Mission: Scotland: 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!