This is Ezgihan. One of the few people I would jump under a train for. I know I bang on about how close my friends are to me, but Ezgi is in a completely different league. I had never had a friend a close as her. When I was a teenager, until I was 18, I still lived with my step-dad. He made my teenage years hell, because he wouldn't let me do anything. I was allowed to go out, but only until 10 o'clock, and most of my friends didn't come out until nine. Add to that the fact most of my friends lived a 20 walk away, (and a twenty minute walk back) gave me 20 minutes on average with my friends. I wasn't allowed to have friends over at my house, so as a result I wasn't happy to go to my friends houses because I would be unable to reciprocate. Because of all this, I never really had a 'best-friend' like you see on TV. When I came to university, I was very happy to find a girl in my corridor who loved food, French films, cheese, good music, and was also an insomniac. We forged a very strong friendship. It all started the saturday after we all moved in. Ezgi had moved in late, so she arrived with all her suitcases while we were having a party. We invited her to join, but we were playing twister, and she was put off, so she left.

Over the next few weeks, we would pass each other on campus or in our corridor and exchange pleasantries, but it wasn't until James left a wet sock at her door randomly one night that our friendship really boomed. She proceded to twat James with the sock and they were running up and down our corridor shouting and screaming. Afterwards, she joined me and James for a cigarette, then invited us to her room for Turkish coffee and fried halloumi. That was the point where we were first friends.

Since then, we have always been close enough to not have to do anything, we could just enjoy each others company. She left for Turkey a lot last year, and we always threw her going away and returning parties. We stayed at her houses in Bodrum and Istanbul over the summer, we are friends with her older sister (who is still at Nottingham University), but this year Ezgi has been in London. I found it very hard to adjust to this new distance, but I have accepted it over time, and now I realise, distance doesn't change how close I am to somebody. My best friend is still my best friend whether she is in Nottingham, or in London, or in Istanbul. I cannot deny difficulty though. Ezgi and I shared a bond that did not extend to James and Nikki. She was my sole confidante, as I was her sole confidant. We shared everything. We spent six or seven nights a week together. We went to the Turkish supermarket together. She practiced Turkish with me. I've lived in her house. We watched PowerTürk (Turkish equivalent of MTV) together. We always went into Nottingham together. And then she left. Where was my sex-less companion? We always joked about how she wants an English passport, not so she can move here, but just so she can come whenever she wants without needed a visa, so she asked if she could marry. I said yes, in half-serious. [It wouldn't be for several years, and if I am able, I may aswell, and also Turkey may have joined the EU by the time I graduate]. So we referred to each other with Turkish petnames.

At the minute she isn't speaking to me. I shouted at her over MSN because she asked Nikki to go and stay with her for a week next week. A) Where was my invite? and B) Why Nikki? Nikki never bothered with Ezgi last year. Whenever we actually managed to get her to come to Ezgi's room (rather than sit on the phone to one of two boyfriends), she would just sit there tutting at the fact we were smoking, and then go. Nikki came to Turkey with us, and because she was a girl, she stayed in Ezgi's room, and all of a sudden they were best friends. Ezgi was taking loads of pics of them together, yet had never asked me to be in one. I know I'm being really petty, but I just hate feeling overlooked. So, Ezgi invited Nikki, I stressed, and instantly felt bad and apologised, but she is still ignoring me. (I realise I had to go through a lot to explain why I'm feeling slightly less than perfect today, but it was necessary, and provides you with a window) I feel like I have stepped on myself and my own happiness.

I hope she remembers soon how much she means to me.

 

Once again, I had another totally fantastic weekend with Matt and his housemates. The fun started on Friday afternoon when I gave a presentation to my tutor to get me onto the MSci Medicinal Chemistry course, of which there are only 15 places, she said I was in the shortlist to be one of those 15, so that put me in a good mood. On the way back to my hall, I treated myself to a University of Nottingham hoodie the same as Ezgi's, even though I can't afford at the minute, but oh well. I applied for a new bank account this week so I can borrow more money and get rid of this account I have now because it is totally useless and strict. Anyway, Matt came and picked me up about half an hour later, and we went to his, or rather, he blindfolded me and took me to a restaurant. But I had no idea where I was going, so when I got out of the car, I still wasn't allowed to know where or whither I was going, so much so, that I walked into a big stone lampost, and some chavettes across the street laughed at me. So he had taken me to an Indian restaurant, which was so sweet of him, and we had both been craving a curry for ages. We chatted, we just enjoyed being there together. We went back to Matt's and hung with Sam the legend for a bit. We went to the minimarket for some mixers and cakes and treats and things, and we just hung out.

