Last of Bonnie Scotland

See! I am getting better! It has hardly even been a week. Albeit I didn't hardly have a week left. Exams are over, for better or for worse. Hours ago I wrote an essay that would have made the Wyoming and Colorado range nerds proud, although I am not entirely certain it is what they expected to hear over here, and as my soils professor informed me when I asked if American terminology and spelling was ok "it kind of defeats the idea of anonymous grading, but it is acceptable."

Yes, you heard me anonymous grading.... meaning my name has gone on not a single thing since I have been here. Although the majority of my class, let alone the teachers in the environmental science department have figured out that I am the only student in that year's courses with a student number beginning in 17... the rest are 14 and 15... I know this because grades get posted and before I even talk to anyone I hear "hey I saw you got X grade on that report" Politics stays a bit more anonymous since there are other international students in that course.

Note: The above was written on Wednesday, and then I got sidetracked.... the rest has been completed today.

I have also figured out what the teachers do during exam grading, which although funny, is rather disheartening. I have witnessed half the environmental science department professors, come running out of their office, exam in hand, to share really dumb things we wrote with other proffessors.

Both of the sports clubs I have been a part of since coming here had their last hoorah/Christmas party for the semester this last weekend. Lots of fun on all accounts, good food, good drink.... and then good byes. Two nights of mass group goodbyes were a little rough. And then running into all those people the rest the week made it worse because then you ended up saying like 5 goodbyes to some people, when the first one was hard enough. Also, the Christmas parties were just the start of a week long "hope to see you again" mentality. Sunday we were out with a friend from Germany, and then went to her house for final goodbyes and crepes on Tuesday. Wednesday was the last good byes for all of my environmental science classmates.

Tuesday was probably the best adventure I have been on in a while. Rather than studying, Wyoming, Minnesota, and I went to Campbell Castle which is outside of Dollar. Contrary to normal Wyoming and I adventures we actually knew exactly what busses we were supposed to get on. So, we get on the bus from the University to Tillicoultry, to find out the connecting bus only comes once every 3 hours or so.... and it would not be there for another hour and a half. En route to visitor information to find out if there was another way there, we see a sign that says Dollar is 3 miles away... walking is technically possible. So, when visitor information was singularly unhelpful as usual, we decide we are going to walk. Catch is, this is Scotland it is absolutly pouring rain. So, we have our 3 mile walk to Dollar, and then the castle is a half hours walk from Dollar.. There are 3 ways to get to the castle, follow the road like a car would, walk along a ridge, or straight up the glen (canyon) .... of course we choose straight up the canyon. :) Anyways, we get to the castle at which point we see construction parked infront of the entrance, but we have come so far we decided we would push past till someone told us to stop. The man working at the castle that day was both pleased and shocked. Because he "didn't expect anyone to come today, let alone to walk from Dollar, let alone walk up the glen.... let alone walk from TILLICOULTRY???" He was impressed enough that since the castle is kind of poorly lit on cloudy rainy days, he gave us the miner style head lamps to walk around the castle with, it was great. However, by the time we got back to Dollar to catch the bus back to Stirling, I think we would have been dryer had we just jumped in the river.... was kind of fitting sort of adventure for Wyoming and my last week in Scotland.

Thursday I went to Roslyn Chapel with Wyoming, followed by a cocktail party with a random assortment of mountaineers, sen no kai, and class mates. And when I say cocktail party I mean the gal hosting it had a collection of spirits that would rival many bars, and ability to make such an extensive list of cocktails it would definately rival most pubs. Yesterday was the last night for a bunch of us Americans. Which consisted of dinner and a movie followed by drinks and secret sharing at Kansas's house.

Today is my last full day in Scotland, I am still somewhat in denial that I am leaving. As is Minnesotta, who has described her plans for today as "stalking you 2 (Wyoming and I) until you have to leave." Which would probably terrify most normal people, but since Wyoming and I cant exactly be classed as normal at this point it seems to work for us.

