I didn't have much time to recover from the Paris whirlwind because the very next day my friend Christi came to visit. She's from Homer, Alaska as well and had been traveling around for awhile with Morgan and fancied a visit to Scotland. Since I still had classes I left Christi to herself on Tuesday and she ended up addicted to the Twilight book series, of which I had two lying around my room. That was all well and good because I was very addicted to them and had moved on to the third one. Of course we didn't just read the whole time, so once we had peeled our eyes off the pages of our beloved books we headed into town with the rugby girls for a night out. Our game for Wednesday had been canceled but we never miss out on a reason to party. They embraced Christi into the graffiti party and soon our white shirts were covered in all sort of endearing and derogatory comments in bright marker. Complete with metallic party hats, we looked quite frightful but decided to brave the stares of passersby and return to Wavell.


We had taught the group to play an American drinking game called beer pong where you throw ping-pong balls into plastic cups on a table. They loved it! The night ended up to be quite the memory complete with the guys trying to steal my mattress (which was Christi's bed at the time) and a large number of plastic gold beads scattered on my floor.

Sarah and I were invited out to a party in Paris that last night and we were a little skeptical--since Sarah didn't know the girl hosting it-- but decided to go anyways. The people there were very welcoming but I still felt really out of place again not knowing what anyone was saying. It was fine with Sarah and her friends, but this was way different because there were more people and most of them didn't know me or Sarah and didn't know I didn't speak French, in any case it would have been uncomfortable even without the language barrier. With the social lubricating nature of alcohol and the graciousness of French people I began to feel much better and starting enjoying myself and chatting with a few of the people around me. The apartment was just for the one girl and was absolutely minuscule so squished in together and started to get to know each other rather well. I met a lovely boy named Johan Janvier while I was at the party too and I'll be keeping in touch with him. Friends in Paris, how wonderful! He'd like to visit Alaska sometime too and I told him he'd love Homer since he's a musician.

The next day Johan, Sarah and I went out for crepes at this cozy little place nearby her flat. We had fun deciphering the menu and ordering some rather daring crepes (Sarah's had a type of mushroom called the "trumpet of death") which were so good I can't describe it. I just knew that my goal of eating good food in Paris was so surpassed by the food we ate at that place (forgot the name!) because we also ordered dessert crepes, mine being one with dark chocolate and cream. Mmm.

Our brunch went late so before I knew it we were all on a train to the airport. Things got iffy when we had trouble buying tickets and I knew it was going to be a close one. Once I finally got to the airport I nearly ran to the check-in kiosks which refused to check me in. So I begged the front desk lady to let me through since I still had 27 minutes to make it to the gate and that was really plenty of time even for someone with all their toes bitten off. She agreed to let me through and just encouraged me to "hurry". I said the quickest good-bye to Sarah and Johan and flew through security so that I wasn't even the last one boarding my flight. To calm my nerves I ordered a gin and tonic and I finally realized how handy it is to serve alcoholic beverages on flights. The stress of those places is incredible sometimes! I enjoyed my flights back to Aberdeen by listening to Muse and thinking about all that had happened this weekend. Even the bus ride into town and the walk back up to Hillhead was nice and relaxing before finally falling into my bed for a beautiful night of sleep. The return from Paris made me realize how much Aberdeen feels like home now, and of course how comforting it is to be back in Wavell and amongst speech I actually understand.

Sarah and Kasey go to the Eiffel Tower...

Our mission for today was to experience Paris: the stereotype. We bought a bit of cheese from a street market stand and then ate it with bread at a cafe, along with a truly delicious lunch of some type of fish and pasta with basil and tomatoes. From there we took the metro to the nearest station to the Eiffel Tower. We couldn't see the tower from the street so we started wandering around looking for it. We definitely looked silly because we were spinning around in all directions trying to peek over buildings and when we finally caught a glimpse of it we both said "OH!" really loud right in front of a bunch of what looked like tour bus drivers having a smoke break. They laughed at our reactions but we were already off to get a closer look of the tower. At this point it was dusk and there weren't many other people around so we got a few minutes free to take pictures in front of it. As it got darker we kept walking nearer and nearer and kept finding new fantastic things like ponies and carousels with bubbles and music playing. There were so many cute French kids running around looking like big, multi-colored marshmallows in their winter coats. One little boy was especially cute as he followed his dad while dragging four little balloons on a string behind him. Sarah and I had a great time snapping photos but we were freezing by the time the lights came on, so after basking in the general splendor of a sparkling Eiffel Tower, we retired to a nearby cafe for coffees and creme brulee. Honestly, both Sarah and I were so overwhelmed with our little adventure that while eating the creme brulee we started to tear up a little. It's ridiculous I know, but it really was that good... the creme brulee as well as the entire day.

Carousel, with me looking on from the left, so unreal!

The small child with balloons

Today was spent on a hunt for turkeys. Not in the literal sense of the word, because guns were not involved, however it was still quite an adventure running around to markets all around Paris only to find an intimidating display of half plucked turkeys that would surely not fit into the tiny oven, much less be done cooking before 10pm. So we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving with chicken instead, already cooked and delicious from the market. We brought it back to Sarah's place along with her friends Pierre, Davey, Randy and Gaetan. Dinner was perfect, accented with a glass of... yes, red wine. Oh! Davey, who is a chef, made dessert which was a truly fantastic Tiramisu that we ate at probably around 4am! I even offered to take the dishes into the kitchen to wash them so I could scrape out the last of that delicious-ness.

Sarah and I with black licorice!

The English speaking is entertaining. There have been many hilarious moments of mixing up pronunciations and words and such, and of course I laugh at them but then I realize how ridiculous I must sound whenever I try to say anything. I know so little French, honestly... like three phrases. Apparently I have a good accent though, which I've been told after squeezing out a couple syllables of rehearsed French. Being with these guys and not being able to communicate with them has really woken me up to how important and amazing learning another language can be. Knowing only one language restricts you from knowing some of the most interesting people of this world, and I'm going to work on not letting that happen to me. Luckily I've been able to have decent conversations with all of these guys, even talking about our hopes and dreams for the future with Gaetan. Sometimes you don't even need to talk to communicate though, like teaching Davey to play a bit of Mad World by Gary Jules on the piano. These guys are all so sweet and I'm so happy I got to meet them!

