A week in November



the snow in Scotland!



So, this last week I got to finish all of my assigned class work that has been given whilst here. My two final papers were due, and they are in, and being graded, which means that my weekend has been highly stress free, I am feeling good about it.  So most of my past week was spent in class, we are almost done, I only have a week left, and even then, some of the classes aren’t going the full week (I like that). But then of course, finals come in, and they are highly frightening. Though it was a week of work, there was plenty of play to fit in, including some overseas thanksgiving celebrations, and also a quick trip over to Edinburgh for shopping and food (some other things happened as well though).

 

the apple crumble

Tuesday is when the real fun began I was sitting in the library working on a paper between classes, when... The power goes out. I thought it would pop right back on, and I would be able to finish my work, but no, then the fire alarms go off and we had to evacuate the building. Erin and I decided this would be a great time to go get some coffee or something, we walked away from campus and start realising that the whole of the west end is out. It was hilarious, so we walked to the botanic gardens, which as anyone in Scotland knows, means you need to cross a major intersection, and we did (sans lights) We ran across the street in front of twenty cars, just to have something to do. By the time the power did come back on we were very upset, we were hoping that there would be no more class that day, but no such luck, we had to go back to school and learn some more (what a disappointment). There was a high point of the Tuesday though, we went to a potlatch which they weirdly enough call a buffet (I don’t know) and we had great success with our homemade apple crumble. Though Tuesday was not ideal, we were able to have some fun as well as some learning.

Wednesday brought about mostly just class, but also a trip to Cup, my favourite tea shop, where for the first time I enjoyed their lunch menu (a tomato, mozzarella, and basil sandwich), I also tried a tea I had never heard of before, and therefore never had. It was a gunpowder tea, which was very good. It smelled like there was someone sitting in the mug smoking a cigarette, but other than that the flavour was very robust for a green tea, which made it highly delightful. Then of course the weirdest thing happened, I celebrated thanksgiving in another country, without my family.

our delicious thanksgiving dinner

Thursday came, and unfortunately I had to go to class (this has never happened to me before). One teacher did wish all her American students a happy thanksgiving though, which was very nice of her (she is married to an American so she kind of understood I guess). I had my own thanksgiving celebration with Erin. We went to our fabulous Waitrose to purchase a thanksgiving meal (which was slightly more difficult than expected). We got some turkey from their deli section, two large slices as our main part of the dinner (which worked very well, especially since I don’t know how to cook turkey, so it makes a great substitute) We also had some green beans (cooked in a microwave!) cranberry sauce (a little different) mashed potatoes (premade) apple cider (juice heated with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg) and finally we made another delicious apple crumble for ourselves. I would consider this dinner highly successful, and I now know what to do should I ever be celebrating a major holiday in another country again, it will be something along the lines of this past thanksgiving dinner. I did get to celebrate Thanksgiving with some family though, Erin’s parents and grandparents were in town for the week, and they took us to Cafe Rouge in Merchant Square for a thanksgiving meal (though I had mussels, which wasn’t very thanksgiving-y). It was very nice though, and good to celebrate a holiday with some sort of a family since mine was in Colorado.



Christmas time in Edinburgh



Another good thing that comes with Thanksgiving is it officially becomes time to Christmas shop/celebrate! On Saturday Erin, Katie, Brittney, and I took the train over to Edinburgh for a day of Christmas shopping and general fun! It was a very eventful train ride, because it was crazy full, the train before us got cancelled due to weather (it snowed 1 ½ inches). But we made it alright, it was so pretty from the train, it looks like a winter wonderland here in Scotland! We had lunch first then wandered the Royal Mile to buy gifts for everybody’s family. Plenty of scarves and gloves were being purchased yesterday which was good. We also made a stop at a fudge store way down the Royal Mile, and enjoyed some delicious fudge. We stopped for about an hour at Starbucks because it was so cold, we had to warm up with some holiday drinks. We ended the night wandering around the Christmas market where there were a bunch of shopping and eating stalls, and also some rides, I might have to go back just to ride a ride (although Glasgow’s Christmas market has the same ride....) Overall the second to last week of school was very fun, and now I only have about three more weeks left to enjoy this country.

This might make you jealous, but that's ok

HAHA! Great week here in Scotland, I must say though the weather outside is rather frightful (we have started getting frost, and rain, and there are predictions of snow soon...) and the fire would be very delightful (but unfortunately I have no fireplace) It is so very pretty outside. That and there are things to do. The sun has been setting at about 4 in the afternoon these days, which makes walking home after class and the library a wee bit dark and chilly, it is fantastic during the day, and the sunset is to die for, literally one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

Classes have been getting serious though as the term is nearing its close. Papers, tests, and preparations for finals are under way here in Glasgow, and it is not doing me any favours, because there is still so much to do. I mean the Christmas season is coming here so there are all sorts of festivities and excitement is occurring. The city centre has been decorated for the most part with all sorts of Christmassy lights and I think everyone is getting in the spirit, even though we still have class and finals.

