There is no Thanksgiving here in Scotland, so, instead, they opened their Christmas markets this past Thursday and I got to try some German mulled wine.
Mmm.
German Christmas Markets.
Mulled wine.
My first mulled wine!
the ferris wheel.
All set up down on the Prince's Street Gardens.
The Christmas fair set up on Prince's Street.
The German Christmas markets.
Lights on George's Street.
Cheers! x
We have a reading week this week, so two of our classes were cancelled, and we had one, which was later cancelled when our prof realized he wasn’t going to be here anyway. This being the case, one of our classmate’s suggested going up to try and watch stags fight in the highlands, particularly, the Highlands Wildlife Park in Aviemore.
We were only going to stay for a night, and so, it wasn’t very expensive. My classmate very much reminds me of me back home, she is the organizer, but for our class. I don’t even want to get into that, though I probably somehow will at some point…
Anyway, she found a hostel, found out who was coming, and booked it, while we all booked Megabus up to Aviemore (Aveemore). There were two buses going up, and so, I took the later one, with some other classmates.
The bus trip was 4 hours, when, in reality, it should probably take 2, but it was not so bad. I got to talk to Brian a bit, another Canadian, who had missed a month of classes because of visa issues, and he told me of his travels to New Zealand, etc. Most of the time, we slept, or listened to music afterwards. I just stared out the window and took pictures, yay, picture freak me and listened to music. Taking in the scenery, enjoying every moment of this beautiful country. Even saw a baby Highland cow, which is quite fuzzy and cute.
Someone told me I’d get bored of looking out the windows here, but that’s not the case.
When we got to Aviemore, we had the slight predicament of getting to the hostel, as it was 5 miles away. Pretty far walk, but luckily two of our classmates had driven up, so they picked us up and took us back to the hostel, after we stocked up on breakfast and dinner food. Once there, we tossed our stuff in our rooms, and headed to the kitchen to make our pasta. I’ve never stayed in a hostel before, but it wasn’t bad. About 6 beds in a room, a common area, and kitchen. You make your own bed with the sheets provided. We wound up having made too much pasta, and so we shared our food around.
View from our room.
I was excited by how many of us had actually come on the trip, at least 20 of us. Such a large number, and everyone open to trying things. It’s sometimes a pain in the ass at home to get a large group of my friends to do something. Anyway, after eating, we all wrapped up and set off to walk to the nearby loch to drink and make a fire.
After blindly stepping through pitch black, we hit the beach, and bam, there was the night sky. I’ve seen decent night skies, up in upstate NY, and up in Rhode Island, but never have I seen so beautiful a sky as this one. It was so dark, and there were so many stars, so many in the sky, it was ridiculous. Even the tiniest of stars were so bright out here. It was also so dark, there was a shadow of glow along the mountains in the distance. I wish I had a camera decent enough to somewhat help my explanation, but there’s nothing like a sky like that that gets me. And here we were, sitting on the edge of a loch, with a fire we started, drinks around, a guitar, and nothing but this massive sky above us. Nothing sits in your heart like this, or makes you feel so tiny and like nothing else really is as big a problem.
The stars at night on the loch, stolen from my classmate (he has a DSLR!)
More from my classmate, see the glow I was talking about?
It was great times, drinking alongside the fire; so many countries, all getting along and bonding, in this tiny place. We later headed back because of our curfew and hung out some more before passing out in our beds.
Some of us.
Some more!
In the morning, we all got up, made our breakfast, and headed out. The wildlife park idea had been abandoned so we took a walk instead to what was supposed to be a trail. On the way, we saw red squirrels and gorgeous fall foliage. I haven’t seen much of it in Edinburgh, I think the leaves just fall off the trees instead of turning first…hmm… Anyway, the trail wound up being a climb to the top of one of the Cairngorm Mountains, which involved me and Nina trying not to die from sliding in our non-hiking shoes like idiots. It’s always so great at the end of those hikes though, because then you see how high up you are, and the views are magnificent. We walked back down in a loop which brought us through this reindeer park, which was pretty awesome, because some of them came right up to us and they were soo cute!
Sign warning us in the reindeer park.
Petting some reindeer!
This one particularly loved Gorka!
My classmate and I walking in the distance (from another's camera).
So worth it.
So much for red stags, but I got to pet a reindeer! 
We closed up and walked back to the hostel, back to town for food and on the bus for our journey back home, where I was glad to take off my wet shoes.. I’m pretty happy, and I really enjoyed the trip. I’m just becoming more nature-y by the day. 4 hour hikes and all. Pssh…
Hahaha. And pronunciation fights with the classmates are always good fun.
Anyway,
If I could’ve been able to show you guys the beauty I’ve seen though, especially that night sky, man, I would’ve given anything to.
My classmate’s birthday came about in the middle of the school week and assessments. So, naturally, her birthday party was on the weekend, and it was to be a video game theme!