Current Location: Couch - Sarah's Place - Paris!

Eeeek! I'm in Paris!!

That's what I've been thinking about every three minutes since I've gotten off the plane last night. I spent a bit in the airport waiting for Sarah, but then she showed up with her friend Pierre and we took a taxi into the city. We went to her friend's place and stayed up 'til 5:30 in the morning, when the metro opened again. All of her friend's are French and though they all speak a little English only Pierre speaks it regularly. It would be so nice to know enough French to have a conversation, but I still enjoyed being there immensely, just sitting and soaking it all in. You never know how much you can understand by just body language and inflection until you're put in a situation like this... and it's amazing! I especially enjoyed when Davey started doing magic tricks because he was really good and clearly enjoyed entertaining us. The guys all liked a lot of classic rock too, so it was great fun to sing along together. I have just had so much fun the whole time I've been here and can't wait for the Thanksgiving dinner we are cooking tonight! Sarah's place is this beautiful apartment with big windows overlooking the courtyard and paintings all over, so I don't mind at all that we haven't yet left the house today. Honestly, I think this is the best way to experience Paris!

Current Location: Gate A7 - London Heathrow Airport

Wowzer, it has been one of those days. You know those days when you have an impossible number of things to do in a tiny amount of time and for some reason you don't write it all down because it's so much better to stress yourself out by repeating the list in your head over and over so you don't forget anything? Yeah, I had one of those. I suppose it was all because of this essay I had to write for my Environmental Systems course. I've been trying to write it all week and spend the past two nights tortuously scrawling out something decent to turn in, which is unfortunate as this essay counts for 80% of my grade for the course. But it is done, and turned in, and there's nothing more I can do about it.... thank goodness!

Thank goodness especially because I am on my way to Paris! In an act of spontanuity, I bought a plane ticket last week to visit my friend Sarah who's studying there for the year. We're going to celebrate Thanksgiving together! By the way, Happy Thanksgiving! Hope your dinner was better than the shockingly tasteless chicken salad I had on the last flight. Honestly, I'm not a picky eater and I've got no expectations for airplane food... but I could not bring myself to eat all of that "chicken". Perhaps we'll have something nice on this next flight...

By the way, I almost didn't make my last flight. It was a horrible dejavu nightmare of the London to Aberdeen debacle, except this time there was no suitcase to blame it on. I left Hillhead at 2:30pm to make a 3:20pm bus to the airport for my flight that was at 5:15pm. But no, the bus was fifteen minutes late and then we proceeded to stop at every single bus stop between the city center and the airport. I was just sitting there thinking, "This cannot be happening, there's no way!!" and I honestly started feeling ill just thinking about missing this flight. Luckily I flew off the bus and was speedily checked in with the help of a nice attendent and made it just fine. I met up with Mary who's an American in my study abroad program who was on her way to meet up with family in London, so we sat together on the flight and chatted about how much we didn't want to leave Scotland. It was a pleasant flight, but I'll be looking forward to a bit more time to try to relax from this crazy stressful day.

My flight's boarding now... so I'll post again while I'm in Paris! Going to the mainland for the first time, woot!

SNOW!!

Oh my goodness, so much snow is falling right now and it makes me so happy!

WE GOT THE BELL!

Since Saturday was the day of the Monon Bell football game back at DePauw University, I decided to support my team from thousands of miles away with a little facepaint and a sparkly gold eighties jacket. I went to Matt's room to listen to the game online because he's from Wabash College, our rival school. It wasn't the most interesting game though since we DOMINATED THEM so I skyped my mom and sister while we racked up the points and Matt hung his head in shame, and rightly so.

WHO'S GOT THE BELL?!?
:)

Oh what a week...

Monday: Left Wavell in a rush to print out and turn in my first assignment for my Environmental Systems course. I submitted it into the dropbox but then had to sprint off for the train station in town. I arrived there breathless but ten minutes early to catch a nice relaxing train to Glasgow.

Journal Entry:

I'm in a train headed to Glasgow and I can't imagine a place I'd rather be. The sunlight from this beautiful blue-skies day is filtering through the window on to me as I watch all of Scotland flying past. I love this place! The green pastures dotted with wooly sheep or big brown cows... ending abruptly with rocky cliffs dropping straight into the ocean. It reminds me of a softer version of Homer, more rounded and old and worn. And of course we just passed a golf course situated in a perfect cranny raised just above the ocean. I can tell from here that every single golfer down there is ecstatic to be there, here in Scotland living the dream on this perfect sunny day. Makes me wish I played golf so I could experience that sort of joy...

Outside of the train station now... always a harsh transition. I know airports, I know trains now and buses but as soon as you step out of that nice linoleum, heavily signed and directed place, it's right back to the real world where no one cares if you're lost and finding your way around takes a lot more than following the "Way Out ->" signs. But I needed to get out of there so I took the first opportunity to do so which lead me to sitting on this sun-warmed bench looking across George Square. It is extraordinarily lovely to sit without a place to be or go. The guys get here at 3:40 so I better enjoy my freedom while it lasts. I choose to spend it here, with loud techno blaring from cars behind me, staring at pigeons through the glare of sunlight bouncing off my eyelashes. As nice as this is, I must soak it up and head out.

Found the hostel fine, it seemed like a really cool place so I booked a room and tried to get to the third floor, where my room was. Couldn't work the door so I hopped on an elevator with another girl who happened to be assigned to the same room as me AND going to the same concert. Her name is Kat and she had been working in the Highlands all summer and was just returning home to Pittsburgh. I was hungry so I bought some bread and cheese and went down to the River Clyde to eat in the sun. I was asked for directions by two different people so I must look like a local, awesome! I left to meet up with the guys at the train station which went fairly smoothly. It's very easy to find your way around in that part of Glasgow. The guys decided against getting a room for the night, opting for wandering around Glasgow after the concert.

