Oh hai winter

Today's procrastinating blog post is brought to you by the take home exams currently sitting un-opened next to me. Don't worry, I have forty-eight hours to complete them so I promise to start them at least three or four hours in advance. (Hi mom :D)

Snow has finally come to Edinburgh! It is currently in the form of slush, but I have wellys so I am all good.  I am happy to report that I have finished knitting my scarf, so my neck will be nice and warm for the duration of my stay here (And in Paris, and back in New York and in Boston).

Time is doing that thing where it flies fast again.  It is a week until my 21st birthday, less then three weeks before I leave Edinburgh, and less then a month before I head back to the states. I can't articulate how I feel about it. It's almost like how it was right before I headed off to my semester here: I can't quite believe it is happening, so I can't quite react to it yet. Though, it feels a bit more frantic now: That- I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO STILL BUT OH MY GOSH I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME. I feel like I haven't taken advantage of my stay here, though know I so totally have: I've travelled to a bunch of the cities around Scotland (Though I somehow missed Glasgow? I plan to rectify that soon), I've gone to Dublin and Belfast, and I will be going to Paris and London. I also have built up a tidy list of the cities I want to visit when I come back to Europe. Besides traveling I have tried a bunch of new foods, learned some new slang, and explored Edinburgh well enough that when someone asks me for directions I can give it to them! (Kinda, sorta. The street names here are weird in that they don't stay the same for more then a hundred meters). If people came to visit me, I would even be able to given them a super awesome tourist experience (A post on that will be coming soon, I promise!). So yeah- I have done a lot, so I should stop worrying about that...um...sorry about that weird little interlude. Just trying to justify all the hours I spent on youtube :D

I also made some kick-ass friends who are giving me lots more excuses to travel because I get to visit them!

Speaking again of traveling (I am so bad at segueing my way across this blog post. Please excuse my poor writing. I will post a story soon to make up for it. Possibly. Maybe), as I said before, I went to Belfast last weekend!

A quick summery of the trip:

We arrived. We walked around. We went on a mural tour of the Catholic and Protestant sides of West Belfast.  We walked around some more. We saw where the Titanic was built. We walked some more. Primark! We had dinner. We slept. We woke up. We went to St. George's Market. More walking. Katherina and Alex left :( We had dinner. We went to a christmas market. We went to an IRA bar for traditional music. We crashed a birthday party. Back to bed. To Port Stewart to See Katherina, Alex, and now Caroline! It hailed. We walked around the beach. We walked over sand dunes and oh my gosh was it so pretty! Back to an apartment. German cookies! Dinner! Music! Fun! Back to Hostel. To Giant's Causeway. cold cold cold. Soup! Bus! Train! Plane! Home.

I am sure that was as exciting for you as it was for me. It actually was a nice four days, though the Port Stewart segment was 10x more beautiful, fun and cold then the Belfast part. It was a lovely time with some lovely people and I would repeat the experience- albeit not at the beginning of December :x

Picture time!

(That's a Library)

More will be on Facebook soon. Probably.

Okay. I am going to turn my internet off and actually try and get some work done. I love and miss you all and can't wait to see/hear from you!

Home, Dublin and Turkey Day

Hello everyone! I have an essay due tomorrow so I figure now would be a great time to write a blog post.

(I can see my mother cringing as she reads this. Yes I am going to get it turned in on time, don't worry.)

I am gonna seperate this post into three parts: News from home, my trip to Dublin, and Thanksgiving. At some point I will get to writing about places in Edinburgh because I feel like that is a nifty list to have. It'll get done some point before I leave. Hopefully.

So onto news from home!

So first off I am sad to report that my beta fish, Horatio, has passed away. I am happy to report that my family decided to tell me about it instead of trying to sneakily buy me a new fish. While I miss Horatio deeply, I have found the strength to move on.

On a happier note, I can tell everyone what classes I will be for next sememster. I am going to be taking American Judaism (Oy.), Early Medieval History (Vikings!), Econometrics (Joyous), Spanish 3 (Where I make people cringe with my accent) and DDR (yes that is Dance Dance Revolution. Yes it is a gym class). I am also going to be the TA for Bus6A (Financial Accounting). Not only that but I am captain for Mock Trial team D (we are gonna rawk sawks) and I still have my job with the Bran Van.. Man, next semester is gonna be super busy. I am so excited.  (no really, I am)

I also can report on where I will living next semester, and that is not in a cardboard box! It will be in Ziv 130 in suite 103 room F (for fun times obviously). The demographics of the suite are five girls and one guy, so that should be quite interesting. I'm already planning all the things I am going to bring to set up a psuedo-kitchen because Ziv suites don't have actual ones- which is strange to me. Ah well, I am sure I will make do.

Getting all this news from home has been kinda strange. Half of me is excited and the other part is like "I don't want to rush the time I have here! There is only a month left!" And time is still going by too fast. For instance, the essay that is due on Monday is the last assignment I need to do before exams- an essay I wrote down in my calendar at the beginning of the semester and was like "that's so far away" no, no it isn't. Why does time do that? Not cool.

Enough of that. Onto Dublin!

