He's Just Not That Into You

A thought came to me yesterday, Valentine's Day that is, that I shared with a few others... Why would anyone want to waste their time on a cheap love affair when you can buy it on eBay?

... It's something I'll never understand, and it was inspired by the movie, "He's Just Not That Into You." Genna, Monique, Linz, Chels, and I all went to see it Friday afternoon when we peaced out of the campus and went to the mall at Meadowhall. Supposedly it is the 3rd biggest mall in the UK, or something to that effect. I thought it was America. In fact, we walked in, looked around for a minute and then when our eyes adjusted to the endless rows of glorious shops within which we could blow money, we shouted, "AMERICA!" It was fabulous. Their food court was awesome and they had a really sweet movie theatER where you could pay an extra pound for leather seats; total movie ticket price came to 5 pounds 70, which I thought wasn't too different from the US. It would have been 4 pounds 70 if Monique hadn't decided to go all out on luxury seating... hahahaha. Exploiting you again, aren't I? It's my life mission. We shopped around and I bought a pair of boots and a sweater I have to return because there's a hole in the pit, which was depressing. So, anyway, everyone should go and see that movie... men and women alike. It shows how the other side thinks about relationships and dating. It was reiterated again and again that if a guy actually liked you, he'd find a way to be with you, and I thought it such a simple concept that it aboslutely ridiculous that we'd never known it before. We, and by "we" I mean females, suffer from analysis paralysis. We blow things out of proportion and try to determine the "hidden meanings" behind every action/word that comes out of a guy's mouth. We thrive on the drama because it's what makes the unknown so exciting, which is so true. But, that's what the movie was about and it ended in a good way, so, naturally, I loved it. And it got me to wonder why so many girls get so worked up about being alone on Valentine's Day. Maybe I'm crazy, but it's the getting worked up that leaves you let down at the end of the night... better to go in it as you would any other day, so that you're always satisfied in the end when your day turned out way better than you thought it would. But, it also made me disgusted with the way people ask each other out now... texting? Please. No, no. A little romance never hurt anybody.

Valentine's Day, aka yesterday, Chels, Monique, Genna, and I decided to partake in a little activity called "speed dating," which was again offered by the amazing Sheffield student union. None of us have ever done it before, and I can honestly say that I'm not sure I'll ever do it again, even though it was pretty cool. We just figured we'd get some good stories out of it, despite the fact that I thought I was going to throw up from nerves going into it. It was really simple actually. The girls were all given numbers (25 girls, 25 guys) and then were assigned a table. The guys had the short end of the stick and were the ones who had to move from table to table. I got really lucky with Rich, an Englishmen in case you're wondering, as my first "bachelor" and we hit it off right away. Conversation was not a problem. Pure ease and never a dull moment. He was followed by his friend Nick, who I also loved talking to, so I circled yes to both of them. After that, it was pretty down hill. There was a guy way over the age limit of 25 at 38, 4 straight from India MBA students, a guy from Afghanistan, and a guy from Syria who stuck out to me the most. Those conversations were a bit more challenging, especially when they forced me to guess where they were from. Genna said that someone called her a racist when she guessed wrong, hahahaha. 2 of the guys, Niko and Chris, we knew already because they're studying abroad from U. of Illinois and U. of Maryland respectively, so conversation was good with them too. Circled yes. Finally, I had another group of friggin weirdos and then the last two guys, who were also British, were pretty swell as well. I circled yes to them. Turns out that all 4 of us circled yes to the 4 British guys and the Americans, and they us. The 4 Brits were all really good friends, and obviously so are we, so we all sat around and talked forever. A lot of them were in love with America, which I found hysterical. Usually you hear that most English people dislike Americans, but some of them wanted to move to America for broadcasting and journalism. It made me proud to be an American. Later, Rich and I were comparing British and American accents. Then, I exploited Monique again by telling Rich that she had the most hilarious accent of us all. The words that come out of her mouth are so outrageous that they are pure liquid honey... I'm not kidding. I have to stick my head between my knees half the time to keep from falling over in laughter. I love you, Monique. So, all in all, I think it was worth it just to have the experience and check it off the bucket list, if you will. I think I'm more experienced now since I've been there, done that and technically dated 25 guys on Valentine's Day. Hahahaha. Making friends with British guys made the experience absolutely worth it in the end.

After we left the bar where speed dating was held, we proceeded to the Stoplight, or "Traffic Light" as the Brits call it, party at the Edge bar. Basically you wear green if you're single, yellow if it's complicated, and red if you're in a relationship. Not many people followed the rules, but that didn't surprise me. I got there and was immediately tackled by some random British guy who pulled me into his arms and presented me with a candy sweetheart sweet-tart that said, "Lovely Lips," and I busted out laughing. They have the best sense of humor. Then, I ran over to Lindsay, aka my extreme dancing partner to initiate our dance-off. We danced for a good 2-3 hours. Random guys kept trying to join our dance party, but the two of us are TRULY content to dance alone, so we became very annoyed, and thus, spent a majority of the night dodging creepers who thought they could keep up with our dance moves. Both of us simply prefer having space to ourselves to flail our arms and jump around without the presence of another body to occupy our bubble. Monique and Chelsea brought Lindsay a second Green Apple Vodka drink and she was like, "I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS," but then proceeded to take a swig. My response was to say, "COMMUNITY!" which in hindsight, could have ended badly, but Lindsay liked the idea and handed me the bottle while screaming, "YEAH!" So, we passed the drink back and forth until Lindsay finally gave it to Kohan to finish once again... it was very Frat-tastic of him. His house mates have coined themselves the "Crewe Frat" after the Crewe residence hall because they have a genuine obsession with America, American fraternities and Solo Cups. The DJ was a sorry excuse for a man, unfortunately, because I asked him to play T.I. & Rihanna's "Live Your Life," and he said he didn't know it after having just played "Disturbia," and it was reflected in his song selection throughout the night.

Today was pretty laid back. Linds and I checked out our second church since being here, which lost its appeal during the steep climb back home... aka 30 minutes of pure hell. Needless to say, we might be trying another church next week. After that, Alex, Chels, Mon-Mon, Linds, Genna for a little while, and I all hung out in Monique's room while she stole some sweet tunes from my iTunes. She owes me about a $1000 U.S. now. Lol, jk. Then, I left and began my trec back home to good ol' Tapton when I ran into the Crewe Frat boys. Kohan was a gent and walked me back to Tapton. It was really nice to not walk alone late at night for once, plus it was even better when he admitted to an obsession with Americans, or was it American girls? I'm not sure. Hahaha. No worries, mate.

That's all for now. Mum told me to start cutting my blogs down, but it's become an addiction, so I keep typing away... but now, I go. All I have left to say is, Cram it up your Cram Hole, Le Fleur.