Packing is going poorly as usual. Since I am in denial its really hard to pack, because I'm not going anywhere, and if I'm not going anywhere then I dont have to pack... right? That and trying to fit all the stuff I have aquired back into 2 suitcases is not working so particularly well, especially with weight restrictions... boo.. Alaska, Wyoming, and I start our trek home by leaving for the Edinburgh airport tonight at 7:45. And providing the weather in the states clears up long enough Wyoming and I should be home by 9pm Mountain time, Sunday!!! And yes I am still trying to send postcards, but that might be what keeps me occupied in the airport overnight.

Anyways, this is the last posting that will be done from Scotland. I will get back on and put up more pictures sometime after I get home. See you all soon!!

Head in the Skye

Ok I officially suck at this. I seem to be getting worse at keeping caught up rather than better as I keep promising. But I believe I have a lot more interesting things to talk about than hospitals this time.

Picture of the fencing girls all dressed up. Me, Red, Wyoming, Blondie, Somebody's Girlfriend, and New York



The other night there was a plan for a nice quiet evening, involving me, Wyoming, and some Ben and Jerry's.... which resulted in fencers at mine until nearly 4am.... so much for plans... but we did get the B&J's and... an amazingly decent picture



Osprey showing us how much he loves us after he found out we weren't going to be back next semester



Yes, I know, I am in a skirt in TWO pictures here... this is the Christmas Ceilidh (Scottish dancing/party thing for those who don't remember) This is all the Sen No Kai group that ended up at it.



To give you some idea how intense Ceilidhs get when people know what they are doing.... just picture if hands slipped here.....



Sen No Kai in Cambusbarron, way more intense than the Uni club, but way fun... here is proof that I get my butt kicked in Cambusbarron, as well as proof that I have to still work on falling so I am less likely to break my arm.



This is at the start of the adventure to Skye. This is a river just outside of Dunkeld.



This is Wyoming attempting to skip stones in Loch Ness ... what can I say, we were trying to provoke an appearance out of Nessie



Kilt Rock... The rock in the distance there supposedly looks like a kilt... we are right by the ocean here, there are dinosaur tracks in the vicinity and lots of other cool things.

These are especially for Brandon, lots of the random stone shapes at Fairy Glen, the spiral in the middle is legit, everything else in view is not, but some are entertaining.

The "Fairy Castle" at Fairy Glen.... this place was beautiful, and slightly eerie, and definitely reverent.

Wyoming and I at the Haakan (named after a Norweigan King), and yes we some how ended up matching that day.

Hamish the Heilan' Coo (Highland cow obviously). Very touristy stop on the way back from Skye, however it has been one of my only photo opportunities for the local non baa-ing livestock

Ok as I said before I am horrible at this game, and if you just saw how long it took me to get those pictures up there correctly you would realize I am no better at that game either. Anyways where on earth shall I begin??? The beginning would probably be appropriate but I am not entirely certain I can remember that far back. So anyways, since I last wrote.... the 22nd... yeesh, you guys really should have yelled at me to write somewhere in there... because when I wait this long I have to clarify the events with dates which really just makes my job harder.

Anyways from the 22nd to the 26th was filled mostly with playing catch up on things that were supposed to happen the week before, practicals, practical reports, essays, etc. The 27th of course was Thanksgiving, here it was Thursday. I had my last class on the 24th, so it was like I was on vacation, but yet I was sitting in a computer lab with a project group all afternoon on Thursday. I did get a Thanksgiving dinner, we went to Texas's house for a "Scottish Texan Thanksgiving" as he called it, Haggis and beer was involved.... I was the bringer of the salad and salad dressing since I am one of the fortunate few to be in possession of real ranch dressing.

Friday the 28th there was great intentions to have a nice quiet early evening. Wyoming and I were going to celebrate having made meager progress on our project reports via a movie and some ice cream. Fencers, however, wanted us to come out, and when they found out we wouldn't, and where we were, they came to us. This was a lot of fun, but it resulted in fencers being at mine until 3:30 in the morning.

