“Alyssa, where is your hat?” Jacque, my flatmate, reprimanded me.
“I just sick of having something on my head,” I touched the orange paper crown under the rim of my plate.
Today was my last full day in London, and IES sent the group off with a Christmas dinner complete with crackers. All around the table, each person crossed their arms and held in each hand the end of a cracker. Then, at the same time, everyone pulled the crackers and gifts fell out. We each had a paper crown, a little gift, and a paper with a joke and a bit of wisdom on it. My cracker held a blue, heart-shaped pencil sharpener, which is a far better gift than mysterious calculator, and just as good as the marbles.
The quote in my cracker was by Indira Gandhi: “I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.”
After a feast of butternut squash soup, turkey with roast vegetables, and sticky pudding, I said my goodbye to the IES faculty and staff. Marina, my playwriting professor, asked when we expected to return, Julian gave pub suggestions, and Vanessa gave hugs.
Of course it was raining when we left, but I would expect nothing less of London. Way to send us off in style, London.