...and beyond!

On Thursday morning, I woke up and was promptly startled by Jill screaming "HAPPY THANKSGIVING!" to me as if it was some sort of all day festival. I laughed and we decided to run into Fatti's room and bring her the same Thanksgiving wishes. We, at that point, had been planning on going to the IFSA Thanksgiving meal, which would probably be nice but didn't make us think of Thanksgiving like a turkey and stuffing. We were distraught. So, Fatti and I made the decision, at around 11:30am on Thursday, that we wanted a real American Thanksgiving. Off to Tesco we go!

Well first, we needed a list of ingredients--epicurious.com it was. Luckily, on their front page they had a variety of Thanksgiving recipies listed and suggested many ways to cook the turkey and some other dishes. We opted for what we were used to and both cooked some things that we usually have at Thanksgiving at home. I made sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole and Fatti made roasted potatos and vegetables. We had initially planned on just buying some little chickens but when we arrived at Tesco we realized that they did in fact have big turkeys (frozen, mind you) so we decided to go for it. We thawed this 4kilo turkey in 2 hours (microwave + hot water) We cooked a turkey spiced with some delicious things and stuffed it with instant stuffing. WE cooked a turkey, it was awesome. And intimidating, but definitely worth the struggle of removing the neck...!

Our flatmates + Monica & Yvonne shared the meal with us and we were all so happy and full by the end that it did feel like a real Thanksgiving. And, we decided that we were all most thankful for meeting one another. (Awww)

Pictures will come soon!

So it's becoming more and more real that the semester is almost over. In order to remedy the unpleasant thoughts that come with the fact that Fatti and me will not be residents of Darroch 3/3 next semester, my two favorite Scottish girls, Jill & Yvonne have begun to plan their trip to America. Along with this comes them screaming and shouting about all things they think are American and being able to DO IT ALL. This was perhaps the funniest thing I have seen and heard. It's mostly funny because they weren't completely far off, and yet they were still so completely excited.

They want to go to diners at 3am, drink Mountain Dew until they turn green, go to the 'mooovies' (as opposed to the cinema) and eat popcorn, see the Statue of Liberty, have American money (I gave Yvonne a dollar, she was ecstatic), go to a MALL (a number 1 priority--specifically Abercrombie and Auntie Anne's Pretzels), go to a baseball game, go to Tiffany's in New York, and mostly, just be in America.

They're obsessed with their idealized American pop culture, more so than any one else I know in the states. They want to meet all the girls from the Hills and have watched the entirety of the OC an embarassing number of times. I can't wait to share my American with my wannabe Americans as they have shared Scotland with me.

The lack of hot water in my flat.

I went to the gym earlier this afternoon and returned about an hour before my class planning on showering and changing before heading off to the last lecture of Science & Society, a class which I will sincerely MISS) but alas, there is no hot water. So I go press our "boost button" This button which is supposed to heat the water either within or after a half hour. It very rarely works. I am sick of cold showers. Not just a little cold. FREEZING cold. UNPLEASANT.

But, let's be honest. A pretty minor complaint. I leave Edinburgh on the 19th. I'll be heading to a town named Pontefract in Yorkshire where my lovely flatmate Frankie lives. With her I'll visit to Liverpool and York and then head on my own to Bath and Stonehenge. I'll finish my mini-UK tour in London once again and take the train to Paris to meet the family.

Hah. Classes are finishing up this week, it's crazy. Had the my last Databases lecture today also. I'm going to Berlin this weekend with Monica and then meeting up with Fatti & her sister. I can't WAIT!

I realized today could spend all day on top of Arthur's Seat. I went up for the 4th time with Dougie, a friend from Brandeis who was in Edinburgh for the weekend, and was reminded how absolutely amazing it is. I don't think there are very many places where you can climb a few hundred meters in what feels like the great outdoors and when you get to the top you realize you're actually surrounded by a beautiful city. It's spectacular. You look down and see a massive golf course and the Firth of Forth and a castle, a palace, a university, and so many stores and homes. I'm going to miss that.

Picture sfrom Calton Hill on Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes Night)

THE EVENT:



THE AFTERMATH:

How cool it was to sit with my flatmates watching returns come in and explain to them how it all works. Definitely an experience to remember! Good Work, Team America.

//edit:
1. Add Obama to your RSS: http://change.gov
2. Cute:

I'm in a funny sort of place--because I'm here for less than two months more, which is the same amount of time I've been here for so far, a good amount of time, but still very little. I leave soon. Countable weekends soon. Next weekend is staying in to do work weekend. The following one is London. The one after that is another homework weekend. The one after that is Berlin. And then it's finals. And then it's Paris. And then I'm home and it's Sarah's wedding and wisdom teeth and Brandeis. AH!

