Last night, around 2 am, I was lying in bed, about to fall asleep. While I live right in pub central and lots of late night talking, yelling, screaming, and breaking glass is not uncommon, it's usually not loud enough or interesting enough to interfere with my sleep. However, last night I realize that people were standing directly outside my window, and some of those people were the police.
After hearing "Allen! (Alex, Alec? It was unclear.) Wake up! Come on, wake up! Get up Allen, it's the Police!" over and over, I got up and looked out the window.
Low and behold there is a boy completely passed out on the sidewalk with two police officers surrounding him. The boy was mostly non-responsive but would occasionally come to consciousness.
Next two paramedics come about, try to get him to get up. Then eventually an ambulance comes. They manage to get him up and into the ambulance.
It was a very exciting late night happenstance, let me tell you.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Robert Burns Night!
Tonight is Robert Burns night, to celebrate the birthday of Robert Burns. It's apparently a big deal. Normally it involves a big dance (similar to square dancing, but I can't possibly spell the word correctly), whiskey, haggis, bagpipes, and kilts.
We went out to eat, in which everyone wanted to get haggis. We finally settle on a place and get ready to order only to find out that they ran out of haggis! We ate there anyway, and everyone got something else (I always intended on getting steak pie). It was fun.
We then went to the Three Sisters where we heard they were doing some Burns Night specials, including free Haggis and deep fried Mars bars. We managed to snag some Haggis.
(I actually tried about a 1/4th of that) Haggis is remarkably good, actually. It tastes pretty much like ground beef. However, the texture is really mushy and kinda gross. I wouldn't have it again, but I can tell you that I have now had Haggis!
Then, a bagpiper came into the pub.
And we watched him play lots of exciting bagpipe music. :) I tried to take a video, but it didn't really work.
That's all for tonight.
We went out to eat, in which everyone wanted to get haggis. We finally settle on a place and get ready to order only to find out that they ran out of haggis! We ate there anyway, and everyone got something else (I always intended on getting steak pie). It was fun.
We then went to the Three Sisters where we heard they were doing some Burns Night specials, including free Haggis and deep fried Mars bars. We managed to snag some Haggis.
(I actually tried about a 1/4th of that) Haggis is remarkably good, actually. It tastes pretty much like ground beef. However, the texture is really mushy and kinda gross. I wouldn't have it again, but I can tell you that I have now had Haggis!Then, a bagpiper came into the pub.
And we watched him play lots of exciting bagpipe music. :) I tried to take a video, but it didn't really work. That's all for tonight.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Out and about Scotland.
Thursday night I went to the Literary Society Pub Crawl, which was really fun. When we got there, and they gave everyone a name tag with either an author or a book. Your goal was to find your match (if you had an author, you needed to find the person with your book, and vice versa), and introduce yourself. :) I was George Orwell. I was mostly just glad I got an author/book that I actually knew. I was also very pleased to notice that I knew most of the books/authors that I saw around. I may or may not actually join the society, but the pub crawl was a lot of fun.
We went out to the Tron, then to the Three Sisters, and then we moved to Vodka Revolution, all of which were a lot of fun.
Last night was a similar mix, with an interesting attempt at burger making beforehand. Tonight, however, will just be reading and homework.
We went out to the Tron, then to the Three Sisters, and then we moved to Vodka Revolution, all of which were a lot of fun.
Last night was a similar mix, with an interesting attempt at burger making beforehand. Tonight, however, will just be reading and homework.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Inauguration!
Today was inauguration. I walked into my Scottish Ethnology class at 4 to hear him go "I'm surprised there are that many of you here today, especially you Americans." Well, me and a few other Americans ran to the student union after class where they were broadcasting the inauguration on a few big screens. We got there just in time to see Obama sworn in and give his speech. :) It was a very happy occasion. There were quite a few people there (and not all Americans!) and there was copious amounts of clapping.
