I am such a lightweight.

It's not even 10.00 and I'm already at home with a glass of water and a powerful need to sleep. I declined going clubbing again and no one seemed remotely surprised.

Genre Studies is going to be a very good class. There were mentions of ST and Firefly being Space Westerns and Sherlock Holmes (Guy Ritchie series) and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen being Steampunky. I'm really excited for the assessments, but I seem to be the only one in the class who's, like, properly excited about it. I'm reminded of the quote by John Green, "…because nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff… Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-can’t-control-yourself love it. Hank, when people call people nerds, mostly what they’re saying is ‘you like stuff.’ Which is just not a good insult at all. Like, ‘you are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness’." Yeah, I'm a nerd and proud of it. I'm enthusiastic about everything. I genuinely love a lot of really interesting topics and I love showing that.

After class, I waited around for an hour for Bri, she and I went to another pub called The Ram, which has the exact same menu as The Druid's Head, but is far slower and sloppier. I ordered (get this) a half pint of Old Speckled Hen...and hated it. Ugh! So icky. But I can drink the cider (Aspall's is my favorite, though I tried this really sweet pear cider later) like water. I'm proud of myself for that.

Then Bri and I met up with a bunch of study abroad kids at The King's Tun, the local Wetherspoon's. (Where I had the pear cider.) Stayed there for two hours, in which I was bored out of my mind. Boredboredbored. I know it's an exciting life, drinking since you were 14 and clubbing and grinding with new guys every night, but I find the conversation with people who do that tends to bore me. (The exceptions being the Writer's House kids from freshman year. Hipsters who love their alcohol and drugs almost as much as their obscure literature. They'll make good characters for a story someday.) I mean, okay, obviously the conversation was not going to turn to Doctor Who, but between getting sleepy (I get really tired when I have alcohol in me. Go figure.) and the cool people from Turkey leaving early, I was starved for stimulating conversation.

There was an interesting convo going on nearby, though, as Bri talked to a study abroad guy from Syria. He is fascinating. And the most interesting part of the convo dealt with compliments and insults. One of the girls had two different driver's licenses with her and in one picture, she was nervous and 16, and in the other, she was definitely far dressier and confident. The Syrian guy made a comment about how one was a better/prettier picture than the other and she and Bri went into an explanation that, in the States, you don't say that. At least, not to someone you don't really know. You present it in a way that saves face. Whereas, in his culture, if you're asking someone for an opinion, you're going to get an opinion, whether or not it's a flattering one. Very interesting.