My trip started out on a high note. While waiting on the street corner at 5 am for my friends a man all gusied up for an event, kilt and all, strolled by. As he passed me he did a bit of a jig, and I jigged back. Then we danced for five seconds more and then he kept on walking. It was a lot of fun.

The plane ride to Dublin was not bad at all though we were quite hungry and tired once we arrived. We explored for a bit before a cafe finally opened for lunch. After food we explored O'Connell street and spent about an hour making fun of the clothing in one of the stores before I bought a pair of jeans. They are red and make me very happy. The rest of the day consisted of a lot of talking, a lot of tomfoolery, greek food, MASH and socks on hands. It was a bunch of fun.

The next day we went on one of those hop-on, hop-off tour buses. We got to hear a lot about the city and we stopped off at Trinity College and Mary Malone before grabbing lunch. St. Patrick's Cathedral was closed for graduation, so we didn't see that- but we did get to go to the Guinness storehouse. It was fun learning about how beer was made, the history of it, and all the inner workings like transport and barrel-making. The best part was the pint of Guiness at the Gravity Bar, which is at the top of the storehouse and gives you a 360 degree view of the city. We got some nice pictures-even though we got photobombed.

After the storehouse we went back to O'Connell's street and then to Temple Bar for dinner. We turned in early because we had to leave at 4:30 am for our flight back.

And yes, I slept through sunday.

Thanksgiving was interesting. I didn't have a Thanksgiving dinner: I had three. One at a restaurant with friends on Tuesday, one with the program I came to Edinburgh with on Wednesday, and one on Thursday that was sponsored by the chaplaincy.  It was strange waking up Thursday morning and having to go to class- but I prevailed. It was also strange not watching the Thanksgiving parade with my sister while eating cinnamon buns. Instead I had french toast and peanut butter with my flatmate, it was nice- but it just wasn't the same.

The dinner for the chaplaincy was fun though. It was a potluck so I made a cream cheese and apple torte and Marleigh, my flatmate, made a cornbread pudding. There were so many different dishes at the dinner though. There was Chinese noodles, curry, german pretzel rolls, and yes- Turkey. Dessert was equally as international and equally as yummy. I am happy to say that the dishes Marleigh and I made were one of the first ones to go :)

After dinner I had a chance to skype with my family, which is always a good time. Overall it was a nice night and a great break from studying. Now I have a bunch more to look forward to. Next weekend I am going to Belfast. Also, Edinburgh is getting decked out for christmas with different faires and a ferris wheel. I am excited for the next few weeks, and I intend to experience as much as I can- and do some more studying too I guess.

Oh, Hello there!

So I haven't updated in a while. Sorry about that. I had a busy week, followed by a not-so-busy week, followed by a should-be-busy week which cumulated in a very-busy weekend. I really want to tell y'all about all the little places I have found around here, but I think that is going to wait until another post. For now, here is an update on what I have been doing for the last three weeks:

In no particular chronological order:

- I spent a weekend in North-West England in a home-stay for my program. I got to cook dinner, play some scrabble, hang out with some cool people, go mushy over two dogs and a kitten, and walk around the lake district and through some farms. It was an absolutely brilliant time in the English country-side and I kinda want to spend some more time there in the future.

- I cooked dinner a few times with friends Erin and Lindy. We had some lasagna, burgers, and chicken and mushrooms. We also experimented with cream-cheese puffs, pepsi max with lime and some very sketchy sangria and vodka. I also wore pigtails.

- I have decided on keeping my hair long for a while. I was thinking about cutting it off again, but then I realized I have actually been wearing it in other styles other then a bun for a while now (gasp right?) So yeah- that's interesting.

- I finished project runway. I am pretty happy with the winner.

-I finished two projects! A data collection assignment for Global History...and a data collection assignment for Statistics. I had to make a survey. I didn't very much enjoy it :( Now I have two essays! Oh boy!

- Paid for a trip to Belfast in December and in the process of planning a trip to Dublin, London and Amsterdam.

- Watched a lot of Youtube. I had a lot of work to do and that was my choice procrastination method.

-My music library now surpasses 9,000 songs. I need to spend some time cleaning it out of my computer might explode.

-Had the best Skype conversation of my life (And the longest) with one Chris Amstutz. I also placed the best prank phone call ever- if you could call it that. I think it was pretty tricky :)

- I got to hold the  torch for the 2012 London Olympics. I got the cheesiest photo out of it.

-Dressed up as Bellatrix Lestrange and walked around Edinburgh with a Nebraskan Football fan and the Tardis.

A lot of other little things have happened, but I don't think y'all want to hear about my daily routine in excruciating detail.  I can tell you one thing though: I love it here. I really am so happy I did this experience and I can't believe it is already halfway done. I guess it would be good for me to put down a bit of a progress report on how I feel I have changed and which ones of my expectations were met and blah blah blah.

Maybe next week when I have time to think about it. Right now its just normal life. I think that may be my favorite part actually, that I have achieved a sense of normalcy while living here. That is pretty neat-o as far as life experiences go.

Whelp...I think that is all- oh!

I have decided to go full-force on Novel-writing month. I don't know if I will complete an entire book, but I intend to put a dent into the novel I have been wishy-washing on for the last few years. Lets see if that actually happens :)

Also. I promised I would post this somewhere, so here y'all go.