Saturday and Sunday there was the Sen No Kai grading... I got my yellow belt! Yay!!! Which was of course followed up Sunday by the pub, and then Joe's house for cake and other mischief, including playing in his yard, in our gis and sweatshirts, Nicky and I still look like Joe and Chris tossed us in the mud. Monday and Tuesday were mostly more project report writing, followed up by karate and pubs in the evening. Tuesday wouldn't normally be a Sen No Kai day, but I got invited to join Chris in Cambusbarron, which is a town not too far from here, unless you get lost.... which I did. As I have since found out Cambusbarron should be a 25 minute leisurely stroll from the bus stop in town. That day it took me a 1 hour power walk... I have NO idea how I got that lost. Anyways, that club has a much different outlook, and much different style than the Uni club, but it was tons of fun. And yes for those of you keeping track that was 5 days of Karate since Thursday, and something nearing 20 hours... and NO I couldn't hardly move on Wednesday.

Wednesday the 3rd was the Extreme Sports Christmas Ceilidh... which although Sen No Kai is not an extreme sport, half of the club is in Mountaineering which is considered to be one, so we were all invited, and several of my classmates invited me as well. This is I believe a record 4th time in a skirt for me this semester. This ceilidh was probably the most fun one I have been to, first of all due to the boy-girl ratio being much more reasonable, and second of all the majority of the people there had some idea what was going on.

Friday, Wyoming and I had an early start to the morning. We were headed off to join a tour group to see the Isle of Skye as well as many other very classic Scottish landmarks we hadn't made it to yet. The catch was that this tour left at 8 Friday morning... from Edinburgh.... which meant we had to be on the 6:30 am train to Edinburgh.... which meant we had to walk to the train station at 5:30 since buses don't start running from the Uni to town until much later. The tour was amazing, and well worth our money. It got off to a rough start when the gentleman behind Wyoming and I puked within 15 minutes of the bus taking off, however he was courteous enough to keep everything to himself, and so all was forgiven. That is what the hostel/tour company gets I suppose for hosting pub crawls the night before the tours. For 59 pounds, we got to see Culloden Battlefield, Inverness, Loch Ness, Isle of Skye, Portree, nearly saw Ben Nevis, saw Ft. William, Fairy Glen, and many other well known places, as well as others that were really cool that we never would have even heard of let alone gone to on our own. That seems like a lot, but another MacBackpackers pub crawl goer chose to sleep in rather than join the gentleman behind us and puke on the bus.... so he bought a train ticket and joined us in Skye... Just getting to Skye and back under those circumstances would have been more money than Wyoming and I spent on the tour, food, and lodging for the weekend. Not to mention all of the other locations that were included, as well as other perks, such as hot chocolate, and the local knowledge, history, mythology and Scottish music we got to hear along the way.

Since returning from Skye, I have had two exams, the first of which being nicer then I thought it would be after only 1 day of studying, the second of which being much more horrid than I thought it would be. My problem with the world is my brain has been trained to remember at best one paragraph on a subject, and here you have to write whole essays. Much more intimidating than you think it might be. However, the worst freak out I have had this week has not been over exams as it has been for many, it was when I was studying on Monday, and looked at a calendar, and realized 2 weeks from then I would be at home. Not entirely sure I am ready for that yet. Tonight was one of the last hurrah celebrations for several of the international students and Americans that I have befriended over here. Once again, not sure I am ready for things to come to an end.

For those of you wondering what the next few weeks look like, here is a Reader's Digest version. Tomorrow - Fencing Do

Saturday - Sen No Kai Do

Wednesday - Last exam

Hopefully throw in some post card writing, souvenir shopping and packing in there somewhere. Still need to see things like Loch Lomond and Campbell Castle, and definitely have to figure out the packing situation.... You have nooooo idea how much stuff I have acquired, ok maybe not that much but when your world has to fit in 2 suitcases.... its definitely a lot.

Saturday afternoon Wyoming, and my flatmate Alaska are going to head to Edinburgh to spend the night in the airport. We fly out by 9am on the 21st, get back to Denver 9pmish Wyoming time.

Once again any souvenir requests speak now or forever hold your peace. If you want to make plans for when I am back you probably have to wait till after the New Year, as I believe family has me commandeered until then. Any other general questions comments requests or just plain hello's I would LOVE to hear from you!!!! Miss you guys, and as shocking as it may seem, see you soon!!!