I have a lot I want to do and a lot that I've done. Having people visiting was not only fun as it was productive in my Edinburgh/Scotland-seeing necessities. I went up Arthur's Seat a few more times, went to the Castle, went to the parliament more times than necessary, the palace and its gallery, a few museums and up the Walter Scott Monument.

Election Day is Tuesday also, which is so crazy. I think I'll be up all night for no reason other than to witness history and be a part of something that I have finally started to get some understanding of. Started to have conversations and thoughts and knowing that there's never really an ending point but just a lot more turning and cycling.

I'll leave with some pictures.

I've been enjoying a wide array of visitors for the past week. I've really enjoyed showing people the city and getting a chance to do the toursity things I hadn't previously done. It's also been really fun having my flatmates and friends here meet people from other parts of my life.

First, Jacob, a friend from Brandeis, came from Copenhagen, where he is studying abroad for the semester. They have a THREE WEEK fall break on his program (he's at an international program), so he's spending much of his time in the UK. With Jacob, I, for the first time, entered one of the many 'authentic Scottish' stores on the Royal Mile. We climbed up Arthur's Seat where we nearly fell off the top due to wind, ate delicious Indian food, and visited the parliament. I took him to my favorite little coffee shop to get some work done, showed him the Elephant House (where J.K. Rowling wrote parts of Harry Potter--very exciting), and ate fish & chips. My flatmates had a great time with him and I think he equally enjoyed the Darroch 3/3 experience--tea with every meal and a fun time experimenting with food.

A side note, let me tell you about the Royal Mile. It's probably the #1 tourist location for those looking for a stereotypical Scotland experience. A road filled with kilt stores and cashmere stores and places that serve haggis. At the top of the road is where the castle lies. And you know, that's all there is to Scotland...(:

Jacob left Tuesday and Mom came on Thursday. When she arrived, we walked around a bit on the Royal Mile and purchased some lovely cashmere scarves. Then she took my flatmates(+Monica) and I out for sushi which was delicious and fun for all involved. Friday, we went to the Palace and the Queen's Gallery. After a bit more touristy shopping, we went out for dinner at a nice little Scottish restaurant. The weather on both Friday and Saturday, for the first time, was rather unpleasant. Saturday it unfortunately rained non-stop. During which we took a bus trip to Loch Lomond and the Stirling Castle with a few other stops in between. We took a cruise on the Loch in an enclosed boat, luckily, because it poured the whole time. Stirling Castle was great, and we tried to spend as much time inside as possible. That evening, we had dinner with my flat mate Frankie and her family who were in for the weekend. Said goodbye after dinner, and picked up Seth from the airport shuttle!

Like I said, nonstop visitors. Seth is studying abroad in London, so is pretty familiar with the UK experience. As such, we attempted to make his time here uniquely Scottish. I think we did a pretty good job. On Sunday, Seth's first stop was to purchase a tartan hat complete with a pom on top and matching scarf...both of which he wore all day. We went up the Walter Scott monument and got amazing views of the city. We visited the castle (after getting a bit lost...), and it was actually cool to see two castles back-to-back like such. In Stiring castle, we had learned that their restoration of the Great Hall was based on that of the Edinburgh Castle. Sure enough, after entering the Great Hall in the Edinburgh Castle, it was strikingly similar. We climbed up Arthur's Seat just as dusk was falling and by the time we got up faced an incredibly windy and beautifully lit Edinburgh. Went out for good dinner and came back to the flat for tea.

Missy & Sarah arrive on Thursday, I cannot wait! Until then--I'll be getting ahead on my work...spending lots of time in my favorites Black Medicine Coffee Company and BeanScene switching between tea and hot chocolate. Sounds good to me.

Ready for something pretty profound? Here goes it: It's funny how no matter where I am, I am the same person. (wow.)

I'm in Scotland where people speak in different accents and eat sheep's stomach, but I still have a messy room. And I still like to lay on the couch with my friends and watch a movie instead of going to the pub. And I still spend hours on my computer instead of doing my homework. Hi, my name is Jackie and I'm pretty consistent.

In other news, I tried sheep's stomach. It's called haggis, it's a Scottish DELICACY. For reals. It was pretty decent, tasted like meat... They also eat sheep's blood--called black pudding. I haven't tried that yet, don't know if I will.

We really like to find differences in our pronunciations, vocabulary, and foods here in Darroch 3/3. Earlier this week, Fatti and I had our flatmates try a variety of peanut butter inspired combinations.

1. Peanut Butter and Jelly (or, Jam, as they call it)
2. Peanut Butter and Apples
3. Peanut Butter and Bananas
4. Cream Cheese (or, just "Philadelphia") and Jelly

Jill is the best at these games because as much as she loves America (my lovely Scottish flatmate is more in touch with US pop culture than I ever have been and can often be found singing the theme song for "the OC"), she is very stubborn in her ways. The idea of peanut butter with jam could not make less sense. And a bagel with anything other than butter or jam? Why would you do that? Crazy Americans...

