A Plethora of Ruffles

Another week has come and gone in my four month adventure. The week had its ups and downs; luckily the ups outweighed the downs. I shall start with my main complaint.

I honestly do not know how the physics students learn here. Perhaps I have been spoiled by excellent professors at Guilford who push us to the limit and make our brains hurt on a daily basis. As unpleasant as that sounds, I miss it. I miss working my butt off on weekly homework sets and quizzes. Here, I go to lecture a billion times a week (literally, I have 5 lectures and a lab each week for my ONE physics course) and I feel like I have barely learned anything after 10 lectures! I mean I have learned some, but I do not feel like I have learned as much as I would have after two weeks at Guilford. We have covered a bunch of topics, but just barely. The professor (I don't even know his name...) just glances over things and does not go into detail as to where many of the equations and things come from. This has given me a greater appreciation for all of the tedious derivations we have sat through at Guilford. Also, today we worked problems as a class, and I don't know how many times the professor said, "this will be on the exam." And I thought the U.S. was notorious for "teaching to the test"? Apparently the physics department at Dundee favors this method as well.

Another thing I really miss about the Guilford Physics Department is the sense of community. I feel safe saying that most of the physics majors are my very close friends. Here, I am the odd duck out. I come into lecture and sit alone. Nobody talks to me. I have tried talking to a few people but it has not amounted to much more than an introduction. It is rather lonely. I hope this will change slightly after next Friday when I have my first lab session and finally get to meet my lab partners.

Ok enough about the downs, let me tell you all about the fun things I did this week!

Monday, I went to my two lectures and then went out for coffee with two of my friends from my history course. It was a nice time and we made plans for going out next week! I am very excited to branch out and spend time with these new friends!

Tuesday, after my lectures, I went shopping (for fun things, not food) for the first time since arriving! I went with my friend Lauren (who is from Georgia and is one of the aforementioned friends from history) to H & M. Many of you may be aware of this store, as it is in the U.S, and it is pretty awesome. As Lauren and I were sifting through the endless racks of clothing, some of which you would NEVER see in the United States, Lauren made a valid point: all of the clothes appeared that they would either be found on a mermaid (or other aquatic creature) or on a ballerina. The amount of ruffles on the garments was astonishing! Seriously. Ruffles. Everywhere. A plethora of ruffles. It was ridiculous! However, I did buy a new dress, that yes has ruffles, but they are tasteful ruffles.

Wednesday was fairly uneventful. I got up and went to the gym before my lectures. I then had a movie screening of The Maltese Falcon. This week our films are about Hard Boiled Heroes/Detectives. I really enjoyed this film and I recommend watching if you have yet to do so. Wednesday evening I went out with my flatmates and enjoyed the VIP lounge at the club courtesy of Minna who is on the Women's Basketball team.

Yesterday was a day of firsts! After classes and a film screening of Murder, My Sweet, another detective noir, my day really began. Minna and I attended Zumba class for the first time! We had quite the time dancing our little hearts out and sweating more than a little. It was such a success that we plan to go every Thursday night! Following Zumba I had another adventure....

It is official. I am in Scotland. I have eaten, and enjoyed, Haggis!!!!!

For those of you who are unaware, Haggis is a traditional Scottish food that is made out of a mixture of meat, oatmeal, onions, spices and various other things that is encased in a sheep's stomach, and then cooked. There is also White Haggis which is the vegetarian version. Now, I really did not know what to expect. I had heard horror stories of it from people in the U.S. but then anyone who I talked to here said it is very good. Not only did I have Haggis, but a whole traditional Scottish meal, prepared my Minna and her boyfriend Greg, consisting of veggies, potatoes, regular and white Haggis, all topped with a white whiskey sauce.

I learned a few things from this adventure:

1) Unlike what I had envisioned, you do not eat the sheep's stomach. You peel it off and break up the stuff inside and eat that. I know, a major disappointment, haha.

2) It is best to eat it fast because apparently it is terrible once it cools.

3) White Haggis tastes about the same as regular Haggis.

4) Both are surprisingly good and quite filling!

5) I plan on eating more Haggis during my time here.

