here, there, and everywhere

It's been another busy week on this side of the pond. I've been getting an education on wine and cheese with the Wine & Cheese society (appropriately named). At an event at The Scores Hotel, we sampled about 9 different wines alongside brie and crackers. It was fabulously fun, and we had some really good wines! Although I can't really say I'm now a wine connoisseur, or even that I remember the name of one wine we had that night. We're really taking advantage of the opportunity to join a society that centers around an activity that Emory would probably never have supported!


We've also been getting an education on British pop culture lately. Hanging out at Ferg and Tom's flat in town, I've gotten to appreciate a show called Neighbours. I have no idea why an Australian soap-opera is so stunningly popular here in Scotland. Much less why the same episode is played twice a day at 1:40 and 5:35. I decided that the show is really no good unless you watch it with several people and make ridiculous commentary throughout.

The biggest news is that I went to London last weekend! Really fun time and I saw loads of the city in just two days....which may have been crazy. I stayed with the former Bobby Jonesers (and identical twins), David and Gordon. They were incredible hosts and walked all over London with me. The best part was that they were a wealth of knowledge on all the useless little historical facts you could ever want to know about London.

I started my trip by actually getting on the wrong train. Typical. I was early to the station, and just walked on the train that pulled up. Suddenly I realized it was definitely not a sleeper train. Turned around as the doors were closing (in slow motion), saying "noooooo" ...but it was too late. After much worrying, I soon figured out that the train I was on was heading to Edinburgh and that the sleeper would stop in Edinburgh as well. The conductor was very forgiving and didn't charge me extra, saying "I knew you were in the wrong place when you got on the train!" Unfortunate that I played the dumb American card, but it got me where I needed to go this time!

Once in London, David, Gordon and I embarked on a whirlwind tour of a city that was larger than I had ever imagined. From Buckingham palace to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, I saw it all. Tower of London, the Eye, wacky street performers, the Gherkin, Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus, and more. We spent Saturday night watching the Rugby World Cup finals, England v. South Africa. Unfortunately England lost. But it was still fun to be surrounded by crazy England fans. Interesting fact: one of the main cheers for the England Rugby team is "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" because it was sung when the first black player on the team scored three tries to win a 1988 game against Ireland.

Afterwards we had a lot of fun at an engagement party for a friend of the twins. I'm pretty sure everyone I met was entirely confused about why I was there, seeing as I knew neither of the happy couple. The next day was spent touring more of the city, visiting the Tate Modern art museum, and we also met up with another former scholar, Derek, for lunch at a place on the Thames river. Speaking of the Thames, I've never seen a dirtier-looking river in my life..

After the excitement of traveling all weekend, I actually spent the week doing some studying and had some work to do. I know - shocking! On Thursday, we had another cricket social - Pub Cricket - which compensated for this busy week. I also discovered this week that my favorite shop in St Andrews is The Christmas Shop. They sell Christmas ornaments and decorations all year long! The minute you walk in the door, it smells like Christmas too. Absolutely amazing.

Well I'm off to Loch Ness tomorrow, and going to a soccer game in Dundee on Sunday. Should be another full weekend once again! Cheers!

let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic

So Cricket - I'm officially a member! I was initiated this week, and it was absolutely ridiculous to say the least. We went on a pub crawl, and all the newbies wore white. Let me put it this way...there were lots of drinks and lots of dares. I convinced a random guy at the bar that I was one of the girls that took the incriminating photos of Hugh Grant with the St Andrews girls. He bought it and asked me to autograph his arm. All I know is that I was scrubbing off lots of permanent marker the next morning...definitely a turtleneck day.

On a very different note, the English beat the French in the semi-finals of the Rugby world cup. Pretty amazing, although I don't recall watching it exactly - it was more about socializing than sport for me. Rugby is beyond me even more so than American football. I didn't really know who to root for. My English roots on the Lyman side made me think I should root for England, but my Scottish friends would have made me into haggis if I did.

Went on a day trip up the east coast of Scotland on Sunday. I had a lovely Scottish gentlemen show me around, so I had an excellent tour guide as well! Stuart and I drove up to Stonehaven, stopping at the Dunnottar castle, the medieval fortress obviously most notable as the site where Hamlet with Mel Gibson was filmed (that's me...squishing the castle to the right). We visited the Stonehaven harbor on the North Sea, saw the oldest building in Stonehaven, and I even learned that Robert William Thomson - the inventor of the pneumatic tyre - was born there. Scotland seems to pride itself on its inventors of interesting objects like bicycles, telephones, ATMs, logarithms, radar, and cloned sheep. Not important, but fun fact for the day.

