“Whose Your Homebody?!” – Georgie Jessop

As time goes on and my schedule fills up, I find my motivation to update you on my life from three weeks ago dwindling. Is it really that entertaining anymore? That was rhetorical, of course I know the answer to this. I remember before I left I was obsessed with reading the blogs of everyone I knew who studied abroad. There’s just so much you want to know about a person’s life when they’re far away and it all seems so exciting. I also remember thinking'why did they stop writing? That’s not going to be me, I’ll keep up' and yet, here we are, three weeks behind and a hell of a lot has happened. I’ve been on two more trips and about to go on my third and final trip in less than a week. And like the rest of the college world out there, I do have to keep finals and school in mind. I guess you should feel good knowing that Blogging wins over starting my Theatre Presentation. Oh well, kick it in gear Devon, let’s go!

Monday November 22nd was a rather exciting day. Professor Haskett managed to get us tickets to see Billy Elliot and I was all too excited. I really like watching plays, but I haven’t seen a whole lot of them to be honest. I’ve seen a great deal more since I’ve been in London and since I’m in a theatre class, but, come to think of it, Billy Elliot was my first real musical. And it made me want to dance. A lot! The kid who plays Michael, aside from being a fantastic little actor, could tap dance better than I ever could. And at the end they all came out in gold shoes and tutus and tap danced, it was awesome! Not to mention little kids speaking in Irish accents and dropping the F bomb every 5 minutes. Solid night.

When Ben walked in to work on Tuesday I greeted him as usual, but instead of saying hi and getting on his computer, he sits down, leans in between our computers and gives me this sad, but serious face.

BEN: Devon… I’ve noticed, how come you never say good-bye to me anymore?
ME: Erm, what?
BEN: Yesterday I just looked up and you were gone, you didn’t say good-bye! You should really say good-bye.
ME: Well you were busy and with your headphones in and I didn’t want to interrupt you so-
BEN: Oh come now, you’re never interrupting! From now on, you have to say good-bye to me when you leave!
ME: Haha, ok. I’m sorry Ben, I’ll make sure to say good-bye.
BEN: Good. Now what did you do last night?
ME: Oh, I saw Billy Elliot!
BEN: Oh God, I f*cking love Billy Elliot!

I should also take this time to mention that Ben came in wearing this nice grey cardigan that he was obviously feeling good in. And while it did make him look ‘quite smart’ it was just hilarious to see how much he loved getting compliments about it. Next thing I know, he’s sliding a pamphlet about the Royal Ballet to me between our computers.

ME: Oooh, is this the ballet you were telling me about?
BEN: Yeah, I’m taking Caroline to see it. What did you think when you went?
ME: Well, the middle one was too long for my taste, even thought it was the one with the most clear cut story, but the last ballet was the best and was the most traditional of them all.
BEN: Awesome. Tell me, what are you doing tonight Devon?
ME: I’m going to my concert, I’m so excited!
BEN: Oh right, who are you going to see again?
ME: Beach House, they’re kind of a smaller Indie band, but they’re awesome!
BEN: *gives me this long stare* Devon… it’s not offensive is it? I mean I don’t want to sound rude, but you’re quite a cultured young lady. That’s not a bad thing though is it?
ME: No, that’s not a bad thing-
BEN: You’re right, it’s like a compliment, yeah?
ME: Yes, thank you, that’s a nice way to be described.
BEN: Ahh right, see, I was giving you a compliment, you’re cultured! But seriously, I’m not trying to sound condescending, you seem to know a lot about a lot of things.
ME: Oh well thank you, Ben, that’s very sweet.
BEN: You’re welcome! Did you see my new cardigan?

