This past weekend was great! I turned 21 in Oxford and made it known that I was around. I yelled, swore and showed-out in the streets of tiny ol’ Oxford while having a great time doing it; but the tale of the weekend does not simply begin there. It’s starts off in a place that we all know; London. It is neither overrated nor is it spoken of in hyperbole with any and everything you hear that compliments London’s beauty and antiquity is true. Not because I said so, just because it is.

In London, I was a huge tourist; got cussed by the locals, almost got hit by a car or two, took a bigillion photos and marveled at all of its majesty. We visited the Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace (one big hoax because those goddamn guards weren’t there) Hyde Park and a couple of other places. After I managed to make it out of those places in one piece and with my dignity in tack, we walked a LONG ASS DISTANCE to our hostel for the evening. At this hostel, the owner almost got a serious tongue-lashing because of his rudeness. Now most of you know that I would not resort to such activities and would normally give that “mother-effer” a dirty look or say something sarcastic; however, he hollered at us like we were children when we were in the right. The only thing about traveling in unknown areas and with my friends of low-melanin count; I couldn’t get as live as I wanted to. Like I said, I’m normally a classy feller but I sure as hell wouldn’t have apologized like they did. Either way, we did a little pre-game prior to our evening’s events.

For the night we went to Piccadilly Circus and it was something like a circus. We ran into bad drug dealers, ladies of the evening (that I swore didn’t mind being ladies of the day because they wore their work attire before the sunset), horrible food. At this point, I was not fully functional, lucid, coherent or coordinated in ever sense of the word. The ride home is something that I’d like to forget because the driver of the expensive ass taxi cab almost ran over children, crippled and puppies. Either way, we made it back to the hostel safely. All in all, great night.

Once I returned to Oxford, sleep was my friend. After my mini-coma, we went out for the rest of the evening. At this point it is 10pm July 10 and I have identified myself as Sean from Boston, MA. I have the company of Andrew, Zach and Tom who too, have taken on pseudonyms. I crashed a bachelorette party and dubbed on some-one’s soon to be mother-in-law and I can honestly say that she enjoyed it. I also complimented the hostess on her derriere and how attractive I knew she was. There were a number of other things that happened that evening but either I don’t remember or shan’t tell.

The Sunday following was one of the best birthDAYs I have had so far. I had some me-time and thoroughly appreciated it because close-quarters with my fellow Oxfordonians is appreciated, nevertheless, it can be exhausting. Walking around and thinking found me in a few random spots. It was no the wisest thing to do but the most beneficial. At the end of this day that brought me home at midnight, I realized that I am further comfortable in my own skin and have joy. Turning 21 put several things into perspective and like a ton of bricks, life seemed simpler and more manageable.

The first week of this place was spent in absolute splendor and now the real stuff has begun. I must be off to do some work right now. Until next time my friends.