This past week was very different from any thus far here in Dundee. It was different in the sense that I had to remember what it was like to do homework, study, and well, to be frank, learn. It is about 10:30 Friday morning here and while most people at home are sound asleep I am done for the day. Usually on Fridays I have history tutorial and then I have to rush my buns to physics lecture. Today was nice in the fact that our physics professor (who was new to us this week, and a pleasant change from our last professor because she is nice and does a better job explaining the material) had to be at a conference, which meant we did not have lecture.
Today was not so nice in the fact that I had to give a presentation in my history tutorial. This is where the remembering how to do homework comes into play. Up until this week, I have had no assignments apart from reading, so this was my first assignment...of the entire semester in any of my classes! For history we have to give a 15 min oral presentation over a topic of our choice and then write a 2,000 word essay, no big deal right? Well, I have come to realize that it is kind of difficult to learn about another country's history, especially just jumping into the 20th century. All of these names of people and political parties I have never heard of are swirling around as well as references to previous events in history. It is just very different than learning U.S. history which has basically been beaten into our heads since the age of 5.
Anyway, my presentation was a success! I chose to look at the Sinn Féin political party in Ireland and their rise to power during WWI and their involvement through the Irish War for Independence and the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Really light-hearted fun stuff. Needless to say after countless hours reading about this Irish Nationalist party (who until about 2 weeks ago I had no idea they existed) I was able to learn something and act like I knew what I was talking about for 15 min. I would like to give a special shout out to Don (physics professor at Guilford) and the rest of the physics department, as well as my experimental class last semester, for helping me put together an excellent powerpoint with just the right amount of words on each slide and for helping me polish my presentation skills :-)
Now that the presentation is behind me I can relax...briefly because I have a film paper due on Monday. Luckily I got a good start on it last weekend so it should be a breeze to finish. I will stop boring you with the school aspect of the week and tell you about the fun things. Yes, despite the fact that I spent a lot of time reading, so much that I thought my eyes would fall out, I did manage to have some fun.
As I left you last post I was preparing to climb a big hill (I now know it is called Law Hill). However, the lovely Scottish weather put a damper on this outing as it was pouring down rain when we were going to go on our hike. Needless to say it was postponed. So no pictures this week...sorry to disappoint...I will just try in entertain with the written word.
Monday was Valentine's Day and after spending a lot of time in the library I returned to my flat and had a lovely evening with Christina. We made and ate dinner together which is always nice. We fill each other in on the events of the day: I tell her about physics (and history this week) and she tells me about life as an art student. We then ate chocolate hearts her mom sent and marshmallow peeps my mom sent while watching The Wedding Singer a cheesy romantic comedy perfect for the occasion. It was very nice!
This week Lauren, Esther and I held our third weekly "heart-warming family potluck" Wednesday night. Lauren was in charge of dessert, and she made delicious apple cobbler complete with vanilla ice cream! Esther made haggis and brussels sprouts , which were both very tasty!! I had never had brussels sprouts before so this was a new experience. They surprisingly were not that bad despite the reputation many people give them. I also think they look like a rather happy, cute veggie, like lettuce or cabbage but mini! Anyway, this left me to be responsible for another side. I had lofty goals of making a delicious combination of sauteed onions, potatoes, and red peppers. I guess the goals were not all that lofty but it did not go as smoothly as I hoped. Please understand I am rather new to the whole cooking thing. I can blow anyone out of the water when it comes to baking, but cooking is a different story. I mean who needs to know how to cook when at home you have a father who is an excellent chef and at school you have a meal plan? Guess I have to learn at some point in my life...so why not now? So, yes, back to the sauteed veggies. They were not a complete disaster, but I realized that potatoes take forever to cook. So, after I had got it started in my flat, it was time to go to Esther's where we were eating. I took my half-cooked veggies and olive oil and we plopped them back in the pan while we enjoyed haggis and sprouts. In the end all they needed were about 15 more minutes in the heat, so I did not ruin them :-)
The evening was nice and relaxing after attempting to learn all there is to know about the Sinn Féin party. We also have finalized all of our plans for Paris. As I am writing this I realize that in exactly two weeks I will be strolling the streets of Paris! The three of us (and Christina might join in on the adventure) are super excited!! So all of our train tickets, plane tickets, and hostel reservations are booked and we are more than ready to go. In fact, last night in between rounds of practicing my presentation I "packed" for the trip. Yes, I am aware of the fact that we are not going for two weeks, but I wanted to see if I could get everything to fit in my backpack. Normally when you fly you can have a carry on and a purse (ya know 1+ rule) but apparently with RyanAir you are only allowed one total and it has to be small. I was successful in cramming lots of stuff into my deceivingly small backpack! I say it is deceivingly small because it appears small but I can get a lot of stuff in it!
