Quick Update

I'm getting into the grove of things now, I have work on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I have class Monday afternoon (which I have yet to learn something in) and Wednesday morning and afternoon. Friday's are my free days to explore this awesome city. For the next couple weeks though Friday will be the start of my adventure into a different country! This weekend if you don't know me is my birthday and I'm going to Oktoberfest to celebrate! I'm nervous, anxious, and excited all at the same time! By the end of my journey on this study abroad semester my passport will be exhausted with all the stamping its going to get!

Last weekend E2 and I went exploring the city. Our adviser had told us about Doors Open Day in Edinburgh. It allows you to go explore private buildings, things usually closed to the public. So for example we went to a lighthouse on the edge of the city right near the Firth. We also went inside the Old City Observatory that is only open 1 day a year...WHICH WAS SOOO COOL! The observatory is near the Stain of Edinburgh, which is this huge Roman/Greek monument that was only half built. Its quite difficult to get up to the top of it because there are no stairs until about 5 feet up. Eventually we got up there for a picture! The lady at the bottom in the cream coat is standing and the place you have to climb to is where the sitting person is. Other places we visited were the Old University, the Talbot Rice Gallery, the Old University Library ( I would love to work there), the Museum of FIRE!!! We also saw the General Surgeon's Quad on the new university campus, this ridiculously cool auditorium that I can't remember the name of, the Museum of Instruments, and the Caves underneath the South Bridge. When going through the caves, it was very cool, the guide told us that last year over 5000 people came through in 4 hours. Emily and I stood in line for 40 minutes to see the caves, it was sooo worth it!
Another thing I'm really grateful for are my wellies. It has started raining almost every day now so rain boots are a necessity. I absolutely adore my rain boots because they are navy blue with cherries on them! There are so many cool things I have done so far on this trip and I've only been in one country. I am now expanding my horizons, hopefully I can remain calm, cool, and collected throughout my travels so I can enjoy them as much as possible. side bar: dinner was delicious tonight we made penne with chicken and broccolli in honor of KJFs birthday (and mine!). A win for today (according to Trevor) was the discovery of "Manize" Kleenex. Which is literally two tissues combined side by side to make an extra long one, larger than my face. I am going to leave you with this because I need rest for tomorrow's big day of work 9-5 and then packing for my birthday trip! Maybe I will find some cheesecake for my birthday cake, ooo or a cupcake!?

Sunday Church Exploration #3

St Giles Cathedral has a crown spire on top and the crown can be seen from miles around. Mom and I went here the first week of being here. Remember the pews with the loud clicking doors? Well, it feels like they are trapping you in the pews and you are only allowed out for Holy Communion. There was no altar to kneel at because the pulpit was in the center of the cathedral so when going to take communion you stood in a group (I felt like I should have held hands with the people next to me) and the Priest breaks the bread and distributes it on both sides of the circle. I took the bread but not the wine, I just could not deal with wine that early in the morning for some reason. I liked the sermon but was distracted by all the stained glass and awesome paintings on the walls. I appreciated the songs even though I had no voice to sing them with. I liked being in the church just because there is so much history stored away in each and every brick of that building.

Sunday Church Exploration #2

St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral service was delightful. Not as many stained glass as St Mary's RC but just as cool and old. The people were really nice and the pastor was actually at the door greeting people as they left. The sermon was about Jeremiah and different disasters that could go on in someone's life. There were no incense this time which was good for my nose. This church was visitor friendly and pretty awesome. They even gave us a little print out of what is going on in the sermon, unlike the first church. They were doing renovations on the outside of the church that's why there is scaffolding up on the one side. I might go back to this church on tired days when I can't be bothered with something new.

So long for now...

15/9/10
My power cord for my computer just broke. Class was interesting. Apparently we only have a paper that is due at the end of October and an Assessment (test) at the end of the class. There was going to be a oral presentation but the Admin thought that was too much of a load for the class to have. My other class only has 2 assessments as well. This semester is going to be interesting. But really I can’t wait for my power cord to get here. Dell wouldn’t send me the power cord directly so I had to send it to my house in MI and then my rents can send it to me here. Awesome….I will be without my own laptop for two weeks. I will try and borrow my flat mates laptops every once in a while until the package comes in. The power cord will be my birthday present! From now on I will only do every couple day posts not daily ones because it will be too hard. I will update it when I go to Uni next. Thanks for reading and bare with me! Dinner time. Have a great week.