Some of my favorite pronunciations include:

- con-trahhhh-vuh-see (controversy)
- oregon(like the state)-o (oregano)
- bahhh-sil (basil)
- gahr-idge (garage)
- gray-im (graham)

Some vocabulary of amusement:
BRITISH / AMERICAN
jelly / jell-o
jam / jelly
pudding / dessert
(i have tried numerous times, in vain, to attempt to explain what american pudding is)
tea time / dinner time
(jill calls it "t time")
to hoover / to vacuum
queue / line
(one can "Q-jump")
kirby clips / bobby pins
trainers / sneakers
physio / trainer
course / major
(ie, what's your course? = what's your major?)
till / cash register

A cupboard is a closet in the hallway or just a cupboard, a wardrobe is a closet for clothes, a corridor is a hallway. A car-park is a parking lot, a tack-board is a bulletin board, and a jumper is a sweater. But only a specific kind of sweater...I still don't quite understand the differentiation. We'd rather be anything than a Chav or NED--which are some what socially acceptable terms for "white trash." The word "piss" or "pissed" can be used in more ways than one could possibly imagine.

They also eat pancakes for dessert. We made an American breakfast on Thursday consisting of eggs, pancakes, and french toast. It was delightful.

Okay, now I am going to go work on a handwriting recognition program for my AI class. Ack...

I can't believe a week has passed since the last entry. Not because of any specific events, I am just confused by time at the moment. This is going to be a long one, feel free to skip around/just look at pictures.

This weekend, I went on a trip to Inverness. We saw so many things that it's hard to remember and comprehend it all. But, more than anything, we spent time on the bus. Which, after returning home a few hours ago, makes me feel pretty unaccomplished and stir-crazy. Monica kept commenting on the fact that it felt like we were in high school. And I agree, though perhaps for sightly different reasons. It was irritatingly organized at times and out of our control, but at the same time, efficient and got us to see a lot. On Friday we left at 8am and went to Scone Palace (pronounced Scoon) where the coronation of the Scottish kings once occurred. Now, the Earl of Mansfield lives there.


From there we went to see some sheep and some sheep-herding dogs. It was a pretty cool display...the Shepard was able to make different sounds with whistling to communicate with the dog who would then change its path of travel, causing the sheep to change as well. It's crazy how well those dogs are trained, they all recognize up to 27 different whistles.


They were border collies, which doesn't really mean much to me, but the Shepard was a pretty big fan, clearly. He sheared a sheep for us, which was pretty cool. Video Below...
Saturday we started the day at the Cairngorm Mountain. We were originally supposed to take a train up the mountain, but the high winds were in full force, causing a change of plans, a disappointingly short walk followed by a power-point about wildlife in the Cairgorms. It was interesting, and there were beautiful views, which made it all the more enjoyable.


We had lunch in a small town whose name I forget at a cute little place called "Happy Haggis," which made me smile. In the afternoon we visited the Glenvilet distillery. Dearest readers, you know me well enough to deduce that whisky is most likely not my favorite thing. It was interesting, but the smell was making me pretty sick to my stomach. I tasted it and felt equally as unhappy. Danielle and I were excited to see a ginormous distiller and understand how it works after so many Organic Chem labs involving the very same device, in miniature form, of course. So, there you have it, Jackie visits distillery and is more interested by distiller than alcohol. Oh, life... That evening was pretty uneventful. Inverness was not such a hopping town. I hung out with my lovely friends, and went to a pub with a band that was playing too loudly. And we had a good time.

Sunday (aka today) was jam-packed. And yet, we still managed to spend a good six hours on the bus. Woke up early and went to the site of the Battle of Culloden, a battle that took place in 1746, the last battle on British soil! It was between the government and the Highlanders. There were Scottish people on both sides. For those who don't know, Scotland has been a part of the UK since 1707. This battle was over restoring the Stuarts to the British monarchy. They lost, and lots of wonderful Scottish things like kilts and bagpipes were outlawed. Pretty unfortunate. It was interesting to hear them explain the red coat's war tactics because it's something I've heard so many times in US History class. First row shoots, ducks and reloads while second row shoots, ducks and reloads while third row shoots...etc. Basically this is what I've always been told lost them the Revolutionary War. And won them this battle.

Following this we took a boat ride on Loch Ness. I met Nessie. We're now best friends; it's official. It was a beautiful boat ride.
Then we went to the Urquhart Castle remains and I climbed on things. They didn't really tell us anything about the castle when we went, feel free to Wikipedia if you're interested.