The Concert: Left with Kat and Steve to make our way to the Barrowland Ballroom. It was a neat venue with a giant wood dance floor and high ceilings. We staked out a place in the front row on stage left to enjoy the opening bands. They were completely high energy and I was feeling very tired by the time it came to Flogging Molly. Oooooh they were so good! I actually teared up when they played "If I Ever Leave This World Alive", which is the song I'd like to have played at my funeral. No tears for the other songs though, just straight up rockin' out. After the show I was able to corner the guitarist Dennis Casey, gave him a big hug and thanked him for the concert. He seemed surprised by my American accent and asked me where I was from, so we ended up talking about Alaska for a while. Then he signed my new t-shirt on the sleeve, "From one KC to Another" which made my night. I suppose the chips I got afterwards, served by two very nice old ladies at a little shop nearby, also made my night.... as did going back to the hostel to crash on my bed for a few hours.

Signed Flogging Molly t-shirt!

Tuesday: Ugh, waking up sucked but at least breakfast was nice: toast with raspberry jam and rice krispies. I walked the streets of Glasgow confidently back to the train station and spent the next couple hours on the train alternating between reading New Moon and dozing off against the window. Train travel is the best way to go by far!

Got back to Aberdeen, but there was no time to spare. I went straight from the train station to my CS practical where I started to mildly freak out about my CS Assessment which was due that Friday. I ended up skipping the rest of my lectures to work on that and got about 3/4 of the way through. Dinner was a rush and I finally passed out in my bed, oh my lovely, lovely bed.


Wednesday: Another crazy day of making up for missing classes Monday and procrastinating my course work. I decided that despite all the work I had to do, I would accept my Computer Science professor's invitation to celebrate Bonfire Night (November the 5th) at his home. How many times will I have the opportunity to eat dinner with a professor in Scotland? The house was easy enough to find but I had a bit of difficulty getting the front gate open and kind of felt like I was a very poor thief trying to do a B&E (breaking and entering for those non-Dane Cook people out there). Still, I did get in and was warmly welcomed by my professor and his wife. There were two other students as well, both international, and we sat and talked politics for awhile. Dinner was chicken stovies and it was fantastic. Even though I had already eaten dinner at Hillhead, I still had second helpings. I think I'm a little starved for home cooking. We shot off a few fireworks and called it a night. Even though it was just dinner and conversation... gosh, it was so cool to be in that house with two Scottish professors who had lived there for many, many years. I definitely got a good peek into normal, everyday Scottish living.

Thursday: Got to finish this psychology study I was in today. It was about memory and I'm afraid I wasn't the best subject because part of it was recognizing these faces that popped up on the screen and I'm certain I was rubbish. The other part was tricky because this interviewer asked me about real and fake details in a movie clip I watched last week. Basically it was a study on the reliability of witness statements... and how easily they can be altered by questioning. I think I was a very good witness. The rest of this day was spent putting off my research paper until 10pm... then writing it until...

Friday: at 2:00pm with a little sleep mixed in. It was time to celebrate turning in my paper so I played a few games of beer pong with my friends Palmer, Colin, Steve and Stijn. We ended up at the Watering Hole, the bar with no atmosphere but cheap drinks, where I met some interesting people before finally making it to my bed. I do like meeting new people, it's probably the best thing about traveling ever.

Saturday: Waking up for breakfast is always difficult on a Saturday but I love eating so much that I always make a point to. Not planning on doing a lot today... just recover a bit for...

Sunday: because I'm going to an Aberdeenshire rugby game in Glasgow. We were told that the Glaswegians are an intense team so I was a little intimidated going out on the field. All that went away when it started to downpour.... which quickly turned into hail. It's hard to be intimidated when you are miserably wet and cold. I played as flanker and made quite a few mistakes so it wasn't the best game for me. I still feel proud of myself though... simply surviving was good enough!

The Aberdeenshire Quines

And that's a week in my life here... :)

Happy Late Halloween!

Since I didn’t have any classes on Friday I spent nice morning waiting in eager anticipation for everyone to come home from classes. I love Halloween and I honestly still get excited for it just like when I was young. There’s something about dressing up that will never get old for me. Gill and I decided to go to rugby since we felt guilty about skipping on Wednesday, so we had very little time to get ready once we were back. I was just so super exicted that it took me forever to get my fake eyelashes glued on cause my hand were shaking slightly. Once they were securely in place it was just a matter of slipping on my dress and dousing myself in glitter to become:

Tinkerbell!

This is me with another girl who was dressed like Tinkerbell. It ended up that there are not really that many things to dress up for on Halloween so you got to see a lot of people with the same idea as you. I think Tom's was the best because every other guy in a banana suit would stop to talk or give him a high five. Most everyone else dressed as zombies so I felt a little silly being all glittery and such when they had all their white face paint and crazy contact lenses.

The zombies, note crazy contact lenses.

The guys actually found it entertaining to squish the nasty fake blood stuff onto the non-zombie people throughout the evening so as the night went on, I became a more and more scary/maimed/dead Tinkerbell. That stuff would not come off either! Ugh!

Me getting devoured by my zombie friends.

We went to Liquid, a club known for being popular with first-years, which was completely packed with the most crazy assortment of costumed people I’ve ever seen. I honestly enjoyed looking at everyone’s costumes more than I did dancing in my new heels that ended up crippling me by the end of the night. I suppose my favorite was a guy dressed up in a Dalek costume, a character from the Doctor Who television series. I think I was a little too excited but the guy, Stephen, was very nice about letting me take a picture.


So yeah, Jenny-Shannon-Liz, that one is for you guys. Rock on TARDUS-style!

I danced until my feet were hurting too much to continue, cursing myself for thinking I could pull off the giant wedges I had bought that matched my dress. At least I hadn't tried to wear the pink stiletto heels... I'd probably have tripped and severely injured myself before even making it to the club! All in all it was a good night ending with a tasty Margherita pizza, a horribly long wait in the taxi queue, and the wonderful feeling of taking off those ridiculous shoes.

The Wavell 3 girls, all decked out.

Me n' Sean, tired at the end of the night.

I actually didn't fall asleep after getting back home. As tired as I was, I still wanted breakfast and thought it would be better to just stay up for forty-five minutes. It was completely dead that morning and I felt a little self-conscious eating by myself, fake eyelashes still in place and smudges of that nasty blood stuff stubbornly remaining. Saturday was useless after that, but a good Halloweeen is always worth a wasted next day!

