Robert Burns and Other Tales (Nominally- Why Is Haggis Involved?) Pt I

Who was Robert Burns, you may ask. I wondered the same thing. According to the lovely website known as Wikipedia, Burns was a Scottish poet in the 18th century. He is, in fact, the national poet of Scotland. Fun fact: you might know him by his song, Auld Lang Syne. So anyway, every year, Scottish people around the world feast on haggis, neeps and tatties, and whiskey on the night of Burns' birthday (January 25th). These festivities, however, can last for a week or so. Is anyone surprised? No I don't think so.
And apparently there's an order to these dinners, along with reciting Burns' poetry and such. My favourite is the "Address to the Haggis". Helloooo, Haggis. Haha no, not quite like that. It goes on and on and on and the last verse is:

 Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinkin ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,
Gie her a haggis!

Well so to start  my Burns experience pt I, I went to Lara's flat and arrived to her Scottish flatmates cooking the lovely dinner. Haggis, carrots (instead of turnips- they couldn't find any?), and potatoes. Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish, and is thus served on the Scottish holiday- more on that later. The table was set with a shot of Famous Grouse Scotch whiskey for all. I'd like to add that Lara and I were the only non-Brits at this dinner (there was one English girl- SCANDALOUS!). Soon it was time to eat the mysterious haggis...

What is haggis? Wellllll.... Some say it's a magical creature with legs shorter on one side than on the other so it can run around the hills better. But really, I'm not going to tell you what's in a haggis. It'll put you off ever eating haggis. Ever. Unless you don't care like me. If you're really interested, look it up yourself. It tastes like sausage though, so whatever. I had a very large portion because, well, if you know me, you know I'll try anything at least once. Most likely, I'll like it. And, of course, I did.

I would have smiled but I already had a large mouth full of haggis. That sounds rather dreadful, doesn't it?

We concluded the night with a wonderful apple and plum crumble. Quite delicious actually. I'm going to another Burns Supper on the first of February with my friend, Katie, and this one is put on by the University. I think that will be a ceilidh so there will be plenty of dancing and haggis, and I'll be happy. Sorry this was so short, but I really have been busy with school work so nothing super exciting has happened lately. Stay tuned for part II of the Burns festivities!

Glasgow- It's Not Alllll Bad...

Apparently Glasgow was named the city with the highest stabbing rate in western Europe, but also the friendliest city in the UK all in the same year. And that's where I spent my weekend.

Museum in Glasgow and a view of the River Kelvin

Let me start by saying, I really didn't know what to expect from Glasgow. I heard about the violence and poverty there. I knew it was a rough town. But that's all I had. My opinion has completely changed though. Glasgow is gorgeous (in the right parts) and full of really interesting architecture (both in good and bad ways). My only complaint was that it smells weird. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it does. I still prefer Edinburgh.

I stayed the weekend with my friend, Silvana from AU, who's been there for 4 months already. She's studying the whole year in Glasgow, and so she already knew her way around and could show me some cool parts of the city. University of Glasgow has, for the most part, a really cool and old campus. It is one of the oldest universities in the UK so that just tells you how cool it is. Sadly, I forgot to bring my memory card with me on this trip so I was limited to only a few pictures the whole time. It was also really foggy on Saturday, but I think it gave a really cool and eerie effect to the picture of the museum in particular.

University of Glasgow- one of the courtyards

We spent most of Saturday walking around the city. First we went to see her campus, which really was quite lovely. We also went to the city center and walked all over that. There were a lot of shops and restaurants which all looked nice. There was a lot of walking involved on Saturday, but we also went to Primark, which is a fantastic and cheap store in the UK that I now want to shop at all the time. I got a cute minty cardigan and a going out top there for a total of £20. Fantastic.

At night, there are lights above this street that light up. Super cute

Sunlight!