Went to Fort Williams for lunch and stopped for some photos at Glen Coe (to which I could only think, "You go, Glen Coco!" ...How bad is that)



All in all, a fun trip. I lived in a room with 5 girls, saw lots of fun things, and took lots of silly pictures. Here's a look on the map where we went.

As the title presents, I am really beginning to feel as though I am living here; it's great. Right now, I'm sitting in the library next to Monica and we're doing work (mostly). I have a groove. I wake up in the morning and I know where I am and I have things to look forward to. And, I'm feeling good too--I've been going to the gym a lot and cooking lots of delicious food and going to class and enjoying the people I spend my time with. And I'm enjoying just spending time with them. Which also means I'm not doing so much touristy stuff, but it's okay because I have a lot of visitors coming soon with whom I can catch up on that. The next few weekends are as follows: Inverness, Jacob coming from Copenhagen, Mom coming, Missy & Sarah coming, then lastly, I am possibly going to York (not sure though, doesn't seem that exciting). I'm looking into planning a trip to London and maybe somewhere else--exploring cheap flights for various weekends to random places! Kind of an exciting idea...Monica and I are thinking of going somewhere together.

My classes are going well, I'm pretty intimidated by one of my CS classes (Artificial Intelligence Practical) and the assignment I've been presented with--it's going to take a lot of time to even begin to understand. The other CS class, Databases, I really like. I just really like databases, so having a class in which I learn about why and how they are used is great.

No big plans for this week yet, need to make headway in my two CS assignments, one of which is due the following week. We're going to have a break fast at my flat and eat bagels and lox and the like on Thursday. I should maybe start taking more pictures... Bye for now!

A week or so ago a few fellow Jews on IFSA and I decided that we needed to have a proper Rosh Hashanah meal and share it with our flatmates. So, we did just that. We took a bus out to the BIG grocery store on the outskirts of the city to find that tiny little 5-ft section with Jewish food options and got ready to celebrate! I made matzoh ball soup, kugel, jewish apple cake, and challah. Danielle made brisket, carrot simmis, and rugelach. So on Monday evening, 13 people sat around a table, learned about Rosh Hashanah, and ate lots of delicious food!






Shana Tova! Have a wonderful & sweet new year.

I occasionally get "woof"-ed at as a casual reminder that my blog needs updating. So thanks for that, Evan...

This weekend was meant to be my homestay. I had been placed with another girl from Butler in a home in Edinburgh because they ran out of places to send us outside of the city. So eight of us were here. I was kind of disappointed, but was still hoping for the best because it could still be fun to meet a family. I'm not entirely sure of how the homestay was introduced to the families with whom we were placed because it was presented to us as a cultural experience for us and the family. An opportunity for the exchange of knowledge and ways of life. Of course, Edinburgh is a highly developed Western city, so I wasn't quite sure how much "culture" I'd get to experience, but it could still be nice. The woman with which I stayed was very kind and the house was nice, but we didn't spend so much time with her. She made us meals and I had a comfortable place to sleep, but there wasn't much dialogue. She treated it more like a lodging--like we were renting a room in her home. When we arrived at her house she asked if we had plans for the evening; we were confused because we thought that the homestay was our plan for the evening. I ended up watching Annie with my roommate; we sang along. Saturday we were taken on a bus to Glasgow by the "group coordinator," a lady named Francis who seemed to love being able to get to know all of us. That was nice. Glasgow was cool, but we only spent about 3 hours there. Went to a museum then to a shop that she wanted to check out. And then we got back on the bus and came back to Edinburgh for what was supposed to be a free night & next day. There didn't seem to be any purpose in staying in the house for another night when I was only a few miles from my own flat, so we asked if we could leave that night, and did just that.

I have a bit of a cold now, which is kind of unpleasant, but tomorrow evening is Erev Rosh Hashanah, which will be nice. A girl from Brandeis & I planned an elaborate meal in which we will share some of our Jewish love with our flatmates & friends. I'm excited, and have been cooking for a few days! It's funny how unfamiliar the food is to the other Americans and Brits alike. How do you describe matzoh balls and kugel and rugelach is to someone who has never had it? Make it!

