The [American] football experience.

Yay for football shirts!

The SuperBowl is a big thing back home (duhhhh). In fact, American football is a big thing in general; it’s like Europe’s rugby or actual football obsession. We are obsessed with our football, and basketball at that.

So, the SuperBowl came around about a week ago, and I wanted to watch it – not that I’ve been following football this year because the time difference means the games start really late here and I usually have class really early. Anyhow, I decided I was going to watch it, whether or not we had class. Due to luck, really, our Professor was still sick and cancelled Monday class, so I really was going to watch it and not worry about it.

I wanted to watch it with friends, and I don’t really have American friends – the one American I was friendly with went back home in December, but some of my European/UK friends were keen. First, we were going to go to Herriot-Watt’s student union to watch it, but then we decided we’d just watch it on Ducky’s TV in his student halls as he had a TV and we wouldn’t have to trek far out for it.

First, Fenna and Fran and I had some dinner and [potato] chips (not, fries) and then headed over. We had some drinks (including someone’s non-alcoholic beer that tasted really gross), and tuned into BBC to watch it.
I had worn the only football shirt I have, which is an old homecoming one, but my friends all appreciated the effort: “Aw, that’s cool you are wearing a football shirt.” “Look at you, wearing your football shirt.” …etc.

So, they opened with some songs and the questions began. Never have I realized how it is watching something with people who never watch it, more or less how much I really knew about football than I did watching this game. It started with the singers…
Who is that? Miranda Lambert
Who is she? A country singer.
Who is that? Kelly Clarkson.
What is this? Our national anthem.
Why aren’t you standing? ….

Then the game began. Of course, I was watching it intently while being peppered with questions.
Why are they stopping already?
What’s the purpose of a down?
There are four of them?
This is boring. You guys find this exciting? yes.

And I learned that:
You may be excited, but they won’t understand why.
Sometimes, growing up on something makes all the difference.
Our refs call penalties dramatically. (Why did it throw up the flag like that? What are those hand moves, is he dancing?)
I know way more about calls than I remember.
There are no commercials in the UK. Therefore, one of the better parts was lost on them.
In the end, they may have enjoyed it, but still don’t quite understand why we love it so much.

It’s okay. I still had fun watching it, and didn’t mind explaining it. Plus, NY won. And I’m always proud of NY.

Burns night.

I interrupt my catch-up on last semester to bring you a brief post on Burns night.

Three-ish weeks ago, some of my classmates and I celebrated Burns night.

Burns night is typically on January 25, celebrating the famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns.

However, because we’re cool, we celebrated the day after.
The dinner usually consists of haggis (“kind of savoury pudding containing sheep‘s ‘pluck’ (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally encased in the animal’s stomach and simmered for approximately three hours. Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach.” (thanks, Wiki), whiskey and a reading of his poem, Ode to a Haggis.

During this night, we also played some rockband while everything was cooking, and it very much brought me back to sophomore year, and the obsession back then in Roth. (Yes, I sang Maps again)

Some pretty Rockband faces.

Rockband!

Notice how it’s kind of the same, except then it was always with dudes:

Back in Spring ’08, some rockband in good old Whitman.

More Spring ’08 Rockband in Whitman; this is one of my all time favs.

d’aw.

Then we got down to dinner, including haggis and whisky, which is a must for a true Scottish experience, and I was surprised to find that I liked it! We also had vegetarian haggis as well, which is also delicious!

Haggis, etc. with Evelyn’s awesome whisky sauce!

all the food.

Needless to say, even after we all ate and had seconds, there was loads left and we were stuffed.
Mmm.
Then we enjoyed some of the leftover haggis a few days later while watching some movies.

Mom in Scotland.

I really never updated about a lot of things last trimester, and one of them was when my mom came to visit.

She came on Halloween, so I did not go out the night before, and had every intention of sleeping early, but my brain would not let me, so I wound up falling asleep probably around 2, when I had to get up at 530amish. I woke up at this obnoxious time, and headed out to the bus in my sweatpants and jacket with my hood on, and waited for the bus, while it started to sleet on me. Lovely.

I got to the airport rather early, around 7 or so, right around when my mom’s plane had landed, but they were in the baggage area, so I groggily went to get something the chew on, but as I was waiting in line, my mom came through. I saw her looking around the airport and went over. We then grabbed some tea at Costa, and food, and then got on the bus back to my flat. The bus wound up in the morning rush hour, so it took a lot longer than I was used to. When we got back, my mom took a nap, and so did I on the couch in the kitchen. I had to wake myself up and head into class. I stayed until the end of my first class (what a good example!) and then left to meet my mom. We met back by my flat and then headed out to Holyrood Abbey and Palace, which I hadn’t been to yet.

The Abbey was under restoration (go figure, everytime I go somewhere, SOMETHING is under restoration). Nonetheless, it was gorgeous and the history amazing.

Holyrood Abbey.

more of the Abbey.

