But I'm actually getting used to it. Getting dressed every morning automatically involves layering, but I have the right clothes at least. And in the morning, I run on a footpath between frost-tipped blades of grass. Winter is really pretty! Though I guess it's not actually even winter yet... Glad I won't be here in January, oh man.
I calculated that, from now until I go home, I'll be spending more of my time abroad than in Edinburgh! It seems crazy that I collectively have about a week and half left in this city. I'm doing well on my to-do list, but there's still more to see. I could probably be here for years and still have more to see.
I have mixed feelings about leaving. Right now, I'm so bogged down in finishing all my work, though, that I can't really think about them!
So, off I go. Back to work.
Friday, 30 November 2012
Friday, 23 November 2012
Spent Thanksgiving with Tom... and Tom Turkey
Since my account is being weird and not letting me upload pictures, I'm sending you to Alex's blog for photos and her account of Thanksgiving (which is pretty similar to mine, as we spent hours together cooking and eating). But read on for my take on the day!
The hardest part about deciding to study abroad during fall semester was knowing that I was going to miss Thanksgiving at home. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, if not my favorite, and it seemed crazy to think that I wouldn't spend it with family. However, it all turned out I had a great day and an amazing dinner with my family-away-from-family Pomona group, at Tom and Jim's house-- my home away from home.
Mom and Dad gave me pointers on how to cook apple sauce and stuffing, and I Googled lots of creamed corn recipes per Alex's creamed corn request. I now understand why people resort to just eating take-out for Thanksgiving-- cooking is time-consuming, and you end up making a huge mess, smelling like food and feeling greasy! But the smell of homemade stuffing, and licking the spoon after the pie filling's been mixed... it's totally worth it. Plus you get bragging rights and you get to keep the leftovers.
We brought all the food that we made to Tom's and added it to all the great food that they'd prepared, too. There were 16 of us, and we all ate until we could not move. It was an impressive feast. It took us about 40 minutes to call a cab because we were so stuffed and tired. But that's what Thanksgiving's all about! We talked and ate and laughed for hours, and we're all comfortable enough with one another to sprawl out all over the furniture and the floor with our belts unbuckled.
Having Thanksgiving abroad is a pretty interesting experience. Unlike most American things, it hasn't spread anywhere else. You get to teach people from every country except the US about the holiday, because all anyone knows about Thanksgiving is what they've seen on Friends. And amazingly, Americans from all over the country eat basically the same things on Thanksgiving: we all follow this unwritten national (and pretty random) standard for the meal. It's great. But as a Brit pointed out, it's pretty typically American (in the eyes of the rest of the world) to have a government-officiated holiday just dedicated to the mass consumption of food. And okay, family and friends too.
To top off a lovely day, I got to Skype with everyone back home before trying to fall asleep (it's hard when you're THAT full!)
Less than a month til I come home. The bittersweet countdown begins.
The hardest part about deciding to study abroad during fall semester was knowing that I was going to miss Thanksgiving at home. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, if not my favorite, and it seemed crazy to think that I wouldn't spend it with family. However, it all turned out I had a great day and an amazing dinner with my family-away-from-family Pomona group, at Tom and Jim's house-- my home away from home.
Mom and Dad gave me pointers on how to cook apple sauce and stuffing, and I Googled lots of creamed corn recipes per Alex's creamed corn request. I now understand why people resort to just eating take-out for Thanksgiving-- cooking is time-consuming, and you end up making a huge mess, smelling like food and feeling greasy! But the smell of homemade stuffing, and licking the spoon after the pie filling's been mixed... it's totally worth it. Plus you get bragging rights and you get to keep the leftovers.
We brought all the food that we made to Tom's and added it to all the great food that they'd prepared, too. There were 16 of us, and we all ate until we could not move. It was an impressive feast. It took us about 40 minutes to call a cab because we were so stuffed and tired. But that's what Thanksgiving's all about! We talked and ate and laughed for hours, and we're all comfortable enough with one another to sprawl out all over the furniture and the floor with our belts unbuckled.