To give you people stuck back in the States a taste of what I experienced, I took some pictures!


This is the packaged Haggis. Looks interesting right?


Here is the entire meal: Orange stuff = veggies (yes they are mashed), White = mashed potatoes,
Black (with sauce) = Meat Haggis, and Grayish = White (veggie) Haggis. This was such a great meal even though it looks just like a bunch of mashed up piles of food!


Here are some fun pictures of my flatmates and me:


Christina holding our flat mascot "Tarty Anne" or as we like to call her "Marylin" because of the beauty mark and makeup (the duck, not Christina, haha).


This is Minna and me.

It was another very successful week! Oh, I forgot to mention that Greg told me I have a Scottish sense of humor (whatever that means) so I am fitting in quite nicely! Well, I will now leave you with thoughts of what Scottish humor is and what you might think Haggis could possibly taste like.

Cheers!

The Scots have interesting taste...

I cannot believe that Tuesday was the last time I updated! This week has flown by so quickly, literally a whirlwind of lectures and life in Dundee. Since it has been several days, I will break it down.

Wednesday:

I decided to be very productive by waking up at 7 and going to the gym. I then went to the library and worked on my internship essays and applications, I am happy to say that they are almost complete, just a few tweaks here and there and I will be ready to submit them, let's keep our fingers crossed that someone will want me this summer!! I then had physics lecture and a film screening. We watched the German film "M," which was very interesting, and a little dull. I definitely liked it less than the one we watched on Tuesday, but I figure I will not like all the films we watch throughout the semester. Wednesday night I went out to Liquid (a club down the street) with Minna, Christina, and some of Minna's basketball friends. It was a very good night of dancing and fun.

Thursday:

Despite staying up late I had to wake up and go to history lecture at 9 am. It was a good lecture where the professor discussed the factories and living conditions in Dundee in the early 1900s. It is really fascinating because not only are we focusing on the entire UK, but much of the course is centered around Dundee, which I am very happy about. I think it is important that I learn about the city that I am calling home for the next four months. After history, I had my fourth physics lecture of the week. As I walked into class, I realized that all of the other students have all of their other courses together, so I probably stick out like a sore thumb, being the only person they do not know. I also realized that on Thursdays and Fridays I will always be a little late to lecture because I have class right before it in another building. Unlike Guilford, there is no time between classes here, one ends at 10 and the next one starts at 10, it is rather frustrating. After physics I had to go watch yet another film for class. This time we watched a french film, I don't remember the title, but it was pretty good.

Thursday evening I went to a pub quiz that was being held for the international students. It was really fun to get to meet other students from the United States and other countries, such as Canada, China, and Australia to name a few. After we ate delicious food (I had a barbeque chicken breast with bacon on top then covered in cheese and chips a.k.a. french fries) we divided into teams. I was on a team with my flatmate Christina, a guy from Canada, and two girls from Hong Kong. After being asked trivia questions in the categories about the U.K, the U.S. and Canada, Europe, Australia and Asia, and random knowledge, my team (named "The most rediculously good looking ones") came in second place. Sadly we did not win anything, but I would say we did quite well. What hurt us the most were the questions about Europe. Oh well, maybe next time!

Friday:

I had my first history tutorial, which is a small group of students (I think there are 9 in mine), where we discuss the readings from the week and whatever went on in the lectures. I am pretty happy about this because it will give me a chance to feel like I am back at Guilford where all the classes are discussion based. It was also very interesting because one of our readings was comparing the economies and globalization of Britain and the U.S. Some of the other students were kind of bashing the U.S. and then I made a comment about something in the reading, and I think that everyone was a little taken aback when they heard my very obvious U.S. accent. It will be interesting to see how some of the discussions go. Then I had to hustle off to physics, where I once again walked in late, oh well, I better get used to it.

The rest of my Friday was rather uneventful. I swam laps, took a nap, and then went to the gym. I did not feel like going out, so instead, Christina and I ate ice cream and watched dumb movies and had a few good laughs.