I am still alive!

Ok once again, I ignored this thing for probably longer than I should have. This time for slightly different reasons than last time, but I ignored it none the less. The camping trip for Guy Fawkes night was fun, although I did not actually end up getting to camp, as the mountaineering club was more out of sleeping bags than they thought. But still it was a lovely trip up a mountain in the dark, fireworks and fun, then sliding back down a mountain in the dark.

The following Thursday (6th) was the Fencing Fancy Dress party. Meaning we got dressed up (as close to formal as we could), went and saw the new Bond movie :), and then ended the night by going to a pub (of course) and then to one the fencer's flats. Yes I was in a skirt, yes, there are pictures.... somewhere :)

Next point of interest would be Saturday, when International Society went to St. Andrews. It was absolutely freezing that day. The bus we were on had something malfunctioning with the defroster, and Wyoming and I were sitting close enough to the front that I knew the whole trip that the man could hardly see out the windshield.... not a good feeling. Anyways, we got to see the St. Andrews Castle, the Cathedral ruins, and lots of the college buildings, as well as the ocean and the harbor, it was really cold, but fun. We ended the day at the William Wallace pub with Maria and another of her friends from Germany, as well as a few other international students.

Nothing else of any real note happened until Thursday. I of course had classes and clubs and pubs in there, but at this point all of that is fairly routine at this point hehehe. Anyways Thursday was the international society whisky tasting. They gave us samples of 5 different Scottish Whiskys and told us information about the distilleries and the whiskys themselves. This may give me ideas on what to get my faja for a souvenir.

Thursday night started the reason that I haven't written in so long. That reason being food poisoning/they really don't know/mystery death stomach thing. This ended up being an absolutely HORRID week. This is the kind of illness that you hope that if you ever get it again that it just kills you and gets it over with. Was hardly eating or drinking anything for 5 days, and what I was getting down wasn't staying in my system long. Before everything was over with I had been to the ER, the campus clinic 3 times, the hospital proper for 48 hours, and the campus medical clinic again. This marks the first time I have ever been to a hospital because I was sick, as well as the first time I have been admitted to a hospital as far as I am aware. But anyways I have to say that the National Health System is fairly well amazing. Because after all of the stuff I mentioned above... 24 hrs on an IV, 4 rounds of blood work, (total of 8 holes in my arms between blood work, IV, and failed blood work attempts) and tests on nearly everything they can run tests on, I was out a whole 10 pounds for 2 prescriptions they had given me in the midst of it all.

Anyways, I am alive surprisingly enough. Not too much worse for the wear. About 10 kilo's (20 pounds) lighter on the semester (Don't know exactly how much was the rest the semester and how much was last week, but 10 kilo's regardless). I have a much greater understanding of the National Health Service, and a greater appreciation for staying out of hospitals. I also believe that I will have a fear of stomach aches for the rest of my life. Other than that... mostly still kind of puny and pathetic, and sleeping way too much, but it is a VAST improvement over last week.

I was fortunate enough to have very understanding professors, since I technically had an essay and a project report due, however, they got moved to this coming week instead :) Also on the school work note, I have thus far received a 2C (B) on my soils project report, a 2B (B+) on my Politics midterm.... and then my shining achievement, and i think the one bright spot in my horrid week mentioned above.... My environmental policy and planning project report, we got a 1C (A) on the group part and I got a 1B (better A) on the individual part.... giving me a 1B over all... in a system that RARELY gives 1As (A+) ... I was very excited, and the instructor seemed pleased even if a little shocked.