The next day, Matt and I went into Nottingham city centre to try and find a presentation portfolio for his summer university project. While we were there, we found the YoSushi! Nottingham, so he took me, I was going to pay (despite my lack of money), but he paid for that aswell! He is too nice. He also really impressed me by trying some of the more 'bizarre' sushi. He is an angel. Later on, when we got back to Matt's house, Sam had come back from work, and they had called a meeting for their next year housemates. (There are nine of them in the current house, but as soon as they all moved in, they decided they all hate each other, so there are now three distinct groups of housemates, but next year Matt, Sam, Niki and Alex are moving into a 4bed house, thats like 10minute walk from me!). The house-meeting was because Alex (who I've never really got on with) can't live with them anymore, so Sam, Niki and Matt had to decide whether they wanted to pay a little more rent and have a spare room, or find a new housemate. They opted for the latter, so next year is going to be mucho fun. Anyway, after the meeting, we planned our evening. We had decided to just sit in the garden in the heat and have a couple of drinks. Matt and I were getting in the car to go buy alcohol, and Sam had come outside with us to move her car, when I had a brainwave. We could have a BBQ on one of those disposable barbeques that are like £2. We loved the idea. We did it. But by the time we got back, it was nine-o'clock. Fuck that. We were gonna party anyway. We got the coals burning with the aid of Ginge, Nikis boyfriend who had shown up while Matt and I were out. Tables and chairs were brought out, alcohol consumed, cigarettes smoked, good times had. We were up til about three, abusing Matt's disliked housemates. All but one of the disliked ones were out until about half one, but one, Jasmine, was in all night. She is quite wierd, and none of us have anything against her personally, but we all relished in shouting "JASMINE MUHAHA" as in Nemo, every couple of minutes upto her window. Then Chloë came back with Tanya (Matt's most despised housemates), and Jasmine Muhaha changed to "ORANGE-GIRLS MUHAHA". When we weren't abusing the housemates, neighbours (they kept appearing naked at their windows) ourselves or each others friends, we were getting rat-arsed. I remember Sam's impression of her pouty self-obsessed friend McGov, who is larger-framed shall we say, and called herself "delicate". That night was fucking top.

So we woke up the next day. Matt and I had been waking up for 5 minutes at a time since about seven o'clock. Embarasingly, Sam shouted upto us at about 12 saying I should come outside with them all, but I told her I was with Matt who didn't feel well. She told me Matt was outside. I went outside to see all of them there, including Lucie and her boyfriend, Matt Glynn, who we all get on with, but was out last night. It was very nice of Matt to wake me up when he came down. I just made a joke about being embarassed, and they laughed, so I could avoid blushing. Matt was terribly hungover, so we spent most of the day dossing and napping (including an hour or so at the pub drinking coke in the sun) until we eventually left for Matt to take me home about six o'clock. Me, Sam and Matt had a McDonalds and commented on the fact that the UK this weekend has been 10°C hotter than Ibiza. The drive to mine was accompanied by more chants of Jasmine Muhaha. Quality. 

I can't wait for next year now. My prospective housemates seem like we will get along fine. New friends, new course, new house, new life. My time with Matt, Sam, Nikki and Unamed (who Sam called Jude for now (long story)) will be amazing cos they have a lovely new house, and no scruffy tramps to mess it up. I want it to be September now, then I can spend a weekend buying furniture from IKEA, putting pictures on the walls of my new bedroom, putting food in my new cupboards, feeling excited about Finland and my 21st party, buying textbooks for my new course. This summer is going to drag; I can feel it now.

Today was really warm and sunny, and I bought my ticket for the University of Nottingham summer party. The weather made me think of last summer, when Ezgi was still with us, and we used to go out into the sun with couscous, halloumi, feta, olive oil and chilli oil, and just sit in the sun and enjoy each others company. But those days are gone. I've spent today running around campus helping Nikki hand in her final essays, but she didn't appreciate the help I gave her, so I've spent my evening alone thinking about my room next year that I will finally be able to make "mine", rather than a pre-fab room. Anyway, I put all my thoughts into yesterdays post, so I will just leave my Turkish friends with a story; my favourite story from the book 365 Gece Masalı, and this story reminds me of Ezgi.

Dünyanın en iyi Arkadaşları
Bir akşam hava kararıken Sasa, beyaz fare Fafa ile karşılaştı. Sasa, hayretle, "İnanılır gibi değil, sen bana ne kadar benziyorsun!" dedi.
"Eğer benim gibi kanatların olsaydı tıpkı ikiz gibi olacaktık!" Fafa çok sevindi. Bir aile sıcaklığı hissetmişti. İki arkadaş uzun süre çene çaldılar. Ama Fafa artık esnemeye başladı.
"Uhhh, epey geç olmuş, haydi gidip yatalım," diye teklif etti. Sasa ise, "Ama gün daha yeni başlıyor. Hava biraz önce karardı," dedi. İki arkadaş şaşkına döndüler: Biri gece uyuyordu, diğeri gündüz! Sasa, "Gel benim inime," diye teklif etti. "Benim yanıma yerleş."
"Ama ben senin gibi baş aşağı yatamam ki!"
"Merak etme, minik fare, bir kayanın kovuğunda uyursun. Her sabah ve her akşam birbirimiz görüp az da olsa sohbet edebiliriz."
Fafa, "Harika!" diye bağırdı. "Dünyanın en iyi arkadaşları biz olacağız!"