We went to the Glasgow Botanical Gardens which would have been much more exciting if there had been more flowers, but it's winter. The green houses were open, so we adventured in those for a while. We saw "Killer Plants" which really weren't that exciting. Silvana and I felt like we were at the zoo trying to see if the snake would kill something. The only thing is- snakes are at least more exciting than plants. We did enjoy the tropical plants and the fern that moved when you touch it. The Orchid Room was also really neat and it smelled fantastic!

These kids were at eating ice cream even though it was like 2 C outside

 Saturday night Silvana, her 2 friends from Uni, and I went out to the Glasgow University Union (GUU) for the club night. Let me tell you, it was smelly and gross, but I had a good time. Bloc Party was DJ-ing (they're an English band for those who don't know), which was interesting to say the least. The girls seemed to be dressed a little bit more conservatively here than at clubs in Edinburgh but I'm not sure what that means exactly. It might just have been because it was at the union.

I just liked the name of this club. It's a little ridiculous haha

Today we went to a museum, and I learned about Glasgow and ancient Egypt all at once! It was an interesting experience, as all of my experiences in Glasgow were. Apparently Glaswegians really like country-western music. Silvana and I found that out today. We also went to some thrift stores and some charity shops (like Salvation Army or Goodwill but for specific causes like breast cancer or heart disease). My train left at 5:50 for Edinburgh, so we didn't really do too too much today. Overall it was a really good trip, and I would suggest that anyone go to Glasgow at least once.

"Deep Sea World? More Like 'Deep Sea Island' or Maybe a Peninsula"

So a few days ago I was really excited to go on the International Student Centre's trip to Deep Sea World and Queensferry, which is a little village on the Firth of Forth, a little inlet that connects to the North Sea. So it was this Saturday (yesterday) and cost £13, which was pretty good considering we were driven there and the aquarium cost something like £10.50 to get in anyway. Lara (my new Dutch friend) and I decided we were going to meet Katie and her friends at City, which is a club alllll the way by the train station. Ok that's really not that far, but it was a 20 minute walk, and it was really confusing to get there before we realized there were stairs to connect 2 streets. Anyway, this was an interesting experience.

Imagine this jam-packed with people

The major thing I noticed that was different than DC clubbing was that girls all dress wear next to nothing and 5 pounds of make up on their face, and the guys were all kind of wearing the same thing- jeans, button up shirt, and a cardigan. It was so bizarre. Lara said that in the Netherlands, girls don't dress like this either, so maybe it's a distinctly British phenomenon. I'm not sure. Anyway, we were both heavily overdressed, seeing as our shoulders were covered and we were wearing tights, as opposed to the many girls in mini skirts and NOTHING underneath. Oh, and we weren't wearing heels. So yeah, it was bizarre. We stayed until about 1:30 am, but I had started getting annoyed by all the people pushing me and making out next to me, and the same techno beat going on way before we left. They also LOVED the smoke machine here which I hadn't encountered before. That was kind of cool though. I think if they had played more variety in the music, I would have had a better time. We'll just have to find a better club.
So since we both were going to the Deep Sea World trip, we met up at 8:45 am to get to campus by 9. We were both quite sleepy. We met up with our friend Monica, who is also from AU, and who didn't go out. She was surprised we made it. Ha! Yeah we're not that crazy. So we got on the bus and the trip itinerary was as follows:
-Leave for DSW at 9
-Have creature encounter at 10, 10:30, or 11
-Leave DSW for Queensferry at 1
-Spend time in Queensferry and leave for Edinburgh at 4:30

This is what actually happened. We left for the aquarium and were late, so the 10 am group for the creature encounter was late, so the rest of them were late too. Deep Sea World was also so small that we saw everything we needed to see by 11, maybe even 10:45. It was that tiny. As Lara's flatmate said later, "Deep Sea World? More like a Deep Sea Island or maybe Deep Sea Peninsula". Yeah, it was that small. But the problem was, after our creature encounter at 11, we still had an hour and a half to kill. Don't get me wrong, the creature encounter was cool. I got to hold a bearded dragon, which was named Marcel. He was very nice and I now want one as a pet.

