Weekend Trip 1

The International Student Center here not only has weekly pub crawls and tea and game nights, but weekend trips to places around Scotland. Although the trip sold out for this coming weekend (in 2 and a half hours!) I got a ticket last weekend and went up to Stirling for the day.



I have to mention that since the water-camera dispute, my camera has been a little cranky. To show me just how upset it actually is, when I went to take my first picture of Stirling Castle it turned on and displayed "No battery power remaining" and turned off. So, all of these pictures have to be attributed to my new friend Julia (from Germany) who kindly e-mailed me all of her pictures.


I think we took about 17 different pictures with various cameras. I thought I would throw 2 in there to do us some justice. Yes we probably shouldn't be sitting on the cannon. We were all a little afraid of it breaking, but never fear, all's well with the cannons at Stirling.

This is my new friend Julia and I in the back gardens of the castle.

The view from the back gardens.

We spent forever trying to find a place to eat. Keep in mind that Stirling is roughly the size of Nederland, but apparently has about 13 times as many restaurants. We almost ended up at the Filling Station, but I vetoed it in favor of a quaint little pub with fish and chips.

After lunch we went to the Church in Stirling. I don't have any pictures of the outside because it was raining at this point of the afternoon and Julia's camera battery was dying. I took this picture anyways because HOW COOL?! James VI, King of Scots was crowned right where I was standing!!

Ok, just kidding, I stole some more pictures, so here is the church from the outside, courtesy of Aurelia:



I took the train home just in time to meet up with Liz and watch Hull City beat Arsenal at our pub. We also discovered that our pub serves Death by Chocolate Cake. Really, what is better than that?
At some point later that night Liz decided that we had to go to the castle, so we made our way out of Pollock Halls, through the town and up Castle Hill to view the castle and go home. On our way Liz and I tried to lose Aidan by hiding in a phone booth.
Aidan was unimpressed.
We also came across the statue of Mr. David Hume. I wish we had put the cone on his head, but he was already like this when we found him...


Liz trying to be like David Hume. We were going to steal it but decided that if you're not drunk, and the cones are this easy to steal, it's not really worth bringing it home only to get it confiscated by the cleaning ladies.

Sunday was spent doing homework and sleeping- trying to get over the Fresher's Flu we have all developed.

Tonight I'm off to a meeting with the Radio Society (called Fresh Air) to see about getting my own radio show while I'm here! Wish me luck!

Classes

This is the castle that lives next door to me. For about a week I thought it was another dorm and was pissed that I got jipped from living in a castle. Luckily, there are only offices in it. This is on my way to class for my first day of school!
It takes roughly 25 minutes to walk to campus. All the while passing bakeries and coffee shops that I am tempted to go into because I never wake up in time for breakfast.

My first class is Quantitative Research Methods in Business. Or what we would call "Stats" in the States. I get there early and sit in the third row. My professor comes up to me and asks if I have the slide printout. I say no (because I don't have a printer and I'm just fine at taking notes, thank you very much) and he says "well, you'll be at a great disadvantage" and walks away. I'm thinking "What a jerk!" until he comes back with the print out of the lecture... He begins class by explaining that he is only the course organizer and will therefore not be teaching at all, and good thing for us because he hates students and likes to see them in pain. He gives us the general overview of the class before he turns it over to the actual professor to start lecture. But before he does, he shows us the statistical monster (see below) and promptly SCREAMS into his microphone like something straight out of "Where the Wild Things Are." I was terrified. Then he said that he hoped to not see any of us again and walked out of the room. What have I gotten myself into?!


Luckily, my actual professor is a nice woman from somewhere with a strange accent. She doesn't speak English very well or very quickly. Lecture takes about 13 hours.
My next lecture was Organizational Studies. Or Management. It is the most disorganized thing I've ever seen. It's Wednesday and we still have yet to see the sign up for our tutorials that should start next week. She's stressing me out.
So after class and a long walk home, I made Widya and Aidan and Robert go hike with me.
The boys needed to climb trees before we could go.

We went on the other side of Arthur's Seat because we're getting a little bored with that hike and watched the sunset from the top.

You can see the castle in the upper right hand corner.
My class on Tuesday was History of Medieval Scotland. It it going to be amazing. Not only are we learning about all sorts of great medieval Scottish things, but we're going on class trips to the castles and other such places.
Before I forget, I wanted to comment on the fact that the grading scale is atrocious. A 70-100% is an A. A 60-69% is a B. Etc. Except in all sorts of random segments of numbers. A passing grade is 40%. I'm still a little confused about it as well. And there is one midterm paper and a final exam. And that's it. I'm terrified, to say the least.
Alright, back to studying!

City Shenanegans Before School Starts

Ok, so although I am studying here in the fine city of Edinburgh, I think it also important to be a tourist. At least for the first week. Robert and Aidan try to get us out of touristy shops and places, so Ellen and I went to the Edinburgh Castle by ourselves. It was far too expensive, but a must see for any visitor.