Haha, have I mentioned how much I love my boss? In case I haven’t, let me tell you now, I love Ben Crompton! I don’t think I’ve meet anybody quite like him before. Our conversation got even better when we sat down for lunch. This time he leaned over the lunch table, put his head in this hands and asked,

BEN: So, whose your best mate?
ME: Julie Harrison.
BEN: And what’s she like?
ME: Oh, well you’d love her! She’s a ginger and she’s gorgeous, she does a little modeling on the side, but she wants to be a Producer, so she’d eat up all this pre-production stuff and you’d think she was an angel for all the work she’d put into it.
BEN: Amazing. And, whose your best mate over here?
ME: Oh, umm probably either Jeni or Laura.
BEN: And what are they like?
ME: Well Jeni and I go out together and always have fun, but Laura and I talk more so I dunno. I like them both a lot, but for very different reasons. Whose your best friend, Ben?
BEN: Oh god, I don’t know! I guess my oldest mate who just had his baby. Yeah, I guess we’re the closest. Devon, why aren’t you eating?

Now I should mention that one of Ben’s favourite things to ask about is ‘what did you eat for dinner last night?’ or ‘what did you bring for lunch?’ Food in this office is clearly, a BIG deal, but don’t you worry, I’m not being anorexic. I was skipping my Intern class that week to meet up with Professor Haskett and the TCU group for our final free meal, and it didn’t make sense to eat at one when we were meeting up at two, so save my appetite I did. As I was trying to explain this to him, I look over in time to hear Josh teasing Sarah about going up to Leeds that weekend. Sarah is so calm that the idea of her being this crazy partier that Josh makes her out to be is ludicrous. So I said,

ME: Josh, are you just saying this cause you don’t get out much? Are you more of a homebody?
JOSH: What did you just call me?!
ME: A homebody.
JOSH: I have never heard that expression before in my life.
ME: You don’t know what that means?!
SARAH: I’ve never heard that before either actually. What’s that?
GEORGIE: Oh you know, it’s like when those guys go ‘what’s up my homebody!’ *as she does a gang sign*
ME: HAHAHAHAHA

No Georgie, you’re thinking of a homeboy, and that is much different that a homebody. So I had to explain that mistake first before I could explain what a homebody is. I can’t believe they had never heard that expression before! I distinctly remember the first time I became aware of it. I was reading my Beatles anthology the Thanksgiving of my freshman year of high school and Paul McCartney said he’d always been more of a ‘homebody’, and he’s a British person! I made sure to tell Ben good-bye as I left the office laughing.

When I met the gang at Oxford Circus, I was thankful to see that both Matt and Laura would be joining us. Jeni, Tom and J were still missing, but I had Laura back. As a testament to what I was trying to tell Ben earlier, Laura and I think alike about a lot of things, point in case, where to eat. You’d think that since it’s our last free meal in London EVER and that most of us our already poor college kids at this point, and being that it’s Thanksgiving week, we should go someplace where you sit down and order from a menu, right? Apparently, not Daryia. She starts taking us to this sandwich shop. A sandwich shop? That’s like £3. If I’m getting a free meal, I want to be able to eat more than a sandwich! And apparently Laura felt the same way. Oh, look, is that a Pizza Express down the street, let’s go there! So much to Daryia’s dismay, Laura and I were able to steer them away from the sandwich place. “I just think,” Laura was saying, “that since it’s our last meal and all, and that it’s free we should go some place nice. I want to get as much out of this as I can!” Oh thank God you said that Miss Saladino, because I was thinking THE EXACT SAME THING.

So after being properly stuffed with free food, and realizing it’s only 4 o’clock but looks like it’s proper night outside, I set off to go home and change because tonight I was going to see Beach House! I was slightly disappointed that I was going by myself, but I was more excited for the actual concert to truly care. And let me tell you, IT. WAS. AWESOME. Oh my god Victoria Legrand was soo good! I liked their latest album a lot, but after hearing it live, it turns into the next level of greatness.

Turns out, the venue we were in was the biggest venue they had played yet and they were super stoked about it. When they came on stage, Victoria goes, “together, we make one giant cake” and when they were about to leave, she said, “the cake thanks you, and it rocks!” Haha, I bet they’d be a cool band to hang out with too, because you could tell they really liked their fans. When one guy was shouting stuff at the stage between a break, she was actually trying to listen and said, “Dude, I’m trying to have a conversation with you, what are you saying?”