Nearing the end of Day 2 of Classes. Which means yesterday was Day 1. Let me begin with stating that I love the first day of classes, it's fun and exciting and makes me all together thrilled about getting into new things. Yesterday, I went to four classes, only two of which I was registered for, because one of the great things about being in college is having the ability to choose in what way I'd like to learn. I'll go through the day with my thoughts:

9am: Health & Society
I was excited for this class as soon as I saw its description back in January/February. It seemed intriguing because the society in which health was being discussed was decidedly different from my own in one large way: the National Health Service. The NHS is the UK's health service that is publicly funded. So this class has two major parts: discussing the sociological impacts of health and then discussing the role of the NHS. Sounds like exactly what I wanted. I'm excited. Though, I must admit, a bit skeptical of this sociological stuff. It's pretty easy to find that I'm writing the same thing in my notes with different words. But I'm trying to have an open mind. The reading was more interesting than the lecture, which seemed to just be a repetition of "health is comprised of ones physical, mental, and social well-being, it is not just the absence/presence of illness." Yeah, I got it the first time, thanks...what? There's a lot of factors that contribute to health? Oh, I didn't know....etc

12pm: Scottish Literature
I went in skeptical and came out pleased. The lecturer was great and really interesting, but, it turns out he was the lecturer for English Lit--not Scottish Lit. The classes meet together for the first two days of the week and separately for the last meeting. In just one lecture, though, he brought a lot of interesting thoughts to mind mostly through the discussion of the transition into a literate society from one almost entirely dependent on spoken word. As much as I enjoyed what he had to say, it made me nervous to think about how much reading I would have that I wouldn't necessarily enjoy (or would be a large effort to make myself enjoy) and could see myself falling behind.

4pm: Scottish Ethnology
Ethnology is the study of culture and its origins, it's similar to anthropology. I was pretty much bored within 5 minutes after entering the class. It wasn't even a proper lecture, but the professor was not very intriguing and spent a good amount of time talking about rules. I got a copy of the course syllabus and nothing was interesting to me. Boooo

5pm: Science & Society
Firstly, there is a class with this exact title being offered at Brandeis next semester. But, the professor had me hooked and interested and thinking all sorts of things that I like to think. So I'm doing it here. I'm interested in the fact that there is very little pressure for people to be math and science literate. And it's not necessarily the public's fault because the layout of early science classes (at least those I experienced) is not designed for the majority of people. It's monotonous information.

In case it wasn't clear enough, I chose Health & Society and Science & Society. Which makes me feel awfully silly, but they really aren't very similar. I'll be looking at two different topics for similar things. Lots of sociology, which I haven't taken before. We'll see how it goes...Still have two CS classes!

It's pretty much official that I love my flat and my flatmates. They are wonderful. I live with four lovely ladies. There's Frankie from Yorkshire (in England), Fatinha from IFSA with me (Goes to Smith in the US), Jessie from London, and Jill from Aberdeen (in Scotland). They are all great. Jill plays the bagpipes--she's so wonderfully Scottish. Here is a video.



We climbed Arthur's Seat today. Here are some pictures! I went up with Frankie, Jill, and Monica (from IFSA also, she goes to BU)





Off to the ceilidh!! (Pronounced kay-leeh!)

Moved into the lovely Darroch Court on Saturday, and it's great. Living with one other from IFSA and the other two flatmates moved in yesterday--one is English and the other is Scottish--both are super sweet. I'm happy, really very happy. And I'm happy to be happy, which is almost even better. I was seriously nervous and am so relieved to find that my worries were unnecessary. Though I still understood why I had them...

So! What I've been doing... The city is quite walkable, so much so, in fact, that I think I'm opting out of getting a used bike. A needless expense in an already expensive city. I live about a 7-10 minute walk from campus, grocery store, Pound Stretcher (A+ discount store), and the widest variety of pubs you could imagine. I am slowly figuring out the best ways to get to each. Right now it's still Fresher's Week--aka Orientation--which is about 10 times bigger than any orientation I've seen in the US. Each club has their own events throughout and a have a 100 page book with the schedule for the week. I'm inclined to go up and befriend the volunteers wearing green shirts--they remind me of some wonderful friends I have...

Today I went to the Meet & Greet for one of the theater organizations (I didn't even realize there were many until I arrived at the event itself)--apparently their umbrella organization is called the EUTC (Edinburgh University Theater Company)--and the E seems to blend in to "the," so it's oddly familiar to hear them saying "thee UTC." It was nice to have a conversation with someone on the board (called "committee" here) for Bedlam Theater (amazingly beautiful theater--will take pictures soon, it's literally a stage inside of an old Gothic church and it's breathtaking) and we were both definitely enjoying comparing the way theater is organized at our respective universities.

It's fun to catch on to the different phrases and language that people use. I'm constantly noticing how people dress and trying to find a way that I can blend in and not stand out as distinctly American when just walking down the street. I'm slowly getting acquainted with the differences in education systems--which are different in Scotland and England. I find that if I refer to Brandeis as my school, it seems to infer that it's the equivalent of an elementary school, which I find to be amusing. In a conversation with one English girl, she said that the US fashion is how they dressed in the 90's, while others seem to not be phased by it.

Out to do more fun things! Coffee Crawl with my flatmate....

From Edinburgh...