Anyways, last night I went to a (late) flat warming party for some of my classmates/karate-mates....required 2 naps thru the course of the day in order to be able to pull it off (I wasn't joking when I said I was still puny and pathetic)... it was a lot of fun. Everyone was glad to see I was still alive, it made me feel loved :)

Other than a practical that I need to make up from last week classes are pretty well done.... i have 3 project reports/essays to hand in still, and then 3 exams, and then I guess I am done .... kind of frightening. Right before I got sick, there was a definite change in my way of thinking that took me a while to catch on to, but I went from "I cant believe I am in Scotland" to "I need to do this when I get back home." ... Kind of sobering change in thinking. But, all good things must come to an end at some point, and in less than a month I will be back in the cowboy state. This means that if any of you out there are desperately wanting something as a souvenir, tell me now or forever hold your peace. And no, don't just assume that I know you want something, or that I know what you want... I have realized time and time again walking thru souvenir shops, that I have no idea what anyone wants. So please, tell me!!! Anyways, pictures will come later when I have enough pictures again to be worth posting.... other then that I will try to keep up with this a little better for the last few weeks that I am here! Take care!

Busy Weeks and Fall Break - LONG post

Scotland, America, England, Wyoming, Me, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Kansas all dressed up at the International Ceilidh...

A view of a Ceilidh from above

Outside the Guinness Storehouse, Museum, and Brewery

A view of the "Rock of Cashel"

A view FROM the Rock of Cashel

Me kissing the Blarney Stone... note how far away the ground is to the left of me

A true Irish Rainbow, outside of the Blarney Castle

A lighthouse from the beach near Youghal

A typical Irish street outside of our hostel in Cork

Hungarian Parlament building, one of the 2 tallest buildings in the Budapest City center, the other being the Bascilica. They are 96 meters tall... no other buildings are allowed to be taller than the Parlament, so they have no sky scrapers

Hero's Square Budapest

Hello all!!! It has been two weeks since you guys have heard from me. Yes, I am alive and doing well. However it has been a busy several weeks. The week of the 20th was midterm week. Meaning the whole previous five weeks of hanging around and doing nearly nothing for school came to a screeching halt. I had an in class essay test for my politics class. I had one project report due during the week break, and another (half group, half individual) project report due the Monday following break. All of this means that I had about 25% of my grade in every single class due that week. And no idea what I was doing for any of it.

The courses here have me baffled. First of all due to the "nothing ... nothing... nothing... nothing ... EVERYTHING.... nothing" aspect to the course work cycle...... Secondly, the majority of the concepts covered in my environmental science classes are review, but they still kill me. Wyoming has backed me up on this. Probably 75% of the lecture material are things we have covered in classes at Wyoming. Third year students here have never had a soils class, or a plant ID course, or a reclamation course. All of these I have had. However, the way they apply the knowledge is done in a way that has both Wyoming and I absolutely baffled when it comes to our reports. Its very valuable way of doing things, but knowing that I have more background than my classmates, and I am still clueless really concerns me. One of the project reports I turned in was on coal mine reclamation. It wasn't the usual "tell us how coal mine reclamation is completed" sort of report. This was go out to a reclaimed coal mine, dig holes sample soils, look at the soil profile, do a vegetation inventory, take soil home, analyze it in the lab, and tell us if the reclamation was successful. REALLY good thing to do... but very intimidating.

Now on to the second reason why you haven't heard from me in two weeks. The thing known here as the "study break". Technically its a week after midterm to catch up on the course preparation you put aside to write reports and study for midterms. In reality it is like a fall version of spring break. Wyoming and I went to Ireland, and I proceeded from Ireland to Hungary to visit Agi. Ryanair, although annoying, is a wonderful concept.

Ireland was amazing, even with the lack of planning that went into the trip. We had planned to plan... however, midterm kind of killed that idea... so we honestly only had even made hostel reservations for the first night there. Little did we know that we had arrived on a bank holiday weekend, which was called for a jazz festival, and that this would kind of kink our original intentions. Anyways I will give you hopefully the readers digest version of the week, and what I saw and did.

Dublin was rainy when we got there. We were not major fans of the hostel, mostly due to very rude staff. We did some lovely night sightseeing since we knew we had limited time. We found an amazing Italian food restaurant... yes Italian... as we came to learn throughout the week traditional Irish cuisine is something you have for lunch, as most places stop serving food and focus on the drink starting about 3:30. Trinity college campus is even beautiful at night. We then went to a Latin mass at St. Mary's Pro Cathedral. We have visited the Guinness Storehouse and Museum (yes Jared you will be getting pictures). As well as Dublin Castle. Oh and the classic Irish Pub, O'Neills, which correlates to the O'Neils that we have in Stirling (we are beginning to like the name as far as pubs go). And as Wyoming and I decided when I just asked her what else we did in Dublin, we mostly just wandered around, which meant we saw alot, just not the inside of alot.