I was feeling a little bit down earlier this week, so maybe that was part of the “W effect” of studying abroad. Supposedly you start out by being really happy before having a real low point where you miss home a lot. Then things get better until you have another low… but then you are fine and life just get better and better until you have to leave. In any case, it was a brief lull that was easily cured by shopping for my Halloween outfit yesterday. I ended up browsing the sale section for a good long time by myself and ended up with a set of wings, fake eyelashes, two pairs of shoes, green glitter, a skirt, a pair of pants (trousers), fish net tights, a little silver head band thing and a strapless green dress. I’ll let you guess what I’m going to be… and of course I’ll post pictures from this wonderful upcoming weekend. I love Halloween!

As I was walking back to Hillhead after my shopping I saw a bunch of people crowding over at King’s College playing fields. Hurray for rugby! I haven’t had many opportunities to watch rugby since I’ve been playing a lot, so I stopped to watch and became totally engrossed. I honestly don’t think any sports even come close to how awesome rugby is, especially when played by people who know what they are doing. And these guys knew what they were doing. It was the Aberdeen Firsts vs. Dundee, so basically my university’s best team. Every guy out there had these enormous thighs that I am very jealous of and despite their size they were extraordinarily nimble and quick. I really enjoyed watching the game, especially since it will help me in upcoming games. I’m just so new to the sport and there is so much to learn! Also, it didn’t hurt that number 14 was quite cute and really good at his position. I’ll definitely be down to watch the games this Saturday.

I’m in my Operating Systems lecture right now and I’m finding it impossible to pay attention. I mean, I like my professor and he’s really nice and all, but these lectures are boring and, to be honest, a complete waste of time. I miss my interactive lectures with DyKnow slides and class participation that I’d get at DePauw. This is probably the least effective way for anyone to learn anything but Computer Science in particular and I hate it. We sit in a lecture hall that is probably ten times too big for our class which means we’re all spread out. I’m the closest one to the front and I’m in the third row! Then, once we’re seated as far apart from each other and the professor as possible, Roly just launches into an extended ramble on whatever little insignificant details of Linux he cares to talk about, punctuated by laser pointer explanations of code and tangential musings. He’s talking about colors now, purple on black? When he was just talking about read/write permissions and shell scripts? I don’t understand! He literally just said, “And if you feel really bored, there’s this thing called…” Aaaauugghhh! - As Calvin would say.

I miss Dave Berque!

I voted! My absentee ballot is in the mail and hopefully being whisked off to America as we speak. It's weird that this is the first time I've voted, and I happen to be abroad. I feel disconnected from the US over here and all of its problems and elections and such, like I'm an outside observer instead of a participant. Hope it all goes well on the 4th!

It's finally dropped below zero, in Celsius, here in Aberdeen. Cold and clear, but there is a thin layer of ice that almost put me on my butt this morning while walking to breakfast. I've got my fingers crossed for snow even though that would mean losing a foolish bet (that it wouldn't snow properly until after December) and having to freeze during rugby practice.

Must go do homework!

Current Location : S33 - Wavell House - Aberdeen

Mmmm, brunch was good this morning. I'm getting used to these gigantic Scottish breakfasts that are full of massive amounts of protein and odd things like beans on toast and black pudding. They even have deep fried toast here... just normal toasted bread that's been fried and tastes incredibly artery-clogging, if that qualifies as a taste.

After brunch I was feeling rather ambitious and decided to enjoy the sunny day by taking a walk to the beach. On the way while trying to lure a kitty cat near me, I ran into a girl named Katie who recognized me from somewhere (she couldn't remember and I had no idea) and we walked along together for awhile. It is always nice to meet new people in unexpected places! Once we got to the beach we went our separate ways since I really wanted some time to myself. I was originally going to wander a little ways down the beach, but once I started walking I didn't stop until I had gone way past wherever I had been before. I sat on a big chunk of rock for awhile to watch the waves by myself, then stood up only to hear a sickening *rriiip*. I got a bit of my trousers stuck on the rock and ripped out a big hole right on my butt! I fretted over it for awhile... then decided there was nothing I could do about it so I kept on walking. When I realized the sun was starting to go down, I turned around and headed back, still picking up little bits of sea glass and porcelain on the way. When I got to the road I crosssed halfway and was walking down the raised thing in the middle of the two lanes of traffic when a van full of guys (obviously on a sports team) drove by. Someone yelled something at me as they went by... but then the van stopped at a red light and I had to walk past them again. This time they were whistling and I was so embarrassed because there were a couple older people walking the opposite way that were looking at me and the van trying to figure out what was going on. The light finally turned green and I was allowed to finish the rest of my walk in peace!

Current Location: Bed - Wavell House - Aberdeen

Another weekend come and gone. Even though it seemed like a relatively relaxing one, this Sunday morning still finds me exhausted and impatiently waiting for brunch to open at half eleven.

Thursday night with Morgan was great fun. We decided to go to the movies so bought our tickets for Burn After Reading, a Coen Brothers Film. Since we were early we walked around until we found some stone stairs overlooking the harbor. There we sat and ate bread with cheese and enjoyed a Fosters, still talking about Homer and traveling and how awesome Rick Steves is. The movie was really clever, I definitely recommend it.

On Friday morning Morgan checked out of his hostel in town and met me up at Hillhead to drop off his backpack. We headed out to the beach and spent an hour or two walking around and climbing on the old concrete buildings that were getting washed closer and closer to the ocean. The wind was strong but so was the sun, which equals a lovely Scottish day. I really need to take advantage of how close the beach is. We got lunch at The Bobbin and ate our delicious cheeseburgers while watching old Britney Spears' music videos. Morgan wanted to grab a present for his girlfriend Emmy, who was staying in London during his little sidetrip up here, so we headed downtown. Somehow the time was flying by as we were walking around because before I knew it we were back up at Hillhead. I got ready for rugby practice, Morgan packed his backpack up again and after three hugs from me he was off back to London to continue his Euro-trip. I'm so happy he came up so if anyone else out there wants to visit, do it!

