Life.

So, I realise that I haven't really written much about what I've actually been doing with my life outside the confines of this room and my crazy little mind. Things have been happening. Honest.
St. Patrick's Day happened. It was a while ago, I know, but I forgot to blog about it. Fail. While most of Ottawa seemed to start drinking at about 10am, Brittany had to study, so I had a rather relaxed day, and went in search of green things to wear. We then spent the evening celebrating at the house of a friend of Ken's which was full of wonderful Irish people and wonderful Irish food, and the stew reminded me of my Granny, which always makes for a happy Hannah. I also made green and orange Skittles vodka, which made me extremely happy.
During the crazy week of random summer weather, I finally got to see Nancy, who was here visiting Jess. We had another mini-Team Team reunion, and it was lovely. We went to a pub and drank cocktails and played pool and darts and I discovered that I'm not very good at darts but I am very good at adding. I also learned that Nancy should not be allowed to handle darts when she's losing. Ever.
It was Kate's birthday last week, so naturally we partied it up Exe-style. We went to Patty B's, which is a realy nice bar with a dancefloor and live cover bands, so we spent the night dancing and singing like fools. It was nice to have a normal and enjoyable night out, without all of the showiness that bugs me about Ottawa clubs.
Classes finished last week. I was somewhat drained by the two weeks of intense essay-writing, but I managed to muster up the energy to drink bad sangria and go to Ollie's with two of my favourite Canadians:

My parents are currently in Canada, which is very exciting. They arrived on Monday, very jetlagged, and armed with this magnificent pile of chocolatey goodness:

Words cannot describe just how happy this made me. I was of course thrilled to see my dear mother and father, too. On Tuesday I showed them around the delights of Carleton University campus and they took me to The Works. Om nom nom nom nom nom nom nom. I had elk burger, which was really really good, and only has 7% of the fat that a beef burger has. Amazing. The parents have gone off on some adventures for a week while I sit my first 4 exams, but they'll be back in Ottawa on Tuesday for some touristy delights, including poutine and BeaverTails. On that note, I should probably add that BeaverTails are not actual tails of beavers. Canadians aren't that weird, but apparently some people in Britain thought that I meant actual beaver tails. No. This is a BeaverTail:

It is a thing of pure pastry wonder. Nom.
Before my parents return to Ottawa, however, there's the small matter of exams to contend with. I've had two so far: American Lit yesterday and Shakespeare this morning. They were alright. American Lit was ok - I actually managed to remember some of what was written in my notes, so that was useful, and I don't think I was entirely nonsensical, which is always good. Shakespeare was less good, but not awful. My revision wasn't entirely productive, so it's unsurprising really. Although, I did listen to this, which definitely counts as useful revision:

 

It's all funny, but the Shakespeare stuff starts at 2:50. It's also filthy, just to warn you, but hilariously punny.

I just about managed to identify the passages (although I had a really hard time figuring out which play the line "and Measure still for Measure" was from...). One of the passages was from King Lear and was Edmund ranting about his status as a bastard. He uses the word "base" a lot in that passage, and so I had this stuck in my head for the majority of the 3-hour exam:

Easily distracted? Me? Noooooooo...
So yeah, that's about the exten of my life at the moment. I have another exam on Saturday and another on Tuesday, and then I have a week off until my next exam. Next Wednesday my parents and I are having dinner with a relative of a relative who happens to live in Ottawa. It's a small world after all.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and curl up in a ball and Dairy-Milk (definitely a verb) my way into a diabetic coma. Goodnight.