Holyrood Palace

One of the most interesting things was learning more about Mary Queen of Scots. Afterwards, my mom and I had some tea and scones, the most British I’ve been in a while. The other nifty thing about Holyrood is the ticket is good for you to use again a year from the date you go!

Afterwards, we wandered up the Royal Mile and down to find food and back for the night.

The moon was pretty cool over the castle, but it's hard to see.

The next morning, again, I went to my first class only. Hey! Everything is closed by 5 here, if I stayed in class, I wouldn’t be able to do anything with my mom! So, I told her to head to the museum and when I was out, she was still there and had discovered the roof view, which, I will admit, I had not yet found. It offers a stunning view of the city, and the museum is great as well and free!

View from the roof of the National Museum of Scotland.

More views of the city.

Mom on her phone.

Afterwards, we grabbed food, which was really good, and my mom tried cider, which she did like, and we headed up to the Royal Mile to visit the Castle. It was a good time for it, as no one was around – it was a school day after all.

Mom & I in front of Edinburgh Castle.

Inside, we took the free tour, which I recommend as there’s just so much to see, and the history the tour guides give you and information is very useful. In fact, we also found out that they, at one point, during the American revolution, held some Americans captive in their prisons. Crazy!

Above the city.

Parts of the castle.

The military hall.

In this hall, they have loads of books filled with the name of anyone and everyone that has died in any form of service. It’s quite striking to go through them.

From the chapel in the Castle.

Heading down the Royal Mile from the Castle.

Afterwards, we had some dinner and perused some shops and headed back. All during this time, my mom made fun of my pathetic towels and how I did not know how to turn my heat on. I know how to turn the heat on now – but, come on, who thinks of installing a touch pad you have to touch to start the heat?!

The last day, we set out for Craigmillar Castle, which I’ve quite come to love.

Mom at Craigmillar.

Mom & I at Craigmillar.

Mom on the ramparts.

Myself on the ramparts.

It’s such an awesome castle, and the ruins are in great condition.

After that, we headed over to the Royal Mile again so my mom could see St. Giles Cathedral, which is amazing inside, as all old cathedrals are.

St. Giles Cathedral

While making our way down to visit Arthur’s Seat/Holyrood Park, my mom stopped in all the many thrift shops along the way. I have to hand it to them here, they’re pretty good and quite well stocked. We also stopped at this whiskey store on the bottom of the Royal Mile that has their own brewed Scottish whiskey, where she got some for my dad, and I tried some and almost died. It’s so strong. I wound up bringing some home for friends to try as my Christmas gift to them. I think some of them died. It’s good, and not watered down like our name brands.

We eventually reached Arthur’s seat as the sun was going down, so we didn’t go all the way up, just to the chapel remains.

Arthur's Seat

Mom at the chapel.

Edinburgh behind us.

Mom & Arthur's Seat behind her.

Mom & I at Holyrood Park.

We then headed back along Prince’s Street for some food and some stores one last time.

This guy was along the way, with his dog holding his hat for change.

Man & his hat-holding dog.

Ah, one thing you should know and will pick at me for is I never know how just how long it takes to get somewhere, as my mom and Mairin found out. I’m just never paying attention to it and not in a rush, as you will see if you ever visit!

Anyway, once back, we packed, and the next morning, we were in a cab for 530 and off to the airport, and taking off to Milan to visit Mairin & my first time in Italy!

Off to Milan!

Christmas.

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

Aviemore.

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.

Tetris.

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!

Halfway?

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

Highland Games & more.

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:

• Americans are cool most of the time. But they’re also made fun of a lot (I’m always told to say things, and get laughed at because I say them “funny”. Well, they say many funny things, like maths…)
• They say rubbish, instead of crap, which I prefer.
• Their debit cards have a chip on them, and apparently, America is the only place that hasn’t done this. Way to screw me over in stores, homeee. Thanks.
• Budweiser is goooood here. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but it’s so true. It is better here, and I like their crap beer.
• A lot of my classmates are more up to date with American politics than I am. Forrrr shamee.
• Bike friendly and running city. & the bikers are polite! They all use hand signals to indicate where they’re turning.
• Also, smoke friendly. While big on healthy exercise, bad on healthy habits. Smokers galoreee. and drinking.
• The fashion here is big on tights under shorts. No. and WEIRD patterns galore. Yes, mixed together. Just no. I don’t know how they look in the mirror and go, “Yes, this odd pattern with stripes shall look GREAT together!” No.
• Small is small here. Not medium, not large. Small. Thanks, America, I’m used to paying for my oversized drinks.
• Nalgenes are weird. they are not big here, and were confused as to what mine was.
• The buses here are clean, have an area to put your bags so you don’t have to hold onto them, and the paper! Dayumm.
• People walk into you here. No personal space, no polite or deliberate avoiding, they just SLAM into you. So be prepared, I’m prepared. I’m prepared to make this a contest of seeing who I can SLAM harder, becauseeee apparently, that is the way to walk past people.

Cheers! x

Matriculating.

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

9/11.

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