Practice was hard but good, though I hate having to eat dinner before. Sprints are killer when you just ate a bunch of delicious chili and chips. Regardless, I still enjoyed myself. Training with older women has been a nice deviation from university training, and of course they are amazingly good. I didn't think I'd be up for anything once I got back to the dorms, but of course I had to accept the invitation to play beer pong with my American friends and new friend Stijn (pronounced "Stan", crazy I know!). I lost my game, but it was a close one and also a lovely reminder of good times at DePauw. We went to the Watering Hole after the games were over so the guys could continue to drink. I wasn't entirely happy being there since it was terribly stuffy and hot, but I'm happy I stayed because I ended up meeting a lot of new people. A bunch were Erasmus students, who are exchange students from elsewhere in Europe, and I wasn't so good at understanding them since some only spoke a little English mixed in with their Italian. Later though, I spotted Mya, a girl I just met who lives on the second floor of Wavell too. I joined her table and ended up discussing American politics for hours with her and Will, another Wavell-ite, and a couple other people whose names I do not remember. I finally pulled myself away from these new friends and went to bed around 3:30...

...only to wake up again at 6:30 for my History of Art trip. For added humor, I ran into Mya on my way down the stairs. She was just getting back! Needless to say, I was very jealous that she was going to be able to sleep in as late as she wanted... and I was already up and awake for the day. The trip wasn't so bad though, just a few hours of listening to people talk about paintings followed by a few hours of staring at paintings and trying to write notes that might be helpful for the essay I have to write. The weather was absolutely miserable though, with heavy rain blowing sideways as we ran for the bus home. I was completely exhausted by the time I got back to home sweet Wavell and decided to make a quiet night of it by watching Grey's Anatomy and Bridget Jones's Diary.

The two paintings I chose to compare/contrast for my first essay!

Titian (Tiziano Vecellio)
The Three Ages of Man

Lorenzo Lotto

The Virgin and Child with St Jerome, St Peter, St Francis and an Unidentified Female Saint

Now I'm awake... and still waiting for brunch! Gill just knocked on my door to go down for food, but thought it was ten to twelve instead of ten to eleven. Apparently there was a time change I didn't know about, but my lovely MacBook and iPod knew! No wonder I'm so hungry and woke up at nine without a single alarm. Guess that means nights are going to seem a lot longer and such. I wonder what rugby practice will be like in this new complete darkness... they are already dark enough!

Current Location: 4th Floor Window - Queen Mother Library - Aberdeen

It's a blustery day outside, but very pleasant to watch all cozy and warm from a window overlooking the whole of campus. I'm just on my two hour break in between classes, which does not leave enough time to hoof it back up to Hillhead so I usually hang out in the library. I only have two more lectures, Environmental Systems and History of Art, then I'm freeeeeee for the weekend. I love having Fridays off!

Yesterday's rugby game was rather pleasant. Once again we were pushed around and ended up losing.... but by a smaller margin than the Dundee game so at least the team is improving. Can't say I added to that improvement though, I think I could have played a heck of a lot better. Still, I did my best and got my hands on the ball a few times. I got to be a lifter during line outs this game too, which always makes me happy! In any case, it was a beautiful day to play rugby and I think Morgan and the couple Wavell guys that came down to watch enjoyed themselves. Morgan got some good photos which I will steal from him sometime and post up here eventually.

After the game I dragged Morgan along with me to the rugby social at The Bobbin. There were many delicious burgers and pints consumed before we took off for the train station. I needed to buy some tickets to go to Glasgow on November 3rd for a concert, and it was nice to stretch out after that game. We stopped by a grocery store afterward and had a little picnic on a hill overlooking this massive cemetery and all the way to the harbor and ocean. Even when the wind kicked up and the sun went down, it was a very pretty spot to sit and talk, so sit and talk we did until we were done with our beers. It was lovely to have someone to talk to about people back home and traveling around Europe and all those things that none of my friends here can really relate to. It wasn't terribly late when we went our separate ways... but I was hurting after the game and needed the sleep to be coherent in my classes today!

Current Location: Under the Covers - Wavell House - Aberdeen

Today was quite a nice day. Instead of the crazy weather we had yesterday... where it changed from sun to clouds to wind to rain and back to sun in half an hour cycles... it actually stayed sunny and clear all day. This meant it was very cold but I optimistically left in just a t-shirt and scarf. I got my second piece of marked work in my CS class, and got another A. Woot!

I got a shocker when I was walking back from History of Art and saw my friend Morgan Jones from Homer walking the other way. I did a total double take and then screamed and jumped on him. I knew he was going to come visit but I didn't know he was coming today and didn't expect to just see him out of the blue. It was actually quite lucky that we ran into each other since I don't have a mobile or any other way of getting a hold of him. He'll be here for a couple days and will be going to my rugby game tomorrow. Hope I don't embarrass myself!

Still waiting for my absentee ballot to get to me... but I've got a lot of news and debates to catch up on while I wait. It's hard to stay up-to-date on current events because even though I don't totally feel like I'm in the UK... I still feel very much detached from the US and all of its issues.


And here's some more photos...

The Wavell House Group, all dressed up to go out!

From the right this is Ben, me and Tom
(note the awesome white and seafoam green paint job of our halls)

Here are the girls: Lyndsey, Gill, Amy, two of Lyndsey's friends from home and me!

Current Location: Bed - Wavell House - Aberdeen

Oooh, I hurt now. Since getting back from Ben Nevis I finally reconnected with the women's rugby team and that has occupied my free time pretty thoroughly. I've now been to a total of two practices and two matches... and with another match coming up this Wednesday it seems that I will be playing more than practicing. That's fine with me though, the playing time has taught me a lot more than drills ever will.

The first game was away against Dundee. I was a bit nervous since I hadn't been to a practice yet and just jumped at the chance to go with the team. As soon as I found out most of the girls had only been to one practice, and one hadn't been to any, I felt a lot better... except that meant our team was very inexperienced. I played as flanker in the scrum, a position I hadn't ever played before but it wasn't hard to pick up. Our team was clearly outmatched but we managed to hang on during the second half and at least hold them from scoring obscene amounts of tries. Later on at dinner I was awarded forward of the game for my team and had to drink my prize pint down right in front of the two teams. I actually finished mine unlike the other girls, and it definitely took the edge off of the pain in my right knee which was a bit swollen from falling on it over and over again.

