Musings

• With the absence of Thanksgiving, Christmas season starts here freakishly early. Although stores put out their Christmas decorations back home before Halloween has even hit, it doesn't really hit full hysteria until the turkey is carved. For a couple of months now, though, decorations have been out and stores have had entire sections dedicated to the beauty of aluminum trees and fairy lights. I spotted my first decorated house about 6 weeks ago -- and it wasn't the house that just leaves their lights up all year but only turns them on when it gets cold again.

• I leave for Barcelona in 10 days. All of a sudden it's so close! I still feel like I just got here, but now I find myself with only 3 weeks of class left. In exactly 4 weeks from Tuesday, I'll be on my way to Grayslake to spend the Christmas holidays.

• I have found that cooking for myself is both fulfilling and frustrating. I enjoy the satisfaction in having made my own culinary creation -- but I have also realized that I have about 4 meals that I continually cycle through. There are only so many times a person can eat turkey tacos or teriyaki chicken.

• Despite my complaints about the Christmas-overload, I do love that I live in a place where it's socially acceptable to begin watching my Christmas movies. Why hello, Elf and Love Actually...

• Although it may be a huge time suck, Facebook is the greatest invention in the world. In just the click of a mouse, I can catch up with a friend thousands of miles away.

Gimme, Gimme (the Cliffs of) Moher

This past weekend was spent in Dublin. What a magical place -- Guinness is the cheapest drink you can find, there are huge ornate cathedrals on every corner, and a bed and breakfast is amazingly affordable. Sadly, I did not see any leprechauns. Dang - I could have really used that pot of gold. After a frustrating RyanAir flight in which we were nailed with a ₤40 fee because we hadn't printed up our boarding passes early enough (damn you!), we

arrived at our bed and breakfast safe and sound.

Once our bags were dropped off, we set out to see downtown Dublin for the first time. We grabbed our first pint of Guinness in Temple Bar before heading to The Button Factory to see Hired Hands and James Vincent McMorrow. The concert was absolutely beautiful – even with the €6 drinks.

On Saturday we woke up bright and early and transformed ourselves into super tourists. We began at O’Connell Street before we headed to Trinity College. After a brief stop to check out the whiskeys available in town, we stopped at Dublin Castle, Christ-Church Cathedral, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral before heading to lunch at the Brazen Head Pub – the (apparently) oldest pub in Ireland. After a morning of walking around in the chill, my Beef and Guinness Stew was perhaps the most delicious thing I had ever tasted, especially since it was served in a huge yorkshire pudding.

To complete our day of touristing, we then headed over to the Guinness Storehouse. We fully enjoyed our tour around the factory, where we learned all about how Guinness is made and how it got its start. The best part? The free pint at the end of the tour and the 360-view of Dublin.

Sunday was spent gettin’ our tourist on at the Cliffs of Moher. It was absolutely remarkable. I could barely comprehend what I was looking at. The cliffs went on for 5km and were a 400m sheer drop off. At the very highest point is O'Brien Tower, which was built long ago to provide visitors with a gorgeous view of the cliffs. It was beyond windy, so I left with my hair in a huge knot at the back of my head. I was perfectly content just watching the waves crash into the cliffs. It was one of those moments when I couldn't even believe that what I was looking at was actually real.

Really, my trip to Dublin was a lot of fun. Ireland has a very similar feel to Scotland – although you may not want to tell either of them that. I enjoyed the food, drink, people,

sights, sounds…most everything except the hurricane that headed our way on Sunday night. I was, however, very surprised by how big and busy Dublin was. I was expecting a smaller, more laid back city, kind of like Edinburgh. Instead, it was hectic, very diverse, and crowded. Dublin was not exactly what I was expecting, but I had a great time nonetheless.

Most of all, it was just nice to travel again. I love going to a new place and experiencing everything that it has to offer. It was good to get out of Edinburgh for the weekend, to break my routine. Going to Dublin only made me more excited for Barcelona in a couple of weeks – I can’t wait!

Mustachioed Adventuras

This past weekend was a double-whammy of fun. Not only was it Hallowe'en, but I also had a visit from Claire and Kaitlin! They arrived on Friday night at about 1:00 AM. We spent the next couple of hours talking and catching up. They told me all about France and their travels thus far. It was so nice to see some friends from home. The next day I had the daunting task of showing them around the city. There are so many great things about Edinburgh, so I always struggle to find an itinerary that will do it justice. Surprises of surprises, we were blessed with beautiful weather. For once, the sky was a clear blue without a cloud in sight. Le French chased the rain away! Merci!