Having Thanksgiving abroad is a pretty interesting experience. Unlike most American things, it hasn't spread anywhere else. You get to teach people from every country except the US about the holiday, because all anyone knows about Thanksgiving is what they've seen on Friends. And amazingly, Americans from all over the country eat basically the same things on Thanksgiving: we all follow this unwritten national (and pretty random) standard for the meal. It's great. But as a Brit pointed out, it's pretty typically American (in the eyes of the rest of the world) to have a government-officiated holiday just dedicated to the mass consumption of food. And okay, family and friends too.
To top off a lovely day, I got to Skype with everyone back home before trying to fall asleep (it's hard when you're THAT full!)
Less than a month til I come home. The bittersweet countdown begins.
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
I talked to a celebrity!
Once again, I saw Jason Isaacs AKA Lucius Malfoy.
During my run this morning, I passed right between him and the camera so I said "Sorry!" and kept going. It was awesome. They're filming a movie in Edinburgh, apparently. The other week, I saw film crews in a parking lot, and today they were all around Arthur's Seat. The crew members were very nice and they all smiled at me, like I was in on the secret. Only film people are perky at 8 am... since they've already been up for 4 hours by that point.
Building on my observation about gym T-shirts signalling Americans, I saw a girl this morning with a shirt that said "3rd Annual Cowtipping Championships". I have a hard time believing that any place in Britain would have a cowtipping competition once, let alone annually!
And adding to my criticism of British universities, most of the assignments are meant to be a parroting-back of information, not anything creative or new. They give you a specific question to answer and tell you exactly where to look for it. And then mark you down if you don't give them back exactly what they were looking for. Silly.
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| Him! With normal hair though, sadly |
During my run this morning, I passed right between him and the camera so I said "Sorry!" and kept going. It was awesome. They're filming a movie in Edinburgh, apparently. The other week, I saw film crews in a parking lot, and today they were all around Arthur's Seat. The crew members were very nice and they all smiled at me, like I was in on the secret. Only film people are perky at 8 am... since they've already been up for 4 hours by that point.
Building on my observation about gym T-shirts signalling Americans, I saw a girl this morning with a shirt that said "3rd Annual Cowtipping Championships". I have a hard time believing that any place in Britain would have a cowtipping competition once, let alone annually!
And adding to my criticism of British universities, most of the assignments are meant to be a parroting-back of information, not anything creative or new. They give you a specific question to answer and tell you exactly where to look for it. And then mark you down if you don't give them back exactly what they were looking for. Silly.
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
A Wee Critique
Don't get me wrong, there are countless great things about Scotland. But I have to say, their higher education system is not my favorite.
The Linguistics department here is amazing-- tons of people, events, and innovative research. But the structure and expectations of courses in general don't really make sense. Many first-years have never written an academic paper in their life, yet they aren't given clear guidelines as to how. Upper level courses assign as much graded work in a semester as many Pomona classes do in a week or two. And by Week 10- this week- lectures end. Most students have no class between Thanksgiving and Christmas! I basically have a month to write 3 papers and prepare for one final exam-- and absolutely nothing else to do but Christmas shop and go to Paris and Barcelona! This would be totally unheard of in the States. I can't complain, because the free time is great... but I feel bad for the students who, semester after semeseter, might not be getting their money's worth...
The Linguistics department here is amazing-- tons of people, events, and innovative research. But the structure and expectations of courses in general don't really make sense. Many first-years have never written an academic paper in their life, yet they aren't given clear guidelines as to how. Upper level courses assign as much graded work in a semester as many Pomona classes do in a week or two. And by Week 10- this week- lectures end. Most students have no class between Thanksgiving and Christmas! I basically have a month to write 3 papers and prepare for one final exam-- and absolutely nothing else to do but Christmas shop and go to Paris and Barcelona! This would be totally unheard of in the States. I can't complain, because the free time is great... but I feel bad for the students who, semester after semeseter, might not be getting their money's worth...