Now, I was worrying and worrying about this. Trying to find a costume to do that wasn’t completely skimpy and could be made in a short amount of time with little money…it wasn’t really working. Then my other classmate mentioned that our other classmate had suggested Tetris! Well, problem sorted! It would be cheap and easy!
Looking up the costumes and how to make them got me even more interested in it. It was so dorky and lame, I really wonder why my friends and I never did it in undergrad.
Anyway, the day came about to make the costumes, which we put off to the day-of due to our assessments. Tricia, Nina, Fenna and I met at Princes Street and set about to buy the necessary supplies off the top of our heads…I know, so prepared. Good job, Master’s students!
Anyhow, we found some wrapping paper in pound stretcher, but the rest of them were printed, so it seemed we would only have one color, and masking tape to tape the boxes, as well as black tape to outline the shapes. On the line, we spotted colored garbage bags though and immediately swapped those and bought them instead! Green and blue tetris pieces it would be! Whatever works…you know.
Next, we had to get boxes, so we went into a few stores and wound up with a bunch of boxes. Mind you, boxes are quite awkward and heavy to carry after a while!
Walking with some boxes.
Fenna with more boxes.
We eventually made it back to Nina’s and began the work of constructing our pieces. We first decided what pieces we were going to be and then cut out the inside of the boxes to fit around ourselves and began taping them together. However, we did not buy more than one roll of duct tape, and so, ran out, and found ourselves scotch taping and stringing boxes together.
A lot of boxes finally off our hands!
Tricia getting there!
Nina with one of her boxes.
Fenna hard at work.
After that, we set about taping the colored garbage bags over the successfully constructed shapes and outlining them in black to emphasize the shape of the tetris pieces. In the end, they were great fun, and the cheapest costumes ever! Only £3 total. Everyone at the party loved our effort and our costumes, and we eventually became dancing tetris pieces to game music! I would recommend it to anyone who wants to do a group costume and would definitely try again, as mine was not the best of designs, and all of ours were falling apart at the end. Hey, I’m no engineer!
Taping.
More taping!
Complete!
Tetris, go!
More tetris, go!
Walking to the party. We got a lot of looks!
Tetris, assemble! (Kinda)
Tetris fitting in an awkward amount of space.
Tetris dance party!
I can’t believe it’s been a month since my last update, and that I’ve been here for almost two months already.
A crashed laptop, sinus infection in the eye, and blistered razor burn (I know, beautiful, right?)…and life is as it was, I still don’t feel like I’m as far as I am. I really do feel “across the pond” although the pond is the Atlantic Ocean.
I promise to not let this slip away in the future!
Anyway, soon after my last post, I restarted my laptop after it updated and it showed up with a pitch black screen. I borrowed my flatmate’s computer and tried everything I read. Eventually, I gave up and brought it to a shop for a diagnostic and the hard drive had crashed. Greattttt. So, came about the process of finding a new laptop, which I eventually did through Tesco.
So, since then and now, I have officially switched to Wildlife Biology and Conservation. I don’t know if I mentioned it earlier, but I matriculated into Edinburgh Napier University in the Conservation and Management of Protected Areas Program. I wasn’t really sure of the difference myself, but in the beginning, Paul, one of our professors, mentioned that we could switch if we liked.
I sat in on the class for a week, with my classmate Patrick, and we both decided, despite the loads of math and such in the different class, we were switching to it. I did it because it was the program I had initially applied for and genuinely wanted, so I felt it would bother me if I stuck in CMPA because I didn’t like the look of a class.
So, since then, I am now a Wildlife Biology and Conservation student! Hooray! If you’re wondering the difference between the two, CMPA is geared more towards the managing aspect, and Wildlife Bio is essentially the field/grunt work, but I’m more interested in it.
I am pleased with my switch, despite playing catch up with a switch and computer crash, and thoroughly enjoy Paul’s comments and stories. I want to be able to tell such interesting stories from my career as well. In addition to that, he makes us think of the potential risks of our future jobs. There’s a very real risk, as his one friend died when his harness (so he could hang out the side of a helicopter and dart), malfunctioned.
He also noted that when working with predators, we will need a firearm and someone with one as well, because, “if you’re in the back of a moving vehicle with a very large predator and they wake up, there might be a little bit of drama.” Yea, just a little bit…
In between, I have joined the volleyball society, and I’m excited to be able to play again with drills and all, plus the girls who play are great fun. And, there’s the Conservation society, with many opportunities for volunteering and nature-y things. We’ll be starting movie screenings soon.
I also offered to be my Programme’s Class Rep. Well, that, and I was pushed into it. No one was keen on Paul picking a name out of hat. Basically, we meet with the teachers 3 times a year and discuss problems or issues students have with the program or classes for the general population in the program. Turns out we get a cool sweatshirt (AKA free!) plus it looks great on a CV/resume and all that jazz.