Also last night at the Union was a "Plain White T's" event. It is where you wear a white t-shirt and take a marker and write on people's shirts. I would not normally have gone because I had my presentation this morning at 9 am, but it was a fundraiser for the boat club, which Esther is a part of. So, being a good friend I decided to go for a little while with Lauren and Esther. I am so glad I did because I had so much fun! I think it was just the relaxation I needed so I would not continue to stress over my presentation. I left relatively early and got plenty of sleep for my presentation. I didn't want to leave though because I was having so much fun!
Well, I am going to go enjoy my Friday complete with swimming laps, hitting the gym and not doing homework!!
Happy belated Valentine's Day and even more importantly Happy Friday!!
Cheers!
About Me
- Hannah
- At the moment I am a junior at Guilford College. I will be studying abroad in Dundee, Scotland from January-May 2011.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Ups and Downs: A Rollercoaster called Life
Whew! It is 9:35 Saturday night and I am ready for bed. This week has had its ups and downs, like I'm sure all of yours have had. However, the nature of mine veer slightly from the normal ups and downs concerning college life. Let me explain.
Let's start with the downs so we can end on a happy note. Last weekend I found out that my uncle Sam was taken to the hospital because he had been experiencing some confusion. After a ct scan it was found that he had a tumor in his brain. Not at all what anyone wanted to hear. He had a successful surgery on Monday morning to remove as much of it as they could, however, it was discovered that it is cancerous. This has thrown everyone for a loop. I am very proud of all my family for coming together to keep everyone positive and informed. Everything has seemed rather surreal. I have skyped with my cousin Rachel (Uncle Sam is her dad) who is studying in Denmark quite a bit over the course of the week. As hard as it has been for me, I cannot imagine the disconnected reality Rachel has experienced during the past week. I almost made a quick trip to Copenhagen to be with her this week, but alas, we decided it would be best for me to stay in Dundee and communicate via technology.
After more ups and downs early in the week after surgery, Uncle Sam is now at home to continue recovering before starting treatment for the cancer. He is a very strong man and I know that with the wonderful support of his family, friends, and excellent care he is in, he will kick this cancer stuff to the curb. This whole thing has made me realize just how far away from home Rachel and I are. It is kind of hard not to be able to pick up the phone and call home for an update (well, I could but it would be rather pricey). I have also realized just how wonderful my family is and how much they mean to me.
Sorry to lay all of that on you, but it is nice to talk about. Let's move on to the ups from the week! On Monday, while I was thinking of the Clark clan at the hospital in Des Moines, I went on an adventure with Lauren, Esther, and Ana, one of Esther's friends from home who was visiting. We walked along Perth road, that boarders campus on the river side and found a few cute thrift stores. Then, since it had cleared up from a rainy morning (just as I predicted in my previous post) the four of us decided to find the Mills Observatory! Let me just point out that on the map it appears to be rather far away from school. In reality, either I have a distorted thinking of the size of the area (this could easily be true from looking on maps of Iowa and the U.S. where there is a lot more land...) or there are just a ton of buildings crammed into a small space. I think it is a combination of the two. Anyway, it was not as far away as I first thought. The Mills Observatory is located on the top of a hill in a park. We had to hike up quite a few stairs through a wooded area in order to find it. It was a nice little hike, and atop the hill sat the quaint observatory! We explored it and even went out on the balcony and looked over the River Tay.
A picture down the street of the Tay on our walk to the observatory.
All the houses have these little funny "yards," if you can even call it that.
The sign at the bottom of the giant hill we got to walk up in order to make it to the observatory!
Mills Observatory!
Ana, Esther, and Lauren atop the observatory with the Tay and a lovely sunset in the background.
When I returned to my room I was happy see that I had two packages sitting outside my room. After all the thinking of Uncle Sam and how much I missed home, it was very nice to receive an assortment of goodies from my mom! Among the goodies were assorted kinds of American candy bars, including Milky Ways, so that I could share our version of the popular treat with my friends here. When I had them eat the Milky Ways, they all exclaimed "This is a Mars Bar!" It was kind of funny and I'm glad they now know why I was so confused about the whole Mars Bar/Milky Way situation.
All my American goodies spread over my bed!
Another rather exciting thing has occurred this week. Esther, Lauren and I are planning a trip to Paris. Well, we are really beyond the planning stages, as we have booked our plane tickets (only $58 U.S. Dollars round trip!) and our hostel! We are actually going to Paris!! We can hardly contain our excitement and every time we see one another we make some remark about the adventure! We are planning to take the train to Glasgow on the evening of Wednesday, March 2, where we will stay with one of Lauren's friends from home who is studying abroad there. We will then fly from Glasgow to Paris (the airport that is not actually in Paris because this is where the cheap flights were to) Thursday morning. Since the airport is outside of Paris, we will catch a bus into the city. Then, we will have to face the subway/train system to make it to our hostel. The whole hostel situation should be quite interesting since we are going with the cheapest one we could find. I'm sure I will have LOTS of stories to tell. We will then spend the weekend exploring the city, and I might get to meet up with Carly and Dani who are on the Guilford led trip to Italy! Monday morning we will again take the bus to the airport and fly to Edinburgh and take the train back to Dundee. I am so excited for this adventure!! I will be sure to put lots of pictures on here when the time comes!!! But we have a few weeks to wait....