We then decided to go out to dinner afterward to celebrate. We celebrated our American-ness by going to a wholly Scottish restaurant. So perhaps we really should've gone to McDonalds or KFC, but the Scottish place was much more fun. I have Shepard's Pie which was delicious, and we had a couple of bottles of wine for the table (of 6) which was good. :) We then went to a pub to hang out for a bit, had hot chocolate with Kahlua which was also delicious, and then watched some soccer before I headed back to my room.
Other than that, my news has been fairly boring. I need to buy a stapler, because they don't provide them in the libraries here, which is rather annoying because I have stacks of articles and notes in piles in my room that I'm trying not to mix up. Other than that, there hasn't been too much of consequence. :)
We then decided to go out to dinner afterward to celebrate. We celebrated our American-ness by going to a wholly Scottish restaurant. So perhaps we really should've gone to McDonalds or KFC, but the Scottish place was much more fun. I have Shepard's Pie which was delicious, and we had a couple of bottles of wine for the table (of 6) which was good. :) We then went to a pub to hang out for a bit, had hot chocolate with Kahlua which was also delicious, and then watched some soccer before I headed back to my room.
Other than that, my news has been fairly boring. I need to buy a stapler, because they don't provide them in the libraries here, which is rather annoying because I have stacks of articles and notes in piles in my room that I'm trying not to mix up. Other than that, there hasn't been too much of consequence. :)
Friday, January 16, 2009
Classes!
Today I had my first week of classes. To recap, I'm taking Scottish Ethnology, British History, and British Art from 1759-1824. I have two classes and a tutorial on Mondays, 2 classes and a tutorial on Tuesdays, 1 on Wednesday, 1 on Thursday (every other week I also have a tutorial) , and 1 on Friday.
Both Scottish Ethnology and British History are introductory courses. Very large lectures. They're both also full year courses, and as a visiting student, I'm allowed to just jump into the second half. In the case of Scottish Ethnology, there are more visiting students than full year. In the case of British History, there are very few visiting, which was a little overwhelming for the first lecture given that I didn't have any background. However, I think it'll be okay. The British Art course is my only upper level course and consequently is much smaller. We're frequently having class in various museums here in Edinburgh, with the the Scottish Portait Gallery being on Monday, which I'm really excited about.
The Scottish academic system is rather strange. They give you a big ass list of books that you can choose to read, but it's entirely up to you to determine what you want to read. Because they give you such a big list, Scottish students mostly use the library to do their reading, which unfortunately makes it moderately problematic to get access to what you need to read because everyone already has it. But they do have a ton of things on various degress of reserves so hopefully it won't be *too* problematic.
I think I'm really going to enjoy Scottish Ethnology and British Art History....British History is still a bit up in the air.
Both Scottish Ethnology and British History are introductory courses. Very large lectures. They're both also full year courses, and as a visiting student, I'm allowed to just jump into the second half. In the case of Scottish Ethnology, there are more visiting students than full year. In the case of British History, there are very few visiting, which was a little overwhelming for the first lecture given that I didn't have any background. However, I think it'll be okay. The British Art course is my only upper level course and consequently is much smaller. We're frequently having class in various museums here in Edinburgh, with the the Scottish Portait Gallery being on Monday, which I'm really excited about.
The Scottish academic system is rather strange. They give you a big ass list of books that you can choose to read, but it's entirely up to you to determine what you want to read. Because they give you such a big list, Scottish students mostly use the library to do their reading, which unfortunately makes it moderately problematic to get access to what you need to read because everyone already has it. But they do have a ton of things on various degress of reserves so hopefully it won't be *too* problematic.
I think I'm really going to enjoy Scottish Ethnology and British Art History....British History is still a bit up in the air.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Picture Post!
Classes have started, but given that I have to leave for one rather soon, I don't have too much time to elaborate on them, right now. But I thought you all might enjoy a gratuitous picture post. I don't have too many, nor am I in any of them, but regardless.