On the weekends, I have explored, met new people, and one weekend, I took our school’s SENIC program’s day trip to Loch Lomond and Stirling. We finally got the real Scottish weather, after a month of being spoiled by sun and little rain, which has only continued throughout the month and gotten somewhat colder. Loch Lomond was pretty and I really enjoyed hearing about Scottish history from our tour guide, and visiting Stirling Castle. We also learned some nifty Scottish words, like dreich (dreary, basically a word to describe the weather), and phrases like, “Och, aye.” (oh, yes) and got to see some Highland cows!
Loch Lomond.
A view from Stirling Castle. You can see the William Wallace Monument in the distance.
A Highland Cow!
Stirling Castle.
A week or two earlier, it had been about 70 and sunny, so one of my classmates and I ventured down to Portobello beach via the Lothian buses and walked along. It was really nice for a city beach, and it’s like being at home! City center not far, and the beach isn’t either! Down there, we ran into two other classmates, and hung around for a bit together.
Some classmates and I at Portobello Beach.
Last weekend was really busy! My sister finally came to visit. I went to meet her at the airport, which is about 40 minutes on the bus, and the gates were really easy to find. I stood there for a bit, and in she walked! I felt like it was only last week I saw her, but I guess that’s how it is with family. Automatically, she wanted food, and so, bought a sandwich and we got on the bus back to my place.
My sister is one to want to know where when why how and all that, so she asked me, throughout the weekend, how long it would take to get somewhere and was not satisfied when I wasn’t definite. Relaxxxxx, you’re in Scotland, where are you rushing to? I kept telling her. After dumping her stuff in my room, and complaining about how much bigger my bed was, we set off to Arthur’s Seat. I hadn’t been yet, because I was saving it for her, so we walked there.
When we got there, there were 2 paths, and we took the one to the right, which is the longer, and harder way up, so it took about 40 minutes/1 hour to get to the top top! Only to find the path back down which probably took 15 minutes. There was a point on the way up where we literally had to rock climb, so that was kind of cool.
If there’s one way to get fit, it’s to climb that way a bunch of times! The view from the top was stunning, you pretty much feel on top of the world, if not, at least, on top of a beautiful city, as long as the wind doesn’t blow you away!
On top of Arthur's Seat with Mairin.
After that, we were both tired and hungry, but walked up the Royal Mile and to see Giles Cathedral. We decided to get food at Walkabout, a restaurant I had been to Tuesday with student discounts. There, I had watched Scotland and Spain play each other for a European championship football match. It was exciting to watch a football match with people who live for it (unlike back home), and the atmosphere was as it is for American football games. Unfortunately, Scotland did not surpass Spain’s offense, and Spain beat them. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the swears and anger of the Scots in the room. It was just a very authentic feel of Scotland, and Europe at that, and I recommend everyone experience it!
Anyway…back to the food. Mairin was ecstatic to have a burger (apparently, she cannot find them in Italy) and I told her to try pear cider (alcoholic), which she also liked. Melissa came to meet us and we got a few more drinks and headed back to hang out at her place, with some more cider and wine, and Tina. I also made Mairin try Irn Bru, the Scottish soda. It’s a must, and she kind of liked it. It’s very sweet, and to me, tastes like bubblegum, but apparently, I’m wrong…
We wiped out pretty early, though it was hard for me as I forgot how bad it is to share a bed with my sister. She stole the blankets, rolled over them and had me at the edge of the bed. Fun times! The next day, we got up and set out for Craigmillar Castle, a castle about 2 miles outside of the city, and accessible by bus, that I had found on google. I was pretty excited, as I read it was pretty nice and not often crowded. Mairin had to get her Starbucks, as much as she could, and we caught the bus. The bus driver was very helpful and told us when to get off and which way to walk.
We found Craigmillar Castle Park and walked through, with Mairin asking me how far, again, while I enjoyed what looked like the typical Scottish countryside in a park. Our parks are nothing like this one was; then, I saw the castle. It was gorgeous, what I always picture when I hear castle, old, and open remains. We walked up to the visitor center to pay, and there was a sign that the person was on lunch and to go in, and pay on the way out. Fair enough, so we headed in. It was magnificent, to imagine people lived here at some point, and the ruins were pretty. We climbed to the ramparts, and the views were just as nice. When we headed back out to pay, the person was still on lunch, so we got in for free!
Craigmillar Castle.
We headed back to the city center, where we walked up to Calton Hill for Mairin’s benefit, and then to Prince’s Street for shoes, and back up to the Royal Mile for the touristy shops and Edinburgh Castle. I also took her to the cafe where it is said that JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter. We took loads of pictures and headed back to my place to relax for an hour. We headed out to meet some of my classmates at a pub, and her friend who is studying abroad here for the semester. It was a great wrap up to the weekend, and by the time I dropped her at the airport, I was exhausted. Doing all of the spots in one weekend is pretty whirlwind and tiring, but I was glad to have seen her.
Mairin and I in front of Edinburgh Castle on a damp day.
Mairin in front of the cafe where JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter.
Since then, I have been caught up in assessments to hand in this week. Our classmate has a video game themed birthday party tomorrow, and a few of us are supposed to attempt to make tetris pieces! We’ll see how that goes.