Wednesday I showed up at work to find several exciting surprises coming my way. The first being the entire kitchen table was covered with American candy. Yumm! Jolly ranchers and Reese’s peanut butter cups? The half of the production team that went to L.A. had finally come back and had brought some treats from my homeland back with them! It’s a custom in the office that when someone comes back from Holiday, you usually bring some sweets back with you to share. So far, I’ve been fortunate enough to partake in biscuits from Barcelona via Josh and biscuits from somewhere else in Spain curtsey of someone else in the office, but nothing beats a Reese’s and everyone seemed to agree. Everyone that is, accept for Josh.

Josh had just come back from his holiday in Egypt the day before and had brought back a box of Egyptian candies with him. Instead of being opened and shared across the office, it had been pushed to the side to make way for all the American candy.

ME: Oh my god, Reese’s, yesss!
JOSH: Hey now, what’s this on about? Where’s my box of Egyptian sweets? Oh look it’s over here, and it hasn’t even been opened?!
SARAH: Oh my god, are those Jolly Ranchers? I LOVE Jolly Ranchers!
JOSH: Mmm, *starts opening box* Egyptian sweets, I bet they’re sooo tasty.
BEN: Is there any chocolate? *opens a Reese’s and starts choking* (Ben thought the black wrapper on the bottom was dark chocolate and spit the whole thing out when he realized it was paper.)
JOSH: Oh Josh, that’s so kind of you to bring us sweets from Egypt! I bet they’re so good! Mmmm, Egyptian sweets. *puts one in his mouth and makes a face so that you know it’s not that great* Mmmmm, so good.

Hahaha!! Funniest thing I’ve seen in my whole life! Clearly Egypt isn’t known for their candy for a reason, but I could have told you that earlier Josh. At least Seema seemed to like the Egypt candy, but I think she might have been one of the few who actually ventured to try it. My second surprise came when Georgie handed me not one, but two guide books of Paris and a 6 page letter filled with places to go, things to see, and restaurants to eat in! Ahh yes, advice from a local, how much better can that get? And now with Jeni's book and Su's book, I have guide books out the wazoo! But I think my favorite part of the day came when the Elephant costume we ordered for Blah Blah Blah came in (one of the comedians makes a joke and it says ‘the elephant leaves the room’ so obvs we needed a costume) and Ben being Ben, had to try it on. He’s even wearing his ‘happy socks’. No, not the brand, they make him happy.

I left that day thinking about everything I had to do tonight to get ready to leave for Paris on Friday. Start packing, and print boarding passes and get confirmation numbers and looks at maps and where to go, it’s all overwhelming. But all I can say is, I’m so thankful I am an organized planner when it comes to travel, because our airline switched our flight. When I went home to print it out, I find that we’re not leaving Friday morning, but THURSDAY morning. And we’re not getting back Sunday night, but MONDAY night. What?? Enter panic mode now. That means 2 extra nights I have to find a hostel to stay in, I have to call Ben and switch my work schedule around, make sure Monique (the girl I’m traveling with) can still make it, figure out how to get to the airport and I haven’t even started packing yet. I wanted to cry.

I know what you’re thinking, Devon you idiot, you didn’t book the flight correctly. That’s defineitly a possibility, but I think unlikely. Monique and I both double checked when we bought them that they were the right dates, and I even forwarded her a copy of the confirmation info so that she could clarify. Secondly, I’ve heard of this happening to two other people thus far. We think what probably happened was that there’s a “my flight is flexible” box that we didn’t see or something and it altered our flights. Either way, I had a lot to do and only a short amount of time to do it in, and I am NOT MISSING PARIS. Looks like I’m not sleeping tonight. And looks like I just missed all of my classes this week. Cheers!

Love,
An-oh-just-wait-till-I-tell-you-about-Paris-Devon