This is still part of the Castle, I believe it is the Red Coat Cafeteria or something like that.
This is me and Ellen in the Castle.

Here is the Church on the Royal Mile. I'll try to stop with the Churches. I'm sure you're getting tired of them, but there are so many and they are so pretty!
After a day tramping around the city, I needed to do some hiking to balance out my life again. Widya (pronounced Vid-ee-uh) from India has never been hiking. I know, I asked-what do you mean never? And she really has never been hiking. And although Robert and Aidan insist that this is merely walking and not hiking, Widya and I went hiking to Arthur's Seat once again. And yes, it's terribly windy.

This is the Queen's Palace (from the hills) with the Abbey behind it. Widya went there with her father at the beginning last week and they closed the Gardens because the flowers have all died because it's too cold for them. I realize that I haven't described Widya to you since she was a newcomer to our group. She is from India. She is terrified of Geckos. I'm not kidding. Terrified. She says they fall from the ceiling on to you in India and she won't even stay in the same room as a gecko. She has never seen a Pancake before this evening (yeah, they eat pancakes for dessert with chocolate on top here). She gets back pains from the cold and can always be found in too many jackets. So I'm not the only one. She's the most adorable girl I have ever met.

Ok, so I needed a book for the airplane and time was ticking down so I hastily chose "Chocolat" from my Mother's collection of books. It's fantastic, except I read before bed and I dream of chocolates. So what do I happen upon the other day but a chocolate shop! No kidding! I went in and it's about 10 feet long by 1 foot long. And it's dripping with candy. Things hung from the ceiling, back walls full of bagged candy and a window with cakes and cupcakes and truffles. Heaven. I was overwhelmed. I had to leave. I simply couldn't choose. I went back with moral support (Ellen) the next day and we bought some sheep chocolates! Delicious. And if you haven't read "Chocolat," go read it.

This is mostly for Claire. She keeps wanting pictures of boys in kilts as if it's some rarity and that I'm lying. This is typical of an evening:


Last night was my 20th Birthday and we got all dressed up to go to the Fresher's Week Ball (have I mentioned that they are Freshers and not Freshman? Just a side note...) The night turned out as it normally does. We get all dolled up to go out. The boys take forever and a half and blame it on the girls. Once we finally leave we absolutely must go to the pub before anything else can happen. We have a fewe drinks and then go to get in the queue. We stand in the queue (and the people here hate queueing) and complain all the while. We stay until we can simply not stand it any longer and then we go to another pub or back to the dorms. Aidan is trying to culture us woman folk with his fine whiskey. I hate it. I tried, I really did. I hate it. We sat around until 3 in the morning telling jokes and stories like "The Bloody Red Knight." So we all finally went to bed. At 8:30 this morning what happened? The fire alarm. Of course. After the Fire Brigade came and left we went back to sleep. I passed out until 11:30 when, what happened? The fire alarm. This is getting ridiculous. This afternoon Liz told us that it costs 500 pounds every time the fire brigade is called. She goes, "we've spent 1500 pounds this week. Think of how much alcohol you could buy with that." Yeah, we're in college. Liz, Ellen and I went to the pub this afternoon to see Manchester United (Liz's team) and Chelsea play. The boys went shopping for cookies and beer. We found a fantastic pub called The Abbey. We were 3 of 5 women there. The rest were old men. They have about 14 TV's including a drop down projection screen. On our way home we ran into the boys and another boy named Christopher I hadn't met before. They gave us cookies and Christopher was telling me about the Shop of Broken Things. I had never heard of the Shop of Broken Things so he grabbed my hand and dragged me about 10 blocks to the Shop of Broken Things. Which is closed because it's Sunday and as Robert says "We aren't heathens here!" There are compasses that point in different directions, a purse made of coat of mail materials, money you can't use anymore, empty tennis ball containers and a 3-D model of the Titanic among many, many other things in the window. There will be a trip back with pictures. I think the Shop of Broken Things is worthy of it's own blog. It's that good.

Here's the weirdest thing about Scotland that I've found so far- there is a woman who cleans my room once a week. She also comes into my room every morning at 11:15 on the dot and wakes me up to take my bin (trash) out. I really don't make so much trash that she needs to come every day but she comes every day. Her name is Fran. I jolt upright and stay in bed awkwardly and have short conversations in my dazed state every morning. So I've begun setting an alarm to get up before she comes and act like I'm doing something productive and that I'm a responsible adult who wakes up before 11:15 in the morning. Also, I haven't made my bed since I've been here. I've been too lazy. She came in the other morning and goes "someone hasn't made their bed!" And I made some lame excuse at which point she grabs all my sheets and begins making my bed. I'm up and trying to help and she's shooshing me away and making quite a spectacle of making the bed. So my bed is now made and I won't make that mistake again. But it's a continuing thing. She comes once a week to hoover (vacuum), clean my sink and desk and change my sheets. There is a woman who comes into my room and changes my sheets for me. I am a grown woman and someone comes into my room and changes my sheets for me. Bizarre I tell you.
I start classes tomorrow (Statistics, Business Management, and History of Medieval Scotland). I'll try to stay up on the blogging!