- People walk fast
- There is a golf course in the middle of the city (no joke...all 18 holes). Oh, not to mention the castle...(in the back of picture above, on the right)
- There is little to no grid system, and streets are known to change names every few blocks, thus making for a confusing adventure
- It seems perfectly acceptable to wear ridiculous attire in public (ie puffy skirts and bright blue sparkly make up and sequins)
- The toilets don't flush the same way, they kind of just spill water into the bowl and they don't really make the toilet flush noise.
- On another toilet note, a lot of places use napkins instead of toilet paper, which is so smart because it's much easier to waste when it's in a roll.
- When going out, food is the same price as it is in the US. Except it's in pounds, so it's double.
- They like things deep fried. Like hamburgers. Gross.
- That section of the city called "New Town" is actually as old as the US.

From Edinburgh...

Oh hello there city, let's play some golf...

So, I know it's just the beginning, but I'm already quite loving this city. I got a little perturbed yesterday when we went into the newer part of city (appropriately named "New Town") and there were lots of normal clothing stores because the Old Town is filled with so many places that stand so proudly on their own, yet blend so well into the street (ie the picture above).

Went exploring for a long while by myself and found some great views and side streets (each called "Some Word" Close) with fun things.

One more picture, and then I'm off for the day...

Hellooo there, I've made it to Edinburgh. In a hotel now hanging out...getting pretty tired, which is good because I only got 3 hours of sleep on the plane. And I should be pretty well adjusted if I go to sleep around 11pm here and wake up around 8am. Today was lovely, the flights were super easy. On both of them I ended up with the whole row to myself and was easily able to stretch out and relax. Got to Edinburgh around 2:30 and caught a shuttle with another person from my program who was on the same flight.

Then I got to wander around for a bit, which was great. Was with a few other girls and we had a good time just walking up and down the streets and getting to see some cool things. I found that it was suddenly Fall and I'm happy for the change. It was a great feeling to walk around a city and not see one recognizable store name. No chains or commercial influences, just a lot of small stores selling a variety of things. A few vintage shops, lots of pubs, bookstores, convenience stores, kitschy kind of stores, and restaurants. I'm excited to have time tomorrow to go into them. The streets are just beautiful, I'll post some pictures at a later date but they wind in so many directions and the buildings line them so pleasantly. I quite like it. After dinner, went to the Three Sisters pub for the Scotland vs. Iceland football match with someone from my program. It was us and a ton of football-loving Scots, and it was great. Really great.

Can't wait to explore more and get myself really acquainted with this place. So much to look forward to...

My stomach is in a thousand knots that I wish would untangle. I'll write as soon as I get Internet in Edinburgh, not sure when that will be, hopefully by the end of the week. Ta ta for now, dearest reader(s) & much love!

If you want to talk to me, my flight is tonight at 10:45pm, call before that.

I leave in 48 hours from 7 minutes from now. I'm pretty much packed. My suitcase is about 10-lbs overweight. Oh well. This has been a busy week. In a really good way. This summer was really long. Also, in a good way.

The summer began, in my mind, with Jenny and my trip to the Sasquatch Music Festival and Seattle. That was Memorial Day Weekend. It's ending now, I guess. Though classes don't actually start till Sept 22nd. It's nice to feel like my summer really went from Memorial Day to Labor Day. I moved out on Saturday and we dropped Michael off at GW. He is happy, that's nice. From there, it's been a whirlwind. From NY to home then back to DC and then finally setting at home for a bit. Able to sleep and relax and do some shopping. And also clean, which was necessary, however painful the process may be.

It's hard to comprehend the fact that in 3 days I'll be in Edinburgh. I wonder if it will feel very different. I've been all over for the whole summer and the adjustments I've made have been more fun than challenging, and I hope it's the same when I get there. I have some normal nerves and fears. (Like hoping I find people who like me & I like back and hoping I will really gain from my classes and hoping I am able to keep myself busy and not miss people too much) And some normal excitement and optimism. (Like how great it is to get to know a new city and the opportunity for exploring and travel and...so much more to be excited about).

I'm not in such a sleeping mood, even though I probably should be considering the fact that I need to make a time zone adjustment that is quite the opposite of staying up late in the US. But I'm antsy and I have always enjoyed late night time, even though I know I feel more productive when I wake up early and use the whole day.

Not much of an update, just some words. I've been uploading pictures to from my phone to a Facebook album that sort of documents what I've been up to...just cause it seemed like a fun idea. And it will be something fun to do in Scotland, though I'm not sure how functional my phone will be, hoping there will be some sort of Wifi available somewhere. We shall see. Taking care of mindless logistics is not fun, that's why I need some sort of technological creature to do it all for me. Come on, make it happen.

