Wait... What?

My flatmate just came into my room and gave me the reality check that I only have 64 days left in Scotland. I am halfway through my experience, WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?!! I am officially labeling this as my mid- JSA (Junior Semester Abroad, because I'm cool like that and make up acronyms) crisis.

Let's just dissect what I'm actually doing here. Studying Abroad. Let us look at the second half of that phrase abroad. I am living in Europe, and before coming here I had this idealized notion of me doing minimal work during the week and globe trotting on the weekends. This is not reality. I have done a wee bit of traveling, making my way around the greater parts of Scotland. I also have trips planned for Ireland, England, France and possibly Wales, but theres a huge (realistic) part of me thats like 

But I am determined. I have also found (and please let me know if this is just me) that I feel a certain kind of pressure to travel all over the muthertruckin' place while I'm in Europe. I mean on the one hand it makes sense, since I live in the US, this is literally the closest I will be to Europe for some time, but let's look at the other hand. The one that holds study. 

Between my three classes, I have four major essays to write. Each counting for a percentage of my grade, the most being 75%, and the least one counts a mere 50% of my final grade. 

So you can see where this mid- JSA crisis comes from, and in the grand scheme of things... it's not that big of a deal. But I definitely think there is some sort of pressure to use every minute of every day while abroad, but the thing is... you don't actually have to. I have come to the realization that I can take a lazy day and drink tea and read a book. It's okay it I don't go to every single country in Europe. It's okay, as long as when I am sitting on the plane to go back to the US, I feel like I made the most of my time here (advice received from a loving parent late at night).

So for now I am so more than happy to continue living in Scotland (that still makes me excited, even after a little over a month living here) and doing what I think I should, and that does include my studies (between the three of my courses I am taking the history and literature of Medieval Wales, Ireland and Scotland).

Things I have learned about myself:

1. When I am walking with a group of people they assume I know where I'm going, when in reality 96.2% of the time I have no idea where I am going.

2. I need at least three cups of tea, or two cups of coffee to be alert enough to walk to class. It is a 15 minute walk, and there are several main intersects and roads that I have to cross... 

3. THE BUSES HERE WILL NOT STOP FOR YOU, IT DOES NOT MATTER WHO YOU ARE- THEY WILL HIT YOU IF YOU DON'T MOVE. I do not appreciate this if I haven't had the allotted amount of caffeine mentioned above. 

4. I am an officially an old person. I am out of the flat from 8.30-5 or 6 everyday. Being in the world can be exhausting. My bed time is somewhere around 10.30 during the week. Ooooooooooooooold.

5. I really really really like ruined castles, old graveyards and walking around the city with no plan or purpose whatsoever. 

6. when it comes to authority, my gut reaction is to stick out my tongue and ignore it. I know, almost 21 and acting like a 5 year old... my maturity knows no bounds.

7. I have an addiction to scones. I think it might be a problem.

And with that I leave you until the next post.

xxoo

E

Alba

So, the reason it has taken me so golly- gosh darn long to write is because two weeks ago I went to the Highlands, and Oh my gosh take me back. However as I say that, I've been trying to write down how amazing it was and how utterly life changing, but every time I sat down to write it all out I felt like this:

NOTHING. Nothing washed upon the shores of the blank page in front of me, I'm allowed to be a Prima Donna ONCE in a while (if you ask my brothers they'll say it's more than once in a while but they are wrong). The short of the story is I went to the Highlands through this tour service called Highland Experience, and honestly if you want a really good time, book with these people. Literally the most wonderful weekend I have had yet. So I piled into a wee bus with 18 other travelers (a family from Delhi, three middle aged bros, an overly affectionate couple from Spain, a less publicly affectionate couple from England, a girl and her aunt from I have no idea, a guy round about my age, and then there was me with a couple of friends). Our tour guide's name was James, originally from the Isle of Skye (where some of my people are from) but he now lives in Glasgow. NOT TO MENTION he was just a wee bit of a thing and he wore a kilt for the entire weekend. Yeah, I was in heaven. Before being a tour guide he worked in forestry so in the middle of a sentence James would break off and go "... and if you look to your right you'll see the Caledonian Pine..." Needless to say (but you know I'm going to say it) it was magical. Along with his magical descriptions and knowledge of the nature whizzing by us, James came up with these gems (accompanied by representations of my reactions):

