Where's My (Good) Stuffing?

It's finally the month of December which means my days here are numbered. I'm incredibly torn about how I feel. On the one hand, I miss my family and friends very, very much and I'm pretty sure if I don't see them soon I might go insane. But I also have completely fallen in love with Edinburgh and the people I have met here. These past few months might be some of the best of my entire life - I'm not kidding. But because the prospect of leaving gives me such a strange mix of emotions then I will move on to an update of my past week.

Wednesday night was our attempt at a Thanksgiving celebration. The celebration was good but the food was interesting. Maggie's mashed potatoes were delicious, the turkey bricks we bought were okay, and the stuffing (much to my dismay) was disgusting. Overall it was quite nice but I've decided I never want to have to cook for myself on a big holiday ever again. No one can master the holiday dinner quite like my mom. I mean it. She is spectacular. We had a bunch of Brits over to celebrate with us and we forced them to go around the room and say what they were thankful for because that's how most of us do the Thanksgiving blessing. I was feeling a little bit homesick after dinner but that night when I got back to my room I skyped with my family for a few hours. It made me extremely happy and made me feel much better. Thursday we went to the dinner Butler provided for us. It wasn't Thanksgiving-y at all but I wasn't about to complain because it was free.

I spent a good portion of my week and weekend in the library because I had a very long essay due on Monday (yesterday, Dec. 1). I set a goal of words to write everyday because this weekend was jammed packed with events I wanted to attend in the evening/night.

Friday was the History Society Ball which i bought a new dress for. We - Kara, Maggie and myself - looked quite good, if I do say so myself. We were provided with a 3 course meal, champagne and a few bottles of wine and the event was held at an interactive museum called "Dynamic Earth." After our delicious dinner there was a ceilidh and then "discotheque" (that's what they called it, not me). It was a blast and it was really fun to dress up and look pretty. Saturday I spent most of my day in the library. That night we went to The Tron to see, you guessed it, "White Heath." I think our frequency at their shows is probably reaching borderline creepy but, hey, we're only here for 3 more weeks! I mean, unless they get famous and tour the world these last couple of gigs in December will probably be the last time we'll see them... ever! So I figure if there's any ideal time to be creepy, it's now. After The Tron we met up with Stacey, who had some of her friends from school visiting, at Vodka Revolution. We danced around for a bit and then we went back to Stacey's and talked for a while. When we finally left Stacey's, I ended up at Kara's and didn't leave until 4:30 am. Sunday was St. Andrews Day so there was a big ceilidh that night in the student union. There were a lot of people there and, more importantly, there were a lot of people there in kilts! It was splendid and the splendidness of it all was only enhanced by the fact that I had also finally finished my essay that day.

Yesterday and today were not particularly exciting. The most substantial occurrence was me doing four loads of laundry. I know what you're thinking. Yes it is gross and I was basically out of things to wear. Tomorrow we're having our weekly potluck (Italian themed due to a surplus of noodles from a previous dinner) but we're going ice skating on Princes Street beforehand! Ice rinks always remind me of the days when I mused about becoming a professional figure skater. I don't know why I ever thought I could pursue that career path. I'm not particularly graceful and, honestly, its difficult for me to stay upright when I'm on solid, non-iced ground and in normal shoes. Still, I'm very excited to make a fool of myself and watch all my friends do the same. Classes end this week and all I have left is a few take home exams. The end is quickly approaching... how did this happen?! I leave you with some photo documentation of the past week.

Our Thanksgiving feast in Kara's teeny-tiny oven. The top shelf is the stuffing (really gross - don't worry, I'm not offending anyone because it was store bought), the middle shelf holds our turkey bricks and on the bottom shelf are Maggie's awesome mashed potatoes.

Maggie and I relaxed while the food was cooking (really just Maggie - I wasn't particularly stressed because cranberry salad doesn't have to cook).

Everyone chatting after Thanksgiving dinner (on Wednesday). This is right before everyone felt the effects of the tryptophan.

Kara and me at the History Society Ball. Don't worry, I didn't wear the hat the whole time.

Kara, Maggie and me at the Ball in front of the "iceberg." Yes, it was real ice. The ball was at that interactive museum!