On top of that, Monday, a few of us, since we have off, are heading up to Aviemore to hopefully watch stags rut and see the Wildlife Park.
My mom is coming on Halloween, and we are going to Milan at the end of the week! I’m excited and I can’t believe how time is flying! My classmate pointed out that we’re halfway through the semester, and I just don’t believe it!
There are some more terms I’ve heard:
There’s an Irish term, “What’s the craic?” Which is kind of like what’s the news, or what’s new.
Also, “keen on” is like…fond of, which I’ve also started saying.
I find myself integrating Scottish slang into my vocabulary, as well as British slang, like cheers, proper-like, and uni (university), as well as can’t be arsed. Doesn’t work for me though when I drop American slang, I just get confused looks! But the pronunciation differences make for some fun banter.
I refuse to say maths though.
I’ll be updating again soon!
cheers! x
I really need to keep up with this more, or I’m going to forget things I did completely!
Anyway, yes, after a nice Friday night of hanging around, and watching someone be completely-lost-balance-drunk, we were on to Saturday. The Highland Games. For those of you that don’t know, the Highland Games are:
are events held throughout the year in Scotland and other countries as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture and heritage, especially that of the Scottish Highlands. Certain aspects of the games are so well known as to have become emblematic of Scotland, such as the bagpipes, the kilt, and the heavy events, especially the caber toss. While centred on competitions in piping and drumming, dancing, and Scottish heavy athletics, the games also include entertainment and exhibits related to other aspects of Scottish and Gaelic culture.
In other words, they are like the Scottish Olympics, as I easily described to my friend, but full of history and culture, and tossing hammers…you know, the usual. Anyway, since I found out about this a long time ago, it has been on my bucket list, so, one thing to cross off! I was excited!
The ride to the games we were going to in Pilotchry (Pit-lock-ry) was about an hour and a half from Edinburgh. The views were gorgeous, I mean, this is Scotland.
We got to the small town, and it started raining. Not just raining, but constant downpour and stopping, and starting, and stopping, and starting, and stopping…oh joy. That kind of put a damper on things (literally, haaaaaa.) Nevertheless though, Melissa and I were determined to check it out as best as we could, which entailed walking through nice, soggy mud. After eating some carb-filled food, we got to watching. The one thing I didn’t know is that there are about 5 events going on at once during the games, so it’s quite a lot to watch.
However, the one I was up for was the caber toss, which, it seemed, we were just in time!
It was pretty crazy to watch. The men do the traditional games in kilts, obviously, which I could get used to. Just so you guys know, this isn’t as easy as it looks! Oh, really, I though lifting a wet log and tossing it to a 12 o’clock alignment perfectly was an easyyyyyy thing. Tch. Ruined my hopes and dreams.
Anyway, they also had some other fun things, like tug of war, the highland dancers, and the pipe band competitions!
My hair, by the end, with the humidity, and on and off rain, was a mess, obviously. We headed back to Edinburgh around 4:45, and left the land o’ fog.
Pretty though! It was a fun experience, though one I’d much rather experience on a sunny or mostly cloudy day. I’ll tell you, I can get used to a guy in a kilt though. Haha.
The next day, I did some school preparation and cooking, then it was Monday!
Monday was the first day of class, and I took the bus to school and arrived to our first class, where Paul stood in the front and basically told us that if we screw up on our jobs, it will ruin our career, us and our families. Kind, soft words for the first day of class, don’t you think? Yea, I did too. Hahaha. Comforting thoughts. Don’t. Screw. Up. Got it.
Our modules overlap with the other two majors for the other two classes we have, so, during our big 4 hour gap, we probably should’ve been reading, but instead, we had classmate bonding time, which, I think, is just as equally productive!
Our other two modules are Humans and Wildlife, as well as Scientific Methods. Scientific Methods was going over Statistics, and I was surprised how many people haven’t taken it or any calculus at all. Or “maths” as they call it here.
Humans and Wildlife, we found out that we will be going on some form of class trip. There’s Tobago for a mere £1600 pounds for two weeks, or Estonia for £500. Oh, how I want to go to Tobago, but that’s so much money. All I keep doing is converting it all back to US $$. And that’s like, JEEEZ. So, I guess I’ll be going to Estonia, which should be pretty, but Tobago sounds so much better wildlife wise.
Also, Kathy, our professor, has studied with Pumas back in the States, so I should talk to her, even though she seems to prefer talking about moss.
Wednesday I was able to sleep in late, as class started at 2. It was interesting, and we talked about how to reduce carbon footprint levels from rising and biodiversity from falling. Fran turned to me and said genocide! Jokingly, of course, but Jason heard her and said, Yes, I suppose that is one way. hahaha. Oh man, fun times in class.
Anyway, the week fell away to a Career fair which I didn’t find too helpful, minus getting my National Insurance Number for working, which I didn’t even know I needed, and running around to get an “appointment” to open a bank account. Ugh, the strange things we encounter here. However, I was able to find one on the same day, and opened it with no problem, so that put my mind at ease!
