Another Week, Another 3.6 Pounds Up. Also, Ireland Aventure.

Don't worry, that was an entirely made up figure. I am without a scale for the duration of my stay in the UK, so honestly I can't tell you if I'm up or down or by how much, which is probably all for the better.

I just got back from a weekend trip to Ireland, which was fun, although travelling on student budgets means lots of fast food and sandwiches. On the first day out, we got on a bus (11 hours!) from Oxford to London, then London to Wales, then on a ferry to Dublin, and then a bus from the station to the city centre. And on that day I ate...actually, hmm, what did I eat? Cornish pasty at the bus station in the morning, baggie of pineapple chunks and prepackaged chicken sandwich at lunch break, fish and chips for...second lunch (!!), and chicken kebab + Fanta for dinner. I don't know why I ate that second lunch, except everyone was eating and we were all together and it felt right and social and I am a lardass, is basically it.

The next day I had 1.5 muffins and a glass of OJ before we set out to see Dublin. Grabbed lunch at some pub (half a bland chicken and butter sandwich, half an enourmous bowl of potato and ham soup) and drank the complimentary Guinness at the end of the factory tour, as well as the trial size North Star limited edition--yum for that one! Dinner was some cheap Chinese fast food place, where I had a fairly terrible (to me, but I'm Chinese, so that's unfair) chicken chow mein and then got a raging MSG headache. We walked around the whole day, so I probably burned off some calories, which was probably cancelled out by the fact that I then went to the vending machines at night and had two chocolate bars and half a bag of sour gummies. Also, half a bottle of Fanta.

I don't think it helped that the only other girl on the trip is the tiniest person I have seen in my life, weight to height ratio-wise, and she eats like a 400 lb trucker. Seriously. When we get the same meal, I can finish half and she'll eat the whole thing and want more. Which naturally makes me feel as if I should eat along with her, which means nothing for her but more fat for me!

On Sunday, we got up at the crack of dawn (OK, 7:30) to walk to the bus station for a jaunt to Galway. Stopped by an Insomnia cafe where I had an ice-blended coffee drink (or 3/4 of one anyway) and what I now figure was an entirely meatless Cornish pasty. Seriously. Isn't there supposed to be beef in those things? I also had half a fruit bowl (which contained maybe .5 kg of pineapple, orange, strawberry, and grape) on the bus to Galway. There, we walked around the town for a bit and three of us a shared a scone while waiting for some parade to start before deciding to ditch the parade and just get a proper lunch instead. I had lasagna and salad. The lasagna was American-sized, in my opinion, which means it was probably too much for one person at one meal. Oh well. At least I got some veggies in with the salad.

My one piece of exercise news was this huge (for me) trek we embarked upon in Galway, walking along the coast and up some hills and on to some seaside cliffs. I got thoroughly bored and tired midway, but I was with some hiking/scenery buffs so I soldiered on. All I really got out of it was that, yes, the Irish coast is pretty, and yes, I like seeing greenery, but also, I miss the beach--the real beach--and I am much more a city girl than anything else. The conservative estimate was that we walked about 7-8 miles, give or take some walking in the city. The liberal estimate (ie, mine) was that we walked around the equator roughly four times. Although I was suprisingly not that tired afterward, which means we probably did not walk as much as I assumed. I am monstrously slow on uneven surfaces, so I was way behind on the hills which while seemingly green, are actually composed of lots of oddly shaped rocks and slippery mud. However, once we got on the pavement, I sped the way back, dragging my friends along with me. All I could think was, the faster I walk, the faster I get to civilisation. Food! Seating! Something to look at besides the coastline!

We skipped dinner that night, but to make up for it, I had two muffins and a "tropical" smoothie. Can you tell I've been trying to get my fruits and veggies in whatever way possible? This is more difficult than you imagine here, as apparently the British don't eat vegetables besides potatoes and peas. Well, not really, but it certainly seems like that sometimes, especially in the dining hall.

Breakfast was early today and for me, consisted of half a bowl of fresh grapefruit (yum!), a bowl of frosted flakes + milk, and about half a cappucino with two packets of sugar. Then a bottle of all-natural, fresh-squeezed orange juice for the plane ride. All good so far, until I get back to Oxford, famished, walk down to the Alternative Tuck Shop and buy a Cornish pasty and a chicken and mushroom pasty, both of which were delicious, either one of which would have more than been enough for one meal. I then of course had to follow up with two chocolate bars for dessert--Cadbury's chocolate with creme egg filling, and a TimeOut. I am making the excuse that the chocolate is different here, so if I do not try every single bar out there, I will be failing in my quest to fully enjoy the UK. Also, my quest to apparently gain ten pounds.

It is now 9:12 PM and I am deciding whether or not to go out for more food tonight (I skipped dinner to catch up on much-needed sleep). And if I do go out for more food, should it be a grocery trip to Sainsbury's or a late night kebab run? Only time (and my stomach) will tell...