It came as something of a shock when we realized that this week would be our group's last all together in England! One of our students will be traveling with her parents, who are coming to visit next week before her final exams, which happen to have been scheduled late. Three other students will depart for the U.S. next week after completing exams that happen to be scheduled early. So although some will be around into early June, our Nottingham community is breaking up.
As we've been doing pretty well on our grocery budget (Mary is a champion bargain shopper!), we decided we could afford a farewell meal at the Indian restaurant in our neighborhood, just a block away from the student flat. Not only have the students discovered that the food here is very good, but they have a really nice evening special on curry. They also allow dinner parties to bring in their own wine (without so much as a corking fee), so Mary and I treated with a few bottles from ASDA (the British brand name for Wal-Mart -- nothing but the finest for us!), as Luther will not allow us to spend college money on alcohol.
I'm afraid the other dinner patrons in the restaurant may have had a hard time conversing, as our group filled the place with laughter and chatter. We'll have one more dinner together this weekend, while traveling on our final British study trip. But this was our final celebration together "at home" in Nottingham. They've been an absolutely wonderful group of kids, and we've had an absolutely wonderful year with them.