Friday came to our first “field” trip to the Museum of Scotland! It is free, like the Smithsonians in the States, and a gorgeous museum. The layout of it is interesting, to say the least, and we are going to be doing guided tours there! Funn! Hopefully, I get the kids age group, I’m used to that. We all walked around like little kids, talking about how cool things were. We also visited the section that is considered the Royal Museum of Scotland, which was made to look like a filing cabinet, as if to file away the history of Scotland, but not many people like the look of it. I didn’t either, truthfully, although it is a clever thought.
Walking through, Jenny was talking to me about her dad being a falconer a bit and said I could go home with her one weekend to her town in the Highlands, which would be awesome if I did it before the year’s over. Plus, her dad’s a falconer!
We were able to wrap up and go off on our own, so a few of us went to get food, a 2 meals for £5 deal, I was forced into imitating a Staten Island accent, and home we were. That night, I went to Melissa’s flatmates birthday party off the main street in the city. It was within walking distance, and a nice party. On the way and back, we encountered drunk people, but they weren’t creepy, they were just funny. Also, one thought I was Irish. I do NOT sound Irish at allllll. Come onn.
Saturday was followed by a visit to Calton Hill and the National Monument, and it has absolutely gorgeous views of the city. Also, there were wedding pictures being taken on the Monument, which is known as the disgrace/shame of Edinburgh, as it was never finished, and apparently they were too proud to take money from Glasgow.
Pretty, isn’t it?
After taking a million pictures up there, we headed back for dinner, and then met up to go to Fran’s party at her place. Met up with some classmates and we walked up with maps, looking silly, trying to find it. We found it, and the party began.
It turned out to be quite a lot of fun, and I miss apartment parties from Stony a lot, so this was ideal, since I don’t loveeeee going clubbing anymore. (Sorry). Fran made Sangria, which was good, and we had some doritos, while I was made fun of for drinking Tennants (Scottish brewed beer they think is crap) and I made fun of fellow classmate for drinking Budweiser (our crap beer). Some Irish guys turned up, and one was a real Irish O’Connor. He wrote down how to spell O’Connor in Gaelic and told me how to say it, which I found pretty cool. (But, I’m a dork like that too, you know). He also told me I look really Irish, so I’m confused, but he said that’s how they’re supposed to look, but they screwed around too much so they lost it. …haa?
Also, during this time period, I found out my classmate has worked with great white sharks before! I think this is one of the coolest things ever and that he’s pretty cool for it. I’m pretty sure I sounded pretty lame too with it, considering I was so fascinated by it. I must’ve looked like those crazy fans do to musicians or something, haha.
In the end, we wound up home around 3am, which was funny. It was a great time, and I can’t wait to have more with my classmates, they’re some fun people!
The weekend slipped by and yesterday, I made the final decision (with one other classmate) to officially switch to Wildlife Biology and Conservation. This is what I really wanted, and I will regret it if I don’t do it. Or so I know, and I can’t let the “maths” scare me. Haha, though it is so painful.
On the way home from classes, feeling good about it, I went to ASDA to shop for food, and it’s like WalMart. Mind you, they have the weirdest way of organizing food. Like peppers were between bananas and tomatos? Am I missing something? But ASDA’s great, there’s even cheap wine! And they just have some really odd choices for pasta sauce and items…I can’t remember what they are, but they’re odd! And their boxed wine looks like tissue boxes.
I made my way back and talked to my flatmates some and went to catch up on what I haven’t been able to do for the Analysis module when my computer stopped working, and simultaneously, jammed my toe so that my toenail came off mostly and bled also. Great end to the night, and today started with trying to fix it.
But, some more observations are:
Cheers! x
Back to ENU related topics!
Soo, my friend Fran told me she saw this on the Facebook page, which I was quite embarrassed by and checked it today, and found this:
This blog on the Facebook page! :O
While I was embarrassed, I was also quite flattered by the amount of people that liked it, and the comments! Thanks for giving me something to live up to! (Just kidding!) But really, I had never imagined this, I had only started it for friends back home. On to more important matters…!
So, Friday morning I woke up early in order to find the Craiglockhart Nature Trail, as the bus to Craighouse was not one I had taken yet. I took out my bus map and began walking (thank god I can read maps, really) and walked over to the right, and, I was right! There was a stop (woo! easier than I thought). I got off at Craighouse and walked around the campus. It was so pretty! I envy Melissa, who gets to study there:
Craighouse (this picture does not do much justice).
Top of the hill.
Craiglockhart Nature Trail.
I came to the trail, because of my paranoia and want to figure out the buses on my own, a half hour early, and stepped inside.
Inside, I was startled to find one person, my program director, Professor Paul Ward. I introduced myself and started talking to him a bit about his work with wolves (my personal interest) and he filled me in on grizzly bear work and the problems with wolves in Europe at the moment. (so cool…(dweeb)). The rest of the group eventually came and he informed us that he had not planned this, and started us walking. The inside was pretty and many people were walking their VERY well-behaved dogs off their leashes. A Finnish girl from Dublin started talking to me. More cool friends.
