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