Friday night Lauren, Esther and I had our second weekly "Heart-Warming Family Potluck." It is nice to get together and share food and stories from the week. I managed to make chicken breast, well in all honesty, I was too scared to deal with raw meat, so I bought pre-cooked chicken and just had to heat it up, but still it is a step in the right direction in me learning to cook. I have made it a personal goal to work my way up to cooking raw meat by the end of the semester. Lauren made greenbean casserole and Esther supplied the dessert, which were yummy meringues topped with raspberries and whipped cream. Since it was reminiscent of Thanksgiving dinner, we all wore dresses. It was a nice evening complete with Paris talk and "meeting" each others' family and friends via facebook. It was nice to talk about home given the events of the week.
Our yummy dessert this week! The whipped cream didn't quite work out as planned but it was still very delicious!
Today I was very productive!! This is probably the first post of mine where I will not be complaining of a lack of work! In fact, I have a presentation for history to give on Friday and a film paper due the following Monday. Let's see if I remember how to do schoolwork. This morning I woke up early, went to the gym and was in the library doing work by 11 am! After a few hours of reading about femme fatales for my film paper I decided to head back to my room since it might be a little embarrassing/awkward if I fell asleep in the library. After a nap and some pizza, I continued conducting research for my paper. I am happy to say that I have a very good start and I still have a week to work on it!
Tomorrow I am starting the day off with a hike up a big hill with Esther and Lauren at 11. Needless to say, I don't think I will need to go to the gym :-) I then hope to start doing research (and pick a topic) for my history presentation. It feels really good to be in school and actually have work to do again. If only things in physics would pick up...Oh, speaking of physics, apparently we are half way through our lectures, so this week we will begin learning about devices with a different professor. Maybe this professor will have a better teaching style...I shall keep you all posted.
It is now 10:28 and I think I am going to watch a few episodes of the I.T. Crowd, which is practically a British version of Big Bang Theory, except in place of physicists they are computer nerds and their 'Penny' is their manager in the I.T. department. It is rather funny!
I hope you all have had a good week and embraced your ups and downs :-)
Cheers!
Let's start with the downs so we can end on a happy note. Last weekend I found out that my uncle Sam was taken to the hospital because he had been experiencing some confusion. After a ct scan it was found that he had a tumor in his brain. Not at all what anyone wanted to hear. He had a successful surgery on Monday morning to remove as much of it as they could, however, it was discovered that it is cancerous. This has thrown everyone for a loop. I am very proud of all my family for coming together to keep everyone positive and informed. Everything has seemed rather surreal. I have skyped with my cousin Rachel (Uncle Sam is her dad) who is studying in Denmark quite a bit over the course of the week. As hard as it has been for me, I cannot imagine the disconnected reality Rachel has experienced during the past week. I almost made a quick trip to Copenhagen to be with her this week, but alas, we decided it would be best for me to stay in Dundee and communicate via technology.
After more ups and downs early in the week after surgery, Uncle Sam is now at home to continue recovering before starting treatment for the cancer. He is a very strong man and I know that with the wonderful support of his family, friends, and excellent care he is in, he will kick this cancer stuff to the curb. This whole thing has made me realize just how far away from home Rachel and I are. It is kind of hard not to be able to pick up the phone and call home for an update (well, I could but it would be rather pricey). I have also realized just how wonderful my family is and how much they mean to me.
Sorry to lay all of that on you, but it is nice to talk about. Let's move on to the ups from the week! On Monday, while I was thinking of the Clark clan at the hospital in Des Moines, I went on an adventure with Lauren, Esther, and Ana, one of Esther's friends from home who was visiting. We walked along Perth road, that boarders campus on the river side and found a few cute thrift stores. Then, since it had cleared up from a rainy morning (just as I predicted in my previous post) the four of us decided to find the Mills Observatory! Let me just point out that on the map it appears to be rather far away from school. In reality, either I have a distorted thinking of the size of the area (this could easily be true from looking on maps of Iowa and the U.S. where there is a lot more land...) or there are just a ton of buildings crammed into a small space. I think it is a combination of the two. Anyway, it was not as far away as I first thought. The Mills Observatory is located on the top of a hill in a park. We had to hike up quite a few stairs through a wooded area in order to find it. It was a nice little hike, and atop the hill sat the quaint observatory! We explored it and even went out on the balcony and looked over the River Tay.
