London Calling

Part 2 of Blog 6!

However, before I move on - I would like to note that, in case anyone has noticed, there is a lightly consistent theme in my blogs. Can anyone guess what it is? There is no prize, I was just curious if anyone has noticed it or not. Moving on to Part 2 of the madre's stay.

The day before my mother and I left to head back down to London (First time!!) we wandered over to a town called Dollar to do some hiking by Dollar Glen. First of all - I think I forgot to mention this before, my mother decided to rent a car. Brave move. I am glad I am alive. Apparently roundabouts are much more difficult than they seem. Not only was she driving on the other side of the road, using roundabouts she didn't quite understand, but the car itself was also stickshift.... which she hasn't driven in 15 years. So I felt plenty safe, of course.... The car itself did NOT like hills, especially stopping at the top of them, and my mother did not know how exactly to make it like hills more. This became quite an issue on our way to Dollar Glen, as Dollar is up in the hills of Scotland, and the Glen itself even higher. Needless to say, that was an adventurous drive. But we made it safely, thank the lord.

As what generally happens when my mother and I go hiking, it rained. Actually, when we were high enough in the hills, it started to hail. Regardless of our inadequate clothing and shoe choices, we decided to continue on - and we're quite glad we did, as the glen was quite beautiful.

Part of the Path

The rain, though cold to us, made the colors of the glen rather vibrant and the water of the stream flow nicely. The path led up to Castle Cambell, which would have been lovely to go and visit, were it not past 5pm (i.e. when EVERYTHING closes - except pubs... go figure) and the castle were not under construction. So, unfortunately, we were only able to see a large stone wall with a door in it. Nothing too excited. So we moved on. Instead of continue on the path through the glen, as the rain was turning into hail, we chose to move along the road back to the parking lot. This brought us to even more hills and streams. I particularly enjoyed this one :

Stream by the road

Upon walking farther, I decided I needed to venture up onto one of the slopes to see the other side - the view that greeted me was amazing. Unfortunately, this picture hardly does it justice.

Hills in Dollar

We finally arrived back at the parking lot and made our way back to Stirling, for we had tickets to go and see a friend of mine in a student production of The 39 Steps, which was quite hilarious. The most notable part was when my friend, who played Richard Hanney, was pretending to be on top of a train in a chase scene and started hitting the back flaps of his jacket to try and symbolize the wind. My mother and I enjoyed it immensely.

The next day was the big day - our day down to London! This will have been my first time there, and I was quite excited. After a long, crowded and cramped train ride, we arrived at London's King Cross station. Upon exiting the station, a very strong feeling of "Oh damn.... we're in London!!" washed over me. We made our way to the hotel nearby and went and met my good friend from Redlands, Marta Lawrence, for dinner. After a long day, it was back to bed to prepare for a very exciting Friday.

Friday. The day of tourism. My mother and I did as many tourist-y things in London that we could, starting with the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. We leisurely made our way there from the hotel (a good 3 miles away), and arrived about an hour early. However, that appears to have not been early enough, as there were already hundreds of people lining the gates and fence of Buckingham. Realizing we would not be able to see a thing, my mother and I decided to leave, seeing a brief portion of the parade into the grounds for the changing of the guards. Oh well. Perhaps another time. Here is a picture of Buckingham. Quite a lovely palace.

After that, we decided to try and make our way over to the London Eye and Big Ben, wandering around St. James park on our way. Past the park, we ran into some more guards, and my mother got her picture with one on a horse.

The sign to the right of her says "Beware: horses may kick or bite you!" That, however, did not deter people from getting their pictures taken, as signs such as that often won't. Continuing on our way, we ran into a small group of people gathered around some very fancy looking cameras. Not knowing what or who may be coming out of the building they were surrounding, we decided to stop and wait. According to my sources (cough, Emi Carmichael, cough), the man who came out to make some sort of statement was Foreign Secretary William Hague. Apparently, he is also known as "Hague the Vague." Hah. Good to know.

After deciding that Hague the Vague was not anyone important enough for us to really care about, we continued on, as we were nearing Big Ben. We could see him off in the distance, behind some buildings. Upon rounding a corner, this was our view!