Saturday:

Saturday began with my sleeping in rather late. I then skyped with Rachel to hear all about her night out with the Danes for her DIS welcome party. I then went to the "Refreshers' Fair" at the union, where all the clubs and organizations around campus had tables and you could sign up for things. I went with my friend Lauren, who is from Georgia and is in my History class, and we got free t-shirts and pizza. I also signed up to get information about the Dundee Art Society, because the activities they do sound very fun, like making macaroni art and fingerpainting! Lauren signed up for the Life Sciences Society (she is a biology major) and we learned that there is a pub crawl Tuesday night, apparently it is a three-legged pub crawl, so Lauren asked if I would go with her and be her third leg, it should be very interesting...

After the refreshers' fair, Lauren, Christina and I went on an adventure to the big Tesco (pretty much like Walmart) down by the river. In principle it should be very easy to get to, but in practice the train tracks cause all kinds of problems and make us have to walk an additional 15 minutes to get there. Once we arrived, I bought ingredients to make Mrs. Clark's (Aunt Karen's) Chocolate Chip Cookies among other things. So, of course, as soon as I got back to my flat, I started baking! It was very fun to bake again, but one of the challenges is that the butter comes in blocks here instead of sticks. Then, to make matters even more difficult the markings on the blocks of butter are for grams, so I had to convert cups of butter into grams. In the end, I think I put a little too much butter in because the cookies came out rather crunchy, but they still tasted delicious. I will just have to make them again and work on the butter situation. I ended my Saturday by skyping with my family (mom, dad, Aunt Karen, Uncle Sam, Abby, Aunt Janet, and Grandma Audrey!) who was at my grandma's, then with Rachel again, and then finally by watching "How to Train your Dragon" in my bed.

Sunday (today):

Today I slept in, but not as late as yesterday. I decided to be rather productive. As soon as I was showered, I walked to Tesco Express and bought laundry detergent, and luckily got just enough change in pound coins to do two loads of laundry! £6.40 (not including the price of detergent) later I have two loads of clean laundry, which luckily was all I had to wash. I feel very accomplished that I tackled this obstacle, however, it is kind of silly how expensive it is. Oh, well. After (and during) the laundry, I completed most of the reading I had to do for the week.

This evening, I went on a walk with Christina because we needed to get out of the flat. We went down to the shopping center/city center and took some cool pictures. We also went into Tesco and took pictures of the interesting food of the Scots. When we got back I skyped with Megan and Kelsey from home and that was a lot of fun. It was nice to see their faces and hear all about life back in Iowa. I then watched a few episodes of "Jersey Shore" with Christina and Minna.

I had a very good week and I hope this week is just as good! Tuesday should be interesting because it is the Scottish holiday of Burn's Night, to honor a british writer. Apparently, everyone goes out to the pubs and has a jolly old time, it should be fun! I also have my first film tutorial this week where I'm sure we will discuss the films we have watched thus far. I will be sure to keep you all posted with my adventures!

Now for the pictures!

The city center, or should I say centre:

There are all kinds of statues about in the city center, such as these lovely penguins!

Primark = the best store ever, very cheap!

Me posing with one of the statues.

A cool building.

Another statue, this one is a dragon, and some of the city center.


The trees in cages. I also just think this is a cool picture.
Christina and me, aren't we lovely?

The closest thing to a castle I have seen thus far. I do believe it is an art museum.

They do not like kids here...nor do they seem like a friendly store.

Kind of blurry, but I like this picture.


Now for the interesting foods we found...


Yes, these would be pre-packaged pancakes.

The Scots have a rather interesting choice of crisp (chip) flavors...

Prawn (shrimp) cocktail anyone?

Not feeling like seafood? How about some nice beef crisps instead?


Or, better yet, Haggis flavored crisps? Yes, that is right, how more Scottish could one get, potato crisps flavored like Haggis?
***Disclaimer:
I should note that I have no intentions of trying any of these flavored chips, sorry to disappoint.

Here is the free t-shirt I received at the refreshers' fair:

You are not mistaken, it is from Domino's Pizza.

Oh, and of course, my entry would not be complete without pictures of the Cadbury treats I have tried!

Cadbury Buttons, small disks of chocolate. I got the package with a pig on it just for my mom!

Starbar: Caramel, peanut butter, and peanuts.

