Hold the Bus.

(First of all, I'm sorry if this appears twice anywhere. Blogger has clearly been having some issues.)

The above expression was something my high school geometry teacher used to say. I always thought it was weird, and I still do actually. But it works sometimes. Like today.

Something happened today that I never expected. And in my last post I said nothing interesting would be happening in the next month - ha!

Anyway, I'm sure you are on the edge of your seat in anticipation. Allow me to set the stage. I dragged myself back to my room at 1 this afternoon after an hour of Arabic and two hours on the Sunni Revival of the 10th century. Hungry, braindrained already and dreading the two hours of anthropology ahead of me in the afternoon, I made myself a cup of coffee. One of my exam term presents to myself was a lovely little French Press coffee thingy, so I can caffeinate myself in style. Anyway, I have a designated tea mug and a designated coffee mug (the cafetiere doesn't make enough coffee to fill my giant Starbucks mug I use for tea). Today, however, the coffee mug was in the sink to be washed so I made do with another coffee cup. I filled it up and realised the mug was too small to fit my usual generous portion of milk.  I figured I would just man up and sip it down and then could top it up with milk. I took a sip. And. It wasn't awful. Actually (and this is where things get life changing) I enjoyed it! I'll say it again - I drank black coffee and it was good! What has happened to me?!

To top off this incredible experience, I did something even more radical. I put a marshmallow into my coffee. Why? I have no idea what possessed me. But it was a good decision. Yum. And on that note, back to the pious Shi'i women of Beirut. Joy of joys.

Watching History

I was planning on rambling about rowing today, but I have to say something about Egypt. I don't have anything really insightful to add, but this is such an exciting thing to witness.

This afternoon I spent two hours in a class on Nationalism in North Africa. We took a break part way through, and, since we are in the Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, obviously started talking about Egypt. We watched videos on youtube, speculated, and chatted.

After class I went to get a book from the library, came back to my room, tried to watch yesterday's Grey's Anatomy, and then started procrastinating on the internet.

After a little while, I checked my facebook. And saw all these statuses about Egypt? So obviously I checked Al Jazeera (English) and caught myself up on the happenings.

Not only is this an incredible moment to witness, but that it coincides with the year in which I will get a degree in Middle Eastern Studies & Arabic just blows my mind.

I don't want to get ahead of things, however, since I really don't know anything about this. All I'm saying is, I feel so lucky to be able to witness this. I have a strange sense of the significance of this moment. I'm laying on my couch watching the BBC live coverage, and I know that I will remember this for the rest of my life. It's not everyday you experience something, a moment's significance that you already know is significant.

I'm not going to spout something about idealism and the promise of the future, because I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm excited to watch. Even more excited to listen to the news in Arabic, because I can understand it!

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