"The Flying Scotsman" at the St. Andrews Day ceilidh!

Brief update: I just left my room for the first time in several hours to grab a bite to eat and, lo and behold, slush is falling from the sky. Not rain, not snow. Slush. Seriously, it looks like the sky dumped a giant dirt-flavored slushie on Edinburgh.

The Bowels of Google

I don't know if the five people who read this blog actually read the comments too, but from now on its a must. I mentioned in my last entry the band "White Heath" that was at the Tron on Saturday night. Well, much to my surprise an alleged member of this band found my blog and commented on it! WHAT?? But honestly, how on earth did you find this obscure blog by a girl from small-town USA who happens to be in Edinburgh for the semester? There must have been some serious searching done - I mean, we're talking sifting through the bowels of a google search. I'm also quite flattered that you (by you I mean this certain member of "White Heath," if he is actually reading this) took the time to personally invite me to future gigs. I feel like I can now become a legitimate groupie - if everyone's down with that. I will also apologize for the age comment - its not as if I knew you guys would even come close to knowing about this blog or that I even existed on this planet. Thank God I didn't say anything offensive or rude (yes, I really do think the band was talented and great. Keep on keepin' on). And by the way, my friends and I do plan on returning to the Tron to see "White Heath" (not this Saturday though. I have a date with Nessie) and I'm going to find out which of you went beyond the call of duty to find this blog. October 18th, 2008... Be prepared.


Anyway, I just had to address that crazy issue. Nothing of substance has happened in the 24 hours. First the girl from Joplin and now that comment from a member of the band that I mentioned in my blog... There are so many reasons to love Edinburgh (if John McCain wins I may never come home)!

William Wallace Town!

This weekend, as I informed you earlier, was my "home stay" with a British family in Stirling. From this experience I would safely say that, if I ever have the choice, I will not do anything of this sort again. Its not that the family was rude or mean. Actually what bugged me the most was their complete indifference! I did not end up staying with the woman I was assigned. Apparently she was sick. So instead, me and three other girls stayed with family (of two - husband and wife). The husband was nice enough but I found the wife a little bit anal and she seemed annoyed most of the time. I mean, she gave us a 10:30 curfew when none of the other home stay kids even had one! 10:30?? I haven't had a curfew that early since the 8th grade. Actually, I think my curfew was even later than 10:30 in the 8th grade! Needless to say, I am relieved its over.

Aside from the less-than-perfect home stay, the girls I stayed with were awesome! We went to the William Wallace monument and climbed all the way to the top (246 steps and I have a certificate to prove it!) for a magnificent view. Here is the monument itself and then one of the many pictures I took from the top.

William Wallace Monument. So grand and glorious... just like MEL! (Mel Gibson, in case you didn't get that).

One of several pictures from the top of the Wallace monument.

We then went to Stirling Castle (after a delicious lunch) where I was told a few times that "actually there's no photography in here." Whoops! It was fabulous and huge and we really enjoyed ourselves despite the rain. The Great Hall was very Harry Potter-esque, so I loved it. I also found my future husband (who wore a disturbing sporran made out of a head)! See below for visual aids.

The Great Hall! "It looks like Harry Potter" were my words upon entering. It was pretty much a dream come true.

Me and my new boyfriend (let's call him James because that seems like a very Scottish name to me for some unknown reason).

My boyfriend's disturbing badger sporran.

On Sunday we went shopping and found a store called Primark that sells stuff for Wal-Mart prices. Seriously, I got a pair of jeans for 6 pounds (which is basically 12 dollars) and several cute shirts for only 1 or 2 pounds! Yay! After that we headed back to Edinburgh. I got a little bit sick on our trip (I've caught the dreaded "fresher's flu") but I've had so much citrus over the past two days that I think I'll be well by the weekend. I leave you with some more pictures from my Stirling excursion.

Statue of Robert the Bruce outside Stirling Castle.

William Wallace's sword (allegedly).

Bagpiper on the street.

Me with one of the famous Unicorn Tapestries. It was a replica. For some reason I look really ticked off but I assure you I was actually really excited.

Stirling Bridge (reconstructed, obviously) where Wallace and his army defeated the English!