DoubleDecker: Nougat and crunchy stuff.

Fudge: Chocolate covered fudge. Be warned, it is not what one normally thinks of when they hear fudge.

That is it for now! I hope you all had a lovely weekend and I shall be posting again soon!

Milky Way vs. Mars Bars...and how my first two days of classes went.

Whew! What a whirlwind the past two days have been! I cannot believe that it is only Tuesday...I am worn out. As many of you might be aware, yesterday was my first day of class here in Scotland. I started off the day by waking up plenty early, getting ready, eating breakfast, and heading out to find my first class, Film Noir. As with the first day in any subject, at any school, we mostly just received general information about the course, such as assignments and whatnot. I had this class from 9-10 am, which is the earliest classes begin here, probably because it is dark any earlier and the Scots know how much their students need sleep. After this class was done, I was off to my history class, Britain in the 20th Century. Both classes were fairly uneventful and I survived. I only have the two classes on Mondays so it is a nice easy start to the week. I should mention that both of these classes were quite different than at Guilford in one major respect, their size. My film class maybe has 50 people in it, but my history class probably has at least 200 (this might be a slight exaggeration)!!! I sat in the front of the gigantic lecture hall so I would not be distracted by the backs of so many heads, and so I could pretend it was a small class. I now know how my friends who go to Iowa State and other huge schools feel!!

Since I am done with class by 11 am on Mondays, I had plenty of me time the remainder of the day. After class I returned to my room and grabbed some lunch. I then decided to go and finally check out the pool, so I swam laps for a good 45 minutes. Then I was exhausted, so I took a short nap, followed by facebook chatting with my mom. Even though I was very much opposed to her having facebook, I am now thankful, beause it is the closest thing I have to talking to her on the phone, and not being able to call her makes me realize just how often I would call home from Guilford. Then I decided to go to the gym. After swimming AND working out, I was soo tired and hungry, I walked to the Tesco (grocery store) and bought some food that will hopefully last me the week.

Among the things I purchased, were a Mars Bar and a Milky Way. Why, you may ask? Well, due in part to numerous discussions with Minna and in part due to my love of candy and chocolate, I was shocked to hear from Minna that Milky Ways were not the same here, in fact when we described our version of Milky Way she said that was a Mars Bar. So I decided I MUST try them and see for myself just how they compared.

I took pictures of my discoveries in order to document and share my findings.

1. The specimens from the outside. Notice the difference in packaging for the Milky Way in comparison to the version we all know and love: my first clue that they are not the same.

2. I then examined the cross-sections of each specimen. Notice the layer of caramel on the Mars bar, which is absent in the Milky Way, quite different than American Milky Ways.

3. A close-up of the cross-sections. Here you can clearly see the absence of caramel in the Milky Way on the right. Also, take not of the thickness of the chocolate coating, it is much thicker on the Mars Bar.

4. Finally for the taste test.
4a) Milky Way: The texture was similar to that of a Reese's Whips or 3 Muscateer's bars at home. It was quite tasty, just nothing like a Milky Way one would find in the States.
4b) Mars Bar: Since I had figured that this one was more like the Milky Way I know and love, I was tasting it with the desire to make a comparison. Yes, it is indeed more closely related to the U.S. Milky Way, since it has a layer of caramel and nougetty stuff. However, it is not exactly the same. It is chewier than its American counter part and the taste and texture of the nougetty stuff is quite different as well.

From this small experiment, I am able to conclude that while neither Mars Bars or Milky Way are the "same" as a Milky Way at home, both are quite tasty.

Anyway, after my chocolate tasting adventures, I got to skype with Rachel in Copenhagen and that was a lot of fun. She showed me about her room and told me all about her adventures in the city for her first day! Later, I went to the Union with Minna, Christina, and Natalie (one of Minna's friends who was visiting for a few days). We grabbed some drinks and shot some pool, it was a nice relaxing evening!