A picture down the street of the Tay on our walk to the observatory.
All the houses have these little funny "yards," if you can even call it that.
The sign at the bottom of the giant hill we got to walk up in order to make it to the observatory!
Mills Observatory!
Ana, Esther, and Lauren atop the observatory with the Tay and a lovely sunset in the background.
When I returned to my room I was happy see that I had two packages sitting outside my room. After all the thinking of Uncle Sam and how much I missed home, it was very nice to receive an assortment of goodies from my mom! Among the goodies were assorted kinds of American candy bars, including Milky Ways, so that I could share our version of the popular treat with my friends here. When I had them eat the Milky Ways, they all exclaimed "This is a Mars Bar!" It was kind of funny and I'm glad they now know why I was so confused about the whole Mars Bar/Milky Way situation.
All my American goodies spread over my bed!
Another rather exciting thing has occurred this week. Esther, Lauren and I are planning a trip to Paris. Well, we are really beyond the planning stages, as we have booked our plane tickets (only $58 U.S. Dollars round trip!) and our hostel! We are actually going to Paris!! We can hardly contain our excitement and every time we see one another we make some remark about the adventure! We are planning to take the train to Glasgow on the evening of Wednesday, March 2, where we will stay with one of Lauren's friends from home who is studying abroad there. We will then fly from Glasgow to Paris (the airport that is not actually in Paris because this is where the cheap flights were to) Thursday morning. Since the airport is outside of Paris, we will catch a bus into the city. Then, we will have to face the subway/train system to make it to our hostel. The whole hostel situation should be quite interesting since we are going with the cheapest one we could find. I'm sure I will have LOTS of stories to tell. We will then spend the weekend exploring the city, and I might get to meet up with Carly and Dani who are on the Guilford led trip to Italy! Monday morning we will again take the bus to the airport and fly to Edinburgh and take the train back to Dundee. I am so excited for this adventure!! I will be sure to put lots of pictures on here when the time comes!!! But we have a few weeks to wait....
Friday night Lauren, Esther and I had our second weekly "Heart-Warming Family Potluck." It is nice to get together and share food and stories from the week. I managed to make chicken breast, well in all honesty, I was too scared to deal with raw meat, so I bought pre-cooked chicken and just had to heat it up, but still it is a step in the right direction in me learning to cook. I have made it a personal goal to work my way up to cooking raw meat by the end of the semester. Lauren made greenbean casserole and Esther supplied the dessert, which were yummy meringues topped with raspberries and whipped cream. Since it was reminiscent of Thanksgiving dinner, we all wore dresses. It was a nice evening complete with Paris talk and "meeting" each others' family and friends via facebook. It was nice to talk about home given the events of the week.
Our yummy dessert this week! The whipped cream didn't quite work out as planned but it was still very delicious!
Today I was very productive!! This is probably the first post of mine where I will not be complaining of a lack of work! In fact, I have a presentation for history to give on Friday and a film paper due the following Monday. Let's see if I remember how to do schoolwork. This morning I woke up early, went to the gym and was in the library doing work by 11 am! After a few hours of reading about femme fatales for my film paper I decided to head back to my room since it might be a little embarrassing/awkward if I fell asleep in the library. After a nap and some pizza, I continued conducting research for my paper. I am happy to say that I have a very good start and I still have a week to work on it!
Tomorrow I am starting the day off with a hike up a big hill with Esther and Lauren at 11. Needless to say, I don't think I will need to go to the gym :-) I then hope to start doing research (and pick a topic) for my history presentation. It feels really good to be in school and actually have work to do again. If only things in physics would pick up...Oh, speaking of physics, apparently we are half way through our lectures, so this week we will begin learning about devices with a different professor. Maybe this professor will have a better teaching style...I shall keep you all posted.
It is now 10:28 and I think I am going to watch a few episodes of the I.T. Crowd, which is practically a British version of Big Bang Theory, except in place of physicists they are computer nerds and their 'Penny' is their manager in the I.T. department. It is rather funny!
I hope you all have had a good week and embraced your ups and downs :-)
Cheers!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Clash of the Yellow Butts: A Super Bowl experience in Scotland
First of all let me say that it is cold and rainy today, oh and I must not forget that it is windy too: really lovely weather. I shouldn't worry, it will probably be sunny this afternoon; crazy Scottish weather.