From Dublin we took a bus to Cashel, which is a rather obscure town halfway between Dublin and Cork, but they had a hostel with 2 available beds. (Remember, lack of planning ahead) However, it was a really neat thing to see a smaller Irish town, it was very nice hostel (we got upgraded to a twin room, which meant we didn't have to share with anyone!!) The rock of Cashel is the major sightseeing point of Cashel, other then that its just a really small quaint Irish town.

From Cashel we moved on to Cork, which is really pretty, to depart for Blarney. Blarney was amazing, the castle grounds were beautiful. The castle was cool, and then of course you get to hang upside down over absolutely nothingness to kiss the Blarney stone. We then proceeded to get the bus time table messed up, since we had no idea that Monday bus schedules on bank holiday weekends = Sunday bus schedules. So we ended up killing some time with Irish Coffees in a Blarney pub, with live Irish music and some really amazing locals. We were actually kind of disappointed when the bus was about to come. That evening we had some amazing Indian food (once again Irish cuisine is to be consumed for lunch).... and were trying to find some live music, and failed horribly, but did find some pretty cool bartenders.

The next day we went to Youghal (apparently pronounced yole, not yogel) ... to see the beach, which is where the concept of tide was ingrained into Wyoming and I first hand. Youghal town proper is built up from the beach (good idea)... which leaves limited places to get off of the beach (bad idea)... As she and I were walking along we started realizing "wow, i think the water is closer to these rocks than it was this morning" .... sure enough... we were nearly going to have to start swimming before we got up off the beach.... We then came back to mess up yet another bus schedule... which resulted in us wandering around Cork, and finding St Peter and Paul's Cathedral, which has to be the most impressive church I have ever seen.

The last stop of the Ireland adventure was Kilkenny... supposedly one of the "most beautiful towns in Ireland".... we find contention... not that Kilkenny isn't pretty... just this was not the most successful leg of our journey... Dark lostness, sprained ankle for Wyoming, horrid trek for food and ice by me, followed the next day by torrential downpour of the very cold (it was snowing in Dublin) variety... etc... it just wasn't working out for us. But it could have ended much worse, and we made it out, so all is good. We then proceeded to spend the night in the Dublin Airport since Wyoming's flight was so early back to Scotland. We learned to play canasta, from 2 Canadians, who thought we were British, which at this point might be a compliment... I haven't decided yet.

Then after way too much time, it was on to Hungary. I went to a Halloween party in the dorms with Agi on Thursday night... was introduced to "Bison Grass Vodka" it has another name but i don't remember it... I only remember the bison grass part because they actually have a piece of grass in the bottle. Then the next day Agi took me to a Hungarian market, and the Basilica, where St. Steven's Right hand is kept... before she had to go to a meeting. Which left me wandering Budapest by myself. I THINK i saw Buda castle, and the Buda palace. At Buda Palace I over heard a hungarian giving some Japanese guys a tour, in english, and learned some really cool things. I managed to order food.... I asked for water and kept getting asked if i wanted it in a glass.... which I thought was a no brainer... turns out you have to specify if you want tap water, so i got a bottle of sparkling water, and a glass... oops... and Goulash soup... I then somehow made my way through the metro system to Hero's Square, where they have statues of all their kings... Agi was late enough getting done with her meeting that I was beginning to get nervous (just a little.... ok maybe alot)... When she did finally get back we went to the Spa, and then to a club for a Halloween party. Just FYI bars in Hungary don't close until like 4 or 5 in the morning (we didn't stay that long thank goodness)....