These are from the front of the hotel I stayed at during orientation. We were right near Edinburgh Castle (as can be seen from a couple of these pictures.)
More will be updated when I am in less of a hurry.
These are from the front of the hotel I stayed at during orientation. We were right near Edinburgh Castle (as can be seen from a couple of these pictures.)
More will be updated when I am in less of a hurry.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Move-in day
Today I got to move in to my flat which was a fairly overwhelming process. The flat contains 4 single (and good sized) bedrooms, with a shared kitchen and bathroom, although there isn't really a common room.
My flatmates are one girl from the IFSA Butler program, one boy from England, and one boy from Colorado who went through his own school. Only the English one is living in the flat for the entire year. Given that IFSA Butler had given every impression that all these flats would be single-sex, it was a bit surprising to move in and find boys living there. Not a problem, but very surprising.
We're right down the street from a couple different bars so it's rather loud outside, but that's also kinda fun. I now have working internet in my room, which is pretty exciting. :)
Tomorrow I get to meet with my Dean of Students to discuss and confirm my classes, and then I'm attending some orientation stuff on campus, which will hopefully include a tour. And then I should probably do practical things, such as get some more money and go grocery shopping. I did learn that Bank of America has an agreement with Barclays Bank here, so that I can withdraw money without being charged withdrawal fees. (although there's undoubtedly still a small conversion fee) which was pretty exciting to learn. Classes then start on Monday.
I found out that I will be going to the Penrith, Cumbria area of Scotland for my weekend homestay in February. I will be staying on a farm with 3 little children (ages 2, 6, and 7) and numerous farm animals, which will be interesting.
Otherwise I'm just roaming around the city, trying to get my bearings, and just trying to get comfortable.
My flatmates are one girl from the IFSA Butler program, one boy from England, and one boy from Colorado who went through his own school. Only the English one is living in the flat for the entire year. Given that IFSA Butler had given every impression that all these flats would be single-sex, it was a bit surprising to move in and find boys living there. Not a problem, but very surprising.
We're right down the street from a couple different bars so it's rather loud outside, but that's also kinda fun. I now have working internet in my room, which is pretty exciting. :)
Tomorrow I get to meet with my Dean of Students to discuss and confirm my classes, and then I'm attending some orientation stuff on campus, which will hopefully include a tour. And then I should probably do practical things, such as get some more money and go grocery shopping. I did learn that Bank of America has an agreement with Barclays Bank here, so that I can withdraw money without being charged withdrawal fees. (although there's undoubtedly still a small conversion fee) which was pretty exciting to learn. Classes then start on Monday.
I found out that I will be going to the Penrith, Cumbria area of Scotland for my weekend homestay in February. I will be staying on a farm with 3 little children (ages 2, 6, and 7) and numerous farm animals, which will be interesting.
Otherwise I'm just roaming around the city, trying to get my bearings, and just trying to get comfortable.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Currently, I can hear bagpipes playing outside my window. :)
The last few days have been fairly hectic.
While the weather in Edinburgh has been delightfully sunny for the past couple of days, we've unfortunately had to spend most of the daylight hours inside for various orientation meetings. These meetings have been mostly useful, giving us info about culture, getting mobile phones, a talk with a constable of the Lothian and Borders Police, a bus tour of the city, information about our houses, which included accepting the university accomodations and filling out registration paperwork to matriculate at the University of Edinburgh, as well as a talk by Margo McDonald, a member of the Scottish Parliament.
Yesterday we spent the day from 9 to 3 in these meetings, and then we went on our bus tour of the city. They drove us up to the castle, then to Calton Hill, where there are just the most extrodinary views of the city, and then down to Holyrood, while commenting on much of what we were passing, and telling us colorful stories.
