PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA!!!

Well first I would like to say... WE DID IT!!! WE ELECTED BARACK OBAMA AS OUR 44TH PRESIDENT!!! I cannot express the joy and love I feel for the US of A right now. I've been feeling extremely patriotic and proud. Sometimes I'm tempted to go up to random people and say, "Hey, I'm American and we just had one of the most historic elections in the history of this world. I voted for the guy who won." Thankfully I've suppressed that urge and still seem like a rational, normal person.

Perhaps I should tell you about the events that took place in my life on that historic night that was November 4, 2008. I was pretty anxious all day and that's saying something because I woke up around 9 a.m. which is about 3 a.m. Central time - that means I waited a few hours for most polls to even open. But even after polls open, you really can't find anything out until they close. I swear all the anticipation almost gave me a heart attack. I was so fidgety and jittery all day. I couldn't concentrate on anything - all I could think about was the election. Finally the first polls on the east coast closed at 11 p.m. Edinburgh time. We had gone to one of the election parties being thrown in a pub close to the University's student union. We watched and cheered for Obama until around midnight and the went to stand in line for the other election party (because the pub closed at 1 a.m. and the other party was going until 3 a.m.). We stood in line for nearly two hours but kept updated via Stacey's laptop (which miraculously got internet and we were able to stream live broadcast from MSNBC until her battery died) and phone calls from my dad and mom. While in line I was interviewed by someone making a documentary about the election. For anyone in Cleveland or near there, the film is being shown at the Cleveland Film Festival so keep an eye out. We were denied entry because the doors closed at 2 a.m. (we were literally 5 people away from getting into the building). So we ran back to my friend's flat to watch it on her laptop (courtesy of MSNBC). We chatted, watched, waited and maybe dozed off a bit until the fire alarm went off in the apartment complex around 4:30 a.m. We endured the cold air of early morning Edinburgh until about 5 a.m. and just as we rushed into Stacey's room to get the results they declared Barack Obama as the President-elect of the United States of America. We cheered, cried and finally breathed easily as we watched John McCain graciously concede and Barack Obama address an enormous crowd in Chicago. I am so proud that I was a part of this moment in history. It was a hugely momentous day and I cannot believe we were there to witness it all. How incredible is it that almost 45 years after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, we have an African-American president? Is it not amazing that about 50 years ago we were a segregated country? Yes, racism still exists and we still have quite a ways to go before race is no longer an "issue" (I hate using that word to describe it but its the best one I can think of). But "We Shall Overcome." Yes We Can and, to some extent, Yes We Did.

Wednesday was a rough day because I didn't get to sleep until almost 6 a.m. that morning. I grudgingly went through the motions. I got my hair cut in the afternoon and I'm not sure I like it that much. I think it makes me look like I'm on the way to a PTA meeting. At least its all one color now. We had our potluck and I decided to bring stuffing. It was okay but not delicious. Later that night (which was Guy Fawkes Day/Night) we walked up to "The Crags" of Arthur's Seat and watched hoards of people shooting off fireworks. We even saw some people carrying torches - real torches, not flashlights (because Brits call flashlights "torches"). I pretended like the fireworks were in celebration of Obama's victory. I went to bed early. Today was my American History 2 lecturer's last lecture in that class that he's been teaching for 37 years. The lecture hall was packed and we gave him a standing ovation at the end of class. He was talking about the election results at the beginning of class and mentioned that when he was at school in the US during the 60s he was involved "in a small way" in the Civil Rights Movement. He said he never thought he would live to see the day an African-American become president. Alan Day is his name and he's incredible - definitely the best lecturer I've ever had the pleasure of having.

Tomorrow I am leaving for York, England and will be there for the weekend. Its another trip orgainzed by Butler so there will be a hoards of Americans invading England. I hope the city is prepared. Alright... this is completely random and unrelated to anything else I've written but I'm going to tell you anyway. Today I got a compliment on my eyebrows. Yes, my eyebrows. The woman told me they were a very nice shape and asked if I plucked them. I never realized people noticed your eyebrows unless you had a unibrow or looked like Groucho Marx. It made me feel good even though it was a very weird thing for this woman to notice.

Goodbye USA, Hello UK

Alright. So I actually made it to Scotland despite all the odds being against me and the other group of study abroad students I was with. Since I am approaching the end of my second day in Edinburgh, let me recap what you all have missed.

I woke up at 3am on Tuesday the 9th to go to Tulsa (where my dad so generously drove me at that ungodly hour). My first flight left on time and was all fine and dandy until about 30 minutes before we were supposed to arrive in Newark, NJ. The captain came on the loudspeaker and announced that no flights were entering or leaving Newark because of severe weather conditions so we would have to go ahead and land in Baltimore to refuel because we didn't have enough to sustain us through the delays. We were only in Baltimore for about 30 to 45 minutes and then we continued on our merry way.

We landed in Newark around 1pm and I already knew I had a long wait ahead of me because my flight was scheduled to take off at 9pm. Unfortunately, the flight was delayed, not once but TWICE so that we didn't actually leave Newark until 1am. That means I spent roughly twelve hours in the Newark airport. Gross.

Finally, we got to London where customs was a nightmare (as it always is) and where we encountered even more delays because of our excruciating delay from the flight to London. Though we boarded around 4pm, apparently (I don't really know because I passed out about 5 minutes after boarding) we didn't leave for an HOUR because some guy who wasn't supposed to be on the plane was and they had to remove all his luggage - which happened to be some of the very first pieces of luggage loaded and, therefore, were the last to come off. And of course they had to reload all the luggage they unloaded. Eventually we made it to Edinburgh though I slept almost the entire way. All my bags were there so that was awesome but in total I think I was traveling for about 30 hours. Needless to say, I'm not very eager to get on a plane anytime soon.

Some good did come of the horrendous traveling pains and that was that I actually made some friends! I think we were all so tired and so gross (from serious lack of bathing and clothing change) that we looked past all that initial judgment/self-conscious stuff and just let it all hang out. I'm so relieved and now I feel very relaxed, almost at ease! I know. I'm shocked too.

We are currently in a hotel for a few days of orientation and then we move onto campus or into our flats on Saturday. Right now I am SO thankful for all the things that have gone right and for the fact that I actually feel sane, comfortable, and not depressed.