((It is a short story I wrote for my friend's birthday. I was told to write about Princess Bee (her name is Bee). It is un-edited so sorry if something makes ya cringe grammar-wise))

Princess Bee

A man stepped up to the microphone with a smile so bright it was a shame he didn’t have a bowtie to compliment it. He looked out to the crowd sitting in their poorly cushioned seats and swept his arm out to the spotlight as it streaked across the stage.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, You have heard of queen bees…but the gal we have here tonight will blow all those stingers out of the hive.”

He shifted the microphone to his other hand as cheers erupted from the crowd.

“All the way from England, She is as sweet as honey, the girl you have been waiting for-its Princess Bee!”

The curtains sprang open as the crowd clapped, whistled and stomped their feet. Bee stepped out on the stage, a smile on her bright red lips. She lived for this type of attention, letting the audience drink her in. Her soft red hair curled expertly around her face and the slinky gold dress she wore clung to her body in just the right way. She waved to her fans as she started for the microphone. She was poised to begin, the band behind her already starting the introduction to their first song. She let her face slide open into a sultry look, and opened her mouth to sing.

Nothing came out.

There was a look of shock on her face as her voice just caught in her throat. That was hardly right. The band, bless them, noticed the mistake and without missing a beat started the introduction again. Again, the point for her to sing came again. She shifted her microphone and-

Again, Nothing.

The crowd looked to be as confused as she felt. There was a murmur coming from the seated men and women. They had come to see the wonderful, legendary, beautiful Princess Bee- and now what were they getting? Bee could feel their confusion slowly turn to anger.

She grasped the microphone and tried to will her voice to come out, but her vocal cords remained still. She could make no noise. Not even a grunt or whine, she couldn’t call out for help. What was going on? Her voice was fine before! She had just been joking with the men behind stage. God knows she wasn’t nervous- as she had done this time and time again. And she knew the lyrics, she had sung-

Wait. What were the lyrics?

A new sort of panic crept up her spine. She didn’t know what song she was supposed to be singing! Her mind began to whirl faster as she let go of the microphone and stumbled back. The band was still playing, the murmur of the crowd was growing more ferocious and the man with the bright smile was coming to her. She reached for him. She tried to tell him she didn’t know what was going on, that she didn’t know the words, that she was scared. Her heel caught the end of her dress and she pitched forward, she braced herself for the crash against wood.

It never came.

Bee sat up in bed. She was confused, bleary eyed and wondered briefly where the crowds had gone. She let out a soft groan before flopping against the pillow and let sleep pull her back into the darkness.

“I can’t believe you are marrying a prince.”

Bee turned to face the person who spoke to her. She was an older woman with a pudgy face and just a touch too much eye shadow. Her hair had been curled and pinned in some fantastic shape at the top of her head and the green dress she wore had enough bows on it to fuel an army of little girls.

“I’m-I’m what?” Bee responded before she realized what she was wearing. Her gown was white and poofy, it was trimmed in lace and the bottom ballooned out from her hips. She almost teetered over from the sheer weight of what she was wearing.

“The Prince! In just a few moments you will be a princess, isn’t that wonderful?” She let out a long sigh and placed her hand on her bosom before letting her eyelashes flutter. She was wearing too much mascara as well.

“I thin-“ but Bee didn’t have time to finish. Some trumpets were blowing and the doors swung open.

“This is it!” the high pitch of the woman’s voice made Bee wince as a bouquet was shoved into her hands and she was pushed through the door and onto the aisle.

She was standing in a church. Everyone in the pews turned to stare at her. She couldn’t make out their faces; all she could see were their eyes. She knew she would melt under their gaze if she just stayed put so she began to walk. The silence urked her. Shouldn’t there be music or something? She always wanted music at her wedding.

The aisle seemed to get longer and longer as she walked. Finally the priest came into view and then the back of the groom’s head. Bee frowned- by how this was all going so far she expected an ogre to turn around. When she finally leveled up to him and looked up, she realized she had not prepared herself enough for what she was about to see and she let out a gasp.

He was absolutely gorgeous.

He had dazzling blue eyes and a smile that made her knees go weak. She felt like a thirteen-year-old girl meeting her idol for the first time, and it took all her will to not let out a squeal.

The Prince continued to smile as he reached for her shoulders. “Now, Now- this won’t do.” He began to tear the heavy gown from her. She felt lighter now, and reached for his hand. With a grin she turned to the prince, realizing things were about to get very nice when…oh…there came the music.

Bee’s eyes snapped open and she sat up in bed. She frowned, shut off her alarm clock and sat up. Now, that was hardly fair. Already the dream was fleeing her brain and she could hardly recall that very handsome man’s smile. She hadn’t even gotten a kiss.

She stood up and stretched before going to her closet to find something to wear. There was a song in her head as she looked through her closet. She didn’t know where it was from, nor could she remember the lyrics- but it was pretty enough.

Her hand skipped over an ugly green dress with bows and pulled out something soft and pink. She was just heading to her mirror to check her hair when a knock came at the door.

“Come in.”

A woman with a pudgy face and too much make up stepped in.