Monday, 19 November 2012
The Wind was feeling antsy
This morning, I felt like I was in the children's book Gilberto and the Wind, where the wind is like a friend that he chases through the meadows and that helps lift his kite and a whole bunch of other cute things. Today, the Wind here must be really, really angry about something. Or else just restless.
The second I woke up, I could tell from the noise that it'd feel like a tornado outside. During my run, the Wind alternated between blowing at my front so hard that I was sprinting in place (Really. I was running my hardest but barely moving!), and blowing at my back so hard that I had to sprint not to fall over. It was actually pretty amusing. Unsurprisingly, very fewer other runners were out this morning. But I can't see how you can take a day off from exercise every time the weather's bad in Scotland; you wouldn't exercise much...
Dad was asking if we stand out as Americans just by the way we look, and I said not usually. We're only distinguishable by our nasal-y accents and the fact that we say "trash can" instead of "bin" and "to-go" instead of "take-away". But I realized today that there is one place where I can almost always spot Americans, at least girls: the gym.
Girls wear old, free T-shirts when they work out-- it's a universal truth. But girls from the US have old shirts from their middle school or high school graduation classes (they don't call it "middle school" here, and Brits don't "graduate" high school- they just "leave"), from charity walks sponsored by Wells Fargo or Bank of America (obviously non-existent here), from summer camps in Pennsylvania and upstate New York, and from high school and college sports teams and clubs (the names are dead give-aways, and only visiting Americans wear gear from their home school in the states).
So, there you go. We look different sometimes.
The second I woke up, I could tell from the noise that it'd feel like a tornado outside. During my run, the Wind alternated between blowing at my front so hard that I was sprinting in place (Really. I was running my hardest but barely moving!), and blowing at my back so hard that I had to sprint not to fall over. It was actually pretty amusing. Unsurprisingly, very fewer other runners were out this morning. But I can't see how you can take a day off from exercise every time the weather's bad in Scotland; you wouldn't exercise much...
Dad was asking if we stand out as Americans just by the way we look, and I said not usually. We're only distinguishable by our nasal-y accents and the fact that we say "trash can" instead of "bin" and "to-go" instead of "take-away". But I realized today that there is one place where I can almost always spot Americans, at least girls: the gym.
Girls wear old, free T-shirts when they work out-- it's a universal truth. But girls from the US have old shirts from their middle school or high school graduation classes (they don't call it "middle school" here, and Brits don't "graduate" high school- they just "leave"), from charity walks sponsored by Wells Fargo or Bank of America (obviously non-existent here), from summer camps in Pennsylvania and upstate New York, and from high school and college sports teams and clubs (the names are dead give-aways, and only visiting Americans wear gear from their home school in the states).
So, there you go. We look different sometimes.
Sunday, 18 November 2012
Saturday, 17 November 2012
I have a feeling we're not in Edinburgh anymore... and Edinburgh at its finest
On Thursday, I crossed three things off my semester bucket list! 1) If there's something better to do, don't go to class. 2) Have high tea. 3) See a concert in Glasgow!
Alex and I caught a morning bus out of Edinburgh to the lovely(?) city that is Glasgow. Glasgow is Scotland's second largest city, which isn't saying much. But if you spend an entire semester in the country, it's at least worth a visit. Glasgow is a lot more urban than Edinburgh- grittier and less touristy. But there are definitely exciting things happening. It's got tons of shopping, decent food, and a huge art and music scene. We stopped into two modern art museums, which were theoretically interesting. I did like some of the exhibits, like the 20-minute long video of a guy setting different stuff on fire, basically. But overall, I really just didn't get it! Lots of people in Glasgow are ultra-hip, or else they're just incomprehensible. (The Glaswegian accent is notoriously thick because it mixed with Irish when lots of people left Ireland and immigrated there.) But we had fun browsing different stores and pretending to delve into the depths of strange paintings and sculptures. We also found a museum with a free foosball table. Alex creamed me, like always. It seems like such an American game, but they have "football" here too, so maybe not.
