A Mormon Who Has Tea? Thursday September 21, 2006

Today was rather relaxing. I awoke late, followed by not going jogging, and the rest of the day was just leisure activities. I went to a poster sale with Narges (my housemate from Ireland) and then to lunch with three girls in my program. Lunch was really great! We went to this place called Café Bar and it is tucked away down a side street off the main town centre. You entered into an open cobblestone plaza where you could eat and enjoy Italian music and the wonderful weather; it was mid 70’s today with blue sky.

I ordered pizza and a diet coke (again small and no refills) and it was “reasonably” priced. This lunch was not the typical meal I am used to though. We chatted and looked at the menu, then order. Talked some more until our meal came, occasionally took a sip of my drink (hahaha), and then sat around for about 30-45mins after we had finished our meal (without a drink!) talking about how we are terrified of this coming year. After lunch we went to the town plaza and had ice cream and talked some more. All of this taught me a few things: 1) we should really take the time to enjoy, I tend to inhale my food; 2) eating out is an event, not just something to do. My friends say that they usually spend 2-3 hours when they go out to eat, and they usually go out only a couple times a month. 3) as students you don’t tip, and 4) the meal is not about the food, but about catching up with friends and family. It was interesting because Courtney, the other girl from Baylor, and I told them that we usually went out about four times a week and it was an “eat and get it done with” kind of event. They were shocked, but we told them that that is just what college life is like in the States.

I came home after my relaxing afternoon out and started reading course and student handbooks, which put me to sleep. When I awoke, I went down had a snack and visited with a few housemates. The drama is already starting with the girls’ boyfriends and we haven’t even started classes yet! I started reading again and finally finished. It was quite boring, but at least it’s done. I do not have any meetings until next Wednesday, so hopefully I can finish organizing my room, get a job, and keep reading my textbook.

Something I learned today is that if someone asks you if you would like to have tea with them, most likely they are not literally talking about drinking tea, but about having a meal. This is good news because I was invited to have “tea” with a Mormon family and I was wondering about these sketchy Mormons in England.