“Your highness, breakfast is ready.” 

Bee nodded her head and waved her hand in a way she had learned while still young. “I will be down.” the woman bobbed a courtesy and left. Bee quickly set her hair and came down.

A man with a bright smile greeted her and kissed her on each cheek. She touched his bowtie. “That is new! I like it.” She laughed and he continued to smile as they sat down to a meal together, just a modern royal family.

“oh!” her father looked up. “Your mother has told me to tell you that you are needed later this afternoon.”

Bee patted her mouth daintily. “oh?” She said politely.

“Yes, she would like for you to entertain the son of some dignitary. He is just your age and is apparently quite charming. She has arranged for you to see some singer -front row no doubt.” Bee felt a smile catch her face. She had a good feeling about this, though she had no idea where it came from.

“I can hardly wait.” She replied and thought briefly that reality could be better then dreams at times. It was very good to be a princess.

Of course, that is when the alarm actually went off.

I hope y'all enjoyed that :) I will post soon! Promises!

Wah Wah Wah

During orientation for Edinburgh, one of the slides they showed while I was doodling away was about culture shock. Pretty much they told us all that we would fall in love with Edinburgh, and about a month in we would hate everything about it want to go home and this sucks and blah blah blah, before slowly coming to love and appreciate the city once more in a new way only living there can inspire.

Well, its over a month in and I still love Edinburgh. But, I am starting to feel a bit (dun, dun, dun) Homesick....well, not homesick per say. Homesickness to me is what you get in summer camp when all you want to do is curl up on the couch and watch TV with mommy and daddy-and nothing else that happens can distract you from that feeling, and its all you can concentrate on even though it is swim-time and you should be listening to your instructor teach you how to do the scissor kick. Thats not the feeling I have here. (Not that I ever got that feeling while in camp. Sorry Mom and Dad, love you, but we got to climb rock walls in camp and you can't do that in front of a TV.)

Right now its just silly moments occurring and me going "Oh, I wish so-and-so were here" or me telling stories about my family and wishing my friends could meet them, because meeting my family is like an entire chapter on why Andrea is as crazy and loud as she is. I do miss some things about home like burgers and days where it isn't raining, but I am more then capable of waiting for those things and putting them out of my mind. The family and friend thing is harder.

I don't know if it's because its of the "month in" thing or because the upcoming weekend made me realize how far from home I actually am. This weekend it's both my sister's birthday and the breast cancer walk. If I was at Brandeis right now, I would have been home for both these things because it is only a four hour drive and I would have had Thursday off anyway, so what does friday matter? Heck, it probably would have been my second time home because I would have come up two weeks before for Rosh Hashanah. But here, I don't have that option. It also doesn't help that this weekend I will be going to a home-stay so I will be spending time with another person's family. It will be fun, but certainly not the same :) Also, Mock Trial tournament stuff is coming up and I'm not there which is so frackin weird.

Huh, I just realized I have never gone more then two months without going home for some event or another. Oh man, true test of character coming up.

But seriously, I love you guys and I miss you.

Also, last weekend I went to Inverness and I never finished the post I wrote about it because frankly, the post itself was super boring and I couldn't really get down in words how awesome the highlands were so y'all are going to get a summery instead:

We saw some waterfalls that Queen Victoria liked. We got to see the Hogwarts Express go over a bridge. I lost my shoe in some mud. We got to play with sheepdog puppies, and I saw a cow stick out its tongue. I also made the mistake of making a "hat of shame" joke with the bus driver, when he had one on hand. We went on a whisky distillery tour. We hunted Nessy on Loch Ness, and by that I mean I sat in the saloon downstairs and drank hot chocolate. Then we explored some castle ruins before stopping for some breathtaking views of the hills. My guide wore a kilt the whole time :)

And now pictures!

If anyone wants to hear more about my jaunt up to the highlands, or you know- just want to chat: send me a Facebook message or an email or leave a comment. I miss y'all a lot :)

I am going to go try and find a Rock wall to climb now.

Creative Writing and I love my flatmates

Last Monday I went to my Create Society meeting. For this meeting we needed to bring in an item and come up with a character to go with it. How did they get the item? What did it mean to them? Etc.

I came in with a small pocket mirror that I had picked up in a shop the week before.

When we got there, we had to write a short piece about the character and the item. I liked what I wrote, so I decided to post it here. 

Marla Woole

I was standing in the line at the grocery when I pulled out my mirror. I was convinced my mascara had smudged and that would never do.

“Oh what a lovely mirror!”

The voice behind me was one I knew. I had heard it before, at meetings, in shops. I spoke to so many people it was sometimes hard to keep them straight. I turned to the woman with a bright smile on my painted lips.

“Thank you.” I said as brightly as I could manage. I recognized her. Lillian or Lilly, her hair was a pale red- dyed terribly. She hadn’t made the choice to go gracefully into silver like I had. My color also came from a bottle, but it was professionally done.

“Where ever did you get it?”

The smile stuck on my face and I held the mirror closer. “This?”

Oh dear. It was very rare I was caught without a story. I had bought it at a garage sale in Pensy for 50 cents, but that would never do. My reputation would be ruined- Every one knew that Marla Woole had no use for garage sales. It may have been where most of my gathered things I had come from, but really- there was no reason to ruin the fun.