High tea was lovely. I made a reservation at a famous tea room that I'd read about in the travel books called the Willow Tea Rooms. In addition to our tea, we got a 3-tiered rack with scones and clotted cream! And sandwiches with the crusts cut off! And then our choice of pastry! Chocolate cake and carrot cake! If you couldn't tell, we really enjoyed it.
That night, we saw a great band called Imagine Dragons perform. It was an amazing concert. Best concert I've ever been to, definitely.
On Friday, back in our Edinburgh, I went to the Magic Flute opera with Tom and the rest of the Pomona crew. My first opera wasn't exactly what I'd imagined from everything I've heard and seen about opera, but I really enjoyed it. The story is a bit goofy, but the costumes were stunning, and most of the voices were really great.
And to top off a string of adventures, we went to a rugby match today! A weekend of firsts. The entire city was transformed for the match-- swarms of people flooded the streets and paraded down to the stadium, both there and back. There were drummers and bagpipers lining the streets for miles, with vendors selling scarves and flags, and stalls with cheeseburgers and beers as we neared the stadium. It was seriously freezing the whole time and we couldn't feel our fingers or toes, even through layers of clothing. But I'm so glad we went. I more or less figured out the game with the help of a friendly Scotsman in front of us, and it was awesome to chant "SCOTLAND!" along with the huge crowd. The stadium was practically filled! Bagpipers covered the field before the game started and played the Scottish national anthem (which I heard for the first time today), and the whole place vibrated with people singing. It was surreal, as Alex put it. Although Scotland unsurprisingly lost, because apparently our team is not very good, we did get a few impressive points.
Alex and I caught a morning bus out of Edinburgh to the lovely(?) city that is Glasgow. Glasgow is Scotland's second largest city, which isn't saying much. But if you spend an entire semester in the country, it's at least worth a visit. Glasgow is a lot more urban than Edinburgh- grittier and less touristy. But there are definitely exciting things happening. It's got tons of shopping, decent food, and a huge art and music scene. We stopped into two modern art museums, which were theoretically interesting. I did like some of the exhibits, like the 20-minute long video of a guy setting different stuff on fire, basically. But overall, I really just didn't get it! Lots of people in Glasgow are ultra-hip, or else they're just incomprehensible. (The Glaswegian accent is notoriously thick because it mixed with Irish when lots of people left Ireland and immigrated there.) But we had fun browsing different stores and pretending to delve into the depths of strange paintings and sculptures. We also found a museum with a free foosball table. Alex creamed me, like always. It seems like such an American game, but they have "football" here too, so maybe not.
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| Us in TK Maxx (it's not TJ here). Cruella Deville and a dalmatian. Real items for sale. No wonder they're on clearance. |
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| Overlooking the River Clyde |
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| Arggggh- a pirate ship playground in Glasgow Greens |
That night, we saw a great band called Imagine Dragons perform. It was an amazing concert. Best concert I've ever been to, definitely.
On Friday, back in our Edinburgh, I went to the Magic Flute opera with Tom and the rest of the Pomona crew. My first opera wasn't exactly what I'd imagined from everything I've heard and seen about opera, but I really enjoyed it. The story is a bit goofy, but the costumes were stunning, and most of the voices were really great.
