- Between lecture and seminar, Kelsey and I used to race back to the Carriage House to get the good showers and were usually successful. Dwill would come to my room to finish (re: begin) our seminar handout and I would answer the door in my towel/cover up thing, still basically dripping wet. The look on his face was priceless. "Uhh, is this a bad time?" "No no, come in! Umm, I finished the research, we just have to type it up . . . " we would have a 5 minute conversation and he would blush the entire time.
- If you ever had a pizza stolen out of the fridge at Harlaxton, it was probably me. I was always with someone else, but I don't think many people stole pizza besides me and my co-conspirators. I figured a year later is a fair enough amount of time in which people won't be too upset. Colin Todd, thanks for many a late-night meal.
- The last two weeks of Harlaxton were magical, staying in Grantham, staying out till the wee hours at Gravity, Vibe, and Barcode, and then watching The Chronicles of Narnia in the Pearson Room the next morning hungover as all hell.
- I always felt like a badass taking Refectory cups full of coffee with me to my couch outside the library. Small things. I have one at home with me now too.
- Leaving our bedroom door unlocked at all times was usually not rewarded with good luck. Kelley barging in yelling at us to go to brunch, Mary pounding on the door for me to let her in even though it was open, Andrea stumbling in wanting to talk about the Industrial Revolution, Chris coming in wanting me to say "goddamn" for him because he is a good Catholic. I loved every second of it, though.
- "Exploring" with Mary and J.R. on one of our last nights there. We ALMOST were able to go into the Refectory after hours and explore the rooms above, because we found that the door was UNLOCKED. But Zyggy was at the desk, so we were going to go back later when whoever was at the desk had left for a moment. Alas, that never happened. However, we did slide around the Long Gallery in socks, pretended to give BS lectures, found Dr. Phil's shoes outside of his room, and got locked in the Conservatory. Yes, we were locked in. We found out the hard way that after a certain hour, your fob let you out, but not in. It was pouring down rain and we were terrified that we were going to set off the alarm and force the entire school to evacuate. After about 15 minutes of sheer panic, we finally just pushed open a door and, thankfully, no alarm sounded. All that remained was to trek back to Carriage House through the construction site (read: mud) without an umbrella (which J.R. hurled into a wall and broke in a fit of rage outside the Music Room).
- I could NOT understand the concept of Harlaxton Clue. I hated that each faculty member only knew one fact. But I loved how we had so many things planned out -- magic tricks, dances, songs, jokes, we were prepared. We still lost, but only because we guessed wrong. There's no way anyone could have actually figured it out. I firmly believe that.
- Mary and I "studying" for BS tests. We would make up songs pertaining to historical dates and facts, then promptly forget them. We would read our handouts out loud to each other, and then it would end with us in bed yelling, "f*** this, I don't even care, I will never learn this and fail and be kicked out of England and end up destitute on the streets!" and then I still would get an A.
- Sitting on the steps of the Cedar Staircase, inquiring as to how British strippers get paid. "You don't have single bills, so you can't exactly stuff pound coins down a G-string . . . " It was discovered that 5 pound notes are the starting denomination. A lucrative career.
- Watching "Bagpuss" and "Noggin the Nog" with Anne, Mary, J.R., Sara, and Drew, and being immensely creeped out, especially by Nogbad the Bad, because of Anne's eerily accurate voice.
- H.Snow on the bus to our Stratford field trip: "Kyle Dyke . . . I mean Dick . . . sorry about that."
Anne: "Which one is better?"
- Getting a pizza cab back to the Manor. This is a common trick among Harlaxton students. You walk drunkenly to the pizza place, order a pizza to be delivered to the Manor, then go with them in their car when they deliver it. They only charge about 1 pound or so.
- Waner and I stumbling into reception and checking his mailbox, only to find his corrected term paper draft, "A Shadowy Glimpse at the Life of Owen Glendower." On the front cover was written : "Rather odd title."
I do not need to tell you how hard we laughed. We ended up sitting on the floor underneath the mailboxes and almost crying.
- Whenever I wore the purple tights, my night was magical.
- One night, I was talking to Heather in the Schroeder Lounge after she got back from wine and steak night at the Greg. I suddenly remembered that I had a piece of pizza in my pocket and pulled it out. She thought that was one of the funniest and weirdest things ever.
- Speaking of which, the Schroeder Lounge couches are probably the only ones in the entire place that aren't contaminated with bodily fluids. Think about it.
- One of the strangest things that happened to me there was late one night when I was walking back from the Manor after working on a paper, Bob the Swan walked next to me the entire way home. My escort, if you will. Such a gallant gentleman.
- Aaron to Anne: "We're going to make out right now. It's okay. We're just going to make out."
- Sliding down the banister of the Cedar Staircase was fun but extremely challenging, at least if you're me. My stubby legs could not manage to reach the ground once I hit bottom, and extracting myself from the cedar was difficult. We have it on video.
- Trying to explore another night, J.R. pushed open a random door in the faculty corridor and there were people in it. I'm pretty sure I yelled, and then we took off running as fast as we could down the hallway. I'm not graceful when I run so I'm sure I sounded like a train.
- Ed Packard told me that my swearing habit was "filthy".
- Bujak looked at my study guide for my history class and said "Well, this is a bitch."
- The first time J.R. and I discovered the "Story of the Weeping Camel" and asked DG about it was a moment equal parts reality, drama, and magic.
- I had to hold a cheesecake in front my chest to prevent a certain creep from staring at my bosoms the entire Valedictory dinner.
- Someone asked me, "So who is going to be the Valedictorian?" and I patiently explained that there probably wouldn't be one, since if 20 people got all A's there would be 20 Valedictorians, and that probably wasn't the point of the Valedictory dinner.
- I got very excited when the winner of the essay competition wrote an essay on Emmeline Pankhurst because I thought it was Anne, but then a boiling pit of lava rage emerged in my stomach when it wasn't her. My essay was bitchin' and should have won, but I'm not bitter at all.
- I love that the first time I met Ben, he proposed to me.
- I loved planning mine and J.R.'s "marriage of convenience" life together. We would be swingers who had a bedroom in which we could cuddle and watch Bagpuss and then separate bedrooms for our escapades, all with the comforts of joint checking and life insurance benefits. And matching bathrobes.