It's exciting to go back through my mind and remind myself where I was two months ago, before I started here. I've spent a lot of time frustrated--bored and feeling like I've got nothing done. And while I definitely didn't get the chance to complete my project, it's pretty remarkable the progress I've made. What's the best I think is the new-found confidence I have in my abilities and a computer-type-person.

What have I learned? I've learned about web services and databases and using the former to get information from the latter. I've learned about how information is stored and displayed by combining different techniques that I may have already known--like using HTML to display information retrieved using Java. While it might sound like crazy-talk to most of the people who read this, it's really re-affirming to me that I'm actually able to apply and use the knowledge I've been acquiring through my classes and time spent (occasionally wasted) building websites. It makes me eager to use what I've learned and I've already begun.

<break for="computer speak">
The goal I then created for myself is to build a website that is easily editable by people who don't know much about websites. And I found myself fearlessly trudging through the territory of AJAX and dabbling with PHP to make an information from an XML document appear on my HTML-based website. And even change, with no refreshing necessary. And the next goal is to let people log in and change that information that is displayed. How cool this is, working to achieve something I've always thought was really nifty but never knew how to work my way into. The load with no refresh or iframes is big for me, especially because iframes aren't really standardly used anymore.
</break>

Okay, sorry for that computer-talk-ramble, but for the few (ie Dave) of you that will understand this, you'll know where I'm coming from, and for the most of you that don't--here's a translation: I've learned how to do something that I've always been impressed by. It's a nice feeling.

Last week on the job, and am so ready to move up & out. DC is a great city that I have definitely enjoyed getting to know, but now that everyone else's summers are ending, I am ready for something new. It's so crazy that my classes don't even start until September 22nd.

Since most of the people I know in DC area have vacated, I've had a lot more time to myself for the past few weeks & as such have been able to get to some exciting things. I've seen a play and a musical. I've been to a bunch of Smithsonians & the Holocaust Memorial Museum. I've biked in the Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, and Southeast quadrants and gotten a pretty good sense of the layout of things. I love biking past the White House and seeing tourists and protestors, but am shocked every time that only 3 blocks later is Franklin Square, a block-sized park filled with homeless people. I love biking down Wisconsin, and hate biking up Massachusetts. It's fun to look at all the license plates of cars parked along the National Mall and see such a variety of states represented. It's fun to sit in Dupont, sipping on some iced tea, and just enjoying looking around. Rock Creek Park has amazing trails that, unfortunately, I didn't get to explore enough of. Sometimes it's fun to accidentally find myself in Virginia or Maryland. I feel like I've done so much & there's still a lot more to do, but I'm ready for a new venue.

Edinburgh it is. I leave two weeks from tomorrow, but would rather it be tomorrow...

The blue dot on the top is my residence, the blue dot in the middle is one of the Edinburgh campuses & the pink line is the "Royal Mile," where lots of stores and food are.
At the bottom where it says "University of Edinburgh" is the other campus. Excited to get to know what's on all of those other streets...(:

So it's been a little while, blog, but I'm back.

Have about a week and a half left in DC, a few days in transition (home-->NY-->dc-->home), and then about 5 days in Cherry Hill before I head off to Edinburgh. I got my housing assignment today, I'm really quite excited. I'm living in Darroch Court, which, as the sources on the Internet seems to point, is an excellent residence. 5 people per flat with single rooms, and shared bathroom, kitchen & laundry.

I said goodbye to a lot of people as of late, it's pretty weird.

The last weekend of July, Jason came for the AIPAC conference & surprised me. But, after that, it was saying goodbye till January. I went home (with Evan!) for my birthday weekend and said bye to the Trojans. And then Evan & Marti left the next weekend. And I said goodbye to them too. To Evan for what could be a year. Unsettling to think about. These are my friends with whom I spent the majority of my time this past year, and now it's just "See yaa." I'm trying hard to grapple with the realization.

But, as silly as it sounds, I think we're headed to interesting and exciting journeys. That's what I had to remember during this summer too. So many of my friends were and continue to be so far away. Caitlin was in Texas finding a niche in the costuming world. And Dave was in Seattle paving his way in video game community management. It's a new for me to figure out the best ways of staying in touch. Especially with no phone service in my apartment--which was probably good practice for the UK lifestyle. With many of my friends, even a few minutes of phone time when we could find each other was precious. E-mails & Skype have also proven to be quite useful.

Even with such tools at my disposal, sometimes, it's hard to just find the time. The time when we are both on Skype at the same time, the time to respond to an e-mail. And one would imagine it will get even harder once I'm in a different time zone. It's not a problem, it's just a challenge.