I didn't have long to recooperate though because there was a Shire game a couple days later. See, there are two teams that I've played for: the University of Aberdeen team and the Aberdeenshire team. They train together and it's nice to be training with the experienced players but the older women can't play for the University team. I, however, get to play for both! More rugby for me! The Sunday Shire game was also away but in Edinburgh this time. Since we brought eighteen players I stayed off as a sub. It is maddening to sit on the sidelines during a game though, so even though it was terrible I was kind of happy that one of our players got hurt and I got to sub in right at the end of the first half. This was to be the Game of Many Positions as I started out as eight-man, moved to flanker before finally being set as a wing. I'm not completely happy playing as a back because you have to run a lot more and also sit around quite a bit, AND you don't get to be in the scrum. I still managed to get in a few rucks and tackles and had fun even though we lost this game as well. Honestly, the score never seems to matter much to me.

So my life has been rugby, rugby, class, rugby lately, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Got a home game against Glasgow with the University team this Wednesday, so wish me luck!

Current Location: Bed - Wavell House - Aberdeen

Now that I'm here all comfy on my bed and listening to Fratellis, a British band recommended to me by my friend JJ, I think I'll make a good attempt at catching up on all that's been going on.

I tried SCUBA diving with the Aberdeen Aqua Club a Thursday or two ago. If I was staying in Aberdeen longer than just this term I think I would join, but as it is there is not much of a point. The people were fantastic though and I had a great time. After a brief talk we were giving a swimming test, a simple eight lengths of the pool using any stroke we wanted. I must admit, just that small amount of swimming wore me out! Once we were deemed "swim-able" we were paired off with an instructor. Mine was Gary who was French but spoke very good English... just a bit hard to understand through the accent. I must admit I was a bit apprehensive that my instructor and I would be having communication problems since I have never even been around SCUBA gear and did not know anything. Gary was nice though and patiently showed me how to use the regulator, how to clear my ears and clear my mask if it got water in it while we were underwater. With all that out of the way, we just SCUBA-ed around the pool together for the rest of the time. I feel like I got the hang of it, with the gracious help from Gary of course. He even showed me how to do spins despite my less-than-perfect buoyancy.

Unfortunately the morning after my great SCUBA adventure I ended up with what I'm pretty sure was food poisoning from the hamburger I ate at Hillhead the night before. It was especially unfortunate since I had train/bus tickets booked for Fort William that day with further plans of hiking Ben Nevis the next day with fellow Americans Steve, Colin and Haleigh. In between bouts of nausea I managed to pack my rockin' backpack but still had no idea how I'd make it to the train station, much less up the tallest mountain in the United Kingdom. But I made my decision to go and just put one foot in front of the other. The nausea seemed to pass while on the train and I was able to enjoy the view out of the window. My favorite part was watching the sheep that had been grazing too close to the tracks getting scared by the train and running away. Simple pleasures I guess. I wasn't looking forward to switching to the bus in Inverness just from what I heard about the bus system, but I actually quite enjoyed it. I got to see Urqhart Castle all lit up next to Loch Ness before curling up across two sets of seats and enjoying some much needed nausea-free rest.

Once we were dropped off in Fort William we didn't really know exactly where our hostel was. Luckily a woman overheard us and gave us directions adding that we really ought to just hail a taxi. But we are an adventurous lot and set off through Fort William confident we'd be able to make the journey. Well, we went a bit past our destination, quite a bit past actually and fortunately came upon a restaurant that was closing and got new directions from there. We still had trouble from there with wrong turns and such but finally made it to our hostel which happened to be full of some very loud and fun-loving people who fancied themselves singers. It was a challenge to fall asleep to that, but a challenge I was certainly up for.

The Ben Nevis Inn

So I figured my food poisoning thing was over... but I was wrong. I had thrown up twice before our departure time and was definitely wondering if it was a good idea to try and climb in such poor condition. I'm sure it was a terrible decision, but I decided to go for it, just putting one foot in front of the other. As we made our slow and steady progress up the mountain I was continually second-guessing my decision, wondering if I should turn back now before I passed out. I managed to eat a cracker and later, a few raisins washed down with a bit of Gatorade and water but that was all the fuel I could bring myself to keep down. There were times I just wanted to give up, but I kept putting one foot in front of the other until I was putting one foot in front of the other across the summit of Ben Nevis.

The Ben Nevis Conquerors!

I still can't believe we made it! The summit was quite windy, cloudy and cold (there was even snow!) and honestly not that amazing, but finally standing on the rock cairn and being the tallest point in the United Kingdom, even just for a few seconds, was worth the effort. I wasn't sure if my wobbly legs would be able to support me all the way back down. Walking down I started feeling better and better and I was able to enjoy the beautiful view that was materializing through the cloud cover. The wind would blow pockets of open sky our way revealing the awe-inspiring blue of the lochs below surrounded by the golden brown of the lower peaks, only to cover them up with thick fog. Soon we were below the cloud cover and Haleigh and I enjoyed descending at a slow pace. After resting for a few minutes on a strategically placed bench we ended up taking a wrong turn and had to loop around a big field of grazing sheep to get back to our hostel. I was completely worn out but before collapsing on my bed I took a much needed shower. Food that night was conveniently eaten in the restaurant right above our bunks. The tomato soup was perfect in every way and I slept peaceful that night, quite satisfied with myself.

Haleigh and I in front of "The Ben" on the way down

Since we weren't sure if we'd be attempting the Ben again (we decided to leave two days in case of bad weather), we didn't have any plans for Sunday. Not that we needed anything since we were all very sore from the previous day's climb so we just took a casual approach to the day. Upon leaving our hostel we were immediately distracted by the sheep herding around us and stopped to watch those woolly buggers scurry around for awhile. On the walk to town we found blackberries growing ripe on the side of the road and ate our fill of those. Not as good as raspberries but I found just one of those and it was delicious. Later in the walk we found the "Wishing Boulder". Apparently if you see it magically levitate and apin around three times you can ask it a question and it answers you. The tale mentioned something about running around it as well so Haleigh and I looked at each other then took off running, our backpacks still on and all. I think I wished for something like, "Please let me not be sore anymore!" or something like that.