It was concluded that the Scottish were rather intense people after hearing one story about these two men, William Burke and William Hare, who made a business in the 1800s by killing no less than 19 and potentially as many as 30 people in order to sell the bodies to the School of Anatomy for study. Eventually, to avoid consequence, Hare turned in Burke who was then tried and convicted of these murders. Burke was then hung in front of an audience of about 25,000 people. His body was then brought out into one side of the audience and cut open so that they could show his organs to the people. They then stitched him up, rolled him to the other side of the audience, and did the same thing.
But oh no, that's not all. They then used his skin for leather bags and such, and have his preserved skeleton in the anatomy museum with his hand over a leather bound book, which was of course made from him. It was a pretty intense story.
After the tour finished, about 10 of us decided to go ahead and get cell phones, and since it was thursday, the stores were still open (thursday is their big extended hours day). I managed to get a phone for 5 pounds and do a pay as you go sort of plan for pretty cheap rates, especially to the US, which was fairly exciting. We then wandered around before splitting up a bit to go grab dinner. I went with 3 others and had some good, fairly cheap indian food which was pretty exciting. We then met up again and hit up a bar, which was a lot of fun.
Today our meetings were mostly dealing with our flats that we move into tomorrow and doing some registration.
Currently I appear to be signed up to take the following classes:
British History 1
From 'Sigismunda' to 'The Hay Wain': British Art 1759-1824
Scottish Ethnology 1B
Both British History and Scottish Ethnology are both just for visiting students because they're one semester versions of full year courses that are often taken by full year students at the university, however it sounds like some of the lectures and tutorials will be with students enrolled in the full year version.
I'm hoping that all the classes will be fun and interesting. :) I will be fully confirmed in these courses after I meet with my dean of students on Sunday. Classes start on Monday which is pretty exciting.
At this point we're just enjoying the city and exploring. Tomorrow I'll finally move into my accomidations in the morning, giving me the rest of the day to do all the shopping I need to do (for things like bedding, towels, hair dryers, plates, groceries, ethernet cord, etc) which is a really exciting prospect. :)
I believe tonight the plans are just to go out and have some fun in the city.
That's all that's really been going on for the last couple of days.
While the weather in Edinburgh has been delightfully sunny for the past couple of days, we've unfortunately had to spend most of the daylight hours inside for various orientation meetings. These meetings have been mostly useful, giving us info about culture, getting mobile phones, a talk with a constable of the Lothian and Borders Police, a bus tour of the city, information about our houses, which included accepting the university accomodations and filling out registration paperwork to matriculate at the University of Edinburgh, as well as a talk by Margo McDonald, a member of the Scottish Parliament.
Yesterday we spent the day from 9 to 3 in these meetings, and then we went on our bus tour of the city. They drove us up to the castle, then to Calton Hill, where there are just the most extrodinary views of the city, and then down to Holyrood, while commenting on much of what we were passing, and telling us colorful stories.
It was concluded that the Scottish were rather intense people after hearing one story about these two men, William Burke and William Hare, who made a business in the 1800s by killing no less than 19 and potentially as many as 30 people in order to sell the bodies to the School of Anatomy for study. Eventually, to avoid consequence, Hare turned in Burke who was then tried and convicted of these murders. Burke was then hung in front of an audience of about 25,000 people. His body was then brought out into one side of the audience and cut open so that they could show his organs to the people. They then stitched him up, rolled him to the other side of the audience, and did the same thing.
But oh no, that's not all. They then used his skin for leather bags and such, and have his preserved skeleton in the anatomy museum with his hand over a leather bound book, which was of course made from him. It was a pretty intense story.
After the tour finished, about 10 of us decided to go ahead and get cell phones, and since it was thursday, the stores were still open (thursday is their big extended hours day). I managed to get a phone for 5 pounds and do a pay as you go sort of plan for pretty cheap rates, especially to the US, which was fairly exciting. We then wandered around before splitting up a bit to go grab dinner. I went with 3 others and had some good, fairly cheap indian food which was pretty exciting. We then met up again and hit up a bar, which was a lot of fun.
