Since I've been here I have met a few Americans who studied abroad here for a semester and then decided to come back to get their masters, some who came as freshers or just to get their masters. At first I thought that was kind of a strange thing to do, why choose randomly to leave your home in the US and move to Scotland for 1-4 years. In the past week, I think I've started to see why. I know I have a slight obsession with going new places, seeing new things, meeting new people and Scotland hasn't let me down. I really think that if I weren't about to graduate I would probably just stay for a whole year, but dont worry everyone, I will be back at Baylor in the Spring...and Summer ready to graduate! And then who knows, maybe I'll end up back in Scotland at some point in the future. :-)
Lets see, if you read my last post you know that I decided to join the Mountaineering Club. Last Wednesday afternoon a group of about twenty of us went to the little seaside town of Aberdour. Aberdour is about a 45 minute trainride from Edinburgh. We all met up at one of the university buildings and walked to the trainstation. Honestly, even if I wouldn't have climbed anything at all that day, going to the trainstation and riding on the train would have made me a happy camper. The trainstation in Edinburgh was really big and busy, it reminded me of an airport, which I loved. I was really excited about the whole train ride thing, but I just kept thinking to myself, BE cool, haha, everyone here rides on the train and its not really a big deal at all. And it just so happens that Aberdour has won awards in the past for having the prettiest train station. When we arrived in Aberdour I felt like I had stepped back in time, it looked like something right out of Anne of Green Gables(even though thats in Canada). We stepped out onto the platform lined with flower pots and hanging baskets overflowing with colorful flowers and walked through the quiet little town until we got to the seaside where the big cliff was where we would climb. There were a lot of us there that didn't really know what we were doing, which seems to cause a little bit of a predicament when climbing, but hopefully soon, I won't have to worry about that. Thankfully a couple of guys let me climb with them! Climbing on a crisp clear afternoon, looking out across the water, seeing Edinburgh in the distance was definitely something I will never forget.
Over the weekend we went to the Lake District down in England. I didn't know where we were going or what exactly we would be doing but I was excited. When I came to Scotland, I didnt exactly come prepared at all to go climbing anything. Friday before we left I decided I should probably invest in a pair of hiking boots if I was going to be doing very much hiking while I'm here. In Texas if I ever go hiking anywhere its most likely over 70 degrees outside and I where Chacos, but I left my Chacos back in Texas...So, I went down to Princes Street, where all the shopping takes place, and went in search of.....my third pair of shoes( I may have a slight problem with buying shoes). I found a nice pair of boots and was set to go. I got back to my flat and checked the nice little mountaineering club chat page and someone said that hiking boots would not be necessary this weekend, just my luck! I decided to just take tennis shoes and maybe I'd return the boots. I got my backpack and everything and ran down the stairs into a downpour. The whole time I've been in Scotland it's kind of drizzled, but never really rained. But there was nothing I could do, I had to catch the bus in time, so I ran in the rain, with my not waterproof backpack and not waterproof jacket. Thankfully, everyone else was kind of wet too. So, thats how my trip started, cold, and wet, and now my nice waterproof boots were sitting in my bedroom, while my tennis shoes were on my feet completely soaked. It took about four hours to get to the Lake District and when we got there it was about eleven at night. The bus dropped us off and we set off to find the campgrounds. Most of the mountaineering club knows how to do this whole camping, climbing thing, and they all have lots of gadgets and handy little things like, stoves and flashlights and tents and sleeping mats....things I didnt bring to Scotland. But thankfully someone let me borrow a sleeping bag and the club had a tent for us to borrow. It had also rained earlier that day at the Lakes District so we had to cross some very deep, large, freezing cold puddles. I thought my toes might fall off, but it was fun, it seems like thats just the way camping is supposed to be. With the help of some nice guys we got our tent all set up and got a few hours of sleep. On Saturday I went climbing, I'll spare you the details, but it was really fun! On sunday I went hillwalking which was pretty intense and a little scary! I won't post the story right now, cause I'm just trying to get this blog written, but in the next couple of days I'll go back and rewrite this bit. The story involved climbing up steep rocks and a really close call....don't worry it wasn't me.