“My second husband gave it to me.”

The lie spilled from my lips almost effortlessly, it should after years of long practice, and I wasn’t about to let my moment’s hesitation undo me.

“He would travel often and he brought it back for me from one of his adventures- Thailand I think.” I felt the sadness creep into my face as I concocted the next bit. I didn’t really want more questions before I could think through all of it.

“He died about six months after. The plane he was piloting went down over Africa while he was on Safari. The man he was transporting survived but he…” I trailed off for effect, and the result I wanted was achieved. Almost on cue Lily or Lillian raised her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide. I slowly closed my mirror and slipped it away.

“I’m so sorry… I’m glad you have something to remember him by.”

I offered her a sad smile and turned to the cashier, as it was my turn in line. I paid for my chicken and eggs and with a wistful wave I walked out to the parking lot before I could say anything more. I think my best skill is in dramatic exits.

I didn’t have time to relish in my efforts though. I had more to think about. I had never realized I had been married before, and now I had two husbands to work out-maybe more. I delighted in the prospect. I always love a good story. 

I hope y'all enjoyed that :)

Oh! And if you guys wanted to know how my flatmates and I are getting on, here is a small photo story:

They are actually really sweet and a lot of fun. I just wished they weren't so messy!
I really need some Mary-Ann magic up in this joint :P

Until next time!

Edit: Marleigh is excluded in the flatmate complaint because there ain't nothing to complain about :D

Livin' for the Weekend

Okay, time is going by quicker and quicker. I'm afraid I am going to blink and it will already be December. But time is not allowed to go that quickly because a) I am having too much fun and b) I have five pretty big assignments due between now and then and I really don't want to think about all the work I am going to have to do in between all the traveling and things I've been planning.

Speaking of fun, last weekend was pretty kick-ass. On Thursday I got to chat with my family over Skype during Rosh Hashanah dinner, so I got to see my grandma and my aunts and uncles. I think the best part of that, besides seeing all their beautiful faces, was seeing who understood technology the least. I can't tell if I found my great-aunt talking very loudly at the microphone or my mother's inability to turn the program off to be more amusing. I was kinda sad I couldn't be there to celebrate the madness that is a Honig family party, but I know there will be many more new years and only a few short months to spend in Scotland.

After that conversation, I ended up going out with some friends. We went out to meet a group of people who were spending the night in Edinburgh. The pub we went to meet them at was pretty full of people over the age of thirty, and us "natives" (yeah, okay) thought it was pretty odd that that was where they had chosen to drink. The next pub we went to was a bit better though. It was on the Royal Mile and had a nice atmosphere, though it wasn't nearly as charming as the pub our group has deemed as its own (Though there will be more on that in a later post). I finally got to have some whiskey while we were there. I can now cross "drink Scottish whiskey in Scotland" off my bucket list. Next up is "Have beer with breakfast." Though, I don't know how keen I am on knocking that one off.

After the pub we parted ways from the group of visitors. We headed back to our flats and turned in early because some of our number had class the next morning (naughty, naughty) and we had planned a full docket for that afternoon. Sleep proved particularly difficult that night and didn't help that one of my flatmates had blessed me with a cold. But, I didn't let that get in my way :)

Friday was absolutely gorgeous. the sun was shining, there was a slightly cool breeze, and it was actually warmer in Edinburgh than it was in New York which was really something to celebrate. It was the perfect weather for our next excursion; climbing Arthur's Seat. 

A bit of background:

-ahem-

"Arthur's Seat is the main peak of the group of hills which form most of Holyrood Park. It is situated in the centre of the city of Edinburgh, about a mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle. The hill rises above the city to a height of 251 m (823 ft) and provides an excellent panoramic views of the city."

Thank you wikipedia.

So yes, there is a giant hill in the middle of the city and because it was such a breathtaking day we decided we had to climb it. (We being Lucy, Lucy's boyfriend, Marleigh, Lindy and myself)

Orginally when we got to the seat, I was very much daunted by the height. I was already a bit tired and I was feeling very out of shape, but I began the climb anyway. The way up was really steep, but the rocks formed a kind of staircase so the climb wasn't too terrible and the views were abesolutely stunning. Stupid me forgot her camera, but I have lovely friends that let me steal their shots :)

Afterwards we headed home and for dinner that night we went to Mums (Another destination that will be discussed at a later date.). I was bad and got a milkshake, but it was delicious so it was well worth it. After we stuffed ourselves silly we proceeded to the Royal Mile to go on a tour called "Hidden and Haunted."

It was run by the same company that did the the other tour I was on, but this one focused more on stories about ghosts then on people being hung or having their head chopped off. Here is our guide. She added to the experience tenfold.

See what I mean?

We even went down into the vaults, which are supposedly one of the most haunted areas of Britain. Apparently there is little boy down there, a cobbler, and a ghost called the watcher who isn't very nice. I didn't spot anything, but I think something stepped on my foot. MAYBE IT WAS A GHOST!!! ... or it could have been the guy standing next to me. I'll let you decide which one is more reasonable. I guess I will have to look for hauntings elsewhere. I did have a good time though, whether I saw spectres or not.