Big Ben

And right across the Thames river from Big Ben - The London Eye!

So we had pretty much hit the jackpot at that point - 3 major sights in one!! Though we didn't really get too close to Big Ben, he kind of dominated the sight for most of the time. So my mom and I wandered over to the Eye, and decided it would be a great idea to take a ride! That's right. We went up in the Eye. It was amazing. One could see all of London, sprawled out around you.

At the top of the Eye

The view was amazing, as you can see. Definitely worth it. After that, we decided, hey, ya know what else is down the Thames river? Shakespeare's Globe Theater. So we went. My desire to see a show here has increased 10 fold. Obviously this is not the ORIGINAL Globe theater, as that one burned down. Or the second one. As that one burned down, too. You know what they say - Third times a charm, right?

Shakespeare's Globe

We went on the tour of the globe and learned little facts about it. They hold performances there in the summer, usually during the afternoon and in the evening. They do not use any sort of lighting, such as spotlights, or really any props or scenery, in an attempt to make the shows as authentically Shakespearean as possible. As Shakespeare did in his day, they fly a flag on the days that there is going to be a show, to let the public know. Very exciting. I will definitely come back to London to see a show here when the season starts.

After that, we went to go and see a show at Fortune Theater, called The Woman in Black, which I'm sure many of you Center Stage folk will recognize. They did an excellent job and definitely made a very creepy show.

The next day, my mother was on her way back to the states, and I to visit Marta for a nice, relaxing evening. Then it was back to Stirling.

Things that I learned on my train ride back to Edinburgh from London: Apparently there are no trash bins in Edinburgh Waverly train station because it is a security hazard. Can someone please explain this to me, as I am quite baffled by it....

Well, that is all for now! These next two weeks will be pretty quite, as I will mostly be working on essays, trying to finish everything up before spring break. It's off to the grocery store for me, now!

The ocean from the train ride from London to Edinburgh

The Farmer and the Cooman

It's that time again! Blog #6! I'm doing better than I thought I would...

Since my homestay, life at Stirling has continued on - classes, adventures, reading, getting sick, deep fried pizza.... Yes, that's right. I said it. Deep. Fried. Pizza. Looks appetizing, doesn't it?


Little known fact - apparently Scotland loves to deep fry pretty much anything and everything. Including Pizza. And Mar's Bars. Have yet to try that one, though. I'll let you know when it happens.

Moving on - So Stirling, like most places, has ice cream trucks. Normally, this wouldn't be something I'd need to comment on, as everyone loves ice cream, so it is only natural that there should be a truck that drives about, handing it out to children in need. Even on campus. The strange thing about it, however, is that it plays Yankee Doodle....
That's right. The Scottish ice cream truck plays a very American Patriotic song. Confused? So am I....

My mom has visited!! Yay! It was lovely seeing her (<- note my use of 'lovely'... it is used everywhere here. I am also attempting to work 'Cheers' into my instead of thank you.). She flew into Heathrow airport in London and took the train from Kings Cross up to Edinburgh, where I met her. However, her arrival to Edinburgh was not, as I believed it to be, 1 or 2 pm. It was 6. This was due to some misunderstanding. So, at 2 pm, at the bed and breakfast that we were to stay at (called Ard Na Said - very cute place right by Arthur's Seat), I sat quite confused and quite worried, wondering if her plane had crashed into the ocean on the way over, with no way of communicating her. However, as I was also getting sick, I ended up passing out for 2 hours. Upon waking up and realizing that my mother was STILL not there, I gave in and chose to call her, regardless of the international fee it would call me. Thankfully, she was fine and had just taken a later train out of London and would be there by 6. Well. Thank goodness.

Upon her arrival, my mother immediately desires Fish and Chips. And she already has a place picked out. But no directions. Adventure time? Yes. First things first - finding our way out of Edinburgh Waverly Railway Station.

Sidenote: Streets in Edinburgh (well, I guess all of the UK for that matter) change names. A lot. Which makes finding streets and restaurants confusing.