PB & Pretzels!

14/9/10
My internship is glorious, I love the chatter, typing, and the busyness. Today the assistant for the office was sick today and so I had to take over. I had to answer the door, which is quite tricky because you have to buzz them in and then open the inside door for them. One of the visitors asked for “white coffee” which is a new one for me. Basically, this is just coffee with milk. I succeeded making this cup after a while of asking lots of directions. After work, Em and I went food shopping to fill up the cupboards. Ellen decided to stay home so we couldn’t get everything on the list because we can only carry so much 7 blocks. But we now have a full fridge and freezer. Dinner of pasta with mozarella cheese (which we can only find shredded in the obscure market across town) with chicken and avocado in it! We love making garlic bread and for dessert we found chocolate chip cookies at the metro market. I had skype dinner with Kris. Which was sooooo glorious. The last skype chat until October! Karen stopped by the flat tonight and she brought us goodies such as Peanut Butter and Pretzels!!!! Also, it rains a lot here. I can’t wait for my rain boots to get here!

13!

13/9/10
My internship today was just a normal day at the office, I did a loooot of filing. Which is okay with me because getting to know the office is one of my goals. I decided to leave early to change my clothes and catch a bus to Uni around 2. I left 45 minutes early and showed up to the huge lecture hall 7 minutes late. I blame the school children that just got out of the classes and filled up all the bus space. These small children are loud, obnoxious, and quite annoying. Note to self, catch the bus earlier, and load up the MP3 Player with lots of loud music. When I got back to the flat we had chicken fajitas. I love cooking without recipes. Usually, there are lots of yummy things we cook here!

Ze Hairy Coo

12/9/10
The day of the Hairy Coo Tour. The Hairy Coo is just another phrase for a highland cow, it gets its nickname because the coo (cow) is very hairy! We traveled all over Scotland on our bus trip across the Highlands. We saw Stirling Castle, traveled up the William Wallace Monument. Then we visited Lochs in Trossachs, Loch Drunkie and another loch that started with an A. We also visited one of the 6 Lakes in Scotland, Lake Menteith! One of the highlights of the trip was visiting Doune Castle. This was the castle where Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed and today just happened to the day when all the followers of Monty Python descended on the castle, dressing up like the characters and had themselves a party. Ellen and I were so excited to see all of these people. The driver, Russell (amazing tour guide btw), just happened to have coconuts in the storage bin behind his seat. Needless to say I clip clopped around the castle much to the chargrin of Emily, who found the coconuts to be a nuisance. I saw the fierce rabbit, a couple of the knights, the witch, and the black knight! Another highlight of the day was getting to see the Falkirk Wheel in action. This engineering miracle is definitely a spectacular sight to see. Ester would have loved it. The last spot on our tour was the Forth Bridge. It was also a spectacular sight to see.

Oh Gran...

11/9/10
Waking up this morning I didn’t want to do anything. Eventually, once everyone else got up, Em and I decided that we should go to the National Gallery of Scotland. Walking there we discovered tons of people on Princes(s) Street and hoped our idea of being a tourist at the gallery wasn’t theirs as well. The first painting we saw when we walked into the gallery was Alexander III of Scotland. The painting was huge and took up the entire wall, there were so many things going on in the painting that we were overwhelmed and decided that we needed to move on immediately. Moving throughout the different rooms was interesting because there were various different themes to the room and they were basically all intense. The funniest part of the day was when a little girl came up to a fairly famous painting of a journalist sitting at his desk in the Impressionist Gallery and asked her Grannie “How bout this one, Is it good?” and the Grannie with a disgusted look on her face said “Oi that one is rubbish, its no good at all.” I couldn’t hold in my laughter for very long. I took down some of the paintings names and looked them up online when I got back to the flat. Now I have a background that scrolls through the different paintings that I saw at the Gallery!