Me and the Wishing Boulder at Glen Nevis

Continuing on we stopped once more at a cool outcropping of rock that were jutting into the river that runs through Glen Nevis. The rocks were quite slippery but of course we had to clamber out of the edge. The water pooling beneath me was so clear and so obviously deep that despite everything, including my beyond sore muscles, I was sorely tempted to jump in. Perhaps another time. As it was, we simply continued on to town. Haleigh and I were sidetracked from the boys' whiskey distillery mission by a sign for Inverlochy Castle. The castle happened to be oddly unsupervised, which we took advantage of by climbing up the blocked off spiral staircases. It was windy out so our brief picnic style brunch was chilly but still enjoyable. Sitting on mossy rocks watching people walk their dogs by the side of a river is much more memorable when there is a cool ruined castle behind you. We met up with the boys before heading into town again. After walking around the shops, Haleigh and I retreated to the comfort of Number Four, an adorable little cafe style restaurant. The soup we got reminded us of RiceRoni and was absolutely delicious. I ate my ham and mustard toastie as slow as I could, then we just stayed there chatting while the rain came down outside. It was so cozy!

Blackberries from the side of the road

Climbing around Inverlochy Castle

Me and the little rock tower I made with Inverlochy Castle remnants

The trip back to Aberdeen was relatively uneventful except for all of us complaining about our sore muscles Haleigh starting to feel a bit poorly. While waiting for the train in Inverness we went on a little adventure to find a toilet since the one in the station was closed (no public restroom, insanity!). We snuck into a hotel lobby and walked purposefully towards the ladies' room, somehow making it by the front desk without getting stopped, an amazing feat as we were the stereotypical dirty backpackers. The bathroom was a lot nicer than the train station and we had it to ourselves so we hung out in there for awhile before sneaking our way back out. I thought the train journey was going to be pretty memorable when a large number of men in kilts carrying coolers of beer filed into our compartment, but they left at the first stop. Darn! After all that had happened though, I was done with adventuring and all I really wanted to do was fall into my bed. It felt so good to be back in Wavell... strange to think that a college dorm was far less noisy and rowdy as our hostel full of middle-aged Scottish women!

Current Location: F18 - King's College - Aberdeen

First day of rugby practice! It was at 6:30pm so Gill and I went to dinner earlier and ate quickly so we could make our ride. I was a bit apprehensive at first, just because it's scary to join a new club. It's almost like you have to re-learn the game all over again.

Luckily the practice went well... just a bit of running and passing drills before we split into forwards and backs. I've played positions in both groups, but I went with the forwards since I liked being in the scrum better. I was placed in my old position as eight-man, the last person in the scrum and we did a few practice scrums before breaking up. It was really dark at that point, around 8:30pm. We'll see how the practices go when it gets darker even earlier!

Classes are still... going. Not the most interesting courses I've taken but I'm still hoping they will get better, maybe even a bit challenging? I guess I better be careful what I wish for, eh?

Current Location: Bed - Wavell House - Aberdeen

I believe that my floormates have successfully converted me into one of them. I think I'm quite lucky to be experiencing my second freshman year! I'm pretty sure I can keep up with them too, since I've never been one for growing up. I kept up with them last night anyways. We decided to go down to the beach... at 9 o'clock at night. Since no one believed that I knew where I was going, we wandered towards a different beach that took 45 minutes to get to. We also had to cross a golf course which ended up with one less flag at the end of the night. No it wasn't me that stole it, and it wasn't even my idea!

Once we finally got to the beach we were a bit split on whether to jump in and swim around or play rugby on the sand. We compromised by having about half the people jump in the water and then playing rugby for just a couple of tries before heading home. The water was freezing since it's the North Sea and all. Still, my team (I got to be a captain, along with Gillian, the other woman rugger) and I were able to warm up enough to beat the other team. I had a great time on the beach but the walk back was not as enjoyable in damp clothes and sandy jeans. It reminded me of all the crazy stuff we'd do back in Homer though, and I'm really glad everyone was up for that instead of clubbing again.

Ah yes, I also had visitors! Mackenzie and Molly from Homer were traveling around Scotland and stayed in Aberdeen with a family friend for awhile. They finally got a hold of me by way of a hand delivered message from the Central Building at Hillhead where I'm staying (I felt very special and important!) and I got to spend about an hour or so showing them my campus before they had to catch their ride. It was very nice to see some familiar faces and I can't wait for more visitors to come!

Current Location: Bed - Wavell House - Aberdeen

No worries about the freshman thing anymore. I love my floormates! I think it's better to be around first-years anyways because they are in the same situation as I am... just left home and don't know anyone yet, and really want to make friends! I've finally joined in on the fun! The group of us are really great too. There are four girls from my floor and probably around ten or twelve guys from the floor below us. I feel like I already know them really well even though I've only known them for a couple days and I'm still working on names. Thank goodness for them though, I feel very lucky to be running about Aberdeen with them!

So the other night when I said I'd be staying in... well that didn't happen! I was convinced (quite easily convinced) to go out to a club called Liquid that was having a beach themed party, with foam. Now that really didn't sound like something I would find fun or entertaining, but I figured I'd go for it anyways and give it a try. Ha, wow, it was crazy. The group of us from Wavell House got right in the middle of the dance floor and the foam was everywhere! It was very entertaining for awhile, kind of like playing in a blizzard, but once the music started to go downhill and my eyes were stinging from too much foam I decided to take off. Still, what a great first club experience! Wish I had pictures but I didn't want to ruin my camera.

I do, however, have a picture of half the Wavell House group at a different club called Priori... which happens to be in an old granite church right in the middle of Aberdeen. Interesting atmosphere to be sure. We're not the most photogenic group, but I love this picture!

So in the back starting on the left we have, shoot, Ben?, then there's me and Andrew, also known as Todd since his last name is Sweeney. Second row is Sean, then Lyndsey, Gillian who's the other rugger, Tom, J.J. and right up front is half of Dan's head. Not pictured is Bo, Ewan, Conner, Amy, and Lukas... all of them just as awesome as the rest of us.