Anyways that was my adventures in a nutshell... if you want more details feel free to ask. I then came home and proceeded to finish the last project report of that round, I should really get going on round 2 here shortly. I think I will be doing some very cold wet camping tomorrow with some friends, we will have to see how that goes. But other than that this week should be fairly uneventful. Here is fingers crossed for the election turnout!!!!

Playing Picture Catchup

Ok I was further behind on these than I thought. But here we go.
Ok Rhode Island, 2 Americans from states I dont recall, Ireland, and me at the international society bowling



This picture is from the amazing German, American, Dutch, Scottish, night at the Irish Pub :)



Hungary and I attempting to do Salsa dancing at the international salsa night


Most of you this wont mean much to.... but some of you will know exactly what this is.... but here is the bright green monkey in my new room!!! Yay!!!

This is one the random things you realize when you have like 10 pounds of change in your pocket... and thats that there are many different types of pound coins

Here is the birthday brownies complete with candles that one the fencers made me :)

Relocating, and midterm approaches

Ok I am going to try to be short and sweet, but I realized as I sat down to type this... that outside of the people here in Scotland with me, and a few of the people I have talked on the phone with, I have been doing a good job keeping a certain aspect of my world under the radar.

You all have been hearing about all the wonderful people I have been meeting, and all the fun I have been having. However, home life has not been so spectacular. So this is going to be the readers digest version of why I moved this week.

I started the semester with 4 flatmates, 3 boys, 1 other girl. 2 of the boys were native Scotsmen. These boys are where the trouble started. They were in fact such lovely examples of of the species, that the third boy who was from Spain not only left our flat, but left UNI after ONE WEEK. The biggest problem being that when the 2 boys were confronted about less than acceptable behavior, things of Spain's started disapearing. I was doing a fairly good job of flying under the radar and keeping my mouth shut I guess. Things weren't great, but they weren't horrible enough to justify the trouble of moving when I am only going to be here for one semester... And then we got 2 new flatmates....

Any one of the flatmates on their own, or any one of the behaviors alone would have been something to withstand.... but when I ended up with FIVE smoking, drinking, potheaded, rubbish hoarding, kitchen and bathroom disaster making, confetti throwing (no you dont want to know), loud, obnoxious, immature flatmates... things started going down hill. When I was having to wash my dishes in the bathroom because I couldnt even get TO the sink let alone into the sink... and when I was up till 5 am on a very regular basis.... and when you could smell our flat from 3 flights of stairs down.... and when I was loving my time here, but dreading going home at night.... something needed to change... and I knew better then to confront them... and was not quite prepared to follow one of the Sen No Kai boy's advice that involved "laxatives, and cling film on the toilets" so I put in for a room transfer...

Thus far it has been the best decision I made... I have no idea why I waited until midterm crunch to do it... but still best decision i made... I am still in the same building and same floor, but at opposite ends, so moving involved down 5 flights of stairs.... and returning up 5 flights of stairs, going both ways... I have not met all of the new flatmates yet... I have met a girl from Japan, and a girl from Alaska... the remaining 3 apparently consist of 2 boys and a girl from China... I think I have gotten the 2 best nights sleep since I got here... I think in this flat I am the loud obnoxious one, because I got in the habit of calling home at 2 am... and I always forget things so im always going in and out of doors... etc... nothing major but if that tells you how quiet the new flat is. I was actually doing homework in the kitchen earlier..

Anyways that is the big news for the week. Nothing real exciting, more bowling, more pubs, an international salsa thingy, moving and studying... that is about it. Pictures will come later... but I dont have internet in the new room yet and I cant remember to put them on a jump drive before I go to the computer lab so you will just have to wait for them.

Also, thank you guys once again for comments. I was once again surprised, in a good way, but surprised none the less at who I have found out to be reading this. (This weeks thank's is directed particularly at Rocky Ford and the fellow range nerd. ) :) Anyways I will be back to post pictures soon! Take care!

Things I have learned thus far.

This is going to be a continual work in progress I am sure. However,I have been sitting here realizing how little I have actually learned in preparation for my classes, while also realizing how much I have learned since I have been here. So here is what I have learned, and can remember learning right now.