One of the girls did catch a blue orb on her camera though.

Ghost or spec of dust? The world may never know...

On Saturday we headed to Stirling and explored the castle.

It was very pretty, but it was so rainy and foggy and they didn't give us enough time to really explore the city because they decided we were going to the William Wallace momunment. Because it was so foggy we didn't even attempt to see it. We swung right into the cafe and grabbed seats. It ended up being a good idea, because about a half an hour later the cafe was packed- but we were already comfurtable. It was fun hanging out, but we were very glad to get on the bus back to Edinburgh.

After a quick dinner we decided to head out to do a pub crawl. I ended up having to leave early because my cold and lack of sleep the night before had finally caught up to me. What lack of sleep you ask? WELL my very lovely flatmate decided it would be super awesome to come home drunk with a bunch of friends, dragging a traffic cone behind them and screaming-   at 4 am. Let's just say I was not too keen about that, and on Sunday I had a very nice conversation with said flatmate about not doing that again- minimal bodily threats were issued :)

Luckily, I was able to sleep in on Sunday. I also spent the entire day in my jammies drinking tea and bopping around on the internet. Oh! I did some work as well.

That night My friends, Erin and Lindy, and I went to the pub quiz once more where once again we suffered a stunning defeat. It was still a lot of fun AND because it was czech night, they raffled off some Czech imported beer. Guess who won some?

Awwww Yes :)

Overall it was a pretty eventful and fun weekend- But I don't know how it is going to compare to next weekend. I am going to Inverness on an organized trip with my IFSA-butler group. Three days going through the highlands of Scotland. I know, such a hard life. 

Of course I'm working hard

As you could probably guess, I don't spend every minute of my life studying. At some point in the semester, that will probably be how I roll, but for right now I do have some free time to spend, and I'm trying my damnest to take advantage of it.

One of the benefits of going to such a large school is the amount of clubs offered. Here they get all fancy and refer to them as "societies". So far I have decided to join two of these societies while I'm here whiling away my semester.

First off is the "Create" society. There are actually two parts to this society. On wednesday, a group gets together to do arts and crafts and on Mondays a group gets together to do some creative writing. I have joined the creative writing part, mostly because I have no idea what I would do with the crafts once I make them. So far I have gone to two meetings and it was a lot of fun. We didn't do much writing, but we sat around and talked and I think it is a really creative bunch of people. I can't wait to read what they have to write, and I hope they don't find my pieces too terrible. Let's also hope my brand of short stories doesn't throw them off to harshly. I'll try my best to write about rainbows and butterflies and not my usual stock of plot points. Maybe I will even post a few of my pieces here, eh?

The next society I have decided to take part in is the Cocktail Society. I'm sure I need to go into length of detail about what that one is all about. This society meets Thursdays (guess who doesn't have class on fridayssss) and they go to a bar that is normally to expensive for a student budget, though we get some nice discounts. It was a lot of fun. I got to have a "Turktini" (Turkish delight martini made with chocolate schnapps) and an "Appleberry" (apple liquor, vodka, lime juice, apple slices and smooshed raspberries) as well as a flavored shot of vodka (blackwell tart. I was supposed to get chocolate orange, but the bartender messed up. I wasn't too upset). There are also going to be some "master-classes" on learning how to mix cocktails, so I can bring my new knowledge to the states. I will be 21 by the time I get back, so we can get super fancy.

The drinking culture here is something to get used to. Its not that everyone drinks a lot, it is just so available and there doesn't seem to be any qualms against drinking before lunchtime. The fact that the drinking age is so young also effects things. Because all stages of university (from freshers to four-years) can drink, it is entrenched into the university culture. So, both student unions have really nice bars, and oh wait, the university subsidizes the price of alcohol in said bars. You can get a pint of beer for 2.30 which is pretty kick-ass. I've only had beer there once, and that was on trvia night- which we did pretty well at considering we shunned smartphones and were at a complete disadvantage on general knowledge questions about football players and the bbc. It was a good time nevertheless :)

I've also taken some time to explore the city. But I think I will take another blog post to describe the things I found and what places I've taken an affinity to. Right now I am just happy I finally found some cheerios- now if I can only gets some Reese Peanut-butter cups my life will be complete.

Oh right, Classes

Well, this week has already flown by in comparison to last week. It might have something to do with the fact I now have classes to go to. Yay! It is weird to think it has been almost a month since classes started at Brandeis, and I am only a week into my semester. I think I am going to really enjoy my classes, though they seem like they might be a bit difficult. I only have to take three classes under this system, but you have to spend a lot more time outside the classroom studying- so that should be interesting.

I'm a History and an Economics major, and one of the departments they have in Edinburgh is "Economic and Social History", i.e. nerd heaven for someone like myself. Two of my classes are out of this department. First is "The Social and Economic History of British America from 1607-1770." which takes place at 9 am on Monday. The building is also the prettiest of buildings where I take classes.

The other two take place in a building that look like this.

And I thought Brandeis had the monopoly on ugly industrial classrooms.