Today was my second day of classes, in which I would have my first physics class! I decided to get up early and hit the gym with Minna at 9 (ok, so 9 is not THAT early, but give me a break, I did not have class until 11). Then I was off to my first physics lecture, after a shower and some food of course. It was very interesting being in a physics class that had more than 10, even 20 students! It was not different, however, to find that although my class had 50-60 students, there were only maybe 7 girls at most. Also what was interesting about physics is that I had it twice today, from 11-12 and then again from 1-2, in different buildings too! Both went well and I think I will do alright in the course (Solid State Physics and Devices in case anyone was wondering or cared).

After the second physics lecture, I had my first film screening. We watched Double Indemnity, which, apparently is a classic noir. It was made in 1944 and was very good. It has to do with an insurance salesman, a woman, and their quest of offing her husband so they can be together and cash in on his life insurance policy. Real light hearted, I know, but it was a rather good film, I suggest you watch it.

Now I am finally relaxing and eating my supper of pita, hummus, and lettuce. I think I am going to call it a night early, maybe watch a movie in the comfort of my bed. I am planning on getting an early start tomorrow by hitting up the gym and then the library to finish up my internship applications before physics lecture at 1. It should be a fun day!

Until next time, who knows what interesting stories I will have!

The Lure of Cadbury: a.k.a. How I will survive this semester

I love Cadbury Chocolate. I love the fact that one can get Cadbury eggs ALL year and EVERYWHERE!! I have decided that this semester I am going to consume lots and lots of Cadbury products: Cream Eggs, Caramel Eggs, Caramel Bars, Mini Eggs, you name it I'm going to eat it. I have also decided that people in America are missing out on the joy of having caramel filled chocolate eggs at all times during the year and not just at Easter. In my mind this needs to change in the United States.

Some of the Cadbury treats I have already enjoyed this week:

The ever famous and classic "creme egg", and the delicious "Caramel bar."

Crunchy candy coating and creamy delicious milk chocolate "mini eggs."

Sorry to rub in the fact that I get to enjoy all of these yummy treats while you have to wait before they hit the shelves. I will change the subject now. Tomorrow classes begin. Gone are the days of me getting to sleep in until noon as I have almost everyday the past week. My day will begin bright and early with Film at 9 a.m. followed by History at 10. I just got back from scoping out where my classes are located and buying notebooks. I am kind of confused as to what books I need, but I'm sure it will all be cleared up tomorrow. I am excited to start the courses. It is going to be very different than school at home because for these two courses I maybe have three assignments all semester, including the final...should be interesting. I'm not sure about my physics class yet as to how that will operate, but I know we have a lab portion, so that will be neat. I can't wait to see what the physics labs are like here and what kind of equipment we will get to work with.

I also found out a little more with the structure of the semester. So apparently we have classes from tomorrow until April 1. Then we have our three week Easter Holiday (spring break) over which I plan to do a lot of traveling, some of which will be with my cousin Rachel who is in Copenhagen starting TODAY! After break is over, we have an exam diet from April 25- May 27. Since I am in three modules, I will have three exams, spread out over this month (or just my luck they will all be close together). The rest of the time will be spent studying and hanging out, enjoying my final time in Scotland, but the thought of that is sad, so I'm done talking about it.

This week has been so much fun! I have met new people and all of them have been super nice! I am also getting accustomed to the University of Dundee nightlife, which is slightly different than what I am used to back in Greensboro, but it has been VERY fun! I have yet to try the local food seeing as the two times I have purchased food other than from a grocery store was Friday night I was having a girls' night in with friends and we ordered Pizza Hut, and then this morning we went to the union for lunch/breakfast and I had American pancakes (seriously, that is what they were called) which consisted of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon that was more like ham, and syrup. So, I definitely need to try Haggis at some point. However, I did try Iron Bru, which is a fizzy drink (which is what they call pop) only found in Scotland, I don't even think you can get it in England or other portions of the U.K. It is orange and tastes like bubblegum, it reminds me of Frescolita, which we had in Venezuela except it was pink.

I finally purchased a UK cell phone, so now I can feel more in contact with my new friends. I have also been frequenting the gym quite a bit, which is fun because it is a really nice facility! I bought goggles the other day and I hope to hit the pool tomorrow, after sleeping in too late yesterday and today.

When I was walking around finding my classroom buildings I took a few more pictures I thought I would share.


