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?