The British America class seems like it is going to be the most work, even though it has the least amount of lecture time. I kinda suck at the whole "independent study" thing because I have no ethic apparently. I hope that I will be able to overcome that though, and tackle my multi-book reading list with fervor. I'm excited to learn early American history through a British lens, especially because this class is also going to cover the West Indies- which always seems to get left out of American lectures on similar areas.

The other class I have in the ECSH department is "Economic History 2.1: The Global Economy" This class is covering the growth of globalization from the 14th century to the industrial revolution. It is actually a full year course (the 2nd part covers up until modern times), so instead of taking the usual final exam, I will be able to take a Take-home exam. That, combined with it being a 2nd-year course, is making me feel optimistic about my workload in conjunction with this class. Now that I have written that, it will promptly become my hardest class. The two classes, funnily enough, also have the same professor. She seems very nice- and already asked why I am taking two-different year level courses. Hopefully my "Your third year course scares me" explanation was good enough.

Last, but not least, is my business class which is called "Business Research Methods I: Quantitative Techniques." -a long and fancy name for Statistics. And yes, all the course titles were hell to write on my course forms. Stats seems like it will be interesting. It is my largest class, in a huge lecture hall, but there seems like there is going to be a lot of opportunities for individual attention. I just hope it covers everything I need for my Econ major, especially because it is going to have to be my basis for Econometrics :x

Lets see how the optimism goes once all my essays become due, eh?

Roomate update: The girls are still very sweet, and Marleigh and I are really good about sharing food and things which is super neato. What isn't neat, is the kitchen. One (or maybe more) of the girls don't know how to clean out a microwave- and they seem to like to explode things in it, and sometimes the dishes in the drying-rack haven't been cleaned properly. Its like they don't know that just rinsing off a plate cleans it. We're going to have another flat meeting soon, so hopefully we will be able to clear that all up. They also like to make a lot of origami (cranes keeping popping up around the kitchen), so maybe whoever the paper-folder is can show me their techniques.

Until next time!

One week in

So this week as been something interesting. First off, it doesn't feel like it has only been a week since I've moved in. If I didn't know any better, I could have sworn a month has gone by. It is crazy. I think once classes start tomorrow, my perception of time is going to become normal- or maybe next week will feel like a year. Who knows!

I have settled quite nicely into my flat. I've gone grocery shopping, walked around a bunch, gotten lost, found a few short cuts, made dinner, bought a pair of headphones to sleep in, and found out how to get to campus. I also have met all my new flatmates.

Marleigh is the other American in my flat. She is from California and the two of us have been hanging out quite a bit. We even made dinner together, which was pretty neat. I'm glad that I was able to find a friend in the people I live with (always a plus) and hopefully things remain friendly. If nothing else, both of us actually clean up the kitchen when we are done using it.

Sophie and Rivkah are two Freshers (how the Brits refer to freshmen) from England and they also seem nice, though we have not hung out as much. Silvia, our last flatmate, is also a fresher- but she is from Singapore. (Our flat is quite international :) ) So far I think I have lucked out. One of the other girls I have hung out with is living in a flat with 3 girls and 3 guys, and apparently it is already a very messy affair because the guys all drink way too much and none of the girls are particularly neat. I'm crossing my fingers that my first impressions hold on the gals of flat 9, though it is kinda clear that some of them have no idea on how to live on their own. I think they will work out the kinks in a few weeks though.

One of the reasons I didn't really post this week is because there has been so much stuff to do. The orientation week here is nothing like how it was at Brandeis. Instead of putting the Freshers into groups and shuffling them around campus and having one set event a night, they just give everyone a huge booklet of all things and events they have and pretty much say "have fun". One of the strangest things to get used to is the fact that more than a few of the events include drinking because, oh wait, it is legal to drink here when you are 18. Another fun fact is that in order to buy cutlery (Including plastic knives) you need to be 21. I learned this when my friend was carded at the check-out line with some butter knives. (I managed to squeak by without getting ided.) I think that is a bit hilarious.

I took advantage of a lot of the events offered. I went to a movie-themed party (Yes, those freshmen parties are still awkward even if there is alcohol being served) to people watch, I went on a tour of the castle as well as a "Gallows to Graveyard" tour of the city streets. A group of us went to see a hypnotist as well as a few movies. We went out to a few pubs, and I even drank some beer. Yesterday I went to St. Andrews for the day, which was a lot of fun. We saw some ruins, of the Castle and the Cathedral, and walked around. We even went to the Golf Museum! Or rather, the gift shop of the Golf museum. While the city was nice, visiting St. Andrews made me happy that I had chosen Edinburgh as my university destination.

Okay. I am going to head out now, but before I do- here are some pictures

The rest will go up on facebook at some point soon.

Oh! And also. Pants in Britain means underwear. Keep that in mind if you come over here and you like someone's outfit- or telling your roommates about your pajamas. I promise, hilarity will ensue if  you don't.

Robertson's Close

Haha! A second post! Oh man, look at me go.

So today was move-in day. I am officially situated in Room 2 of Flat 9 in Block 9 of Robertson's Close.

