I Love Zoo

I'm finding one of my favorite things to do in London doesn't involve getting shit-faced and going out to a club or pub, to only drink more and try to drunkenly chat up or impress the ladies within a two foot radius. It doesn't involve going to museums, though this leisurely activity is highly ranked. And it doesn't involve doing the touristy things around London (not that there's anything wrong with that), such as going to St. Paul's Cathedral, the London Eye, the London Bridge, in other words all the stuff you'd want to do if you were only here for a few days. So what's this mystery activity? Is it walking around various parts of London? No, but this is something I enjoy. Is it becoming a cultured man by going to the theatre, witnessing great and sometimes not so great works of art being performed by skilled thespians? Once again, no, but I have a class where I'll be doing this, so culture here I come! Is it having copious amounts of sex with broads while abroad? This hasn't happened...yet--oh man I'm so funny!--but if it does you better believe I won't be writing about it here; a gentleman doesn't kiss and tell.

This mystery activity consists of nothing more than my roommate Esmaeil, our Italian friend Franchesco, who lives down the hall, and myself hanging out in the kitchen, sometimes for hours at a time, doing what the laymen call 'shooting the shit' or what sophisticates refer to as building a rapport. Names aside, all we do is talk; about what it's hard to say. I have such a good time conversing with them I sometimes forget all the discussion points we hit upon, similar to how a good movie moves effortlessly from scene to scene, rendering the editing process as easy and smooth as a quartz stone. In actuality there is a lot at work: there are segues, sections are cut down for length, entire scenes are left in the cutting room floor. But in good film and conversation these things go unnoticed, forcing you to backtrack how you got to G from A. That said, I only remember bits and pieces of our exchanges, some of which probably need context, but either way are funny in their own right: a deal where if a bad joke is made the other members of the party must go "Haha" to save face; how Esmaeil has the culture of a goat; the difficulty of meeting people in a building where everyone has their doors closed, sticks to the groups they know, and never hang out in the common room; poking fun of our fourth kitchen mate, Zibo, who is very meticulous about the way you clean his pans; repeated references to Family Guy; business, since both Esmaeil and Franchesco are business majors; our love of zoos; and generally ranking on each other--especially ethnicities, that seems to big with these two--as is the tendency for males to express their liking towards one another.

I'm missing plenty more, but in that little kitchen time just flies by and conversation rolls off the tongue. As you can tell I genuinely like these guys, and seeing that the semester just started I look forward to the coming months, which will provide us with ample opportunities for fun, discourse, and plain getting to know each other. Just now, in the middle of writing this post, I stopped and went to the kitchen, not because I wanted to cook myself dinner or have a snack, but because I saw my friends heading there, and knew, almost instinctively at this point, that whatever I was doing wouldn't be nearly as much fun as doing nothing with them.

The lone picture I was able to take. Cameras are,
apparently, forbidden in the kitchen.