Week 4....WHAT?!?!

Wow, I cannot believe I'm starting the 4th week of being here! Time flew by!!!! And yet again, I feel like it's been forever since my last post...so I'll make another promise that I'll try to update more frequently. Here's for trying at least, right? Anyway, life has been hectic, fast-paced, and wonderful since the last post (as usual). Classes are progressing fine...the lack of structure is starting to get to me; I have NO idea when and what I'm supposed to read out of these full text books our lecturers list as suggested reading for each class or week or tutorial, or something. Also, with things happening every weekend for the next couple of weeks, I really do need to be productive during the week. SO, let's make that this week's goal: productivity! I'm off to a pretty good start, actually. Yesterday, I FINALLY made a list, took the bus, and entered the grocery story for a full out grocery shop. I refuse to go back to Tesco, so my friend Emily and I went out in search of another grocery store and found Mark's and Spencers (I renamed it 'the greatest place on earth'). So we went there and stalked up on food for the next couple of weeks, and let me tell you, it feels great! I loved shopping for myself, which surprises me because my first grocery shopping experience was far less than good. So having gotten that out of the way yesterday, I made today laundry day! I know what you're thinking...doing one major thing a day is not that productive....BUT, before you think that, let me tell you that making 1 big project my daily activity is the only way it's going to get done. With things coming up at the last minute, friends to see, and work to do, I think doing 1 life thing a day is a good goal.

I feel like I've been mentioning goals a lot lately, and I don't know why I'm so into them here, but it's been good to have goals around to keep on track in this crazy new environment and to make sure I get the most out of every day. So, as per one of your suggestions, here's another goal list to add to the mix. Not sure if I've mentioned this already, but I'm going to try to do something new every day. This list already includes cooking, grocery shopping, taking the bus in Edinburgh, climbing Edinburgh's highest peak, ordering a drink at a bar, legally (!), and many more...and I've decided to keep slightly better track and let you know how they all go!

Ok, so since my last post, I've been taking classes, doing homework, and going out with friends during the week. 5 of my friends (Emily, Carolyn, Natalie, Annie, and Nora) and I went to the movies last Wednesday night to see It's Complicated. Not my favorite movie, but going to a movie and dinner at a famous pub, Greyfriar's Bobby, was a great relaxing night. The next night, the same group had another fun girls night, in which we drank wine, talked for hours, and then went out dancing. Daily life is settling in quite nicely. I generally wake up, go to the gym (which is really nice here, but pretty small for the size of the University, so it can get really crowded), grab coffee and study at one of my favorite coffee shops, go to class, and then hang out with friends for dinner. Not bad at all. We did start planning out upcoming weekends throughout this week, which was both fun and stressful to plan trips with as many people as we have going on them. This upcoming weekend, we're going to London (!) on the train, and I'm traveling with about 10 other people, so hopefully we'll keep track of everyone! It'll be our first real trip together, and we have soooo many things everyone wants to do. First on my list though is getting an ice cream sundae at Harrod's. If you've ever been there, you'll know, they are HUGE, and amazinnggggg. So I'm excited for that. Other than that, I'll go with the flow and see what happens! The next weekend is my homestay weekend, in which I'll go stay with a family in northern England in a small town called Shap. Then, I'll be off to Copenhagen to celebrate Gilly's 21st birthday!!!, then off to Amsterdam hopefully with some friends from Bowdoin. Yeah, crazy February coming up!

This past weekend was another amazing couple of days. Saturday, I went to St. Andrew's through our school's international program. They arranged buses to take international students there for the day, so for 7 pounds, we were able to get into the town center around 10am and leave around 4pm. We walked around the old cathedral and castle ruins, went out on the pier, and walked the golf course. The ruins reminded me of Pillars of the Earth. Actually, alot of things here remind me of that book. HOW in the world did they build cathedrals and castles like these hundreds of years ago? It boggles my mind! At the golf course, I made my friend come out to the famous Swilcan bridge with me so he could get a picture of me standing on it. I know all the golfers in my family will be jealous to hear that there were indeed golfers out playing on the 18th hole, in the rain, the cold, and the fog. We also saw the University of St. Andrews, and it was beautiful! I have to admit, the buildings and campus are probably prettier as a whole than the University of Edinburgh, but I'm still glad to be where I am. Due to the rain though, we ended up sitting in a cool pub for a while after lunch, watching rugby, and talking with the bartender about the upcoming 6 Nations Rugby tournament. I think I may be able to go to the Scotland vs. England game when it's in Edinburgh!! How cool would that be?

St. Andrew's Cathedral in ruins

St. Andrew's Castle in ruins

On top of the Swilcan Bridge on the Old Course at St. Andrews. Hi Dad, Justin, and Grandpa!

Sunday, I took the train by myself (I know!!) to Glasgow to meet an old friend from highschool, Robyn Gerbaz! She's in Glasgow for 3 years studying ballet, and when I found out she was there and I was here, we decided to meet up. The train ride was beautiful...it took us through small Scottish towns and lots of green rolling hills, and it was only about 1 hour, so it was super easy to get to Glasgow. Once there, Robyn and I walked around, ate some lunch, and talked for hours about home, our lives, and stuff in general. It was so so so good to see her, meet her friends, and see Glasgow! After taking the train back though, I was exhausted from the weekend in general and still had work to do for classes on Monday, so Sunday night was pretty quiet and boring.

Robyn and me in Glasgow

One more thing to tell about: Last night, Carolyn's flat mates had a bunch of people over for Burns Night. Robert Burns was a famous Scottish author who is now celebrated with a national holiday called Burns Night, in which Scots drink whiskey, eat haggis, and dance the ceilidh (pronounced more like Kay-lee) which is a traditional Scottish dance. Their party was complete with all of these things, and it was so much fun! In the middle of the party, when we were all dancing and singing to popular American music, they switched the playlist to bagpiping songs and broke out in this ceilidh, in which every girl had a guy as a partner, and they were spinning around, and doing these Scottish dance moves. It was crazy! The whole time, I was sitting there trying to equate the situation to something that would happen in the States, but I couldn't! Never would a group of people break out into a traditional dance that dates back hundreds of years and do it for 30 minutes at a time! Definitely a cool part of Scottish tradition. They taught us how to do the dance, but we did not pick it up very well. So much fun though!

So, new things I did this weekend:

Saturday--talked rugby with a Scottish bartender

Sunday--took the train to a new place by myself

Monday--attended a Burns night celebration in which I learned a traditional Scottish Dance

Today--I don't know yet, but I'll make something happen before the days over!

Upcoming events:

London this weekend

Shap homestay next weekend

Copenhagen!!

Amsterdam!!

Until next time!