The room is actually quite nice, and I think I might have gotten the largest of all five rooms- which is pretty sweet. Of course, it also looks out onto the Cowgate (the main clubbing street in Edinburgh) so that is gonna be pretty fun come trying to sleep. Right now I can hear a bunch of people singing, I heard some drunken shouts earlier, and there is a constant hum of laughter and chatter- though no music (thank goodness). I hope, since it is a Saturday night, that this is the worst it is going to get- but we will see. If not, I will invest into a pair of earplugs and sleep as far from the windows as I can get :)

The flat itself is on the third floor of the building, though there are several half floors- so that is probably an inaccurate estimate. I need to go up two regular flights, and three tiny flights in order to get up- which isn't that terrible. There are five rooms, a beautiful kitchen/common area (it looks like it was newly renovated) and two bathrooms (though only one shower). The entire flat is all girls. So far I have met 1.5 of my roommates.

I suppose I should explain the .5 first. Around 11 pm- two girls stumbled in after going to a pub crawl. Both of them had heavy british accents and both of them were rather drunk. From what I gleaned, one of them lives here and the other one lives in another flat in the building. I didn't catch whom was whom, but I figure I will find out in the morning.

This building is for both international students and Freshmen (called Freshers here) and each flat is a mix of both. Whoever the .5 turns out to be is a Fresher, but the other girl I met is another American in her third year. She is from California and seems rather nice. We already bonded over a misbehaving shower and discussing kitchen cabinets, so that is always good. I am excited (and a bit apprehensive) to meet the other two girls. As long as they don't shout and clean up moderately well in the common area, I think I will be happy.

Oh good. There is chanting coming from outside my window. Well, this should be an interesting night.

Just to note: I have the ugliest curtains known to man

At least I had a fun day. After lugging my suitcases up the stairs, I set up my room before going to lunch with two of the girls that I bonded with over orientation weekend. One if from Nebraska and the other is from Nevada, and both of them are really sweet and funny- and if nothing else, they seem to be amused by my antics (switching up letters in words, making up words, not being able to say words, etc.). We ended up going shopping in a store called "PoundStretcher" which is my new favorite place as they have everything I needed and it was all very cheap. I may actually go back tomorrow to get some more general stuff for the flat. Also grocery shopping! I am super excited about that.

I am getting a bit more orientated in the city. I know areas, though I am having trouble remembering where each area is in conjunction to everywhere else. I think I am going to spend an evening with google maps to see if I can help myself through that :)

Tomorrow I will be walking to where my classes are for the first time. Hopefully I won't get to lost, or fall down any hills. That would stink.

Cheers!

And off she goes

So, I'm in Edinburgh.

I debated with myself about starting this blog, because hey- everyone makes a first post and then never goes back to update it, and I am notorious for starting journal-type things and then dropping them. But whatever, if nothing else I will have one post to look back on and I will have expanded the internet a little bit more. I do plan on trying to keep up on this thing, but plans go haywire and we will just have to see, now won't we?

I suppose if I wanted to make this legit, I should have done a post before I left- one of those "What do I expect" posts, but to tell the truth- it didn't ever really hit me that I was about to spend four months in another country. I am now in my hotel in Edinburgh, going through orientation and it still hasn't quite sunk in. That should be fun when it finally does.

It has been interesting so far. Coming into Edinburgh is a bit like walking into a piece of fiction. It is so old, it is almost hard to believe- especially coming from America. It is hard to take a country's history seriously when the building where the Pizza Express is housed outdates the nation by a few centuries or so. I love the architecture of both the Old Town and New Town and I really can not wait to explore and figure out where I am going. My lack of a sense of direction is really not helping right now, but I think I will manage. Me and some people I met from the program have already gone exploring. I keep telling myself this place isn't nearly as big as NYC, so it can't be that bad- but we'll see if that theory holds. I think once I am actually settled in my apartment I will be a lot better off.

I am both really excited and really nervous about the next few weeks. I can't wait to explore, go traveling, get lost, and experience scottish culture in a way that a tourist never really could. I want to get a good feel for this city, to be able to point out local places, and be hip with the slang. I can't wait to come back to America with a mish-mosh of a Long Island and Scottish accent. I think I am most excited about what this experience can offer me for the future. I sure as hell plan to have fun with societies, clubs, traveling, and going out- but I also know that the person I am now will not be the person that will board the plane in January to go back to the U.S. I hope that person is a better person.

But what if I'm not? I think that is what is making me the most nervous. Not getting lost, or trying Haggis, not being able to meet people or getting bad grades; the thought that these five months will show me more things I dislike about myself than what I like. Will I be able to handle the Scottish Academic system, where personal study is so important and preparing ahead of time is the only way to pass? Will I not travel as much as I hope to because I am afraid to leave my new comfort zone? Will I get mad at the differences between here and home and end up disliking this city, which I want to love so much? I hope all the answers to these questions are no, but I am not Professor Trelawney and there is no way for me to predict the future.

But I am going to work as hard as I can to make sure that if I end up not liking something about what happens I can say "Well, at least I tried". I have a feeling everything will work out, and that I am just being silly. Time will tell, and I am a lot more excited then I am nervous. I can't wait to get my own room so I am no longer in a hotel surrounded by Americans. I feel like that is when I am really going to be able to dive in, and figure out how to use the potential these next few weeks hold.

Wish me luck!
Hopefully I will post soon :)