This weekend was filled with more sporting events than I have had in my life in quite some time. If any of you are avid rugby fans, you should be aware of the fact that there is a tournament currently taking place. This tournament is the 6 Nations. Now which six nations are they? Well there is England, France, Scotland, Wales, Italy, and Ireland. Apparently these are the big rugby powerhouses of Europe. So this tournament began over the weekend and I was fortunate to watch (on television of course) the Scotland-France game on Saturday. Now, despite the fact that I briefly supported the Guilford team my freshman year and the fact that my brother is supposedly a member of the Iowa State Rugby Club, I really have no idea what is going on in the game. All I know is that there are a ton of players on the field, they cannot pass the ball forward, and they run into each other a lot and a player having multiple missing teeth is not unusual. I felt very much out of my element as I stood (there were no more seats because it was so packed full of avid rugby fans) in Liar, which is the sports bar-like establishment in the student union. But then it made me feel better that I was watching with Minna and Christina who also had no idea what was going on.
Anyway, after 80 minutes of brutal pushing, throwing, kicking, and running, Scotland sadly lost to France. I'm not sure how the tournament really works, but apparently Scotland gets to keep playing, it isn't elimination style. So, I'm sure I will get to watch more rugby matches throughout the course of this tournament.
Now, unlike the mystery of the 6 Nations rugby tournament, a very well-known (to Americans at least) sporting event occurred on Sunday. Well, actually it barely took place on Sunday, but more realistically in the wee hours of this (Monday) morning. Once again I found myself in Liar surrounded by avid sports fans. Although this time the tables had turned. As clueless as I had been the previous day with rugby, I was an all out genius on the rules of football. Anyone who knows me should be getting a big laugh at this, because in all honesty I could care less about football, and sometimes I have no idea what is going on. Maybe it was the sheer fact that my American friends who were watching the game and I had any clue at all what was occurring was what made me feel so smart and into the game.
I decided to cheer for Green Bay, even though I really did not care who won let alone who was playing, for no reason other than I can recall watching, or trying to stay awake to watch, the Super Bowl when I was little with my family and wearing a cheese-head because my brother was a fan. So, there I was, wearing my green cardigan, sitting on a stool with Lauren (my fellow American) paying close attention to the game and cheering at all the important parts.
Now, I'm sure most of you are wondering something very important that I must address: the commercials. Are they the same? Did I get to see countless beer and car commercials? Did I laugh hysterically at the ridiculous amounts of money being spent on such silly advertisements? The answer: no. They do not show American commercials during the Super Bowl in Scotland. Devastating, I know. However, there were two commercials, or adverts as they are referred to on this side of the pond, that stick out in my mind. The first happened to be the very first commercial of the game. I was preparing myself for the hilarity, but instead I got....A Cricket World Cup advert. Really? Cricket, during the Super Bowl? Odd, I know. The second that was so disappointing was for some soccer (or proper football) tournament that is taking place in the near future. Needless to say, I watched a few of the commercials online this morning before class, and I will probably watch more later in the day.
Sadly, I did not stay for the end of the game. Once it hit 2:00 in the morning, the lure of my bed overcame my desire to watch a game that I really did not care to see who won. Keep in mind that when Lauren and I vacated Liar at 2:00, it was still in the third quarter. This morning, I did look up to see who won, and much to my not caring, I was pleased to see that the Packers were victorious. I realize that as I'm writing this, one reason I was rooting for the Packers was because Christina (who is an AVID football fan) was cheering on the Steelers and she can get quite intense, so I decided to cheer for the opposition. Also, I had to root for the midwest :-)
Anyway, watching the Super Bowl, which is so very American, in a country where a good 75% of the population could care less and does not know the rules, was quite the experience. In regards to the commercials, I decided to think of it this way: I could either be in Scotland missing out on the hilarious commercials during the game and watch them online or I could be in North Carolina watching the commercials during the game. Somehow I think the choice is rather obvious, at least to me.
I hope everyone is having fun enjoying their left-over game snacks and either celebrating, or mourning, the outcome of the game!
Cheers!
This weekend was filled with more sporting events than I have had in my life in quite some time. If any of you are avid rugby fans, you should be aware of the fact that there is a tournament currently taking place. This tournament is the 6 Nations. Now which six nations are they? Well there is England, France, Scotland, Wales, Italy, and Ireland. Apparently these are the big rugby powerhouses of Europe. So this tournament began over the weekend and I was fortunate to watch (on television of course) the Scotland-France game on Saturday. Now, despite the fact that I briefly supported the Guilford team my freshman year and the fact that my brother is supposedly a member of the Iowa State Rugby Club, I really have no idea what is going on in the game. All I know is that there are a ton of players on the field, they cannot pass the ball forward, and they run into each other a lot and a player having multiple missing teeth is not unusual. I felt very much out of my element as I stood (there were no more seats because it was so packed full of avid rugby fans) in Liar, which is the sports bar-like establishment in the student union. But then it made me feel better that I was watching with Minna and Christina who also had no idea what was going on.