Friday, 10

10/9/10
Friday, first day of my internship, last day of the week, this means calm day at the office. Settling into the office and making my desk more me is going to be awesome. The office dynamics right now is very quiet with phone calls, meetings, and regular gossip going back and forth. I love the office and I’m sure I’ll have an awesome experience there. The first day was spent getting to know where things go, so basically filing all day. Thai for lunch was glorious. I wish I could remember what it was called, I would definitely go back. After work we went pub hopping and met this stag party from Ireland. They were pretty great. Basically a glorious day, I’m glad I’m here. I’m glad I took this opportunity to study abroad. Even though I wish everyone back home could experience this with me.

'Meh' Kinda Day

9/9/10
Basically today was a lazy bum day. I got up when I wanted to. I made some tea (burnt my hand checking to see if the water was hot). Took a nap and woke up to Emily, walking in with the most glorious looking potato ever. This potato had cheese, butter, salt, pepper, and coleslaw. Needless to say best potato ever, I will be getting that again. I then stepped foot outside the flat to go on an adventure, this adventure was specific because we were looking for brownies. Eventually we settled for a bar of chocolate, beer, and M&Ms. Why are there no brownies? There are cupcakes, there should be brownies! I need to start a list of things I am going to appreciate when I get home. 1) Brownies 2)zip lock baggies 3) PEANUT BUTTER 4) pizza rolls 5) mac and cheese 6)…the list will go on.

8-9-10!

8/9/10
Rosslyn Chapel is beautiful. Its apparently the place that they shot some of the scenes from the DaVinci Code. The scaffolding was still up on the chapel but the building was still beautiful. There were so many intricate details, all the pillars were different. The girls and I went to the crypt in the ‘basement’ which is the oldest part of the church. This church wasn’t large like St Giles, it was tiny, intimate. The carvings were floor to ceiling detailed work and most told a story. One portion depicted the seven deadly sins and another depicted the dance of death. Taking the bus to the chapel in Roslin was a little sketchy though because we drove out past the city limits, then the tourists in the front started getting antsy because they thought they went too far. One of the locals kept telling the Asian couple that they needed to sit back down because their stop was still far away. Turns out the bus driver was nice and yelled out that we were at the stop for Rosslyn chapel when we got there. After touring the chapel we decided to walk down to the castle. People can actually rent the place for Holiday. Which is crazy! The castle is mostly crumbling but most of the walls were still there in the corners. The walls were huge!
The two hours spent at Rosslyn Chapel were really cool compared to the two hours in the afternoon spent in a hot sticky room listening to our new faculty advisor talk about registration and matriculation. The worst part was that we didn’t have time to stop for lunch before our matriculation meeting so we basically it was torture. One of the girls stomachs growled during the meeting and I’m pretty sure the back row could hear! We were so hungry, so after the meeting we booked it outside and down to the corner where the coffee shops were so that we could find a sandwich. We discovered Greggs. New favorite place to get lunch. Lets just say during lunch break on Wednesdays I will be eating there!
Because of our slow internet we all had to take turns sending in our class schedules to the school after we got back to the flat. That was a little nerve wracking! But lucky us we all got the classes we wanted! We got back to the flat around 430 and decided we were hungry, but Karen had promised to take us out to dinner at 7. Waiting for her to get to the flat was torture as well because we were just all so hungry. Time moved even slower when you want it to move fast. When dinner (tea) actually happened it was delightful and soooo good! I got the risotto and anyone who has known me for at least two meals know that I don’t eat that much. Well Karen didn’t understand this and thought that I just didn’t like the dish. I love all food I’m just not a very big person so I can’t “put away” the same amount of food that everyone else can. Exceptions are Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Fourth of July when my stomach becomes a bottomless pit.
Skype is wonderful. I had two scheduled times for seeing lovely people. KCC made my day telling me Albion Gossip, judging my life, and just being her. I love talking to her. My other skype “date” was with my honorary cousin Shannon. GOSSIP! Love it. There is never a bad time to hear from Shannon. She is so cool and makes killer spaghetti and sweet potato casserole. I hope to talk to her at least every week. She can keep me up on her ‘situation’ and my awesome family values. Love! Also, do M&Ms get stale?

