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....
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| 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.
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| 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.
