Josh Groban WITH Glasses

Who knew that the search terms for "Josh Groban with glasses" would be more popular than "Josh Groban Glee"?! I sure didn't. But, during my final night out in Manchester before heading home for the holidays, this was a discovery that will now help me sleep at night. ...not that it was preventing me from sleeping before.

In typical post-assignment submission tradition, my fellow IDMPers found a table at the SU bar, and began to drink away our sorrows/celebrate the almost end of first term. It was the night before I was due to fly home for a two week holiday. This little tradition appears to be drawing more people, which I will attribute solely to my awesomeness, and not the fact that a Facebook event allowed a wider range of classmates to be in the know. Either way, the evening was filled with laughter, debate, and drafting the first crack of the '2015 IDMP Bucket List of Awesomeness.' I've come to enjoy these casual, fairly low-key nights out. I'm surrounded by incredibly intelligent people, who are just plain fun to be around. I love the opportunities to learn about their backgrounds, their take on the world, and what their next steps are. Although it took a while to develop this social circle, it was certainly worth the wait!

Photo credit: Random girl sitting at the table next to us, via Arafat Safi

But, like most things in my life, as the night progressed, and I become more tired/hopped up the sugary goodness of ginger beer, I made things, shall we say, delightfully awkward/weird! Yes, folks, this is the tale of how I met 'Josh Groban'! Now, before you all get too excited, meeting Josh Groban, in this instance, is no different than that time I met Ban Ki Moon (i.e. I didn't). No, Josh Groban, is none other than my friend, Russell. After three months of spending many days with this guy, I finally figured out why he looked so familiar. Perhaps it was his post-essay crunch-time, over-tired demeanour, or maybe it was the glasses, matched with the Josh Groban-esque threads. All, I know is that out of nowhere, I semi-blurted out - "You look like Josh Groban!" And then we spend the next half hour or so debating whether or not this was true. And yes, this was how it came to be known that "Josh Groban with glasses" is a widely search Google inquiry.

Me pretending to be an excited Grobanite* with "Josh Groban" himself!

It's now two days later. I'm in another country, and I've just enjoyed a good cup of coffee. It has been three long months since the sweet, sweet, goodness of Java Blend's Dark Aztec has been happily consumed by yours truly. I slept in a bed that didn't involve being so small, that turning meant smoking my elbow into the wall next to me, and that had pillows... big, fluffy poly-filled pillows. Being home has never felt so good.

Getting here was a tale in and of itself. One that involves ripping pants, delayed flight avoidance, and almost not making it out of the country for weather- and technology-related reasons. I spent my first night with my childhood best friends, celebrating a 30th birthday! Luck girl, this one! Can hardly wait to see what the next two weeks will bring!

-the (jet lagged and slightly delirious) Orange Canadian

*Grobanite - "a rapid woman or man who enjoys the auricle ecstacy of Josh Groban's harmonious voice" (according to urbandictionary.com)