"I'm so glad to have friends!!"

I went out with some girls from my program today. We went to some amazing book shops and I spent too much money on books. We hung out, wandered around, and just had some fun conversations.

Now there were 4 of us. 3 of us are Americans. 1 British, but she commutes on school days from home. So all in all, they don't get out and meet people.. So it was fun for them to have plans to go out and do something. Fun to go out for a drink and do something on a Friday night. They kept saying over and over again, I'm so glad we're hanging out! I'm so glad we're doing this! I'm so glad we have friends.

Which is true. It's fun to have these girls that I have so much in common with.. Especially our love of children's books... even down to our oddities. (My love of stairways and Shauna's love of fire escapes..) She commented on the fact that she would be told by her friends back home how weird she was to look at or notice these things. Jess is making hopeful plans on us all living together in London if we find work when school is out. It's all fanciful stuff but I can see it on her face that she is enjoying the possibility.

Anyway.. that's beside the point.

My point kind of just stems down to the fact that I DO have friends. I live in a flat with a solid group of girls. I feel like I can hang out with them and be good.. although I haven't actually gone out out with them yet. But we enjoy each other...
And then I have people I have met through church. My schedule is kind of wonky but when I see some of them, I am definitely excited. There are some fun people there. But I AM SO GLAD that I have this safety net. That I have a connection with a larger group of people that I normally wouldn't have.

It was also funny when I told them I don't drink alcohol or coffee. They respected my decisions, which I appreciated.. But one even lamented about how nice it would be to not drink alcohol or coffee... How much more simplistic it would be... And less expensive.

She doesn't know my particular love of precocious chocolates.