Today our meetings were mostly dealing with our flats that we move into tomorrow and doing some registration.
Currently I appear to be signed up to take the following classes:
British History 1
From 'Sigismunda' to 'The Hay Wain': British Art 1759-1824
Scottish Ethnology 1B
Both British History and Scottish Ethnology are both just for visiting students because they're one semester versions of full year courses that are often taken by full year students at the university, however it sounds like some of the lectures and tutorials will be with students enrolled in the full year version.
I'm hoping that all the classes will be fun and interesting. :) I will be fully confirmed in these courses after I meet with my dean of students on Sunday. Classes start on Monday which is pretty exciting.
At this point we're just enjoying the city and exploring. Tomorrow I'll finally move into my accomidations in the morning, giving me the rest of the day to do all the shopping I need to do (for things like bedding, towels, hair dryers, plates, groceries, ethernet cord, etc) which is a really exciting prospect. :)
I believe tonight the plans are just to go out and have some fun in the city.
That's all that's really been going on for the last couple of days.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Traveling
The traveling to Scotland went fairly smoothly. No real delays, and I managed to get everywhere I was supposed to at the time I was supposed to. I have however determined that I don't like the JFK airport. It's very large and confusing.
The Virgin Atlantic flight was fine. Unfortunately, I sat in the middle, so it wasn't the most comfortable thing ever, but each seat gets its own movie screen, which was nice.
Our hotel in Edinburgh for orientation is very nice. The hotel is located in the heart of the city, right near the castle.
They have us pretty well scheduled with all sorts of things for the next few days. Hopefully all the information will be useful. There's also enough downtime to allow exploration of the city. We move into our flats/dorms on Saturday, with classes starting on Monday at the University.
I took a walk with some people in the program around the city, going up to the castle, looking around outside, then down into West Princes Street Gardens and then down onto various streets just looking around before we had to be back at the hotel for dinner.
I am now heading off to bed to finally get a good nights rest after being awake for far too long on about 2 hours of sleep. They have us up pretty early tomorrow, but given that I'm going to bed at 8, it shouldn't be too bad.
:)
The Virgin Atlantic flight was fine. Unfortunately, I sat in the middle, so it wasn't the most comfortable thing ever, but each seat gets its own movie screen, which was nice.
Our hotel in Edinburgh for orientation is very nice. The hotel is located in the heart of the city, right near the castle.
They have us pretty well scheduled with all sorts of things for the next few days. Hopefully all the information will be useful. There's also enough downtime to allow exploration of the city. We move into our flats/dorms on Saturday, with classes starting on Monday at the University.
I took a walk with some people in the program around the city, going up to the castle, looking around outside, then down into West Princes Street Gardens and then down onto various streets just looking around before we had to be back at the hotel for dinner.
I am now heading off to bed to finally get a good nights rest after being awake for far too long on about 2 hours of sleep. They have us up pretty early tomorrow, but given that I'm going to bed at 8, it shouldn't be too bad.
:)
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Preparing to leave
This is merely a study abroad travel blog of sorts. While on one level it's an easy way to let people know what I'm up to, on another it's an easy way to keep track of everything I'm doing. With luck, my semester in Edinburgh will be exciting, interesting, and enlightening.
I am participating in Butler University - Institute for Study Abroad - University of Edinburgh, Scotland for my spring 09' semester. I leave on Tuesday, January 6th, where I will fly from Nashville to New York, New York to London, and then finally London to Edinburgh.
I am both excited and nervous, with little knowledge of what to expect. Spirits are high, however, that this will be a wonderful semester.
:)
I am participating in Butler University - Institute for Study Abroad - University of Edinburgh, Scotland for my spring 09' semester. I leave on Tuesday, January 6th, where I will fly from Nashville to New York, New York to London, and then finally London to Edinburgh.
I am both excited and nervous, with little knowledge of what to expect. Spirits are high, however, that this will be a wonderful semester.
:)
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