The director of the trip decided after meeting Marcel we needed to stay until 1:30 to watch the sharks being fed. We decided eating our own lunch was a good idea, so we did that until 1 and walked over to the underwater tunnel thing that they had. The problem was that there is a conveyor belt that they were asking everyone to step on so that everyone could see the sharks being fed. Most of the people stood to the side that wasn't moving, so I saw basically nothing. It was a waste of 5 minutes.
We left the aquarium at 1:30 and headed over to Queensferry despite the rain and cold weather (ok it was probably about 55 degrees F/12 degrees C. Not that cold). There was nothing too exciting that we could see about the place. It was quaint and I could see why it'd be nice to spend maybe an hour there. We spent 2.5 hours there. It was a little ridiculous. Apparently there's a really pretty church and an old house there, but I heard they were both closed. Immediately after getting off the bus, Lara and I made the executive decision to spend the whole time in a nice, warm, dry pub. We had a pint each and stayed there for the duration of our stay at Queensferry. The houses were rather adorable though.

So yeah, the trip wasn't really worth it. I think we could have gone at 10, and stayed at each place for an hour and a half tops. We would have been back by 3, not 5, and I wouldn't have had to wake up as early. It would also have been nicer if it wasn't raining. Lara and I did make crepes with Nutella and hot chocolate for dinner, though. That was the highlight of my day. Today, I'm going to the library. I don't think there's anything exciting even happening until Wednesday, when I'm going to the Yule Ball that the Harry Potter Society is having. SO EXCITEDDD.
Stay dry and warm everyone!

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

Hello everyone. So I've been doing some wandering around the city- hence the post title. Monday, I opened a bank account- fancy shmancy! It was way easier than I thought it would be once I had the official Edinburgh University letter. They even offered me some Irn Bru (official soft drink of Scotland) but it was flat. For those of you who have never had Irn Bru, I'd suggest it because it's DEEEELICIOUS.

It tastes something in between orange soda and bubble gum. I don't make this stuff up, but that's what multiple people have said. I've actually seen an ad for it on the side of a taxi. They love it here. It sells more than Coca-Cola- the only country in the world with such an occurrence. Crazy. Later Monday night, my friend, Katie, and I went to Chocolatesoup, which is a yummy cafe specializing in chocolaty goodness. We went with the Chocolate Society, and I ordered a hot chocolate sundae, which was pretty much hot chocolate with a mountain of whipped cream and chocolate sauce. I'm pretty sure they're known for their sundae soups though (I think that's just basically a milkshake). I need to go back and try this stuff out.

So on Tuesday, I had no classes and I decided I would apply for a job. The major thing I noticed was that in the UK (or maybe all of Europe), they don't have applications, you need to bring your CV, or resume. I wasn't really prepared for that. After going around to 5 or 6 coffee shops on my street, I went home and revised my resume for the job position and returned within an hour to the three which might have positions, with my CV in hand. They all said by the end of the week, I'd hear back. I'm going tomorrow to bug them a bit since, again, I don't have classes.While I was looking for jobs I took some pictures of the city and campus.

My street (South Clerk/Clerk/Nicholson/South Bridge)

You can kind of see Arthur's Seat in the background

Beautiful park on campus

Teviot House, or Hogwarts

Yesterday, I met up with my friend Lara, who I met at orientation last Sunday. She's also a visiting student and is from Holland. At home she goes to university in Leiden, so that's pretty cool. She also has a long term boyfriend so we bond over that. We went to the society (or club for the American readers) fair. I signed up for the Language Society, Harry Potter Society, and History Society. I'm pretty excited for LangSoc since we don't really have anything like that at home. Harry Potter Society is throwing a Yule Ball on Wednesday, so I will definitely be attending that. Afterward, Lara and I both realised that we had nothing to do so we wandered around the city some more. We decided to go to Holyrood Park. This park surrounds an ancient and extinct volcano in the middle of the city- Arthur's Seat- and also has two or three lochs. Lara and I climbed halfway up until it started getting dark. It was already icy and muddy so we were lucky to make it without falling down. Of course, I forgot my camera, but here's a picture I found online of Arthur's Seat. My goal is to climb to the top on a drier day.