So, after finally making it to the fish and chips (which were delicious), we were ready to head back to the Ard Na Said and get to bed. So we get on the bus. Funny story - Right bus, wrong direction. Well, we certainly got to see a part of Edinburgh we never would have seen otherwise!! We spent about an hour riding the bus around the city. Which would have been fine and all if two pre-teen girls obsessed with Justin Bieber did not come on. And sang. Almost the entire time. All Justin Bieber songs. I thought I hated "Baby" before, but 'oh baby baby baby oh' do I hate it now.

As you can imagine, we did finally get back to the Ard Na Said after our little detour and quickly climbed into bed, setting the clocks so as not to miss the breakfast that awaited us in the morning.

Next morning - A much more successful day in Edinburgh, my mother and I walked down to Haymarket and wandered around the Royal Mile. Though we did not do the Edinburgh Castle, my mother did, however, want to do the Scotch Whisky Experience. So, as before, here is a picture of the largest whisky collection in the world (3,384 bottles - all unopened)
After Edinburgh, my mother and I headed back into Stirling, as I had to attend class. Unfortunately, we could not do as many fun Scottish Sight Seeing as I'm sure we both would have liked, as I had to go to class during the week, but we did, however, get to see some HIGHLAND CATTLE (AKA COOS!)!!

This is Hamish, the highland coo. His mate is Heather. She is/was pregnant, and was to have her baby coo on Wednesday :-) I definitely need to go back and see it!

As I had already started this post, I am splitting it in two. So this is the end of the first part of the post.

Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard

It's blog time once again! I think the last time I blogged was just before the St. Andrews excursion - So that's where we'll start :

Two weekends ago I went to visit my good friend from college, Dylan Freude. He is currently studying abroad at the University of St. Andrews. Apparently it is Scotland's first university! It was founded somewhere around 1413, which makes it 600 years old!! Very impressive, St. Andrews. It actually celebrated it's 600th birthday a few days ago and the prince of Wales himself went to celebrate with it!! Apparently Dylan actually got to TOUCH Prince Williams! Boy did I go to the wrong university! Just kidding. Upon my arrival, Dylan and I walked around through the many ruins that St. Andrews has to offer - the largest being the Cathedral and the graveyard surrounding it. It was very cool imagining the building of such an immense structure and how it came to be the way it is today due to the Reformation. It's more grass and fallen walls than an actual building!

At the Ruins

Like usual, it was a cloudy day in Scotland. Also quite windy! Dylan and I had gone down to the beach for a bit, but it was so windy, we were afraid we were going to blow away!! I tried to get a bit of it on video. Here is a link to it. Hopefully you can see it!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?profile=1&id=812329501#!/video/video.php?v=1398973451466

Anyway, we got very cold after that and continued back up to the ruins. Here is a picture of Dylan and I in the cathedral.

Right by the cathedral is.... wait for it........ THE WORLDS FIRST GOLF COURSE!!!! Because, you know, St. Andrews INVENTED the sport. Apparently it is like, £600 just to play on it!! Also, you have to book in advance, and the course is already booked up until October!! Thought of the Holmstroms while walking through it. Skip would have loved it, I'm sure.

Golf Course

The remainder of the time spent in St. Andrews was mostly just hanging around at the student union and some pubs with some of Dylan's other friends from the IFSA-Butler program. Though, I must say, one of the nicest things about St. Andrews was a shower that stayed on the entire time you were showering (same with the homestay, but I will get to that later). After a relaxing weekend, it was time to head home on Sunday and get ready for school the next day.

That's right. School has begun. Actual work needs to be done. Study abroad, sadly enough, begins with "Study." Classes are as follows:

• Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland - I want to say we just learn Harry Potter spells, but sadly, that is not the case....
• Social History of the Victorian City (Computer Approaches) - Learning history with computers?? Very strange. Census time!
• Language and Gender - pretty self explanatory. Learning how the world is still very sexist.
  

I have classes and lectures Monday through Thursday, and am lucky enough to have Friday free - which is perfect for those long weekend excursions! Classes should be fine. The only thing I am not looking forward to is writing those essays. They cut into my travel time!