Only one really fun thing happened this week (if you don’t include test taking in your fun counts, which I don’t) I got to see Harry Potter. Now I know pretty much everyone got to see Harry Potter back in Colorado, and most probably went to the midnight showing, which there was no option of here in Scotland, but... I got to see Harry Potter, in the land of Harry Potter. You see, you got to see Harry Potter before me, but they don’t film in the states, they film in places like London (went there), and Scotland (that’s where I am). Though no filming for the movies has occurred in Glasgow, it has happened here. Take the Hogwarts express for example, it runs through Scotland, and Hagrid’s Hut, also in Scotland. I learned as well that the really cool place where Harry and Dumbledore go to get the locket was filmed wayyyyyyy up in the Highlands. So yes, we have all seen Harry Potter, but I got to see it here, which is much cooler.

What’s to come next you may ask... Well with the Holiday season starting there is going to be a Christmas market in the city centre, and of course next weekend is St. Andrew’s weekend, so I will be celebrating down in the city centre where they have a celebration going on.  That then school will finish, I will go to Paris, then I will take some very fun and fantastic tests (also known as horrifying finals) then I will have a week to enjoy my favourite place in the world. Finally I will be back home in one month, so may my family start the countdown, and I will keep hoping for some magic that keeps the time moving slowly.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102596003659150525433.000494b35d8266dc22ab6&z=6

(for kicks and giggles) And also, on another Harry Potter note, I go to school with a castle, not everyone can say that, especially not my American friends...

my castle!

Adventures in London!!!

London Town! After class this past week Erin and I left for London!!! It was so exciting, we got to plan our vacation three weeks ago (so not a lot of time, but still good), and it was definitely worth it. We started by visiting Sam (one of Erin’s friends) at the University of Westminster down in the Paddington area of London, and then we went with lots of her friends to Piccadilly Circus to enjoy a night of fun and dancing at Tiger Tiger. It was an excellent club with three rooms for different music tastes. We had taken the tube down to the club, but it surprisingly closes at midnight, so Erin and I got to discover the wonders of the very slow London Bus system while going back to our hotel. One thing I can definitely say about London is I am rather glad I chose to study in Glasgow, in London you practically live in a jail, everything must be closed off, and you have to pass through security to get into the buildings. That and the rooms there are much smaller than my room in Glasgow. Sure I have to walk a ways, but at least it’s spacious, and not everything is enclosed.

Erin, Me, and Sam at Tiger Tiger

As our weekend really started on Saturday (and we were only there for Saturday pretty much) we again hopped on the Tube to do some exciting English things. However our adventures started in the Tube with many closures for refurbishment going on, practically every line (or it seemed that way) had closures at some point. But we finally made it down to Kensington Gardens to take some pictures. We walked through the Gardens and into Hyde Park where there were really big geese (and lots of other birds). We passed all the way through the Park and on to Buckingham Palace. There we got to stand on our tiptoes with our cameras above our heads to take pictures of the bands, the guards, and people on horses. We also nearly got trampled by one of the guards horses, nothing like a near death experience to get your heart pumping eh?



At this point we had to continue on our quick trip through London, so we walked down to the London Eye for our flight (yay). It was a very long walk but we passed by Westminster Abbey where many people celebrating Veterans Day, with all of the poppy’s everywhere. We also passed by parliament and Big Ben on our trip down to the Thames. I had a bit of a Celtic Civilisation moment at about this point because we passed by the Boudicea Statue, which of course, as everyone knows is very important to Celtic culture, and Britain as a whole. We made it down to the Eye and didn’t have to stand in line for very long before our flight. The views were great and we had a blast seeing everywhere (especially Erin since it was her first time in the city). When our flight was done we went to the London Eye 4D experience. It came free with our ticket, but it isn’t highly suggested. You stand in a room with “4D” glasses, and they throw things at you, and there is smoke, and a video about being on the Eye. Afterwards we went to Wagamama down by the river and had some contemporary Asian food. If you haven’t gone, I would highly suggest you do, as the food is good, and the prices are also fairly good.

Erin, Me, and Sam on the London Eye

We ended our river experience at the London Fright where we got to walk/run/struggle through this dark set of rooms with people jumping out at you, making weird noises, and grabbing your feet. It was fun, and if you haven’t done it before its right next to the London Eye and the Aquarium, but I wouldn’t go again, mostly because now I know what is going to happen. Before we went in we enjoyed some street vender waffles, which were pretty good (it was a waffle covered in chocolate). We ate our waffles while watching the London Fright people scaring passer-by. One woman got so scared she went stiff and fell on the ground, I laughed very hard, and it was absolutely hilarious.

The London Eye tickets we purchased also had a London Dungeon attachment so we went to that as well on Saturday night. It was pretty fun, however the whole time I felt that someone was going to jump out at me from the dark corners, since that is what they did at London Fright. Some of the stuff there was scary, like the Sweeney Todd room, however other things were just absolutely hilarious, such as when we were put on trial, and went on the drop ride. We ended our night by walking across Tower Bridge, which was beautiful in the dark, and also going back to Piccadilly Circus to B@1, a bar that serves the Irish Disco Biscuit. This drink comes highly suggested, it tastes like there is absolutely no alcohol in it (good or bad, I can’t decide), it is made of vanilla ice cream, Oreo cookies (biscuits), Baileys, Peppermint Schnapps, and some Ice, it was all blended together into deliciousness and was worth the 7 pounds I paid for it.