I have one more real semester until I graduate and in the past week while sitting in my philosophy class and political science class I decided that they were both pretty pointless. But on the bright side my crazy philosophy class is still keeping me entertained. Yesterday I was very suprised when my professor walked in wearing a nice tweed blazer, since the past classes he wore sweaters with holes all over. But the tweed blazed was actually just hiding his sweater vest that looked like it had been chewed up by a gerbil. After an hour and a half of discussing eternity, he asked us what we thought eternity meant. One girl in the class said she thought of eternity as being like an old man with a beard sitting under a tree for a really long time....the idea that the Bible is credible, that God exists, that all Christianity isn't bogus is too hard to believe....but humans living forever just sitting under trees growing beard for millions of years does make sense??? These are the things that I retain from my philosophy classes, makes me a little frustrated.
I went to my Indigenous People of Lowland South America class today. I am really enjoying it so far, just like my other classes, I don't really see how it will be relevant at all in life, but it's really interesting. I guess if I ever go live with a remote tribe in the Amazon I will be better off now that I was prior to the class. And, lets be honest, of course I would go live with a remote tribe in the Amazon.
Today when I was walking to the library I passed a girl sitting in a metal cage wearing a neon orange prison uniform, it was some kind of campaign against Guantanamo bay. I really wanted to take a picture of the girl sitting in the cage, but I didn't think she would like that very much.
I'm posting this blog kind of incomplete sorry, I'm in Dublin right now! :-) waiting for my friend Katie to get here! I'll go back and try to improve the blog, sorry if its sloppy, read it now, and then read it um...in about 3 days and it'll be better.
Lets see, if you read my last post you know that I decided to join the Mountaineering Club. Last Wednesday afternoon a group of about twenty of us went to the little seaside town of Aberdour. Aberdour is about a 45 minute trainride from Edinburgh. We all met up at one of the university buildings and walked to the trainstation. Honestly, even if I wouldn't have climbed anything at all that day, going to the trainstation and riding on the train would have made me a happy camper. The trainstation in Edinburgh was really big and busy, it reminded me of an airport, which I loved. I was really excited about the whole train ride thing, but I just kept thinking to myself, BE cool, haha, everyone here rides on the train and its not really a big deal at all. And it just so happens that Aberdour has won awards in the past for having the prettiest train station. When we arrived in Aberdour I felt like I had stepped back in time, it looked like something right out of Anne of Green Gables(even though thats in Canada). We stepped out onto the platform lined with flower pots and hanging baskets overflowing with colorful flowers and walked through the quiet little town until we got to the seaside where the big cliff was where we would climb. There were a lot of us there that didn't really know what we were doing, which seems to cause a little bit of a predicament when climbing, but hopefully soon, I won't have to worry about that. Thankfully a couple of guys let me climb with them! Climbing on a crisp clear afternoon, looking out across the water, seeing Edinburgh in the distance was definitely something I will never forget.
Over the weekend we went to the Lake District down in England. I didn't know where we were going or what exactly we would be doing but I was excited. When I came to Scotland, I didnt exactly come prepared at all to go climbing anything. Friday before we left I decided I should probably invest in a pair of hiking boots if I was going to be doing very much hiking while I'm here. In Texas if I ever go hiking anywhere its most likely over 70 degrees outside and I where Chacos, but I left my Chacos back in Texas...So, I went down to Princes Street, where all the shopping takes place, and went in search of.....my third pair of shoes( I may have a slight problem with buying shoes). I found a nice pair of boots and was set to go. I got back to my flat and checked the nice little mountaineering club chat page and someone said that hiking boots would not be necessary this weekend, just my luck! I decided to just take tennis shoes and maybe I'd return the boots. I got my backpack and everything and ran down the stairs into a downpour. The whole time I've been in Scotland it's kind of drizzled, but never really rained. But there was nothing I could do, I had to catch the bus in time, so I ran in the rain, with my not waterproof backpack and not waterproof jacket. Thankfully, everyone else was kind of wet too. So, thats how my trip started, cold, and wet, and now my nice waterproof boots were sitting in my bedroom, while my tennis shoes were on my feet completely soaked. It took about four hours to get to the Lake District and when we got there it was about eleven at night. The bus dropped us off and we set off to find the campgrounds. Most of the mountaineering club knows how to do this whole camping, climbing thing, and they all have lots of gadgets and handy little things like, stoves and flashlights and tents and sleeping mats....things I didnt bring to Scotland. But thankfully someone let me borrow a sleeping bag and the club had a tent for us to borrow. It had also rained earlier that day at the Lakes District so we had to cross some very deep, large, freezing cold puddles. I thought my toes might fall off, but it was fun, it seems like thats just the way camping is supposed to be. With the help of some nice guys we got our tent all set up and got a few hours of sleep. On Saturday I went climbing, I'll spare you the details, but it was really fun! On sunday I went hillwalking which was pretty intense and a little scary! I won't post the story right now, cause I'm just trying to get this blog written, but in the next couple of days I'll go back and rewrite this bit. The story involved climbing up steep rocks and a really close call....don't worry it wasn't me.