I have learned far more words for waterproof coats and boots then I realized existed in the English language. The Eskimos might have 7 words for snow, but these people have atleast that many words for coats, boots, and intensities of rain....Jumpers, Waterproofs, Cagoules, Coat, Weatherproofs.... Wellies, Rain boots, Galoshes, overshoes... fog, mist, mizzle, drizzle, rain, etc.... and thats just naming a few

I have learned that Edinburgh represents the "show" Scotland puts on for tourists, while Glasgow represents the real Scotland. I have also learned that Edinburgh is pronounced Edinburra... or if you are from Glasgow then its Embra ....

I have learned that someone can be speaking perfect and "proper" English and that you can still not understand a word that came out of their mouth. Same goes for the fact that I can be speaking perfect and proper English and not be understood one little bit.

I have learned to always look at what bus number you take somewhere, so you dont end up somewhere like Buchanan Bus Station in Glasgow with no idea where to go. (60 stalls or something, not to mention the many bus numbers that end up at each stall) http://farm1.static.flickr.com/176/377408038_a90cccc8a8.jpg?v=0 (this is just one row... doesnt even show the chaos of the middle).

The other thing i have learned is that you should always read a time table for where you are getting on the bus when you are done with something... that way you do not leave an event early only to wait at the bus stop for 30 minutes.

I have almost learned how to read a bus time table.

I have learned that even recently forged friendships can prove valuable in the monetary and spiritual sense. (One new friend works at a bowling alley, which saved me £4 ($8) when international society went bowling).


Relationships enter a whole new realm when time constraints are placed on them. Wisconsin and her guy have known eachother less than 3 weeks, and have hit milestones (like meeting parents) that many would not see after 3 months. And they are by no means the minority.... cough cough *fencing drama* cough cough.


I have learned that people who under normal circumstances would be no more than acquaintences form special bonds abroad. Wyoming and I are not the sort of people who would have ever been birds of a feather at home.... in fact the international advisor almost did not give us eachothers contact information because she didnt think we would get along at all.... but when everything else is foreign, it is kind of nice to have someone who understands why you dont understand a bus time table, what rocky mountain oysters are, can pronounce Vedauwoo, and knows what the Buck is.

I have learned that I will NEVER understand Stirling Uni's class time table. This is honestly what my schedule looks like... AFTER i get it out of the scary time table book... and yes 2 of those classes do conflict... and you just have to live with it... I am looking forward to the day that the same class happens at the same time whatever days you have it... and that that class is in the same room each time you have it



I have learned that having your school computers set 7 hours ahead of your personal one confuses the tar out of any program that has times in any of its set up.... think Facebook status updates.... or this thing.

I have learned that Kazakhstan has a football (soccer) team. And that the English consider even beating them as an accomplishment... even though the BEST season in Kazakhstans 16 year football history was a 50% winning season.

I have learned that Plasters are Bandaids, Freshers or First years are Freshmen, Sods are Rednecks, Bogs are Toilets, Podzols are Spodisols,.... Argillic, Aluminum, Glaciers, Methane, and a few other words i cant think of are pronounced so differently here that you would hardly recognize them.... -ish is a common phrase to modify a statement.... Time is told such that 8:30 would be "half 8" not half past 8, not 8 thirty.... just half eight...

I have learned what Donner meat is (Lamb...... sometimes .... http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061209071356AAi9owx ) And that it doesnt mean we are being cannabals, nor are we eating Rudolph's mate. And that a Donner Kebab is called that due to it being on a skewer before they shave it off and hand it to you... not because it resembles a shishkabob


And I believe that is all I can think of right now. For those of you who are curious the birthday was a blast. Mary Poppins was way fun. The Playhouse is huge and amazing. Although it was a rather wet night. One of the fencers made brownies, complete with candles on Saturday which was really cool. Past that I really dont know a whole lot of new information. Lab today was dismal, and I am expecting the same from tutorial... so it should be just a lovely day all around.

For those of you with snow, I extend my sympathy, but the highs here have been in the mid 50's with lows in the mid 40's.... even when it is pouring rain. I hope everything is going well wherever you are reading this from. Take care and talk to you soon!!