Burns Day/Night

January 25th was a big holiday around here: Robert Burns Day! I was going to go to another Ceilidh dance and have some haggis, neeps and tatties… but the tickets were sold out. So, I went to the Golf Tavern with a few friends. There was a live band of older men in kilts. The music was great.

Charlotte Chapel

My friend Sara invited my flatmate Megan and I to check out the church she has been to a couple times. I really liked it. The music is great because they have a huge organ with pipes that are built into the walls. And the pastor was new because he had been in SPOKANE for the past 7 years! Wow, small world! Then we stayed for a student lunch and Bible study. It’s nice to meet more Scottish people because I feel like I don’t know very many. For some reason almost everyone in my building is American and female…

King Arthur's Seat

These pictures are from when we climbed King Arthur’s Seat. It had amazing views of the whole city! We could see Leith, the Atlantic Ocean, farmland, old town, and mountains...

Elevation: 251 m, 820 ft

The laid back life-style

I am getting used to this laid back life-style. It’s great. Since I only have three classes and class three days a week, I have plenty of time to relax and not worry about studying ALL the time because I don’t have homework. I have studying and reading that will help for the one of two big assignments for the class. I’ve been forgetting the first word in “study abroad.” I have had a nice long break from school… I havn’t studied since before Christmas break! The University system is much different here. I am going to write my paper for my Scottish Culture class about the schooling for all ages since it interests me! And life is so much simpler here than in America. They don’t schedule something for every hour of their day; they just go more with the flow and take it easy.

Story of my life… BUS ISSUES

At lease I can laugh it off though and not be too stressed, because it is pretty funny and pretty ridiculous that so many things could happen. For example: I missed the bus because I was in the glass shelter and not on the street, another time it stopped… opened the door… then drove away as I was counting my change, another time I nearly fell up the stairs with all my groceries as the bus started to move, or one time I forgot they drive on the other side of the road…. so I was waiting to head the wrong way. But always seem to get there eventually.

Scottish ceilidh Dancing!

I went to the Edinburgh Uni’s campus for a Ceilidh dance put on by the Folk Society. There was a band that provided the “foot stomping tunes.” The band announced how to do different dances, than played music as we danced. It was so much fun. Lots of the dances were in groups. We could make tunnels and gallop down the dance floor with our partner as everyone clapped and stomped! I even got to dance with a couple Scottish guys in kilts who knew the dances (especially the man who was probably born in the 40’s!) haha. And I couldn’t believe it; in the same building (on campus) was a student bar. So crazy.

First week of School

Monday: We started walking to Craighouse campus and then realized that we wouldn’t be able to walk there when we saw it way up on a hill… but it was fine, we caught a bus. My first class was 19th Century Literature and Culture… and it was 2 hours long! But it was interesting and I didn’t realize that it was going to be British Literature! And not only am I taking Brit Lit in Britain… it’s on a beautiful campus that has great views and castles.

Tuesday: I was so thrilled when I found out that my Literature tutorial was in this castle! It’s a small group where we discuss the books we read. Then took a bus to Merchiston campus, had lunch and got my textbooks at the library. It’s so great that I can check my textbooks out, what a brilliant idea for a school to have! My Molecules and Cells module was on floor H… it was a lot of stairs, but I didn’t want to be late waiting for “the lift” as they call it.





Wednesday: I realized last minute that I have a second lecture for my science class that is on Wednesdays! Dang, I thought I only had class once a week. But I guess not having class Thursdays or Fridays is nothing to complain about. Then in the afternoon, I have my Scottish Culture and Society module. It was in the titanium “egg” classroom at Craiglockhart campus. There were a ton of students in that module and I knew a lot of them because they were all international students whom I have seen around for the past week!