University logo:

Picture from in one of the many courtyards that are between buildings. All the vegetation makes me feel like I go to school in the jungle!

One of the buildings on campus.

How cool are our signs to point to the different buildings!

I just thought this sign was funny, they are everywhere.

That is all for now! I will definitely be updating after my first few days of class!

Unrefrigerated Eggs.

Yes, unrefrigerated eggs are one of the many differences between the United States and Scotland. When in the grocery store you are walking through the aisles and right next to the bread one might be surprised to find the eggs, just chilling in their cartons on the shelves, nowhere near the cold stuff. So why, if eggs are perfectly fine on the shelf, do we, in America, keep them refrigerated? I'm very confused (don't worry, after purchasing said room-temperature eggs, upon returning to my flat they were placed in the fridge)...

I realize it has been a few days since my last post, wherein I had just received my luggage. Ahh, yes what a glorious moment that was! I was finally able to unpack and fully move into my room. Now it feels a little more like home and a little more like I will actually be here for 5 months! I was able to take a proper shower and sleep in a bed with sheets and more than just one blanket! It was quite nice.

Here are a few pictures of my room!
I should point out that the rectangular thing on the wall behind the toilet is the flusher, I was very confused when I first saw it :-) You push it in and then you have to push it again to make it stop flushing...very interesting!

This is the outside of my flat building!

Tuesday was my 21st birthday! After sleeping in, and then awakening to the thought that I am now able to purchase alcohol in the U.S. and then remembering that I am not in the U.S. to partake in this epic moment, I spent the majority of the early afternoon running hither and thither about campus talking to various professors and advisors about my modules (classes) I am going to take. After acquiring the necessary signatures I was able to matriculate (officially register) to which my reward as I like to think was my very own Dundee student I.D. card!

Then after a long day, I returned to my flat and decided to go on an adventure with my flatmate Christina. We walked around and found that if you walk through the shopping center where Primark (ya know the cheap store I mentioned before) is, you enter into this other outdoor shopping area, complete with McDonald's and KFC (so if I ever become THAT desperate for discusting food from the U.S. I know where to go). Christina needed to get a phone, so that was accomplished. I have not purchased one yet, because I am too indecisive and I'm not sure how pay-as-you-go phones work...hmmm one more thing to figure out.

Upon returning to campus, we went in search of food. We went to the Premire store in the basement of the student Union. For those of you who are familiar with Iowa State, it is similar to the C-Store, where you can buy some groceries. We discovered, that you know you are not in the U.S. because also at Premire, you can buy booze (keep in mind that this store is on campus)...in fact, the alcohol sections is much bigger than the non-alcoholic beverage section in this store. So, seeing how it was my 21st birthday and all, I had to get something!!

Later that evening I skyped with Megan and Haley from home and that was nice. Then I went out with my flatmates and other people to celebrate my birthday and Christina's and mine's first night out in Dundee. It was a VERY fun night!

Yesterday, I slept in and then finally decided to get out of bed. I went across the street and bought my membership to the gym, and I was told I could start straight away! Then I went back to my room and decided to look at my timetables (class schedule) for my modules. As I was looking over them for my three modules I was planning to take, horror struck...two of my modules have lectures at the exact same time. UGH!! To make matters worse, my advisor and I had been so concerned about a different module conflicting that we did look at all of them together :-(

So, I immediately emailed my advisor. He emailed back with directions on how to find the timetables online. So after doing so, I started doing some research. I was originally going to take a film module, a history of britain module, and an Atomic and Nuclear Physics module, but I came to the conclusion that maybe a different physics module would fix the problem. So, I have decided to take Solid State Physics in leiu of the Atomic module because it does not conflict with the other modules. Hopefully I have solved this stressor.

I am quite ready for classes to begin, because I have been sleeping in everyday, and although this is nice, when it gets dark at 4:30 in the afternoon, when one sleeps until noon, the day feels even shorter! I am not ready for the homework however...but really, what college student actually enjoys homework?

Here are some more pictures of Dundee!

This is Perth street that runs along one of the edges of campus. I think that really big building is a hotel.