We started out at Greyfriar's Bobby - my favorite part of the city. I love the quirkiness of Bobby's history. I mean, there are not many places in the world that would give a key to the city to a dog. Plus, the trees are all changing so the graveyard was beautiful with the blue

sky and fall leaves scattered on the ground. From there we made our way to the Elephant House so that we may soak up some caffeine and JK Rowling's genius before we went to the castle. I've been to the castle at least 8 times before, but it never ceases to amaze me. From the 1 O'Clock Gun to the historical reenactors, it is swimming in adorableness. I forced Kaitlin and Claire to take every imaginable tourist picture, culminating in Claire yelling, "Dear God, woman! Back off!" She came around eventually and joined in on my Michael McDonald impersonations. Woman, you do a good "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."

After our lunch of haggis, we went out in search of Hallowe'en costumes. Our solution? Mustaches! Kaitlin outfitted herself with a curly blonde mustache and a top hat, and she was thus transformed into the Monopoly Man. With a simple bowler hat and thick eyebrows and some upper lip fuzz, Claire became Charlie Chaplin. For myself, a splendid handlebar mustache and green suede hat transported me back into the 70's a la Burt Reynolds.

Our night on the town began at Doctors where we sampled our first cider and watched X

Factor, followed by a jaunt to Malones right down the street. We ended at Finnigan's Wake, where there was a live band playing some traditional Scottish folk songs. Perhaps the

strangest part of the evening was how attractive our mustaches made us, complete with a Polish med student chatting me up for a full half hour and a drunk 60-year old man telling me that he's always had a fetish to discover what it felt like to kiss someone with a mustache. Sorry dude - you'll need to fulfill your fantasy elsewhere.

After fully appreciating the extra hour of sleep - thank you, daylight savings! - we headed down the street to partake in our first traditional Scottish breakfast. Our plates each had about 8 different kinds of meat, which totally explains why there's such a high instance of heart disease here.

After getting our Atkins on, we made our way to Holyrood to explore the palace and

abbey. The abbey was particularly breathtaking. I was standing in the center, with the ornate stone walls on all sides of me and the deep blue sky above. I could hear the trees rustling in the wind and the flutter of a bird's wings as it took flight. I'm not a particularly religious person, but you can't help but feel God's presence when standing in the abbey's ruins.

Our day of sightseeing ended with a trek up Calton Hill. I had never done this before, so this was a new experience for us all. The view was remarkable, and we caught it just as the sun was setting. The sky was a gorgeous hot pink, and we just sat and watched the buildings slowly light up.

Another highlight of the weekend? For Hallowe'en we went on a ghost tour of the underground vaults. Our guide was adorably socially awkward, complete with a lisp. He would sometimes forget what his next line was, or he would slip out of his accent. All in all, it was a hilarious way to celebrate Hallowe'en. To end their visit, we met up with the other Chi Omegas for lunch on Monday. We had 6 of us gathered, which kinda blew my mind! That's a sizable to group as it is, but then I remember that we're in Europe. Woahhhh....!

Sunday, October 24

Ikea is perhaps the most magical place on earth. Screw Disney! I made my second voyage to the motherland this week. After spending far too much money, I awkwardly made my way home on the bus ladened down with brand new pillows, candles, cooking pans, lights, and a potted plant. To top off a wonderful day of shopping, I came home to my brand new posters that had been delivered while I was out. In just a few short moments, I was able to set up my new room once and for all.

(View from my window. Hello, Arthur's Seat!)

Besides the move, I've been busy with classes. I have my core class, which is my entire program...of 2 people. Since it is so small, it is an obviously much more intimate setting. It is essentially impossible to hide, so I have to make sure I am really on top of my work and am fully prepared. Bad news for my productivity: I have discovered that all of Boy Meets World is on youtube. I constantly fight the urge to revel in my childhood and to instead tackle my huge stack of reading.

This is compared to my class of 8 people, which seems huge in comparison. I have been really enjoying the reading for that class. It focuses on Latin American, Chicana, and Native American female authors. Without this class, I would perhaps never know about many of these books and some have piqued my interest enough that I would consider them for my dissertation.

When I look up from my books, I realize that I have a lot of visitors and trips to look forward to. Over Halloween weekend I have a couple of sorority sisters coming to stay. I am beyond excited to show them around and give them a taste of why I love Edinburgh so much. Just one week later, I am flying off to Dublin. Having been to Ireland once before, I am excited to once again experience the culture and beautiful scenery. And again, one week after that, I have another trip to the Highlands to look forward to. This particular trip is being operated through my building, so I have the wonderful opportunity to visit yet again and instead enjoy the fall colors this time around.

