Elmside Dinner Party

The residents of Elmside decided to get together and meet all the people in the house they never see. Everyone keeps different schedules, and people on the second floor rarely run across the people on the first floor, let alone those in the flat above! So each room made a dish or two, and we got together to have a grand party. Here is the photographic evidence that said party was a success:

Here are a few Elmsiders now, getting ready for the big event. Let me introduce you to a them! On the left is Amir, a German lad studying finance here. He's also Persian and made us delicious Persian chicken! Next to him are Natasha and her partner Jim. They're both English and have been living in Edinburgh for a while. Natasha is getting a PhD is pathology. Yaa is standing up in the middle, and she is from Ghana, and our next-door neighbor! Yaa is getting a degree in chemical engineering, and has the most infectious laugh. Lewis is standing in the back holding a box of tissues because he was sick. But you already know Lewis! Finally on the end is Peta, from Australia. She also speaks Chinese!


After having arrived at dinner the table was assulted a photographer. So there's lots of pictures of everyone looking rather silly! In this one, we have Yaa, Natasha, and Simonette trying to look prepared. Simonette, who you haven't met yet, is married to our house rep, JP. She's also a student at Cambridge getting a second undergrad in Law. Though she's not in Clare Hall, we let her hang around anyway! Plus she lives here.


Here's JP now, trying to get Stephanie and Boyd to notice the camera! JP takes care of things around Elmside and makes sure we're staying out of trouble. He's the only one in our house who isn't a first year here. He's studying Economics. Next to him are Stephanie and her husband Boyd. Steph is getting a PhD in English Lit. Boyd, like Laurie, is hanging out for the year, though he is working on a degree in Library Science back in Australia, where they're both from. They live in scary flat number 13 on the top of our building (rather, the attic)!


Here are some familiar faces! That's Laurie and Lewis, sitting with the other L: Linda! Linda is a native Brit getting a degree in nanotechnology. She's also on the Clare Hall rowing team! Linda made apple crisp from scratch for our dinner, out of the apples that grow in our very lawn.It was delicious, and we were very impressed!


Finally we've made it back to the other end of the table. Here's Peta again, sitting with Peter and Stacey, our faithful camerawoman. Peter is also a Brit, as well as a linguist! Though he is just beginning his graduate school, he also went to Cambridge as an undergrad at Jesus college. Stacey is a lawyer from Canada, here studying international law.


So here we all are, busy eating and making a big mess.
What a happy little house we have!
I sure hope someone is going to do all those dishes....


Or better yet, everyone can do the dishes!
Look at what mature, responsible graduate students we are.
We all must have had good parents who raised us right... ;)