"about as useful as a chocolate teapot"

"then there were these people... called the Victorians. And they were all on opium"

"This bridge we're crossing is actively crumbling, but don't worry, it's got a couple of months left in it"

"first week on the job the first aid kit fell and hit me on the back of the head. <laughs> That's just my life, concussed by a first aid kit"

"while you were away eating lunch I was having a confrontation with a parking attendant... I can be quite aggressive when provoked"

".. that is a strathgarry, and a strath is a glen... <thirty seconds of silence> which is a valley"

"a toast to the little man in the velvet suit... in other words a toast to a mole"

"eventually all of the Highlanders were replaced by sheep, because they were less rebellious"

"this color has become synonymous with Scotland. The trees are ginger. The land is ginger. Our women are ginger, we have ginger squirrels. We have red traffic lights. Basically everything is ginger"

".. by the by, if anyone collects fungus..."

"hurling, it's like hockey for psychopaths. Look- over there you can see some young hooligans playing it... oh wait... it looks like they are just running around... my mistake"

So yeah, we stopped and spent the night on the shores of Loch Ness, and I had some really good haggis. Like mind blowingly good. And I hear you ask: how can haggis be good, and to that I reply HOW CAN IT NOT BE?! I honestly can't express in words how beautiful the Highlands are, but I will say that on the drive back into Edinburgh my face looked something like this:

If you want the long version of the trip, please ask and I will go on for hours, I'm so glad I went! Life kept whizzing by after the trip and classes are continuing to escalate, one thing I have noticed about the university system here is that professors, as brilliant as they may be, are often closed against new ideas that contradict their own. This is frustrating but NO MATTER, I refuse a couple of close-minded profs to prevent me from having a grand old time while I am here.

In scone news I have yet to find a better scone than that of Kilimanjaro's.

Until the next post,


xxoo

E 

Completely Unrelated to Anything Scottish

So, unless you have been living under some sort of heavy object, or like Saint Simeon Stylites the Elder (look him up, it's totally worth it) you will know about Miley's latest single 'Wrecking Ball' and how it literally made the internet explode with every emotion possible. I'll admit, at first I was shocked  disappointed and didn't really know what to do with myself after watching the music video (yes I watched it). But I the lyrics are really well done, and I think have been lost due to the over sexualization of  the music video and the current media surrounding Miss Miley. SO in order to show you guys how really beautiful this song is, I have posted the best (in my opinion, which let's face it, is the only opinion that really counts on this matter) covers and mashups to come out of the Wrecking Ball media frenzy. 

This has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact I am procrastinating writing an essay for my Celtic Literature course.

Okay, maybe it does.... but these are just so cool!

So have a listen to these covers (in no particular order) done by some really talented artists, and know that my next (actual) blog post is just around the corner!

1. 

Eli Lieb

2. 

Miley Cyrus & Mumford & Sons - Little Wrecking Ball

3. 

James Arthur

4. 

@chestersee

5. 

Corey Gray & Jake Coco

6. 

Liza Anne feat. Tim Kampen

7. 

@ceejofficial

8. 

Charity Vance

I hope you enjoy them, I know I did.

XXOO

E

I Think I'm Living in Camelot

Right, so before you read this update click HERE.

Yeah, so as you can probably figure out for yourself between the title of this post and the video of the ever majestic Mr. Burton, the weather here has been amazing, beyond that even! Everyday has greeted me with a blue sky and mild temperatures, towards the late afternoon when I am safe in my flat, the sky goes grey with clouds and the wind picks up. Then it rains during the night, to end before I open my curtains the next morning. I literally don't understand, I was expecting rain, fog, cold sweater weather and I have been greeted with better weather than I would have found back in New England. Yeah- this country is beautiful, this I could get used to.

BUT SERIOUSLY...