Calm Day

7/9/10
Wellies, rain boots, are not to be found around here for less than 60 pounds. I am not in need of them that badly. Although the Cheetah print 145 pound rain boots were tempting. The shoe shops are supposed to carry nice wellies, but the place to buy them (apparently) is the supermarket. I mean that sounds appealing. I miss Target, ziplock baggies, peanut butter, pizza rolls, and mac and cheese. I also miss the people but that’s a given. The plumber was supposed to come today and fix the main pipes so that the main bathroom could have hot water again. He didn’t show up today. Looks like everyone has to take another shower in my bathroom (my bedroom has a private bathroom). Today we just lounged around after seeing some of the sights. Gosh, being a tourist is tiring.
Fun Fact. BUY STEPHEN COLBERT’S BOOK. I am absolutely in love with it right now. I have nothing else to read besides it so it will have to do. Have I mentioned I love Skype? Well, I do. Although right now all I want is a super duper hug from a super duper person I will have to do with just having awesome Skype Dates with said person.

Big Mess

6/9/2010

            Napier Orientation. Got on the bus directly at 9:01am. Half hour bus ride to campus. Made it to our meeting right on time. We knew most of the stuff already because we had a meeting with our coordinator on Friday. We signed forms, listend to a lecture, and eventually got out of there by 12. We took the bus back across town and tried to decide what we were going to do for the day. The one thing we really wanted to do was go to Rosslyn Chapel, where they filmed some of the scenes from the DaVinci Code.

Well let’s just say the bus times and map are really confusing and we got there just as the bus left (unbeknownst to us) and the next one was going to be in 40 or so minutes. We decided to scrap that plan for the day and do that Wednesday before we sign up for classes at the University. So we came back to the flat and decided we wanted to go to the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Needless to say I’m a klutz and now have a big patch of skin that is missing from the palm of my right hand and knee. It feels awesome. Other than that the Gardens are awesome and you could get lost in them if we didn’t have a map. Eventually we ended up back at the gate we had come in at and decided it was a sign saying “Please leave now or never find your way out.” Dinner was another concoction of things thrown together from an oven that has strange knobs. Pasta with chicken and avocado in it, with some salad, delicious!

Sunday Church Exploration #1

5/9/2010

St Mary’s Cathedral

            Walking to the cathedral was an adventure. The church Google pointed to was a different church then the one we had decided to go to. So we kept walking a little farther down the road and turned the corner on a whim, little did I know that God was leading us to the correct church! We found it less than 3 minutes later and the picture connected to this post is the front of the church we attended. The inside of the cathedral was beautiful, murals everywhere, the walls were intricately carved, the ceiling was beautiful. The pipe organ was as huge as the front of the church and the angels on the sides all had really cool crests that they were holding.

            I went to a Roman Catholic church service and some of the things that occurred during the service were all knew to me. There was an incense guy, he went a little crazy with the incense and the entirety of the church was in a fog for the entire time. The procession was cool, but they walked really slowly. This service also had a baptism that we were able to witness. Most of the baptism was in Spanish because the parents were originally from Mexico. The songs that we were to sing was unrecognizable because of the pipe organ. The song book just had words, no notes, which made it difficult to sing along with the congregation.

            Even though I have never been to a Catholic service, Emily who claims that she went all the time when she was little “didn’t know what was going on half the time.” There was a lot of mumbling, which made me a little overwhelmed. Usually in my church there are people that organize the people going up for communion. This service, the Father announced communion and everyone got up like it was a free for all. I was surprised an elderly person wasn’t trampled. I was also surprised that the incense guy was still standing at the end. Overall, it was a great experience, and we ended the day watching fireworks that were set off at the city centre’s castle on top of the Mound. They were a great show, and we met lots of people in the streets that were talkative about awesome things to do in Edinburgh!

Arthur's Seat

. Its Saturday so we can sleep in. Breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast! We decided to go to Arthur’s Seat today. 1) get dressed 2)find change for the bus 3)find which bus takes us there 4) find a way around the triathlon 5) crossing without going in front of bikers and runners 6) finding the stairs for the mountain 6.5) the picture to the right is the 'stairs' up to Arthur's Seat 7) climbing the mountain 8) discovering that the mountain we were climbing was not the right one…(that was awful) 9) climbing up the correct mountain 10) once we got to the top…getting back down the mountain (this was probably a little harder). I loved the climb, the view, the ladies I was with!
Also, baked potatoes, delicious. I will be going back to the store many times. Jenners, the oldest department store in the UK? E2 and I went in after climbing the mountain and I discovered that the store goes on forever! There are so many different level and hidden places. The place is HUGE! I discovered my watch stopped working, Oh no! How will I tell what time it is now? We made pizza for dinner, needless to say I forgot my dairy pill:( so I am not going out tonight because I feel awful. I will definitely try to remember it more in the future. I love my flat mates. They are delightful. I hope they have an awesome time tonight.