This is the view from Dundee across the river to Fife.

This is one of the buildings on campus.
Double-decker bus...enough said.

I think that is most everything for now! Enjoy the photos!

YAYAYAY!

My luggage just arrived! I am soo excited!

Adapting to my New Environment

Well today is my second full day in Dundee! Slowly, but surely, I am exploring more of the campus and city around me.

Yesterday I did a whole lot of nothing. Even though I went to bed at 7:30 the night before, I was so beat from traveling that I slept in until about noon. I then splashed some water on my face and tried to decide what to wear, however it did not take me long since I am still without luggage. I had a carb-heavy breakfast of crackers, warm grapes, and granola bars...yum. I then lounged around hoping that my luggage would arrive...no such luck. I read my Scotland book and figured out that my plug-in adapter really did work so I was able to be on my computer.

Eventually, I got very tired of being in my room all alone, so I wandered around my building, but sadly there was no one to be found. So I continued to relax, read, be on the internet and work on internship applications. Finally I was sick of being gross and I was feeling a little worse for ware, so I figured I needed more sustenance besides carbs. So, I looked up on google maps where the closest store was and set out on my adventure. I successfully found the store in the dark (it was right down the street) and bought some clemintines, salad, bagels, cream cheese, milk, and cereal, and what I thought was shampoo. Feeling very accomplished, when I returned to my room I decided to shower. However, I looked at the bottle I had absentmindedly grabbed, and in my discombobulated state, I bought conditioner instead of shampoo :-( Drat!

After a disappointing shower, I decided to eat some food and watch a movie before bed. Even though it was a rather uneventful day it was nice to just relax a bit, although it would have been nicer if there were more people around...

This morning, I awoke about 8:45 and peered out my window, only to find that it was just getting light! I guess this makes sense along with it getting dark at 4 pm since we are so far north. Then something amazing happened...I heard a noise in the hall around 10:30! I opened my door to find another person! She was moving into the room across from mine, it was the best thing ever! Her name is Christina and she is from New York. It is nice to not be alone anymore! She even let me borrow her shampoo so I could take a real shower!

Around noon Christina and I ventured to the Dalhousie building to learn more information about this week and Dundee. We learned about a store named Primark that is apparently very cheap and in the shopping center down the street. We met another girl from New York (I can't remember her name at the moment) and the three of us ventured to this store. It was very easy to find and the shopping center has most of the same stores as the U.S. (Gap, H&M, and Claire's to name a few). We found Primark and it was very cheap! I decided to buy a towel and a bathmat since I am towelless and have been using a t-shirt to dry myself, I got both of these for only £5! I would say that is a good deal, it would be about $8 in the U.S. I then stopped and bought small bottles of shampoo and body wash to tide me over until my luggage arrives.

The three of us made plans to hang out later and even go out tomorrow for my birthday! After dropping my stuff off in my flat, I had to go to my physics advisor meeting. The professor I spoke to was very nice and helpful. My courses are all still a mess but hopefully after my next advisor meeting tomorrow all will be set right!

After my meeting I decided to take an alternate route back to my room. I found the student union, which houses the pool (it is a small 4 or 5 laner) and many bars, restaurants, a convienience store, and other offices and such. I picked up information about the gym and how much memberships are. I find it odd that we have to pay for that separately, but I guess at Guilford our studen activities fees go toward this. The gym membership and pool is £78 but I think I'm going to do it since it is not going to be nice enough to run outside for a while.

I am now back in my room relaxing for a moment. I might go explore some more in a little while! Again, sorry this is so long winded but so much has happened! Until next time!

The Adventures of Flying

First of all, let me just say that I safely arrived in Scotland yesterday early afternoon, so everyone can quit worrying. Second of all I had quite the interesting day of travel...