While class has been fun, the other IFSA girls and I have also had fun exploring the campus of Stirling, itself. We ventured to go and find the castle that is on campus. It was built in the 1700's. There are still classes that are held there, but they are mostly all law classes. I definitely wish I could say that I were taking classes in the castle. Behind the castle, we found a path that led to the hills behind the campus. The path was lined with a beautiful stone wall - very scottish.

The path wove around the hills and led us out to a road that we followed into the adjacent town called Bridge of Allan where I got my first Scottish pastry (which was delicious!).

On our way back to Stirling, we were astounded by a gorgeous view of the sun over the Loch on campus. It is really one of those times where one thinks, 'Yeah, I go to a gorgeous school.'
This past weekend I went on what was called our Homestay - where we went and stayed with a family for the weekend to work more into getting to know the culture. Our homestay family, Judith and Paul Telford, had two daughters and a dog. They were all very welcoming and made Liz and I feel right at home in their gorgeous house.

That Saturday, Judith and Ella (daughter) took us around the Lake District to do some hiking. We began by hiking to Aira Force, which is a water fall. It was a lovely sunny day and the water was flowing quite forcefully, as there had been quite a bit of rain. After the waterfall, we drove over to Little Mell Fell and did some Fell walking. A Fell is "a word used to refer to mountains, or certain types of mountainous landscape, in Scandinavia, the Isle of Man, and parts of England." The weather up at Little Mell Fell was very confused. It really did not know what it wanted to do. On our walk up, we started with sunshine and warmth. On our way, the clouds quickly came in, and about halfway up hail actually started to fall!! It was like we were getting all of the seasons in one day! After the hail, it mostly stayed cloudy. At the top of the Fell, the 360 degree view was absolutely stunning. On one side, there were dark, ominous clouds (probably where the hail was falling), next to that, the sun was desperately trying to break through, giving the landscape an almost ethereal look to it.

Past that, there were blue skies! Around the other side, there was a clear distinction between where the clouds started and the blue skies stopped.

View from Little Mell Fell

All together, a very amazing experience. After that, we were quite exhausted and went to have lunch back at home. One thing I was surprised about was how much tea people actually drink! Our family had it for every meal and then some! It really is apart of everyday life here. That evening, we went to the village pub (every village needs one, I guess!). The next day, Liz and I learned to make Scones!!

Mine were cheese scones, but we also made Cherry and Apple. I have the recipe and definitely plan on making them at home more often! Here is a picture of my homestay family and I :
Well, it has certainly been busy here. I hope all is well for everyone back at home! Until next time!

Everybody's Got to Learn Sometimes

Hey all,

So I know it's been a while since the last update. Told you I was bad with these. Things have been kind of hectic since then, what with school starting up. So, here goes.

Saturday -We finally arrived at University of Stirling at about 10 am. From there, we set up our rooms, and wandered around campus for a bit. Realizing we really would need food and pots and pans, we adventured into the downtown area of Stirling (City Center). Did you know that Stirling only just became a city in 2002? The queen granted it city status as apart of her Golden Jubilee! We wandered around, finding the cheapest stores we could (hey, we're students and the exchange rate is a killer), including the Pound Store, Pound Stretcher, and a second Pound Store, as well as Argylls. Fun stuff.

As for the dorm room itself, it is very, um, interesting. The dorms are separated into suite rooms, so there are five people living in a suite, all with their own room, then a common room and a kitchen. Fun fact: the person who designed the dorms took inspiration from a Swedish Prison....

Swedish Prison Cell

My Dorm Room - Look familiar? I mean, the bed and the desk
are switched, but otherwise... This is right at the doorway.
There's a closet to the left. That's it.

So other than a few shelves and a few inches added to the width, I'd say they did a pretty good job. The showers are another story. I guess this campus is WAY into saving energy, which I'm all for and everything, but really? I would just like to shower in peace. The showers, though they do have warm water (Lets not even talk about how the bathrooms are FREEZING.... apparently they school decided to skip out on heat in there, too), have this button. And you press the button for water. And then 20 seconds later, the water turns off. It's like those faucets you have to press to get water. Except as a shower. I mean, it's really NOT that bad, but I just needed a rant session.

Anyway, finally met all my suite mates, and they're all very nice. There's Laura, Esme, Moira, and Enga. Laura, Esme and Moira are all from Scotland, while Enga is from Germany/Taiwan (goes back and forth between the two).