Ceilidh

Here is a video of the Ceilidh (well part of it, anyways). There have been a few we've been to, but this one was in McEwan Hall. I have no idea what this hall is typically used for, but it's beautiful. Enjoy!

A Lesson in Scottish

LESSON 1- Vocabulary
American Scottish
Chips = Crisps
Shoes = Sheeds
French Fries = Chips
Dollars = Pounds or Quid
Ten Dollars = Tenner
Soda Pop = Lemonade
Cookies = Biscuits

So there are controversies over the last two. I asked for a drink of lemonade at the pub. Wanting good old fashioned lemonade. I got sprite. Confused, I asked the people I was with and they couldn't figure out what I wanted. I explained what lemonade is and they came to the consensus that it would be called Lemon Juice. Which is another problem because that could be straight lemon juice or the drink lemonade. So they don't really drink lemonade and I promised I would make it for them and they ask me regularly for it. So if anyone wants to send me some lemonade mix everyone over here would be delighted.
As for cookies, I was wondering if they were called biscuits. Liz told me that cakes and biscuits are taxed differently here and that people have gone to court to debate whether their product is a biscuit or a cake and that maybe I didn't want to get into that one. So I'm leaving it. Biscuits are complicated.



LESSON 2- Fire Alarms
As we have learned from living in the dorms, it is an obligation to have fire alarms in the wee hours of the morning. So last night was the first (of many, I'm sure). What we have learned from Scottish fire alarms is that, whereas in Colorado is was genius to come out of the building still in your blankets, it is a necessity here. Luckily the girls remembered shoes. The boys did not, but they did have their dressing gowns (not robes, of course). Robert stood in the gravel and shouted in his brogue about being Scottish and that this was nothing. He's a Scotsman for crying out loud. He walks on glass! Aidan is not a Scotsman unfortunately, so he was upset and cold. There was discussion of warming up in the empty firetruck. Maybe next time...



LESSON 3- The City
This is the Queen's Hall Theater down the street.
I unfortunately don't know what most of these buildings are, I just think they're pretty. So this lesson is more of visual information. You won't be tested on this...
This is the picture (as promised) of the old University. Yeah... if I had only been a medicine student... I could have had classes here...
This is the Hispanic church down the road from me and the rocky crags I climbed the other day behind it.
Yet another church near my school. I told you... One on every block. You thought I was kidding...



LESSON 4- Mountaineering
Before I begin this lesson, I have to make a small correction to a previous post. At the time I thought I was climbing Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park. I was in fact in the crag section and had not climbed to Arthur's Seat until today. My apologies.I was over where the brown rock is... Arthur's Seat is a wee bit higher than that...
Robert, Aidan and Liz. Can you see the path up behind them? Grueling is a word that comes to mind. They felt it the most efficient of the other, not steep at all, paths we could have taken.

This is what we refer to as crag climbing. It is never ending. You are weak if you don't do it. Liz and I are weak. Very weak.
This is what we call Mountain Running with POWER LEGS. There is also a lot of screaming involved and attempted jumps and spins in the air. Yes, we are seven years old.


Robert and Aidan trying to find their way across the Seat to the Check Point.

On top of Arthur's Seat. Liz, me and Robert with the Check Point. Check. We made it.

Holyrood Park (Arthur's Seat)

So I've been asking around and apparently there is not specific side of the street to walk on here. Some people say the right and some people say the left and my only Scottish friend, Robert (seriously, everyone is from England here!) says that there really isn't a set side. So not only is this confusing and not only am I constantly running in to people, but I discovered in a rain storm yesterday that the sidewalks simply are not wide enough for two people with umbrellas... so that's perfect. These are all pictures of my fantastic hike up Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park. This is really the closest thing to my mountains and therefore my new home away from home (when it's not raining, of course). There was a short break in the rain yesterday so I went on a little trek for a few hours.
This is the view back to my dorms from the base of the hike.

I couldn't figure out how to get on top of the cliffs behind me. I can see people up there from my room so I know it can be done...

This is further up trying to get on top of the cliffs. (Yes, mom, there are trails, I was being safe...)

I wasn't entirely sure where I was in the city, but I came around a corner on the path and VOILA!!! The OCEAN!!!

I kept hiking up the mountain to find the cliffs and came across these berries. I was starving and about to eat them when it occurred to me that maybe these weren't raspberries and blackberries... I mean they probably are, but I've only been here a few days. I'd hate to risk it.
Finally at the top with my new city behind me!