Finished the trip with a drive through the Cairngorm and Grampian mountains past towns that all started with B's. Banchory, Ballater, Braemar, Blairgowrie...stopped by the Royal Lochnagar Distillery (one of 423 Scottish distilleries, according to an unreliable source), and drove past one of the queen's many residences. In all, we saw really beautiful countryside with rolling hills and farms, rich fall foliage in forests of birch trees, and of course hit some rain through the curvy roads between sloping peaks. Really wonderful trip! Good music, good sights, and good company.

I'm also slowly learning some new words for things. For instance, a "lorry" is a big trailer truck. The hood of the car is called a "bonnet", and the trunk is the "boot". Also - pants? Not the same thing. Trousers are pants, and pants actually means underwear. I got a few laughs for that one. And suspenders are actually "braces" - suspenders are really those lingerie accessories which hold up women's stockings. Also, a "chav" is a term for a person of low intelligence who wears Burberry. Whatever that means. French fries are chips, and potato chips are crisps. Cookies are biscuits, and biscuits are scones. You don't study math, you study maths. "Neeps and tatties" are rutabagas and potatoes, which is usually served with haggis (which is not a small furry animal as they will lead you to believe, but actually a mixture of sheep organs with oatmeal and spices inside the animal's stomach).

Anyway, there's always lots going on here and I'm learning something new everyday! The MRes course is keeping me pretty (un)busy so far, so there's definitely plenty of time for experiencing Scotland.

dancing in the moonlight

So now that classes have begun, things seem to be in full swing here at St Andrews! I'm beginning with a Basic Math/Stats/Computer programming class all rolled into one....it's really as delightful as it sounds. I actually only have one or two classes to attend every day so I really have a lot of free time to sort of do whatever I want. It's a strange feeling after being one of those ever-busy Emory students. I went for the most incredible run down the East Sands one afternoon, and it definitely in my top five runs of all time. Amazing.

All this free time gives me time to do all those typical Scottish things you're supposed to experience while here. For instance, the fried mars bar. It's exactly that - a fried candy bar. We took a trip to the nearest joint that will fry anything (surprise, it's called the Fry Bar) and decided to try one out for ourselves. The boys loved it (as evidence by their approving faces in the photo)...in my opinion it leaves a little something to be desired. I guess it's an acquired taste?

I joined the women's cricket team! It's great fun to swing the paddle at the ball, provided the bowler doesn't toss you a googly, hit the wicket and knock off the bails before you can run back. Don't ask me what that means yet, I'm still learning how to manage making contact between the paddle and the shot-put-like ball they whirl at you! Don't worry, mom, we wear helmets and padding. And anyway, I was in need of some girl friends after hanging out with the boys so much.

This weekend was exciting - I went on an ecology study hike in Glen Clova, Scotland with all the students in my masters program. It was incredible and absolutely insanely beautiful! We hiked up a 3,000-foot peak to an arctic alpine environment where we were literally couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of us with the thick fog that surrounded the mountaintop. We saw herds of red deer, the endangered golden eagle, hares, and sheep - lots of sheep. I got a lot of flack from all the Scots in the group for getting so excited about sheep. I told them I had this urge to go hug a sheep. I mean, they look incredibly soft and well, so hug-able.

After a day of hiking, we hit the hiker's pub at the bottom of the mountain. I had a good pint of cider with everyone and three of our professors - they're all fabulously quirky and intelligent middle-aged scientists, so it was good fun. After a day full of hiking, I had a quick turnaround from my boots to high heels and a gown for the Opening Ball. It is one of supposedly many black-tie balls that happen at St Andrews, so I donned my green dress, took many-a-picture with the girls on the hall, and headed to St Salvador's quad. We were greeted by charming British boys in kilts who handed all the girls roses and a glass of champagne upon arrival. It was a night of drinks, dancing, and lots of crazy fun memories. Ask Steve for a little more exciting story of his ball experience - because I like giving away endings, I'll tell you it involves him in boxers and his tux bowtie.

To finish off the busy weekend, we did our first road trip in the Bobby Jones Volkswagen to visit Edinburgh. It's only about an hour away, and it was great to get away and visit a little bit bigger of a city than quaint little St Andrews. We saw the famous castle which is apparently the inspiration for L. Frank Baum's Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz, had a great meal at a little pub on The Royal Mile, and just wandered the city streets for a bit.

All in all, another busy week gone by - lots of new experiences, lots of good pictures, lots of fun!