Bus Pass!

Walking to my interview was an experience. Having never walked there before, having driven past it only once I was excited to see if I could find it on my own. Well success is mine because by giving myself 30 minutes to walk there in the morning I left the flat and headed toward that direction. I arrived 7 minutes early so WIN! The locked doors threw me off though. I could not for the life of me figure out why I could not get into the building. Looking all over I discovered an intercom and after chatting with the nice lady about my business in the building was buzzed in. The office seems like it will be a wonderful experience. I was impressed with all the tasks that I might be doing and am excited to go in for work next Monday! The interview was shorter than the walk over to the building but that is okay.
When I got back to the flat E2 had decided we were going exploring for a couple hours before Karen came and took us on the bus. We wandered down the Royal Mile and hit Grass Market, the Elephant House, and walked along Cowgate road (with all the clubs). We got back from exploring just in time to meet Karen at the door and then catch a bus to Napier’s Craiglockhart Campus, we also went to the Craig House Campus which was gorgeous! I wish I had classes there. Maybe I will!
After the exploration of the campuses we walked from the very south end of Edinburgh, back to the flat. Which was only an hour or so walk, not bad for a walk around the city. Emily and I have decided that the name Princes Street is lame so we have dubbed it Princess Street.
Dinner of thrown together pasta was delightful It was one of the best dinners I have had in a while! Even though we just went to the grocer we have a list of things that we need, like salt. Why can’t we find salt in this country! Maybe I’ll go to MacDons and just take some salt packages. We tried some Magner’s Cider which went with the pasta deliciously.
Pub hopping, meeting some English men who are work as a crew for a racer. I’m pretty sure that’s what they said, it was kind of loud in the pub. They were really cool and we hung out with them for most of the night! All in all a wonderful day.

Full Fridge!

2/9/2010
My bed is so comfy that it enveloped me! We are going to the super market today to stock our shelves with delicious food! I can’t wait.
(Winding down around 21:00)
We now have a well stocked kitchen, the fridge and freezer are full of good food! It took us a good two hours to shop at the big super market called Asda…which is owned by Walmart (shiver). The supermarket is layed out very different than back home. It confused me quite a bit. We had dinner treated to us by our coordinator, Karen. She is awesome. E2 and I got salads from the pizzeria that we went to down the road from the flat. There are so many different pubs, restraints, café’s and shops around these parts. It is all a little overwhelming at times.
My internship interview is tomorrow. I’m nervous because it is something new! I really want this internship to work. The company looks awesome and it looks like I could learn a lot from them! Cross your fingers for me. I still don’t know when the interview time is but hopefully I will know soon. I’m sleepy for some odd reason. So I might go to bed early so I’m refreshed and raring to go tomorrow when I have to walk all the way over to the interview place. I’m pretty sure it’s less than half an hour walk from my flat so I’m psyched. I have decided to wear flats tomorrow. We might go to a club tonight but if I’m still cold and sleepy I think I will pass for the night. I am sure there will be other days I could dance as well. For know I am content with listening to the street, reading some Colbert, and sleeping until tomorrow morning.
Stay classy America.
P.S. If you wanted to send me a letter, send me an email or comment on this post and I can send you the address!

New Town

1/9/2010
New flat. Awesome view. Noisy road. New mates. Need some rain boots. New phone. New room. Comfy bed. Comfy apartment. We have a huge fridge, dish washer, washer (no dryer). There are three bedrooms, four beds, two baths and a huge kitchen. There will be pictures up on FB. Today I get a phone which is exciting, even though I don’t have anyone to call. I will have a life line to the outside world.
LOUD NOISES.
Now that I know what is in store for me here I’m looking forward to it. I have my interview on Friday. I have Freshers Orientation on Monday. We have time tables for the buses to get to the campus. I need to find where the gym is.
I’m sure this will be an awesome three months. Can’t wait to have something to do. For now unpacking is high on my to do list!
You stay classy…