As a side note: This is in the stairwell of my dorm. Yay Freshman!

This is for you, mom. This is the elementary school I pass on my way to school!

Day One in the City (14 September)

I woke up late this morning and decided I needed to get oriented with the city. I asked my RA where I could go to get all the things I need and she drew me a little map and off I went. I passed a clock and watch repair shop but decided to just invest in a new clock. I’m pretty sure the damage is done. It was a beautiful day but still a little too cold for just a tee shirt. But you can tell the tourists from the locals by whether or not they are wearing north faces or tee shirts. So I carried my coat and toughed it out. And I was asked how to get to the train station. So I fooled someone. Except for the small problem of where the train station actually is... Anyways, as you can see from the map, my adventure was not a complicated one… in theory.

Well, somehow I ended up on a completely wrong street. I kept walking thinking that Scots must walk very quickly if this was only supposed to be a 10 minute walk and started worrying about how long it was really going to take me to get to school if they say it takes 20 minutes. I walked all the way to the Royal Mile and felt like I had gone too far but decided to explore a little more. Of course it is all touristy and busy so I kept on going until I found a little grocery store to grab some breakfast and a huge water bottle. (I don’t think I’d had any water since the airplane).

I kept walking after that and got down to Market Street that runs below a bridge and near Waverly station (so now I know where it is). I came upon that next and also discovered a beautiful church (one of the many. I feel like there is one on every block).


I walked in to find a stone staircase with Jesus and the Saints sculpted into the back wall and all lit up. Music was playing and I thought that maybe I could sneak into the back and watch whatever rehearsal was taking place. I walked up the stairs only to find that this is in fact the front entrance and that it is in fact Sunday and that it is in fact the morning and that this in fact a church service that I am interrupting. I tried to pretend that I was only looking at the statue and quickly retreated down the stairs and back outside amidst the disapproving looks of the congregation. I walked back for probably another 25 minutes in defeat for not being able to find this store or St. Andrew’s Square. I found quite a bit of other squares, but not this particular one. As I was walking a young man said hi and we started a conversation. His name was Ebe (short for Ebrehem) and he was from “the Gambia,” he told me.

He was nearly impossible to understand and didn’t know where St. Andrew’s Square was either and had a hard time pronouncing it, so I wasn’t sure if he knew what I was asking, but made me ask some other people. So we set off to find it. I opened my purse to look for something and noticed that not only had my nearly full liter sized water bottle completely drained into my purse, but the contents were floating or submerged. Including my camera. We madly took everything out and carried the different items (Ebe taking the opened umbrella) and went straight to a camera shop (closed, it’s Sunday) and then to another where I was instructed to blow dry it as soon as I could and that under NO circumstances was I to turn it on in the next twenty four hours. None!
This was an accidental picture, by the way...

Ebe took me into the old University- through a grand cobble stoned entrance and into a courtyard surrounded by a castle like building. Unfortunately my classes are in the new University, but this was breathtaking. I would have pictures except for the water bottle incident. I’ll try to go back and take some later. Ebe and I walked all the way down St. Nicholson Street (the street I was supposed to be on to find my shop) and never saw my shop. So Ebe had to go and got on a bus and I trekked back up the hill in search of my home. At which point I came across my store. I bought a new clock and a lamp and a random assortment of other things I had forgotten or left at home. I made it home with two bags, a wet purse and a potentially broken camera.

After all that excitement and a little blow drying I needed a nap. I woke up just in time for our house meeting, met some new friends and went up to the third floor where they all live. Liz and Ellen (both from England) had stolen traffic cones and are using them for doorstops. They each have half of an alpaca piñata named Jose, because they don’t know any Mexicans or any Mexican names. They don’t remember acquiring him. Aidan and Robert love music. We sat around in Robert’s room and they played their guitars and we all sang. And Robert can play the Pink Panther theme on the tin whistle so I think we shall be best friends. After we tired of the sing along and Ellen had resorted to blowing bubbles to get the boys away from their music we went down to the Ceilidh (pronounced Kay-lee). It is a traditional Scottish party and we learned traditional Scottish dances. Being from the highlands, Robert already knows them and because he didn’t have his kilt with him tucked in his newly acquired kilt towel (yeah…it wraps around and even has a sporran in the front) and led us in the dances. I was lucky enough to be his partner all night, because I’ve never even heard of a Ceilidh before. We went to the pub afterwards (and I can have gin and tonics, thank god, so no, I will not be liking beer when I get home, sorry) and decided it was Sunday night and that the dancing had worn us out. A pretty eventful day if you ask me. The next week is called Fresher’s Week with all sorts of activities to keep us busy. So don’t be expecting this kind of detail for the rest of the term, it’s back to the books after this.