I can hardly believe that this coming weekend will be my two-month anniversary since I arrived in Edinburgh!! Some days I feel as if I have just arrived. Others, I feel as if I have been here an entire year already!
To participate in a Japanese celebration of young women, my flatmates and I trekked down to a local pub and treated ourselves to a Pooh Bear Drink (after Winnie the Pooh). Filled with honey, milk, and nutmeg, it was a perfect compliment to the snow outside. We celebrated my two month and my flatmates’ six-month anniversary since we arrived in Edinburgh.
Yesterday was yet another crazy weather day. On one of the upper floors in the library, I was able to see the clouds moving in, and I judged my lunchtime by how dark the clouds were. Sunshine, sprinkles, hail, sun, rain, sun, wind, clouds, snow, big snow, sleet, and sun — all in about two hours.
Last week was dedicated to essay writing. Each of my classes require one essay and one exam for the entire semester. With my luck, all three of my essays were due around the same time. I actually finished one earlier than planned, so I now have the entire weekend to do NOTHING!! yay! It was actually a bit difficult to write my essays because each department requires a different style of writing and referencing. Furthermore, it was a bit awkward writing essays with books written by the professors who will be grading them . . . Oh well.
The week before was SO much fun. Thursday I had my first Ceilidh (KAYLEE) which is a traditional Scottish dance. Even though the group of dancing Americans were not perfect, we all tried our best. I would have been content listening to the traditional music complete with fiddle and bagpipe, but it was great to get out and move my feet.
Friday night I joined my friends at the monthly storytelling at the local pub. Songs, fiddles, guitars, a bagpipe, and many tales about giants, trains, dogs, people, and so on. One of the stories even reminded me of our Paul Bunyan history. Interestingly enough, I quickly forgot that I was with a group of college students in a room filled with people over the age of 50 — I had so much fun!
Saturday, after an afternoon spent at the library, I met up with friends for an evening in Edinburgh. We started out with bangers & mash (sausage & mashed potatoes) at a cheap but delicious restaurant. By mixing and matching different combinations of sausage, mashed potatoes, and gravy, the possibilities are endless. I had the sausage special – six nation sausage (in honor of the six-nation rugby games). The sausage contained ingredients from the six different countries — it was delicious!!
After dinner we made our way down to a pub, spending the rest of the evening with the locals. A bachelorette party placed themselves in charge of the music – so of course we listened to 80’s and 90’s for much of the night (I felt so old when I was singing along to ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’).
I am preparing for my concert with the choir this week – I am excited to perform again, yet I am a bit disappointed – after the concert, the choir will prepare for their tour (which I will not be attending), and the rehearsals will end. Hopefully I will find another way to exercise my voice, even if it does involve Karaoke on Tuesday nights.
I have less than one month before classes are done!! With no work to be done until exam times (which we still don’t know), I will spend my time exploring more of Edinburgh, and planning for my awesome upcoming break. This weekend, now free of essay writing, will be a light weekend out in Edinburgh. As it turns out, I have a small hole in my shoe, which is quite inconvenient when walking through slush. Once I find decent shoes, I think it is time that I attempt to climb Arthur’s Seat for the first time. Hopefully the weather will not change too drastically while I am climbing, but in Edinburgh, I think four seasons in an hour is inevitable.