Sam, Me, and Erin enjoying our Irish Disco Biscuits

Our final day in London found us travelling to Kings Cross Station, which was a complete catastrophe, because turns out you can’t get to Platform 9 and ¾ without a ticket (how do those wizards do it?) and it was all under construction. I was feeling slightly Harry Potter-y but it was definitely sad. We walked around Piccadilly Circus and Old Bond Street for the rest of the morning before catching the Piccadilly line back to London Heathrow airport to be back in Glasgow.  It was all quite fun, and I spent most of my money on food, not stupid things (although there were some stupid purchases). I would love to go again soon, especially to enjoy another Irish Disco Biscuit!

An excellent view of London

Festivals and Adventures

Wow! So after a week of boredom I got to have some fun again in Scotland. First things first, of course there was class again for me all week, instead of the fantastic reading week I had before. I learned about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and about real Hallowe’en traditions that originated from Celtic Society related to the end of summer and the beginning of winter, a festive time known as Samhain (pronounced sao-wayne) Anyway we learned about turnip lanterns, so my new goal is to create a turnip lantern at the next Hallowe’en so that I can be cool. Turns out that Samhain is when we become closer to the spirit world so we dress up to confuse the spirits... Don’t know how well it works but we still do it. So that is how my learning goes here! The excitement I have. The more exciting things happened at the weekend this week.

The Guy Fawkes Fireworks at Glasgow Green, you can even see some of the carnival rides

Friday as most of you may know was 5 November, which means that it was Guy Fawkes Day (before that though, I got to make an exciting Taco dinner!!! It was lots of fun, and tacos taste excellent here in Scotland, although they could use some salsa help). Turns out this guy (Guy Fawkes) and a bunch of people wanted to blow up parliament a really long time ago, and they failed miserably, they planned to do this on 5 November but were caught about a week and a half before (So it was really an epic fail) so in honour of their epic fail, we set off fireworks, and I guess a lot of towns have bonfires. Glasgow has a great celebration down at Glasgow Green, the park was full of people, and there were carnival rides, and food (didn’t eat any) and of course fireworks. Erin and I went on two of the carnival rides (each costing 3 pounds, but who cares) and then we enjoyed the fireworks, because we didn’t know when we would get to do this again. The fireworks were great, and they played Abba the whole time which was funny. Afterwards my friends and I went to a bar in Merchant City, one in the City Centre and ended the night at Bamboo (which is a very interesting club).

Tom, Alex, Me, Justin, Erin, and Sam at Bamboo

The graveyard behind Glasgow Green, Sufficiently creepy

Saturday I had to wake up nice and early to crash the second Archaeology Field Trip. I technically wasn’t invited on this one, but no one checked to see if I really belonged, so I just had some fun. Our first stop on this rainy day (which wasn’t forecast to be quite so rainy) was the Glasgow Cathedral, which is the oldest church in Glasgow. It was built and rebuilt many times, and is now just old, and old. Saint Kentigern (aka St. Mungo) is buried in the Cathedral, and he is very important to Glasgow, somewhat of a patron saint. The grounds around the Cathedral are beautiful, there is a fantastic graveyard behind the church, and really great trees as well (the day was full of great trees actually). Next we got on the bus to go visit a “wall” it was somewhat north, but not too far. Built by the Romans a really long time ago, as a checkpoint they think, but not a lot really remains. The “wall” was built of turf, so it looks more like a hill really but they told us, it is definitely a wall (we must believe the archaeologists). Near the wall is also a fort, but there isn’t a lot there anymore other than really cool trees. I think the whole group was a little disappointed at the fort because they said it was the location of a bath house, and considering our very wet and cold situation we could have all used a steam. But no such luck, we just got to trek through the mud, and start freezing to death (I think the teachers were enjoying themselves way too much).

Some trees as the Roman Fort right next to where the bath house would have been

Linlithgow Castle Built By King James III

Next we went to Linlithgow, to visit Linlithgow castle. It isn’t a very big castle, and the real low-point of the building is that there are no more roofs, which means that when it rains, you can’t really escape the rain. Other than this point, it was really quite pretty, and we got to climb to the top of a tower and see everything from up there. A really key note about this tower is that it changed my dream of being a princess living in a tall tower. There are too many creepy stairs, and it’s too far to walk to go to bed, so I may be a princess but I am not living in any tower. Finally we stopped at a cairn, which is pretty much a big pile of rocks to put your dead in. I am sure the site was really awesome at some point but it was ruined, I feel, by two different things. A) It was really, really, really cold, and wet (and for a 30% chance of rain, I think I was 100% wet) and B) it was archaeologically ruined I felt by the fact that they rebuilt it in different “stages” of its uses and so it isn’t the actual original cairn, it is just a cairn. So it was a fantastic weekend, I really enjoyed it (even though it was wet) and it was absolutely beautiful with the rain falling everywhere. 

More trees, because it was a fantastic tree weekend!