Anyway, after 80 minutes of brutal pushing, throwing, kicking, and running, Scotland sadly lost to France. I'm not sure how the tournament really works, but apparently Scotland gets to keep playing, it isn't elimination style. So, I'm sure I will get to watch more rugby matches throughout the course of this tournament.
Now, unlike the mystery of the 6 Nations rugby tournament, a very well-known (to Americans at least) sporting event occurred on Sunday. Well, actually it barely took place on Sunday, but more realistically in the wee hours of this (Monday) morning. Once again I found myself in Liar surrounded by avid sports fans. Although this time the tables had turned. As clueless as I had been the previous day with rugby, I was an all out genius on the rules of football. Anyone who knows me should be getting a big laugh at this, because in all honesty I could care less about football, and sometimes I have no idea what is going on. Maybe it was the sheer fact that my American friends who were watching the game and I had any clue at all what was occurring was what made me feel so smart and into the game.
I decided to cheer for Green Bay, even though I really did not care who won let alone who was playing, for no reason other than I can recall watching, or trying to stay awake to watch, the Super Bowl when I was little with my family and wearing a cheese-head because my brother was a fan. So, there I was, wearing my green cardigan, sitting on a stool with Lauren (my fellow American) paying close attention to the game and cheering at all the important parts.
Now, I'm sure most of you are wondering something very important that I must address: the commercials. Are they the same? Did I get to see countless beer and car commercials? Did I laugh hysterically at the ridiculous amounts of money being spent on such silly advertisements? The answer: no. They do not show American commercials during the Super Bowl in Scotland. Devastating, I know. However, there were two commercials, or adverts as they are referred to on this side of the pond, that stick out in my mind. The first happened to be the very first commercial of the game. I was preparing myself for the hilarity, but instead I got....A Cricket World Cup advert. Really? Cricket, during the Super Bowl? Odd, I know. The second that was so disappointing was for some soccer (or proper football) tournament that is taking place in the near future. Needless to say, I watched a few of the commercials online this morning before class, and I will probably watch more later in the day.
Sadly, I did not stay for the end of the game. Once it hit 2:00 in the morning, the lure of my bed overcame my desire to watch a game that I really did not care to see who won. Keep in mind that when Lauren and I vacated Liar at 2:00, it was still in the third quarter. This morning, I did look up to see who won, and much to my not caring, I was pleased to see that the Packers were victorious. I realize that as I'm writing this, one reason I was rooting for the Packers was because Christina (who is an AVID football fan) was cheering on the Steelers and she can get quite intense, so I decided to cheer for the opposition. Also, I had to root for the midwest :-)
Anyway, watching the Super Bowl, which is so very American, in a country where a good 75% of the population could care less and does not know the rules, was quite the experience. In regards to the commercials, I decided to think of it this way: I could either be in Scotland missing out on the hilarious commercials during the game and watch them online or I could be in North Carolina watching the commercials during the game. Somehow I think the choice is rather obvious, at least to me.
I hope everyone is having fun enjoying their left-over game snacks and either celebrating, or mourning, the outcome of the game!
Cheers!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Another Week has Come and Gone...
Well, this past week marked my fourth week in Scotland. I cannot believe how fast time has flown by! I realize I have not updated in a week or so, but that is simply because not that much has happened. I'm sure you guys only want to know so much about my classes :-P
Let's see where I left off...oh yes it was last Friday. Well, on Saturday I had a nice relaxing day of grocery shopping (which I feel like I do so much) and window shopping with Christina. That evening I went out to the Union with Minna and Christina for some cocktails and pool. It was quite nice to sip delicious cocktails with great friends! I do not know if I have mentioned this or not, but I have a goal of trying as many different cocktails at the Union as possible during the semester. Although, I decided that some of them I just don't want to try, so I might not get ALL of them, but quite a few.
The drinks Christina, Minna and I had. Aren't they pretty? Left to right: Mojito, WooWoo, and a French Martini.
Sunday and Monday were uneventful so let's skip to Tuesday. Tuesday I had a good day of classes. I have started to make friends in them and it is great! I am really enjoying my Film tutorial because our professor is hilarious and everyone in the class is super nice. I am slightly lost when he makes references to certain movies, but I'm sure I'm not the only person in the class who has no idea what he is talking about. Tuesday evening I went out with my friends Lauren and Esther, who I have mentioned before. We had a good time and we made plans to have a "family potluck" Friday night. I was in charge of dessert...my specialty!
Wednesday classes were fine. In film we watched Out of the Past, because this week we were looking at the Femme Fatale...basically women who sucker men in and then either kill them or cause them to do bad things on their behalf, in other words, evil women. Wednesday afternoon both the men's and women's basketball teams had games, so since Minna and Greg play, Minna invited everyone over to our flat for predrinks before we went out that evening. So, Wednesday night, our flat kitchen/living room was packed full of about 20 basketball players...and Christina and me. It was so much fun getting to know more of Minna's friends.