So I actually had a decent weekend for once. I'm truly amazed. Friday lunchtime James and I got the train down to London to see our best friend Ezgi. We were already both annoyed and resolute with this trip; because she had told us earlier in the week that she had to leave for Turkey early Saturday morning, so would only have Friday with us, but this made us resolute to make Friday super enjoyable. As we were on the train down, Ezgi text me saying she had been sent home from uni because she was sick, which kind of upset James and I because we had gone to great lengths to get her a decent present and to get Matt and Nikki to write in her card and everything. So, we decided to stay resolute. We got of the train, hurried over to a Boots on Oxford Street, printed a big picture of me, Nikki, James and Ezgi to put in with her card, and headed off to Elephant and Castle. It was well worth being resolute. Although she answered and looked quite worse for wear, within five minutes of our being there, she perked up. She loved her present, which was a University of Nottingham hoodie, incidentally, as a reminder of her year there, with us.

So we hung around for a bit, and had a very quick catch up, had a smoke altogether and a cup of Earl Grey, and set off into town for some food. We went and hung around on St. Christophers Place for ratatouille and cream cheese pancakes. We smoked, we talked, we caught up, we bitched about Nikki, and we spoke of our love lives. We then moved around the square to get Türk Kahvesi. We stayed for a bit, and did nothing much more than talk shit for a while and laugh ourselves stupid. We left, and ambled our way back onto Oxford St and then onto the area around Bank-Monument, where we again, wandered for a bit, and decided to buy some alcohol. Want to see us on the elevator at Bond St. Station? Yes? We bought some, and went back to Ezgi's. We helped her pack, smoked, and then convinced her to have some of the Bacardi (omg what were we thinking!?) with us. About an hour later, when we were all smoking and giggling over nothing more than our old flatmate Tess, Ezgi pulled out some Tequila, chilled, and a plate of sliced limes. An hour of drinking games later that both entertained and provided nostalgia, Ezgi pulled out. James and I ended up doing about 5 more each over the space of the next one-and-a-bit hours. At this point it was about 2h00am. Ezgi's taxi to the airport would arrive at 4h00am, so we didn't have much longer to wait. I was absolutely wasted. I drink quite often, but it's rare that I get totally ratted. I was flying all over the place, talking utter bollocks in the taxi, and telling Ezgi that I wanted to stowaway in her suitcase. We waited, and went to Heathrow, where we had a simple goodbye, as Ezgi boarded her 06h55 plane. James and I caught the first tube back, and I admired the station architecture at Osterley and wished it was still called Spring Gardens (which I think sounds much nicer).

James and I arrived back at Ezgis and slept. I woke up at about 1am, bored. I decided to go into the city. James is a sleeper, so I woke him just to tell him I was going. I went and wandered around. I know London like the back of my hand, so I didn't really need to concentrate where I was going, I just looked to see where I would like to walk. James caught up with me a couple of hours later, and we ate. We went back to Ezgi's later and tidied up. She should be back today. We got our train back to Nottingham at 21h35. James upgraded us to First Class, and we were the only people in our carriage. It was so nice to have things like they used to be, when Ezgi and I lived on the same corridor, and she, James and I would be up until all hours eating, smoking, drinking, and actually enjoying each others company, rather than this really formal, stoic atmosphere there is whenever Nikki, James, I (and sometimes Matt) are hanging out. James and Nikki have become so unsociable, no offence to them. The other day, when we all walked onto campus together was the second time all year (since September) we have done so. And the three of us have only been to Nottingham as a three, once.

I woke up on Sunday planning to have a nice relaxing afternoon of revision, then would see Matt in the evening. No. Matt phoned me at about one to ask if I was busy, I said no (Procrastination!) and we went to Skegness with his housemates Sam and Niki. What a laugh. A two hour singsongy journey, followed by a walk along the sea front, warm donuts, candy floss, an hour in an amusement arcade (including beating Matt on the Dance Machine!), an hour or so in a pub eating nuts and getting drunk, and fish and chips on the pier.



Whilst we were walking around, we had a couple of goes on those old time games like hitting the ducks, water in a clowns mouth that sort of stuff, and Matt won me a Coca-Cola bear on the Arabian Derby, where me, him and Sam had to roll balls up a slope through different coloured holes to move camels along a track. The different colours moved the camels different distances. Matt won, and had to ask for his prize in sign-language because the stall owner was deaf. Here is us playing. And here is my Coca-Cola bear, which Matt named Cocoa.
 
 

We ended up back in Nottingham just after midnight. Our ride back consisted of very loud crooners, followed by heavy dance music, then Sam needing to piss so badly, that we tried to get into a Travelodge, which was locked, and then Sam and I snook into an accident and emergency department while Matt and Niki waited in the car, only to end up at the entrance to the resucitation room, and asked by a very haughty nurse what we were doing. Sam is an absolute legend. Whenever we are all together, I laugh so hard. One point I really laughed, was walking along the sea front in Skegness, and some really freaky looking woman walked past; she was wearing what looked to be oversized babies clothes - her shirt said 'Daddy's Little Princess'. She smacked her husband around the back of the head, and made a horrible groaning sound. We called her Fat Donna. Sam and I exchanged looks and laughed. Excluding my train tickets to London, I spent £25 there and £11 in Skegness, so £36 for one of the best weekends of my life? Bargain.