And to top off a string of adventures, we went to a rugby match today! A weekend of firsts. The entire city was transformed for the match-- swarms of people flooded the streets and paraded down to the stadium, both there and back. There were drummers and bagpipers lining the streets for miles, with vendors selling scarves and flags, and stalls with cheeseburgers and beers as we neared the stadium. It was seriously freezing the whole time and we couldn't feel our fingers or toes, even through layers of clothing. But I'm so glad we went. I more or less figured out the game with the help of a friendly Scotsman in front of us, and it was awesome to chant "SCOTLAND!" along with the huge crowd. The stadium was practically filled! Bagpipers covered the field before the game started and played the Scottish national anthem (which I heard for the first time today), and the whole place vibrated with people singing. It was surreal, as Alex put it. Although Scotland unsurprisingly lost, because apparently our team is not very good, we did get a few impressive points.
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| Go Scotland! |
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| With our free facepaint- decked out in blue |
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| The field before the match with bagpipers |
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| Fireworks and flames to welcome the players! |
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| The players in a scrum while the sun set at 3:30 |
The Red Hot Chili Pipers! Don't Stop Believin'- just what the team needs because they keep losing...
Friday, 16 November 2012
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
Big Ben is really only medium-sized.
London was Calling, so we answered. But luckily the Bridge didn't fall down! And though we missed Penny Lane, we did get to see Abbey Road (even if it was just in M&M World...)
Our adventure in London started on Friday evening with a late flight into Stansted. We took an annoying bus ride into the city (gotta love crying babies), but we managed pretty easily to find our way to the flat of our friends from Pomona. They're staying in a place with a luxury bathroom, TV, leather couch, and huge kitchen! It makes our flats look pretty dumpy. But I still prefer our living situation in Edinburgh because we're so central to everything, and I get to share a flat with English, Scottish and French people.
We woke up bright and early on Saturday to start our day. Except it wasn't bright... it drizzled on and off for a few hours. The UK was raining on its own parade! In honor of its veterans, there were huge memorial celebrations and parades through many streets. Lots of bagpipes, horses, uniformed men, and poppy-wearing people. We definitely picked an exciting weekend to visit. I'll add some video in later to show you what it was like.
One of our first stops was King's Cross Station. I got a breakfast burrito to satisfy my Mexican food craving, and we got to live the dream of (almost) boarding the Hogwarts Express.
Alex and I conquered ALL of the tourist attractions! We were always in a huge sea of people from all around the world; I heard more foreign languages than English, it seems.
At night, we explored Chinatown, enjoyed the lights, discovered some really hip shops AND A WHOLE FOODS! (which made us miss California), and had a huge Chinese feast. A great way to end a long, busy day.
On Sunday, we went to the Brick Lane area to all of the really cool markets. There was a beautiful flower market, tons of handmade art, jewelry, clothes, and crafts, and food from all over the world- Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Spain, Thailand, China, French, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, the Caribbean, Greece, Ethiopia... and I bet I'm forgetting some. I got excellent paella and an empanada, and Alex got Lithuanian food- a chicken breast stuffed with beef... or beef wrapped in chicken. Either way, it was delicious. The markets had tons of interesting people, once again from all over the world. It felt like a taste of authentic London- away from the touristy stuff and into the nitty-gritty. (Maybe "gritty" being the key word- lots of signs warned about pickpockets.)
We swung by the Museum of Childhood and learned about Punch and Judy, the Teletubbies, knife crime, and old Victorian dollhouses from the 1760s. I love how all the museums are free. I did not love being the only people over the age of 5 in the bathroom- what a zoo!
After that, Alex's uncle took us out for a great meal in a really cool "members only" club in the city. I felt very exclusive.
Over the weekend, we saw tons of different aspects of London, which I hadn't really planned on. I figured we'd just get a touristy taste. But our hours of walking and exploring paid off. By the time we got to the airport, we were really, really tired.
On our flight home, two guys were sitting behind me- an American and a Brit. The American made a Wizard of Oz reference ("I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore") which the British guy totally missed. He said he's never seen the movie. And when the British guy mentioned Formula 1 Racing, which is a HUGE sport in the UK, Europe, and the Middle East, the American had never even heard of it. I guess the world's not that small after all.