On Tuesday, some girls from IFSA and I decided to visit Stirling Castle finally (Sunday and Monday were full of boring and unnecessary orientation information.... seriously felt like a freshmen in college again.). It was absolutely amazing. I liked it much better than Edinburgh (and lets be honest, Edinburgh Castle was pretty amazing....). It had a much more castle-feel to it. And our tour guide was adorable. He had this long white hair that was receding (had to be about 60) and wore green plaid pants. And had an accent. Of course. The castle itself overlooked all of Stirling. It was said that whoever held Stirling Castle held Scotland. This was because A.) Stirling Castle had a great view of the surrounding areas to see advancing armies and the hill it sits upon is naturally easily defensible, and B.) it was/is the gateway into the Highlands. The reason for this is because it sits on the River Forth at the most militarily advantageous spot. It was the easiest place to move a mass amount of soldiers across the river into the Highlands. Stirling actually used to be the capitol of Scotland. Unfortunately, as it was quite the cloudy and foggy day when we went, I don't have a good picture of the castle as a whole, but only parts of the castle itself.

Opening to Stirling Castle

Naturally, we had some fun while wandering around the castle and found the Great Hall where the kings and queens sat....

Hanging out with Royalty

So that was pretty much our day on Tuesday. Oh, and I do believe that was valentines day? No, Monday was Valentines day. Gosh, I just don't know anymore. Well, then, on MONDAY we went to dinner with a large group of girls. It was nice, but definitely need to think more about eating in, so I can save for Europe trips. I've talked to Quincy about visiting him at the beginning of my Spring Break in Germany, and then maybe meet up in Italy with the IFSA girls. It's so weird being able to say that. Like, 'oh, no big, just jumping over to Italy.' It's crazy. I still can't get over it. And talking with people in England and being like, yeah, you're close enough! I'll totally come down for a weekend. It's just LONDON. SO WEIRD. It's also crazy because the University is recognizing Prince Williams marriage to Kate Middleton as a NATIONAL HOLIDAY. So, naturally, we're just going to pop over to London with the millions of other people.... It's crazy. I think I will live here. Everything is so close!!

Well, that's all for now. I'm off for a weekend visiting Dylan in St. Andrews. Should be fun! I'll update if anything interesting happens. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Have Fun Storming the Castle!

Hey there,

Sorry it's been a few days since I posted. Things have been busy, and connecting to the internet at Stirling was a little rough. I am finding it easier to write a blog.... It probably helps that everyone else in my group is writing blogs as well. Anyway, 3rd post is a go!
Today is Friday. I think I left off on Wednesday?? Anyway, yesterday was, once again, a very eventful and busy day. We started off with an 8am breakfast up at the restaurant on the 5th floor of the hotel we are staying at (Apex International Hotel). It has the most gorgeous view of the castle EVER. This picture gives you something of an idea. It was made all the better because yesterday was one of the only days we will probably ever see the sun. It was a perfect day!

View of Edinburgh Castle from the restaurant area.

After breakfast, we finally began our IFSA-Butler orientation (With a tea and coffee break included). We even got to meet one of the Edinburgh police officers! Super exciting. He was super embarrassed when he had to talk about dating in Scotland and how it differs from the US. Also, apparently we are to beware of guys wearing sports clothing (like, jogging pants and matching coat) and burberry baseball caps. That was the kicker. Watch out for the burberry baseball caps. He was pretty funny. Anyway, this lasted until around lunch. After we ate, our group of explorers decided to wander out towards a place called Arthur's Seat, in Holyrood Park. Yeah. It threw me off too. Holyrood? I think they mean HOLLYWOOD. Obviously.

Arthur's Seat

When we arrived at the park and started the climb, a few of our members opted out, and soon it was down to Dana and I, traversing the hills of the area. We climbed about 3 "peaks" if you will. There was an absolutely gorgeous sight of the city all around, as you can see :

Edinburgh

While climbing, however, the trails were very poorly marked, and often times we found ourselves literally climbing a few places. It was quite the adventure, but definitely worth it, as the view was spectacular.