That's really all for now. I had a class today and investigated the library already. I did some grocery shopping and overall had a pretty uneventful day. This weekend should be a blast though. I'll charge my camera, so don't worry!
Safe travels :-)

No One's More Patriotic Than the Scots

Here's my new favorite comedian from England, Michael McIntyre. Here's his bit on the Scots

I'M HERE (finally)...

Alright so I finally made it to Edinburgh in one piece. It's been a long 2 weeks since I left home. It feels like it's been a month already. It's been a while since I last posted especially so let me update you quickly on the last week I was in England. My dad and I went to the Liverpool vs. Bolton match on New Years Day. We took the train over from Bolton to Liverpool for the game. On the train we met two guys (maybe 25) from Australia who have been in the UK for 7 months just watching footy games. It seemed a little ridiculous but some people will do anything for football. Anyway we got to the stadium, which I like a lot more than Stamford Bridge (Chelsea's grounds). The atmosphere was great too, though I feel there was a lot more singing/chanting from the Bolton side than the rest.

The fans pass up this massive flag along the stands

We spent a couple days staying with my family, and on the 6th, my dad flew back to the States. It was my mom's birthday, so you know- he couldn't miss that. I stayed with my aunt and uncle for a few more days until FINALLY the day I'd been waiting for arrived- we were going to make the long trek north to Edinburgh! Let me tell you, I thought I had a lot of stuff before. Now it is nearly impossible to close my suitcases with all the stuff I had. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get rid of some of it before I try to fly home. I hope. But anyway, we got up early yesterday (Saturday) morning. The car ride was about 5 hours long, but it was sunny the whole way up. I would like to let everyone know that I counted 5 castles along the way, and then of course Edinburgh has its own castle. I also observed no difference in English and Scottish sheep, but maybe they baa differently. Who knows.
Yesterday, we arrived around 2 in the afternoon, and I proceeded to unpack maybe 1/3 of my stuff in my flat and then went out to dinner with my aunt and uncle. When I got back, there was a meet-and-greet which I thought I'd stop at since my friend Katie from Illinois was there. After I came back (maybe around 8:30 pm) there was a firetruck outside my flat. It turns out someone had set fire to something in a closet or the stairwell. I'm not entirely sure. The bad part was that even though they put the fire out, the smoke alarms on my floor and the floor below me were damaged so we couldn't spend the night in the flat. Luckily my relatives were still in town in a hotel so I spent the night there, but let me tell you, I was pisssssed. It also meant that I had to carry my computer, toiletries, and pajamas with me all day today since we had orientation from 10-2. Now it is all fixed though, and I have a wonderful room! Also, outside of the building where we had orientation today was a student playing bagpipes, which I could here down the block. I love Scotland already.

My room, complete with bed, 2 desks, a bedside table with drawers, and a wardrobe

The lovely kitchen

Living/dining portion of the common area

My flat has 4 bedrooms, a common bathroom, and a kitchen with seating area, as you can see from the pictures. It's not too bad. We're on a pretty busy road but I'm in the basement and my window points towards the back, so I can't hear traffic or anything.
After orientation, I met some people, and we wandered around the city a bit. I forgot how gorgeous it is here. I absolutely love it.

So basically now that I've moved in and I've seen part of the city, I remember why I'm here. Look for new posts soon seeing as I plan to wander around on Tuesday, when I don't have class.
Hope everyone's doing well. I don't miss the States yet, so I think that's a good sign.