We eventually walked up the hill (well, me, half-sliding) and made it to the top. From the top, Paul informed us about the volcanic remains that Edinburgh was built on and that we could have a look around and leave whenever we liked. (We had been told it would be a long time, it had only been probably about 20 minutes). The view was beautiful:
Top of the world!
After taking in the view, my friends from confident futures! (and my degree) and the walk up, made our way to the fresher’s fair to kill a LOT of time. We walked around the booths, picking up free stuff and talked outside, after signing up for some clubs or “societies” as they call them. They even have American football here, which I find quite funny!
We sat around for quite a while before deciding to walk down the road to Merchiston, where we would be matriculating. On the way, I talked to Fenna, a German girl about where she had been. She’s lived in Paris, France, and been to Lapland and Finland to see the Northern lights, and she’s the same age as I am! What, in all hell, have I done? Nothing as cool as that, that’s for sure.
We decided to go onwards to Starbucks to kill the last 2 1/2 hours we had. I told you, it was a lot of time! We talked about many things, including cultural differences, about how some didn’t know what small talk is until they left their countries (I mean, we don’t do much of that either in NYC), and how to fend off bears if we were attacked. Yes, fighting off bears. Altogether, we came to the conclusion that we could half run up a hill, fall down and play dead while simultaneously throwing rocks at the bear. Yes, we are Master’s students. I love that this was one of our first conversations as friends. Hahaha.
Eventually, time passed that we headed on to matriculation. There, I found the campus to be kind of…um…engineering-esque? It is the engineering campus and reminded me EXACTLY of Stony Brook U’s engineering buildings, including the inside. We brought papers to someone and were given slips of paper which directed us to what section we had to go to and from the next section, we got another paper, and so on and so forth. Mine went from Finances to Immigration to Matriculation to picking up ID to going through a computer orientation to done!
From there, I headed back and collapsed until the next morning.
The next morning, I headed to Sighthill to get my class timetable. My class timetable consists of class M-W, with 3 modules, which is slightly different from our home system, and Friday field trips. We were also given a risk assessment for our field trips, which seemed quite silly. Paul also told us it was our job to be able to successfully convey what we do to the public so that they understand. He told us a brief story in which he did studies at Yellowstone (yes, so cool!) with grizzly bears, deciding whether or not to keep them on the endangered list. He concluded that they should be taken off in order to put the money towards other species that needed it more, but then they were put back on and he was referred to as a ‘liberal eco-nazi’. “People are stupid.” I mean, I could very much agree.
He also told us that my Master’s (Conservation and Management of Protected Areas) would be the bosses, and Wildlife Bio & Conservation would be the people below doing much of the work. But that it was possible for us to switch, so then, I am not sure where I shall remain!
We ended relatively early, and I made my way back, and was able to talk to my mom on Skype (with my cat). Later, some friends came over and we had a fun time meeting many new people and just talking. I also found out that my French accent is absolutely shot after 5 years of not using it, and had to be corrected like 3 times. But I did learn some fun French phrases! Later, I helped a friend clean while some kid asked him, “Why is she cleaning? Isn’t this your flat?” Well…yes, I guess some things never change.
The next morning was the Highland Games, which I’ll post next.
Cheers! x
Even so far away from home, there’s still a reminder.
It’s hard to believe 9/11 was ten years ago. Luckily, due to the time difference, I was able to watch, through BBC live, the memorial back home in NYC. I found myself crying as they displayed old videos and people talking. How can one ever forget?
Ten years ago, I was just beginning 8th grade, my last year in elementary school. It was, as cliche as it may be, like any other day. We headed off to computer class and such, and went back when they announced that when our names were called, we were to gather our things and head down to the office. Our parents would be picking us up. For what? We could not imagine. My classmates and I began talking to each other, guessing at what it could possibly be, even joking. If we had known, we would not have been joking at all. It was scary, in a way, as everyone disappeared one by one, as they were called, and the teachers kept quiet about any of the details.
I remember walking down to the principal’s office, where my mom was waiting, and I went from a half-smile to a completely wide-eyed, blank face. All of the parents were crying and were in tears. My heart skipped – what had happened that could cause such an upset? I started getting scared.
My mom would not tell me until we were outside (probably to avoid in front of other people), and as my siblings and I walked out, I asked, “Mom, what happened?”
She replied, “They’re gone.”
I said, confused, “What’s gone?”
“The towers, the twin towers are gone.”
I remember gasping, utter disbelief. How could they possibly be gone? My mom and I had just been there on Sunday. How could they just have fallen out of the sky? What, exactly had happened?
Then, I stopped again. Dad. He went there sometimes for the Port Authority.
“Is Neal okay?” I spat out.
“Yes, yes, he’s okay.” my mom replied, still upset. Thank god.
“What about Ally’s dad?” A fellow classmate’s father worked there for the Port Authority all the time.