Yep, I'm American... I Think

A certain someone told me that she follows my blog quite closely and, therefore, I should update it as often as I can. Well, in all truth, I could update this blog daily because I have that much time on my hands but in reality no one really wants to hear about my day to day boring-ness. But just to humor this friend of mine I will tell you about my life over the past few days (even though I was planning to take some more pictures before I blogged again).

I started classes. Two of them are HUGE lectures with 100 to 200 students (Foundations of Criminology and American History 2). My other class, Identity, War and Revolution in Europe 1789-1918, is much smaller with about 30 students and is discussion based. I'm excited about all of them but I particularly liked the lecture on my second day of American History. During this class our lecturer "quizzed" us with some American trivia. It is with a heavy heart that I tell you that I did not know: the population of the U.S. (I was WAY off), that we had a president who was unmarried, or how many presidents had been assassinated. Our approximate population is 305,200,000 people (I guessed about 150 million above that - whoops) and the only unmarried U.S. president was James Buchanan. Apparently four, not two, U.S. presidents have been assassinated. In chronological order, they are: Abraham Lincoln (1865), James Garfield (1881), William McKinley (1901), and John F. Kennedy (1963). Random fact: November 22 (the day Kennedy was shot) is also the day Margaret Thatcher left office... obviously not the same year. However, I did know: the percentage of the population that is white (72%), the percentage of the population that is African-American (13%), how many time zones are in the U.S. (4), and that the border between U.S. and Canada stretched about 4,000 miles (just FYI the U.S./Mexico border is about 1,900 miles). I'm sure Mr. McCollum would cringe if he knew about my severe lack of knowledge on American history (and can you believe I'm considering it as my focus for my history major?!). Aside from becoming very aware that the British know more about America than most Americans, I think this will be one of my favorite classes even though it covers my least favorite part of U.S. history.

Last night I went to this bar/resturanut called Frankenstein's with a few of the girls I've met here. The cool thing about Frankenstein's is that it was a church and has now been converted into this big bar. Despite being a very cool atmosphere (a plastic Frankenstein makes a showing every two hours or so via slow crane-like bed thing that hangs above the main resturant area), we waited FOREVER for our food. Granted, Tuesday is a very busy night because students eat for free provided they buy a drink; nevertheless, we were told twice that they were out of the food we wanted and proceeded to spend nearly 3 and a half hours there and most of that time was spent waiting. It was funny for a while and then it just got kind of ridiculous. I think we spent about as much money replenishing our drinks as we would have if we'd actually paid for a meal elsewhere but whatever. It made for some good girl bonding time. From now on we plan on going for lunch on Tuesdays instead because it might be less crowded and they won't have run out of our food.

It was a nice day in Edinburgh today meaning it was cold and overcast but not very rainy. Nothing really exciting happened today except that I bought a sweatshirt at a second-hand shop because I was so cold on my walk back to my dorm. That's my update and I hope that someone is somewhat satisfied. :)

As I was applying for my absentee ballot.... BOOM!

Today I ran into a guy (British) who was attempting to register American students abroad to vote (I should add that his attempts were quite successful). So I began to fill out all my stuff and he had all the additional information specific to the state I'm registered in. He asked me which state and I said, "Missouri." The girl who had just finished registering heard me and asked me what part. I always respond, "the southwest corner" when people ask this question because normally they think I might be from St. Louis - pretty much the only city remotely familiar to non-Missouri residents. Then she asks me what town specifically and I say Joplin. BOOM! BAM! POW! Not only did this girl LIVE in Joplin for 5 years, she graduated from College Heights (College Heights, really?! that's just down the street from TJ - HOLY CRAP!) and knows my sister and half the other people I went to school with!!! WHOA! I mean, what are the odds of running into someone from Joplin who is also studying abroad in Edinburgh??? PRETTY MUCH ZERO! I honestly cannot believe it and I'm still in total shock. Obviously we exchanged phone numbers. Who'da thunk it? I just had to tell you all about this totally random and crazy encounter that I am super stoked about!

NOTE: Her name is Kaitlin and, being the stalkerish facebook fanatic I am, I know she is friends with about 15 of my facebook friends.