?"

"No. Chocolate."

A night at dinner is a fun night indeed.

Now look at the equivalent of $23 in 1 pound coins! This is what I have amassed in my purse, not including 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 pence pieces. I miss you, dollar bills.