“We don’t know yet. Halina still hasn’t heard from him.” My heart sank and I began praying fervently for my friend’s father, hoping he was okay.
We made it home, back to my old house up on the hill with the clear view of the city. As I walked up the steps, I stopped about a 1/4 way up, as the view was fine from there. All there was was smoke. Loads and loads of smoke. They were truly gone. My block, being a walk from the ferry, had people walking down it looking confused and distraught, covered in white soot. It was a surreal sight.
We turned on the news, while my mom kept calling around. I found out what happened, and couldn’t believe it. I don’t think anyone could. There came a point where my mom came in and turned off the TV to make us stop watching it. The constant replay of the attacks in the place I had just been two days ago. People jumping, running.
We had two boys from a local high school stay over that night, as we helped out a former neighbor who was coordinating efforts at Curtis High School for people who had run and been shoved on the ferry. They were sent to Curtis High School where could stay there overnight, until they could get back home. The boys themselves had been in nearby high schools and covered in soot. Their parents were relieved they were okay, with no communication and no way to get uptown.
We eventually got a relieving call that my friend’s father was okay, and on his way home via a tugboat. They are usually late to everything, and this was no different. Her father ran a bit late to work, and was heading inside as the towers were hit, and so was able to get back out. A fellow classmate’s uncle was not so lucky, and he was killed.
My parents both witnessed it, as well as my grandma. My mom and grandma were in our front yard talking to our neighbor when they saw it all happen and couldn’t believe it. My mom ran inside and grabbed her camera. We have pictures, and they capture a moment so unbelievable.
My father was at work out at Newark (or JFK, I can’t remember quite well) when someone ran in and said, “The twin towers, a plane just flew into them!” No one could believe him and they all ran outside, and my dad took his binoculars and looked and saw the tail sticking out, and watched the second plane fly into the tower. “Holy shit.” he told me later, was all that he could say.
I am very glad my father is okay, as he was actually supposed to be at a meeting in the towers up on the top floors. He cancelled on that meeting, as he had already had a previous one scheduled. The other engineers cancelled on it as well, by some weird chance. However, the woman who was to head the meeting was killed instantly, as my father would have been if he was there for the meeting.
He later went to help clean up the site, and brought back pictures of the bent metal that seemed so weak. Nothing I ever believed such great towers to be.
It’s definitely one day no one will ever forget. I won’t. I won’t forget the images, and seeing the smoke, and the soot-covered people, including one woman who left our house without telling us (probably due to shock), so distraught and lost.
My teacher told us, back in school, “This will be the only [8th grade] graduating class that has experienced something that has changed everything.”
9.11.01. <3
I had said I would edit the post with pictures of some of the things I have received, but I’ll just make a new post with the pictures. Here they are:
Going away card thanks to Olga!
Marc's drawing he gave me, and some leftover photos, etc.
Kim's mini-book! <3
Personalized Moleskine from Leigh-Ann! ;D <3
Prior to matriculation, I explored the city a bit on my own and took two million pictures while getting to know my way around.
I started off looking like this:
Pretty straight hair!
But, you know, that’s washed out eventually, and I was surprised with how SHORT he ‘trimmed’ my hair!:
Just kidding, my hair's not that straight, it's this crazy curly! You thought you knew me too! :O
It was kind of a weird day, it went from being like the last picture to being a spitty, windy, light rain which is terrible because your umbrella doesn’t work and it’s an annoying spray.
On Sunday, I forgot to mention, I was also able to watch the fireworks they have over Edinburgh Castle. They are put in tune to music, and are quite beautiful! I found them much better than the July 4th one. I also met some of Melissa’s friends she met at her building meeting, and some were postgrads! YESS.
One I met was Mike, and he’s outside of Leeds & here for environmental engineering (I THINK), and went to Oxford for physics, which he told me is not that brilliant. But I was like, “OH COOL!” When he told me, and Melissa leaned over and said, “I told him tell any American that and they’ll make a big deal of it.” …yeaaaaa.
Fireworks over Edinburgh Castle set to music.
After exploring the city center, the day before I had matriculation, I finally met all of my flatmates.
Of the five of us, we’re from all different places. Ashley is from Switzerland, Becca is from London (I’m pretty sure), Vicki is from Glasgow, and Lina is from Shanghai. That night, looking not so hot, (hey, I had just washed my hair out!) my flatmates, being mostly first years, were planning on going out with some pregaming in the kitchen.
I wound up staying in the kitchen till around 1AM, when intending to go to bed at 11PM, as I had to be up around 7:30 the next morning for matriculation. The friends Becca had made came up, and so did their friends. Eventually, there were at least 12 people there, including me. Another girl from Glasgow, two boys from Edinburgh, two boys from Northern Ireland, one from England, and another from Canada. (Yay, North America!)
Several drinking games were attempted and failed because there were too many people, and too many separate bits of talking going on. I also discovered with my Canadian friend, Desmond, that they don’t really know beer pong or flip cup here. Guess who’s teaching themmmmmm? Haha. Anywho, talking to everyone was fun and exciting, just because they were from so many different places. The different nationalities and accents in the same room was absolutely beautiful! I couldn’t help smiling just from experiencing it.
