Valentine's Day (2/14)

Ah, Valentine's Day. Or, as many of my friends and fellow singletons call it, Singles Awareness Day. Personally, I'm of the opinion that, hey, you know what, I like flowers and chocolate and pink and hearts, so I like Valentine's Day. One of the organizations was hosting a party at a local pub, so we decided to go, and I must say, it was probably the best Valentine's Day I've ever had!

Walk around Arthur's Seat (2/13)

I decided to take an impromptu trip around the base of Arthur's Seat today - of course I didn't realize that it's approximately 2.5 miles, and it started raining in the middle. It was actually a lovely walk though, very peaceful and clarifying.

Royal Yacht Britannia (2/12)

Today, my friend Bess and I toured the royal yacht Britannia, which was used by Queen Elizabeth II from 1953-1997. It was a really interesting and comprehensive tour - we got to see just about the entire yacht, including the Queen's suite, family living room, and the formal dining room where she would host important events. It was really like walking into history a bit.

Six Nations Rugby (2/11)

Six Nations is an international rugby competition between Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, Italy, and France. There were some intense games going this weekend, including Scotland vs. Wales (Scotland lost horribly) and I got to witness quite a few sloshed Welsh celebrations.

Tea Time (2/10)

Up to Speed! (2/9)

I sincerely apologize for how behind I was in posting - sometimes life just gets in the way! Now that I'm all up to speed though, I will try hard to keep on track. If you're still reading, thanks so much for sticking with me and I hope you're enjoying my adventures!
<3 A Bonnie Lass from Wellesley

Discussions, Discussions (2/8)

I actually did quite a few interesting things today: went to class, went grocery shopping (ok, maybe not so interesting), participated in a focus group for my friend Dan and received free Ben & Jerry's ice cream, but alas, none of these were photographically documented. (I'm sure you're all devistated that I didn't take a picture of something at the grocery store.) However, probably the most interesting thing I did was go out with some of my friends and have an intense intellectual discussion about religion, determinism, the value of people and other philosophical things here:

(Disclaimer: I admit, I did not actually take this picture, it is from their facebook page.)



The conversation actually started out on the topic of control freaks (which I admit, I am one) and blossomed into this probably hour long intense debate and discussion. I won't go into specifics, but it was probably the first conversation of that magnitude I've had here, and it felt great even though I didn't always agree with what other people were saying. Clearly I've found some pretty smart people to hang out with here in Edinburgh and it's awesome!

Laundry Time! (2/7)

Disclaimer: Monday was not very exciting, although quite productive! My room is also now spotless! :)

So, I did laundry tonight. It was about time, since I was down to literally one shirt and two dresses in the realm of clean clothes. Fortunately, there are three washers/dryers in the Robertson's Close area and none of them were being used. They are actually exactly like Wellesley's (except, of course, for the price - doing laundry is expensive in Edinburgh!) so that was one less thing I had to learn to do differently over here, although trying to choose laundry detergent was a whole other story!

Super Bowl Sunday! (2/6)

This may come as a shock to those of you who know me and my general lack of interest in watching sports games, but I did actually go out to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday. It was definitely an interesting experience - there are quite a few American students here, so Teviot, the student union, had a large party for the big game. Three of the bars were packed with people cheering on the Packers and Steelers and drinking quite a bit of alcohol. Overall, a very fun night, although I did not stay until the end - the game started over here at 11:30pm and finished around 4:00am! Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries so I couldn't capture the event for myself, but thankfully someone else in our group was able to document the night.

Saturday (2/5)

This is the first Saturday that I've had nothing scheduled to do since I've been here. It's really crazy to think that I arrived exactly four weeks ago. I feel like so much has happened since then and I feel so comfortable in Edinburgh, but four weeks is really not a very long time. I have been expecting the time to fly by, which I suppose it kind of has, but at the same time it seems like I've been here much longer than a month.

Now that I've been here and away from Wellesley for a while, I'm starting to get a bit worried about reverse culture shock when I come back. I mean, I'm going to have to go back to school without boys in September! I love Wellesley, don't get me wrong: the classes are interesting (for the most part), the professors are amazing and really care about their students, and I've made some incredible friends, but being here has popped the Wellesley bubble a bit and made me realize how awesome the "real world" is too (also, guys make really awesome friends!) I suppose I shouldn't really be worrying about coming home until maybe about May (or even August), but it's just something I've been pondering. Anyway, to keep this post from getting too heavy, and since this is in fact a photo blog, here's a slightly ridiculous picture of me pondering:

(photo credit: Esther)

A Rainy Day in Edinburgh Town (2/4)

So I have figure out where all the rain in Edinburgh had been hiding, because it's all been coming down for the past few days. I must say, as gorgeous as this city is, I am not a big fan of the rain, although I do love my awesome music note rainboots that I've been rocking today. Oh well, I suppose this is what I get for coming to Scotland!

Pub Night Part 4 (2/3)

So tonight was once again Pub Night at the Greenmantle. This week's was particularly fun because there were two birthdays being celebrated - one on Thursday and one on Friday, so there was a joyous changeover at midnight. These pub nights have really become a highlight of my week. Everyone I've met through the ISC is incredibly nice and fun to be around, and I'm having a great time with them!

Korean Food (2/2)

Since we've been here, Esther has been scouting out all of the Korean restaurants in Edinburgh. We went to one of them, Kim's Mini Meals, tonight with some friends and it was delicious!

Old College (2/1)

Happy February!

This building is the University of Edinburgh's Old College, located about 2 minutes from my building. It is actually a whole bunch of connected buildings, but the dome is really what stands out. It makes a very useful landmark when I am exploring, and I can always find my way home.

Robertson's Close (1/31)

This is my building. I live in Stairwell 11 or Robertson's Close, which is the corner section in this picture. Not super exciting from this angle (I believe the view of the other side is nicer), but at least there are some other cool buildings nearby.

Sunday (1/30)

Sunday was not exciting in an adventure sort of sense, so here's another picture of Edinburgh. Cheers!

Whisky, NOT Whiskey (1/29)

This week's ISC trip was to Dewar's whisky distillery in Aberfeldy, a small town in the highlands. The busses left Edinburgh at 8am (so early!) and the trip took about 2 hours (just enough time for a nap). It was really interesting to learn about the whisky-making process, and I found out some fascinating tidbits of information: apparently, in order for it to be considered Scotch whisky, it must be made in Scotland and Scotch is spelled without an 'e', unlike its Irish counterpart. I have also discovered that I'm not a huge whisky fan (as there were samples at the end of the tour), but the experience was definitely worth the trip.

Arthur's Seat, a.k.a. the Hill-tain (1/28)

Today, Esther and I finally climbed Arthur's Seat, a very LARGE hill in the center of Edinburgh which was formed by an extinct volcano. I kept calling it a mountain, which technically it is not, hence the name hill-tain. Unfortunately, the weather was better when we decided to make the journey than when we actually began it, but the views from the top were still gorgeous.

 View from the bottom.

 View from the top!

 We made it!

I look like I'm about to start flying...or get beamed up!

Our next plan is to climb it veeery early in the morning to watch the sunrise. I'm excited, it's going to be beautiful!

Pub Night (1/27)

So, Thursday night seems to have turned into pub night for me. The ISC hosts an event every week at the Greenmantle pub near campus. It's a really great place (awesome deals on food and drinks!) and I've met a bunch of interesting people there. The nights are pretty popular right now, but I've heard that they tend to get less and less busy as the semester goes on. For now, at least, the place is packed every Thursday.