I have one more real semester until I graduate and in the past week while sitting in my philosophy class and political science class I decided that they were both pretty pointless. But on the bright side my crazy philosophy class is still keeping me entertained. Yesterday I was very suprised when my professor walked in wearing a nice tweed blazer, since the past classes he wore sweaters with holes all over. But the tweed blazed was actually just hiding his sweater vest that looked like it had been chewed up by a gerbil. After an hour and a half of discussing eternity, he asked us what we thought eternity meant. One girl in the class said she thought of eternity as being like an old man with a beard sitting under a tree for a really long time....the idea that the Bible is credible, that God exists, that all Christianity isn't bogus is too hard to believe....but humans living forever just sitting under trees growing beard for millions of years does make sense??? These are the things that I retain from my philosophy classes, makes me a little frustrated.
I went to my Indigenous People of Lowland South America class today. I am really enjoying it so far, just like my other classes, I don't really see how it will be relevant at all in life, but it's really interesting. I guess if I ever go live with a remote tribe in the Amazon I will be better off now that I was prior to the class. And, lets be honest, of course I would go live with a remote tribe in the Amazon.
Today when I was walking to the library I passed a girl sitting in a metal cage wearing a neon orange prison uniform, it was some kind of campaign against Guantanamo bay. I really wanted to take a picture of the girl sitting in the cage, but I didn't think she would like that very much.
I'm posting this blog kind of incomplete sorry, I'm in Dublin right now! :-) waiting for my friend Katie to get here! I'll go back and try to improve the blog, sorry if its sloppy, read it now, and then read it um...in about 3 days and it'll be better.
3 comments:
I think this is your best post yet, which is impressive, because the last one was very entertaining. I'm glad that you are liking Scotland so much. Your thoughts on the girl that thinks eternity is like an old man with a beard are especially hilarious. The Guantanamo protest also sounded like fun. I wonder what reaction you would have gotten from her if you told her you were voting for mccain? I like that you got excited about riding a train- I would be excited about that too. Your running in the rain to the bus story sounds kinda like something from a movie. Did you take your compass/whistle thing camping? I'm happy for you that you get to go climbing and hiking all the time now. Also, it's really funny that you described your professor's sweater as having been chewed up by a gerbil. I hope things continue to go well for you.
Have a great time in Dublin/ miss you!
Claire Bear,
#1) In 3 days, the blog will not be better. Just more complete, because it's amazing right now!
#2) BE Cool...I'm SO excited about the pretty train station that you saw, and let's be honest...we love pretty and adventurous things all in one.
#3) I L-O-V-E the story about the boots, I really think that defines your life.
#4) "Over the weekend we went to the Lake District down in England. I didn't know where we were going or what exactly we would be doing but I was excited." This is really what defines your life.
#5) Water resistant definitely does not equal water proof.
#6) I love your philosophy professor's tweed jacket cover the gerbil eaten vest scenario.
#7) Indigenous people of Lowland South America is the kind of class that all of the Daughters of the Incan Revolution (aka you and me) must take. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Hope Dublin is spectacular!
Love!
Scotland sounds amazing. Someone stole my friends purse last night...with my iphone inside. I love Russia. So no more talking :( Maybe we can skype soon! Enjoy the safe and friendly country of Ireland...I'm jealous.
And I want to take your Indigenous people of lowland south america class, it sounds great!
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