Also, I always gain extra cool points for being from NYC. There was actually one point in the night that my flatmate, Vicki, gave me a hug because it was so cool and I came here all alone…:( Justttt kidding.
Also, as I previously mentioned, one of the Irish boys was telling me of a stupid encounter he had had with another American, and I recognized that I’m going to get a lot of shit for being from America. He concurred. However, it’s all fun and games, as it seems everyone runs by the generalizations of the different countries.
The next morning, I woke up early enough to give myself time to get the bus to my campus, as I hadn’t ventured there yet. The ride was a bit longer than I thought, but eventually I arrived at Sighthill. The area didn’t look as amazing as the others, but it was okay. The building actually reminded me, even though it is obviously newer (just opened last January) of Stony Brook’s Chemistry and Life Sciences Buildings thrown together with a much newer appearance. The layout of it, that is.
I wound up standing outside of the lecture hall, as I was there early (of course, normal for me). I wound up talking to a girl who turned out to be in my Master’s program! Woot! Finally met someone in it! Score. Her name is Francesca, and she is from a town near Brighton in England.
We sat together through the introduction lecture where I found out this long day was NOT the actual matriculation day. Oi…We also had a technical lecture and fire and hazard lecture, which I have never experienced before, but really gave me a hard time keeping my eyes open. After, we went to a separate room grouped by our Master’s programs. My room was also combined with EcoTourism and Wildlife Biology. After some more of a welcome, I found out we have no exams! I was absolutely baffled by this. Huhhhhh? Repeat that again, please. I had never heard of such a thing. Anyway, I had little time to be confused as we were sent on a group self-tour of the building. My group was not very enthused about actually walking up and down the stairs again or writing papers down, so we dallied a bit and then turned around and went back.
At this time, we received our matriculation paper and our Program Director signed it and we were sent onwards to the next bit. It was lunchtime, and consisted of free “crisps” chips, and sandwiches, water and fruit. Oh, by the way, the sandwich choices (premade) are kind of odd choices. It is like tomato and cheese, egg salad, tuna salad, ham and egg, or cheese and colslaw? Yea, that’s what I said when I first saw that.
Anyway, we sat in some chairs and met more people: Jenny, Ally, Fenna, Bruno, and Barbaira. England, Aberdeen, Germany, Portugal, Portugal. Cool!
What we eventually found ourselves involved in was a goal setting workshop, which was well-intentioned but a bit long, and not something I think many Master’s students really were interested in as shown by our “goals” where the guys wrote “run naked through the Royal Mile” and “No hangovers”. Clearly, age does not change priority. But, it was a great way to bond with fellow classmates.
After that, we were done, and I set off home and knocked out fairly early after hanging out with my flatmates for a bit for dinner, since the next day was my nature walk with my fellow classmates!
Cheers! x
Obviously, the slang over here in the UK is different, as well as the terms they’ve used.
Here are some things I’ve been adjusting to (US terms/slang first followed by UK terms/slang):
College = Uni/University
Freshman/freshman = Fresher/freshers, first years
Sophomore = Second year
Junior = Third year
Senior = 4th year
Major = Degree
Take out = take away
Phone/cell = mobile
Bathroom = loo
television = telly
friend = mate
hey, or yo = oi
apartment/housing = flat
suitemates/apartment mates = flatmates
thanks, have a nice day, etc = cheers
tests = exams
shortly, a few seconds = ticks
I’ll add to the list in later posts.
I still don’t quite understand what a “stone” is, and am terrible at converting Farenheit to Celsius, and miles to km, or inches to cm.
Additionally, they do not tip bartenders here, so the bartenders were very confused when Melissa and I tipped them.
“OH, is this for me?!”
And then, I was confused. Oh well!
Then, there is being the American as well.
We are:
-overweight
-ignorant
-rude
BUT, also,
-open-minded!
AND, other foreign students said they can understand Canadians and myself better because we speak in a clearer, more pronounced accent (aka, I don’t think we really have one).
An Irish guy I met last night was talking about how a lot of Americans don’t really know the geography of the UK and Ireland.
I said, “I’m going to get a lot of this, aren’t I?”
He replied, “Yes, but every stereotype of Ireland and the Irish is true.”
That got a chuckle out of me.
Also, everyone gasps when they hear I live in the NYC area, and thinks it’s really cool and that I’m really brave for coming here all alone! (Woe is me! Just kidding!)
And, apparently I say the word “hot” funny.
Whatever, they say “banana” funny! I know, I’m quite mature.
Cheers!
I am 22, from NYC, and have given up anything and everything I know to head blindly into Edinburgh, Scotland (a land of beauty and heritage) for graduate school (MSc in Wildlife Biology and Conservation).
I plan to get by on my sarcasm, wit, charming appeal...and errrr...well, luck.
This is my adventure.
Let the games begin.
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