But... the whole world comes together in London! My favorite souvenirs of the trip, all found on the streets of London: a British penny, a Euro coin, an American penny, and a memorial poppy.
(Special thanks to my navigating buddy Alex and her iPhone. We would probably still be at the bus stop right now without you both.)
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| George, Paul, Ringo, John, Alex |
Our adventure in London started on Friday evening with a late flight into Stansted. We took an annoying bus ride into the city (gotta love crying babies), but we managed pretty easily to find our way to the flat of our friends from Pomona. They're staying in a place with a luxury bathroom, TV, leather couch, and huge kitchen! It makes our flats look pretty dumpy. But I still prefer our living situation in Edinburgh because we're so central to everything, and I get to share a flat with English, Scottish and French people.
We woke up bright and early on Saturday to start our day. Except it wasn't bright... it drizzled on and off for a few hours. The UK was raining on its own parade! In honor of its veterans, there were huge memorial celebrations and parades through many streets. Lots of bagpipes, horses, uniformed men, and poppy-wearing people. We definitely picked an exciting weekend to visit. I'll add some video in later to show you what it was like.
One of our first stops was King's Cross Station. I got a breakfast burrito to satisfy my Mexican food craving, and we got to live the dream of (almost) boarding the Hogwarts Express.
Alex and I conquered ALL of the tourist attractions! We were always in a huge sea of people from all around the world; I heard more foreign languages than English, it seems.
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| In the Underground station, on an endless escalator |
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| Trafalgar Square |
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| Admiralty Arch |
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| St. James Park with a flamingo-wannabe |
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| London Eye in the background |
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| There were tons of squirrels! This one almost attacked Alex- notice that the squirrel is much closer to her in the picture than it was when she first pointed at it! |
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| Buckingham Palace! We didn't get to see the changing of the guard, but we did get to see the guards strut around a bit. |
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| This was BEFORE mobs of people showed up |
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| The Thames on a cloudy November day. |
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| London is super excited about Christmas |
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| We got a free cup of tea at Twinings! |
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| Might as well milk the name, right? |
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| (Not so) Big Ben! It is a beautiful building, though. |
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| St. Paul's Cathedral, waiting for a call |
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| For my brother the Tritan! There's a statue of one in the arch behind me. |
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| The lovely Tower Bridge at sunset |
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| Alex's shot of the beautiful city |
At night, we explored Chinatown, enjoyed the lights, discovered some really hip shops AND A WHOLE FOODS! (which made us miss California), and had a huge Chinese feast. A great way to end a long, busy day.
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| Duckies |
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| Boba AKA bubble tea |
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| Course one- shrimp corn soup |
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| Duck wraps |
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| Vegetables, prawns, chicken, fried rice! |
We swung by the Museum of Childhood and learned about Punch and Judy, the Teletubbies, knife crime, and old Victorian dollhouses from the 1760s. I love how all the museums are free. I did not love being the only people over the age of 5 in the bathroom- what a zoo!
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| I'm an octopus! I wish we'd bought this book, Alex. Endless fun. |
Over the weekend, we saw tons of different aspects of London, which I hadn't really planned on. I figured we'd just get a touristy taste. But our hours of walking and exploring paid off. By the time we got to the airport, we were really, really tired.
On our flight home, two guys were sitting behind me- an American and a Brit. The American made a Wizard of Oz reference ("I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore") which the British guy totally missed. He said he's never seen the movie. And when the British guy mentioned Formula 1 Racing, which is a HUGE sport in the UK, Europe, and the Middle East, the American had never even heard of it. I guess the world's not that small after all.
But... the whole world comes together in London! My favorite souvenirs of the trip, all found on the streets of London: a British penny, a Euro coin, an American penny, and a memorial poppy.
(Special thanks to my navigating buddy Alex and her iPhone. We would probably still be at the bus stop right now without you both.)
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