Pretty amazing, yes? Oh, I would say "Awesome," but apparently it is weird to say that here. We will get to that later. Moving on. After exploring the hills, Dana and I went back to the old town area (There is the old town and the new town - We've mostly been hanging around old town) where we met up with the other 5 girls at the Elephant House, which is the location where J.K. Rowling began writing the Harry Potter books. It is owned by a new manager and has changed quite a bit since she began writing (it was 15 years ago, after all.). However, they are still quite proud of their history with Harry Potter. There is a photo of JK Rowling writing part of the book hanging in their main dining room, as well as a toilet devoted to HP, as you can see :

HP Toilet

After that, we went back to the hotel to hang out a bit, and then it was off to the night scene, where we wandered the streets with many other bar hunters. It was quite the day, but very fun. I will continue to try and keep everyone updated. That's all for now!

Video from Arthur's Seat :
http://www.facebook.com/video/?encoding#!/video/video.php?v=1394185291765

A Foggy Day in Edinburgh Town

Post the Second!

Hey All!

I have arrived in Scotland, safe a sound! It's been a LONG day (night?), but a very exciting one. It started off with a lovely attendant at O'hare, who informed us that our gate was a "No Frowning Zone," which he emphasized by all but yelling at a man over the speaker that it was, in fact, a no frowning zone and the man needed to smile. What a great start to a long trip. Upon arrival at Newark, I actually found it quite simple to walk the 13 or so gates it was to C86. Good thing. There, I found four other girls, red tagged bags in hand, gathered around the outlets like they were a bonfire. There we sat, until finally it was time to board (7:45PM EST).

6 hours later....

Arrival in Edinburgh : 7:30 AM (Scotland time)

The arrival to Scotland was quite cloudy and foggy, but still gorgeous nonetheless. Getting past Customs was a breeze, as was baggage claim and finding Deirdra, the program coordinator for Stirling. A quick drive to the hotel later (driving on the left side, of course), and we were sent off to Edinburgh on our own. The five of us wandered up and down the cobbled streets, trying to find our way to the Edinburgh Castle, and discovering many other wonderful buildings along the journey. We found The Royal Mile (High Street) and

walked up and down, mindlessly finding our way to the Castle. A quick look around, and we decided to leave the Castle for another day. Exhausted and hungry (it was only about 11:30 at this point), we dragged our weary bodies back to the hotel for a quick lunch across the street and some down time.

Well, thats about all there is for

today! I'll try and keep everyone updated!

Send Me On My Way

Hey all,

In case someone has missed something, I am finally doing what I have always wanted - Studying Abroad. Specifically in Scotland. If we want to get down to more specifics, the University of Stirling in Stirling, Scotland. Whew. I can't believe it is actually happening! I am so excited, yet so nervous at the same time!

So I am all ready and packed for Scotland. I leave tomorrow. I have my suitcase the size of a boar, my roll-away, and my shoulder bag awaiting downstairs, while I try to calm my nerves, hoping I haven't forgotten anything . All have their IFSA-Butler approved red ribbon to identify myself as a desperately lost and confused foreigner, in hopes that another desperately lost and confused foreigner will find me. One can dream.

In case you were wondering about my travel arraignments, here it is -
-At noon, my flight will leave from O'Hare International Airport for a two and a half hour flight that will get me to Newark at 3:30 PM
-I have about four hours to frantically find my way to the terminal where my flight to Scotland will be waiting! Hope I can find it....
-Then, at 7:30 PM, I will fly the 3,268 miles it is from New Jersey to Edinburgh with a plane full of other travelers.
-I will be arriving a day later, at 7:30 AM. From there, I will gather my luggage and hope to God that there is someone from IFSA-Butler to herd the other Stirling students and myself to the hotel where we will be staying for a few days to do Orientation stuff.

Well, don't know about you guys, but typing that out has sure helped me!

On a side note - Though I do now have this blog, I am absolutely horrendous at keeping things like this going. So, though I do hope to keep it updated, it will be more of a, whenever I remember to actually update, deal. Hopefully I can get to it once a week. But it might be more like once every two weeks. We shall see how it goes.

Until next time, folks!