And as people are starting to move in at Brandeis, I have to remind myself constantly of what the Study Abroad office told those going abroad--life continues at Brandeis whether or not I'm there. And I'll be back in January and get right back into the swing of things. I'm sure there will be times when I feel alone and wish I could just be having brunch in Usdan with Missy or late nights with Jason and Evan, but it'll be okay. Things go up and down and I need all of it. I'm preparing myself.

Concluding Thoughts:
I like my friends a lot.

Perhaps my blog will be a bit out of order if expectations for the next part come before final reflections on the current. Oh well...

People love to complain. People don't necessarily love to change the things they are complaining about.

I am, like most others, a person.

I happened upon this article, and think Comcast has found quite a nice solution to those "non-action" sort of folk.

Its someone's job to google "Comcast" and find complaints people post all over the Internet! Complain all you want about Comcast in your blog or twitter, they're listening! You don't even have to contact them yourself...crazy.

I think that's technology at its finest. And also a good way to remind people that they are not alone on the Internet. As, for some reason, they seem to think.

I hope he finds this! (Hi, Frank Eliason)

Good things come from Philadelphia...

Going to conferences about things I care about instead of getting wisdom teeth out!

Biomedical Informatics Without Borders

In exchange for an agreement to wear a retainer, I get to go learn cool things! I'm excited. Also, this will probably enable me to go visit Brandeis before I depart for Edinburgh.

Thus concludes "things that are exciting," sponsored by the agreement of Mom & Dad. (:

Finished my second week of work & am excited for what I hope will be a fun-filled weekend!

I've been having a really good time exploring the city and riding my bike and finding cool things. Last week I went to two concerts (one at the Rock & Roll Hotel, the other at a park where shows are free--Fort Reno), hung out in some bookstores, ate some good food, and spent a good chunk of time with Marti & Evan. (Hooray!) Jenny came over the weekend, so I spent time with her on Saturday.

This week has been more of the adventuring fun. I got a flat tire on my bike on Sunday, so I tried, in vain, to fix it on Monday. It didn't work out so positively, so on Tuesday I brought it to the bike store after work and they fixed it for me. Tuesday was the second of Marti & my endeavors vegetarian cuisine. We had vegetarian soul food, which was definitely something I've never had before. Wednesday was the second of Mary (roommate) & my endeavors in new ethnic food. We had Peruvian, which we both agreed was quite excellent and afterwards I hung out in Dupont with Evan. Last night, I went to another show at Fort Reno and then biked down into Georgetown and sat outside with some fro-yo and read my book.

I've been doing a lot of reading of The Golden Compass series, as per Danit's suggestion, but I'm ready to move on to other books! I'm halfway through the third (and last), so that will be great. Next is A Brief History of Time, I'm really excited for it. Missy is here this weekend, so I'm sure I'll be seeing her at some point. Life is good!

I finally feel like I'm doing something, which is great.

For the past week or so I've been struggling with figuring out where I'm headed. I know what my project is, but have been having trouble figuring out how to even begin to learn how to implement it.

Then on Friday there was a meeting regarding the next release of the database in which my project will be completed. And I finally had a chance to discuss what it is that I am supposed to be doing. And they gave me something to work on. I was to create a mock-up (or, wireframe, as they call it) of what my new module of the database will look like. Well, that seems simple enough. It's just playing with the layouts they already have in Photoshop. But, buyer beware: How do I know what it can look like if I don't know what information it is capable of displaying? As such, I started going through the Developer's Guide of the database with which we would like to connect ours. And there are a lot of words I don't know. A lot of acronyms I've never seen. Now's when I ask questions. I get through a good part of it, but get stuck at this concept of "SOAP." And as soon as I ask someone, he gives me a look...like, really? He had no idea how SOAP works, but knows one of the other developers has been researching it for the past month in an attempt to understand the best way to implement it with our database. It's incredibly complicated, but is basically the primary method of communication between databases online using XML files. What are XML files? Well, I've been learning! They are basically documents with a language that the writer creates in order to organize information. Basically, a databank of information. I found these positively excellent tutorials through w3schools.com and I've been actually learning...what a relief.

So, I'm now pretty convinced using XML is the answer to all problems web related, and it's exciting!

Now I'm going to do the XML Schema tutorial. Then WSDL. Then SOAP.

Working my way up.

Update about the rest of my life at some other point.

I have to read these "diversity training" things for work, enjoy this diagram:



The primary and secondary "dimensions" of diversity.
and,
"They both give meaning to our lives by contributing to a synergistic, integrated whole -- the diverse person"

In case you were wondering. (:

I arrived in DC on Friday & moved into my apartment.  Though slightly farther from the metro than I thought, it's a great place. 

In Cherry Hill, impatiently waiting to set out for DC. Google says it will take 2 hours and 48 minutes to get there, the next step is just getting everyone in the car...which with my family, is never an easy feat.  

Hello and Welcome!