Beyond that, I have big Thanksgiving plans with Elizabeth. Barcelona, here we come! I cannot even begin to comprehend how much fun we're going to have. It seems absolutely surreal that I have the opportunity to do this kind of traveling with one of my best friends. We both somehow managed to move from our small town in Illinois to the UK, and we get also get to experience these places that we've only read about and seen in travel books. Whaaaa?

Highlands

How can a place this untouched still exist in this world? With the massive influx of technology, the world seems like such a crowded place. In the shortest moment you can find someone new online, in a completely new unknown corner of the earth. And yet, there are still places like the Scottish Highlands. Scotland has a population of 5 million people, and only 1/4 of that population is centered in the Highlands. To put that in perspective, that's only about 21 people per square mile. Think of the open land! No wonder there are so many sheep roaming around.

There is no cell phone signal, so your only form of entertainment is the physical world around you. And man oh man, the vistas are out of this world! The mountains are, in a word, majestic. The lochs are so still that they provide a perfect duplication of the horizon, and the grass is so green it looks fake. This day in particular was a gorgeous day. We don't get many of those too often, so it was particularly unique that I got to enjoy a blue sky while in the Highlands.

Look at that amazing blue sky! This was the view from the parking area for Kilchurn Castle.

Kilchurn Castle

This picture basically defines the Highlands for me. Kilchurn is situated in the center of Loch Awe, surrounded by mountains on all sides. Can you imagine living here?

Doune Castle

This castle is just inside the Highlands. This is where the majority of Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed. It was all I could do to not constantly quote the movie or sing "Knights of the Round Table" for all to hear.

Invararay Castle

This is where the Duke of Argyle lives - still! This looks like it was ripped straight from a Disney movie. All it's missing is a princess and her trusty animal sidekick.

O ye'll tak' the high road and I'll tak' the low road

And I'll be in Scotland afore ye

For me and my true love will ne'er meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

-The keyboards here are just different enough to really screw with my mind when I'm typing quickly. For example, the quotes are switched with the at sign, and obviously there’s no dollar sign. When I get done typing a letter, it looks like I dictated it to a 5-year old.

-Banks are frustratingly nonchalant. It took me 3 weeks to fully set up my bank account, complete with them misplacing my application for a solid week. The one pro? They sent me flowers as an apology when I complained about the lost application. I’m not sure an American bank would do that if they messed up.

-It’s only October 13^th, but already the stores are packed with Christmas decorations and candies and pubs are already advertising for their Christmas parties. This is not to mention the year-round Christmas stores – hell yeah, Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe! Hallmark could really learn something about marketing from Scotland.

-I’m amazed with how cheap cell phones are. For only £15 a month, I have 600 minutes and unlimited texting.

-UK loves them some techno and mayonnaise.

-Cars will hit you, so stay out of the freakin' road, moron!

-Watching a group of Scottish men attempt to play football in the park may be the most hilarious thing you will ever see. I stopped and watched a group of men argue for about 5 minutes over what the difference is between a 2^nd down and a 3^rd down. Just wait until the safety comes up.

28 Days

Today marks my one month anniversary. 28 days ago, I was dragging my 110 kg of luggage through O'Hare. Having just said a tearful goodbye to my parents, I was guaranteed nervous glances from my fellow travelers. The woman behind the check-in counter shot me furtive glances as I attempted to stealthily wipe my blotchy face clean. Nervous that I would start crying again, she hustled me through the process. No need to worry, lady -- I hate my crying just as much as you do.

Now, I'm sitting in my room and thinking about the month that has passed since I left. Classes are now well under way, and I have returned to life as a student. It's strange, but I'm not finding grad school too much harder than undergrad. The focus here is so much more on independent learning. When not in class, a student is expected to be reading and researching on their own. Class time is extremely minimal. With class only 2 days a week, I am learning how to pace myself and find my own direction in the program.

View of Calton Hill from Waverly Bridge.

View of Old Town

View of Walter Scott Monument.

Moving to a new city is an entirely new experience for me. Yes, I've been away before, but not like this. My undergrad was only an hour away from home, so that never really felt like I was far away. When I came here before, it was only for a few months. Now, though, I am here indefinitely. At the moment, I am still unsure if I will be staying overseas when I am done with my masters. Heck, I still don't even know if I'll be home for Christmas. It could be a full year before I even set foot in the good ole USA.

This past month, I have thoroughly enjoyed getting reacquainted with the city. Two years ago I fell in love with this city. The moment I left, all I wanted to do was come back. Now, I'm here and I got my wish. I knew that it would be different, but that's what I love about it this time around.