Thursday I had to go grocery shopping so I could make my dessert for Friday night. I decided to make caramel rice krispie treats. At Tesco (the grocery store) it was a challenge to find some of the needed ingredients. First of all, I could not find caramels, but I was able to find caramel in a can. Interesting, I know, but how bad could it be? Secondly, it was rather difficult to find marshmallows. They come in smaller bags than at home and are rather pricey, but I found them nonetheless. After grocery shopping I had to go to another film screening. We watched Laura which is another Femme Fatale. I really enjoyed this film because there was a character who reminded me of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. He made snarky comments and acted as if he knew everything, and did not see fault in some of his actions. I laughed quite a bit during this film, and I suggest everyone see it.
After my film screening I returned to my flat to make my rice krispies. They turned out quite well despite the fact that the caramel stuff that goes in the middle was very runny so it ended up soaking through the bottom layer of rice krispies...oh well. I then went to Zumba for the second time with Minna and Esther. Again it was a time well spent! After Zumba (and a shower) Christina and I watched The Big Lebowski. I thought it would be a good one to watch because it was one that my film professor keeps referencing and I had never seen it. Now I have so I will not feel as out of the loop.
Friday was a great day! I had my history tutorial followed by physics. In physics I finally talked to people! It was the best thing ever. I was walking in with this girl named Ellie and I asked if she had started lab yet and what I needed to bring. She then sat by me and we continued to chat. At one point she asked me where I was living and I told her and who I was living with. Then, the guy who was sitting on the other side of me was like "wait, you live with Minna? I know her!" very funny! Later in the afternoon I had my first physics lab. It was good and weird. The good part was I talked to more people and the lab instructor/professor guy was very friendly (although I'm pretty sure he thinks my name is Heather). The weird part was the actual physics part. Unlike at Guilford where we have to do everything for ourselves, including figuring out what we are even supposed to be testing and finding and setting up all the equipment, we almost did not have to think. We were given our lab manual, that basically has step by step instructions for each lab. Then we go into the lab and sit down at our stations where everything is all set up. We take some measurements and do some calculations and then we are done. My group did the Hall Effect yesterday, but I know that I do not understand it nearly as well as if I had done the experiment at Guilford. Another different part is that throughout the whole semester we only do three experiments. At the end, we have to turn in our lab notebook, which we have everything for the three experiments, and then one formal write up over the lab of our choice. I am a little disappointed with how the labs are run here. I'm afraid I will return to Guilford very out of practice of having to do the caliber of work expected from us.
Anyway, Friday night was my "family potluck" with Esther and Lauren. We decided to have it at my flat, which was a lot of fun. Esther brought rice and Lauren made and brought sweet and sour chicken! It was soooo good! After we ate we watched a few episodes of Glee online and hung out and chatted. We also started planning a trip to Paris for the first weekend in March! I am super excited about this. The idea came about when I was talking to Carly (from Guilford) who left yesterday to go to Italy for the semester. We decided we wanted to meet up somewhere for a weekend and Carly suggested Paris and I suggested the first weekend in March. Fortunately, plane tickets are super cheap! Esther, Lauren and I ended up finding plane tickets that are total only £25, after getting creative as to where we would leave from and return to. Since it was such a successful evening, we decided to make it a weekly occurrence. This coming Friday Esther is making dessert, Lauren is making green bean casserole and I am on meat duty...it should be interesting!
This is the rice and sweet and sour chicken from our potluck!
My delicious dessert! Notice how gooey they turned out...consequences of caramel in a can.
My lovely friends/potluck family/Paris buddies! (Esther, from Vancouver, on left and Lauren, from Georgia, on the right)
Today I slept in rather late and then hung out for a bit with Minna and Christina while making lunch. At 5:00 we are going to head over to the union to watch some big rugby game that is on t.v. It should be a good time!
That is all for now! I will be sure to fill you in on how the rugby game goes!
Cheers!
Let's see where I left off...oh yes it was last Friday. Well, on Saturday I had a nice relaxing day of grocery shopping (which I feel like I do so much) and window shopping with Christina. That evening I went out to the Union with Minna and Christina for some cocktails and pool. It was quite nice to sip delicious cocktails with great friends! I do not know if I have mentioned this or not, but I have a goal of trying as many different cocktails at the Union as possible during the semester. Although, I decided that some of them I just don't want to try, so I might not get ALL of them, but quite a few.
The drinks Christina, Minna and I had. Aren't they pretty? Left to right: Mojito, WooWoo, and a French Martini.