I have also found that I have developed a system to rank the many coffee houses, and several bars I have visited over my time here. for coffee houses I've hit up the Elephant House, mostly known for its close association with Harry Potter and it's writer J.K Rowling. Did I say writer? Oh that's funny I meant prolific writer that defined a generation and gave children the tools to dream. Just saying. Anyway, I entered and was wowed by the sheer number of elephants littered around the entire shop.. literally everywhere. So I cued up and ordered a latte and a scone. Firstly the entire thing was overpriced, so this counted as a strike one. THEN they proceeded to give me a plain scone- without jam or butter, this is not the way to my heart.

I ended up grabbing a couple of diner-jams and pre packaged butter, and sat myself down to a mediocre tea. Overall I was kind of, not to be whiny but disappointed in the Elephant House, and I don't think I will be going back any time soon.  The best of all the bests is a little shop called Kilimanjaro Coffee, I literally have dreams about this place. Not to mention that right next door is a little used book shop, and I have developed a habit of stopping into the book store on my way to grab a cup of coffee or tea. Every time I tell myself that I won't buy a book- but then I see it and I HAVE TO BUY IT. HAVE TO.

The scones are the size of an infants head, and they serve it with a jar of clotted creme ( £0.40 extra, but even still you're paying £2.30 for a huge scone and jam AND CLOTTED CREME). For those who do not fully understand the beauty of clotted creme ya'll need to click on THIS read it, and

BUY THE CLOTTED CREME. It may be the least healthy thing ever, but I love it. ESPECIALLY when it comes with a scone. I could literally go on for hours about this, but I won't bore you... But seriously if you ever want to talk scones just shoot me an email or a text and I will go on until the sun rises. I have a problem.

How I rate the many bars in Edinburgh is how they make their gin and tonic (the key here is loads and loads of lime) and whether or not they know how to make a dark and stormy (see picture below).

So far my top three are Frankensteins, The Doctor's and Malone's. Frankensteins offers a weird out of body experience with an antiquated architecture and set up, but modern lighting and music. The two big draws as I see it to this place is that above the bar, there are three big monitors playing old black and white movies and then the second is that at midnight Frankenstein descends from the ceiling. The Doctors is a little more mature and low key, gilded with a taste of the good ole days, this is a popular place for a quiet drink and a good chat with a couple of friends. And then there is Malone's, this is the perfect University student bar, they offer a discount card on several popular drinks, so that's nice. Its a good place to meet new people, however if you are looking for something on the smaller scale Malone's is not the bar for you- its massive with an opening area sitting room, a dance floor on the ground floor with booth seating and an upper tier seating level. Malone's is a good place to watch a game of football if you want the cheers and chants to go along with it. But if you wanted a quiet and casual night of drinks you might get there and feel like this:

This weekend I have a grand adventure up off into the Highlands and I am buzzin. It's a two day grand adventure to all of these places:

I think the place I am most excited to go to is Glen Coe... no wait it's Loch Ness... No wait Iverness... No wait, ALL OF THEM!!! Gah, I thought I had gotten pass my ermergerdertscrtlnd  phase but clearly I am not, ah well hopefully this trip will tide me over for a wee while. Hopefully.

A couple of quick facts:

1. Don't freak out when you're at the self checkout and the darn thing-a-ma-giggy wont scan. Just bat your eyelashes, slap on a smile and ask for help.

2. Bring your own shopping bags, if not to save the environment to save your arms and fingers.

3. Split your grocery shopping up into two different days during the week. Fresh products and breads expire really quickly in Scotland, so this way you'll have a variety of foods and won't have to waste any of them!

4. When you're learning your way around the city know which shortcuts to take and WHEN to take them, like don't cross the Meadows at night... ever.

5. There is a lot you can do for free and have a blast- it might take a little digging, but with a little faith, trust and pixie dust you'll find them (my personal favorites are the National Museum, Arthur's Seat and Greyfriar's)

6. Say yes to most things, not everything, but this way you'll continue to push yourself out of your comfort zone which is a good thing. Mostly.

7. Live like your a student. Now having said this, don't deprive yourself of experiences or memories because it might be a little pricey- you are studying abroad, and there is more to life than studying. So when you're caught in a situation where you're going:

Indulge, treat yourself to that trip or to that book, just find a balance between living like a student and living abroad.

Well, that's all I have for now, until my next post!

xxoo

E