I have a lot of trouble with Dan's name since Dan is said with an "ahh" sound like when the doctor tells you to open your mouth, instead of how I say it in my American accent. My accent has been made fun of a few times already, as well as words I use. I was made fun of for saying "pants" instead of "trousers" for awhile, since "pants" means underwear here. Also, apparently "faucet" is an unknown word but "tap" isn't. I'm getting some vocabulary straight but it's tricky since people are from all over the British Isles (Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, England... we've got everything except Wales) and there are differences between them as well. I hope some of it sticks until I get back home and you'll be able to enjoy it too. I'm not asking people to repeat themselves as much either. Honestly, the accents are growing on me and I'm getting used to them. I know I'll miss them when I go back home though. I'm already sad about leaving, even though I've only been here two weeks. I just know these months are going to fly by. Luckily most of my friends are first-years so they will still be here for four years and I've already got another trip planned to come back.

Current Location: Bed - Wavell House - Aberdeen

Well, if you didn't figure it out from the photos... I've made it to Scotland!

I'm sitting on my bed right now, which isn't so bad even if I'm still getting used to the duvet and always wake up with it wrapped around me in some strange manner. It'd be nice if I could actually get some good sleep but what with the first-years running up and down the halls drunkenly yelling and other dumb people pulling the fire alarms, I haven't been getting much sleep. Perhaps once Freshers' Week is over, along with all the free drink promotions and such, things will calm down. I hope so, or else it's going to be a bit difficult to focus on studying!

Aberdeen is a really cool city and I've really settled in well. It's about a twenty minute walk into campus and then another ten or fifteen into the city center, but the walking is good exercise and I'd rather do that then spend money on taking the bus. I'll save that for cold, wintry days to come. And still, I'm looking forward to walking around the city when it's all snowy... but I can wait for that. A few more sunny days would be nice, especially if I can get out to the beach again. The beach is only a fifteen minute walk or so, and it's nice! I wasn't expecting sandy, white beaches in Scotland, but there is at least one. Thank goodness too because I'm tired of being landlocked.



I finally had my first meal at the cafeteria this evening. I went down with Lindsey and Amy who both live on my floor and it felt like freshman year all over again, sticking close to people you know so you don't have to sit by yourself at dinner! The food wasn't so bad except that I accidentally sprinkled sugar all over my pasta thinking it was Parmesan cheese. Oops! I just mixed it up into the tomato sauce and it tasted okay. The yogurt, juice and lemon meringue pie was good though so I won't be starving this semester. I'm quite happy to have guaranteed meals all the way to December... just in case I go broke, at least I'll still be fed two meals a day!

The Sport's Fayre is tomorrow as well as my advising appointment, so I don't plan on being out too late tonight. Must not get too carried away with running around campus.

This is me jumping into the TARDUS to time travel with Docter Who.

First pint in the UK!



















Big Ben and I















Just London atmosphere, double-decker buses and all















Yep, proof I'm in London



















Notice the pigeon caught in mid-flight?




















These guys were in the Night Carnival at the Thames Festival
















Scotland countryside from the plane!!

A piece of Urquhart Castle, located right on Loch Ness

Colin, Palmer and I at Glenfinnan with Loch Shiel in the background

Current Location: Window Seat - Astor Quest Hostel - London

Made it again! After leaving my safe little airport bench, I got lost on the way to the Underground and had to ask directions. Luckily the actual ride was uneventful, aside from being very excited about every glimpse of houses or cars driving the opposite direction. Overhearing conversations has been great fun as well, can't get over the accents yet! So after I got off the train, I definitely was having problems finding the hostel. I just kept asking different people for directions and got to it eventually. I must say, I am thrilled I didn't bring any more stuff because I wouldn't have made it. I love my new backpack but I can't wait to unload in Aberdeen. I'm not used to this living out of a bag thing. Also, our room is on the fifth floor which is no fun to climb up with 37 pounds of stuff on your back.

The hostel is cute, tiny staircases and cool painted walls. I'm in the lounge right now, but I feel a little intrusive with all the other more regular guests here watching House. Oh well, I'm not in the mood to be social right now anyways.

Current Location: Bench - Heathrow Airport - London

Made it! I'm in Heathrow airport, I have my bag and I am through customs. No problems so far but now I've got to figure my way to the hostel and find a place to exchange some money. I better go do that now before I get too comfortable on this bench. Can't wait to step out those doors and get my first breath of English air!

Current Location: Bed - Homer - Alaska

Still working away in Homer. I've been deckhanding the last few days which has been great, even if the weather hasn't cooperated. Definitely had people hanging over the sides of the Irish every day so far. Still, most of them enjoyed their time out there and we always limited out on fish, even getting some crew fish for myself now that we're allowed to keep them too. I love being out on the water and I love that I get paid to be out there. Best job in the world as far as I'm concerned.

I got to go out on the town this last Sunday and spent a fabulous night at Alice's Champagne Palace dancing the night away to CTTC's last gig of the year. Good friends, good times and even better music. The James Torme Band was in town too and picked up the instruments as Ethan, Dan, Haven and Patrick left the stage one by one, then continued playing for another excruiating twenty minutes or more. I thought I was going to have to keep dancing until my legs gave out and I simply crumpled to the floor to be trampled on by those with more fortitude than myself. Luckily the music stopped, leaving an empty feeling and a single note ringing in my ears for the next two days. I'll certainly miss the rockin' times I've had listening to CTTC, watching them get better and better. I wish them all the luck in the world.

Now I'm just typing to put off all the work I have to do. Must stop.

Current Location: Bed - Homer - Alaska

The end of summer is rapidly approaching yet I am still having a ball here in Homer with my friends. We tend to have some good times in each others company. My new job as a fish hauler at North Country Charters is going well. Getting grimy and slimy out on the Spit and hefting around heavy totes of delectable fish has never been more fun. A whole summer should have me pumped like no other. Rawr!

Also, my hair is all chopped off into a fauxhawk. I love it so much and love my hairdresser friend Christi for both the haircut as well as the emotional support and encouragement. I'm free of long hair and people telling me to keep it!

Current Location: Bed - Bishop Roberts - Greencastle - Indiana

Right now I'm at DePauw University and it's the last day of classes. I've got finals week looming on the horizon and blue dye waiting to be washed out of my hair, yet here I am procrastinating like no other mother. It makes sense that I'm clinging to each hour of every day since I have a mere twelve days left of my teenage years. But if you even think I'm going to behave even slightly more mature, you've got another thing coming.

Wish me luck on my finals and I'll catch you on the flip side!