Sunday and Monday were uneventful so let's skip to Tuesday. Tuesday I had a good day of classes. I have started to make friends in them and it is great! I am really enjoying my Film tutorial because our professor is hilarious and everyone in the class is super nice. I am slightly lost when he makes references to certain movies, but I'm sure I'm not the only person in the class who has no idea what he is talking about. Tuesday evening I went out with my friends Lauren and Esther, who I have mentioned before. We had a good time and we made plans to have a "family potluck" Friday night. I was in charge of dessert...my specialty!
Wednesday classes were fine. In film we watched Out of the Past, because this week we were looking at the Femme Fatale...basically women who sucker men in and then either kill them or cause them to do bad things on their behalf, in other words, evil women. Wednesday afternoon both the men's and women's basketball teams had games, so since Minna and Greg play, Minna invited everyone over to our flat for predrinks before we went out that evening. So, Wednesday night, our flat kitchen/living room was packed full of about 20 basketball players...and Christina and me. It was so much fun getting to know more of Minna's friends.
Thursday I had to go grocery shopping so I could make my dessert for Friday night. I decided to make caramel rice krispie treats. At Tesco (the grocery store) it was a challenge to find some of the needed ingredients. First of all, I could not find caramels, but I was able to find caramel in a can. Interesting, I know, but how bad could it be? Secondly, it was rather difficult to find marshmallows. They come in smaller bags than at home and are rather pricey, but I found them nonetheless. After grocery shopping I had to go to another film screening. We watched Laura which is another Femme Fatale. I really enjoyed this film because there was a character who reminded me of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. He made snarky comments and acted as if he knew everything, and did not see fault in some of his actions. I laughed quite a bit during this film, and I suggest everyone see it.
After my film screening I returned to my flat to make my rice krispies. They turned out quite well despite the fact that the caramel stuff that goes in the middle was very runny so it ended up soaking through the bottom layer of rice krispies...oh well. I then went to Zumba for the second time with Minna and Esther. Again it was a time well spent! After Zumba (and a shower) Christina and I watched The Big Lebowski. I thought it would be a good one to watch because it was one that my film professor keeps referencing and I had never seen it. Now I have so I will not feel as out of the loop.
Friday was a great day! I had my history tutorial followed by physics. In physics I finally talked to people! It was the best thing ever. I was walking in with this girl named Ellie and I asked if she had started lab yet and what I needed to bring. She then sat by me and we continued to chat. At one point she asked me where I was living and I told her and who I was living with. Then, the guy who was sitting on the other side of me was like "wait, you live with Minna? I know her!" very funny! Later in the afternoon I had my first physics lab. It was good and weird. The good part was I talked to more people and the lab instructor/professor guy was very friendly (although I'm pretty sure he thinks my name is Heather). The weird part was the actual physics part. Unlike at Guilford where we have to do everything for ourselves, including figuring out what we are even supposed to be testing and finding and setting up all the equipment, we almost did not have to think. We were given our lab manual, that basically has step by step instructions for each lab. Then we go into the lab and sit down at our stations where everything is all set up. We take some measurements and do some calculations and then we are done. My group did the Hall Effect yesterday, but I know that I do not understand it nearly as well as if I had done the experiment at Guilford. Another different part is that throughout the whole semester we only do three experiments. At the end, we have to turn in our lab notebook, which we have everything for the three experiments, and then one formal write up over the lab of our choice. I am a little disappointed with how the labs are run here. I'm afraid I will return to Guilford very out of practice of having to do the caliber of work expected from us.
Anyway, Friday night was my "family potluck" with Esther and Lauren. We decided to have it at my flat, which was a lot of fun. Esther brought rice and Lauren made and brought sweet and sour chicken! It was soooo good! After we ate we watched a few episodes of Glee online and hung out and chatted. We also started planning a trip to Paris for the first weekend in March! I am super excited about this. The idea came about when I was talking to Carly (from Guilford) who left yesterday to go to Italy for the semester. We decided we wanted to meet up somewhere for a weekend and Carly suggested Paris and I suggested the first weekend in March. Fortunately, plane tickets are super cheap! Esther, Lauren and I ended up finding plane tickets that are total only £25, after getting creative as to where we would leave from and return to. Since it was such a successful evening, we decided to make it a weekly occurrence. This coming Friday Esther is making dessert, Lauren is making green bean casserole and I am on meat duty...it should be interesting!
This is the rice and sweet and sour chicken from our potluck!
My delicious dessert! Notice how gooey they turned out...consequences of caramel in a can.
My lovely friends/potluck family/Paris buddies! (Esther, from Vancouver, on left and Lauren, from Georgia, on the right)
Today I slept in rather late and then hung out for a bit with Minna and Christina while making lunch. At 5:00 we are going to head over to the union to watch some big rugby game that is on t.v. It should be a good time!
That is all for now! I will be sure to fill you in on how the rugby game goes!
Cheers!
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