I left home with my two stuffed suitcases, my carry-on and my backpack about 6:30 am on Friday morning. After I hugged my family goodbye at the Moline Airport I naively thought that everything would go perfectly in my travels...boy was I misled. The first half of the trip was fairly uneventful. I safely (and on schedule) made it to Detroit and got to relax in my favorite airport for a few hours. Then it was time to board my flight to Amsterdam. If you have not ever flown on one of those giant planes that go to foreign countries like the one I took, the overhead bins are really high! I could not reach it to put my stuff up there, I had to have help! Anyway, this flight was nice too, I got to watch as many movies as I wanted (I chose Toy Story 3 and Life as We Know It) and the food was not too bad either (I had pasta, salad, a dinner roll, and brownie for dinner and a breakfast sandwich and banana before landing the next morning!).

After safely arriving in Amsterdam at 5:45 am Saturday my adventures really began. I get off the plane and choose a direction to wander in search of those screens that tell you about the departures. When I find one I search for Edinburgh and I see that it is...CANCELLED!! So, I go to the help desk and take a number and luckily the nice Dutch people were able to rebook me onto a flight to Birmingham, England and then on to Edinburgh...however, this first flight was boarding right then! So I had to hustle my tushie to the gate. I remember the lady who helped me change my tickets saying "Good Luck!" as I walked briskely away.

So I make it to my flight to Birmingham and I overhear this girl saying she is also going to Edinburgh and that she was coming from Detroit! So I told her I was going there too, and we became travel buddies. Her name is Alyssa and she was returning to Edinburgh for her second semester of studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh (She goes to school in Wisconsin). We sat next to each other on the plane and had a great time hoping that we would make it to our final destinations...

We make it to Birmingham and I decide to call my shuttle service to give them a heads up that I will not be arriving at 8:40 as planned. This requires me to get pounds. Unable to think since it was early morning and I was slightly stressed I got pounds from the ATM, but then I had to change it into coins for the phone. After I accomplished this, I found a phone and called. The guy who answered was like "yea, the Edinburgh airport is closed this morning, so just let us know when you finally get it." I tell Alyssa this and we were both like oh perfect.

Our next step was to go through customs. I filled out my little card and talked to the lady who interrogated me about how long I was staying and for what reason and did I have enough money to support myself and was I aware that I could not work while here. Once through, Alyssa and I decided to find out for sure about if our flight to Edinburgh was on time or not. We discover that it is delayed until 10, keep in mind that it is about 8 at this point because it was supposed to leave at 8:15. We go through security and then find a place to sit and wait, and sleep, and wait some more.

10:00 rolls around and we recheck the monitors only to find that it is now delayed until 11:30. So we continue to sit and wait and sleep and wait some more. Then at 11:30 we re-check to find that our flight was boarding!! We were finally going to make it to Edinburgh! So we get on the plane and take off. I was finally going to be in Scotland!

Upon arrival, Alyssa and I were VERY discombobulated and tired. We make our way to baggage claim and were waiting for quite a while. Alyssa realizes she left her phone on the plane so she had to go take care of that. Then one of the airport workers must have seen that we were waiting for a while (and I think it was who Alyssa told about her phone) because she approached us and asked for our last names only to inform us that our luggage did not arrive with us :-(

We go to the lost baggage desk and the very nice lady working got everything straightened out, as they will deliver my luggage to me when it arrives. Although, when she asked for a phone number at which I could be reached, I had to say that I just arrived in the country and did not have a phone yet, so I gave her the number of my study abroad coordinator at Dundee. I then asked where a phone was, and she said I could use their's free of charge to call my shuttle service. I was worried about calling them because I could not get through when I tried calling them when I knew we were finally leaving Birmingham. Luckily, the gentleman I spoke to was very nice and understanding and told me that my driver would be there soon and told me where to wait.

I waited for my driver and the other girl who was riding with us to Dundee. Her name is Heidi and she goes to Baylor in Texas. It turns out that we stay in the same flat building and she lives just one floor up from me! Once we arrived to the University and made it to our rooms we decided to go explore the city! We walked around for about 2 hours! It took us a while to find out way back but we felt very accomplished once we did! Keep in mind that it was about 4:00 in the afternoon when we set out and it was already dark!

I had a very interesting time during my journey to Dundee, but now, after my first sleep in my new bed (without sheets) I am ready to get started on the rest of my semester! I hope my luggage arrives either today or tomorrow and that I find somewhere to buy food!

Sorry this was very long, but it was a very eventful day!